Development Update: August 20th, 2018

SaltyJustice

Programming Stuff

So, last week I had to attend a funeral and the entirety of North America was covered in smoke from forest fires. This made accomplishing anything a real challenge. I managed to get the maps I’ll need for the Electrosprite quest done and get some of the early cutscenes implemented, but that’s about it.

This week I’ll be writing the rest of the scenes before integrating Text Adventure into the single player gameplay. This might be tricky or it might not, but the smoke has cleared and I have no other obligations this week. That means it’s time to get productive, baby.

Artistic Stuff

Urimas has completed the Steam Droid and Darkmatter Christine sprites, and is on Electrosprite next. After that, he has to make some tiles for me and then it’s on to the new designs, Raiju and Doll.

Koops has completed the first doll transformation sequence for the Doll Manor bonus content. There’s a total of six, and a few other characters to concept, and then she’s effectively done her job for Doll Manor. She’s way ahead of schedule, good job Koops!

Hund has taken the time to redo some of the old inkwork to match the new style we’re using. Meanwhile, Chickenwhite was out of town and will be back to work tomorrow.

Music Stuff

DrDiss sent us previews of the Regulus Surface theme, the Nix Nedar theme, and Breanne’s theme. We sent our feedback and I gotta say, I’m liking what I’m hearing so far.

Otherwise, it’s just more work for the lot of us.

At this point, I’m not sure if we’ll meet the End of September target for everything I wanted to get into 5-3. I had intended to have the next two areas of the main story done by that time, but the extra work for Doll Manor may force me to push that back or cut a section. Time will tell how far we get.

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Development Update: August 13th, 2018

SaltyJustice

The Programming Bits

I’ve completed the baseline for Text Adventure Mode, and I think I have enough pieces in place that I can start integrating it into Chapter 5. I wanted to get a little further into the development of Doll Manor this week, but then Bad Things happened to me.

This has been a very bad week for me.

The Other Bits

DrDiss is working on getting us music. Hund has completed a lovely piece that will make it into Prototype 5-3 to really set the mood for certain scenes, and then I will probably force him to make the rest of the maps. Urimas just finished Darkmatter Christine, and Chicken is going to be finishing up the dialogue portraits for Chapter 5 in the coming weeks.

Koops has gained two new sidekicks, Waffles and Syrup. They are small, furry, and have four legs. They’re going to be helping her with her concept work. Koops is also doing the art for Doll Manor mode and we’re finishing off the first transformation sequence.

In general, it’s just more grinding work this week. I want to have the baseline for the Electrosprite subquest done this week, but as mentioned, last week was very bad and it’s going to be bad this week as well.

The Usual Links

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Development Update: August 7th, 2018

SaltyJustice

(I really need to stop sleeping during the afternoon and putting update posts up right after midnight)

Budget Report Shenanigans

Yep, the periodic budget report is here. It allows you to see exactly what it is we do with your money. Hint: It pays the artists to make art for the game.

Due to the buzz around Prototype 5-2, we had our best month ever in terms of pledges. Things will probably calm down for a bit until 5-3 comes out, so it’s back to the grindstone for us.

My New Soundtrack

After managing to convince trick my brother into providing a backstop (in case of expense overruns), we’re getting a new soundtrack whipped up by DrDissonance. DrDiss did the music for Sprocket City and is a friend of Chickenwhite’s.

I’ve been wanting a proper soundtrack for a long time, and now it’s happening, damn it. This soundtrack means that we’ll be able to release the game to locations like itch.io which are specific about not using copyrighted material.

We’ve already received some early mixes of new combat and victory themes and sent our feedback to DrDiss. I believe we should have the soundtrack replacement completed by the time Prototype 5-3 comes out.

Text Adventure Progress

The core engine for Text Adventure mode is basically complete. We’re going to be working on the combat engine to make it more fun (it’s very simple but should be quite enjoyable, trust me) but everything is pretty much in place, all I have to do is lay out the scripts.

