Thank you so much for your support! There are a few big changes coming, and wanted to share them in a quick video update; some of it concerning SAVAGE, some LORDBREAKER, etc.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Hail and Happy Thanksgiving, barbarian, to all who slay, eat, drink, and be merry today!
The battle rages on with porting Savage over to GMS2. I have encountered many pitfalls and speedbumps along the way, but the porting process is nearly complete, with only a few remaining locations left to fully re-tile and bring up to full GMS2-functional, as well as cleaning up some GMS1 to GMS2 compatibility scripts.
Along the way, I have taken the opportunity to do things like very basic room rebalance where the need strikes, like repositioning enemies, adding new ones, or taking away, as well as adding save rooms or NPC locations.
I have run into plenty of scenarios, also, where tiles are missing, or they were incorrectly placed - mistakes from the previous version of the game. In other words, I get to do some light polish as I hack and slash my way through this GMS2-porting nightmare.
I've also been leveling up my GMS2 skills, incorporating things like the tileset brush feature into my workflow (along with a ton of other quality of life features I've been picking up along the way), which will wind up being a MASSIVE time saver when creating the remaining locations from scratch.
Once the game is fully GMS2-compliant, it's off to the fast track with new content (including the (very) long awaited map system - the new GMS2 room cleaning is needed before I can release an update with the map system). I am most likely going to be cutting some planned content, reserving it for some post-release updates, and rearranging existing content (especially in dungeons and locations that are FAR TOO big, for pacing reasons) to reach a 1.0.
That's where I'm at with the game currently, and those are my plans immediately following completing what's left of the GMS2-ification.
Just wanted to check in with you, let you know what's going on, and wish you a Happy Autumn and Happy Thanksgiving!
Barbaric Thanksgiving Tavern Brawl
CHEERS!
-Matt
Hail and happy weekend, Barbarians! ⚔
The exodus from GMS1 to GMS2 goes on, and I wanted to be a bit further along with it before patching the game, but certain issues have come up (thanks for letting me know!) that I couldn't let go without another batch of fixes.
This patch includes those hotfixes, as well as some minor improvements, balancing, tweaks, and general spot cleaning to issues I noticed while testing.
During the room rebuilds from GMS1 to GMS2, I have noticed the game gain a bit of a spring in its step performance wise (at least on my machine) so I hope this continues to improve as I optimize the game for GMS2.
I also want to talk about my plans for release, as that is looming and this whole GMS2 situation has definitely thrown a wrench in the works. Once the game is properly GMS2-ified, I plan on finishing the Volunheim area, features that still need that nudge over the finish line, the final dungeon, and the final boss (as well as story wrap ups).
The game needs a 1.0, I need it, you've waited WAY too long (and I've been at this for way too long, ha!), and it is mega overdue. Any content that I have to cut (time will tell, especially concerning how long the rest of this GMS2 conversion will take) will come in the form of post release free updates (ocean encounters, the Southern continent, more enemies and bosses, more randomized scenarios, more gear, etc.).
That's my plan as it stands. Thank you for being so patient, and for all your support! The final sprint is upon us.
-Matt
MANY tilesets converted to GMS2
Several rooms finalized and converted to the GMS2 layers/tile system
Many rooms, as a result, have gotten minor tile fixes (tiles that were missing or placed in awkward/stupid spots), better seasonal background layers, etc.
Updated gold vendor values on some weapons/gear
Updated certain spawns and spawn points to reflect day/night changes
Updated some enemies to do status ailment effects and corresponding damage
Updated sections of the worldmap with biome information
Added a state to the player on the overworld so that when you are entering or exiting a location, as long as there is a fade in/fade out, you cannot enter another, or collide with a wandering monster on the map
Exiting water when "swimming" tuned to be a little snappier
Remade dozens of tilesets so they now conform to GMS2
Remade way, WAY too many sprites from old tilesets (background props) so they can now be placed in non-grid spots in rooms (GMS2 tile system does not allow off-grid placements)
First batch of rooms properly remade and brought up to GMS2 systems (layer system, new tile system, etc.)
Fixed those on the beta branch on Steam not able to launch the "normal" game (missing .exe / could only play the beta branch versions)
New enemy (work in progress) added to Volunheim
New testing section for Twinfang added to Volunheim (not complete dungeon, but some rooms to explore and items to find)
Increased drowning damage
Added an "ignore defense" mechanic to some very dangerous hazards and damage sources (like drowning)
Kuchvek's Crossing screens still had solids before and after pulling the switch when they shouldn't
Ghosts were lighting themselves on fire
Some biome settings were not showing/hiding seasonal layers and assets
Jailer attack was messed up during imprisoned story sequence
If the main brute's feelings were hurt in imprisoned story sequence and you escaped before he leaves, he moonwalked back toward gate
Fixed several crashes that could be triggered in the imprisoned story sequence (Thanks, TremorTheWolf!)
Fixed several weird and janky issues that were triggering and occuring out of place in the imprisoned story event
Fixed all issues of "new_item" appearing in text and dialogue found throughout the game
Several fade in/out objects were spawning on the worldmap under certain conditions, causing issues
Fixed a crash that could occur on the overworld map when entering a location that messed with the math on the overworld camera
Fixed the Dogcatcher boss in the burning village intro falling through the floor, softlocking the game unless you quit and reload the game (this issue returned after moving to GMS2)
Fixed pushing "Up" on left analog stick on a gamepad at the "level up" locations causing the level up menu to flash uncontrollably (this issue returned after moving to GMS2)
⚔ HAIL Barbarians! ⚔
This update is a complicated one, and while it does not contain a massive amount of new content, it changes a massive amount of stuff under the hood thanks to a necessary move to GMS2 (I was developing on GMS 1.X).
It recently came to my attention that games made with GMS 1.X were behaving strangely, ir not refusing to even load, thanks to the recent batch of Windows 10 updates. Some developers still using that version of GameMaker weren’t even able to open GameMaker due to said Windows 10 updates. This sort of made the decision to move to GMS2 for me, as it is now definitely a ticking time bomb!
This has been a bit of a frustrating move (like any leap to a new development environment), and has felt largely like a step backward, but I think I’ve got things relatively under control now. There are a handful of things that still need to be updated for Savage to fully play nice with GMS2, which are listed below. The new move brings some positive new things, too, like GMS2’s wicked fast/mega optimized tile system, and a much better compile using their “YYC” compiler to produce builds of the game. Sprites actually also now scale and look better and more “correct” on the 3D overworld map.
The game now uses a new installer, and I have tested saves from GMS 1 versions of the game with updated GMS2 builds, and I didn’t run into any issues. That doesn’t mean you won’t though – so, very sorry if you do, and it might mean you need to start a new game.
To test some of this, I added a Beta branch via Steam, so if you want to opt into it, you will be able to play some of the more wacky and unstable stuff before it’s cleaned up. To access this, go to your Steam library, right click on Savage. Find “Properties”, go to the “Betas” tab to the left in the new window that pops up, then select the “savagebetabranch” option from the dropdown menu. Enter the beta access code “goremonger17” in the field below, and click “Check Code”. From now on, you should have the option of running the beta branch when launching the game.
I’ve managed to squeeze in a few other improvements, fixes, and new bits of content in this update as well. Highlights include several new weapons, new rooms and save locations in existing stages, and an update to combat related collisions, especially making parrying more forgiving (it behaves more like how I think it should) and generally feeling better.
It won’t be long now til I can get back on track with proper content updates. Until then, here are the patch notes, have a great weekend, and thanks very much for your support! ⚔
- Matt
BUG FIXES
· Dozens of fixes to things that were broken because of the move to GMS2, like:
o Crashes
o Visual issues
o Strange and incorrect timings across things like alarms and frame counts
o Incorrect math causing strange behavior
o Events now triggering in a different order
o Overworld map visual issues
o etc.
o Some of the above have a happy coincidence of improving or fixing things that I didn’t realize were already janky/broken in some way
· Changed certain item names and quest descriptions to be less confusing/more informative
· Fixed Hurlbats spawning when they should not be from containers and other breakables (AGAIN)
· Fixed player melee interacting with enemy shields strangely, especially when colliding with both an enemy shield and an enemy
· Fixed Kuchvek’s Crossing platforms not being destroyed when they should
· Fixed wrong armor sprite drawing on player when using certain types of consumables
· Fixed having X amount of Ore, then using a forge and your Ore dropping (or increasing) to 4
· Fixed snowfall drawing incorrectly on worldmap
· Fixed a very old floating coordinate problem for moveable/grabbable blocks and solids
· Fixed moveable solids not moving correctly when stacked
· Fixed several bad enemy corpse hitboxes across several enemy types that were incorrect
· Fixed and cleaned up a few sprite errors
· Fixed exiting water when swimming making it very difficult (sometimes impossible) to grab a nearby ledge
· Continued to fix certain items not respawning after they have been collected (treasure chests, Tribute Pieces, etc.)
