Son of a Witch: Devlog and general discussion

[Jubal]

Your stats are all 400 or 500 so the 50% difference between your melee and magic isn't so relevant any more)

Maybe I should change the way it works?

Instead of adding up percentages, it could apply the percentage to the skill level. Example:

100 magic, 30 melee, 70 archery + 500% money is power would give +500% magic, +150% melee and +350% archery, so the skills would become: 600/180/420.

I could do the same for Darkness and Confidence as well.

That's a great idea, and one I am +100% in favour of!

[bigosaur]

If you put some of the things on a testing branch thingy on Steam I'm happy to give them a couple of runs for you

It's ready. In case you forgot, the password is "minimum89012".

It contains all the changes I plan for the next version: Rogue hero, a couple new achievements, new potions, mercenaries you can hire, machine that turns weapons into runestones, dwarf merchant, vampire slayer NPC, etc., etc.

I now need to do extensive testing, esp. if everything syncs up properly in online multiplayer games. If you notice any bugs let me know.

[Jubal]

Which level is the rogue unlock quest on? I just did a playthrough and didn't find it.

[bigosaur]

Which level is the rogue unlock quest on? I just did a playthrough and didn't find it.

In the dungeon. It's a 50% chance, so you should see him in 2-3 runs.

[Jubal]

OK, initial thoughts:

> I'm not getting shown the new skin for the vampire hunter, it's still showing the usual castle guard and I don't know why.

> I've still not completed the vampire hunting quest, I think it's too hard for a sidequest. She usually gets pinned down by the bats, and cutting the bats out from round her without killing the vampiress. Also, I've seen vampiresses use their disrupting attack to just kill her. Like, I'm sure the quest is do-able (maybe with a peace scroll), but I think it feels more like the difficulty of a character unlocking quest than a standard sidequest right now.

> I like the battlements duel scene, that's really cool, as is the runestone smelter. Both are quite easy/cheap in their bonuses, but they're both nice additions.

> Having someone in the tavern finally is great. I've not used the bronze glove yet but it's a cool idea anyway.

> I like all the new potions. Vampire Blood I think might be a bit overly powerful, I'd make it +2 per potion not +3. I feel like maybe one extra negative potion is needed in the mix to balance the good new stuff out. Maybe a "weakness" status effect that knocks your stats down by 25% for 2-3 battles or something.

> Dwarfs! They're great The only thing I found odd here was them all having the same name on the ice level. Like with the human shopkeepers you can ignore it as they move because they're never duplicated on the same level, and the vampiresses and bandit shopkeepers aren't named anyway; for the dwarfs it would be nice to have the different shops use different names, or maybe just call them all "dwarf shopkeeper".

The Rogue:

> I was quite surprised when I found the rogue, mostly because I was remembering back and expecting the rogue type character in this older game poster:

Spoiler

The new guy looks fine anyway Though I feel like he could maybe do with a face-scarf, and perhaps a different skin tone or something, to make him a bit more different to the other characters so far? I can always add those to my version of course!

> I've enjoyed playing with the rogue mostly, completed the game fine, etc

> It feels off that the sneak attack doesn't work with throwing weapons, both because that caught me out the first time or two and secondly because this means I always ditch the throwing knife, despite it being the archetypal rogue weapon, as soon as I get even a goblin sword. Its melee attack is slow, the rogue doesn't have 100 melee anyway and the rogue finds archery stuff in chests so the throwing attack is less good than just finding a bow, etc. I feel like something should be done to stop throwing weapons actually being really underpowered as an option for the rogue compared to swords.

> Because the throwing knife is a hard to use weapon with its close quarters attack (simply because it's slow so timing is hard), the rogue is actually for me an unusually difficult early game character to use at the moment. I can manage it, but it's definitely trickier than most others.

> Also odd that the rogue sword isn't useful to the rogue because they duplicate the ability. Maybe if the rogue uses it they should get double the hiding time or +50% sneak bonus or both, so it's still a really good weapon for the rogue to have?

> In mid levels, the combo of Violet Sword and rogue is amazing - pop out of hiding, immediately kill a couple of people, bam, rage refilled, back into hiding again. That's VERY good fun

[bigosaur]

I'm not getting shown the new skin for the vampire hunter, it's still showing the usual castle guard and I don't know why.

Check the gfx/squire/squire-elite.png file. Does it show the blue skin or the red one?