Art Stuff

Chickenwhite has completed the designs for Christine’s Darkmatter, Electrosprite, and Steam Droid forms. Patrons will get to see these over the next few weeks. Her next job is to shade the forms and get me the remainder of the dialogue portraits for 55 and Sophie.

Koops has completed the designs for Mary (from Text Adventure) and some of the dolls you’ll be encountering. We’re working on the transformation sequence next.

Urimas has gotten me the extra tiles I need for Text Adventure and will now be working on Christine’s form sprites.

Hund has completed a major background piece and the map for Cryogenics. I put in a new map system for Chapter 5 which shows wireframes and the player’s current location. We’ll be updating it with objective markers at a later time to help you navigate.

Tumblr Q+A

That’s right, I’ll also be answering questions from the Tumblr on these weekly update posts. So let’s just jump right in:

QnA000

While the mainline game of Pandemonium is free for all to enjoy, I need to give some reason for people to become Patrons. Right now you get to see stuff early and access to debug mode, but in the long term I don’t have much to offer.

I wish we lived in a world where I could give everything away for free, but we don’t.

It’s unfortunate that I have to restrict some content for paid supporters, but I have to keep us paid. We want to make this our full-time jobs. Having some game content be Patron only is going to get us more paid supporters, so that’s why.

It sucks, doesn’t it? By the way, Jeff Bezos (owner of Amazon) makes over $2600 per second.

QnA001

The Chapters take place more or less in chronological order, with 1 and 2 being contemporaneous. Once Chapter 1 is completed, the player can choose to play them in any order. So, because they can be played in any order, they can be developed in any order. We asked 5$ patrons to vote on the order of development and they selected 5, 2, 4, 3. Chapter 6 will be done last when all the others are completed.

The Usual Links

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Development Update: July 31st, 2018

SaltyJustice

More on Financials Next Week

I’ll be doing a budget report next week based on the financial news that comes in after Patreon runs through all its charges. For now, I’ll say that July has probably been our best month yet. Hooray!

In coding news, I’m about 1/3rd of the way through coding what I’ll need for the Text Adventure content. I’ve made great strides because I’m cannibalizing code from other sections of the game.

TextPrototype

You can see here I’m using the existing tilesets for some of the modes to provide a bit of visual flair, and we’ll be making single-standing sprites to communicate the characters.

Text Adventure Mode is still keyboard driven, but I’m going to be adding automatic mouse-driven commands. A list of nearby entities and objects will be on the screen and you can click on them to bring up a submenu, which automatically types commands for you. You can still directly type commands the old-fashioned way, of course.

This system provides a great deal of freedom in designing the game. The character graphics will be done by Koops and inked by Hund, freeing up Chickenwhite to work on mainline content.

Importantly, Text Adventure Bonus Content is Patron-Only

While Chapter 5 and all succeeding chapters eventually become free for all to enjoy, these text-based side games are patron-only and always will be. Luckily you can just become a 1$ patron to get them when they come out.

We also have some plans for these to be released alongside every chapter in order to explore stories that can only be hinted at in the mainline game. The Chapter 5 bonus content has stories concerning dolls, while Chapter 2 is planned to have some fungal people once we get that far into 2’s development.

Other Stuff

Artist Chickenwhite has put some time into shading some of the old Chapter 1 images to bring them more in line with the quality of Chapter 5. We’ve already posted one such enhanced image to our tumblr:tumblr_pcpc4gabC31xb3wrgo1_1280.png

Chicken will be making another one for the golem transformation, and then I’ll be plastering these on some boorus in the hope of drumming up more support.

And below this line you get to see my brand-new media plaster!

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Pandemonium Prototype 5-2c Public Release, New Twitter, New Tumblr, Discord Chat!

SaltyJustice

ChristineLaugh

Yep, we’re starting our promotional tour today. And what better way to start it than with the public release of Prototype 5-2c. You can get it here or swing by the downloads page.

If this is your first time playing the game, the following resources are here to help you out:

Patreon – Support the game, get access to prototypes early, and see bonus concept art every Monday.

Forums Link – Go here if you need help with something, you will get a reply fairly quickly here.

