Author Topic: Son of a Witch: Devlog and general discussion  (Read 218284 times)

Jubal

  • Megadux
    Executive Officer
  • Posts: 35495
  • Karma: 140
  • Awards Awarded for oustanding services to Exilian!
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #225 on: April 24, 2017, 11:32:50 PM »
Ah yes - I have a bug to report! :P

If you have two replicator scrolls (which I did) you can literally keep using one to replicate the other forever which completely breaks the daily challenge system. I just got bored after about 10,000 points of doing it...
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

bigosaur

  • Moderator
  • Posts: 520
  • Karma: 2
    • View Profile
    • Bigosaur
    • Awards
Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #226 on: April 25, 2017, 08:46:39 PM »
If you have two replicator scrolls (which I did) you can literally keep using one to replicate the other forever which completely breaks the daily challenge system. I just got bored after about 10,000 points of doing it...

Thanks. I have no idea how to fix it though. I could simply remove points for scroll usage... not sure if that would hurt the game. I though about simply not giving points for usage of replica, but it feels inconsistent - especially since you could replicate some other useful scroll or item. Or maybe I should add a magic barrier and replicate scrolls would refuse to work on other replicate scrolls.

BTW, I re-evaluated the whole poison thing. Sometimes you might get a run where simply the gods of random number generator aren't in your favor and it's really hard to remove poison. You could sacrifice an item slot for it, but it somehow feels like it isn't fun to play a game like that. So I decided to reduce the poison spitter effect from unlimited to 5-battle poison. You can clear 2-3 battles while you still have some HP left and then you have a challenge of surviving a couple of rooms with 1 HP.

I plan to add a "hard mode" to the game at some point, and maybe all poison will be permanent there, but for a "normal" game it will have some limit.

Jubal

  • Megadux
    Executive Officer
  • Posts: 35495
  • Karma: 140
  • Awards Awarded for oustanding services to Exilian!
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #227 on: April 25, 2017, 11:54:08 PM »
I think just make replicators refuse to work on each other would seem the simplest solution.

Agree with the poison change, that sounds reasonable :)
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

bigosaur

  • Moderator
  • Posts: 520
  • Karma: 2
    • View Profile
    • Bigosaur
    • Awards
Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #228 on: May 10, 2017, 09:07:48 PM »
A new version is up with some improvements to the easy mode, and a couple of fixes.

Most important change is that arrow shooting animation has been changed (for all characters). After firing the first arrow, the characters no longer reset to idle position, but transition to grab the next arrow instead (if you're still holding the key). That changes the arrow shooting frequency from 200+ frames to about 100 frames per shot. Only for arrows 2 and beyond. The first shot still takes 108 frames.

I also increased the base damage for bows to make the archer more on par with other heroes in late game. Since there aren't many ways to increase the archery skill, my reasoning was that, with a bunch of buffs, you should be able to one-shot regular enemies. This makes archers a little bit OP vs bosses, but they are still inferior in close combat with regular enemies so it evens out. Or at least, I feel like it does. Early game is now easier with archer, but late game is harder (except for bosses).

BTW, I'm currently adding a way to enter a custom seed, so you'll be able to replay some games if desired. And I'm preparing stuff for the dungeon level. Hopefully it will be ready in June.

Jubal

  • Megadux
    Executive Officer
  • Posts: 35495
  • Karma: 140
  • Awards Awarded for oustanding services to Exilian!
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #229 on: May 10, 2017, 10:10:16 PM »
Couple of points on easy mode if you haven't picked these up yet: last I played it you can still get the blood mixer (which is useless), and it spawned the Ogre Mama & her hut within a regular room a couple of times for some strange reason.

I often play as the archer & hadn't been finding it too bad; I'll let you know how I do with the new version. I think the archer had been under-powered on easy mode more than in main game (because of the lack of variant-type arrows which are usually pretty vital for archers).

Looking forward to the dungeon level!
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

bigosaur

  • Moderator
  • Posts: 520
  • Karma: 2
    • View Profile
    • Bigosaur
    • Awards
Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #230 on: May 11, 2017, 06:17:20 PM »
last I played it you can still get the blood mixer (which is useless)

I completely forgot about that. Will fix.

Quote
it spawned the Ogre Mama & her hut within a regular room a couple of times for some strange reason.

I have seen that one as well and fixed it earlier today, so the fix will be in the next version.

Quote
I often play as the archer & hadn't been finding it too bad; I'll let you know how I do with the new version. I think the archer had been under-powered on easy mode more than in main game (because of the lack of variant-type arrows which are usually pretty vital for archers).

Yes. I even though about disallowing archer in the easy mode, esp. because it's really hard to aim in multiplayer (enemies are chasing other players and not lining up with you) and I expect easy mode to mostly be played in multiplayer. You cannot unlock him in easy mode anyway.

Jubal

  • Megadux
    Executive Officer
  • Posts: 35495
  • Karma: 140
  • Awards Awarded for oustanding services to Exilian!
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #231 on: May 13, 2017, 11:46:15 PM »
Reaction: I think the anim change is good, but I think the damage boost is larger than it needs to be - it doesn't make much difference but looks/feels a bit OP on early rooms.
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

bigosaur

  • Moderator
  • Posts: 520
  • Karma: 2
    • View Profile
    • Bigosaur
    • Awards
Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #232 on: May 14, 2017, 05:14:39 PM »
Reaction: I think the anim change is good, but I think the damage boost is larger than it needs to be - it doesn't make much difference but looks/feels a bit OP on early rooms.