NEW STUFF
· Added several new weapons
· New drop and treasure locations
· Updated loot tables for certain enemies
· Certain unique items will only drop from unique enemies
· New save rooms and save spots in certain locations
· New gear that can be “REFORGED”
· Started work on a “Gosen Wiki” which I will post soon, organizing locations, characters, enemies, gear, items, etc.
IMPROVEMENTS
· Savage now supports 64 bit OS
· Added a “Beta Branch” via Steam
· The game now compiles in the much more optimized and powerful “YoYo Compiler”
· Savage now uses a more stable Installer (with nice crispy Savage graphics)
· Light tuning to a few rooms as far as enemy locations and item locations
CATCHUP WORK FOR GMS2
· Rooms need to be rebuilt thanks to the change from old tile system to new tyle/sprite/asset system
· Remove old “depth” system and update to the new “layer” system
· Remove/change old instance creation code and update it to the new functions to play nice with the new GMS2 layer system
· Remove certain textures from old tilesets and make them their own sprites so they can be placed freely in rooms (GMS2 now only allows grid placement with tiles)
· 3D Worldmap transparency issues (objects and water not drawing if semi-transparent cloud is in front of them)
Hail barbarian! ⚔️
Hither comes a new update with some important improvements, as well as some "quality of life" changes! New weapons and items have also been added, and the world of Gosen becomes just a bit deadlier with new traps, puzzles, and enemy behaviors.
Gear Drops are no longer a pain in the loincloth! By default, weapons, armor, and shields will no longer be automatically picked up when you collide with them. Instead, on item collision, the name of the dropped gear will appear above it, allowing you to make a choice on whether you should pick it up or not. To initiate a pickup, you now press DOWN.
This fixes some frustration, where, to make room for a deadly new implement you have run across in the wild, you would drop one or more pieces of gear, only to accidentally pick up all the discarded loot you had just dropped.
Materials, consumables, and the like, are still automatically picked up, as they have an "infinite" space in the inventory.
These will have Game Options associated with them in a future update (Auto Pickup Loot: yes/no).
It looks like there is a setting here in GameMaker that I wasn't aware of -- "Sleep Margin". I have increased this in the hopes that it will fix some speed issues I have seen some people having, and related problems that have been reported to me. One of them being a "slow motion" type effect on the game.
Some games made on GameMaker seem to have this issue, where certain machines running some versions of Windows will set the game's priority to a low value.
Hopefully this fixes this issue if you are experiencing it!
New items have been added that will facilitate a fully featured "Forge" system in a future update, as well as weapons, key items, and materials.
The world once again gets a little more dastardly with some new mechanical and visual additions. Existing puzzle and exploration sequences have also been improved and/or expanded.
Rising platforms do damage to you (like being crushed) when you pick up or use an item that triggers a “powerup” effect
Fixed some elevators not resetting their levers when coming to a stop, forcing you to exit the room and reenter to use the elevator again
Certain categories of pickups were influenced by moving platforms and are now not
Weapons were not getting their stats from static info, creating different instances of stat blocks if changes were made in a patch
MANY items in a room/screen will stay despawned if picked up, especially many of the “Death Tribute” pickups
Breakable moving solid blocks (like the cave beetle shell) are NOT destroyed on enemy death by weapons that have more than one “hit” value
Fixed treasure chests ONLY containing a random amount of whatever they contain (gold values, consumables, etc.)
Fixed WOUNDS drawing incorrectly on the game HUD
Fixed when knocking a moveable solid into another that is on a slope, the one you hit comes BACK toward VERY fast you after hitting the one on a slope
Fixed attacking a moveable solid that is up against a wall and it’s collision effect doesn’t trigger
Fixed levers still “sparkling” and being hittable when they shouldn’t
CRASH FIX: Fixed climbing onto side-view-doors (open or closed) crashing the game
Floating text prompts have been fixed (were sometimes jarring with where they spawned), and will also now follow a target that makes more sense
Solid objects that you can lift, carry, push, etc., no longer draw BEHIND torches, creating a goofy looking effect
CRASH FIX: Fixed game crashing on picking up a dropped essence orb
Fixed hitting breakable rocks with “mirrored” melee object made it so breakable rock ignored actual weapon collision (i.e. pickaxe wouldn’t work if it hit the rock NOT on the “sweet spot” – THANKS Silverfox!)
Fixed an issue with certain gamepads not registering an “interact” event when pressing UP on the DPad (like the Retro Bit Genesis controller – THANKS Tarxsix!)
Fixed materials not being removed when forging a new weapon, shield, or armor
Fixed hitboxes on several enemies
Fixed hitboxes on several door/gate objects acting screwy
Set GameMaker’s “sleep margin” to 10 – potentially gets rid of “slow motion” effect on some machines, improving framerate on others
Redid several rooms and cleaned up event scripting
Improved flow of encounters and enemy placement (also removing enemies in overpopulated screens) in several rooms and screens
Redid several puzzle rooms
Changed the locations of some items, introduced new items to certain chest locations
Essence Vessels (“save” spots) added to improve levels, and in some cases added dedicated rooms for them
Some loot tables redone across enemies and containers (chests, breakable objects, etc.)
Some loot tables now based on Favor
Slightly increased the chance for resource nodes (ore, trees, etc.) to spawn, Luck is also now factored into this
Weapons are now less effective if you do not meet their stat requirements (base damage is limited and reduced)
Certain weapon stats have been tuned differently
Certain enemies now spawning with different behavior and attack properties based on player FAVOR stat
Gear drops (weapons, armor, shields) do NOT automatically get picked up when you run over them now – current default “pick up” button is DOWN (was frustrating to find a new weapon you wanted to pick up, had no room, dropped gear to make room, and then accidentally picked up what you dropped) – this will have a Game Option in the future to turn on and off (“autopickup loot: yes/no)
Gear drops will now also display their name above them when you collide with them so you can make an informed decision on whether to pick them up or not
Doors, chests, levers, and other interactable objects that you can activate by attacking now have an “interact prompt”, much like talking to an NPC – this should fix some confusion and also remedy accidentally attacking NPCs in some cases
Crafted items at the Forge now display their names when crafting is finished much more prominently
Several new weapons added to the game across a few weapon categories
New rooms and encounters added to the game
A few new traps added
New puzzle rooms added
Some new enemy behaviors added to certain enemies, as well as the allowance for more status effects (i.e. poison arrows)
A series of new key items added, some of them specifically dealing with future updates to the Forge
Several new materials added for crafting
New secrets and loot drops
New graphic assets, sprites, backgrounds, tiles, for “Relic” style of environments
I wanted to include a brand new Map System in this update, but I am still wrestling a bit with the particulars, but I have decided on a look and size for the thing, and hope to include that in the next update. Volunheim is still on the way, as well as updates to current locations (story, NPC dialogue, quests, bosses, etc.).
I wanted a static display and went with a design that allows me to show as many map cells on the screen at one time, so expect it to look something like this.
I also want to thank you so much for contributing to over 1,000 units moved on Steam! I have also just recently hit over 10,000 hours of work on the game (disgusting, oops lol - (beyond) time to start wrapping this thing up!).
All the best to you and yours, and thank you for your support!! ⚔️
- Matt
Hail, Barbarian Horde! ⚔
This update is big, juicy AND nutrient rich - but does not include Volunheim. We will get there!
For now, I wanted to deliver a video to you covering the bigger, more interesting additions, fixes, and improvements to SAVAGE as I hack and slash my way toward a big, PROPER Volunheim content update. Below, for fun, are some of the info graphics and GIFs used in the presentation.
Fixed a TON of softlock and outright crash issues related to moving around, climbing, speed, entering and exiting certain rooms - LOTS of improvements to the worldmap - Kell and other overworld assets look better'
Entering and exiting locations feel a lot better and less janky - Fixes to the overworld camera - Overall better game feel - New "dust/air" sprites for jumping, landing, dodge rolling, and skidding
ALL COLLISION SPRITES have been redone (damage types, collisions, destructibles, etc.) - MORE THINGS to "pogo" (downward strike) off of -- including moveable objects, breakables, and enemy melee objects
More interactive elemets -- i.e., toss a corpse on a springing spike trap to create a rideable elevator that you can stack other things on top of to reach higher locations
ENEMY IMPROVEMENTS!!
