Author Topic: Son of a Witch: Devlog and general discussion  (Read 218214 times)

bigosaur

  • Moderator
  • Posts: 520
  • Karma: 2
    • View Profile
    • Bigosaur
    • Awards
Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #405 on: January 28, 2018, 09:40:01 PM »
I was able to keep fairly far from the enemies (as such I don't actually know what most of their attacks are yet :P ).

The most dangerous is the Redhead Assassin who can petrify you in one hit. I deliberately made the other enemies easy so the players can concentrate on dodging the Redheads.

Quote
For the boss fight, I went in and made turrets everywhere (like 10+ of them) and then just ducked and dodged until they did the job for me.

So, you had the mana canteen? I tried a couple of runs, if I manage to survive the ice level, I win. The Dragon Master fight can be pretty epic if you fail to upgrade your weapons. I fought it with a 28-damage-per-orb staff and it spent all my mana with the healing staff and even had to drink beers.

We also tried a couple co-op games and the dragon master fight feels right. I'm eager to see how some less experienced players will fare before tweaking the difficulty.

Quote
How will you deal with alternate desert bosses in terms of the storyline? I feel like it kind of breaks the plot if it doesn't end with the dragon master being defeated...

I plan to have back-to-back boss fights, so there will be another boss fight before the Dragon Master. Current plans include Medusa (with petifying arrows) and an Elephant Rider (big barbarian type of boss who rides a huge elephant in the first phase of the battle and later walks and attacks similar to the executioner).

Jubal

  • Megadux
    Executive Officer
  • Posts: 35495
  • Karma: 140
  • Awards Awarded for oustanding services to Exilian!
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #406 on: January 29, 2018, 11:53:13 PM »
I completed the game as my elf archer, too, now :) I did have to use a dragonfire potion to stop myself getting petrified at one point! I also had a weird small bug at one point on the battlements level where I was cycling through inventory items whilst drinking a potion, and ended up with a key disappearing from my inventory instead of the potion, which was a bit odd.

Also, I got a frontpage announcement done:
https://exilian.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5518

And I started updating the guides with info on the new enemies, the stoneheart sword, and the thirst effect :) Out of interest, what do you call the beasts in the desert? I've mentally named them jackal-gorillas, but I suspect you were aiming for something else.

Medusa and the Elephant Rider sound fun! Lots of possibilities for a third option too - a sphinx could be neat & thematically work well, or a scorpion-man like in Assyrian myths would look awesome, or maybe have a Chimera to stick with the Greek myths (one head biting, one head breathing fire, one breathing poison, would make for a fun opponent). Or a sand-wizard who could cast a range of different spells to force you to vary tactics mid-battle somehow.
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: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #407 on: January 30, 2018, 09:00:16 AM »
I also had a weird small bug at one point on the battlements level where I was cycling through inventory items whilst drinking a potion, and ended up with a key disappearing from my inventory instead of the potion, which was a bit odd.

I need to find a way to replicate this problem. Do you have the "replays" on by any chance?

Quote
Also, I got a frontpage announcement done:
https://exilian.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5518

I have seen it via twitter link. Thanks.

Quote
And I started updating the guides with info on the new enemies, the stoneheart sword, and the thirst effect :) Out of interest, what do you call the beasts in the desert?

I haven't decided yet. Internally (in the code), they are called: Redhead, Dual Wielder, Gorilla. None of that sounds very interesting though. Jackal-gorilla could actually be a good choice. If you have suggestions for the others, I'm all ears. Maybe they could be portrayed as mercenaries that the Dragon Master has hired or something like that.

Quote
Or a sand-wizard who could cast a range of different spells to force you to vary tactics mid-battle somehow.

That one sounds really interesting. I will have to think about it. Thanks.

bigosaur

  • Moderator
  • Posts: 520
  • Karma: 2
    • View Profile
    • Bigosaur
    • Awards
Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #408 on: January 30, 2018, 06:25:50 PM »
I have updated the monster manual with the Dragon Master health numbers.

Jubal

  • Megadux
    Executive Officer
  • Posts: 35495
  • Karma: 140
  • Awards Awarded for oustanding services to Exilian!
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #409 on: January 30, 2018, 06:40:39 PM »
Thanks! What are the numbers for the three "minor" enemies?

I do have replays on, but only two saved at any time, so I've lost it now - sorry, I should've thought sooner. :(

In the MM I currently have them as "Desert Swordsman", "Jackal-Gorilla", and "Stoneheart Assassin" (to go with the sword name). I'm sure there must be a better choice of name for the swordsman, but I'm not sure what yet.

