Devlog #42 - A New Challenge
Hello Talented Gamers!
It's been a truly amazing first week for Talented - 3259 people and counting have picked up the game and the vast majority of the feedback has been extremely positive and constructive. We cannot thank you enough for that - we take the move to Steam very seriously and it's good to see that our work to make a solid groundwork before releasing paid off!
Some Ground Rules
This is a continuation of a devlog I've been running since the start of Talented over on itch.io, if you'd like to see more about the history of the game we've worked hard making do head over there! I aim to get these out around every 2 weeks (but sometimes life gets in the way!).
Just so we're being completely transparent, anything discussed in these devlogs is subject to change - they're intended to be an insight into development rather than concrete feature announcements! (although we do our best to only mention things we're confident are coming)
But I know what's really on everyone's mind! What's next for Talent Ed?...
New Challenger Approaches
The first thing on the list for 0.11 is our 5th Character Class, this is the first one we've developed since the Summoner in 2021!
We're committed to getting right, so we don't want to reveal anything until we're happy with how it's looking internally - but I can tell you we are prototyping a completely new resource and trying out a second way of getting Talents, both unique mechanics for Talented!
Legend Has It
Something I've wanted to do ever since Version 0.1 is a tier of *extremely* powerful Talents, that bend the rules even further than Epics.
This update, finally, I get my wish with Legendary Talents. These Talents will cost more Talent Points than any other and only one will be available on the tree each run - but should you find it here are a few of the effects we're thinking:
[Bullseye] (Archer) Double your Critical Strike Chance
[Overconfident] (Warrior) Your Combo Meter doesn't reset at the end of the Night
[Scourge] (Summoner) Enemies have a 25% chance to spawn a fly on death
Additionally, some Talents that have had to be nerfed in order to remain Epic Talents will be upgraded to Legendary. For example:
[Echomancy] (Wizard) Whenever you cast an ability, that ability will cast a second time for free after a short delay
Note: The plan with all Legendary Talents is for them to be useful (if not ideal) in any build, that way you'll never be sad to see them.
We've Listened!
Finally, we want to take some time to address some of the major areas of feedback on the 0.10 build. The two points we want to focus on for 0.11 are:
- Certain classes being reliant on specific Talents/Builds.
- Mastery 10+ feeling difficult in an unfair way.
We'll dig into both of these in a future devlog, but needless to say, things like Archer's reliance on [Piercing Blows] and Wizard's Orb build are definitely on our radar for next update. You can also expect changes that shift more of the high Mastery challenge into the late game of the run, giving you more time to craft a build before feeling the need to restart.
Phew, that was a lot - thank you so much if you made it through! Please keep the feedback rolling in, we're dedicated to making Talented the best game we can. Next time I'll hopefully be able to go into more detail on the new class.
Stay Talented
It's been a truly amazing first week for Talented - 3259 people and counting have picked up the game and the vast majority of the feedback has been extremely positive and constructive. We cannot thank you enough for that - we take the move to Steam very seriously and it's good to see that our work to make a solid groundwork before releasing paid off!
Some Ground Rules
This is a continuation of a devlog I've been running since the start of Talented over on itch.io, if you'd like to see more about the history of the game we've worked hard making do head over there! I aim to get these out around every 2 weeks (but sometimes life gets in the way!).
Just so we're being completely transparent, anything discussed in these devlogs is subject to change - they're intended to be an insight into development rather than concrete feature announcements! (although we do our best to only mention things we're confident are coming)
But I know what's really on everyone's mind! What's next for Talent Ed?...
New Challenger Approaches
The first thing on the list for 0.11 is our 5th Character Class, this is the first one we've developed since the Summoner in 2021!
We're committed to getting right, so we don't want to reveal anything until we're happy with how it's looking internally - but I can tell you we are prototyping a completely new resource and trying out a second way of getting Talents, both unique mechanics for Talented!
Legend Has It
Something I've wanted to do ever since Version 0.1 is a tier of *extremely* powerful Talents, that bend the rules even further than Epics.
This update, finally, I get my wish with Legendary Talents. These Talents will cost more Talent Points than any other and only one will be available on the tree each run - but should you find it here are a few of the effects we're thinking:
[Bullseye] (Archer) Double your Critical Strike Chance
[Overconfident] (Warrior) Your Combo Meter doesn't reset at the end of the Night
[Scourge] (Summoner) Enemies have a 25% chance to spawn a fly on death
Additionally, some Talents that have had to be nerfed in order to remain Epic Talents will be upgraded to Legendary. For example:
[Echomancy] (Wizard) Whenever you cast an ability, that ability will cast a second time for free after a short delay
Note: The plan with all Legendary Talents is for them to be useful (if not ideal) in any build, that way you'll never be sad to see them.
We've Listened!
Finally, we want to take some time to address some of the major areas of feedback on the 0.10 build. The two points we want to focus on for 0.11 are:
- Certain classes being reliant on specific Talents/Builds.
- Mastery 10+ feeling difficult in an unfair way.
We'll dig into both of these in a future devlog, but needless to say, things like Archer's reliance on [Piercing Blows] and Wizard's Orb build are definitely on our radar for next update. You can also expect changes that shift more of the high Mastery challenge into the late game of the run, giving you more time to craft a build before feeling the need to restart.
Phew, that was a lot - thank you so much if you made it through! Please keep the feedback rolling in, we're dedicated to making Talented the best game we can. Next time I'll hopefully be able to go into more detail on the new class.
Stay Talented