Discord Link – Pandemonium now has a Discord! Chat with other players or ask questions. You can get direct assistance from the developers here.

Tumblr – Concept art gets posted here periodically, as well as a lot of miserable puns.

Twitter – Handled by editor MarioneTTe. We mostly post crossposts to this.

Support Email: Pandemonium AT Starlightstudios DOT org – The entire team has this support email and we’ll mail you back at our earliest convenience.

Bear in mind we also update this blog with development reports every Monday!

Content Guide

I wrote up a content guide for what’s available as of Prototype 5-2c. If you missed anything, this guide will at least tell you it exists – but finding it is up to you.

Changelog

Here’s the changelog from 5-2b to 5-2c. There are also most likely changes not recorded on this list.

  • Fixed the mysterious Caps Lock bug on the String Entry UI. (Thanks, Failbird105!)
  • Added the remaining standard ASCII characters (except ones not supported by the font) to the String Entry UI. (Suggested by Seris)
  • Bent Tools are now worth 6 reputation with the Steam Droids.
  • Fixed the %age indicators not showing up correctly in form descriptions. (Thanks, ZeroForever!)
  • Fixed Florentina’s skillbook for Defend not showing a description when checked in the skillbook menu. (Thanks, Seris!)
  • Fixed a section of the cliffs in Evermoon that didn’t correctly occlude the player. (Thanks, Seris!)
  • Realigned Mei’s Doctor Bag portraits. (Thanks, FoxGamer!)
  • Forest overlay should despawn correctly after a steamy scene with Adina.
  • Fixed Adina using the incorrect portrait during one scene with her. (Thanks, Seris!)
  • Mei’s eyes should remain whited during the adina hypnosis scene when running. (Thanks, FoxGamer!)
  • Fixed some miscellaneous layering issues in some other maps.
  • Added Z+X key command to the game’s starting control listing. (Suggested by Hidden)
  • Keyboard input when editing file notes should now work for the SDL releases.
  • Special floors on 30 and 40 of the Tellurium Mines should now activate without needing the debug console. (Thanks, TechnoMagus!)
  • Greatly reduced the density of enemy spawns in the Tellurium Mines. Floor 40 should be about as hard as Floor 20 was before.
  • The Shift key will play much nicer between on-screen input and keyboard presses.
  • Backspace key now refires when held down in the String Input UI.
  • Fixed map getting disabled after loading a save game in Chapter 1. (Thanks, FoxGamer!)
  • Fixed music volumes not being reset correctly when loading a saved game.
  • New Icon courtesy of Rune MFB!
  • Controls can now be rebound from the options menu.
  • Controls are now saved to the Saves/ folder and automatically reloaded when an AdventureMode game is loaded. (Suggested by – freakin’ everyone)
  • Florentina and Breanne will no longer mention forging, and will instead prompt Mei to buy a new sword instead. (Thanks, Seris!)
  • Mei will respond differently when asked to help the Alraunes if she hasn’t met Rochea yet. (Suggested by Seris)
  • Christine can now transform to the three incomplete forms. (Requested by Hidden)
  • Fixed a couple of spelling and grammatical mistakes. (Thanks, Seris!)
  • Fixed the green screen bug when losing the Serenity Crater event battle. (Thanks, Kasra247!)
  • There is now a save point at the chapter selection screen. (Suggested by ZeroForever)
  • Added combat ability icons to greatly improve the overall flow of ability selection in combat.
  • Added a mandatory vent-crawl to the start of the LRT facility to teach the player that it’s a possibility. (Suggested by Klaysee)
  • It should no longer be possible to “Relive” scenes in Chapter 5. (Thanks, Klaysee!)