Tons of fixes to hitboxes
Enemy melee placements were WAY OFF for many enemies (FIXED)
Tuning to timings, AI, and stats have been adjusted to most enemies
Some enemies and bosses (Lesser Horror, as an example) have gotten NEW movesets
Fixes to bounding box objects for larger, stranger shaped monsters
BOSS IMPROVEMENTS!!
Same as above - and also to boss “arenas”
LUCK AND FAVOR REVAMP
Luck behaves independently to Favor, aside from Luck increasing when Favor does
Other events, planned consummables, RITUALS (coming soon) will increase luck
LUCK influences frequency of item drops, rarity of drops, money gained on a gold drop, IF there is gold, gives you a bit of an edge in dialogue skill checks (intimidate, reason, lying, etc.)
FAVOR will now influence things like WHAT enemies will appear in a spawn table in certain areas (like procedurally generated map encounters), and therefore what items will be available to farm (nastier, damage dealing weapons, think more sinister and deadly for negative Favor -- armor, shields and curatives for positive favor)
Favor will also influence bonuses from effects given to gear that has been affixed with a corresponding Fetish, whether or not certain NPCs might appear, what scenarios will appear on the worldmap
Favor will also dictate whether "Shadow Kell" spawns on death, whether he hunts you (all that being said, you could intentionally LOWER your favor, die, spawn Shadow Kell -- RAISE Favor to get access to Shadow Kell exclusive positive Favor drops - Kill Shadow Kell. Profit)
STAT IMPROVEMENTS AND OVERHAULS
Attack and Defense ratings and how they work together has been refactored (dealing damage)
Kell now does very little damage without a weapon, and defense is low without armor
Scaling now matters a LOT more on gear
Began tuning stats across all gear
CUNNING OVERHAUL!!
Points into Cunning actually works now!
Parry system overhaul! "Parry opportunity" stat from Cunning
Critical Strike damage bonuses, along with flashy blood and collision sprites to show you got a critical strike
Critical damage can now be STACKED across certain parameters, like weakness to damage type, position, parry, backstab, headshot
Big, satisfying, juicy critical strike numbers
Evasion is now affected by Cunning -- More points into Cunning makes your dodges faster and have more iframes at the start of your dodge animation -- this ALSO makes shields more effective, and positioning more important if you DON'T put points into Cunning
Individual stat lines are starting to make more impact, making character growth and progression more interesting
NEW ITEMS
Wayward grit has been added to drop tables and actually works now (heals armor hp)
New weapon category: "Whips", along with new whip category weapons
New "knife" category weapons
Certain enemies can have parts of them cut off and used as a weapon (i.e. the Lesser Horror's tongue)
Some new key items and story related items
More weapons and items have been added to containers and drop tables
More items added and changes made to NPC stores -- i.e. the Blacksmith in Gussek now sells keys
TONS OF FIXES AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS
Visit the Steam discussion page to view the pinned patch notes (it's very long)
VERY BIG AND LONG UPDATE
I am going to start doing smaller, more frequent updates. I like putting these out more regularly to you, and it means there isn't a huge amount of stuff to try to communicate to you.
ALSO - what do you guys wanna see? I'm sure everybody wants more content -- I WANT more content, too! for smaller systems -- Some things that still need to be added:
A map system -- "optional" For people who want to be brave (and also lost, most likely) -- optional map consumables
Recipe list for alchemy and cooking - GET ALL THE PERKS/SKILLS in there!
Remaining features for the FORGE (improvement, salvage, "lore")
Bestiary needs to be added (monster names, lore, weaknesses, drops, etc.)
Let me know and I will prioritize this sort of stuff for, if not the next update, a future update!
Thanks again for all of your support!!
-Matt
YES, SAVAGE: The Shard of Gosen has made it to Early Access!
Check it out here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/408060/SAVAGE_The_Shard_of_Gosen/
IMPORTANT: Before getting into this, I sent keys out to all Kickstarter backers in September of 2016!! PLEASE let me know if you didn't get your key! I've been contacted by a few of you who never got your Steam keys, so I'm worried there are a few of you left who haven't!
Hey everyone, Matt here, coming out of the grind cave for another update! Apologies for the lack of any news across EVERYTHING - it's been a pretty heavy grind to get the game where it is now, and I generally am not very good at finding a solid work/news update balance. So, apologies for keeping so quiet.
I was very unsure about Early Access, but I started to change my mind once some very kind people started asking me to make the game available in that capacity, so they could support the game and get a copy at the same time. It also helps get more eyeballs on the game that I wouldn't have otherwise, and all the extra help is greatly appreciated.
Speaking of which, thank you VERY much for all of the bug reports, feedback and critiques; this stuff is going to help me turn Savage into a MUCH better game.
All of the support across Kickstarter, early backers and the current round of Early Access has just about floored me. It is surreal and I am humbled by it, and very grateful. Thank you!!
That being said, let's talk about the game, what's currently in it, what didn't make it, and what's coming up in future content updates.
50 - 60% of dungeon and area content
New title screen!!
Brand new dialogue system
“Perk” system finally implented with UI and unlockable perks
Alchemy and cooking!
Recipes for alchemy/cooking, tons of new materials, ingredients and consumables
General polish and lots of bug fixes
The currently accessible landmass!
The title screen got a significant upgrade!
The new dialogue system is all drawn dynamically based on it's content, has a brand new "response" window that can hold up to 11 responses, and each response can potentially be a skill check against your four primary stats (with success and failure outcomes)!
Leveling up gear and/or items to level 3 "masters" that item -- NOW you have a nice fancy UI and menu system showing you what you've unlocked across several categories!
Alchemy and cooking are now a thing! Experiment by adding ingredients and materials to one, or all of the three available slots with a chance of creating a powerful potion, a rare crafting material, or simply cooking your raw meat to yield better healing results.
Lots of new materials, ingredients and consumables have been added!
Increased inventory limits - “infinite space” for mats/consumables
Upgrades for weapon/shield and armor inventory space
Map system (probably via crafting and/or vendor)
“Journal” entry moved to the main character menu
Buffs and debuffs to go along with new consumables
More Forge functionality - Repair, Improve, Salvage and Lore
Picking up weapons and armor method and “Discard” in inventory
Stat balancing (damage, HP, BP gain, drop rates)
Animations for new consumables, more perks
Recipe UI for discovered recipes and MORE recipes
More music - variety for individual areas
The remaining areas that will receive big juicy content updates - including ship travel!
Fixed giving Morth ore if you only had 1 ore to give
Losech’s dialogue now triggers automatically
Fixed pickup info appearing twice for “Gal’vek’s Remains”
Fixed Hem dialogue crashing game if he is sad
Fixed Grethelde not remembering if you spoke to her or not
Fixed Reylhast not remembering if you spoke to him or not
Fixed Blacksmith crashing game if you chose certain dialogue
Fixed NPC dialogue objects remaining after NPC went hostile or was killed
Added alchemy and cooking
New title screen with new images and sound effects!
Fixes to green arrows in UI comparison windows
9 sliced UI for dialogues to allow dynamic window sizes
Fixed Maginoch not spawning and crashing the game during optional boss scenario
Rewrote and fixed logic for dialogue system
Sped up the disclaimer at game start
Brand new dialogue window to display multiple choices
New dialogue choices for Skillchecks (Might, Resolve, Cunning and Favor)
Dialogue system now allows for up to 11 choices
Fixed a bug where the “shift” key would show up as “A” key when remapping controls
Updated mouse sprites for the UI (left click, middle mouse, right click, etc.)
New “typewriter” dialogue sound effect that can be pitch shifted
New “success” dialogue skill check sound effect
New “fail” dialogue skill check sound effect
Fixed falling hazards crashing game if colliding with player’s shield if player didn’t exist
Fixed several vendor bugs where values were not rounding correctly, causing other issues when interacting with shops, crafting and alchemy
Certain NPC dialogue sets updated with optional skillcheck entries
LOTS of new materials, potions and consumables for use in a variety of ways
New recipes for alchemy and cooking
Better gear info and comparison screen with stat icons showing scaling effects and requirements for your stats, also for vendor screens
Fixed a bug where vendor screens were drawing player inventory information in both buy and sell modes
Fixed a bug where if you were equipped with a shield in the intro and viewed the prison capture cinematic, the game would crash when loading the main character into cell
New shield revamped “HITS” system with visible shield hit bar on the HUD
Fixed 16:10 aspect ratio crashing the game when starting a new game in the name entry screen
Fixed parallax layers and background layers drawing correctly for 16:10
Fixed visuals for 16:10 title screen
Fixed being outside room boundaries where no room is assigned for the compass object crashing the game
Fixed mouse cursor positions for menus in 16:10
Fixed scaling and tile drawing issues in 16:10
Fixed drawing water FX in video options menu
Fixed eating/drinking consumables from the items menu soft-locking the player
Fixed picking up throwing dirks and hurlbats giving you “+0”
Fixed hurlbats dropping below 0 quantity
UPDATE DIRECT X if the game crashes due to water FX or weather FX!!
