After the incredible success of Werebat Sanya, Koops was commissioned to do Werebat Izuna! That’s not canon don’t demand I put that in the game because I won’t.
Coding and Whatnot
I sent off a build to the testers yesterday for some bug hunting and balance feedback. I’m going to have to at least add a new UI for the item unlocks, and fix some bugs of course, but it’s going fairly well.
We’ll be having a team meeting this week to discuss our targets for release and what we’re going to do afterwards.
Artistry
Hund finished up the map and I added some new code to implement per-room map updates, so the map now “uncovers” as you explore it (Sanya actually writes landmarks on it as you go) so you’ll know where you’ve been and what rooms you missed. I like the system, and if people like it when this gets released, we might retrofit it into chapter 1.
Chicken is making Sanya’s emotes, and Koops will be doing other remaining concepts whenever she can. Unfortunately, Urimas suffered a death in the family and is taking a few days off. I’m sure he’ll be back to spriting before you know it.
I need a few more sprites from Urimas and I can make a build for the testers. As said previously, everything is in place except a few placeholders, so I’m going to proceed with the next section of mapping while I wait for those.
I suspect the release will be in early April.
Changelog
Minor *You can now hide ability descriptions entirely with F2, in addition to toggling simple/complex versions. *Added a flag (for modders) called “Run Frames” to force an NPC to load running frames on creation.
Combat Balance *Added Black Site paragon grouping for chapter 5.
Bugs *Fixed the chapter 5 Cassandra achievement not unlocking if using the south door to talk to her. *Fixed Raiju Christine’s Battery Drainer ability not existing. *Fixed item drops failing in some cases. *Fixed getting multiple drops of the same name not rewarding the item multiple times. *Fixed positive/negative charges not building in combat. *Fixed missing downed sprites for some paragons. *Fixed inventory not showing quantity correctly for stackable items. *Fixed Chain Zap not hitting multiple targets. *Fixed some missing collisions in the Tellurium Mines. *Fixed a text overrun in 609144’s profile.
I am almost done the additions for chapter 2’s introduction. I could even release it next week, but I won’t! Want to know why? Because then we wouldn’t have much time for testing, and also because way, way too much of the art would be placeholders. Like half of the enemy sprites and enemy portraits are placeholders. The harpy enemy portrait is an eagle with a hat on.
I’m not kidding.
So the artists have to get me some more sprites and concepts before I’ll release chapter 2’s introduction. Otherwise, I’ll fix bugs and make more maps for the next part of the release.
There will likely be a bugfix patch next week to deal with a weird achievement issue in the Steam release plus minor stuff like mission collisions.
Artistry
Hund has been working on chapter 2’s map, or rather the map of Northwoods. It’s looking good but it’d also be a bit of a spoiler so you’ll see it when you see it. Chicken is working on portraits, Koops on enemies, and Urimas is getting me ability icons.
Curious Cat
A Link Pile (There Might Be More Than One So Is This The Link Pile Or A Link Pile?)
The kitsune village is done (or rather, playable start to end, there’s always more to add!) and I finished basic combat placement. I’m currently working on items, along with chapter 2’s new kitsune crafting system.
I would be absolutely tickled to have Chapter 2’s Intro out by March, but that’s probably optimistic as most of the art would be placeholders.
Changelog
Minor *Added a description of Protection to the combat glossary. *Added missing Security Doll enemy to the mines blacksite. *There is now a 2% chance that any given enemy in the mines will be a paragon. This happens at all depths. *Increased chapter 5’s paragon chance to match chapter 1’s. Bugs *Fixed an examination in the Quantir sewers causing a destabilized lua state. *Fixed a softlock when re-living the Ghost TF in NC+ and not having the manor key. *Fixed skeletons respawning incorrectly in the modkit when resting at a campfire. *Fixed some collision errors in the modkit. *Fixed the fountain in the fishing village having weird collisions.
Download the modmaker’s kit, then unzip it so the Chapter M folder sits alongside the other chapter folders in Pandemonium/Games/AdventureMode/
Start a new game and talk to the new rilmani who appears at the bottom of the map:
This should allow you to start the mod.
