Dungeon Deathball News

As promised, this update adds not one but TWO new monsters to the dungeon...

[h3]🐊 Snaptors[/h3]
A fearsome new monster and star of the new Talon Trials. Snaptors can move up to 2 tiles in a row per turn, and if anything gets in their way they'll chomp it to bits. Beware their toothy maws!



[h3]🐢 Kappas[/h3]
A deadly swamp creature which features in the new Cucumber Trials. The Kappa roams the field with an armour-piercing spear, which it will use to impale friend and foe alike at a range of 2 tiles.



[h3]👊 Change to 'avoided attacks' behaviour[/h3]
One consequence of introducing the Snaptor's 2-tile movement: it's very difficult to retreat away from their attacks. They would easily follow you and kill you in the next turn, even if you backed away.

I felt that this was a little too punishing, and it got me thinking about the game-wide behaviour for all enemies in this situation. It's quite easy to get stuck in a death-loop of retreating and burning your stamina until you die. So I decided to try out a change to enemy attacks when you avoid them.

Now, enemies who try to attack an empty tile won't automatically move instead. They will now perform a 'missed attack' and remain where they stand.

(An exception to this behaviour is the Redhorn, whose charge attack causes them to move anyway.)

This does remove some certain opportunities for luring enemies into hitting each other, but it also opens up several new ways. Overall I don't think it's a bad change but it does require you to adapt your tactics. Have a play and let me know what you think!

One last note on this subject: I changed the enemy intention markers so they now distinguish between an 'obstructed move which will result in an attack' and a genuine 'intended attack'. The graphics used here may change in the future to clarify the difference.

[h3]🎥 Less erratic camera during enemy turn[/h3]
Several players have complained that the camera zips around rapidly during the enemy turn, as it focuses closely on each single enemy as they perform their actions. This updates adds a more distant, static camera which loosely follows the entire field. It will still zoom in to highlight attacks, but the general feel is hopefully less dizzying. 😵



[h2]🆕 Changes[/h2]
Here's the full list of changes in this update.

• New monster: the Snaptor, star of the the Talon Trials.
  
• New monster: the Kappa, star of the Cucumber Trials.
  
• Enemies who try to attack an empty tile will no longer automatically move instead. They will now perform a 'missed attack' and remain where they stand.
  
• Enemy intention markers now distinguish between an 'obstructed move which will result in an attack', and an intended attack.
  
• Enemies now have a 'Move Range' stat which is displayed in their info popup.
  
• All characters who attack adjacent tiles now have an 'Attack Range' stat which is displayed in their info popup.
  
• Camera during enemy turn is now fixed in one static position instead of snapping to each enemy in turn (except when enemies attack).
  
• A marker now appears under each enemy as they act to draw your attention.
  
• Character idle animations no longer flip left and right but squash instead.
  
• Characters now face their direction of movement, attack, and next intended action.
  
• Damage values no longer show a minus symbol prefix.
  
• Attacks can now stun enemies for more than 1 turn.
  
• "Knockout" perk is now called "KO" (to avoid confusing it with "Knockback" perk).
  
• KO perk can now be upgraded (up to level 4), increasing the amount of time that enemies are stunned by your attacks.

[h3]🐛 Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Enemies who try to step outside the level no longer take a step backwards.
  
• The camera now waits for attacks to finish before moving on to the next action in a queue.

I hope you enjoy this update! Let me know what you think in the comments, a review, or on Discord.

Remember to follow me on Steam, and follow the game or add it to your wishlist for more updates.



Enjoy!

Matt

This new update brings some nice visual polish in the form of animation, plus several important bug fixes.

[h3]Code rewrite[/h3]
But the bulk of the work has gone into a complete overhaul of some systems that control just about every action in the game. The truth is I wrote all the game's code over 2 years ago and I was still fairly new to programming at the time. I've made two more games in that time, and I've learned a lot about how to write better code. Code that's not spaghetti. Code that won't leave me stumped when I'm trying to add new things. Code that's won't baffle me when I'm debugging problems.

So while this update isn't jam packed with new features, it does bring some important changes that will make it much easier for me to add new stuff in the future.

One thing to note is that the major code changes here have resulted in some timing differences when it comes to all the player actions. You may notice the game generally 'feels different'. Some actions may be faster, others slower, or delays between actions may have changed. I'll be tightening this up in future updates, and also adding controls for changing the game speed to your liking. Let me know if you have any specific issues.

[h3]Animation[/h3]
I've added a little animation to all the character movements. Now every time a character moves to a tile they actually animate from point A to B, rather than popping there instantaneously. I've tried to keep it quick and snappy as it was before, but with a little more of a sense of motion. Being knocked back by attacks is now animated too, with a slow grind to a halt.

[h3]More player names[/h3]
You may be aware that your players have a randomly-chosen name. There was a pretty small list of names in the game (30 male, 30 female) which meant you'd often see the same names pop up repeatedly if you played the game a lot. I've now added 90 more names for each gender, bringing the grand total up to 240 names.





[h2]🆕 Changes[/h2]
Here's the full list of changes in this update.

• Rewrote action queue system code.
  
• Implemented new audio system.
  