Removed ship docks (they were accidentally left active)
Added a few materials and other items to loot tables for currently available enemies
Death fully restores HP once respawning at a checkpoint
Favor subtracts much slower on death
Improved base drop rates when killing items, destroying objects like crates and opening mundane chests
Check out my ramblings here in the video version for more detail on certain aspects of this post:
Thanks for reading this far if you've made it! Lots of tuning and balance fixes need to be done, in addition to filling the rest of the game up with more content. Keep your eyes peeled!
Fully realized map shown here for fun!
Watch the game being developed on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/toborprime
Join the Discord to ask questions, give feedback and report bugs: https://discord.gg/7KfCNm6
Thanks for all of the support, patience and feedback!
-Matt
**IMPORTANT**
GameMaker games and Windows 10 seem to be butting heads on certain systems. If your display goes black and then white (showing nothing and no response from Savage) when starting the game in Fullscreen, here's what seems to fix the issue.
TO FIX:
RIGHT CLICK on the Savage .exe and open Properties and navigate to the Compatibility tab. CHECK the box under Settings labeled "Disable fullscreen optimizations". Click APPLY.
Doing this seems to have worked for the user that reported it (THANK YOU Gallus!).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hail, Barbarians!
I come to you now at the turn of the tide... Or, with a big fat update. This is probably the biggest update I have put out of the game as far as new features and content go. But before we dig in and get our hands (or blades) good and filthy, there are a couple new Savage related things I'd like to point out:
Going forward, every Friday at 1pm Central, I will be doing a weekly wrap up show on my Twitch channel called "Let's Finish Savage" that will coincide with a weekly game update (big or small, whatever gets done and is ready for deployment that week). I'll go over new content added, bugs fixed, tweaks and polish, and ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you can expect in these weekly builds. The plan is to also cover any future plans and roadmaps (i.e. what you can expect in following updates and builds), followed up by some Q and A, provided anyone watching has any questions!
Feel free to also hop into the Discord to keep up with any and all news posts related to Savage, including livestream announcements. There are also a couple handy channels you can use to give me feedback, report bugs, or just chew the fat about the game:
OK! With those out of the way, let's dig into this shiny (and broken) new build.
A big batch of new NPCs and characters have been added into the game, each with their own personalities, tasks and animations. Some of them vendor new items! Some will be a trigger for new events and story elements. In addition, new rooms and buildings have been added to Gussek, the border village you first see when exiting the Mining Prison.
One of the biggest features I've added to the game is the ability to actively attack ANY NPC in the game. Doing so will make them permanently hostile to you and they will then behave like an enemy object to you until slain.
Doing this has consequences, of course. Now that you've met them, kill them.
You used to be able to totally spam healing items, regardless of your player state. NO LONGER.
You will now have to find a safe moment or location to STOP and eat meat, drink potions etc.
The world is a dangerous place, and it's gotten worse. A whole slew of new and terrible things can happen to you in the form of Status Ailments.
These include Burning, Paralysis, Poison and becoming Cursed. But worry not! With every new deadly affliction comes a remedy.
In addition to the new status ailments, you can no longer swim completely submerged indefinitely. You run the risk of drowning if you stay in the depths for too long.
In addition to using an item like the Balm to mitigate Burning, jumping in the water (as well as being out in the rain or snow) can put the fire out.
Dying results in you dropping your hard earned Essence and any matured Essence Orbs that can later be reclaimed by returning to the site of your death. BUT - some interesting things can and will happen on the place of your death surrounding your dropped Essence. Depending on your Favor stat, things can go South pretty quickly...
The number of times you've died and dropped Essence can cause said Essence to go wild, eventually transforming into a shadowy Twisted Self - an entity without any direction other than your demise.
Dying and dropping Essence within a randomly generated encounter on the Overworld Map will LOCK IN the encounter, allowing you to run through it again and attempt to regain your dropped Essence.
If slain by the Twisted Self, the plan going forward is to have him persue you in various locations and on the world map until one of you lies dead.
A brand new third Major Stat called Cunning has been added to character advancement!
In addition, the level up and character sheet has had a major overhaul (visually and mechanically), allowing you to see all of the sub stats that are affected by leveling up your Major Stats.
In addition to some of these more dense features, there are a whole bunch of other changes, improvements and bug fixes to list.
FEATURES and NEW STUFF
Added weather and region specific dynamic background tile layers
Added functionality to pressure plates
Added new item sprite and description for the Walljump item
Added new "shard" themed props and assets
Added exciting, horrible and frustrating new hazards, like beams and lasers
Added streams of lava and large bodies of lava
Added new "Slave Garb" armor set, including new pieces to allow me to make more visually different armor sets
New status ailments: Drowning, Burning, Poison, Paralysis, Curse
New status ailments "bars" that appear above the player
New enemy healthbars
Added Leeches (cures Poison)
Added Crogue Needles (cures Paralysis and mitigates being grabbed)
Added Soothing Balm (cures Burning)
Added God Bone (removes Curse)
Added several new NPCs
New rooms and buildings in Gussek, the border village
ALL NPCs can now be attacked and/or made hostile, and as a result, can be killed New NPC related items
New lock and key system for "background" doors
New shortcut within Devil's Shade, both in the actual level and outside on the overworld map
Access to Gosenian Highlands and dungeons (Hell's Teeth, Highland Cliffs, Kuchvek's Crossing)
New CUNNING stat
New player sheet with redesigned UI elements showing which sub stats are being affected when leveling up main stats (Might, Resolve, Cunning, Favor)
IMPROVEMENTS and CHANGES
Rewrote physics for pickups and items
Dropped items from inventory now get "dropped" in the direction you are facing
Improved and fixed many rooms (traversal problems, prop placements, etc.)
Skull Wound tokens now equal 4 hit points per Skull instead of 2 hit points per Skull
Fixed torches outside at certain times of day drawing an ugly transparent square (improved "lighting" FX)
Changed texture page sizes to 1024x1024 from 2048x2048 - Overworld map runs MUCH better as a result, as well as improved performance across game
Game is now compiled in the YoYo Compiler for Windows target platform resulting in (pretty awesome) improved performance (mostly during testing now - future builds will be compiled this way)
TONS of code and asset optimization, resulting in better performance
Fixed AI behaviors for Argeshii Brute and similar enemies
Carried undead corpses, if flagged as able to return to "life", once re-animated, will be dropped and do damage to the player like a normal enemy
Changed the color of "healing" number popups from green to gold (green looked like poison and was terrifying)
BUG FIXES
Fixed NPC in border village turning into headless corpse
Fixed items from crates and other breakables getting stuck in walls (FINALLY)
Fixed giving Gal'Vek's remains to Losech and the player freezing up bug
Fixed Kell appearing in middle of screen in mid air if exiting left from the small cinematic intro screen of burning village sequence
Fixed dropped Fetishes giving you FAVOR (i.e. player could pick up a new Fetish, get FAVOR, then drop the Fetish again, pick it up again, and still get FAVOR)
Fixed using Fetishes NOT removing FAVOR
Fixed Kell NOT locking to breakable solid container objects when ledge grabbing onto them
Fixed hit box NOT updating to smaller size hit box when dodge rolling out of a ledge climb animation
Fixed Kell's feet getting stuck in a moveable block when ledge climbing up onto the block (if block is on upward moving platform)
Fixed inventory screen matching a fade in or out - you can now see it clearly if you pause during a fade
Fixed falling hazards landing on enemy corpses crashing game
Fixed a bug where Jailer in intro prison cell scene is in a constant attack loop
Fixed a bug with brown spider enemy "jittering" between animations during an attack
Fixed game crashing when viewing the level up screen when sub slot 2 has a weapon equipped to it and NO weapon is equipped to sub slot 1
Fixed a bug where, carrying a corpse and jumping up into a solid (i.e. ceiling) would cause the player to get stuck in the solid, or slowly travel up through the solid
Fixed carrying corpses marked as undead, returning to "life", then crashing game
Fixed carrying corpses marked as undead stopping their "coming back to life" animation when carried
Fixed game crashing when ledge climbing up onto a "push block" resulting from variable "can_move" not being defined
Fixed certain enemies, when carried by player and killed, crashing the game
Fixed Star Flail breaking game on pickup, or creating a Pocked Sica on pickup
Fixed Blacksmith in Gussek not caring if you RETURN to him either naked or wearing slave garb (he should be upset)
Fixed "angry" NPCs not deactivating their dialogue interaction objects
And probably other stuff I missed.
