Wind Carrier; Alpha 21.7.18

Hello all!

Another short-ish changelog this week, due in part to the heat.

We had a meeting with a company which provides free consulting to new businesses, Ensimetri, yesterday and got a whole host of information to scan through and work on. It'll be a lot of work, but it'll be good to get an idea of how the business side of things will run once we get there.

Anywho, changelog


Changelog

-Quest boxes and random dialogue boxes now play a small sound after every 3rd printed character

-All items are now picked up by walking over them
-Their name and type is also added to the scroll box to the left of the screen as creature materials were before

-Unique items now have a warning before breaking them down

-Key items now have a proper warning informing that it cannot be broken down

-Can now break items down by right clicking them as well

-Optimized the unique item effect code from last week

-Added the main part of So'ria'ra, the Miirä'där city

-Updated Wandering Allies to work properly with the text pop-up widget

-The text pop-up widget now waits until the text is finished printing before beginning to fade

-Added a widget, which needs its own art, to the beginning of dreams to indicate its name


Card Updates:

-Added the Poisonous Deluge card
-Tier 3
-Does moderately more damage than its previous form along with poisoning everything that it touches for 15 seconds


Dream Updates:

-Added A Single Drop
-found within the Great Cistern of So'ria'ra


Bug Fixes:

-Fixed a bug where the quest indicator for Put to Death wasn't properly being dismissed after the quest had been taken

-Fixed a bug where the quest receiver for A Lost Staff could spawn multiple times

-Fixed a bug where the hummingbird sprite wasn't spawning properly

-Fixed a bug with Saurian wandering allies, where they were unable to be rescued

So'ria'ra

The ancestral home of the Miirä'där. The largest percent of Miirä'där live and work within the cloister dug into the adjoining mountain. Only the fisher and merchant classes of Miirä'där live outside of the cloister. 

Set into the center of So'ria'ra is the Great Cistern. A massive, blasted clay structure into which the cremated remains of all Miirä'där are sprinkled, forming a dense silt on the bottom of the cistern proper. Seated in the center of the water is a dream.

A Single Drop

A deep pit in the earth flows silently inward. A single drop of well water is found within the well seated at the bottom center of the pit. Take the water with caution. 

I realize now that I have forgotten to finish the unique reward for completing A Single Drop. That'll be done before next week, though. 

On that note, I think that this week was supposed to be a build week, but I am delaying it until next week, because I have no idea how long it will take to get internet at our new apartment - really, it depends entirely on the mail service, so it could take a long, long while. 

Anywho, that's all I have, 

Until next time,

-Lucas Cady

-Project Director

Wind Carrier; Alpha 14.7.18

Hello all!

Not a huge amount this week, I spent a fair amount of time running around and playing with paperwork. That's because the wife and I found a new, nicer apartment and we were working on getting that all sorted out. We'll be moving in on the 1st of August. So, expect smaller updates until that is done with.

What I did get done were a few bigger changes.  I'll just let the changelog speak.



Changelog

-Added the framework for implementing unique behaviors and conditions on individual items
-akin to the way that Diablo handles unique equipment

-Spawners should no longer spawn enemies at the beginning of the day/night if the player is already overlapping them anymore

-Added a small animation to draw the eye to the mana crystal widget whenever the player gains mana crystals


Player Updates:

-Players can now use cards when their mana is insufficient by sacrificing an equal amount of health
-Spell cards cast this way have their damage increased proportional to the health used
-Cannot cast the card if the player's health + mana is still not above the mana cost

-Cards in the player's hand widget now only show up if there is something in the slot

-Card in hand widget now changes the color of the mana cost depending on whether the card can be cast without using health or not

-Added a Mana Crystal widget to the inventory screen in the bottom right corner


Bug Fixes:

-Fixed a bug where Erin, the enemy in Put to Death, could spawn more than once

-Fixed the aforementioned's animations and AI as well



The aforementioned framework is quite robust in its implementation, allowing for custom effects on a whole host of different conditions.

I had intended to make something like it for a while, but my wife had an idea that would need the framework and it inspired me to actually build it. :p

It will allow me to truly make dream rewards unique.


Anywho, that is all I've got for this week.

Until next time,

-Lucas Cady

Project Director

Wind Carrier; Alpha 7.7.18

Hello all!

Small-ish update today. I spent most of the week creating assets for the, as of yet, unnamed Miirä'där village, which should be mostly ready to unveil by next week.

Other than that, mostly worked on quality-of-life stuff and polishing in a few places.

Anywho, changelog!


