So this week has beena VERY pleasant surprise.  I was just finishing up work for the day when I noticed someone hop into the discord.  I welcomed them (as a gentleman does) and they told me that they were coming from Cub's video and just wanted to check out the channel.  This was strange, as I am a big fan of Cub (idle cub) the Youtuber and I've taken a huge amount of inspiration for Bloodmoon Survivors off the games that he recommends.  I had him on my list of influencers to reach out to, but hadn't yet because I was in the middle of this patch, and finishing up the art etc.  

WELL, after checking YouTube I found that Cub had a brand new video out, and it was titled - This New horde Survivor is actually INSANE?

I couldn't believe that he randomly found it! And not only that but from a review that was posted on the game! This was awesome news, and when I checked the video it already had 20k view, and has since climbed to 33k!  As a result my wish lists actually jumped from a measly 80 to 700+ now, and better yet I've been see a lot of other creators, lesser channels, but still great quality, making videos about the game as well.  This really has been an awesome week, and I've been watching all of the videos to just enjoy the ride. 

There are plenty of problems with the game, as I'm seeing, and that's good to hear because I think this patch will address a large amount of the issues.  It's nice to finally see someone play it and tell me exactly what needs improving.

Art

Outside of the you tube videos, Ref has been hard at work making art of the game.  He's created two more elite enemies for level 4 (getting close to the end, wow) and I couldn't be prouder of them.  I think they're coming together really nicely.

This big brute is also a caring mother (or at least caring for an orc!) She enjoys swinging large axes and throwing her little gremlin children at anyone trying to stop all the violence.

Orc Shredder - this man is the 2.0 version of the berserker you find earlier in level.  This man is armored up, and angry.  He has a bunch of slashing techniques including a clone ability where he fires his duplicates at you (all equally sharp)

The orcs are a fun character trope because they can be equal parts goofy and terrifying.  That's the kind of range I wanted to instill with this level.  More importantly, I want to explore how the moon scorch will affect them and I think that will all be in their weapons and the lava becoming tainted.  I think that heavy metal vibe does a lot to make them more imposing.

Music

In other big news, the last level's music is in place and that officially marks the end to the music development.  The sound tracks are locked in and I can't wait to share them with you.  Juan's work really has been an amazing addition to the team and I can't wait to put up an ost or for him to share it on his resume.

Programming

On my side this week has been a bit more relaxed than the previous one.  I've been fixing bugs, and working with spreadsheets to add a better balance to the meta-progression of the game. The shop now has weapons, and powerups, and I added 5 new upgrades (replacing some of the old ones) to get the upgrade system ready for this patch. I've buffed it a lot to make it scale better with the new health levels of all the enemies I'm adding based on difficulty, and also I've unlocked them all for the demo (as far as I see it, meta progression is now what people by the full game for, it's an essential part of the loop).

Lastly, I've started making new characters for the game! which has been an interesting challenge. I'm rebalancing it a little bit so that the weapon switch mechanic varies between characters, and I think adding the new ones will add a lot of goals for players to work towards. Finally, I've also been rebalancing how health works in the game, and thinking about ways to make it more comfortable for new players.  I think I'm going to split up the hearts system so that each heat can take percentage damage, this way enemies can hit harder or softer based on the difficulty.  One thing I've notice from watching the playthroughs on Youtube, people either dominate the round or really struggle, I want to smooth out the curve a bit and make it more engaging throughout.  The more health you have, the more the enemy can push back on you, this will let me turn up the heat, and give the player space to gain more health without becoming overpowered right from the start.

Next Week

Next week I really want to finish this patch and start testing it in my discord channel.  The longer I wait the more stuff gets put in and the beefier it is.  Now that the game has visibility, this is especially bad because coarse correcting will become harder depending on how big the change is. I'm actually thinking of cutting the changes short and doing smaller, less aggressive patches after this one so that I can course correct faster.  A BIG SHIP TAKES MORE ENERGY TO STEER as they say or whatever. I'd rather has something small and nimble that I can adjust on the fly.

Till next time!