Give special attacks to the enemies that need them
Update missing enemy portraits
Finish class abilities
Add paragons
Test run with dummy bosses
Send to testers for balance feedback
Implement bosses
Redesign Raibie Christine encounter
Send to testers for boss balance feedback
Release
I am about 2/3rds of the way through the class abilities right now. Given our current timeline, I would love to have the release out next week, but if I’m not 100% happy with the balance or if there are outstanding bugs, I will push it back another week.
We are getting close enough to release that it’s time I start posting my checklist. I estimate the BBP’s first release will be in early February for chapter 5.
Finish updating the maps
Update all the shops
Add skillbooks and skillbook markers
Give special attacks to the enemies that need them
Update missing enemy portraits
Finish class abilities
Add paragons
Test run with dummy bosses
Send to testers for balance feedback
Implement bosses
Redesign Raibie Christine encounter
Send to testers for boss balance feedback
Release
Artistry
Chicken is currently slogging through the Petraiain emotes for Mei, and has finished all the reshading for chapter 1. All chapter 1 needs is the emotes for Mei and the gravemarker TF images, and it is complete.
Urimas, like always, is making sprites. We have a couple new enemies and will also need recolored paragon sprites. After that he is making icons for the new skills.
Koops is currently designing animals you can hunt in chapter 2. They are ferocious.
I got to spend this week adding abilities, going through hundreds of script files to touch up and rename things, modernizing the item files, and many other unspeakably boring things. At the current rate I might have a version ready for beta testers next week.
Artistry
Urimas is making icons for all the new stuff, Chicken is working on the remaining art for chapter 1, and Koops still has to get me one more enemy design (come on, Koops!).
I was out of commission for several days last week due to illness, but we’re back to work here and getting all of the enemies and abilities for chapter 5 ready to go.
Chicken has updated some of chapter 1’s shading, Koops needs to get me one more enemy concept for chapter 5, and Urimas is doing that thing where he puts pixels next to each other.
We’re back to work here at Bottled Starlight. I am currently slogging my way through the very boring parts of chapter 5’s baseline, getting all the TFs setup, portraits aligned, classes made, and basic skills done. Maybe I’ll have it done this week, maybe not.
As far as art goes, Chicken is back to work on emotes and Urimas is getting me sprites. Koops has another enemy concept to go for chapter 5 and then it’s time for chapter 2 concepts.
Chapter 1 Guide Updated (Thanks, Klaysee!)
You know how chapter 1 has a bunch of stuff in it that you maybe didn’t know about? Well #1 fan and overall good person Klaysee wrote a guide for it, and now that guide is updated for the new version! Go look at it!
You can download it here: (Mega.nz / Mediafire) Bundled Windows/Linux/OSX build.
Changelog:
//–Big *Fixed the bug where you’d get stuck going through certain doors near Quantir. *Added alternate “low-detail” descriptions for all abilities. You can toggle to high-detail with F2 if you need to see specific values. These alternate descriptions also use a larger font to be easier to read.
//–Minor *Added all remaining standard keyboard key images so you won’t see “ERROR” all over the place. *Added Zombee relive scene. *Added Alraune Volunteer relive scene. *You can attempt to boop the statue at Polaris’ house for the corgi boop paper. *You can now try to lockpick the sister superior’s door in the Dimensional Trap Basement. *Stun and stun resistance now appears in the combat inspector. *Added some more dialogue topics.
