This week has been a big one! I finished the evolution system (Minus the powerup icons for them) and they're ready to go! I've also been speaking with another artist about upgrading my capsule art and was finally able to find one and secure a commission.  Let's get into it!

Art

Starting on Ref's side of things, we've been hard at work finishing up all of the evolutions in the game.  Unfortunately this has meant that it's been stop and go because once the art is in place we always need to update something in the code to balance it, but the abilities are finally implemented.  I tried playing around with the evolution system myself, and I've got to say it's been very fun.  We'll talk about that further down.  But this section is for showing off art, so check it out.

We got Flame throwers. We got Lightning Rods. We got massive shuriken.  We got it all baby.  There are plenty more but I don't want to spoil them all here.  All I'll say is it's been fun getting them up and running, and I think each one really feels unique and powerful.  I can't wait to let people try it out.

More Art

On the capsule art side, it's been a battle, but I've finally found the artist I'm happy with.  I'm putting this announcement here without revealing who they are just yet because I have yet to ask for their permission.  All I'm going to say is I'm excited to share their work because when I first saw it I was truly floored.  Can't wait to see what they deliver!

Programming

On the programming side, I've been hard at work tying off this evolution system.  The reason I'm pushing myself to get it done asap is because I'm going to debugging it and preparing a new build of the game for an upcoming showcase I entered! It's sort of like a mini Pax where developers can come and show off their games, and I want to see people play the game and feel the effects of the evolution system.  What better way than with a live demo?  The hardest part for all of this has been making the evolution system work with the current UI and making the act of Evolving a powerup feel good and rewarding.  I've been exercising my animation skills to make a fun little reward animation for anyone who is able to power up their abilities, as well as debugging all of the weird little bugs I'm finding with my implementation.  Almost there! And hopefully in time for the Game Showcase.

Game Design Learnings

I also wanted to include this section here to just jot down what I learned from building this evolution system.  For a while now I've been trying to find a way to make the players feel engaged with the decision making of the game. That's why I added rarity rolls to the powerups and the evolution system now.  I think the thing I learned is that engagement doesn't come from having lots of choices, but from having a few, that are REALLY similar and tempting.  The reason I say this is because I found that once the evolution system was in place and I was playtesting the game.  Choosing the powerup became a much more engaging activity.  I was constantly weighing the rarity rolls of the powerups with the progression of working towards and evolution.  And I definitely think this is the intended effect.  I want players to sweat over what they choose and set goals for themselves in the run.  "Do I go for the poison tree evolution? Or do I go for the best stats for my weapons?" It's a really hard question and that's what makes it fun! 

I'll be sure to take this little lesson with me as I continue building the game.

Next Week

Next week I have goals to get the demo up and running with all evolutions and the new spawning system that I built to put in custom events and items on each level.  I think these two are the most important things for me to add to the game demo so that it feels like a truly complete title.  This is all coming as a response to the playtest feedback, which ask for more B loops in the game to keep the player engaged.  I'm excited to try them all out and see how people react to them.

I'll keep you informed on how the showcase goes next week!