Anyway, that's a wrap! I'll see you all again next week!
Thanks again!
-Matt
Hi everyone!
Firstly I want to apologize to you all for the lack of updates. I have been buried up to my neck in this game (for probably too long, ha!) and I forget to come up for air sometimes -- especially with the end of the year looming.
I'm still grinding away on Savage full time, and then some. Some things I'll bring up real quick are that I switched compilers within GameMaker: Studio and the dang thing (Savage) runs LIKE BUTTER after compiling in the new setup. A lot of this has been in preparation to switch over to GameMaker Studio 2 (YoYo stopped supporting Studio 1 in June/July) which will make things better overall (including potential porting to other platforms).
It hasn't all just been raw systems level work, though -- the game is popping with new locations, armor, items, enemies - ALL NPCS CAN NOW BE KILLED (and/or engaged in combat/made hostile) -- so there's a ton to go over. I'm hoping that within the next week I'll have one of those nice big juicy magazine style updates - AND the new build -out for you guys.
Speaking of magazines, for a long while I had been getting asked questions like, "Is the MegaDex a real thing?" -- the "MegaDex" referring to the fake magazine prop used in the Savage trailer. My response was always something like, "Nah, it's just a goofy joke". Well, NO LONGER - real quick here I'll say that I have also been working on bringing that thing to life. Essentially, it will function as a Planet Tobor fanzine in the vein of Diehard GameFan, some of the stuff I really enjoyed about Nintendo Power, and old gaming publications in general.
The goal with that is to get you guys a digital copy of the thing that goes over fun Savage lore stuff, the comic, any and all future Savage updates, showcasing the fan art I've received, and generally ANY other fun stuff I feel like throwing in there.
So new build, new "magazine", new update and a convention coming up!
I'll be at Retropalooza in Arlington, Texas this weekend, September 29th and 30th along with Savage and a booth space (sorry for the short notice - I too only just got the 100% go ahead that I'd have a booth space there) - so if you're in the area or already attending, come say hi!
Again, sorry it's been so long since the last update. I wanted to hop on, let you guys know I'm still alive and STILL working on Savage!
Thanks for all the support and patience, and I'll talk to you next update!
-Matt
Hail, Loinclothed Heathens!
An oldie but a goodie
Let's get some bad news out of the way RIGHT NOW, shall we? It is becoming crushingly apparent that I won't get to a 100% finished Savage powerhouse of a game by the end of this year. BUT, what I've got right now is fantastically close. It's feeling better (mechanically and content-wise) than I could have ever imagined, so we're getting there!
There is indeed a shiny new playable build to talk about, too, so let's dive in!
Item number one for me over the last couple of months has been to MAKE. THE MAP. MATTER! I'm churning out stages, levels and areas like crazy, so here's a sneak peak at one of the more complicated areas I've had to tackle:
Here's a visual guide I've been using to manage this maze-like location known as "Hell's Teeth" (which has some equally menacing lore behind it. Details will be found in item descriptions and NPCs for players to piece together)....
... And, upon entering any of those lettered "nodes", or entrances, we wind up in the above grid (this is pretty much my ode to the Death Mountain stage in Zelda 2).
Navigating the catacombs, ruins and caves that comprise this area is no joke, and you can expect some nasty surprises!
Here are a few glimpses into some of the new nightmarish locations:
These new areas also feature a host of new props and background assets:
With new places comes new faces. And things with which to murder them. Among them is the Nocturm Cult - a clan of Gosenian death worshippers. Specifically, they bow to The Noctwurm, an aspect of the horned serpent, Abhan Yloth. The two have been seperated so long, they have confused each other for separate entities and have therefore become enemies, one attempting to devour the other.
Some of the new pieces of gear:
It was personally exciting to me to FINALLY get in some heater shield type designs, as well as finally getting in some two-handed axe slaughter time!
One of the hallmarks that I have really tried to get right about the game world I'm trying to create has been interactivity and rules. Rules that all other actors/entities/objects should adhere to (albeit in a whacky 2D barbaric environment). A lot of the feedback I've gotten from viewing folks playing the game has shown some holes in the delivery of this philosophy - one of them being, EVERYBODY tries to pick up corpses!
Well... be disappointed no further!
Yup - you can now pick up, carry, and throw corpses (this includes all the savagely hilarious situations that spring from this, like picking up a downed undead warrior, tossing him into another, and both of them shattering in a shower of bone fragments).
On a related note, this following depiction of more fun with corpses is coming in the next update:
You can see there that corpses will be affected by fire and will stop arrows, making them (corpses) makeshift shields against hazards coming at you from above (including things like falling spikes, acid, etc.)! This also means LIVING enemies, where applicable, will ALSO be affected by things like fire, acid, etc.
Here's a peak at some of the tunes I'm working on that you'll hear in a later game *spoiler*, where *spoiler* summons the *spoiler* causing the player to *spoiler* the *spoiler*:
Though there's work yet to do, all the art, programming, music and mechanics are already blending together to create something that is not just fun, but satisfying to play for you all, and a world full of interesting things and places to discover.
That about wraps it up for the highlights of the update. Here's the usual detailed breakdown of what's new in the latest build:
There has been a whole HOST of very talented and entertaining people taking a crack at the game and introducing it to their audiences. To them, I say THANK YOU for giving the game a shot and spreading the word!
BovineDevine
GamesPlusJames
Joshachu
KingRadinov
Owazrim
Shooter_Q
vgRealm
Kaitality
Click on those links and give those fellas a follow, if you'd be so kind!!
SourKoolaidShow's stream specifically had me in stitches: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/207509016
And that's a wrap on this update! If you want to follow along with development more closely, come take a look at my Twitch page where I stream live development!
https://www.twitch.tv/toborprime
If you're curious for more insight, I have the HUGE pleasure of hanging out with my friend Tim to bring you a brand spankin' new podcast! We're going to make this a thing every other Wednesday from now on!
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season! Thank you SO MUCH for all your support, and I will see you next year!!
-Matt
Horizontal thrusts? Up thrusts? DOWN thrusts?! I've got you covered, Barbarian Horde!
The last few months I've been grinding away at the one last juicy feature I felt was necessary to make Savage really shine: Directional combat! I mean, I can't cite one of my big inspirations as Zelda 2 without allowing players to strike their enemy's head from above. Let's have a look.
Across several new player states, new sprites (774 frames), new armor sprites (2,322), shield positions (you can also shield bash upward and downward!), and weapon positions, bringing the pain to the baddies is now possible from WHEREVER. This has also fixed certain issues I wasn't excited about. Situations like climbing a ladder and having a stubborn enemy directly above you, or some harder to hit, low lying enemies like the cave crawlers and rockbiters.
This also makes existing enemies (like skeleton warriors that spawn with specific gear sets, for example) that are able to mimic the down/upward attacks feel a LOT more fair, giving the player the same strategic choices -- making combat feel WAY more interesting.
Timing a perfect downward strike and HOLDING the attack button also gives you some good air on your bounce!
In those gifs above, I'm sure you've noticed some new sprites and visual effects, like new clouds, and an honest to goodness SUN in the sky. Good eye, I say! There is now a fully functioning dynamic weather system, along with new sun sprites and effects, moon sprites (with actual phases, i.e. new, waxing, waning, full), new cloud sprites that reflect the day/night/weather change, and star constellations that correspond to the different deities worshiped (or abhorred) in the world of Lor.
Here's a look at all of that in action in the 2D platforming sequences and the 3D overworld:
The weather system is also dependent on what in-game season it is (and what location you are currently in -- probably not going to snow/blizzard in the desert, ha!). Along with it, a slew of new backgrounds reflecting things like snowstorms (and winter) have been added:
New weather types include clear skies, cloudy, thunderstorms, light rain into rainstorm, snow, and blizzard.
The combination of location, day/night, season, weather, moon phase, and dominant constellation can, and sometimes WILL affect what sort of randomized encounter you are going to have on the world map.
There are also some secrety fun things constellations can do, depending on what God's fetish, fetish level, and FAVOR stat you currently have (more on that in a future update!).
