Author Topic: Son of a Witch: Devlog and general discussion  (Read 218156 times)

Jubal

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Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #120 on: October 11, 2016, 11:00:48 AM »
I don't see it like that at all - I often like having some options in a good game, because it means the developer has catered for and thought about the fact that people will like playing the same game in slightly different ways :)

(The other option I thought of would be to have the D key unlocked by an actual event, for example killing the first boss, by which time people should have gotten used to the x-c system.)
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bigosaur

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Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #121 on: October 20, 2016, 10:38:50 AM »
I have been quiet with adding new features to the game as I was preparing for the Steam release. Many bugs were fixed, netcode works properly again, and I made some changes to enable full controller support. That's right, now you can lean back and play it all with a controller, even stuff like entering player names and password codes for online multiplayer.

The Glacier has been nerfed a little bit - the special Freeze All Enemies power is now magic based instead of rage based. It needs 2 mana bars to activate. It's still very powerful, but not game breaking anymore.

I also added health bars to enemies:



I was a little bit conflicted about this change. Neither Castle Crashers nor The Binding of Isaac have those. But Rampage Knights has, and the combat feels better. You would rarely look at the health bar for enemy, but sometimes it gets important, esp. when you're dealing with bigger crowds - it makes it easier to pick those you can one-shot and remove from the battle. I understand some players might not like it, so it's optional. You can turn it off in the Graphics settings.

Jubal

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Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #122 on: October 29, 2016, 09:13:24 PM »
I always preferred the Mjolnir to the Glacier in any case, but yes, that sounds a sensible nerfing strategy :)
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bigosaur

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Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #123 on: November 23, 2016, 12:38:14 AM »
In case anyone missed it, My Mom is a Witch is on Steam.



http://store.steampowered.com/app/539400

I was in Paris last week, showing it on IndieCade, and now I'm back into development.



Currently working on the Archer character. Should be ready soon. There will be a simple quest to unlock him - collecting 200 arrows in the forest.


Jubal

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Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #124 on: November 28, 2016, 11:57:25 PM »
I'll try and produce a let's play video at some point soon - I keep meaning to put more on the Exilian YouTube channel :)
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bigosaur

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Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #125 on: December 09, 2016, 07:37:29 PM »
I have been so busy with development (and sick with a flu), so I barely managed to give any updates on the progress. Anyway, the Archer's ready:



He shows up randomly in the forest as an NPC and gives you a quest. Once you complete the quest, he will be unlocked and you can select him.

And the game is available on MacOSX and Linux.

Jubal

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Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #126 on: December 10, 2016, 05:12:47 PM »
Very nice! I now have the archer, and I'm enjoying the challenges (and doing fairly well at them though I say so myself, though the first time the overdose potion turned up that was a nasty surprise!)

Also, I got bored today and made what might be MMaW's first one-file modpack, making myself a festive variant skin on the red archer:



I'm happy to share the file & instructions for use, if that's OK with Bigosaur! :)
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bigosaur

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Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #127 on: December 17, 2016, 09:29:06 PM »
It sure is ok. Santa looks super fun  ;D

As for the game... I have been silent because I'm preparing a lot of content for the next chapter:



The goblins are storming into the castle. While the guards are fighting back, you are trying to get to the dungeon. You need to go through the keep while the goblins and guards are both attacking each other and you as well. This gives you some interesting tactical options. Do you just evade them and let them battle it out before attacking the winner, or you try to help the weaker side to even out the balance of power.

The next update will feature a new area with different graphics, background music and environment (traps, destructable items). And a couple of new enemies and a new boss.

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Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #128 on: December 23, 2016, 11:42:01 PM »
Oooo, new boss - will be interested to see how tough this one is to beat, I'm getting alright at the dragon now though it still kills me on occasion.

Also, some bugs that would be good to fix: when you have a string of pets following you (aka if you have the wolf) some of the pets' abilities have problems:
  • The fox can't always be moved into position to unlock chests if they're at the edge of the screen, which they are in some forest scenes at least; if the fox is anywhere behind the wolf, there's no way to get it to touch & unlock some chests.
  • The item-fetching dog, if it's placed after one of the scout animals (tiger or chicken) in the queue, will carry items to its place in the queue, not to the player, so it will just pick up things and run away to whichever door the chicken/tiger is scouting, which can make it worse than useless!

