Week 3

Hello everyone! For week 3 of my Dungeon Master devlog series I want to look back on what’s been accomplished in the past week, and what needs to be done before a playable demo can be published.

Content

Last week I talked about replacing misses in the game with interesting and dynamic outcomes. Since then, I added potions to the game with various effects. Think of them like an active item in a game like The Binding of Isaac. I’m happy with the result so far, and I think they add an interesting design space to explore further once the game is out there.

I also added in the boss fights of the game, which involved more refactoring than I would have imagined. With that addition, the game finally has an end state besides failure, and it means all the minor features are fully implemented into the game. Essentially, it’s fully playable right now, just with none of the oomph that I know it sorely needs.

Juice

On that note, this week I’m going to focus on adding “juice” to the game. I want particles and animations when the hero levels up, a fanfare when an item spawns, shifting camera angles in combat, and more. These touches should help to make your decisions in the game feel weighty and satisfying, as well as helping to encourage the intended behaviour I want from my players.

I’m far from an expert on these things, but I think I got my last game, Quest Hero v0.1a, to a state I was happy with, so with enough trial an error, I’m confident I can nail down the effects I’m looking for.

Conclusion

This week’s a short update, as I’m still experimenting with a good format for these posts. In the future I want to focus on expanding my reach with a social media presence and even video logs, but I’m taking things one step at a time.

In the meanwhile, I’ve got some juicing to do!