I wanted to post an update to the Roadmap now that the Halloween content is live. Lots of stuff in the works!
Combat Updates
Overall I think the new combat system is a big improvement over the old one, but it still could be better. I've gotten a lot of feedback over the past few weeks and I am planning on making the following improvements based on that feedback:
A single click creates an attack. Right now having to hold down the button to finish an attack all the way through feels murky to me. So in this instance, after the first click you will perform an attack. If you click again before or a bit after that attack hits, you will continue to the next attack in the combo. If not, then you will go back to idle. Note that holding down the button will still work, but the clicks will give you a bit more control and I think feel better overall. You will still be able to interrupt an attack if you need to block.
I'm going to get rid of the shield timer and replace it with stamina use. In fact, I'm also going to get rid of the cooldown on special attacks and tie that to stamina as well. Normal attacks won't use stamina. Blocking and rolling will continue to use stamina as well so if you run out, you won't be able to block or dodge. I'll be balancing the stamina cost and stamina regen when I make these changes. I think having three "pools" to keep track of during combat is confusing and moving it all to stamina should feel a lot more intuitive.
The monsters need to attack a bit more often. Right now they attack too infrequently and it makes combat feel less interactive than I want it to. I also want to add some variety to the monsters attacks, but that will come in an update after these initial combat improvements.
Early Access Hair Styles
New hair!
I'm likely going to ask the artist to update the female hair on the bottom left a bit as it feels flat compared to the rest of the hair. You can't see it, but that hair also has two braids in the back. The braids in that hair and the one in the top left shot are set up to use the animating hair system too.
These styles will be limited to Early Access supporters and will come in all of the current hair colors. I'll be posting a more comprehensive update on Early Access and the rewards in the near future.
Overhead Map
A big feature request from many players is a map of the island to know where you are and point out some of the important points of interest, such as Shaydee's shop. I'll be adding this map to the game and it will show your location in addition to the big POIs. It might also show quest locations, but not sure on that yet.
The hand drawn map is based on the actual game map as far as shape and POI location. Once I put it in game it might need some tweaks to line up well with the actual 3D POI locations. I love the look of the map and I'm super excited to get it in game.
Quick Hits
Some other stuff I am working on. Some of this I have talked about before but I'm including it all for the sake of completeness. :)
- More quests. The repeating kind, Story Quests, and possibly some quests that are one-offs, but aren't related directly to a specific NPC. Similar to the Halloween quest, but smaller. I have three new Story Quests in the works already that will add a cello, a telescope, and sunflowers to your town! Also want to add some quests that use the currently abandoned Orc fort.
- Finish controller support. This is mostly adding controller support to all of the UI screens. A lot of work, but not difficult.
- Add localization support. This is a really big undertaking as it will require a lot of rework of existing systems like quests and NPC dialogue, but it'll be worth it
- Update the key bind system to include some of the key binds that are missing, such as opening the town management UI.
- Monster special attacks. As mentioned above. I want to get the Brute monsters working in the new system as well.
- Replace the Necromancer monster with the new Lich. I didn't want to mess with that at the same time I created the Halloween Lich as that fight has a lot of scripted elements.
I've got more things in the works too, but I think these cover the highlights. I'll likely come up with more stuff to add and might move things around as far as priorities, but the big three right now are combat tweaks, controller support, and localization support.
As always, if you have any feedback or questions please feel free to share! And thank you again everyone for all of your support. I feel very lucky to have such an awesome community!
-Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna
[email protected]- My Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperSixStudios
- Discord Channel: discord.gg/8326Jef