The provided sample game is short, about 15-20 minutes long. It has two transformations and several endings. It contains code examples of most of the things present in the main game, and for things it does not, the code present for chapters 1, 2, and 5 should suffice as samples.
More importantly, the mod uses detected paths to integrate into the base game seamlessly. This means that mod developers can pack their entire mod into a single folder and the game can detect and use it.
This only supports addons. Asset replacement is a to-do from me (it can theoretically be done now but it’d require hacking the base game anyway) but all you aspiring modmakers should have plenty to work off of.
Some time ago, I wrote a guide on how to make mods for the game. This guide is obviously now outdated, but it does contain links to the tools you will need towards the top, and the principles of how to make a map and edit scripts still apply. I will update the guide when I have time.
Making a mod is not officially supported, and playing mods made by others is likewise not officially supported. I will try my best to help with questions, but keep in mind that I’m also trying to make a video game (you may have heard of it, it’s called Runes of Pandemonium. Professional Fisherman Namapo said it was good!) so my time is limited. I can’t teach you how to code in Lua, but I can try to direct you towards samples and useful resources.
Oh, and if you’d like to keep abreast of updates to the modmaker’s kit, it’s in a public repository. The repository contains the chapter’s contents, and also its base assets in the Satellites folder. Downloading the repository will allow you to use Tiled and Sugarlumps to create your own assets for the games.
If you’re wondering where I got the assets, most of them come from OpenGameArt.org. The credits for the assets are in the repository. Urimas made Nina’s sprites.
The RoP Let’s Play Again! Again!
Did you know Ack (WHO IS NOT A DEVELOPER), Hund (who is, Steam says so) and Pyxxis (who is an intern) did a let’s play of the game? Did you know it’s on youtube and you can go watch it? They did this while gathering trailer footage for the game, but maybe you’ll get to hear weirdos complain about the UI or something.
Oh and Koops made this adorable picture for it.
Zekyr Bonus Stuff
If you get stuff commissioned from our artists that we can use for promo art, you get a discount.
People sometimes ask me, what if Zeke was a hot satyr-goat girl? I never have an answer. Koops drew it though. And now you get to use your eyes to capture reflected or emitted photons off of this very image!
What’s Next
There is now nothing between me and chapter 2. Big Balance Patch, yeah that needed to be done. But then people wanted a UI update, Steam/Itch releases, and translation handling, which meant UTF-8 support, and now we have the modmaker’s kit. Well all of that is out of the way now! Nobody can stop me!
DO NOT ASK FOR MORE FEATURES I SWEAR I WILL LOSE MY MIND I NEED TO MAKE CHAPTER 2.
Most of the backend is ready, with a big long file (3.3mb of just pure text!) containing ALL of the text in the game assembled and pruned. I sent it off to my translator for the first pass. There’s still a few things needed, such as a synonym checker so you can type whatever the Russian phrase for “look Jessie” is and it will work, and an in-game translation prompt on the title screen.
I could have those ready in a day, but I did spend like 30 hours just copying and pruning text so I want to do something else.
Modmaker’s Kit
I’m making good progress on the modmaker’s kit. I’m designing it to be a drag-and-drop affair. A folder placed inside the game’s folder contains the entirety of the mod, and the base game will have special handlers that check mods to see if they handle things. For example, if you’re spawning an enemy using modded lists, the base game will check the normal enemy lists, and then scan any mods to see if the enemy in question is handled by a mod.
So far I have everything except the journal ready to go. I’m also making a playable scenario to go alongside it, which will try to include as many things that are in the base game as possible so modders have a sample to work off of. Speaking of…
Meet Nina, the star of the modmaker’s kit. She will have two transformations, three playable forms, some skills, and even a set of emotes! I found some free assets on opengameart.org and convinced Urimas to make some sprites so things look nice.
I expect it will probably be two weeks and then the modmaker’s kit will be ready for release. It won’t contain every single thing in the base game, but I may add bits to it if modmakers ask me to. Once it and the translation are done, there is nothing between me and chapter 2.*
*Some horrible thing will probably happen. It wasn’t a good week was it?
