Wind Carrier, Alpha 31.7.19

Hello all!


I only managed to get the creature and enemies that I spoke of last week up and going - the transformation card will be finished for next week.

Not a ton of other changes; it was hot as hell here this last week and I had trouble focusing on anything for more than a few minutes at a time.


Changelog


Enemy Updates:

-Added Roura
-Large terrestrial bird
-Doesn't spawn normally, spawns occasionally in a swarm of minor creatures by the same name


Bug Fixes:

-Fixed a visible hitbox for the Ilhkor'sei
-Fixed a few bugs with the new skill menu

A male Roura with a group of smaller females. 

The roura are a common sight in Goldrath, found from the west coast all the way to the edges of the great desert that lies in the east. The female roura pose no threat to anyone, but the larger, more vibrant males are very territorial and will attack intruders on sight. 

The Zin'ahlope learn from a young age how to transform into the creatures. They themselves are quite slow, being barely taller than most other sjjena's waists, but with their mastery of transformation magic, the Zin'ahlope can pose a large threat indeed.

The male roura spawns in a different way than most enemies do; it spawns from the spawning of the female minor creatures. It ends up with them spawning in surprising places. I found it rather interesting myself - I may just have to play around with unconventional spawning more in the future.

Anywho, until next time,

-Lucas Cady

Project Director

Wind Carrier; Alpha 24.7.19

Hello all!

Been working on a new enemy/minor creature/transform card this week. Not quite ready to show it off, but other than that I didn't accomplish a ton.

I did make a couple of significant changes though. I'll let the changelog speak, then I'll talk below about them.


Changelog

-Merchant stock now updates every morning

-Removed the crafting bench from the player's home

-Changed the color of AoE around EIR encounters


Player/Civ Updates:

-Added Miner's Mark, Chopper's Mark, and Trader's Mark skills
-5 level each
-Miner's: Increases drop rates for stone and clay
-Chopper's: Increases drop rates for hides, produce, and lumber
-Trader's: Increases drop rates for mana crystals

-The player now gains skill points at every level

The first larger change I made this week is that now the player gains skill points every level. To me, it feels like there is more customization this way and it allows the player to make choices at every level, as opposed to every so often. It also allows for more skills to be created in general and allow the player to tailor themselves more how they would like.

The other, probably larger, change is the removal of player gear crafting. Wind Carrier isn't so much about the player herself, but rather the world and the impact that she has on it. With that in mind, I thought it better to remove that aspect. The player can still find and purchase new gear, of course, this way, however, all of their resources go to improving their civilization as opposed to themselves. And since improving the civ improves the player, it puts more focus on the civ than there was before, making it more important. This may turn some players off, but it feels like the right thing to do in my eyes. To be honest, the player gear crafting never really felt like it fit as far as I am concerned. 

Anyhow, I'll be working on the aforementioned creature this next week along with probably working on the decrepit influence levels. 

Until next time,

-Lucas Cady

Project Director

Wind Carrier, Alpha 17.7.19

Hello all!

I noticed today, when I went to put this blog up that I never informed that I was going to be taking a short vacation. I suppose I had just thought about it enough to have convinced myself that I had done it. I apologize for that.

Anywho, this week there are a few changes, some restructuring, same old, same old, more or less.


Changelog

-Added icons for transformation HUDs

-Updated the transformation HUD to reflect the updated normal HUD

-Added day/night transitions

-Added a particle effect to the card projectile

-Updated the weather effects for the following conditions:
-Rain
-Fog
-Arid

-Weather is now hidden when placing/managing buildings

-Made AoE markers more visible in general

-Followers no longer block the player's movement

-Followers now take damage over time, which can be reduced by taking different skills

-Followers which heal allies passively no longer heal themselves

-Added the ability for civs that have reached a higher influence level than their current to spawn 'decrepit' levels in accordance with the highest influence level they have attained


Player/Civ Updates:

-The building upgrade widget now has insufficient material amounts displayed in red for better visibility

-Ritual of the Dancing Shrines can now be taken at level 1

-During character creation, can now control the alpha level of the player's markings

-Updated the way that taking skills works
-Skills only need be hovered over
-Clicking will take the skill

-The player no longer naturally regenerates health during combat

-Updated the skill system to stack the multiple levels of skills as opposed to having them all spread around the skill widget

-Added the skill Sate the Spirit
-Reduces the spirit burn of allies
-3 levels


Card Updates:

-PackHound now only spawns minions on transform if there are fewer than 6 followers following the player


EIR Updates:

-All EIR encounters which have negative effects on the player have an AoE around them, encounters changed where:
-Beehive
-Black Arrow Offshoot
-Lavaleaf


Bug Fixes:

-Fixed the scale for the Builder's Hut
-Fixed an oversight, where the follower icons in the HUD would not carry over if the player used a transform card or de-transformed
-Fixed a bug where the old, broken hut wasn't despawned when the quest A Lost Staff was completed
-Fixed a rare bug where a follower bot would despawn for one reason or another and their widget would not get removed
-Fixed the scaling issue with the follower widget

The new, cleaner skill menu - with a new color, might I add! Green indicates a skill that you have taken at least one level for which you can take the next level of. 

