With so much detailed feedback and great suggestions from players, I was really excited to get to work on rewriting and upgrading some game-changing aspects of The Warriorlock!
Stat Regeneration Overhaul
The stat regeneration system for Health and Soul power was, as some players put it, 'effectively useless' and 'a joke.' I heard you. I saw and felt your pain. I made it all better.
Players and their chosen party members will now have their Health and Soul points drip-generated at triple the original rate! I had previously cobbled together a quick change to the settings to see how it would effect the game overall, and then spent the last few weeks implementing the changes permanently and properly.
The healing drip is passive, and will run continuously in the background while the player is in-game, regardless of whether or not they are standing at rest, or walking/moving around. The drip is paused of course during combat, but will return to recharging after each battle has concluded.
Thank you for your messages and posts!
Drakko Immortuous Steam Achievement
I have re-written the Steam achievement script for the cavern boss, so that the reward trigger is now applied when the player and their party encounter the Drakko Immortuous, regardless of whether or not they win in battle, as this achievement is intended to reward discovery over victory.
The original achievement could only be obtained if the player defeated the cavern boss, but for some players this achievement was either very difficult or inconvenient to unlock, or for some reason did not trigger after combat. I will work in an additional achievement for victory at some point over the new year, for those who would like to try for both. : ).
Rampage Skill
The Rampage skill is one of those aspects that can really tip the table in your favor, but there are few who get to fully realize how helpful it can be, as it was never available until reaching character level 9. After a few play-throughs this summer, I found that this setting was a little excessive, and took away from some of the potential fun had when pulling out this skill in battle, like a concealed 45 magnum, and then smashing the crap out of a hard-to-kill enemy.
I have changed the skill setting for each relevant character so 'Rampage' is now available at level 6. Enjoy!
Repel Spice Rate Reduction
I set a few traps in testing the original 60-second enemy repel feature of Repel Spice, and found that if the timer was still active/running when the player triggered a narrative intro, or transition into/out of a level area, then 1/12 times or so, the timer would reset and get thrown into a loop, preventing the event commands for 'Stop Timer' to execute with 100% effectiveness. I like Repel Spice. I'm a little attached to it, so I don't want to eliminate it altogether, but I had to do something. So, I've reduced the timer setting to 1/4 minute, and wrote in many extra command lines at most level transitions, to help ensure that the timer executes properly and allows enemies to resume their usual hunt and attack behavior. The command priority is in the right order, but sometimes with ruby code and multiple scripts running, there can be some tripped hurdles (not tripped turtles) when the game window is loading a next/new screen, or transitioning between area maps. Anyway, it's working flawlessly for me now, so please report any bugs as usual in the discussion thread. Appreciate it huge time. : )
Thanks everyone! Ya'll are awesome for supporting my humble project and helping me to grow as a game developer, and continue doing improved work. Can't wait to announce and show you all my next game in 2020! Cheers and Happy December!
Reward Bounty & Skill Updates
Thank you everyone for taking the time to give me helpful feedback on The Warriorlock. I've implemented the following positive adjustments and bug fixes.
Character Level Cap & Key Reward Bounty
I've adjusted all character level caps to 50. Usually a level of 10+ is more than adequate, but if anyone is actually crazy enough to attempt the grind in reaching this max upper limit, then I will reward a bounty of 1 Warriorlock Steam Key per party member whose level reaches 50. The key(s) can be traded, gifted, used in giveaways or resold. It doesn't matter to me what you do with them.
To qualify, players must post either an image or video in the Community Hub, of the character party menu, showing the character's level(s) at 50. Once this is done, a copy of your save file must be emailed to me: jcuffs@gmail.com for confirmation.
Character Party Menu screen looks like this:
Reaper Skill Adjustment
The skill Reaper has been updated to be more lethal, apply only to the four blunt weapons (sword, hammer, axe, labrys), and now includes a basic animation with the character attack. The Reaper skill is acquired at level 13, which will now deliver a death blow 99% of the time to any one target (even big bosses) for a cost of 100AP (action points). *This skill cannot be acquired for ranged or light weapons (bow, crossbow, daggers, long knife).
Rampage Skill Adjustment
The skill Rampage has been updated to show 5 consecutive attacks by the character, instead of one action x 5 damage, so you can now watch each of the 5 attacks be executed one at a time, with the damage and misses calculated separately. It makes for a more visually detailed execution, and also allows the player to view how each attack affects the target.
Special thanks to player Pika! Pika! for the detailed feedback with fixing/adjusting the skills and character level caps.
