Son of a Witch: Devlog and general discussion

[bigosaur]

or just avoid that room turning up in DCs?

I could do that. I will add it to my TODO list of the next release.

rather than dying out of control and sliding all over the place accidentally

And I was thinking that the ice level was too easy

some players may still choose to try that for Daily Challenges rather than keep going onto the ice.

Well, there will be a 7th level (desert) after the ice level, and ice+desert will be as long as the old catacombs approximately - but you get 2 level-complete bonuses.

In any case, I don't think those should be considered as alternatives. When I play, I go into the old catacombs and keep pushing forward until it becomes too risky. Then I back out and proceed to the ice level. I find the ice level rather easy - esp. if I have a mount. If there's an undead pig on the level I don't take it until I'm ready to leave through the portal.

[bigosaur]

BTW, I did upload a new version earlier today. The Candy Snowman boss is in.

[Jubal]

Will there be any equivalent "area effects" in the sand level, out of interest? (And will there be more fire used, considering that the prev level is ice themed and poison is fairly common earlier on in the game?)

[bigosaur]

Will there be any equivalent "area effects" in the sand level, out of interest?

No.

And will there be more fire used, considering that the prev level is ice themed and poison is fairly common earlier on in the game?

That's the plan. Fire and some petrification. I'm still not 100% on it, will know when I start building the levels.

[Jubal]

Also, I'm sorry I haven't managed to finish the various guides yet - I've hit a rough patch with life and work and health all at once, so I'm suddenly being really slow at things

[bigosaur]

and health

I hope nothing serious. Get well first. Worry about the rest later.

[Jubal]

Don't worry, it's just a minor seasonal thing - I have a couple of underlying problems that mean those affect me worse than some people, but I'll be alright soon!

Finally had a daily challenge today where I had both catacombs and the necro staff, so I cleaned out every room of the lower catacombs entirely then did the ice level completely with a good ol' undead army led by King Salamis Solid 120,000+ score in the bag

[bigosaur]

Solid 120,000+ score in the bag

 

Wow. BTW, the Trickster boss is coming soon to the dungeon. He will be able to clone himself (each clone having just 1 HP) and create some obstacles on your path. He'll have two weapons, both of which can drop for players to use.

[Jubal]

Ooh, exciting


Also, one thought from today - the blowfish blows up too frequently at the moment, I think. When you're down to 1 enemy they often just get pinned in place because as soon as they get up they get knocked down again, to the point where it's actually annoying (because e.g. they're being repeatedly slowly knocked down on a spike trap and to actually finish the battle without waiting ages you need to go and get yourself spiked to make the stomp attack). I feel like it should be a slower/less regular effect.

[bigosaur]

Also, one thought from today - the blowfish blows up too frequently at the moment, I think. When you're down to 1 enemy they often just get pinned in place because as soon as they get up they get knocked down again, to the point where it's actually annoying (because e.g. they're being repeatedly slowly knocked down on a spike trap and to actually finish the battle without waiting ages you need to go and get yourself spiked to make the stomp attack). I feel like it should be a slower/less regular effect.

Actually that repeated knockdown has saved me multiple times, so I will keep it. It's also nice when you have built up strong stomp damage for easy kills. I admit I have yet to get into the spike situation, but I understand how it can be frustrating. Maybe I should just increase the blowfish damage. I kept it low (only 3) because I wanted the bat to be the most dangerous one and it does only 15. Maybe blowfish should do 20, and bat should do 40 or something like that.

[Jubal]

I'm not sure increasing blowfish damage would help, 20 sounds too high - I think you just need to decrease the frequency a little, so there's more like 3/4 of a second between them getting up and getting knocked down again (time for a sword-swipe or hammer hit). They'll be stunned for basically all that time anyway so it shouldn't really put the player in any more danger. I do think the bat should do more like 30-40dmg though to make it a worthwhile pet to have - I almost never take it at the moment unless I have the wolf already.

[bigosaur]

Version 2.7.2 is online:

- a new boss for the dungeon level: Trickster. He's able to create clones of himself and use his staff to create obstacles on the battlefield. He's got a special axe that can be thrown through obstacles, so you have to tear them down before he kills you
- two new weapons (drops from the Trickster boss, but also random drop from chests and pedestals in treasure rooms)
- fixed a bug where the game would crash if you try to set the big Yeti boss on fire
- the minions for the ice level boss fights are ice mages now
- fixed a bug where the Witch mom would disappear if you hit her with a meteor, hail or celestial hammer
- fixed various bugs regarding frozen and petrified enemies
- fixed rider and mount positioning for the boar and undead pig. Fired projectiles (orbs, arrows, thrown weapons) are now properly vertically aligned
- increased damage for pet attacks. The blowfish can now kill enemies easily and the Bat does 40 damage per hit.
- the Witch mom shows up at the start of the ice level to advance the story

BTW, how do you feel about the ice level bosses? I somehow feel that Snowman and Yeti are alright, but Santa is too easy. I'm thinking to change the logic for his presents - instead of exploding right away, they would remain on the ground and only explode if you touch them. I mean, it's 6th level of the 7-level game, perhaps it's time bosses get hard to beat.

[Jubal]

I feel like I've found Yeti marginally easier than Santa so far (plug with lots of snailbites, and then he's actually vulnerable whilst rolling), though it's hard to tell because so much is just the luck of what state I'm in by that point in the game - Snowman I feel is definitely the hardest of the three, but that's partly because I haven't found good tactics for him yet. That present change would make the Santa harder, certainly, might be interesting to test at least. Why did you change the minions to ice mages, btw? I can see the logic behind making them tougher, but I feel like using that many ice mages specifically may make the boss fight excessively tough in runs where you don't find a mammoth amulet... I dunno. I just have a feeling that with three Ice Mages + trying to fight a boss, I'll just end up using scrolls or fancy one-hitter tricks any times when I don't have that amulet and would never actually do the fight properly.

Also, minor point - if I'm right from observation, the rocks in the long jump rooms currently never have items in. This seems kind of unfair, as there's no way for players to tell that they're not normal rocks.

[bigosaur]

Why did you change the minions to ice mages, btw?

I felt like the boss fight (esp. Santa) was much easier than the regular rooms on ice level, so I wanted to balance that. Perhaps something else should be done instead of that. I guess I need to play-test the game more to see.

if I'm right from observation, the rocks in the long jump rooms currently never have items in.

Yes. I didn't want the players to destroy the rocks... esp. since some are near the spikes and items dropping on spikes doesn't feel right. Not sure what to do here, perhaps the NPC on that screen should tell you something about that?

[Jubal]

I feel like the best solution would be to make the rock a different type/visually different in some way, and most importantly make it so they're immune to being blown up rather than just not containing anything, which more clearly signals to the player that they shouldn't do that.