The change comes after discussing with a few people about how they felt the skill page looked. It looked messy to me as well, I just needed enough people to tell me to fix it, I guess. :p

It seems that that is the only screenshot that I have this week.

This update seems larger than it really is. Most of this was done the week prior to my vacation, but next week it'll be back to regularly scheduled updates.

Until next time,

-Lucas Cady

Project Director

Wind Carrier; Alpha 19.6.19

Hello all!

I am back from my bit of a break and come bearing some updates!

I spent about three hours one day playing Wind Carrier without even noticing that it was that long. To me, that is the mark of a good game: you feel like you've accomplished something and it has held onto your interest without seeming like time was moving at all.

Anywho, changelog!



Changelog

-Added gravesites
-Have a chance to spawn after any enemy is killed
-Can be desecrated or prayed at for 30% of the enemy's influence
-Interacted with by some spells

-Increased day speed

-Upgraded the minor creature spawner to increase usage speed along with increasing the variety of random creatures that can be spawned in any given biome

-Updated the stone material nodes to increase visibility

-Greatly increased the amount of spawners for:
-Stone
-Minor Creatures
-Flying Creatures
-Eir Encounters
-Random Encounters

-Added Wandering Allies to the random encounter spawner pool

-Increased the speed at which the music changes from Day to Night

-Added a night post processing volume which actives at night


Player/Civ Updates:

-Lowered the out of combat regeneration from 3x to 2x
-Also lowered the in combat regen to 0.5x the displayed amount of regen


Card Updates:

-Added PackHound
-Transformation
-T2
-Transforms the player into a hound which also summons 3 faithful hounds as it does

-Added Horned Charge
-T1
-Spawns horns on the player's head which increase their MDM plus replaces their jump with a charge
-Charge has a small chance to stun

-Added Blast of Bone
-T1
-Creates an explosion of bone which scales with the number of gravesites nearby
-Causes negative influence for each gravesite


EIR Updates:

-Added a new completely random spawner type

-Blackarrow
-Offshoots now stun as opposed to paralyze


Bug Fixes:

-Fixed a bug where if the player returned a building to their inventory after starting to place it, but before actually placing it, the player's civ points would not properly reflect this
-Starting civ points are now correctly displayed
-Fixed the scale for the item type pickup icons
-Fixed a bug where the Vulpine fishing village of Tonorhanko would spawn without the prerequisite quests being finished
-Fixed a bug where the Oriilound's death animation looped incorrectly

A gravesite.

The idea totally didn't come to me while designing Blast of Bone. It's another way that the player can make up lost influence, however, so it's a win in my book because there needs to be more ways for the player to affect the world around them.

Horned Charge

The wife designed this one. As I said above, the player's jump is replaced by a charge which does scaling damage and has a small (10%~) to stun.

There is also some art for it which is almost complete. I will show it off once it is done.

PackHound

A transformation card, upgraded from the common Faithful Hound Card. Spawns three Faithful Hounds along with it.
Taking this screenshot, I realized that the transformation HUD could use some work, even ignoring the fact that they attack icons have not been properly made yet.

And here is the card art for PackHound, credits, again, to the wife.

And that's all I have for this week. I think I'll try to make it a habit to play Wind Carrier for an extended time at least once a week, because I noticed tons of issues which weren't brought to my attention, probably because they are tiny things that I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't the one that designed them. I've still a ton of things on my to-do list from my last play time which range from quality of life, like making the number of resources red when a player doesn't have enough of them to perform the function that they are looking at, to bigger things, like the follower's AI still getting stuck if there are too many enemies around them at once. 

I've still a long road ahead of me, but at least I'm learning shit to make the next one easier to create.

Anywho, until next time,

-Lucas Cady

Project Director

Wind Carrier; Alpha 29.5.19

Hello all!

This week I added a new system: the elemental affinity system. It'll be explained lower in the change log.

The next couple weeks, I'll be filling in for a co-worker at work, so I will have less to post about until the middle of June, give or take. I'll probably not post a blog next week, we'll see though.


Changelog

-Added a random merchant that specializes in warpaints

-Updated the merchant 'Aggy' to specialize in cards
-She also now has a larger chance to spawn with more random items in her inventory
-Has a chance to carry any tier 1 or 2 card available in the game, barring uniques


Player/Civ Updates:

-Added elemental affinity
-Each card the player uses increases or decreases their elemental affinity
-A higher affinity increases the damage/healing/status effect potency of cards of the associated type
-A lower affinity lowers the aforementioned effects
-Each race starts with two raised affinities: one major, one minor
-The higher level the player achieves, the more difficult it is for them to change their affinities


Item Updates:

-Added Swirling Sapphire warpaint
-Can be purchased from the aforementioned warpaint merchant


Card Updates:

-Added Saariioisound card art, credits to the wife

-Added Fiery Ribbon card
-Tier 1
-Deals fire DoT then has a chance to stun a single target
-Idea credits to my wife

-Added Oriiolound's Game card
-Tier 2
-Oriiolound's capture card
-Spawns a stationary Oriiolound which allows the player to switch places with it
-Spawns a damaging aoe at both places when switched

-Removed Time Dilation
-I decided that I didn't really care for the idea of playing with time like that. Spirit Walk, both the card and the effect, are still present however.

