Curse of the Dead Gods News

Curse of the Dead Gods is available for play in Alpha! We're looking for new Alpha Testers, are you the one?

To start playing, register for the Alpha: https://curse-of-the-dead-gods.com/first-explorer/
Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/qFrSrV4

[h2]The Gear System 2.0. Update[/h2]
[h3]New features[/h3]

• Tutorial
  + A tutoquest has been added at the beginning of the game to help new players use some basic moves and combo.

• Loot 2.0.
  + New ways to find Gear: chests and enemies can now drop items you can collect on the fly.
  + Gear Levels: each item (Weapon or Relic) now has a Level, showing their basic level of power.
  + Weapons rework: Weapons will now carry Affixes, adding special properties. The Weapon pool has been redesigned with adjusted effects and with some new ones as well.
  + Relics rework: you can now carry up to 6 Relics at a time. Relics of a higher power can now increase one statistic additionally to their main effect. The Relics pool has been redesigned, with adjusted effects and also new ones.
  + Sanctuaries always offer Gear of a higher Power Level than those lootable by chests or enemies.

Loot

• Game Scaling
  + The game now level-ups each time a Champion or Boss is defeated
  + Enemies power, Traps damage, Gold Prices, and Loot level increase!

• Statistics
  + Statistics have been rescaled: 5 points in one statistic is now equivalent of 1 point in the last versions.
  + Blessing Sanctuaries now increase chosen stat(s) by +5.
  + Each point of Constitution increases Maximum Health by +50 (does not restore Health anymore, the current percentage of life is kept).
  + Each point of Dexterity increases all Weapons' damage by +1% (Value is directly integrated into the white damage number when you consult a Weapon in your inventory)
  + Each point of Perception increases Gold collected from any source by +4%.

• Healing
  + The majority of healing effects are now expressed as a percentage of Maximum Health rather than a fixed value, making them more powerful with increased Constitution.
  + New healing Relics have been added, as well as some healing Affixes for Weapons.

• Critics
  + Introduction of Critics, allowing weapons to deal an extra +50% damage under certain conditions.
  + Critical damage is displayed with a yellow number and a special FX playing around the screen.
  + By default, some Weapons now deal critical damage:
  Swords and Heavy Two-Handed Weapons deal critical damage on Combo Finisher.Claws deal critical damage on Charged Attack.
  Daggers deal critical damage when striking enemies in the back.
  Spears deal critical damage when striking enemies with the tip of the Weapon.
  Pistols and Bows deal critical damage on Perfect shots.
  Maces have no default way to deal critical damage.

• New UI
  + New Main Menu with links to Steam page, Discord server, and latest Patch note. It’s also prettier, isn’t it?
  + New Pause Menu with Inventory and Settings access.
  + New displays for Weapons, Relics, and Curses.
  + New Buying Menu for Sanctuaries.

Even Henry looks happy

[h3]New content[/h3]

• New Rooms
  + Two new exploration Rooms have been added in the Jaguar Section.

• New Curses
  + Dark Fire
  + Living Temple

• Art
  + New look for the Timer Challenge rooms + New mechanism to start the challenge.
  + Champions and Boss’ rooms have been decorated.
  + Blood Urns have been remodeled.
  + Timer and Champions/Boss Health bars have been redesigned.

Look at those cute paw prints

• Sound Design and Music
  + Some changes have been made in the Twins Champion and Jaguar Boss rooms.
  

[h3]Balancing[/h3]

• Final Curse
  + Damage over time has been reduced from 10 HP/sec to 5 HP/sec.

• Bows
  + Bows have been reworked to get a more unique feeling when using them:
  + When using a bow, Dodge turns into a Dash, with no actual dodging window but costing No Stamina.
  (Note that this modification is a prototype, and is subject to changes according to feedback).

They see me dashing...

[h3]Fixed bugs[/h3]

• Crash when Parrying as been fixed.
  
