Author Topic: Son of a Witch: Devlog and general discussion  (Read 218130 times)

bigosaur

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Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #330 on: November 08, 2017, 02:16:11 PM »
- Could we get a visual dark version of the snow orbs?

I had a similar thought, but I'm not sure about it. The idea was that those dark orbs fired from Pogonip staff have no freeze-chance effect, so you have to decide whether you want to combine it with dark orbs or not. If the graphics were different, players would think those always have frost chance. (I have to check this though, I just tested and it looks like they do freeze).

> pogonip staff (of which I really like the name - it's not a word that's used in the UK at all, it's quite a fun one)

I was looking for something that would cover both "ice" and "fog" in a single word :D

> is firing a mix of regular dark orbs and snow orbs.

Yes, it does look strange. Perhaps I should just add alternative graphics for it and make those dark-orb projectiles faster to match the speed of ice ones.

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I managed most of it as an archer but lining up for shots with the sliding effect is hellishly tough

Actually, I find the archer bearable. It takes some practice get a feel of how much it slides - after that you just run and stop a little bit earlier than usual to let it slide while you aim the arrow.

However, with a Knight you have to be really precise if you want your hits to connect.

Mages definitely have the easiest time.

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maybe a "snowshoes" item that occasionally turns up?

Yup, already in my notes, but I need to play-test level a lot more to see if it should be added. I mean, it would be an item only usable on one level and it kind of defeats the whole sliding difficulty. Additionally, I already have graphics ready for a Deer mount, and I'm thinking it would randomly show up somewhere on the ice level sometimes, so maybe that would be the replacement.

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provides protection from hypochondria, avarice, extravagance, and distraction

Sounds OP. The whole point of Skeleton Ranger is that you have to play the game with a handicap offseting his very-high damage. I just tried a run yesterday where I had 300+ damage per arrow shot by the end (killed the Santa with a single rage-shot). There might be some removal items, but I think those would work for one effect only. Maybe something like "remove one curse"...

Hm, I have a Halo "item" that would drop sometimes which was meant for multiplayer (extend the death countdown timer by 5 seconds). Maybe I should include curse removal into it's effects: "+5 seconds to co-op death timer" / "remove a random negative effect".

Jubal

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Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #331 on: November 09, 2017, 04:20:04 PM »
More mounts would also be a decent option that I'd be in favour of. :) I guess I'm partly just reacting a bit negatively to the sliding effect as it's the sort of thing I tend to enjoy less in games like this - I can certainly see the fact that it's an appropriate challenge to have in the game, but I personally get more frustrated by feeling like I can't control my own character properly than enjoying the challenge of it, I guess as usual going back to the fact that I tend to do quite slow/strategic play when I can.

Fair enough on the mental amulet - I guess I feel like the difficulty of healing is usually enough of a setback without the risk of permanent curses, but you may be right. A "remove 1 curse" item would also be a good call.

Also I think I've just about finished the equipment guide now... I'm sure I've missed some things, but I think I've got most of them!

EDIT: Also note, current game still has "Raindeer" as the name of the Reindeer pet, I can't remember if this was intentional for some reason or if it's just a typo?
« Last Edit: November 09, 2017, 05:39:08 PM by Jubal »
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bigosaur

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Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #332 on: November 09, 2017, 07:02:13 PM »
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Also note, current game still has "Raindeer" as the name of the Reindeer pet, I can't remember if this was intentional for some reason or if it's just a typo?

It's a typo.

I'm currently making a new snow boss: Yeti. I already have a bunch of small Young Yetis running around (they are similar to the big green orc in the castle) and the boss is a big monster similar to Ogre Mama. I'm thinking to name him: Elder Yeti. Does that make sense?

I know of the Abominable Snowman name, but the 3rd boss will be a giant snowman, so that one is off to prevent confusion.

Or maybe you have some cool (no pun intended) ideas?

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Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #333 on: November 09, 2017, 07:28:35 PM »
Sounds good :) Though I'd maybe suggest "Yeti Elder" rather than "Elder Yeti". Something being "Elder X" makes me think of either Elder Scrolls or Elder Gods/Signs, neither of which I think is the vibe you're going for.
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bigosaur

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Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #334 on: November 09, 2017, 07:29:11 PM »
Also I think I've just about finished the equipment guide now... I'm sure I've missed some things, but I think I've got most of them!