Yes, it's definitely OP in early rooms, however, once you get to 3rd level it still feels underpowered compared to melee/magic (except the boss fights). Even if you power enough to get 100+ damage/hit, it still takes too long to fire an arrow in close-quarters situations. At least, that's my feeling after playing about a dozen games so far.

Perhaps it's too early to make the final decision. I'm soon going to add the dungeon to the mix and then we'll see how it would feel.

Jubal

  • Megadux
    Executive Officer
  • Posts: 35495
  • Karma: 140
  • Awards Awarded for oustanding services to Exilian!
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #233 on: May 16, 2017, 02:06:26 PM »
I've never found that an issue: there's a bit of maneuvering skill involving starting to nock an arrow in the opposite direction so you can then run round and fire it, and in lining lots of enemies up to use the rage attack, but both are quite possible. The rage attack in later levels with the archer is extremely powerful (and was even before this change) - it often allows me to all but clear a room with one shot. It might just be my playstyle being more closely suited to playing an archer, perhaps.

And yes, I agree that the dungeon could change a lot of the balance yet again!
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

bigosaur

  • Moderator
  • Posts: 520
  • Karma: 2
    • View Profile
    • Bigosaur
    • Awards
Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #234 on: May 19, 2017, 03:57:49 PM »
I'm working on the Dungeon level. For the first version it will have 3 new enemies and a new boss. Of course, a new background theme and new objects and traps as well.



The planned name for this boss is "The Butcher". It sounds a bit brutal to me. This game is played by kids as well (esp. parent + kid combination), so I'm not sure having a "butcher" boss is a good idea? It's hard for me to "feel" that as I'm not a native speaker. Do you have some better idea for the name?


Jubal

  • Megadux
    Executive Officer
  • Posts: 35495
  • Karma: 140
  • Awards Awarded for oustanding services to Exilian!
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #235 on: May 20, 2017, 11:50:55 PM »
I don't feel like "butcher" is much worse than say "executioner" which you've used already. I guess I tend to think of a butcher initially in the sense of a friendly person who sells you bits of meat in a shop rather than its meaning as a killer! What attacks does it have, out of interest?

Looks good though, either way! :)
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

bigosaur

  • Moderator
  • Posts: 520
  • Karma: 2
    • View Profile
    • Bigosaur
    • Awards
Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #236 on: May 21, 2017, 12:38:04 AM »
I guess I tend to think of a butcher initially in the sense of a friendly person who sells you bits of meat in a shop rather than its meaning as a killer!

Ah, awesome. In Serbian we have two distinct words: the man in the meat shop is "mesar" and the man who actually slaughters the animals is "koljač" and we often translate "butcher" to the "bad" one.

Yesterday I set the name to "Simerian Butcher" because the "Butcher" felt too short. I guess with this prefix it would seem like a notorious killer, right? Looks like it would be better to simply have Butcher or "The Butcher". Is that true?

What attacks does it have, out of interest?

Don't you like surprises? :)

1. He has an overhead strike with the mace - slams it to the ground. Upon impact, the spikes detach and fly into 7 different directions. The mace itself does a lot of damage, the spikes only do 10.

2. He quickly swings the knife in a circle striking any players below and behind him. After a couple of rounds, he suddenly stops and stabs in front of him.

I tried to balance the attacks in such way that he's equally hard to fight with melee or magic/ranged characters.

You can stun him, but the recovery is much faster than the Ogre Mama and the Executioner.

Jubal

  • Megadux
    Executive Officer
  • Posts: 35495
  • Karma: 140
  • Awards Awarded for oustanding services to Exilian!
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #237 on: May 22, 2017, 10:20:41 AM »
Ah, awesome. In Serbian we have two distinct words: the man in the meat shop is "mesar" and the man who actually slaughters the animals is "koljač" and we often translate "butcher" to the "bad" one.

Yesterday I set the name to "Simerian Butcher" because the "Butcher" felt too short. I guess with this prefix it would seem like a notorious killer, right? Looks like it would be better to simply have Butcher or "The Butcher". Is that true?
I really like "Simerian Butcher" as a name - you could just use "The Butcher", but I quite like names that give a sense of place & space, it gives more of an impression of depth to the world of the game :)

Don't you like surprises? :)
I've played this game long enough to know that surprises have a high tendency to kill me :P
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

bigosaur

  • Moderator
  • Posts: 520
  • Karma: 2
    • View Profile
    • Bigosaur
    • Awards
Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #238 on: May 27, 2017, 12:19:17 AM »
I updated the game trailer with all the new content:


I also finished the animations and AI for the 3 enemies and one boss for the Dungeon. Still waiting on the artist to complete all the objects and props and then I'll start designing room layouts. I expect Dungeon to be ready mid-June.

Jubal

  • Megadux
    Executive Officer
  • Posts: 35495
  • Karma: 140
  • Awards Awarded for oustanding services to Exilian!
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: My Mom's a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #239 on: May 27, 2017, 12:56:18 AM »
Nice :) And I finished my Doctor Who Sontarans skinpack too, that's now got its own thread here & is ready to download!
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...