Changelog

-Added an indicator to shops and shrines to inform the player whether any given card is new to them or not

-Added a visual effect for the Crystallize finisher

-Re-did the finisher icons

-Added traditional Question/Exclamation marks for quest givers

-Quest text now slowly prints


Player Updates:

-A sound now plays when a dodge counter has regenerated

-Added Naturalize skill
-Finisher
-Double positive influence gained, nullifies negative influence gained

-All skills in the skill tree are now visible regardless of player level


Bug Fixes:

-Fixed a bug that caused ranged enemies to miss more often than not

-Fixed some bugs with AI facing

An exclamation point!

Not exciting, but definitely makes finding quests simpler.

The New Card widget.

Since a large part of the idea of Wind Carrier is to build an ever growing collection of magic cards, I figured this would help with that. At least it helps me. :p

Note: This widget is also on the card upgrade screen.

The Naturalize tree.

The tree will spawn when the Naturalize finisher is used. It and the crystallize tree are also vaguely useful as dynamic world markers for the player, as they are both large and stay until the game session is restarted.

The Crystallize tree.

As the naturalize tree above, but after using Crystallize. This tree is also harvest-able, dropping between 8% and 12% of the health remaining of the poor creature from which it grew as mana crystals.

A second shot of the crystallize tree, for scale. The naturalize tree is just about the same size.

A Miirä'där Home.

The building itself is constructed from clay that has been baked via magic from Miirä'där SunDancers. The outer shell is made of watercloth, woven by WaterCarvers. An atmospheric condenser hovers above the main build, taking moisture from the air to continually keep the watercloth moist. 

The bed inside is essentially a clay basin, in which cool water is stored. The sheets and pillows are also made of watercloth.

Note: Will be available as a building in the future, along with the other Miirä'där buildings shown today.

A Miirä'där Salespost

Another bit of artisanal work by the SunDancers, the Salespost allows the shopkeep to man their station without needing to move elsewhere to hydrate. It is essentially a clay vase filled to the brim with water to keep the Salesperson hydrated. 

And at last, a tiny thing that I almost forgot to add. A small element icon (credits my wife) for the fire element. It has replaced the old, boring red-ball which was there before. 

I am also now reminded that I need to make the actual icon larger on the deck screen and probably the cards in hand.

That was more screenshots than there have been for quite a while. :p

Anywho, until next time,

-Lucas Cady

Project Director

Wind Carrier; Alpha 30.6.18

Hello all!

This week we've got a fair number of changes and additions. I had a nice, second-hand conversation with someone who has been helping/testing with us and made a host of changes that they had noticed, most of which I too had noticed, but was too lazy/swamped to get around to fixing.

One of the more major changes is updating cards, especially tier 1 cards, to be more useful in comparison to melee. Tier 2 and 3 cards, of course, already out class a single melee attack by virtue of their scope or single target damage, but I had noticed, and our associate noted, that Tier 1 cards almost felt useless. With that in mind a few changes were made to cards that are generally accessible in the beginning for most classes (Fennoc Fire, Wall of Ice) to make them more useful and a real alternative to melee combat.

I will continue to roll out changes for Tier 1 cards until all of them have about the same power/cost ratio.

Oh! I have also a fair amount of concept art from my time on vacation; most of which has to deal with Miirä'där and their associated buildings/cards/dreams.

Anywho, changelog!


Changelog

-Days are now 50% faster

-The quest log buttons now work on hovered as all the other buttons in the game do (or should)

-Increased the size of all material node particle effects and relocated them to a more visible position

-Finally remembered that I hadn't properly implemented collision during building placing and got around to that

Player Updates:

-Attacks with weapons now deal more randomized damage

-Health and Mana per level are now functions of Race, Gender, Path, and In Game choices

-Implemented a rudimentary targetting system
-T: activate/deactivate
-Keeps the camera focused on the target
-Currently still in testing phase, will decide on whether it is a permanent addition after testing

-Added Ritual of the Dancing Shrines skill
-Unlocks the ritual of the same name
-Allows the player the fast travel to shrines that they have visited before, not including shrines placed by the player

Item Updates:

-Added WaterCloth drop
-Dropped from various Miirä'där
-Used in various Miirä'där crafting

Card Updates:

-Updated Shimmering Bubble
-Duration up from 5 secs to 10 secs
-Now spawns a weak, stationary metal mist when popped
-Mist deals 3 damage a second

-Fennoc Fire
-Increased damage per tick from 4 to 20
-Now smolders out after 1 second, leaving a small burning patch which does 5 damage per tick for 2 seconds
Note: Gave the same treatment to the Vulpine Ritualist's Fennoc Fire