In fact they will be live at like 2am PST, so if you really want to stay up late you can get the Steam copy before all your peers! It’s the same as the public copy.
Speaking of.
Version 3.55 has been released!
Update: It’s out! See below for links!
Version 3.55
This version fixes up the controller handling. You can now rebind the controls from the options menu to use the joypad. You could technically have done this by editing the config files before, but now you can do it from inside the UI.
There is currently a bug when moving where if the joypad is bound to the second slot, your will stop moving randomly. If you use the joypad exclusively this problem does not occur.
Major *Greatly improved controller handling. It should be possible to bind and use joypad controls without any nonsense. *Note that mixing controller command with keyboard commands may cause unusual behavior, so don’t do that.
Minor *Removed the unused SugarAnimation class from the engine. *Removed the unused SugarTags class from the engine. *Removed the unused SugarPalette class from the engine. *Removed the unused VirtualConsole class from the engine.
Bugs *Fixed an error where a crash was occuring due to nil being passed after exiting topic conversation on a map with no music. *Fixed backend issues related to Steam.
String Tyrant?
I have created the raw format for the translation executor. It actually works in-engine right now. All I need now is to build the base file out and put in an in-game option to execute the translation.
Hopefully it will not be long before String Tyrant can be played in any language that we have a translation for!
Eat some chocolate and hang out at the bus stop but never get on the bus. I pass my tradition on to you.
Steam/Itch Release News
The Itch release is currently ready to go. The Steam release is still in moderation. I will let you all know as soon as it comes out. Because the Steam backend is giving me conflicting information (it says I can publish immediately but also the earliest it can come out is the 22nd, on the same screen) I can’t say exactly what date the game will be on Steam. When it is, I will let you know.
In addition, the soundtrack is also in moderation. Its release information has the same caveats.
Coding Madness
Made some progress on chapter 2 in the downtime. Fixed a few bugs as well. But most importantly, String Tyrant will be getting a patch.
What’s that? Why now? Well in addition to cleaning up the various bugs that have been sitting on my trello for a year, I’ve gotten the backend ready for translation handling. It will soon be possible to play all Starlight games in other languages. String Tyrant will just be the first one because it’s actually complete, and editing translations whenever something is a pain in the ass. Since the game is done, that won’t need to happen.
Getting all the backend in place will probably take a few days, after which hopefully the Steam release is out so I can start on getting the modmaker’s kit ready. After that it’s all chapter 2.
Artistry
Hund is getting some updates to the shading on the character emotes. Apparently some of them were using an old shading standard and needed to be brought in line with the current one.
Urimas is making Slitted Eye animations. I’m also forcing him to make chapter 2 sprites in between sets.
Koops is drawing bird girls I am told. Chickenwhite is finishing up texturing a model for Slitted Eye before she works on chapter 2’s art.
Since I don’t want to do too much to the engine until the Steam/Itch release on the 14th, I’ve finished up the abilities for chapter 2 and also got all the enemies patterned out. I’m now working through the last part of the scenario in chapter 2. It’s actually closer to release than you might think!
Pandemonium: Adventure Mode is now Runes of Pandemonium. Thanks to everyone who voted! The game will be listed on Steam/Itch/etc as that, and the next version will have updated headers to reflect the new name.
Steam Stuff
We are getting the last thing we need for the Steam page right now (trailer) and everything is ready for a launch on the 14th. I will post a link as soon as we have a Steam page so you can wishlist it, because that really helps the algorithm.
Slitted Eye
We can officially make adorable little animated movies! We have some of the basic bad ends set up, and I’ve directed Urimas to start work on the in-game animations. No idea when a demo will be ready, but the game is looking very good.
Pandemonium
I don’t want to touch anything on the engine for fear of busting the Steam/Itch releases, so I decided to do the rest of the abilities for chapter 2. I should have them done in a day or two, at which point I guess I’ll finish off the chapter intro content and get started on combat balancing.
Pandemonium Development 