Combat Engine Upgrades
The combat engine is a heavily customized system from two completely separate script engines, which I re-worked over many months for The Warriorlock, specifically programming a dynamic turn-based system which would include a stat-driven turn-order, A/P charging/wait feature with animated gauges, and fully animated combat for both party members and enemies. With this customization has come a lot of bugs (reported by players. Thank you!) and multiple re-writes of the 3 core scripts.
I have been working over the past 6 months to continually improve the combat, and as of Sept. 2nd, I have completed the latest update, which now allows for multiple action skills, such as Rampage, to pause all non-essential commands, while executing and animating as many times as needed, without interrupting the turn-order gauges or enemy action sequence. This was a major headache to implement because so many commands are waiting to execute at any given time with the custom ATB system.
I had already announced the Rampage skill upgrades, but upon further testing yesterday, found that it was affecting the combat system when more than 2 enemies are present. The player turn order was resetting, and many 'successful' hits to enemy targets were not calculating. So, I worked on it all through the night until 6am this morning, changing the command order when the player selects any multi-action skill, and now finally it works flawlessly.
If you level up enough to acquire the Rampage skill or you find any of the Spell Books that teach summons for example, please note any oddities or bugs in combat and let me know. I am 99.9% certain that it's running hot and smooth now, but your feedback is invaluable. Thank you!
I need to sleep, so I'm off to dream of a Carrion Road crawl, hopefully without running into any pantless Bearded Trolls—those bastards are brutal.
Some Fine Tuning
There are a few changes/improvements I've made which will affect new players, and those restarting games attempting a new crawl with a different combination of party members.
First off, I have adjusted the formula for hit/miss stats when calculating %'s of successful and failed combat strikes and/or special skill deployment, to allow for more instances of 'counter attacks' on behalf of the player, which come in very handy as a bonus when facing down more than 1 opponent. Also, counterattacks do not count toward the player turn count, so there is now an increased chance of being awarded multiple turns to strike and/or use items. It won't happen too often, but you should notice an increase in bonus turns + counterattacks. It feels more balanced, but still keeps you on the edge of your seat, as some enemy troops can still wipe you out quick if your 'SPEED' stat is lower earlier in the game. TIP: Use your bonus EXP points to pad out your SPEED stat early on if you want to have increased 'first-turn' starts to most battles.
Second, I have now default-equipped the player inventory with 3 consumable items (Prime, Essence & Scarlet Harlot) from the start of the game to help out with the first part of the crawl, before you have a chance to collect some useful items for battle. It won't make a huge difference, but definitely allows for a hail Mary or two if you get caught with low HP and are taking a beating.
Again, try to avoid most battles until you have collected some items and selected a few party members. It will give you a great advantage overall.
Third, players can now start a new game with the option to completely skip all intro, narrative and dialogue scenes to start out in the open on the other side of the Gnar Wall, placing them in immediate danger with full control over the game.
Please share where you can with any groups or other player friends who may appreciate this little gem.
Cheers!
Dee
Shadow Bug Fixed & New Inventory Item!
Many high-5's to the select few who have experienced the Shadow Bug, and reported it to me with the details needed to resolve it! I'll make this quick.
The bug was only affecting a handful of players, which led me to a script and event conflict where if the enemy shadow spawned, but did not update within the allotted 5 frames needed, then it would spawn in a passive state. I've gone ahead and adjusted the script with a more lenient frame update requirement, and also added a new default menu item just for redundancy.
The new item is called 'Entice Spice' and is added to your inventory by default after you cross through the Gnar Wall.
Entice Spice is non-consumable, so you'll always have it and cannot sell it. If for any reason you encounter shadows in the game that do not engage with you, simply go to your item inventory and select Entice Spice! It will automatically activate the global switch for enemy shadows, and they will come after you with a vengeance.
Now, for those of you who currently have this bug, the new item won't help you until you have a new save file, so I have gone ahead and created a new folder in the Steam Warriorlock build titled 'Back-up SAVE (party selection)' in which there is a 'Save02' file, with instructions. Basically, you go into the main Warriorlock game folder on your computer and copy/paste the new Save02 file to start the game off bug-free, skipping right through to the party member selection scene.
I put a note inside the new folder with complete instructions, but feel free to ask for any assistance.
Last step is to exit out of the Steam client completely and restart it, just to make sure all your data is up to date.
I want to thank everyone for their patience, assistance and overall human kindness in alerting me to and helping me with this. Have a great weekend!
Cheers!
Dee
Updated Key Bindings Map
I'm just posting this new key map image I made here (same one in the game item menu) for anyone wanting a preview of the native controller and keyboard bindings before launching the game.