-Added Sun Blast card
-Tier 1
-After a delay, does a large amount of fire damage

-Added Miirä'dar Nova card
-Tier 2
-Upgrades from Sun Blast
-Miirä'där SunDancer capture card
-Summons a SunDancer which charges a nova over 5 seconds, burning everything around it and finally releasing the charge as a large amount of fire damage


Enemy Updates:

-Renamed Haljuhurtta to Oriiolound and Brass Haljuhurtta to Brass Oriiolound

-Added Miirä'där SunDancer
-Neutral alignment
-Deals AoE fire damage with most techniques
-Only appears during the day

-Miirä'där WaterCarvers now only spawn during the night


Bug Fixes:

-Fixed a bug where the mouse cursor would remain visible after moving away from a building the player was interacting with

The Saariioisound card art, again, credits to the wife.

Probably my favorite card art in Wind Carrier as of now. 

The Miirä'där SunDancer

The opposite side of the Miirä'där monastic society, the SunDancers revel in the light and warmth of the sun which keeps their race mobile and alive. Neither the SunDancers nor the WaterCarvers begrudge the others at all, they both know very well that they need both the sun and the sea to survive. SunDancers guard So'ri'ara by day, while the WaterCarvers guard the night.

And that's all I've got for this week... and probably for weeks to come. 

Until next time,

-Lucas Cady

Project Director

Wind Carrier; Alpha 22.5.19

Hello all!

A new blog on the right day - amazing isn't it?

Not a huge amount this week either, mostly gearing up to push the map out further - probably what I'll be working on next week.

I realized this week that the map, physically speaking, is about a quarter complete. I've decided that finishing that should be my next focus - that and adding the remaining races. I finally decided the locations of the other race's home cities as well, though, that doesn't mean a ton when the map isn't finished.

Anywho.


Changelog

-Added a new landscape material
-Adjusted the current map accordingly

-Updated the last of the pine trees

-Added a new idle for the male Saurians


Card Updates:

-Crack art updated
-credits to my wife

-Added Frozen Standard art

-Finished adding sounds to all the card effects

-Added Saariioisound card
-Tier 2
-Upgrades from Fennoc fire
-Follower


Enemy Updates:

-Added Saariioisound
-Aenahi
-Fire aligned
-Capturable


Bug Fixes:

-Fixed some pathfinding bugs with the follower AI class

Saariioisound

It which immolates itself, a minor aenahi aligned with fire. Saariioisound are often seen at a distance on clear nights, glowing brightly and howling at the moon. 

The new Saurian male idle along with a warpaint that isn't quite finished yet. It will likely be named Swirling Sapphire.

The updated Crack art (right) and the new Frozen Standard art (left.) I definitely like the Crack art better, the original thing was far too old. 

As always, credits to my wife for a job well done with her art. 

Anywho, that's all that I have for this week. 

Until next time,

-Lucas Cady

Project Director

Wind Carrier; Alpha 16.5.19

Hello all!

We're a few hours and a whole day late! Woo!
I was out yesterday for the most part on a date-day with my wife. Today, I had 9-5 kind of work, so here we are, late.

Reworked stuff and updated some others. Not a ton of stuff, but stuff all the same.


Changelog

-Updated the way that minor flying creatures spawn
-They now also spawn in random sizes
-Turn speed reduced across the board as well

-Updated sound effects for a number of cards

-Finalized the influence levels for Ardor

-Adjusted the follower AI

-Added a bite effect to things which bite

-Day/Night spawners now spawn different things based on time of day as opposed to one or the other


Player/Civ Updates:

-If there are no cards in the deck or the discard pile, the deck widget will no longer be visible


Enemy Updates:

-Added the Kairan minor creature

-Redid the meshes, animations, and textures for the Faithful/less Hounds

-Added the Wolf and Packleader enemies
-Stronger than dogs, but with less armor
-Also have access a backwards leap
-Packleader also has the option to summon more wolves


Bug Fixes:

-Fixed a bug with the shuffle indicator; it should no longer suggest to shuffle the deck on game load

The new hound model along with the Wolf and Packleader.

The Treefeller is just there for size reference. 

The floating Kairan.

Mostly a passive creature, very few hunt them for anything even sport.

And that's all for this week. The only creatures left that need a bit of a redoing are the Haljuhurtta and the Ilhkor'sei. And both of those mostly need skeletal fixes and some updates to animations to make the snappier. Probably a few more for both as well.

Until next time,

-Lucas Cady

Project Director