  • Added an auto-hasten option so you don’t have to hold down the Z key to speed up dialogue. (Suggested by Kinuyasha)
  • Removed unnecessary turn order movement due to free actions.
  • Moved 55’s Algorithm changing abilities to the main ability list instead of a sublist.
  • Cleaned up all the text overruns in the combat ability descriptions. (Thanks, FoxGamer!)
  • Greatly toned down the overall damage of enemies in the Tellurium Mines.
  • Mei now correctly receives the Doctor Bag when skipping the introduction. (Thanks, Terafreak!)
  • Werecat TF woods now use the correct forest tiles.
  • Toned down the night overlay during the Werecat TF scene since the canopy overlay made it really hard to see. (Thanks, Terafreak!)
  • Fixed some text formatting during the zombee sequence. (Thanks, Terafreak!)
  • Loading the game during the SX-399/JX-101 sequence should now show the correct graphics for Christine.
  • Fixed the SX-399 bug where the finale sequence repeats after it should be concluded. (Thanks, TechnoMagus!)
  • Widened some of the horizontal doorways in the Cryogenics facility.
  • Updated display of Combat Inspector to the new GUI format.
  • State-switching abilities like Take Point and Line Formation will now directly cancel each other, rather than just applying counterbuffs.
  • 55’s Algorithm abilities now actually affect her statistics.
  • Changing 55’s Algorithms resets her Combat Routine cooldown. Stance Dancer!
  • Enemies who are passing their turns should no longer position incorrectly.
  • Fixed a bug where the target info box was rendering offscreen.
  • Target info boxes for multiple targets will now try to avoid rendering over one another.
  • Speaking characters in dialogue will increase in size slightly to draw attention to them. (Suggested by Stinkehund)
  • Controls will now save whenever the dialogue is closed normally or the defaults button is used, and controls change when the game is opened.
  • Added the Ability Inspector to the status screen, allowing you to check your abilities when not in combat.
  • Retreating from a fight that would land you at Sprocket City will now take you to the outskirts so the cutscenes don’t get all silly. (Thanks, Technomagus!)
  • If the direct damage is enough to KO an enemy, debuffs and other effects will not animate since they just waste time. (Suggested by Kinuyasha)
  • Added extra crossbar generation to the RLG. Levels should be more open and have more paths available.
  • Added extra redundancy to the RLG so tiles don’t get cut off when placing exits.
  • Fixed there somehow being no collisions in the Trap Dungeon entrance. (Thanks, jjgallowson5!)
  • Added Memory Cursor option in combat. The game will remember the position of your last ability selection and reset it when possible. (Suggested by Chickenwhite)
  • Ambient Light Boost option will now be saved to savefiles.
  • Fixed 55 not receiving XP for the extra Sprocket City activities.
  • Fixed the weird audio looping bug for the FMOD version.
  • Massively reduced the tile flickering problem, by about 99%. Should be very rare now, and therefore not noticeable.
  • When using layered music tracks (in the first dungeon of the game), the combat victory music will now zero the volume of these tracks off. (Suggested by Chickenwhite)
  • Fixed a bug where a section of dialogue with SX-399 wasn’t showing. (Thanks, aaaac!)
  • Fixed the Arcanist Advisor books in the Dimensional Trap formatting strangely.
  • Fixed one of the signs in Trannadar displaying nothing.
  • Edited the text of one of the signs in Evermoon forest. (Thanks, MarioneTTe!)
  • Fixed some of the kerning for capital letters in the Oxygen-27 font.