Looks good. Few things:

Ice Mages freeze you with their projectile shots (20% freeze chance), while the Pogonip special slows you down for 1 battle and creates a fog which makes it harder to see the enemies and traps.

I'm going to remove the "iron" reference from the Snailbite arrows in the next version. I actually didn't notice that it was left in there until I read your guides. So, maybe a find&replace would be needed.

Crazy Santa has two close-combat attacks: staff slam and a hand slap doing 55 or 20 damage.

The Sharpshooter potion is actually meant to non-archer classes who have low starting range. So they can improve and use the arrows as a secondary weapon from greater distance.

Heavy Bones potions can especially be useful with weapons with knockdown effect (Warbreaker, Scepter, Earthquake staff). With high stomp damage you can just knock down enemies and one-shot them. If you combine this with the Horse pet, you can even kill the orcs, bushidos and do serious damage to small-sized bosses (violent knights, crystal wizard, necromancer, ringleader)

In the beer description maybe add a note that drinking two beers in a row reverses the controls back to normal.

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Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #335 on: November 09, 2017, 07:56:18 PM »
Scrolls:

Toxic Cloud is useful if you have a rogue sword. Create the cloud and then hide and just wait out while enemies lose a lot of HP. You can also use this tactics, if you have a teleport staff and you can teleport into unreachable location.

Random Teleport's main use is in co-op where you can use it to escape tough rooms when the death timer starts. If you teleport into an empty room, the timer stops and you can revive dead players and recuperate. It can also be used to rob shops in the early game if you don't have the weapons (hit the shopkeeper, grab the item you want and teleport away).

The Peace scroll is super useful in the necromancer boss fight because those minions do not spawn - necromancer keeps raising the same skeletons over and over.

Rotten Cheese Wheel is useful if you build up high poison damage via Cheese Wedges. It's easy to get to 24 poison damage or even more with replicate scrolls. Then just let a boss hit you once. It's useful for bosses that don't do much damage but can take time to kill (violent knights, ringleader).

Missing pet names are: Beaver Ben, Bird Britney, Hippopotamus Hector, Tiger Tony, Hedgehog Harry, Pengiun Peter, Rhino Ray, Turtle Tom, Wolf Walt.

Rabbit Rick and Bull Billy seem to be missing. For dog, maybe add an explanation how it's the only way to rob shops in the dungeon. Giraffe has been changed to +10 HP a long time ago (git says March 5th 2017).


bigosaur

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Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #336 on: November 09, 2017, 08:53:05 PM »
BTW, the guides are rather good. If you agree, I will link to those from the Steam page.

I'm also thinking maybe to create a couple of booklets with your descriptions mixed with a bunch of relevant screenshots from the game and maybe share those to the players when I show the game at expos or such. With your permission of course. I would list you as the author and myself as the booklet designer/editor. We can also print an URL to the forum with Exilian logo (shown on the back and/or front pages) for people to come and get up-to-date information (and maybe also explore Exilian further).

Jubal

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Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #337 on: November 10, 2017, 10:49:51 PM »
Yes, of course, that'd be great :)

And thanks for the extra information - will add that soon!
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bigosaur

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Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #338 on: November 12, 2017, 10:51:40 AM »
A few more details:

Blood Mixer gives 10HP, not 5.

Magic Map is very useful for the old catacombs / eye of ramana quest, because the maze is huge and you can use it to see where the boss room is. Also, for the Amanda (pyromancer quest) when you need to get through the battlements as fast as possible and then find a shop in the castle.

bigosaur

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Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #339 on: November 12, 2017, 12:48:52 PM »


A new version is up with a new boss, the Yeti Elder who is a huge beast whose jumps cause ice to fall from the top of the mountain. He can also spawn smaller Young Yeti minions who also show up in various parts of the ice level.