-Wall of Ice
-Doubled range of effect

-Bastion of Ice
-Tripled range of effect

-Crack
-The last strike now knocks enemies up briefly

-Healing Bomb
-Increased heal from 50 to 100
-Increased launch speed by 50%
-Added a decal

-Healing Motes
-Healing now scales based on the number of enemies in the AoE effect
-Fixed a bug where it was technically unattainable
        -Updated the spell effect from a skeletal mesh to a particle

-Added the Vampiric Motes card
-Spawns three swarms of motes
-Latch onto nearest enemies and deal damage which is transferred, in part, to the player
-If an enemy dies, they regain part of their lifespan and latch onto another
-Evolves from Healing Bomb


Bug Fixes:

-Fixed a bug where channeling would not remove a card from your inventory which you only had one of
-Fixed a bug where Ritual of the Circling Skies was causing the player to get stuck
-Fixed a bug where beehives would continue to cause damage even after destroyed

Kährä; formerly Sisilisko

The new card art (credits my wife) along with the filigree (also credits to the wife) which now surrounds all cards in deck and hand widgets. 

An example of the filigree in the deck widget. From what I understand, she is thinking about redesigning my crappy deck widget as well. :p

And that's all I've got for now. Another week where I feel like Wind Carrier is in a much better condition afterwords. Not a lot more to say, just happy that this is still happening. 

Anywho, until next time

-Lucas Cady

Project Director

Wind Carrier; Alpha Demo 0.1.0

Hello all!


A new build has been uploaded and can, as always, be found from here or from the link above.

I also decided that I'm going to stop just needlessly naming the updates between builds. I'll probably just do something like, "Wind Carrier, Alpha 6.9.18" or something. But, that way the demo build and the development build sync up in terms of naming, which makes it a bit less confusing for me.

This week, in addition to the changelog, I work quite a bit on getting the world map to the size that it should be. The entire west coast of Goldrath has been blocked out, along with all the territory inland up to Granforn. Most of this is unimplemented, of course, but the actual map has been started. I realized a new way to deal with map building and seams at the same time. I've just made a single, huge map which I will cut up once it is finished and then slowly implement maps as I finish them.

I have also been playing with the "new" procedural foliage tool in UE4. With it I can actually make forests that look like forests, which is great. :p

Next week, there will not be a blog update, as my wife and I are heading to her family's cottage for the week. I'll likely still work during the week, mostly on concepts and maybe a bit in Blender. I've been needing some time to work on concept art for a while.

Anywho, enough of blogging on my blog. :p
To the changelog!


Changelog, 0.1.0

-Purchasing from shops and crafting from crafters now increases influence


Player Updates:

-Added Scarification II - V skills


Card Updates:

-Added Miirä'där WaterCarver follower card

-Added Splash spell card
-Tier 1
-Water

-Added Undertow spell card
-Tier 2
-Water
-Upgrades from Splash

-Added Torrent spell card
-Tier 3
-Water
-Upgrades from Undertow

Enemy Updates:

-Added Miirä'där WaterCarver enemy
-Tough spell caster
-Capturable
-Uses water magic


Bug Fixes:

-Fixed a bug where material nodes weren't showing the proper icon
-Fixed a bug with influence gain from enemies that caused it to work erratically

Miirä'där

An amphibious sjjena, the Miirä'där lived in awe of the power of the oceans. Their power in the Leonen age was quite small. Their home was in a small, partially underwater village, Kaarnar Viir, on the north western coast. Their monastic class were powerful spell casters, some dedicated to the power of the waters they worshiped and some dedicated to the powers of the sun, which kept them warm and mobile, even in the coldest of winter months. 

Miirä'där WaterCarver

The monastic WaterCarver dedicated themselves to the powers of the ocean. Living in a small cloister, just outside of the main compound of Kaarnar Viir, the WaterCarver practiced their craft along with the SunDancer caste. 

Odds are, I will work on a design for the SunDancer for next week, along with a proper design/layout of Kaarnar Viir. I also need to design some clothing for them, as they don't really need to be running around naked. :p

Anywho, until next time

-Lucas Cady

Project Director

Wind Carrier; Alpha 0.1.1

Hello all!

A little late in the day, but that is something that happens with me occasionally, so it shouldn't a too huge a surprise at this point.

This week was mostly focused around A Stormy Night and all that was necessary for implementing it; this includes the building, the level itself, the Carving Doll enemy, and the overworld map which houses it.