The new Gosen Highlands location also brings with it some new areas, dungeons and baddies, like the Noctwurm Assassin, courtesy of the Noctwurm Cult (all with their own backstory and lore)!
NEW FEATURES
COMING SOON
A reminder - Kickstarter backers can access all the newness via Steam, provided they have redeemed their Steam Keys.
Groupees Greenlight Bundle folks can access the same from their product pages (their Steam Keys will unlock once the game is released).
I have zero excuses why this is taking me as long as it's taking, but the reasons are pretty important. Wanting to deliver a game to you all that is worth your time to play is chief among them. It turns out trying to make the best damn game I possibly can takes time, and more time than I initially accounted for. That's 100% on me, and I'm sorry for making you all wait so long.
I will also not release a crippled, ugly thing that I am not proud of, ha! So, the battle continues, but the end is certainly in sight. With the directional combat completed, in the game, and fully functional (and actually feeling pretty great), aspects of the game like personality, mood and atmosphere are coming together very quickly. Especially with the new atmosphere and weather effects in place, the game is looking and feeling like the game I wanted to bring to life in the first place - and I have all of you to thank for that.
The current step is content, content, content (finishing dungeons, NPCs, items, weapons, armor and shields, and a handful of enemies that are not completed to flesh out certain areas).
So again, thank you for your patience, your involvement, and your support - it is keeping the fire going bright, strong and SAVAGE... (*ahem*)!
Your loinclothed (is that even a word?) friend,
-Matt
P.S. Forgot to mention! If you're curious about checking in on the game's progress more frequently, I have been very active with live development streams here: https://www.twitch.tv/toborprime
Yes, new build! But we'll get to that in a second -
- I've been down in a development hole working like a demon to get this game polished, feeling great, and worth your time to play. I'm finally coming up for air to show you all the shiny new progress that's been done, and I'm sorry it's taken me since January to do so - but here we go!
The mining prison is now teeming with characters you can interact with in the current build - their stories might continue on from here, or end tragically depending on how you handle these interactions. I also completely redesigned the dialogue font for better legibility while retaining the dark fantasy theme:
There is also a new KEYS section in the inventory to store mundane Iron Keys, Gold Keys, and unique quest keys and items:
The game FINALLY has a tutorial sequence with appropriate prompts (the prompts are purely optional and can be interacted whether you choose to or not) at the start of the game, leading up to the intro story bits:
There is now also a DEDICATED GRAB button for grabbing objects, pushing/pulling them, lifting and tossing them:
Tutorial prompts have been placed elsewhere in the game world where necessary, also:
The user interface elements have all gotten an overhaul (visually and mechanically) and now have mostly functioning mouse support! In addition, you can now fully remap either a gamepad, or mouse and keyboard to play EXACTLY how you want to play!
Swapping between gamepad input and keyboard input will also be reflected now across ALL prompts, user interface elements, and HUD elements:
You can now gain Essence Points from battle and spend them at designated restore points (or, for the lore junkies, "Essence Vessels"; artifacts left behind by ancient beings as they carved their way through the old world):
Spending Essence Points on your three primary stats (FAVOR is a liquid stat, which can also raise and lower depending on other actions) will increase your level, but also increase sub stats like knockback resistance and knockback power, dodge speed, allow you to equip more powerful gear, and lots of other things that we'll go over closer to release!
You can now sell and buy things! FINALLY!
As is included in the vendor system, you can also compare potential weapons, shields and armor stats against your currently equipped gear to see whether you will gain any increases (or decreases) in things like damage output, resistance, armor hit points, and whether you have enough MIGHT or RESOLVE to use a piece of equipment:
Here's an assortment of new (and redone) music tracks that have made it into the game! These are mostly done, but still need an eventual final pass for EQ-ing and mixing/mastering:
There are many other improvements, additions and bug fixes in the latest build - to many to go into detail over, so here are the patch notes!
I had the spur of the moment opportunity to bring the game to DreamHack in Austin over the weekend.
I was incredibly nervous and didn't quite know what to expect (and wasn't sure if we were going to make it), but the show went well! I got a LOT of good feedback, and PC Gamer came over and did a video interview and captured some game footage. Here are the videos if you fancy watching me be a sleep deprived idiot in front of a camera!
(the Youtube comments sections are especially hilarious)
Here is the article featured on PC Gamer also.
If you are a backer and already activated your Steam key, the new build should automatically update in your Steam client!
After this update, builds will also differ between what's available via Steam and the other live demo locations:
Anyway, thanks for checking out the update! That's all for now - more to come soon!
-Matt
Hail, Barbarian Horde!
Sorry this update has been a long time coming -- October turned out to be unusually busy and I had a number of large game-related issues I wanted to tackle before delivering you all an update. But rest assured, challenges hath been slain and there's a ton of new work to talk about!
Here's what's been going on since the last update:
I've been diving into my already-finished bag of tricks to produce some newer baddies, especially for the starter areas that many people are having trouble with.
For example, the bats (which a LOT of people have been getting slaughtered by) have been nerfed and are more manageable now, as far as their speed and aggressiveness. I've done a palette swap of them to create a newer, deadlier bat monster. This little process has been done on a series of baddies to help balance out the overall experience a bit more, especially in an attempt to teach the player early on what is expected of them, mechanically.
Here are some other screencaps and examples of newer critters I've crafted:
Some of the areas go on for WAY too long (in my opinion) and feel like filler. I've been cutting down on area maps and tossing rooms that feel excessive.
I've also been going through the finished areas and FINALLY adding physically visible and interactive save/checkpoints:
... AND, adding shortcuts (probably letting my Dark Souls fetish show)!
There are certain areas, too, that I felt lacked a solid visual identity (mainly, background images and graphics)-- especially unique locations. I'm fixing that:
... As well as:
All of these aspects are finally making certain areas feel "complete" and polished.
Across all of the finalized content I'm addressing and tuning several things:
Those have been my main priorities. Now, here's a BIG one:
Anyone who has played the live development build would notice a lack of effective area surrounding your weapon strikes, especially when you are flush up against something you're trying to hit, or trying to hit one of those pesky, smaller and agile bats.
Here's an example of this problem:
Each weapon has it's own unique hitbox, usually using a type of 'precise' collision detection. Obviously, this can be a problem when you have a situation like the one pictured above; the player is standing RIGHT NEXT to a door, they strike it, trying to open it, but their weapon's hitbox winds up OUTSIDE the door's hitbox, therefore resulting in NO collision.
I've taken steps to fix this by reworking the combat system to accommodate an additional invisible, inverted hitbox that bridges the gap between the player's bounding box and their weapon (in other words, a hitbox that is an arm's length).
This took a lot of doing and re-engineering of the current system, but is WAY worth it. Combat feels more responsive since you have better coverage, and attempting to strike things like levers, switches and doors will now no longer (mostly) result in a complete whiff.
Unintentionally, this also introduces an interesting 'direct hit' kind of system; if you are not striking an enemy with the actual bounding box of your weapon, BUT your mirrored arm-length hitbox collides with an enemy, it won't do quite as much damage is slicing an enemy directly with your rad sword would. Accidental, but interesting and offers a bit more depth to the combat!
I've added a TON of new dialogue and NPC interaction including but not limited to:
In addition, I've gone back to previous dialogue and edited it for either length, or to bring it all up to speed with current character arcs and goings on.
I've been pouring over all of your feedback (thank you!) and issue reporting, and I'm busy at work cracking all these little suckers, and addressing a few issues.
I'm also working on RE-working the save system -- at present, it isn't perfectly future-proofed, and some technical issues need to be ironed out, but this probably won't be 'perfect' until closer to launch.
Anyway -- thanks for reading another update! There will be a big juicy patch coming to the live development build soon including all of these changes, content, and more!
Thanks again for all your support and patience, and have a great Thanksgiving!
-Matt
"... It's better to burn out than to fade away!"
Sorry -- I've been listening to too much (is that even possible?) of the Highlander soundtrack while working. On a completely unrelated note, how about a project update?!
I've begun the process of rewriting old bits of dialogue, as well as creating brand new bits of NPC dialogue and story events. I've updated the old dialogue system to better perform under different circumstances, like whether or not the player should 'trigger' a dialogue event to auto start, or whether they should press the 'interact' button when colliding with a dialogue object to start a conversation with an NPC...
In this one below (don't worry -- the ugly green box is just there for debugging purposes), the player waits until colliding with the dialogue object before pushing 'up' on the gamepad or keyboard:
This system was already in place, but not wholly hooked up to NPCs. It was also super clunky and a bit all over the place in terms of multiple different dialogue objects that would handle different scenarios. It's all been condensed and trimmed down to one tidy little dialogue object.
