Ziggurat 2 News

We're going to do a series of articles focusing on specific parts of the game's development, explaining a bit how they work and their changes compared to the previous game.

Today we'll be talking about guardians, the bosses you'll be facing at the end of each dungeon.

[h3]Guardians[/h3]

Guardians are the final challenge in every floor of the dungeon. Waiting to overwhelm you with their powers and might, on top of bringing their minions to aid them.

While the Early Access release features a limited amount of guardians, they still pose a threat even when you learn their patterns.

[h3]Changes from Ziggurat 1[/h3]

In Ziggurat 1, most guardians had a weakness in the form of "one-shotting": With specific builds an amulets tailored for burst damage, you could deplete the life of guardians before they could even start their attack. On top of that, they spend some time spawning minions before attacking, so this could be also exploited.

On Ziggurat 2, minions show up by their own, without any special cast animation from the guardian. On top of that, when reaching specific thresholds of health, guardians will cast a shield preventing additional damage, until the spawned minions are dealt with. While this shield is active, the guardian can still attack you, so you better deal with those minions quickly!

To compensate for all that, minions are only spawned once: They won't come back once you deal with them, so clearing the arena of the smaller enemies before heading for the big guy is a perfectly valid tactic.

We've also removed their "personal rooms", and "spawn level" (at least for now), so now there's no way to know which boss you'll face until it's in front of you. Of course their health, damage and number of minions spawned will vary depending on the dungeon's threat level, the current floor and difficulty setting.

We're going to do a series of articles focusing on specific parts of the game's development, explaining a bit how they work and their changes compared to the previous game.

Today we'll be talking about wizards, the main characters of the game and the ones you'll be controlling.

[h3]Wizards[/h3]

Before starting a mission, you'll get to choose which wizard you want to play with. Initially there will be two available (Argo and Carina, old acquantaices from the first Ziggurat), but as you keep advancing on the main storyline, you'll unlock more.

Every wizard can have different strengths and weaknesses, and preferred playstyles. Argo and Carina, being the starter characters, are well balanced and don't sport any weaknesses, but others may be faster but weaker, or have limitations in exchange for strong skills, etc.

All wizards have one skill that only they can use, usually with a cooldown time between uses. They can also earn mastery levels once a mission is complete, and unlock stat boosts and new unique passive skills.

We don't want to spoil the surprise on many characters, so here's information on Argo and Carina:

[h3]Argo[/h3]
Argo was the last apprentice admitted in the Brotherhood of Daedolon, and one of the few survivors to the Downfall. His goal is to bring the old splendor back to the order.

His basic training confers him a set of balanced skills, with no specific strengths or weaknesses.

Argo's main skill is Syphon, which instantly attracts all items in range dropped by enemies. This allows him to pick mana and experience from afar, without risking getting damaged.

On top of that, he can unlock a passive skill that grants him a permanent experience boost, and another that grants him barrier points (a new kind of temporary health) for every item syphoned.

[h3]Carina[/h3]
Carina was the youngest member to ever be accepted in the Brotherhood, which is proof of her great talent. Ashamed by the infights that led to the order's demise, she intends to start over and avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Her talent allows her to summon an energy wave that repels nearby enemies.

Carina's main skill is Shove, which pushes and damages enemies around her. It's specially useful to gain some breathing space when surrounded by enemies, but can also be used as a finishing move for enemies with low health.

She can unlock a passive skill that reduces mana usage for all attacks, and another that Curses enemies being pushed by Shove (Curse is a new effect which temporally halves damage inflicted and doubles damage received).

[h3]More characters![/h3]
On the first Early Access release, we'll have three more characters (for a total of 5) that will be unlocked by playing the main quests. The other characters are more suited for specific playstyles, such as hit-and-run tactics, or soaking up damage in order to gain an advantage. So make sure to progress in the game to find them all!

We're going to do a series of articles focusing on specific parts of the game's development, explaining a bit how they work and their changes compared to the previous game.

Today we'll be talking about dungeons, their structure and room types, and the improvements we've made to the game.

[h3]Dungeons[/h3]

In Ziggurat 2, your main task will be to clear Dungeons, by reaching the final floor and defeating the Guardian there.

Every Dungeon has different lengths and difficulties (you get to choose which one you want to take before starting).

On every floor in the Dungeon, you'll need to find the key and defeat that floor's guardian in order to advance. In order to find it, you'll need to explore the dungeon and clear rooms packed with enemies, but you will also find useful equipment and treasure in your way. Here are some of the room types you may find:

[h3]Shrines[/h3]

Shrines allow you to make an offer to the Elder Gods in exchange for their help. These gifts range from enhanced stats to earning a new weapon, etc.

However, the Elder gods can be easily angered, and if they're not pleased by your sacrifice, you'll receive a punishment instead.

In Ziggurat 2, there's only one Shrine in these rooms (compared to the 3 there were before), and chances of good/neutral/bad results don't depend on what's being sacrificed. Usually you'll be getting a nice reward, but it's definitely not guaranteed...

[h3]Hazards and Challenges[/h3]

Some of the rooms and corridors of the dungeon will have traps that may harm unaware wizards! Watch out for spikes and lava pits in your way, and always stay on your toes to prevent damage.