• Contextual actions are quicker to trigger
  
• Now possible to cancel a Charged Attack with a Two-Handed Heavy Weapon with a parry or a dodge roll before it is released.

[h3]Known bugs[/h3]

• Roll into walls and getting stuck out of the map.
  
• Projectiles that go through enemies and don’t hit them.
  
• When buying a Relic at a Sanctuary and switching with one in your Inventory, a non-selected Relic can be replaced with the newly purchased one. Double-check!
  
• Bonuses to Critics don’t apply correctly to Critical Hits done with the tip of Spears
  
• When removing the Final Curse, the effect of the Curse is still active in the current room. Get out of the room to cancel the Curse completely. RUN!

This document presents a new design iteration for the Permanent Progression of Curse of the Dead Gods.

To give players tools to unlock new items and boons during their journey, let us introduce a new currency: Crystal Skulls. Unlike Gold, Crystal Skulls are a currency that persists after death. Players can accumulate these one run after the other.

Where to find Crystal Skulls:

Crystal Skulls are to be found during core gameplay as a collectible.

+ Regular enemies have a small chance to drop one Crystal Skull when killed.
+ Elite enemies always drop one Crystal Skull when killed.
+ Champions & Boss always drop a large quantity of Crystal Skulls when defeated.
+ Extra Crystal Skulls may also be found in some chests or hidden places.

Underworld and cycle of Death:

+ Crystal Skulls are meant to be offered to the Dead Gods to permanently restore a portion of their power.
+ Whenever a player fails to finish the game (they die), they meet the Dead Gods in the Underworld, an ethereal place where they can offer Crystal Skulls to get persistent boons.
+ After offering Crystal Skulls and unlocking new elements, the character will be resurrected by the Dead Gods at the start of the Temple

Unlockable Conditions:

Every Unlockable in the game has conditions to be accessible for payment:

+ Starting Upgrades will unlock right after the first Death of the hero character
+ A majority of upgrades are hidden at the start, but their existence is known to the player. The game will tip the player with a more or less cryptic clue on how to unlock them.
+ Some Upgrades can be linked to others to form chains of unlockings, meaning players have to unlock one item first to be able to unlock the next one(s).

🡲 Once unlocked, the upgrade may be purchased by the player if he can afford it with enough Crystal Skulls. Bought upgrades are persistent for all next runs.

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We hope you enjoy those new ideas and this series! Those features are not implemented in the game yet but should be a part of an upcoming update. If you have any feedback or question, drop a comment in the comment section below.

Next episode will dive into Weapons & Relics upgrades, stay tuned!

Register for the Alpha: https://curse-of-the-dead-gods.com/first-explorer/
Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/qFrSrV4
Get monthly newsletter about the development of Curse of the Dead Gods: http://www.eepurl.com/gBjLqr

This document presents a new design iteration for the Permanent Progression of Curse of the Dead Gods.

Permanent Progression is a typical aspect of modern roguelite games: the game teases players to « try again » by offering some short, medium and long term milestones players can reach even in defeat.

Dos & Don'ts

What we DO want to achieve with the Permanent Progression system:

+ Deliver content in a more smoothly way: full content can be overwhelming for newcomers. In terms of Gear, every weapon or relic is not required for new players to enjoy their first runs. Teasing players to unlock new Gear in their next runs is a good way to stimulate their curiosity while introducing new concepts in a more digestible manner.

+ Tease players with Secrets: players would be more excited to play again if more things were to be discovered through the runs. Secrets can play an important part in the « play again » aspect, especially if they tease players during their runs (i.e. inaccessible chests or doors, etc.)

+ Speeding up experienced players’ runs: experienced players should be able to speed up their runs to avoid spending too much time in the early stages of the game, focusing on reaching higher and more difficult parts.

+ Handle long term replayability: long term Milestones and New Game+ mechanics must encourage players to try again, even after a failed run.