In addition to tidying up the dialogue event system, I've added practical events to the game that will give the player hints and objectives, as well as main and sub quests:
A semblance of this already existed, but again, has been tidied up and older events have been rewritten, as well as new ones added.
There's plenty of audio and music work left to be done, but every once in a while I'll run over to my music creation and editing software and crank something out to help emphasize the mood and tone of the content I'm working on. Here's a little bit of that (rough and work-in-progress):
I want to thank everyone who's been playing the alpha demo for all of their feedback and bug reporting across Steam, Kickstarter, Castlevania Dungeon Forums, IndieDB, Gamejolt -- I'm hearing all of it, adding your reports and issues to my todo lists and replying where I can! Thank you so much - it's a huge help!
There isn't an update to the alpha demo this week since there's a bunch of dialogue and quest content yet to be added to make the beginning area stuff make more sense, but expect it soon!
Thanks again! 'Til next update!
-Matt
Happy Sunday!
This week sees quite a few fixes to issues plaguing the alpha demo! Let's talk about a couple of the biggest and most obnoxious ones:
This... this has been the bane of my existence for quite a while -- BUT, there's finally a fix for it!
Once upon a time, the game, when minimized, or not in focus, still accepted input. Gamepad buttons would still register, as well as keyboard key presses. So if, say, you were alt+tabbed out and Googling something, any keys that performed an action in the game would register.
I tried to fix this by locking out controls when the game registered an "OS pause event". The problem with this, was that locking out controls if you were in a menu screen, title screen, fade in/out -- ANYWHERE but the actual game-y bits, you could not regain control when maximizing your window or trying to get back into the game again.
Now, you can alt+tab like a monkey on too much caffeine and the game (maybe) won't break! YAY!
Currently, the game only draws to an aspect ratio of 16:9, and this caused issues when in full screen on some displays.
Now, the game will respect the size of ANY crazy aspect ratio, while still maintaining it's visuals and aspect ratio.
I even got some use out of this older monitor for size testin!
Different aspect ratios will be supported down the road, but at least now you can play the demo without having vital information cropped from the screen (like the player character's life bar).
Here are some (hopefully) extreme edge case issues someone reported to me:
My first response to this would have been to take the cartridge out and blow into it.
Super weird (and very unsettling from a technical standpoint)! Though, I did get some silly enjoyment from seeing those screens. I have no idea what's going on here, but hopefully no one else is experiencing this madness. Let me know if you are!
This week, I sent every backer a Steam key that gives you access to the current build uploaded through the Steam pipeline, regardless of the game's release state (i.e. it's not out yet, but you can play the in-development build RIGHT NOW).
Make sure to check your email associated with your Kickstarter profile -- if you DID NOT get your key, let me know and I will send it to you again via Kickstarter's messaging system!
It's worth noting, as well, that if you redeem your key and download the game, it will auto-update to whatever build is currently live, too!
Once I get to a place with the live demo that I feel is all tidied up, I will cease updating the demo. The game on Steam, however, will get updated frequently and you can play all the latest builds if you want to see how things are going before launch.
If you redeem your key on Steam, feel free to post any issues you have with the game here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/408060/discussions/1/
The latest build for the alpha demo, if you don't get it through Steam, is here:
http://gamejolt.com/games/savage-the-shard-of-gosen-alpha/16310
Patch notes for alpha 5.1.2:
It's a somewhat short list, but a big chunk of last week was spent making sure all of the Kickstarter backers Steam keys were sent out. Again - if you DID NOT get your key, make sure to check your email. If you didn't get an email, send me a message here and I will get you your key ASAP!
Thanks again everyone, and I hope you all had a great weekend!
-Matt
Good Morning (or whenever)!
Just jumping right into it -- this update sees the completion of the game's save system! YAAY!
This was one infuriatingly complicated task, I don't mind saying. To give you a rough estimate of the keyboard gymnastics involved, to get it up to this point (fully functional, with save slot support and deleting said slots within the UI) took over 60 hours this week -- but it was worth it.
There were a number of complications I ran into, especially getting those save slots to draw their relevant data correctly. I was originally accessing the appropriate save files (in .ini format for the time being) to draw things like armor, HP, play time... this caused the framerate to plummet like a ton of bricks.
To remedy this, when the game now saves, 'display data' is now saved to a much smaller, seperate file that is only accessed to display the nifty graphics on the load menu. In fact, as I write this, I'm thinking of ways to improve it even further... so everything I just typed will probably change - ha!
Deleting a slot was challenging to engineer as well -- having to set a flag in another settings file to reset the "working save slot", and also tell the newly deleted and recreated save slots that it has "no data" in it, so the game knows that when the empty file is accessed to simply start a new game.
It's all working and fully functional now, though! The game will save your progress every time you transition from screen to screen -- this will NOT, however, function as a checkpoint. For now, checkpoints are invisible, but will eventually look something like the main character taking a swig of some fun juice (as pictured in the first gif of this post).
When you die, you will start back at your last checkpoint visited, but will retain all of your items and story progress.
Another challenge moving forward is remembering to save the player's location and state after a big story event or something, like after you're taken prisoner and complete the initial burning village sequence:
Go here to check out the latest archived livestream I captured while working on the save system: https://www.twitch.tv/toborprime/profile
Sorry it's muted -- I was listening to too much unlicensed rock and or roll. I'll re-upload the stream on my youtube channel with some of my own music over the video later on.
The forge hammer pickup is now active in the game, and you now need it in order to interact with the forge. To convey this I threw together some extra UI animations and elements:
... And then after finding the hammer, you can go ahead and pound away on the anvil:
I have a live build constantly updating via the Steam pipeline, and it feels pretty awesome to access it via the big screen!
For the past week, I have been doing most of my playtesting this way to get a feel for how everything works the way someone playing the game normally would -- I gotta say, it's pretty exciting to interact with it this way!
... And next up:
Try the new build here: http://gamejolt.com/games/savage-the-shard-of-gosen-alpha/16310
That's a wrap for this update! Have a great rest of your weekend and I'll continue to keep you all posted!
-Matt
Hey there!
You'll have to forgive me if this is a somewhat short update - I've been up for about 24 hours at this point, but it's been worth it! The shiny new alpha demo is up and ready for you to break!
You can download it here: http://gamejolt.com/games/savage-the-shard-of-gosen-alpha/16310
Things are still rough, broken, unfinished and unbalanced, but this is FAR more indicative of what the final game will look and feel like.
On offer is the first section of the overworld map. I've artificially constrained the gameplay to that area (boo!) because venturing beyond this zone will quickly cause things to fall apart (yay!) since all of that stuff is lying in pieces in front of me on my monitor.
There's also a TON of stuff that I wanted to have ready for this demo that didn't quite make it and would require another week of play testing, chief among them being the save system, unfortunately (or what would eventually turn into the rock solid save system). But that's next on my list.
An early form of persistence is intact, though, and will keep track during a play session of (most) pertinent things, like which doorways have been unlocked, gates opened, etc.
I've also been digging around in Steam's backend (that sounds super wrong... or right, depending) to figure out the Steam key delivery system, and it looks like I'll have that figured out soon, too.
I want to also give backers (Kickstarter and Groupees Greenlight) "beta" keys that allow you to circumvent the release status of the game. In other words, I would be giving you access to live development builds as progress is made, and Steam would automatically (I think) update the game for you.
Anyhow, have a gander at the new build and feel free to tell me what you think so far!
Have a great rest of your weekend! 'Til next update!
-Matt
Greetings!
Last week I talked about fixing bugs and tidying up issues in preparation for releasing a playable build that includes the first few levels and areas of the game. The battle continues this week -- here's a list of issues and bugs that have been utterly destroyed (fixed)!!
An issue and criticism that's been repeatedly brought up is the way player character shadows are drawn when a light source is nearby (torch, candle, etc.). I've finally gotten around to addressing this and tidying it up.
While not 100% where I'd like it, it's a lot more appealing to look at and far less dramatic than how it used to be. I can now turn shadows cast by instances of light sources on and off, so if there is a lone torch against a sky only backdrop, for example, there won't be a shadow drawn awkwardly against nothing but sky.
Enemies also cast shadows, again!
And for those tricky cases where there is only a limited amount of space that you'd like a torch to cast a shadow across, I have put "shadow limiters" in certain areas where, if there is a limiter between an entity and a light source, the shadow will not be drawn.