The Warriorlock was developed with a heavily customized VX Ace engine, and so the bindings are a little limited, but there are few necessary inputs in the game other than 'Select,' 'Action,' and 'Escape,' so it's very easy to get used to. Also, the default controller scheme is already preset with the same default settings as an Xbox 360 controller. Hope this helps!
Anyone using a Steam controller and having issues with functionality, please let me know, and include your OP system so I can report it to Steam for review. The Warriorlock was tested by Steam staff with their latest controller, and it works as it should for them, with the caveat that the controller must be plugged in before launching the game (hence the 'partial controller support' notice) so it's usually just a simple input setting adjustment.
Thank you!
25 Achievements
25 chievo's are now available! I have been testing and breaking the game to much of my own amusement, to offer 25 decent achievements for hunters. Happy hunting!
Although I have tested thoroughly and now have 24/25 achievements in my profile, please report any weirdness here if your achievements are not updating.
Bug fixes:
1. Exploitable skill bug for 'Death Wish' in which the player could attack repeatedly without losing HP, and also would not fall into death state if HP reached 0 during the skill attack. Fix: I have recreated the skill as 'Reaper,' which will give the player a very nice new skill to kill with. Enjoy!
2. Icon Set for treasure hud was looking rough for some reason, and I found that when I had updated the png sheet to a reduced file size type (index), it left some gnarly artifacts around the smaller icons for the treasure pop-up window. Fix: I replaced the sheet with an original and updated the treasure hud, so now the pop-up icons look much smoother all around.
That's all for now. Have a great night, day, dream etc.
Cheers!
Dee
Steam Achievements Are Coming!
This little Skrill did not at all like the Ho Ho hat I put upon him this morning. He was quite upset by it actually, until I gave him my ipad and let him watch Rudolph 1964. He's watched it 3 times now, and his favorite bit is when Bumble, the abominable snowman, tries to catch and eat Rudolph alive; to which he snickers and drools with great delight. Merry Christmas you sick little bastard.
I am working on Christmas Day, trying to get a test up and running for Steam achievements in The Warriorlock. It will take some time to implement the Steam API into the game script, but so far so good. I hope to have this ready for everyone early in 2019. Achievements will all be obtainable, although some far more challenging than others.
I'd prefer to keep achievements limited to a smaller, more valuable total of 25 or so, making them more relevant and well-suited to this size of game.
If any of you have suggestions for or about achievements, please comment here, and I will take everything into consideration for the update.
Thanks, and have a merry whatever you are or are not celebrating today!
Dee
Improvements
https://youtu.be/xZ9_EHdTP3c
Light in dark places
1. Having a light in dark places is really handy, as some of you have noticed. For those of you who missed this step, and found yourselves crawling around in the bleak darkness of tunnels and caverns, I have added an in-game message to remind players that they should go directly to the Northwind Outpost once they have crossed into the Winter Mountains through the Gnar Wall gates. Also, added similar hint/message at the Danger Hole entrance scene in case the player has not yet activated their new, bright talent.
View Controls
2. I have added the game controls image to the scene when first crossing over the Gnar Wall (as an option) so that the player can now look over the controls before playing the game. Yes, there is a full screen option that stretches the game window to fit most resolutions (press f5, and f6 to adjust bars). Keep in mind that the native game window is 16:9 at 1024 x 576, so it will always look more detailed/crisp if left in windowed mode instead of full screen.
Repel monsters when reading guides
3. Today I patched in a 'repel enemy' command that will now run automatically whenever the player stops to open the Hintsheet, or the new Controls guide from the item menu. This way, you can open up either one anywhere in the game (mostly), and instantly have some peace while you read over it, instead of having to find a safe space first, where no monsters are coming at you. This command should work throughout the game.
Action Points
4. I have adjusted the AP gauge to now boost/fill by 50% for each successful attack command action, so that you only need 2 attack actions (misses count) to reach 100% charge, and activate any special talents. This will be especially helpful in the beginning of the game when those skills are more accessible, and also when fighting tough enemies, as your party members can use their special talents more often in battle.
Skip turn in Battle
5. You can skip or 'pass' your character's turn to another in battle, for a cost in AP (lowers the gauge 25-50% depending on stats), and not lose a turn. Just press 'shift' or equivalent, and you can select any party member you like instead of the default order, which is determined by SPEED stat. This is not new, but I have now added this feature to the Hintsheet, and also fixed a small bug where the selector did not always move to the next character.
That's all for now. Hope you all have a great week/weekend. Please take the time to rate or upvote any reviews of the game that you find helpful. Thanks.
Cheers!
Justin
NEW 'Skip intro' option.
I have created and patched in a new 'skip intro' option at the very start of the game, so that the player can now choose to either begin from the first dialogue scene, or they can skip the introductions altogether and begin the story upon arriving at the Gnar Wall the following morning.