What we DON’T want to achieve with the Permanent Progression :

+ Holding content and fun stuff for try-harders: we have to make sure to have an exciting initial setup for first runs so they are the most enjoyable possible. The game must immediately be fun and attractive, therefore not asking hours of gameplay before revealing itself.

+ Increase power through grinding: we want to keep the game fair and balanced for every run, especially the early ones. Players must not get the feeling that grinding powerups through permanent progression is the way to reach further parts of the game.


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Thanks for reading and playing!

We hope you enjoy those new ideas and this series! Those features are not implemented in the game yet but should be a part of an upcoming update. If you have any feedback or question, drop a comment in the comment section below.

Next episode will dive into Crystal Skulls, stay tuned!

Register for the Alpha: https://curse-of-the-dead-gods.com/first-explorer/
Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/qFrSrV4
Get monthly newsletter about the development of Curse of the Dead Gods: http://www.eepurl.com/gBjLqr

This document presents a new Design iteration around the Gear System of Curse of the Dead Gods. In this third and last episode of our series, we'll focus on Game Scaling.

Tactics over randomness

Skill learning is the main factor in our vision of the players’ progression. Players must progress in their mastery of the game and get excited to dig further. We must keep this aspect at a higher level and, of course, fully reward it.

Tactics come in second, and blends naturally with Skills that the players acquire. We have to let the players be "smart" in their choices: Resources management, map navigation, choices on what Gear to get and what synergies to build, etc. Those crucial choices make a real game impact.

Randomness is essential to reshape each run, and get this exciting feeling of “What will I get this time?”. It must always be integrated to create renewed situations. However, Randomness shouldn’t come to a point that players lose all control over the game and let “luck” determine whether a run will be exciting or not.

→ « Let the player shape the game, not the game shape the player » - Anonymous Lurker quote

Scaling after each Champions & Bosses

To properly handle the new Gear System, we need to add scale to the game. In the current Alpha, there is no scaling implemented. Meaning weapons, enemies, damage, health, etc. are all the same from the start of the Section to the end.

Different elements will support the scale to fit the players' progression and always encourage them to empower themselves:

• Gear Items (Weapons & Relics) are added a new LEVEL parameter. Gear can use its LEVEL to index variable values so the same item Level 1 or Level 10 will bear very different power potential.
  
• Weapons’ Base Damage: Base Damage of Weapons are indexed by the Weapon’s LEVEL
  
• Relics’ Affixes: Scalable Powers are indexed by the Relic’s LEVEL

To fit the players' progression, adversity has to level up to always propose a fair challenge. Level upping the adversity will cause players to oscillate between moments of weakness (right after the level up) along with a great need for empowering and moments of power (right before the next level up) where players are at their full potential (Champions and Bosses Fights).

Scaling after each CHAMPION and BOSS is defeated (Sub-section cleared) will make these changes:

• Enemies Hit Points: Same enemies become more resistant
  
• Enemies Damage: Same enemies deal more damage
  
• Traps Damage: Same traps deal more damage
  
• Gold Offerings Prices: Better Gear is proposed at an increased Price
  
• Looted and Sanctuary Items: Found Items have increased LEVELS

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Thanks for reading and playing!

We hope you enjoy those new ideas and this series! Those features are not implemented in the game yet but should be a part of an upcoming update. If you have any feedback or question, drop a comment in the comment section below.

This was the last episode of the New Gear System 2.0. series. We will soon start another one that will dive into Permanent Progression. Stay tuned!

Register for the Alpha: https://curse-of-the-dead-gods.com/first-explorer/
Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/qFrSrV4
Get monthly newsletter about the development of Curse of the Dead Gods: http://www.eepurl.com/gBjLqr

This document presents a new Design iteration around the Gear System of Curse of the Dead Gods. In this second episode of our series, we are exploring synergies.