Also, welcome to the new subforum! :)
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bigosaur

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Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #129 on: December 25, 2016, 09:48:56 AM »
The fox can't always be moved into position to unlock chests

That one is intentional.

Quote from: Jubal
The item-fetching dog, if it's placed after one of the scout animals (tiger or chicken) in the queue, will carry items to its place in the queue, not to the player, so it will just pick up things and run away to whichever door the chicken/tiger is scouting, which can make it worse than useless!

That's a bug. I'll fix it.

BTW, the dog can be deadly. If you're using a melee weapon and the dog brings you the voodoo doll you are marked with it's easy to kill yourself ;)

P.S. Some new items coming in the next version as well:



There's a reusable map, bottomless bag of bombs, and a magic chest that turns mana into gold.

Beside those, there will be a bunch of pendants granting you immunity to fire, ice, poison and petrifying. The Run Like the Wind potion is removed from the pool because it was OP - a new amulet is introduced instead which gives you a permanent speed upgrade.

The Overdose potion is going to be replaced with a Beer item, so that drinking unknown potions isn't so punishing.
« Last Edit: December 25, 2016, 09:57:33 AM by bigosaur »

Jubal

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Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #130 on: December 25, 2016, 01:50:44 PM »
Ah, OK. Though that does mean that the later you get the Fox in your line of pets, the less useful she is.

I don't think there's ever much reason to use the dog in the forest levels - in the castle there are some things behind fences that you can't blow up, but it's pretty rare that there's anything you can't get at in the forest.

I like the look of the new stuff :) If there's immunity to petrifying that presumably means there will be petrifying enemies - does that basically mean one hit will kill you from those if you don't have the pendant?
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bigosaur

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Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #131 on: December 26, 2016, 09:41:37 AM »
I don't think there's ever much reason to use the dog in the forest levels - in the castle there are some things behind fences that you can't blow up, but it's pretty rare that there's anything you can't get at in the forest.

Well, there are situations where it's hard to get to the voodoo doll, ex. if the shaman is on the other side of the screen walled off by a bunch of barrels and you're busy with enemies. And there are some configurations in the locked room where you need 2-3 bombs to get to the pedestal item on the other side. Since it's the first level, you could go to the shop and get a dog to help.

I like the look of the new stuff :) If there's immunity to petrifying that presumably means there will be petrifying enemies - does that basically mean one hit will kill you from those if you don't have the pendant?

Petrification (is that a word?) is a slow process, you have enough time to use the Life Staff or Dragon Fire potion to remove it before you turn into stone completely.

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Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #132 on: December 26, 2016, 11:44:30 AM »
Petrification is indeed a word :) And yeah, I guess you're right, but I'd still usually choose another pet over the dog.

Another small bug, if you use the sunset scroll on lvl 2 it affects the ogre & battering ram on the end of level cutscene but nothing else:
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bigosaur

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Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #133 on: December 27, 2016, 01:29:25 PM »
Quote
if you use the sunset scroll on lvl 2 it affects the ogre & battering ram

Fixed it. It will be in the next version. Thanks.

Moving on... A new sword is added to the game:

It's called Thunderstriker currently. If you have an idea for a better name, please tell me.



It has regular swing and overhead strike attacks and the special rage attack is to shoot a lighting bolt. The bolt doesn't knock down enemies, and does 25 damage/hit, so it can deal anywhere between 50 damage to lesser enemies to 125 damage to a boss. The shorter range of the special attack is compensated by the longer range of the sword (currently it's the weapon with the farthest reach in the game), decent damage and ability to shoot lightning through obstacles.

Get an Infinite rage potion and have some fun.

UPDATE: Lightning staff added as well: https://twitter.com/Bigosaur/status/814242256110710786
« Last Edit: December 28, 2016, 10:57:09 PM by bigosaur »

Jubal

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Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #134 on: December 29, 2016, 05:44:31 PM »
Is the lighting staff affected by orb split potions, or do the bolts not count as orbs?
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