Monday Musings #47 – Runeshroom Ritual Reprisal
Happy Monday!
I wrote an extensive post about Runeshroom Rituals in the past, and recent design developments got me thinking about extending the ritual suite. With the Foundations update arriving shortly, I want to talk through 2 new rituals that will be part of the update and a few thoughts on future opportunities.
[h3]Seep and Scrying[/h3]
On the heels of the Echotracer and Echoflare suite (blueprint filling) moving to the Entropy tree, many Shadow research nodes were left open. The new Shadow spell, Shear, was able to flavorfully fill many of them, but it left a wonderful opportunity to add to the ritual repertoire. Shadow still favors prime numbers in its design (because I'm a nerd), so Shadow is growing from 3 rituals to 5.
The two new Rituals on the block fill two niches that have always been loosely discussed in the community, and finally have found a kit-appropriate home.
[h3]Divining the Future[/h3]
One design that didn't make it into this patch but I want to explore in the future is rituals from additional elements. There's a foundation named Arcanum that has a few extra structures to build - notably Void Chest: Abyss and Grotto for water and earth coded options. That space feels like a natural home for Wavecaps and Cragcaps, opening a new ritual suite for Water and Earth. I haven't nailed down what the new rituals do yet, so if you have fun ideas, by all means share them!
That same flexibility is why Rituals feel like the perfect modding surface. Modding has been on my mind throughout the development process, and especially where to leave an open invitation for modding. Players will of course mod whatever they like, but I think Rituals specifically are ripe for it, so making sure that they are easy to extend is one of my goals.
[h3]Wrapping Up[/h3]
The Foundations update is nearly complete, so I should get back to completing it. I’ll touch on this more soon, but modding is likely to follow quickly once Foundations is stable. Foundations may even become the backbone of the mod-loader, if it proves as extensible as it seems.
Thank you everyone who has been playtesting experimental and giving feedback!
Back to the lab 🌿
~CyanAvatar
I wrote an extensive post about Runeshroom Rituals in the past, and recent design developments got me thinking about extending the ritual suite. With the Foundations update arriving shortly, I want to talk through 2 new rituals that will be part of the update and a few thoughts on future opportunities.
[h3]Seep and Scrying[/h3]
On the heels of the Echotracer and Echoflare suite (blueprint filling) moving to the Entropy tree, many Shadow research nodes were left open. The new Shadow spell, Shear, was able to flavorfully fill many of them, but it left a wonderful opportunity to add to the ritual repertoire. Shadow still favors prime numbers in its design (because I'm a nerd), so Shadow is growing from 3 rituals to 5.
The two new Rituals on the block fill two niches that have always been loosely discussed in the community, and finally have found a kit-appropriate home.
- Seep - Affected Structures grow Ichor Slick under them.
The community has long discussed whether Ichor Slick should have underground options, but omitting the simple bridge made for better puzzle solving. Combining ideas from the Entanglement upgrade (placing ichor under waygates) and Rampant Bloom (growing roots under structures) hits a sweet spot. Seep has a lot of unique implications and allows for very dense and surgical logistical solves. - Scrying - Affected Infusion Altars research every 3 seconds.
Altars default to 5 seconds per cycle, which encourages clean 2-altar setups early on. Once grippers upgrade, though, there wasn’t a clean way to scale research speed further. As a ritual, it fits perfectly - both mechanically and geometrically.
[h3]Divining the Future[/h3]
One design that didn't make it into this patch but I want to explore in the future is rituals from additional elements. There's a foundation named Arcanum that has a few extra structures to build - notably Void Chest: Abyss and Grotto for water and earth coded options. That space feels like a natural home for Wavecaps and Cragcaps, opening a new ritual suite for Water and Earth. I haven't nailed down what the new rituals do yet, so if you have fun ideas, by all means share them!
That same flexibility is why Rituals feel like the perfect modding surface. Modding has been on my mind throughout the development process, and especially where to leave an open invitation for modding. Players will of course mod whatever they like, but I think Rituals specifically are ripe for it, so making sure that they are easy to extend is one of my goals.
[h3]Wrapping Up[/h3]
The Foundations update is nearly complete, so I should get back to completing it. I’ll touch on this more soon, but modding is likely to follow quickly once Foundations is stable. Foundations may even become the backbone of the mod-loader, if it proves as extensible as it seems.
Thank you everyone who has been playtesting experimental and giving feedback!
Back to the lab 🌿
~CyanAvatar