She usually gets pinned down by the bats, and cutting the bats out from round her without killing the vampiress.

One approach that I find working well so far is to bomb the shop door (or use the escape scroll / rogue keyring), trigger the battle and kill most of the bats while avoiding the vampiress. Then go outside for the Vampire Hunter and come back to fight the vampiress together.

The only thing I found odd here was them all having the same name on the ice level.

Yes, I need to fix that. I also have a variant with different hair/beard color, so I should mix that in as well. Added to my TODO list.

The new guy looks fine anyway Though I feel like he could maybe do with a face-scarf, and perhaps a different skin tone or something, to make him a bit more different to the other characters so far? I can always add those to my version of course!

If you make something really nice, I might replace the one in the game with your variant 

It feels off that the sneak attack doesn't work with throwing weapons

It should. Sounds like a bug. I need to check that. By "doesn't work" do you mean that the Rogue doesn't want to hide into barrel when you use the rage attack? (which would be a bug) Or maybe the fact that there's no damage bonus? (which works as expected, but I could change it).

I always ditch the throwing knife

Backstab melee sneak-attack does 150+ damage. It's my favorite weapon to kill bosses. Also, great for big enemies (Orc, Yeti, Vampiress, even Bushido), knock them down, stomp, and then when they get up, they pause for a second. Enough time to backstab them and knock down again for the final stomp.

I feel like something should be done to stop throwing weapons actually being really underpowered as an option for the rogue compared to swords.

Well, I could add the sneak-attack bonus for those as well. I might try and see how it feels.

[Jubal]

I can see the elite skin, it looks right (and blue), but the game seems to be using the base (non elite) file. I even tried replacing the regular captain with a skin of my own, and the vampire hunter still switched to that, so it just seems to be using the wrong file.

OK, I'll try that strategy for the quest. I'm still wondering if the vampire hunter needs some kind of extra thing so that if you do get her into contact with the Vampire and clear away the bats she isn't going to get killed by it so easily.

I forgot to mention the keys - they're kind of fun, though I almost never use them. I think it's mostly because I usually save up mana through the game in the hope of getting the mana canteen and being able to throw down some ridiculously powerful spellcasting late on (as the last two levels are the only places ingame that tend to have anything that bothers me, unless I overreach myself badly). And then I often drop the keys before I get there because other items seem more useful.

Well, I'll have some time later next week to play with variants on the rogue skin.

I meant that there's no damage bonus with the ranged attack - because the non-ranged attack is so slow on the throwing knife, when playing singleplayer it makes it quite a weak weapon for the rogue to use if you don't get the damage bonus on the throw. For me at least, the high damage if you can get the combo sorted doesn't counterbalance the fact that the attack speed is too slow and there's too much danger of me mistiming it and losing half my starting health to a goblin club! I think you're just a lot better at timing that combat attack than I am, but I suspect that if I find it difficult given the amount of practice I've had then a lot of other players will as well. You could probably have a lower sneak attack bonus for ranged weapons if that would help balance it - maybe 50 rather than 100 to start? Because of course if you get the carpenter emblem then you improve it, and so on.

[bigosaur]

I can see the elite skin, it looks right (and blue), but the game seems to be using the base (non elite) file. I even tried replacing the regular captain with a skin of my own, and the vampire hunter still switched to that, so it just seems to be using the wrong file.

I managed to reproduce the problem now. Will fix it in the next update.

I forgot to mention the keys - they're kind of fun, though I almost never use them.

Well, they aren't meant to be super useful, it's just a starting item. It's nice to be able to unlock the treasure room (or two, if you bring it to the second level), which is similar to the effect you have from key/bomb starting item. I guess it would be really useful in various barbarian challenges and the hard mode (because of cursed keys).

[Jubal]

Yes, that's a good point.

I should finish up these other skins I've been making - I've got a themed variant to all the castle guards, and a variant on the druid skin, that I've still not released yet.

Also, why don't vampiresses drop silver coins when you buy all their stuff? It's odd that they're the only ones not to.

[bigosaur]

Also, why don't vampiresses drop silver coins when you buy all their stuff? It's odd that they're the only ones not to.

IIRC, there was some technical problem in the code (it's different because bats spawn instead of Bushidos) that would make them drop coins somewhat complicated in network games, so I disabled it until I get around to work on it.

[bigosaur]

The new guy looks fine anyway Though I feel like he could maybe do with a face-scarf

I played with this a little bit. The main problem is the potion drinking animation which either has to uncover the face or have him drink through the scarf and none of these look good. I have give up for now.

