Welcome or Welcome Back!

So anyone that's launched the game recently might've noticed a "roguelike mode" WIP on the menu - it's something I've mentioned here and there, but I figured I'd just quickly overview what the contents of the mode will be (right now - development plans could change, but here's what I've worked on this weekend). I prewarn, this will have a notable lack of images because, well, I've nothing to visually show! Lotta coding, lotta systems needing creation.

So What's Been Going On?

The roguelike mode I've been working on is currently about half done. It's been a lot of work, hence the comparative quietness when you look at previous upload frequency - don't worry, I'm not dead. Far from it! A lot of the work goes on over on Steam, so if you want to stay more up to date, hop on the test branch there (password is tekkenzaibatsu).

As this game becomes more and more "fleshed out", naturally the time it takes for updates increases, as I tackle increasingly difficult challenges. Luckily enough, I don't particularly intend to do much more than utterly pack the game with content after the roguelike mode, so this should (unless I pull a funny) be the last major system I need to do - you might, if you've been following closely - be wondering about cosmetics, but that system is actually already in the game! Small problem is I've, still, not really been able to get a hold of any artists that can do the job - and in fact have instead had two people attempt a scam (lmfao). I really gotta use fiverr, but I'm finding it at least a little difficult to find any work on there that I really like the look of - a lot of it's undoubtedly good, that's for sure, but a lot of it is also way outside of the tone of the game. I'm not too concerned about art-style, the point of the cosmetics is to let you pick whatever you want for whatever card - but I get the feeling matching the tone of the game is going to be hard without the artists at least playing it, and I can't very well just ask them to play the game, I feel. Or maybe I can. Ain't sure!

Anyway, I digress, the roguelike mode is set out in the following "flow":

1. Start roguelike run (or continue, if one is present, but I'll be acting as though it's a new run for this flow.)
2. Pick from starter decks (20 card decks, have prebuilt synergies)
3. Fight a boss from the first tier of difficulty (Kalfu/Marinette right now)
4. Win (hopefully).
5. Pick between three buckets of cards to add to your deck and pick between two passive effects to carry forward.
6. Fight a boss from the next tier up.
7. Repeat until top tier difficulty, where if you win you can either enter endless, where you face infinite max difficulty bosses or retire the run.

Out of that list, the "start run" page is pretty much done, save for some prettying up, the bucket system is functionally done, albeit not visually implemented, and the battles are of course dependant on our bounty bosses so they're sorted too. I still need to add a screen for picking your rewards as well as a list of passive effects that might be interesting to mess with. Also need to do a little work in terms of saving your run and making sure you're routed through the right spots by changing the win/loss screen if you're in a roguelike run. Either way, we're about half way there, I'd think, maybe a little shy of that.

When's It Coming Out?

Well, right now, the next update to come out is the unlockables update - I'm shooting for at least 30 unlockable cards, and that should be out either Tuesday or Wednesday. There's some in the game as is, but I'm wanting to really fill out the unlockables list so you've got some meta progression to be working towards in the meantime, while waiting for the roguelike update.

As for the roguelike update release date, truthfully the answer is "when it's done". I'd love to give a better timeframe, but I haven't got one! There'll still be content in the meantime while waiting for that update, more bosses, more cards, more mechanics, all that jazz, but the mode itself might take a little longer - hope that doesn't piss anyone off too bad.

Saying that, it'd be pretty boring if the mode launched and you had exactly 2, at most, possible opponents per tier - so it's probably worth the wait for the variability.

In Other News...

I was thinking of starting a discord sometime soon. I don't think it'll be SOON soon, unless there's demand, but I'd love to have some kind of way to get feedback as and when it pops into people's minds, or as they play. I'll let you know if that happens, probably on steam as well as here. Keep an eye out. Also, I'd said no pictures, but while I'm here I'll give you a quick one - I've changed the cardback with something I made today.

I think it looks a little better, at least. Lemme know.

Either way, that's all I've got today, a short one as it's uhhh... 01:55AM for me right now. Workin' hard. As always-

Till next time!