Known Bugs

These are the currently known problems in the game.

  • Lighting Shader may not run on older systems that do not support OpenGL 3.0. This includes OSX since Apple decided to not officially support later versions of OpenGL. I’m working on a fix.
  • There are a few non-critical text bugs in various spots that may or may not actually exist. I received bug reports but wasn’t able to reproduce the effects.
  • Level Generator does not display textures in the SDL version. It still correctly exports levels in the Tellurium Mines.
  • Catalyst counts for Chapter 5 are incorrect since the chapter is not complete and the code needed to split the chapters in this regard is not present.

 

 

 

Development Update: July 16th, 2018

SaltyJustice

Before the poll results, a quick update

Everyone is back to work as of this week. I’m still recovering from my back injury so I’m working at about half speed, everyone else is working as normal.

I’m about 80% done my trello list for Prototype 5-2c and v105c, which will contain bug fixes and a bunch of small feature upgrades. Let’s take a look at those shall we?

Combat Icons

CombatIcons.png

As part of a quality-of-life improvement, the hard-to-read text indicators have been replaced with these handy icons. The icons remain in fixed positions on the UI and are nice and clean to navigate. Urimas is currently finishing up the last of the icons for 55, and these will be in next week’s release.

Combat Inspector

CombatInspector.png

The Combat Inspector has been brought in line with the new UI and is more functional and easier to read. The layout is not finalized but it will do its job for now.

Ability Inspector

AbilityInspector.png

You’ll now be able to check your abilities on the status screen, getting a better idea of their properties with long-form descriptions. Very handy if you want to check what something does outside of combat to formulate a strategy.

Many, Many Bug Fixes and QoL Improvements

The full changelog will be posted next week along with the next version. For now, let me say that I took your reports to heart and did as much as I could within the scope of 5-2’s release. Some changes got pushed to 5-3 since they’ll take a little longer or require more scripting.

Poll Results

Let’s get to the good stuff. This week we had 23 respondents on the steering poll.

Result00.png

So Steam Droid’s transformation won with Latex Drone coming in second. I’m going to ask the public what they think we could do to improve Eldritch Dreamer and Golem on the forums, but I’m happy with this. Editor MarioneTTe is the one who wrote the Steam Droid transformation, so I’ll try to coerce him into writing more in the future.

Result01.png

Character development takes priority? How did this happen? But in all seriousness, 55’s dialogue topics will be my first priority, followed by the Text Adventure side content (I’ll explain myself at the end of the poll) and then the main story content. Sophie’s extra events will not make it into Prototype 5-2 (most likely) and nobody wants me to improve the minigames. So those are right out.

Result02

This is about what I had expected, considering the state of the minigames. I’m going to be cutting all three and worrying about proper game content now.

The original purpose of the minigames was to provide a way to generate as many work credits as the player could stomach. However, that’s obviously no longer necessary with the addition of the Tellurium Mines. As such they’re redundant right now and polishing them would take time away from Chapter 5’s scenario work.

If it does become a thing in the future, Space Invaders will be the one rescued from the trash heap. But don’t count on that.

Result03.png

So this presents a dilemma, because you want more stuff to do with Sophie but want me to prioritize fireside chats with 55 and story content. Well, the next section of the story content is going to feature Sophie, and I’m thinking of adding another area to Regulus City that you’ll be able to visit with her. It’s a tricky spot to be in but I think I can manage it.

Result04

The extra content is definitely a go. That’s a pretty solid majority that wants to see the characters from the original Chambers of Pandemonium go up against doll girls. And by that I mean become doll girls.

Exactly how much this will add to 5-3’s development schedule I cannot say. The fact that it’s an independent game mode does mean it doesn’t need to 1:1 match the art style of Adventure Mode, but it probably will since that’s just simpler to do. More on this mode as I develop it.

Wrap Up

I expect Prototype 5-2c will be released next week with all the bug fixes, and after that I will begin a promotional tour of the internet to tout this game everywhere I can. I would really love it if we got enough contributions to hire a musician and to let me work on the game full time.

If you’re not a supporter, you really should be. 1$ really does go a long way.

Argue about this post on the forums!

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Development Update: July 9th, 2018

SaltyJustice

We are back to work, baby!

Yes that’s right, after spending about 8 days recovering, I am now able to resume work on Pandemonium. And let me tell you how much it sucked not being able to do that.

For those of you worried about me, I’ve overhauled the ergonomics of my desk, including getting support cushions and literally propping the entire workstation up on bricks because it turns out it was about half a foot too low. So I was hunched over all the time and that’s just terrible for you back.

Programming and Art

Say hello to the latest addition to the team, Koops. Koops will be helping Chickenwhite with design work, speeding up the process by producing sketchwork.

Koops is a volunteer but a talented artist who works very well with Chickenwhite. To maintain the game’s visual cohesion, Chickenwhite will be drawing finalized versions of design sketches made by Koops.

