Meta(DEV)log 10/02/24 - iOS users READ

Hey Everyone!

Before we dive in:

iOS users READ

I'm sure you've seen plenty of notifications regarding this already but make sure if you've subscribed via the iOS app to cancel and resubscribe via the Patreon website or the android app. If you don't, Apple will be charging you an extra 30% fee.

If you subscribed anywhere else besides the iOS app then there is no action required on your part.

0.2.24s-2

The new maps were giving me a headache to integrate how I wanted them. I have them good enough for s-2 Almost there! I'm now integrating some of the remaining new h-scenes. It should hopefully launch this weekend after I do some minor testing.

2D Art

As usual the 2D art pipeline stays strong. One of the latest pieces is the return of a certain nightly friend. WIP located in discord!

Mr. Combat's Combat (now known as CD)

The latest for combat is devising a fun way to use Holy Magic along with some heavy lore integrations for it. Can holy magic be used if the user has evil intentions? What would our version of a "Fallen Paladin" look like if one existed?

Also, we want to figure out how to better tie in the combat loop to everything else. On that front we'll be experimenting with "combat missions". Basically side missions/quests that have a simple goal. These can be a great way to earn some extra silver to pay off the hermit should the player choose to do them. 

Our current thoughts are to have three major bosses per act. And as a low priority I wouldn't mind having some optional bosses but that won't be the focus for now.

Emma Skills

As you know Emma has to re-learn magic. She has the skill she just lacks the experience using her newfound source of magic.

CD is still experimenting with various ideas for skill acquisition to expand the player’s arsenal and how to integrate it into the planned combat encounters. It’s important to strike a balance between player agency and ease of understanding.

Hirelings*

Finally, as we've been reworking the game's "classes" we realized that the player wouldn't get the option to use much of the skills and abilities. Emma herself will have her own large pool but plenty of skills will be unavailable to her and we don’t want to leave other potentially desired options completely out of players hands. That is where our plan for henchmen started. We are experimenting with these lackeys-for-hire that can join Emma on various combat missions, side quests and potentially some of the Main Quests. 

The idea is to let the player choose from a set of predefined adventurers* that, in exchange for silver, will join the player on the mission. They will have their own skill pools and give the player the ability to experiment and play with other class types outside of story beats.

*As you can tell, we're in the early stages of the mercenary idea and haven’t come up with a lore relevant label for them yet. Open to suggestions in discord!

Implementation

The plan is to have our first implementation of the updated combat in during 0.2 so that by 0.3 most of the kinks can be worked out.

Writing

Stemming off of some of the combat implications (not mentioned above) I was able to fine tune some major story beats.

Aside from that I’ve been mainly working on all the recent and upcoming h-scenes. 

And that about wraps this post up! As always, feel free to hit me up on the game's discord especially if you have any A:EP related questions or suggestions!

-Mr. MegaloDEV