Along with that I've made a change to the dodge mechanic, requiring more thought behind its use, instead of just being able to spam it until you are out of danger. I've also added 6 skills, the max being a level 30 skill, which upgrade dodge charges.

Anywho, onto the changelog.



Changelog, 0.1.1

-Worked on Dreams logic and stability
-As far as I am aware, they are working 100% as intended now

-Updated Completed Dream saving to be more stable

-Added a fair amount of map to the north of Kerankohora


Player Updates:

-The player now has a limited number of dodges they can perform
-Starts at 2 dodges
-Base recharge is 1/ 6 seconds

-Dodges now have a 1 second cooldown

-Added Nimble I - III skills
-Each adds to the max number of dodge charges

-Added Recuperation I - III skills
-Each decreases the time each charge takes to recharge

-Health and Mana gained on level is now also tied to player level along with current maxes

-Lowered exp requirements substantially


Enemy Updates:

-Added the Carving Doll 
-Early game night enemy
-Contains a sigil in its chest which informs the player of its abilities
-Currently only "mana" sigil is implemented
-Allows the carving doll to absorb mana from the player and causes a massive explosion based on the amount absorbed


Dream Updates:

-Added A Stormy Night
-Static type, found north of Kerankohora
-First true platforming dream

Building Updates:

-Added Niir'nite Vaare
-Lit. "Sleepy Wood"
-Legendary
-Unique reward from A Stormy Night
-Spawns a pair of Carving Doll guards
-Contains an AoE effect that deals high amounts of spirit damage over time

Bug Fixes:

-fixed a bug where the Haljuhurtta wasn't properly dropping materials

A pair of inert Carving Dolls

An active Carving Doll

A wooden doll housing the mana of something or another. Each has a sigil carved into its chest to indicate which type of entity is sealed within. Some dolls are benevolent, some violent, and others still are completely inanimate; the mana within insufficient to animate the being at all

Niir'nite Vaare

The Sleepy Wood

Once home to a pair of Leonen lovers, Niir'nite Vaare fell into disrepair after a stormy night in which both of the pair were cast into the sea. Carving dolls which house the pair seem to protect the remnants of the building though. 

It occurs to me that this week was supposed to be a build week. I have not even begun to prepare for that, however, and a such will be pushing the build back until next week.
I could have sworn that the most recent build was only, like, two weeks ago. Times flies and all that.

Anywho, until next week,

-Lucas Cady

Project Director

Wind Carrier; Alpha 0.1

Hello all!

This week there weren't a bunch of concrete things add. I mostly spent my time working on getting proper platforming implemented for use in dreams. Along with that I started (almost completed) a new dream, A Stormy Night. All that remains is the unique reward and to actually add the dream teleporter to the world. The unique reward this time around will be a legendary building, something of Leonen make. The building also comes with the addition of the "guard" type of NPC which will wander or stand still and attack enemies which come into range.
I spent a bit of time researching around on what kind of architecture I wanted the Leonen to use in their more important cities and Granforn proper. I've finally settled on something, so we should be seeing an increase in Leonen buildings in the near future.
On that note, I've been also working on getting the male Leonen ready for re-implementation.

Oh! And I decided to finally change the development phase from pre-alpha to alpha. The decision comes on the heels of finishing the platforming stuff along with deciding that if I want to add mounts, I can do it at a later date, seeing as the code wouldn't be that much different from a few different bits that are here and there already.

Anywho, onto the changelog!

Changelog, 0.1

-Changed the way that the AoE decals work to look better with the post processing effect

-Resource nodes now spawn at random sizes, which effects the amount of resources the player can take from them


Player Updates:

-Resource rates now apply to resources collected by the player and those dropped by enemies. This also effects mana crystals.
-From enemies, the bonus is 25% normal
-From nodes, the bonus is 66% normal
Note: Reasoning; I wanted the bonus to apply more to actions the player takes, as opposed to those randomly given to them. The decision to add these bonuses to all sources of resources/crystals comes from personally feeling like wearing/placing items that give bonuses to gathering was overshadowed by combat orientation. Hopefully, this will change that.


Bug Fixes:

-fixed a half dozen stop points in enemy AI

-fixed a bug where the mana crystals gained and shown didn't match up

-fixed a bug where the level multiplier for mana crystal gain wasn't being properly added


Looking through my screenshot folder, it seems that I didn't take any this week. So here's a picture of an unfinished-unimplemented building that will be added at a later date, once all of its features are finished.

Until next time,

-Lucas Cady

Project Director