KoopsDesign_LordUnit.jpg

Here we see a Lord Golem with a dress designed by Koops. We’re still working on it (I personally think it’s just a little too on the nose) but this should give you an idea of what’s going to happen in Prototype 5-3.

On the programming front, I’m about halfway through the backlog from Prototype 5-2. The current plan is to clean up the outstanding bugs, release 5-2c, and then promote the game on various websites to try to drum up some more interest.

5$ Patron Steering Poll

If you’re a 5$ patron, you should head over to the Patreon and vote in the poll! It’s a pretty short poll to decide what I’m going to be focusing on for the next prototype and which features I ought to cut. The poll closes next week and I’ll write a wrapup post detailing the results.

If you’ve got any bug reports or suggestions from the 5-2 release, be sure to get them to me on the forums so I can get them cleaned up for 5-2c. Otherwise, back to work.

Argue about this post on the forums!

Support Pandemonium on Patreon and get bonus stuff every week! Roughly! Usually!

Development Non-Update: July 3, 2018

SaltyJustice

So, this is sort of a non-update but it will allow me to make sure everyone is up to speed.

At 12:30am on Thursday of last week, one of the muscles in my lower back gave out and I collapsed. This is the third such incident in the past five or so years. For about 18 hours I was unable to even sit up and had to lie on the floor. After that I had enough strength to get into my bed and I’ve been slowly recovering ever since.

As I write this it’s Tuesday morning and I have my MacMini hooked up to the TV at the foot of my bed so I can type things without having to hold a sitting position. I can sit up for short periods but it’s uncomfortable. I can also walk very slowly (extending my left leg past about 30 degrees causes the damaged muscle to contract) for short periods. Using the washroom unassisted has, on multiple occasions, been a heroic act but I can do it reliably now.

Pandemonium is basically my favourite thing. I love making it. Fixing bugs is fun to me, writing the dialogue and scenes is a blast, and I love fleshing out the setting and characters. So being unable to even touch it for the past five days is more painful than my back problems. But I have not stopped trying.

I know from the previous times this has happened that my back will be improving slowly over the course of the next few days. Everything will probably be back to normal next week. Development will resume as normal and I’ll be trying to get a patch out to fix all the bugs that have been reported (thanks, everyone!).

So, if you’re new to this project, every week I normally post an update about the project status. That’s this. The project status is my back’s status.

I’m looking into purchasing an ergonomically designed chair to replace my current chair. The most likely cause of my back injury was the 12+ hour sessions I spent in the lead up to 5-2 working on Pandemonium in a chair that was placing strain on my back muscles. I’m not letting the injury stop me.

I want to make Pandemonium my full time job. I want it to be the full time jobs of the artists I work with. If you’re reading this, even if you’re not a patron, you’re helping make that possible. The response to v1.05 has been enormous. We got 50 new patrons in the past month alone. The pride of that accomplishment means I know we can pull this off and that my injury is a temporary setback on that road.

If you’re having problems with 1.05b, here’s a link to the discussion thread where I will try to answer any questions you have and provide workarounds for common problems until I can get a patch out. If you’ve stuck with me this far, the Patreon is going to have some bonus content out later today.

I had intended to have a Patron Steering Poll today but that’s postponed for obvious reasons. Should be out next week.

Thanks for sticking with me so far and here’s to the next release.

Prototype 5-2 Released to Patrons, Pandemonium v1.05 Released to the Public

SaltyJustice

Update: Patch v1.05b is now out. Get it here. Saves are compatible between the two versions.

That’s right, it’s out. Months of freakin’ work and multiple 12-hour days of coding madness, and Prototype 5-2 is now available for the patrons.

If you’re a Patron, just head over to the link I sent you. The password is unchanged. There is a sort-of changelog available on that page.

If you’re a member of the general public and want to give v1.05 a whirl, head to the Downloads page, or click right here.

What’s new in v1.05

So, the first and most obvious thing is that the GUI has been completely overhauled, and it’s still incomplete. I have a lot of changes I want to make, from alignment shifts to border changes to making it animate slightly when you press keys… but it’s largely in the game and workable.