Choosing to start from the beginning does have an advantage though, in that you get more of the story obviously, and you may also receive an additional combat reward item for participating and succeeding in the intro combat event.
Cheers!
Autumn Update
Warriorlock Steam Build #3328629
Thank you everyone for your helpful feedback over the past couple of months!
You are ALL awesome, and I really appreciate you taking the time to write reviews, leave comments and otherwise help me improve The Warriorlock.
This update establishes many of the adjustments and bug fixes I have been hard at work on lately. The latest build has been uploaded/updated this morning.
It is important to me that you are challenged in this game, but that you are also rewarded in return as you progress through the story and along the road. With your feedback I was able to better gauge a variety of player experiences to find a middle-ground which is more fair to both sides.
Rather than simply making enemies 'easier,' I have taken the time instead to adjust a few factors which now may give the player a little more breathing room in certain situations, and also benefit from improved odds at helpful item(s) discovery. Keep in mind that you will still die hard of course, perhaps just not as often.
Enemy Swarming
This rarely happened to me, until lately when I was caught in a corner of the Black Passage by a mob of three shadows that spawned simultaneously and I got hit with back to back mayhem and died so hard. As requested by some of you, I have tweaked the instances per second of each and every enemy spawn group in the game so that they now respawn with an additional 5 seconds in between groups of the same location. Basically what this means is that you will have a little more time in between spawning events, but enemy groups will still spawn together in pairs or more.
So, if you beat or bribe a few enemies, you will now have a few additional precious seconds to get out of the way or sort/check your inventory for much needed assistance before the next group spawns. My advice is to avoid corpse piles and/or corners if you are low on health, as more enemies like to haunt these areas. Sometimes you can't just get every item either if there are too many monsters. Prioritize, and when all else fails, RUN.
Drop Rate for Helpful Items
This one is a tricky balance because I have designed an item spawning system that completely randomizes the number and type of items that spawn in each area, and many of the enemies are almost assured to drop some form of item as well. This means that no two people will ever play The Warriorlock and find/receive the same items in the same places as they progress. It's exciting because you never know for sure what you're going to get. However, in some cases the luck of the draw is just really not in your favor and things can quickly become daunting. As suggested by you, I have slightly increased the probability % of almost all healing and recovery items in all areas, yet I have left the awesome randomization mechanic intact. So, although you will have a higher chance of finding the really good stuff when you need it most, there's always still a chance you'll draw a crappy card sometimes. But it's a fair compromise this way, and keeps the challenge level right where it belongs.
Recycled Text & Dialogue
In some locations with story characters, their dialogue will recycle if you leave and return to a shop location or the inn. As per your suggestions, I have made some adjustments to the dialogue strings so that they do not recycle as often. I have not adjusted it for each and every location though, as I already implemented a skip text function when reading messages throughout the game in general. You can press the action button to speed up the text drawing, and then skip to the next section/window.
Auto Save Slot
Due to some confusion with the auto save being labelled 'Slot 1' in the save menu, I have gone ahead and changed it to read Auto Save, as well as relabeling the ascending 3 slots 1-3. This will help to organize your saves better, and keep things simple.
Curative & Boost Spell Success %
Sometimes a spell talent would fail completely, even if your level was improved and you had equipped one or more stat-boosting accessories. You guys have suggested making these types of talents more probable in their execution, and I have done so. All curative and boost spells targeting the player and/or party members now have an inherent 95% chance of success, BUT, I have also added a random variable by a factor of 0-3 on each end of that action based on your character's SPEED and KARMA stats, so that there is still a little suspense once in a while. Nothing is a sure thing when you are fighting for your life in The Warriorlock, but now at least you can use your awesome healing and boost talents with a little more confidence!
Bug Fixes
*Fixed transport/teleport bug when returning to an area later in the game after exiting that area via the same method. The player would be 'stuck' in a room with no exit, leaving them to have to start from their last save point.
*Fixed 'image not found' bug when picking up Celestial Tears and not seeing it in the inventory. Checked all other items for similar issue. None found.
*Fixed combat animation freeze when attacking with Gordo's special talent. Process to search and swap spritesheet graphic was not updating properly, so I added a slight wait time (15 frames) to the queue to prevent overlap. It works!
There are also some other minor text box mis-alignments and tile overlap on a few maps (nothing noticeable), so I will be working to get those updated by this weekend.
I hope that you will be encouraged to share The Warrirolock with others in your Steam groups and social media. I'm one person doing all of this, so every little bit helps a lot!
Thanks you!
Dee Snuts
p.s. Feel free to nominate The Warriorlock on Steam for 'Labor of Love.'