  • Yeti Elder boss
  • Young Yeti enemy
  • Achievement you can win when you defeat the Crazy Santa boss
  • Fixed the pause overlay size for non-English languages
  • Improved the death animation for the Crazy Santa boss
  • Fixed the Reindeer pet name
  • Fixed the Snailbite arrow name
  • Added new graphics for the synergy of Dark Orb and Freezing Orb
  • Fixed the gamble scroll - now it can be used multiple times in the same room and enemies would always change
  • Added all the enemies into the Gamble scroll pool
  • Fixed Fog and Toxic Cloud drawing for screens bigger than 1920x1080

Jubal

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Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #340 on: November 13, 2017, 08:28:43 PM »
I got the achievement for beating the Santa :) Still not met the big yeti, though seen some little ones - they do 40dmg + freeze, right?
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Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #341 on: November 14, 2017, 10:07:53 AM »
I got the achievement for beating the Santa :) Still not met the big yeti, though seen some little ones - they do 40dmg + freeze, right?

Yes.

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Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #342 on: November 15, 2017, 11:21:03 AM »
I have slain my first Yeti Elder :) Rather against the odds - today's daily challenge run, done as the Owlbear/Knight, involved me nearly dying in all of the last three boss battles. I went *into* the dungeon fight with 20hp left, gambled Felgin into an Executioner and then let the thieves/bandits fight it whilst staying out of the way. I then got cursed into nothingness in the dungeon, somehow managed to win that boss fight by slowing all the enemies down with a deadwood bow & throwing the mjolnir whilst keeping at a distance. Then on the last level I accidentally filled my last inv slot with weapons when I wanted to pick up something else ( :( ), so I couldn't get rid of the avarice: I did have a LOT of stored mana, though, and I had the twilight staff, so somehow I completed the level including the boss fight just on eating food (I also had the giraffe), including doing the Yeti boss fight on about 20hp + keeping moving very fast. One of the most bizarre runs I've done (and first time I've completed the ice level as a non-mage character).

One graphical thought - the younger Yetis look a LOT less furry/hairy than I'd expect them to... they look fine, but I guess the way they look doesn't shout "yeti" to me, and if I didn't know they were meant to be yetis I might just generally assume they were some other kind of mountain orc/troll thingy.
« Last Edit: November 15, 2017, 12:34:17 PM by Jubal »
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bigosaur

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Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #343 on: November 15, 2017, 09:07:17 PM »
One of the most bizarre runs I've done (and first time I've completed the ice level as a non-mage character).

Awesome. Sounds like one of those runs you don't forget easily. I had a couple of such interesting ones, especially since I risk way more than you do while playing.

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One graphical thought - the younger Yetis look a LOT less furry/hairy than I'd expect them to... they look fine, but I guess the way they look doesn't shout "yeti" to me, and if I didn't know they were meant to be yetis I might just generally assume they were some other kind of mountain orc/troll thingy.

Actually they are meant to be "Yeti babies", the fur hasn't grown yet  ;)

BTW, the Snowman boss is done, I'm testing the network code now - it should be in the game in a couple of days.

Jubal

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Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #344 on: November 16, 2017, 10:19:19 PM »
Cool, looking forward to it :)

A couple of thoughts on Daily Challenges:

  • The forest-area Vampiress with the tunnel down to the catacomb feels a bit pointless/annoying in the DC. I don't gain much from killing her, and going down to the catacombs early just "wastes" or deprives me of all the points I'd have got from doing the intermediate levels which are in any case easier. Might there be a way to change the post-tunnel points to account for this, or just avoid that room turning up in DCs?
  • The lower catacombs are odd in DCs - I actually almost always go and fight my way through as much of the catacomb as I can at the moment, "choosing" that rather than the ice level even though I know I can't "win" it (with most characters I'd rather die from being piled by undead but able to control my movements rather than dying out of control and sliding all over the place accidentally, which still happens a lot on the ice, so I often find the catacombs a bit more fun at the moment). I don't think this really needs changing, but given the lower catacombs are rightly intended to be a death sentence for anyone who plays them as a room-clearance game and doesn't have an undead army, it may be worth thinking about in general balance terms that some players may still choose to try that for Daily Challenges rather than keep going onto the ice.
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