Combat has new animations and flows much more smoothly with the new UI. The combat balance has also been changed a great deal. Chapter 1 is now probably really easy.

Several areas have been revamped and expanded. This includes the starting dungeon, the Quantir mansion, and sections of the Evermoon forest.

Gem socketing and Gem cutting are now in the game, replacing the upgrade system. There is a gemcutter NPC in the southeast corner of the map (read Nadia’s signs to help find her) who can upgrade your gems and sells some of the basic types. You can socket gems from the equipment menu.

Because the upgrade system is gone, there’s now a lot more equipment to be found in many areas. There are also 5 new pieces of Mei-only equipment you can get, one for each of Mei’s monster forms. Some are easier to find than others, but each one has a monster form you must acquire in order to find it.

Some of the dialogue has been changed. There is a sliiiight expansion to the Quantir mansion storyline (it’s not huge, don’t fret).

What about Chapter 5?

Chapter 5 is now about 60% complete by my estimate. With the GUI and the Mines out of the way, it will probably be a few more months before the whole shebang is completed in scripts. Anyone’s guess in terms of the art, those slacker artists.

Can I get Prototype 5-2 to play Chapter 5?

Yes you can! First, go to the Patreon and pledge there. I will be putting a post up shortly detailing how to get Prototype 5-2.

Or, if you have more patience than money (I do, so I know the feeling), you can wait until July 26th, 2018. At that point, Prototype 5-2 becomes available to the public.

Are there any known bugs?

Tons. Some of the larger known bugs are alignment problems in combat and with the GUI. The SDL versions of the game do not correctly read keys when you’re entering names for your save game (I’m working on a fix, don’t worry), and the FMOD version sometimes repeats sound effects for no reason.

Also, some cutscenes have text that runs slightly off the bottom of the dialogue box. That will be fixed… someday.

Where can I discuss this if I have problems, and report bugs?

We have a discussion thread on TFGamesSite. I check it fairly often when I’m working and try to answer non-spoiler questions as best I can.

You can also leave comments on the Patreon page and I’ll get back to you when I can.

Development Update: June 18th, 2018 – The Home Stretch

SaltyJustice

Prototype 5-2 is due out next week (not necessarily on Monday)

Unfortunately, Chicken will not be providing any of the nice-to-have arts. We have the minimum mandated art. Fortunately we have plenty here to whet your collective whistles.

On the programming front, I am just now wrapping up the vendor UI. I am going to attempt to get the gem socketing interface into the game before Prototype 5-2. I expect that will take a full day of work to develop and test. After that, I need to fix a couple bugs in the random level generator, and review the balance of Chapter 5 so far.

Chapter 1 has received a few map reworks, including a new NPC added. You’ll be able to meet a world-famous gemcutter in Evermoon forest. I’ve also completely reworked some maps as requested by people on the forums (thanks guys!) and we’ve improved the boulder and tree tiles. There is juuuust enough new content in Chapter 1 to warrant a replay for veteran players, but juuuust enough that skipping right to Chapter 5 will be viable.

The UI is looking great, and Patrons are going to get a preview this week. I’ve redone the entire thing, greatly improving the functionality. The save menu doesn’t look like crap anymore, and the string-entry UI also looks almost tolerable. The main menu of the game hasn’t been reworked yet, that will probably happen in Prototype 5-3.

News on the Linux Front

I have just built my new computer. It can run Doom on the highest settings with no FPS stutter, but more importantly I have enough hard drive space now to dual-boot Linux. However, I am not making that a priority for Prototype 5-2. It will probably be introduced in a patch later on, after 5-2 but before Prototype 5-3.

If you’re a Linux user, I will be requesting your help testing it. I’m going to be building it on Ubuntu as I’ve heard that’s the best for development across the Linux variants. If you’re a more experienced Linux developer I’d love to hear your thoughts on how I should go about this.

Until then, get psyched for Prototype 5-2 next week.

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