Here's the video of the livestream I captured of trying to sort out this very issue (the video will be available later on youtube later, as well):
https://www.twitch.tv/toborprime/v/83490580
Speaking of bad guys, I finally switched on spiky bits causing damage if you attempt to jump on their heads. I've gone through every enemy object in the game (so far) and made sure this works where appropriate (enemies that can potentially spawn with a spiked/horned helmet, creatures that can spawn with naturally grown spikes or horns). This definitely makes fights more interesting and challenges your ability to make snappy tactical decisions. I got so used to testing the game without this feature turned on -- it's nice to get my butt kicked in a brand new way, ha!
In this livestream here, I also talk about padding out the game with artificial progression. By that I mean I had planned to include certain items in the game (the core UI code is also built around this) that gave you the ability to quick slot off hand weapons and certain consumables.
Those boxes there are (or, were) tied to whether or not you found the "Item Pouch", "Hunter Belt" and "Warrior Belt" respectively. I've scrapped all that and these features are available right from the get-go (your equipped shield now shows up on the hud, too).
Take the Item Pouch, for instance: consumables that are equipped to this slot can be used on the fly with a mapped button press. If you did not have the Item Pouch, you would have to pause the game by going into your inventory screen, accessing the consumables tab, FIND the item you wanted to gulp down, and "use" it. The same result can be achieved by simply having the chosen consumable slotted to the Item Pouch box and hitting your "Use Item" button when you need it.
The only real difference between these two methods is that one simply takes longer and is a hassle. It doesn't make the game more interesting or challenging... So, bye bye equipment-dependent sub item slots!
For a while now, since I changed the way the game was drawn to the screen, the in-game menu has been drawing all sorts of wonky. That's now fixed, as well as properly displaying your shield.
I've also eliminated the "Shield" menu item in the equipment screen, since shields and weapons exist within the same inventory list. The manner in which you equip a shield is the same as how you equip a sword, etc. Having a seperate "Shield" access node on the equipment manager felt needlessly complicated and redundant.
I've also adjusted the brightness of text boxes and general UI windows to make text more readable. I want to give players more options concerning that later, like different style backgrounds for these elements.
Here's the list of things that still need to be (potentially) addressed or fixed before I release the playable build:
I'm still on track to get you guys a playable build, but I still have to figure out the delivery mechanism -- like, it would be GREAT to start figuring out how to get Steam keys to everyone who still needs one, and give them access to a live development build that I update regularly before launch. I'll keep you all posted as I figure out the particulars on that as well!
That's all for this week! Have a great rest of your weekend and I'll see you next update!
-Matt
Happy Sunday!
This update sees a general lack of shiny new visuals to show off, but there's plenty of messing around going on under the hood. The battle to get the current content up to a release worthy standard for a playable build continues!
There are a TON of these little jerks lurking in the game, and I've prioritized a handful for the playable demo.
You can see the drawing of the torch gets weird during a fade-in/fade-out, as well as when you triumphantly pause the screen and hold your newly discovered item aloft (so much for fanfare).
Things aren't all doom and gloom, though! Here are a handful of tweaks and fixes I've made this week:
Here's the slow lift:
... and the lift after the tweak:
I've started to plot out how this thing is going to work now that I have enough junk to track, like:
... and a host of other things. This is a daunting prospect, but one I'm slowly getting to grips with and figuring out.
In addition to all of the previously mentioned tasks and issues, here's a general rundown of everything I'd like to have completed and/or addressed in the next couple weeks so you all can give it a try!
That about covers things for this week. I'll keep you all posted with another update next Sunday.
Have a great rest of your weekend!
-Matt
Hail, Barbarian Horde!
I've got a handful of things to show you and discuss, including an upcoming playable developer build (more on that below!) for the backers to try out.
I've talked before about making the traversal within the game more "platformer friendly", in that I have a bunch of bad guys that aren't necessarily learn-able in the sense that they are much more reactive; the environment and player position largely dictates their behavior. I've been trying to solve this by adding enemies that have a more dependable, hazard-like set of rules.
I've added a couple more baddies to my arsenal of insidious creatures that fill that hole:
First, we've got a new enemy that I've affectionately dubbed "clingjaw". It's mostly a static monster; it's claw clinging to the ground and walls, with segments and a head that move about in relation to its claw position. It's great for "blocking" the player's progress, forcing the player to figure out a way around the thing (hacking it to pieces is always a good option).
Another beastie I've been messing around with is the slime (finally - yay, slimes!). The basic variety just sort of wobbles around and will occasionally launch itself at the player. Since it's design is so basic, I've kinda gone hog-wild with it, producing a bunch of different varieties and appropriate palette swaps:
The Blue Slime is the derpiest of the bunch, as pictured above. The Red Slime is a bit more aggressive, and has an attack animation. The Green Slime behaves like the Blue Slime, but upon death, pops apart and produces a series of hazardous acidic droplets. The Purple Slimeis the real jerk and can cling to ceilings, drop onto the player, and attack him like the Red Slime.
Also, for anyone interested, I've been using a free piece of software that's saved me a ton of time to map out enemy behaviors:
Visual Understanding Environment -- http://vue.tufts.edu/
Beats the heck out of scratch paper!
Also, I've finally dropped in a working collision-based spike trap -- simple, and a no-brainer for games like this, but it's great to have it in, now.
In addition to the newer Devil's Shade forested area, there is a new underground forest zone,Helsgarten, that connects to it along the path to the Highlands area on the overworld map.
For this, I've been able to reuse a ton of assets to create a new area. For example, tree tilesets have been reused to create sort of organic pillars, inverted roots allow me to create trees that "grow" upside-down, along with inverted grass tiles.
I have been working from a very convoluted and clunky system that draws the appropriate seasonal tiles, based on the season and biome you're currently in. I've scrapped a LOT of that particular way of doing things, and simplified stuff like crazy. For example, I used to have a layer dedicated to "green grass", and another layer dedicated to "summer weather". Likewise, I had a "winter snow" layer, and a seperate "snow" layer for the Northern regions of the game where snow falls year round. Apply that logic all across the other areas of the game and you can probably start to see how unmanageable it eventually becomes.
I've cut all that out and now just have a global "summer weather" layer, "fall weather" layer, etc., regardless of the zone type you're in. Having redone that, I've also gotten rid of the old random encounter system -- or at least shaken it up a bit. In conjunction with the old seasonal rendering system, I had a set of rooms that would ALWAYS be randomly picked from when you triggered a random encounter on the world map. The array of rooms picked from would always be the same, regardless of your current biome, and then "skinned" appropriately based on biome and the current season/weather situation.
Nope. No more. I now have biome-designated rooms that will be appropriately picked from. This also lets me create signature geometry styles based on your current region, adding some much needed character to each zone.
See?! SO MANY less tile layers! And less headaches, as another positive result!
The old way of rendering the day/night cycle got the boot, too. I used to clumsily "draw" a semi-transparent rectangle over the front of the screen with a color appropriate to the current time of day -- I hated it and always wanted to change it. So, I rolled up my sleeves and did. The rectangle made it hard to see the screen in a lot of cases, especially at sunrise, dusk and full night.
Now, instead, I blend a color into the application surface (the end result of all the game's drawing events -- or, the screen and what you're seeing every frame). This gives me a lot more control over adjusting the color values of what the player is seeing, while still maintaining readability over your character and environment. Blues are now bluer at midnight, oranges and reds are more apparent at sunrise and sunset, etc.
This also allows me to do fun stuff with my light sources during the evening and night times, "cutting out" a circle around, say, a torch, where I don't want any color blending:
On top of that, the transitions between day and night on the world map have gotten a lot smoother and more varied (albeit a little buggy at the moment), also thanks to now applying color transitions to the 3D fog:
With the content that's in the game and already finished, I'm going back and tightening up existing story sequences and cinematics:
From here on out, starting this weekend, I'll be posting weekly updates on the project's progress -- I've gotten into a bad habit of releasing this updates every 4-8 weeks -- no good and I'm sorry about that! ... Which brings me back around to the subject of getting a playable build to you!
Within the next couple of weeks, I'm aiming to release a playable build to the Kickstarter backers and those who obtained the game via the Groupees Greenlight Bundle, containing the first few areas and such brought up to a polished and near release-worthy state. Polishing up and finishing the content that comprises the first chunk of the game will give me a good idea what it will take to finish this game, as well as getting feedback from anyone interested in giving it a go!
There are several things that I'd like to get in place before doing so, like getting a working save system in place, now that I know what it looks like to progress through the game (things like tracking opened/unlocked doors, solved puzzles, defeated bosses, completed cinematics and quests, etc.). I'll keep you all posted as I get closer!
'Til the next update, have a great one!
-Matt