In Ziggurat 2, trap rooms are smaller and usually quick to traverse, but you still need to watch out, as traps are now better hidden than before.

There's also optional rooms offering a tougher challenge in exchange for a nice reward at the end.

[h3]Shops[/h3]

In Ziggurat 2, you'll earn coins that allow you to upgrade your equipment and skills once a mission is over. However, the further you progress into a dungeon, the more money you'll make, so it may be useful to spend your money in the Shop in exchange for new weapons and perks, or just a health refill!

[h3]Room size[/h3]
In Ziggurat 1, small rooms felt a bit cramped and were usually a death trap if enemies with area attacks were spawned, while bigger rooms felt way too open and big, with wasted space and slower pace.

We've fixed that by increasing available space for smaller rooms, and reducing size of the bigger rooms, as well as adding interesting layouts so they don't feel as empty.

[h3]Jump pads![/h3]
One of the common complaints on Ziggurat 1 was the lack of verticality in room designs, and something we've focused on fixing for Ziggurat 2. You can now grab to ledges to reach higher heights, and the dungeon generation algorithm was redesigned to allow placing doors at different height levels.


On top of that, we've added Jump pads to some rooms to quickly reach higher places, but watch out, as enemies can use them as well!

We're going to do a series of articles focusing on specific parts of the game's development, explaining a bit how they work and their changes compared to the previous game.

Today we'll be showing a few samples of the enemies you'll have to face in the game.

[h3]Enemies[/h3]

Dungeons are full of dangerous creatures lurking in the shadows, willing to end your life if you are not careful...

In Ziggurat 2, most fights will require you to defeat all the creatures in a room before being able to advance and keep exploring the dungeon.

Some of these creatures are mighty enough to face you on their own, while others rely on numbers to overwhelm you.

The Early Access release comes with 19 different enemies. Some of them are based on designs from Ziggurat 1, while others are new.

We've redesigned the way enemy AI works compared to Ziggurat 1, and they are now able to hop over small obstacles and follow you pretty much anywhere. On top of that, some enemies are able to react and will change their behavior if you get too close to them.

In future updates for the game, we want to add a new kind of support enemies, that will cast buffs or protect nearby allies instead of directly attacking you.

Here's a couple of enemies already in the game:

Carrots
The signature enemy from Ziggurat, these adorable creatures are weak and can easily be avoided, but they always come in big groups and can trap you in a corner you if you're not careful.

They are specially vulnerable to Poison attacks.

Reanimated Prisoner
Former captives freed of their mortal ties.

These dangerous foes will throw poisonous daggers with tracking capabilities at you, and if you don't kill them quickly enough, they will regenerate their health. On top of that, when defeated they will drop an acid pool, so be careful if you're close!

[h3]Champions[/h3]
From time to time, stronger variants of creatures may be spawned. These champions are tougher than usual, and have special skills on top of it. For example, some of them may teleport across the room, while others may put traps around you.

These enemies grant additional experience and drops, so ending them quickly should be a priority.

[h3]Guardians[/h3]

Guardians are the mightiest foes you will find at the end of each floor. On top of their sheer power and toughness, they will summon minions to protect them, so you better come prepared!

We'll address guardians in more detail in a future article.

[h3]Bestiary[/h3]

Once you've defeated a creature enough times, you'll unlock their entry in the Bestiary, where you can check some stats and get information on their elemental weaknesses and resistances.

We're going to do a series of articles focusing on specific parts of the game's development, explaining a bit how they work and their changes compared to the previous game.

The first thing we'll be talking about is the level up system, perks, and what changes we've made to it.

[h3]Experience[/h3]

The level up system is the core component of Ziggurat, and what sets it apart from other roguelite FPS games, so the core concept is very close to the original: Enemies drop experience crystals when defeated, that will disappear after a while, and you need to pick up them before they go away. When you've earned enough experience, you'll level up, earning a new perk and a boost to maximum health/mana.



[h3]Improving pool sizes[/h3]

The most important change we've made to the whole system is the way maximum stats are changed: Now the perk you choose will also determine which pool gets increased. So the decision to select perks needs a bit more thought behind it.

[h3]Perks[/h3]

Perks are the main way to improve your powers in the middle of a mission, and range from a simple boost to mana capacity to a chance of burning enemies hurting you.



Perks come in two flavors: One-shot and "Accummulative" perks that can be upgraded for a stronger effect (Their max level has changed from 5 to 4).

Many of the "classic" perks are coming back, with some changes because of the new mechanics and features, and shorter dungeon size, and rebalanced to make all of them useful.

In the first release, the game already features over 90 perks, with many more to come in future updates, so we expect to hear lots of suggestions!

An important change is that now you can only choose perks once a room is cleared, as we felt stopping to choose perks in the middle of a fight would break the pace. You still recover health and mana right away upon leveling up in the middle of a fight, and it can be a lifesaver in tough situations.

[h3]Masteries[/h3]

There's also a totally new kind of leveling up system called Mastery, that is only applied when a dungeon is finished (win or lose), and it will allow you to improve equipment and weapons. But we'll explain that in more detail in a future article.