• Added 90 new male names and 90 new female names.
  
• Character movement is now animated.

[h3]🐛 Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed crash caused when you preview Shoot command when the ball would land on the same tile as another human player.
  
• Fixed crash caused when an enemy was knocked into another enemy's attack after it was stunned then recovered in the same turn.
  
• Fixed inconsistency in stun duration (it was counting down a turn too fast if an enemy was stunned before performing their action).
  
• Fixed Stamina gauge showing animation with orange text when you hover mouse over player info panels.

Keep your eyes peeled for new enemies entering the arena soon!

Remember to follow me on Steam, and follow the game or add it to your wishlist for more updates.



Enjoy!

Matt

[h2]🆕 Changes[/h2]

• Powerball perk now has a Tier 3.
  
• Added new voice sounds for human players, with unique sets for male or female.
  
• Big code tidy-up under the hood.
  

[h2]🐛 Bug fixes[/h2]

• Fixed crash caused when both players are killed and the ball has not been thrown in the current stage.
  
• Fixed player generator always creating male characters.
  

If you've ever played Dungeon Deathball and found yourself holding a bajillion numbers in your head, trying to remember what kind of effects your attacks will do, glancing at the text-heavy info popups... wondering what kind of moron designed this game... then this update is for you!





I have greatly expanded the amount of 'preview' information that is displayed when you are planning your attacks. Now you can see how much damage you'll do to enemies and how far you'll knock them back.

Shooting the Ball seemed to be a particularly confusing action for a lot of players, since you can't aim it anywhere except down-field. Now you can see exactly where it will end up, and how it will affect any monsters it might hit.



You can see what damage and knockback enemies do to each other too. Some enemies (like the charging Redhorns) have a high "Knockback" effect, so it can be useful to know where they'll send their targets flying to next.

Even the Hatchers got their own new markers to show that they do something a little different to the other enemies!



[h2]🆕 Changes[/h2]
Here's the full list of changes in this update.

• Added 'attack previews' which show the damage attacks will deal.
  
• Added 'knockback previews' which show the distance characters will be pushed when attacked.
  
• Added 'shot previews' which show the line of fire and resulting effects of shooting the ball.
  
• Added 'spawn previews' which show where Hatchers will spawn their Ticks. These now have their own unique graphics, instead of using the standard 'move' graphics.
  
• All enemies' intention markers now appear with a slight delay based on their act order.
  
• 'Current player' marker now animates with a more gentle pulse, rather than blinking on/off. This is to make it less eye-catching so it clashes less with the Stamina and AP gauges.
  
• The 'Rest' action icon is now a heart with a plus symbol, instead of a 'pause' icon.
  
• The 'Shoot' action icon now has some additional details.
  
• The field's standard floor tiles now have a bit of detail and randomisation.
  

[h2]🐛 Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed crash if you began a stage with only 1 player alive.
  
• Fixed the options menu's background stripes being misaligned.
  

I hope you enjoy this update! Let me know what you think. 🙂

Matt

As promised, development is back in full swing!

Over the past month I've been ripping out a lot of the old code and replacing it with shiny new code I wrote for my recent games (Ghost Grab 3000 and Singled Out).

[h2]Full Controller Support[/h2]
You can now play the game using just a gamepad or a keyboard -- no mouse required!



Tactics and strategy games don't usually lend themselves well to controller input, but Dungeon Deathball has a snappy single-tile movement system so it totally works here. I experimented with a couple of different methods since this game demands a certain amount of 'preview information' before you commit to an action.

I'm really happy with the results, but I'd love to know what you think. Drop a comment below to let me know your thoughts.

[h2]🆕 Changes[/h2]
Here's the full list of changes in this update.

• Added full controller/keyboard support.
  
• Added confirmation step to inputting actions when not using a mouse (this allows you to preview actions before committing to them).
  
• Overhauled the entire interface - new graphics, new code, new layouts, etc.
  
• All the interface has been scaled down about 25%.
  
• All perks unlock a little sooner (Star requirements reduced by 2).
  
• Added short intro sequence when each stage begins.
  
• Split "How To Play" section up into more categories and with an easier browsing format.
  
• "How To Play" section is now accessible from the in-game pause menu.
  
• Rearranged the player info panel layout.
  
• AP gauge is now bigger to make it more visible.
  
• "Not enough Stamina" warning is now red and it pulses.
  
• Added Unity Analytics to better understand how you're playing the game.
  
• You can now skip the title animation.
  
• Enemy action intention markers are no longer displayed until you click "Start" on a stage.
  
• Character sprites are smaller so its easier to see tile data below them.
  
• Character intention markers now animate when they appear.
  
• Removed achievements from Steam for now. They're not implemented yet so they were just confusing people being listed on the Steam page.

[h2]🔜 Coming soon...[/h2]

The next steps are to rewrite a lot of the gameplay code. This will make it much easier to add new content... meaning new enemy types with new attack patterns and new ways to pulverise your puny human team. I'm also considering some big changes to the general aesthetic/theming of the game, but I'll save that for a future news post.

Thanks for checking out this update. I hope you like it! Please remember to share your thoughts in the comments, review, discussions or Discord!

Matt