Hello fellow reader! It's about time for a new development diary! A lot of time passed since the last one so a lot of content to cover!
Ok, so today's topics are:
Tutorial windows
Manual
Story telling
Hp Regeneration
Monster constant generation
Wands & Mana Gems
Trap mitigation
Tutorial windows
This is the first iteration attempt to have an in game teaching mechanism. The basic way this works is with special triggers that trigger (duh!) on special events, like for example having low HP:
In this case once health is below a certain point for the first time, a small window popups explaining the situation and how you might want to fix it. :P
Manual
The manual under the menu ('esc' key) is the location you go when you need to know or remember (this happens in roguelike games) keys and concepts of the game. One thing I decided is a must from past experiences is a search input, very handy!
Story Telling
I want Rogue Empire to have a rich story and compel the player to seek it out! And this is also true for the prelude. You won't have fancy CGI's because... budget. But! We have breathtaking illustrations that will tell you the story and I hope look forward for more!
You want more? Play the game!
HP Regeneration
Basically this means your character now has natural regeneration and heals slowly over time (with emphasizes on slowly). This regeneration depends mainly on the character race and constitution. If you consider your character is in a safe place (is there such a thing?) you can also rest (key 'r' if you are wondering) to pass in game time and accelerate the process for you the player.
Monster constant generation
Ok, you heal over time, so I need to throw some challenge in the mix. No more level wiped clean! Every turn there is a chance to generate a monster somewhere in the level. This is of curse self-balanced: The less monsters there are on the level the greater the generation and the more there are the lesser the generation!
Also monster sometimes wonder through the dungeon, so careful when resting out in an open place!
Wands & Mana Gems
Oh wands! The one item that lets warrior oriented classes enjoy the perks that come with mages spell casting!
Teleport wand in action! You can run or make your enemies disappear! Careful teleportation is a chaotic thing, you don't know where the destination could be!
Wands in Rogue Empire function somewhat different of other games. They don't have charges but are mana containers.
Sages with deep knowledge in the art of wand making imprint special artifacts with a spell and a mana vessel. They then transfer mana into the vessel! And woala, you have a functioning wand!
So when a wand is out of juice you can always transfer mana into them with the proper tool: A mana gem!
Mana gems come in different shapes and sizes are special stones attuned to any mana containing vessel. Meaning they can be used to transfer mana from themselves to a wand or similar ;).
Trap Mitigation
From the first release of the prelude, i got feedback about not existing anything in the game to mitigate traps (a big thanks to boogiemanspud). So in order to improve this situation I added:
A wand with the detect traps enchantment, that lasts quite a while.
A warrior talent: TrapPreparedArmorI & TrapPreparedArmorII. This talent lessens the effects of traps by quite a bit!
Some closing comments
Tomorrow Saturday (if you are a patron) or Sunday for everyone else will be the second release of the prelude. It's still not finished story & length wise, but it adds a lot of content (including but not limited to the stuff I talked in this development diary). You can get the download link at our patreon profile or in this site there is a link to a post with the installer.
Please you 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!
Hope you like this development diary!
Till next Friday! :P