//–Balance *Added ‘Mend’ ability to Mei’s Alraune form. This is a simple single-target heal. *Added ‘Reserves’ ability to Mei’s Slime form. This generates 20 MP in exchange for your turn. *Added ‘Entangle’ ability to Mei’s Slime form. Hits all enemies and reduces their evade, and can’t miss. Good for hitting dodgy little shits. *Added ‘Hive Locus’ ability to Mei’s Bee form. Generates 40 MP and reduces accuracy by 100 for 1 turn, as a free action. Basically anti-Concentrate. *Ripple (Mei/Nightshade) now costs 15 MP. *Poison Darts (Florentina/Treasure Hunter) now deals more damage and lasts for 5 turns instead of 3. *Trip (Mei/Fencer) now has +25% base accuracy. *Fan of Leaves (Mei/Nightshade) deals 1.00x attack and costs 25 MP, from 0.80x and 30. *Way of the Slime (Mei/Smarty Sage) corrected tooltip. It provides +10% Max HP, not +10 Max HP. *Indomitable (Mei/Petraian) goes to +15% Max HP from +5%. *Pounce (Mei/Prowler) now can only target stunned enemies, and will not let you waste MP attacking not-stunned enemies. *Garrote (Mei/Prowler) now can only target bleeding enemies, and will not let you waste MP attacking not-bleeding enemies. *The Warden boss now applies a debuff upon marking a target. Failure to remove it causes double damage from the follow up attack. *Infirm now has a higher evade. *Mycela now does a bit more damage. Her Shockwave attack was dealing 33% more damage than it was supposed to, and was reduced, but her other attacks deal more to compensate. *Mycela’s Enveloping Spores lasts one more turn than before. *Warm Socks now provide freeze resist. The game is now ‘Realistic’. IGN gives it a 10/10.
//–Bugs *Thrall Mei is now Thrall in the UI. *Fixed Mei’s First Aid ability not animating and not removing bleeds. *Fixed Zombee Boss AI such that the zombees actually *attack you* *Fixed many small combat bugs *Fixed many small map bugs
Artists are doing their art stuff. Urimas is currently practicing his 3D, more on that later. I’m about to start chapter 5’s work since there aren’t many bugs left to clean up in chapter 1.
Urimas is working on a 3D sampler so we can figure out physical proportions for a future project. I finished my Pairanormal work and am working on the next balance/bugfix patch for Pandemonium. Chicken will be getting you some more updated enemy art and it looks so pretty you guys.
Koops made some robits.
Stinkehund Made Some Logos
We’re changing out studio name to Bottled Starlight, so check out these adorable designs which you can get on stuff via RedBubble!
16 responses. Let’s go through this question by agonizing question.
Most people reacted favourably to the tutorial. I should probably move it a bit to make it more apparent that a hole in the wall is the tutorial, but I also don’t want to force the player to go through it.
As long as the general public enjoy it more than the last one, it was alllllll worth it. But seriously, this upgrade was long in coming.
Fortunately, the skill system is not too confusing for people to handle. The UI needs a lot of improvements but the overall complexity isn’t too much.
HIT THE SWEET SPOT!
Okay, leave the game’s overall balance where it is and up the boss difficulty a bit, and things will be fine.
Surprise surprise, people like the new content, but they love Polaris and her dog the most. Impressively, Share;Lock is also popular. Good job, me (and to Anai who spent the FAT STACKS necessary to get her in the game).
People seem to like characters more than rough areas, like St. Fora’s. I like exploring myself, but talking to people who have interesting things to say is *in*.
The rubber thing is fairly polarizing. Luckily, it’s also optional.
WOO, ABOVE AVERAGE. The sequence was written by Chickenwhite and edited by myself and MarioneTTe, so good job, Chicken.
About as expected, people fight periodically but not constantly. This is why you can run by monsters and get XP from chests and whatnot, and why you can mug them now.
Generally, the “Tough” areas are a bit too easy, but people think the whole thing is easy, so that’s expected. One must bear in mind that most players who pick up a game for the first time suck, and so in the future, first-timers will think the game is tough even if you vets think it’s easy. So I don’t want to change things much.
It was eight months of staring at a wall for you, but I killed myself making it.
See what I said about polarizing? People like the rubber baddies and hate the rubber sequence – making this rough on me guys! Mushraunes, surprisingly, are also well-liked. Good job on the art, Chicken.
Yeah, better get to work on this sooner rather than later.
Now for the Patron Pal Poll
Why is there a poll for patrons? Simple – their opinion counts for more.
Nailed it.
As long as patrons are entertained, the artists get to keep eating. Good job, artists.
Patrons want to see more weird expansive subquests. You got it.
Patrons like wacky stupid drinking contests.
Good job, Chicken! People like the updated art!
Why did two people vote against that? What are you going to do, tell me your plans – OH WAIT YOU CAN’T, THAT’S WHAT THE FORUMS ARE FOR.
Pandemonium Development 