Hi everyone, and thanks for checking out this Dev Log!
As some of you may know we have been having some issues on the programming side of the project. If you don’t recall, our original Lead Programmer is on hiatus due to health issues. In addition our current Lead Programmer, Decker, works as a full time Software Developer. That means he regularly works 10 hour days. You’ll be happy to know that we were able to scrape up enough of the budget to contract an amazing programmer for the game. His name is Silver, and he has been programming the game’s core combat, and he is AWESOME! He’s had to tear out some bad things and bring in some good things but he is a complete and total master! So what has bringing on Silver meant for the project? SO MUCH!
The Card Creation System that we spent weeks trying to prototype? DONE! We can now make cards with very little additional programming.
Enemies can now use cards! (This means we can let players make really crazy control type decks!)
All of the projectiles are firing, animating, and in the game.
Both Compile and Combat cards are functioning as intended.
You can manipulate your hand by dragging cards around.
We can even make token cards!
Well, Silver is currently focusing entirely on the combat/card section of the game. He’ll be implementing better AI, Boss Battles, Warning Tiles, and more.
But what about your Lead Programmer?
He’s been working really hard as well. Decker is working on the other features of the game. Visual Novel Scenes, Upgrade System, Menus, and other supplementary systems.
Upgrade system? What Upgrade System?
I’m glad you asked! The Ava Build System is the last feature of the game. With this system in place the game is 100% fully designed. Now we just have to program it all! We may add in some features here and there, but this is the last major one.
…..It’s a secret. I’m sure you can figure it out from the screenshot, but the system is still in it’s early programming stages so we would prefer to hold onto this for a later post. Let’s move on…
It’ always great to see something go from a mock up to fully functional. Our UI artist Kat did a great job on the Compile Phase UI.
What the heck is the Compile Phase?
Another great question! The Compile Phase happens when the Compile Bar becomes full and the player presses the space bar. If you are familiar with traditional Battle Network game-play, this is the phase where you draw chips. However, in our phase we allow you to activate Compile Cards.
Ok, what the heck are Compile Cards?
Another excellent question!
Compile Cards are a special type of card you can have in your deck. These are cards that are activated only during the Compile Phase. These cards have various effects from drawing cards, to giving you additional RAM, even giving the cards you equip special bonus effects.
Compile cards are meant to supplement your deck with special abilities, giving players a truly deep and complex deck building experience. We’ll be showing these off pretty soon!
Next we will be finishing up the combat, menu, and over world systems. Once those are all done we’ll be tying everything together into a showcase experience. This means we’ll be adding ways to show off each aspect of game-play for the publisher to see. Moving onto the main point. We are going to need play testers for the Pitch Build.
Woah woah woah, hold on. I’m excited that your excited, but don’t jump the gun just yet. Yes, we are going to need play testers. However, we are going to keep this test EXTREMELY limited.
Because we want the best possible play experience for our players. Which means having very qualified testing. We really need to be careful about who is selected for play testing. This version of the game will be limited and fairly buggy, we don’t want anyone’s experience to be ruined by play testing a buggy version of the game. Or for players to have a limited understanding of the game. Remember this build is to show publisher’s not for players.
Who is being selected for the test?
Fellow developers, team members, publisher representatives, close friends, and a heavily curated selection of fans. Probably around 25-50 people total. We are looking for concrete feedback on how the game plays on a technical level. We promise we’ll be doing another play testing run when the demo is ready.
Now all of that being said you wont have to wait long for your chance to play the game. Once the pitch build is finished the team will be back to work on the full demo. We already have most of it finished so it’s just tying things together and adding in the other character. ¾ of the team will be 100% focused on the demo, while a couple of us will be reaching out to publishers with the pitch build.
What if you guys can’t get a publisher?
That would be rough, but that’s what the full demo is for. The full demo is so we can show, you the players that we can build this game. So if we are unable to acquire a publisher, we will be running a Kickstarter campaign to fund the game. Once the demo is ready we will be running a much bigger play test that will be much less strict. So stay tuned for that!
That’s it everyone, thanks for reading through my rambling and terrible grammar. Hope to show you guys some awesome stuff really soon! Make sure to follow us @HeroEXEGame and join our discord server https://discord.gg/BHk2fJ6