Also, here's a shot from today's daily challenge - again, the best way to defeat the dragon master proving to be "let some friends do it for me" :)


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: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #410 on: January 30, 2018, 07:20:11 PM »
Thanks! What are the numbers for the three "minor" enemies?

Oh, I completely forgot about them.

Redhead 120
Gorilla 360
Swordsman 150

Quote
I do have replays on, but only two saved at any time, so I've lost it now - sorry, I should've thought sooner. :(

I looked at the code and tried to make it happen, but I could not. It must have been some combination of items / weapons / status effects you had at the time.

Quote
In the MM I currently have them as "Desert Swordsman", "Jackal-Gorilla", and "Stoneheart Assassin" (to go with the sword name). I'm sure there must be a better choice of name for the swordsman, but I'm not sure what yet.

One of the ideas I had was to call him a "Dualist". It was supposed to be a twist on "duelist" since he wields two weapons. Not sure if it sounds good?

Quote
Also, here's a shot from today's daily challenge - again, the best way to defeat the dragon master proving to be "let some friends do it for me" :)

Ah. :)

In one of my runs yesterday I tried to bring in Salamis, defended him from the ice wizards at all costs. But they managed to petrify him just a few rooms from the dragon master fight. I didn't bring the Life Staff (because it was a drop in the forest and I needed inventory space).

So I'm yet to defeat him with some help.

bigosaur

  • Moderator
  • Posts: 520
  • Karma: 2
    • View Profile
    • Bigosaur
    • Awards
Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #411 on: January 31, 2018, 09:38:02 PM »
I'm testing Medusa now. I gave her a bow so she can shoot Medusa arrows. The bow is a new weapon: Composite bow. You can get it from chests, pedestals or buy in shops. Base damage is 50, special ability is +50% damage when riding a mount.

Well, at least one new archery item to balance out the archer class :)

She also has a curved sword for melee attacks, but it is not available to players (at least, not yet).

New version coming by the end of the week.

Jubal

  • Megadux
    Executive Officer
  • Posts: 35495
  • Karma: 140
  • Awards Awarded for oustanding services to Exilian!
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #412 on: January 31, 2018, 09:58:24 PM »
I've now completed the game as a close combat character - no mana shenanigans this time, but I had a very highly upgraded retaliator sword which I buffed by standing in front of a dart shooter for ages before going in, so I was doing hundreds of damage per hit. I just soaked up the dragon-breath (I think I had a fire amulet, can't remember) and then once he was on foot it was really pretty easy to keep him on the back foot and keep him disrupted with the sword.

I also got the two achievements I hadn't got yet, so I'm 100% on those again until you add some new ones :)
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: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #413 on: February 01, 2018, 06:52:22 PM »
I've now completed the game as a close combat character

I had an interesting one with the archer. Unicorn Horn, upgraded gold bow, a darkness scroll and low health - I did fixed 600 dmg per 1 gold arrow fired. This is the highest consistent damage per shot I have seen in the game so far.

Quote
I also got the two achievements I hadn't got yet, so I'm 100% on those again until you add some new ones :)

Many more to come once I finish the Barbarian character.

But first, to complete the desert bosses.

bigosaur

  • Moderator
  • Posts: 520
  • Karma: 2
    • View Profile
    • Bigosaur
    • Awards
Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #414 on: February 02, 2018, 02:46:14 PM »
I need your help naming this guy. I tweaked the initial "Viking" design and decided to split this guy from the elephant. This one will be a separate boss, and the elephant will be a mount (small variant without much armor) and possibly a huge elephant will be another boss. So, I'm trying to turn him into "pustinjak", which literally means "man from the desert" in Serbian, and translates to Hermit in English. However, I feel like the desert connection is lost with the "hermit". Is it?



He walks around, attacks you with his sickle and plants living cacti (cactuses?) into the sand. Once planted, they start to wiggle like tentacles and attack players near them. So, I'm thinking about this guy like some evil desert gardener. ;)

Here are some ideas I have for the name, but cannot really sense which one is good:

  • Son of the Desert
  • Cactus Harvester
  • Desert Reaper
  • Desert Gardener

Which one do you like the most and do you have some better idea?

Thanks.