It feels off that the sneak attack doesn't work with throwing weapons

I changed this (to give +100 damage) and tried a couple of runs. It's way too powerful and also makes use of the backstab attacks even more rare than it should be. It does make sense to get some to extra sneak attack damage, but sometimes you're throwing a knife/hammer/axe across the whole room and the enemy is looking at it for a couple of seconds before it hits - hardly a sneak attack.

At +50 damage it makes more sense, but I feel like the whole thing is getting even more complicated with additional rules. Esp. if you don't know the special +50 rule, it feels like the damage bonus drops too fast. I think I'm going to leave it as it is, and wait for more players to give feedback before changing.

The Rogue Sword is still useful for Rogue. It gives 30 seconds of concealment, while the regular rogue skill gives you only 10.

I have also changed the dwarfs, so only the one with the smelter machine has a special name. Others are just "Dwarf Miner".

[bigosaur]

Version 3.7.3 is online:

- new hero class: Rogue. Special ability is to use the sneak attack as the special attack with any melee weapon. You can still use the weapon's regular rage attack if you use it in the off-hand slot. He also has a special item that can unlock any door (except boss room doors), so you can unlock treasure rooms and escape tough battles
- Added a bunch of new achievements
- New potion: Vampire blood (get HP from kills. Multiple potions stack)
- New potion: Pickpocket (earn extra gold until you get hit. Stacks)
- New potion: Confidence (deal extra damage when full HP. Stacks)
- Added a new combat item: Sticky bombs. You can plant these as traps. When an enemy walks into one, it activates.
- Added a new pet: Racoon, who randomly drops sticky bombs across the room
- Added a new special room in the castle: the Gallery Room. This room is filled with enemy portraits and you can pick your favorite enemy to do double damage to them.

New NPCs:

- Join the Vampire Slayer NPC in the catacombs and help her kill a vampiress or the vampire boss for reward
- Dwarfs now sell stuff in the ice level
- Dwarven Blacksmith shows up sometimes and gives you ability to smelt weapons into runestones which are used to upgrade other weapons
- Mercenary NPC in the castle tavern gives you an item which can be used to hire mercenaries for fixed amount of gold. DON'T TOUCH HIS BEER!
- Vampire Sword now gives HP while hitting enemies (instead of on-kill)
- A Redhead Warrior NPC might challenge you for a duel on the battlements

Tweaks and improvements:

- Redhead Warriors in the desert now buff their swords before doing the petrify attack
- Disabled invulnerability frames for revival in dungeon shops
- Reviving in regular game now gives 41HP instead of 61HP
- Celestial Hammer rage attack now strikes all enemies in the room
- Darkness, Confidence, Money is Power, Mega Boost effects scale the skill percentage instead of adding to it. For example, if you have 50% melee and 100% darkness, it results in 100% melee skill (not 150%).
- fixed bug when the remote player could join the game twice (i.e. two heroes would show up) if (s)he pressed the button twice too quickly
- fixed bug then Steam library is installed in a path with non-ASCII characters
- minor fixes and tweaks to UI
- updated some of the translations
- dialogue in the intro story now supports translations

[Jubal]

Nice

I exhausted myself doing too much at a politics conference and my reaction times are now too slow and my muscles too taut to play games properly, I've got fatigue symptoms so I keep messing up simple stuff Hopefully I'll be back functioning in a few days.

[bigosaur]

I exhausted myself doing too much at a politics conference and my reaction times are now too slow and my muscles too taut to play games properly, I've got fatigue symptoms so I keep messing up simple stuff

This version is pretty much the same as the beta one you played (just some minor tweaks), so don't sweat about it. Get some rest.

BTW, I have a new game coming up. A simple and short programming puzzle game (actually, more about hacking CPUs and machine code than writing programs). It's a small project I have been working on and off whenever I got tired of doing the same thing (i.e. Son of a Witch) and now it's very close to being a fully playable game. I'll take a couple of weeks to push some final game mechanics and puzzles and release it. I will open a new thread in the forums as soon as I have some beta test version or a trailer to show.

[Jubal]

Managed the rare combo of bare bones + mana canteen + necro staff recently Having a full size undead army of 50 or so units is really fun - and impressive too, getting a volley of arrows and then the warriors rushing forward, with King Salamis plodding along behind to deliver bigger punches.