Lack of synergies

Synergies between the different Gear already exist in the current Alpha but are either long to create (due to the lack of regular Loot) or not likely to be even possible (randomness with few items to collect are less likely to create great synergies). With increased Gear variety that is likely to come, more ways of making synergies are needed.

→ Synergies are what makes a run unique and add to the feeling that “choices matter”

More synergies!

Synergies are formed by the association of Weapons, Relics, and Statistics. While the current Alpha state of the game proposes some good synergies, we plan to add a new layer of possibilities to open up for quicker and more complex synergies.

Keywords & New Effects:

Introducing new concepts in the game allows to open up some way of empowering, such as:

• Critical Hits: Some moves can be naturally (or transformed by Gear into) Critical Hits, increasing damage by a Critical modifier (+50%, Can be improved by Gear).
  
• Main, Off-Hand, Two-Handed Weapons: Relic upgrades may specify what kind of weapon they apply instead of being generic.

They are more to come that are still work in progress.

Natural Combos:

Elementary rules in the game will play a more important part by triggering special effects when they are combined:

• Fire applied on a Poisoned character triggers en explosion of Felfire, lighting him up and instantly dealing damage equal to poison remaining on the character.
  
• Poison applied on a Burning character extinguishes him but lasts X% longer with increased damage.
  
• Dark attacks are CRITICAL on Poisoned Enemies or explosive when striking a Burning enemy.

The lightening element is still a work in progress and will complete the elementary rules.

All these Natural Combos will be possibly improved by Gear.



Affixed Weapons:

In the Alpha state of Curse of the Dead Gods, Weapons can have one single special attribute, giving a special affinity for that Gear. We plan to develop this to give the possibility for Weapons to carry multiple effects:

• Major Effect: One Major effect that tends to be unique per Weapon (e.g. Elementary Attacks (Fire, Poison, Dark) or Special Projectile on a Weapon, etc.)
  
• Affixes: One or more minor effects can be affixed to a Weapon, to give it a particular flavor. Weapons of better quality carry more affixes. (e.g.+X% damage to Burning characters, Piercing Projectiles, Critical Hits deal 100% more damage)

Affixes are RANDOMLY chosen between those acceptable by the given Weapon.

Improved Relics:

Relics bring powerful passive powers to the player. They will be reworked to:

• Have a limited amount of Relics Slots, to encourage players to select the most adequate ones.
  
• Scale with the game progression so more powerful Relics will always come in play and tease the player to gain power.
  
• Relics at higher levels will bring, along with their main power, increasing amounts of Statistics buffs (Constitution/Dexterity/Greed).
  
• Produce new synergies according to new features/game elements.

Rescaled Statistics:

• Statistics are the natural power leveling of the main character. In the Alpha version, they were only acquired by dedicated shrines’ offerings or more exceptionally with some specific rare Relics.
  
• Statistics are planned to be lowered significantly in terms of how much power each point gives, but they will be present in Advanced Relics as an extra passive attribute (like affixes), making them more common to upgrade.
  
• Statistics Shrines will continue to propose huge buffs of Statistics without the cost of a Relic.
  
• Have a limited amount of Stats Slots, making them an always interesting choice especially when it comes to strengthening specific synergies.

Expect More Content:

New Gear System will, of course, add a lot of content:

• New Fighting Styles to come: New Main, Off-Hand and Two-Handed Styles.
  
• New Weapons: Main attributes will be reworked, Dozens of affixes will be added to the mix.
  
• New Relics: New attributes opening up to new synergies.
  
• New Curses: More chaos to come!

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Thanks for reading and playing!

We hope you enjoy those new ideas and this series! Those features are not implemented in the game yet but should be a part of an upcoming update. If you have any feedback or question, drop a comment in the comment section below.

Next episode will dive into Game Scaling, stay tuned!

Register for the Alpha: https://curse-of-the-dead-gods.com/first-explorer/
Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/qFrSrV4
Get monthly newsletter about the development of Curse of the Dead Gods: http://www.eepurl.com/gBjLqr