BrightSeeker News

Hi! Welcome to the second Feature Breakdown! This time we're going to look at Special Abilities, where to get them and how they work!

Before we get to them we need to explain one more thing, the SPARK.

What is SPARK?
Basically, it is a form of energy or life force found in all living things. In the world of BrightSeeker it's being harvested and used to power all the machines as well. (Can't say more, so I don't spoil anything :D)

From the gameplay perspective, the SPARK is used for summoning a protective shield (see Blocking from FB #01) and for activating Special Abilities (I'll get to those in a sec).
Using shield is depleting SPARK

You can activate Special Abilities if you have enough SPARK (the icon turns yellow)

SPARK can be refilled by killing enemies and/or breaking boxes and other objects in the world.
Killing enemy refills some SPARK

One more way to get SPARK is by deflecting enemy projectiles with your shield. However, killing enemies will refill much more than anything else.
Deflecting projectiles with shield refills some SPARK

Special Abilities (or SA)
SAs are powerful attacks which you will acquire after defeating bosses (more about them in the future).
Using SA depletes SPARK

For example "Shade Fire" will be unlocked after you defeat the first boss and interact with a special station located at the exit from the boss arena.
Unlocking new SA

When you unlock new SA you will enter a "Golden" area where you can try it out with unlimited SPARK. In any other location you will need to refill your SPARK before you can activate Special Abilities.
SPARK is automatically restored in the "Golden" area

While SA is active your other attacks will be locked. You will still be able to teleport.
After you unlock more SAs you will be able to switch between them easily with one button, even during fights. This will allow you to combine them with other attacks and SAs.
Using SA "Shade Fire" in combat

I won't show you any other SA, so I don't spoil them for you. You'll just have to play the game and acquire them yourself :)

Speaking of playing the game yourself... Did you know you can join our Discord server and play a free demo right now?
https://discord.gg/X5N9wghrS4

Or if Discord isn't your thing, you can sign up right here and I'll send you the demo via email :)
--->http://www.zakroutil.com/join
That will be all for this Breakdown. If you have any questions be sure to leave a comment or come and ask me on the Discord :)
Stay tuned for the next one and have a happy New Year!

Welcome to the very first feature breakdown of BrightSeeker! In these breakdowns I will be introducing various mechanics and other aspects of the game.

Let's start from the beginning (literally)! Right from the start of the game, player will have access to the 3 main combat mechanics — shooting, slashing and blocking.

Shooting
It is quite simple! When using keyboard just point and click to shoot projectiles from your staff, if you click/shoot while hovering over an enemy, they will be highlighted and the projectile will lock onto them. Locked projectiles will follow their targets even if they are moving. Otherwise, it will travel in a straight line until it hits something or someone. When using gamepad, enemies will be highlighted based on where the player character is facing. Projectiles will always lock onto highlighted enemies and actively seek to damage them. (I will talk about how damage works in a future breakdown)
shooting with cursor shooting with gamepad

Slashing
You will be able to perform melee attacks using your staff right from the start, however the staff deals only half the damage that a sword (which you will acquire later in the game) would do.
Melee attacks take some time to perform, but they deal damage to multiple targets in an area in front of the player. It works the same way with keyboard and gamepad.
melee damaging two targets

Blocking
By holding appropriate key/button you will summon a protective shield in front of you. This shield will deflect any incoming enemy projectiles. If you activate the shield right before the projectile hits you, it will be deflected (this can later be upgraded to deflect the projectile at the enemy who shot it, but more on that in the future…) While blocking, you will continuously lose SPARK (I will explain what SPARK is later, for now think about it as something like mana or energy)
blocking with shield deflecting with shield

When you successfully deflect, you will regain some of the SPARK back. Also, while blocking your movement speed will be greatly reduced, however you will still be able to teleport while blocking, speaking of which…

A dashing bonus!
Teleport/Dash is a crucial part of BrightSeeker! This ability speaks pretty much for itself, it gets you from point A to point B in a fraction of a second and has almost zero cooldown! It is perfect for avoiding hostile projectiles and because you can dash through enemies (on the request of the Discord community) it is perfect for avoiding getting swarmed by them! So get your fingers ready, you will be using this one a lot!
avoiding projectiles with teleport/dash dashing/teleporting through enemies

That will be all for this breakdown!
Thanks for reading! Make sure to wishlist and follow BrightSeeker so you don't miss the next Feature Breakdown where I will talk about the SPARK and Special Abilities!

I'm super excited to announce that new early build of BrightSeeker is live NOW!
Join our discord server to play it for FREE!

https://discord.gg/X5N9wghrS4
Or sing-up here: http://www.zakroutil.com/join

In this build I focused on making the combat feel smoother and made some changes to the level order for better pacing. (among other things)

Here's the list of all the changes:

v0.0.0.9 Changes:
- Reduced teleport cooldown from 1.3 to 1.0s
- Changed ranged attack animation speed + projectiles spawn almost instantly after the animation
begins
- Added particles to staff when firing projectile
- Items in shop can be purchased only once (except for refills)
- Added purchasable mod slot to the shop
- Added Location names
- Made some adjustments to range attack SFX
- Increased player projectile speed
- Added Key mapping
- Settings are accessible from main menu
- Changed map order
- New secret thing in the "Harbour" map

Join our discord server and gain access to all early versions of BrightSeeker for Free!


https://discord.gg/X5N9wghrS4

v0.0.0.8 Changes:
Bug fixes:

• Fixed bug - Trap projectiles colliding with the trap
  
• Fixed animation bug when exiting the "staff/sword" dialogue using keyboard/gamepad shortcut instead of dialogue buttons
  
• Fixed the "Ability Station" bug - Giving player infinite spark/health
  
• Fixed bug - ESC menu opening when closing other UI elements
  
• Fixed spawn location of particles when breaking boxes
  
• Fixed bug when player gets stuck in the first combat area in the first level
  
• Added invisible wall preventing skipping the "Pink Tree" combat sequence
  

New features and tweaks:

• Removed the "Pink Tree" cutscene - replaced with 2D image sequence
  
• More delay before Heavy-mech attacks/teleports
  
• Reworked Shop UI + Added option to refill missing HP/Spark in the Shop
  
• Several tweaks to widget navigation with gamepad
  
• Map "God's Final Rest" updated with new models
  
• Bushes are now breakable objects
  
• Added tutorial when first coin is acquired
  
• Added tutorial when first special ability is acquired
  
• Player character is now rotated to cursor by default (can be turned off in settings)
  
• Add "Reload from checkpoint" button to ESC menu
  
• When playing with gamepad - targeted enemies will be highlighted before player fires projectile at them
  
• Updated models and UI for some intractable stations
  
• New Main menu
  
• Added audio volume settings and option to enable/disable VSync
  
• Added Async loading screen
  
• F8 opens feedback form