DevLog #2 - Face-Melting Difficulty Modifiers
Hello Crusaders!
Welcome back to another Dev Log, the 2nd one, wowie! The game's development is coming along nicely! I am chugging along valiantly to push a demo out before May 11th. As I mentioned previously, I don't discuss this game much outside of Discord, so I wanted to update all you handsome Steam-page browsers here too!
Let's chat about our lovely Curse Modifiers!
As I mentioned previously, a big inspiration for this game is my beloved Halo. Halo has a unique challenge called LASO (legendary, all skulls on) in which the player is essentially a wet noodle controlling a cinematic camera. Even the weakest of enemies are critical threats to the player. The challenge requires such a good understanding of the game, that I wanted to replicate this in Cube Crusaders for the most devoted players to challenge themselves with. That's where we get into... curses!
Curses are modifiers that are applied to the game when you start a level. Some make you weaker, affect movement, change things in the environment, or cause enemies to explode into confetti! Let's dive into the one's we'll be seeing....
- Faulty Capacitors - "Hope you don't miss!"
All weapons have their magazine capacity reduced by half (rounds up)
- Junk Batteries - "If your gun rattles, it means it's working hard!"
All of your weapons deal -50% damage.
- Paper Armor - "Dodge, Dip, Duck and Dodge!"
You die instantly upon taking damage.
- Death Party - "Let's party!"
Upon killing an enemy, they will explode into confetti.
- Picked Clean - "Scavengers were already here..."
All chests are removed from the world.
- Death Suit -
"Orderling rulers are ruthless."
Your suit will explode in 30 seconds unless you kill an enemy, resetting the timer.
- Soulless -
"Cursed to see only suffering..."
You may only exterminate surrendering foes.
- Darkness Consumes -
"All light has left the world."
Only your flashlight will provide light.
AND MORE! If you Wishlist now, I'll throw in this slapchop thing, absolutely free" - (slapchop not included)
Why Curses, and not 'Easy, Medium, Hard'
One of the things I always disliked about difficulty adjustments in games like this, is that it simply made enemies stronger and the player weaker. By having optional modifiers, we can allow for the player to have control over what they want their experience to be like. "Darkness Consumes" is probably my favourite modifier, only because it TOTALLY changes the atmosphere of the game from saturated colours to something that resembles are horror game. Having straight difficulty changes is... kinda boring to me. We can introduce modifiers which change the environment, and not just enemy stats. Straight difficulty changes don't allow for that.
Warship Interior with Darkness Consumes Modifier enabled...spooky.
In Conclusion
Anyway, a few of these Curses won't be revealed yet, so you may be allowed to wonder about what is to come... While the demo will have these available for Campaign, I'll be setting these up in the future to work in Multiplayer Horde Mode and potentially PvP as well!
https://discord.gg/vR3k5XxpuS
And of course, Wishlist the game on Steam!
It really means a lot to me, and is the best possible way to support the project!
Cheers!
- Oberst
Welcome back to another Dev Log, the 2nd one, wowie! The game's development is coming along nicely! I am chugging along valiantly to push a demo out before May 11th. As I mentioned previously, I don't discuss this game much outside of Discord, so I wanted to update all you handsome Steam-page browsers here too!
Let's chat about our lovely Curse Modifiers!
As I mentioned previously, a big inspiration for this game is my beloved Halo. Halo has a unique challenge called LASO (legendary, all skulls on) in which the player is essentially a wet noodle controlling a cinematic camera. Even the weakest of enemies are critical threats to the player. The challenge requires such a good understanding of the game, that I wanted to replicate this in Cube Crusaders for the most devoted players to challenge themselves with. That's where we get into... curses!
Curses are modifiers that are applied to the game when you start a level. Some make you weaker, affect movement, change things in the environment, or cause enemies to explode into confetti! Let's dive into the one's we'll be seeing....
- Faulty Capacitors - "Hope you don't miss!"
All weapons have their magazine capacity reduced by half (rounds up)
- Junk Batteries - "If your gun rattles, it means it's working hard!"
All of your weapons deal -50% damage.
- Paper Armor - "Dodge, Dip, Duck and Dodge!"
You die instantly upon taking damage.
- Death Party - "Let's party!"
Upon killing an enemy, they will explode into confetti.
- Picked Clean - "Scavengers were already here..."
All chests are removed from the world.
- Death Suit -
"Orderling rulers are ruthless."
Your suit will explode in 30 seconds unless you kill an enemy, resetting the timer.
- Soulless -
"Cursed to see only suffering..."
You may only exterminate surrendering foes.
- Darkness Consumes -
"All light has left the world."
Only your flashlight will provide light.
AND MORE! If you Wishlist now, I'll throw in this slapchop thing, absolutely free" - (slapchop not included)
Why Curses, and not 'Easy, Medium, Hard'
One of the things I always disliked about difficulty adjustments in games like this, is that it simply made enemies stronger and the player weaker. By having optional modifiers, we can allow for the player to have control over what they want their experience to be like. "Darkness Consumes" is probably my favourite modifier, only because it TOTALLY changes the atmosphere of the game from saturated colours to something that resembles are horror game. Having straight difficulty changes is... kinda boring to me. We can introduce modifiers which change the environment, and not just enemy stats. Straight difficulty changes don't allow for that.
Warship Interior with Darkness Consumes Modifier enabled...spooky.
In Conclusion
Anyway, a few of these Curses won't be revealed yet, so you may be allowed to wonder about what is to come... While the demo will have these available for Campaign, I'll be setting these up in the future to work in Multiplayer Horde Mode and potentially PvP as well!
https://discord.gg/vR3k5XxpuS
And of course, Wishlist the game on Steam!
It really means a lot to me, and is the best possible way to support the project!
Cheers!
- Oberst