Dev Blog - Roaming Death Alpha V0.9

Casual difficulty icon.

In this dev blog I will be explaining the direction that I will be going with Roaming Death, and what can be expected in the new version coming soon.

Environmental Effects

There will be a day/night cycle. I am also planning weather particle effects such as rain, snow, wind. These environmental changes will have an impact on the tactics of the game.

Power-up Bars

The bars will give extra effects to your skills, depending on the class. You can begin to power the bar by using your skills. Between 25-75% the initial buff is granted, at over 75% the buff is increased in strength significantly. For this to happen you will need to have an environmental advantage. For some examples, a fire mage gets a bonus from a windy environment, and a light mage gets a bonus in sunlight.

Difficulty changes

In the 0.8x versions I added a selection of difficulties, but I didn't do much to balance them so the higher difficulties weren't that big of a deal. I will try to balance it so newbies can learn to play and higher skill players can have a challenge.

Progress

- Day/night cycle (15/04)

- Rain particle (16/04)

- Snow particle (16/04)

- Clouds/wind (23/04)

Roaming Death V0.852 & V0.853 bugfix

Download the new (bugfixed) version here.

Download the new buggy version here.

<Edit> Bugs discovered! Please wait while bugs are squashed...
<Edit 2> Bugs successfully squashed! (the major ones that I found)

Roaming Death Alpha V0.85

Apologies for not posting in a long time. I am still very much alive and working on new updates.
An upcoming change for Roaming Death is a brand new font designed by me, which I will also have for download.

Below are the patch notes for the current version, but I can't link it yet because the AI is still broken making advancing to the second quest almost impossible.

Patch notes

-Added a burning effect to the fire mage's abilities
-Added a lifesteal effect to the light mage's abilities
-Added inventory GUI (press I to show, inventory not yet functional)
-Added coin GUI that displays when collecting coins and when I is pressed
-Added 6-difficulty selection (casual/normal/evil/maniacal/unbalanced/impossible)
-Added pets/minions (experimental)
-Added sprite for dead skeletons
-Added loot bags (3 variations) that contain coins
-Added range indicators to enemies (when hovered over),
and spawners (when walked into for the first time)
-Reworked all mage class player sprites
-Reworked all skeleton sprites
-Reworked health and mana GUI
-Reworked menu background
-Reworked buttons and fonts
-Reworked XP bar and tutorial text (still not perfect)
-Reworked mana pickup (sprite + effect)
-Improved grave sprites
-Improved AI (still not very good)
-Improved light mage projectile sprite
-Improved subclass select button for ice mage

More notes will be added soon, along with screenshots and download link.

Dev Blog - Roaming Death Alpha V0.85 (#3)

A lot of new features added with this version. I was thinking of posting the update on the 10th, but it still needs a bit of work so I'll do it in a few days. There is a preview with most of the new features available now.

I experimented with pets for a while, and almost got them working but they will not be in the 0.85 game.

I added sprites for defeated skeletons, and added randomised loot-bags for drops in 3 variants: common, uncommon, rare. I also made a money system, but it is not in this preview as I need to put in the GUI for it.

Get the 0.85 preview

Skeptic Master Alpha V0.2a

Get the new version here.

Patch notes

- Added in-depth dialogues (v1.0)
- Upgraded naming system and categorisation (v1.0)
- Improved title screen etc.

It may not look like much but this is actually a major update.

Dev Blog - Roaming Death Alpha V0.85

A much needed patch for Roaming Death is coming soon... next week in fact. I've been making steady improvements today, so the following will be a brief list and discussion.

- Health and mana GUI rework (again)

Yes I have improved it again. This time it will have a nice textured look to it, and a border that isn't glitchy. Even the accuracy of the circles, and the font have been updated.

- Ability GUI border added

The abilities were looking pretty plain and boring, and there was a gap for the ones that haven't been made yet, so now there will be a background and border for the whole ability bar.

- Font and button touch-ups

The main menu buttons were terrible I admit, so I fixed that little problem and tidied up the font so it all looks the same.

- Improved menu background (again)

Speaks for itself this one... I improved it with some more gradient tool.

ETA on this update is 10th February, so I'll see what else I can get done this week and do another Dev blog if needed.

Dev Blog - Skeptic Master v0.2a

Some very significant changes coming to Skeptic Master soon as I approach version 0.2a. Lets go over some of the improvements in the latest alpha test.

- Added NPC categorization, which improves naming and adds variety

There are now 4 distinct types of person to talk to, each with unique (hidden) stats that change their behavior. More types planned for future updates. I have also added many new names and removed some of the old ones.

-  Improved topics and topic selection

More topics and more in-depth dialogue for topics, custom topics for different types of person. Different sources for topics coming next patch.

Skeptic Master V0.2a ETA: Feb 4-5