Glaurung

  • Sakellarios
    Financial Officer
  • Posts: 7077
  • Karma: 20
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #415 on: February 02, 2018, 03:50:04 PM »
So, I'm trying to turn him into "pustinjak", which literally means "man from the desert" in Serbian, and translates to Hermit in English. However, I feel like the desert connection is lost with the "hermit". Is it?
It is, I think. "hermit" implies an individual who's deliberately isolated themselves from people, usually to practise their religion without human distractions - but that could as easily be on an island off the Irish coast as on a pillar in the Syrian desert. I can't immediately think of a generic English word for "desert dweller", though that might just be my erratic memory letting me down.

Here are some ideas I have for the name, but cannot really sense which one is good:

  • Son of the Desert
  • Cactus Harvester
  • Desert Reaper
  • Desert Gardener

Which one do you like the most and do you have some better idea?
I don't have any better ideas; of your suggestions, I'd go for "Desert Reaper" - anyone with a scythe like that has got to be a reaper. If he actually looks after cactuses, then maybe "Cactus Reaper"?

Jubal

  • Megadux
    Executive Officer
  • Posts: 35495
  • Karma: 140
  • Awards Awarded for oustanding services to Exilian!
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #416 on: February 02, 2018, 09:25:51 PM »
Yeah - I do associate hermits with deserts, but that's because I'm a historian and associate them heavily with early Christian hermits who were mainly living in Syria/Egypt. It's definitely got a heavy religious connotation.

I think "gardener" and "harvester" sound quite peaceful... I wonder about "Thorn Reaper" if cacti are his thing?

Also, the red beard/hair interests me - I associate red hair very much with northern Europe and pale skin aka people who would burn easily in a desert, so that seems odd to me, I dunno. Would a darker shade be possible?
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: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #417 on: February 02, 2018, 10:00:23 PM »
I don't have any better ideas; of your suggestions, I'd go for "Desert Reaper" - anyone with a scythe like that has got to be a reaper. If he actually looks after cactuses, then maybe "Cactus Reaper"?

That's also a good idea.

I think "gardener" and "harvester" sound quite peaceful... I wonder about "Thorn Reaper" if cacti are his thing?

Well, there's this green plant resembling a tentacle with thorns that he plants to attack the players. It takes some imagination to call it a cactus, so I guess "Thorn Reaper" could be good in that sense. But I somehow like the sound of "Cactus Reaper" better.

Quote
Also, the red beard/hair interests me - I associate red hair very much with northern Europe and pale skin aka people who would burn easily in a desert, so that seems odd to me, I dunno.

This character graphics was actually planned for the Ice level, but I have so many ice units already, so I moved him to the "desert" section. Elephants definitely belong in the desert.

Quote
Would a darker shade be possible?

Possibly, but I just completed all the animations, imported it into the game and hooked up the AI, so I'm not going back to the layered graphics to fix it (where it would be easy) because it would mean re-doing most of today's work.

I will try playing with color manipulation on the final .png texture atlas to see if I can change it without having to fiddle with any pixels manually.

Although, the red hair looks pretty good with the desert background.

bigosaur

  • Moderator
  • Posts: 520
  • Karma: 2
    • View Profile
    • Bigosaur
    • Awards
Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #418 on: February 02, 2018, 10:06:30 PM »
Also, the red beard/hair interests me - I associate red hair very much with northern Europe and pale skin aka people who would burn easily in a desert, so that seems odd to me, I dunno. Would a darker shade be possible?

BTW, at one point I had an idea of calling him a "Desert Vandal". Since Vandals came from northern parts of Europe and managed to get all the way to the North Africa it looked like a good idea. I even searched for names for Vandal kings for some inspiration, but none felt good. And the word "Vandal" has different modern connotations, so I gave up. (internally in C++ code, the class that handles all the animation/AI is called "Vandal")

Jubal

  • Megadux
    Executive Officer
  • Posts: 35495
  • Karma: 140
  • Awards Awarded for oustanding services to Exilian!
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Son of a Witch: Castle Crashers meets Isaac
« Reply #419 on: February 03, 2018, 12:53:23 PM »
Dw, the red hair does look fine and I can always play with the pngs myself if it annoys me at all :p

I had another win with a combat character today - sword with plenty of upgrades, good stats w/barbarian's friend & berserker potions, and some sunset scrolls. Plus I had the mana canteen and the sceptre so actually once the dragon was gone I just swamped the dragon master with minions.

Does the gamble scroll work on the dragon master, and can it summon the dragon master to replace other bosses? I kind of feel like you shouldn't be able to gamble him away, since he's the final boss...

The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...