First of all, happy new year to everyone!
This past week's took much time from development, as Christmas and New Year takes a lot of time away :( Nevertheless I want to share the new features and improvements in development. Some of these where suggestions by you guys. My thanks to you!
Ok, for today's huge topic list we have:
Font improvements
Inventory Improvement
Extended keyboard support
Message Log
Look action
New Item modifiers
More interesting Item generation
Font improvements
This was something that started to trouble all the parts of the game: story, in-game texts, etc. To address it most fonts now have a border to enhance the contrast and make them look sharper. Results are very nice, look it for yourself:
Inventory Improvement
Basically, in the inventory if no category of item is selected you see all the items currently carrying. This is one of those good to have additions suggested that turned out to be very useful, especially at the start of the game.
Extended keyboard support
Brought by the reddit rogue-like community and something I missed completely:
The ability to target with the keyboard :o
I got so accustomed to using the mouse during testing that I completely forgot something very important for hardcore rogue-like players. I am sorry but it is done :)
In Game Message Log
Another great suggestion from the reddit community, I added a log recall all messages and important information from previous actions. It has no proper graphical UI yet, but here is a small screenshot of it:
Look action
I added a new action also suggested by people who tested the prelude: The Look action.
The look would mainly be used on new foes to get information about them. At the moment the information is independent of the character stats, but I plan to improve this in the future.
You can see the prompt information in the game log:
New Item modifiers
This is something still in progress as it is it something big. At the moment the only items modifiers to be had where +toHit and +toDmg. This is so boring, right?
So I am working in a lot of new modifier to add flavor to the game and make you think twice when changing gear. Let me show you some examples of modifiers that could appear in the game:
Sword of burning: Has a chance to burn your foes.
Hood of Agility: Gives +x agility ... duh!
Scale mail of cold protection: Reduces cold damage and effects.
Ring of invisibility: No, it is not the ring of power! It just turns you invisible.
Any ideas of your own are very much welcomed!
More interesting Item generation
As more and more items are added to the game I decided to do an overhaul to the item generation. This goes hand in hand with the new modifiers to make drops more interesting.
The end result is the following:
Less consumables like food and keys.
This means more wearable gear!
When creating modifiers for items, depending on the current dungeon level you have a chance (X) to get a modifier. If this happens you are re chanced to get an even better modifier, and so on and so on. This means any dungeon can host great or bad items but deeper levels will usually have better items and modifiers.
Some closing comments
Not sure if you know about it, but Rogue Empire got Greenlit on Steam! I wanted to thank all of you that helped make this possible!
As for the release date for the additions talked today, it will probably be at the end of next week. As always first for my patrons (thanks very much!) and one day later for everyone else!
The coming days are complicated with all the festivities and I won't be able to do much sadly. So I expect the next development diary be mid-January.
In case you wonder, you can get the download the latest version of the prelude at itch.io for free or donate to the cause!
Please support the game!
If it is within your reach, support Rogue Empire at patreon.com/roguempire! You can also follow us and spread the word about the game in twitter.com/RoguEmpireRPG or facebook.com/roguempirerpg. Anything helps, no matter how small!
So I should say:
Till next time!