Monthly Archives: May 2014

Dreamblazers Devlog: Week of May 26, 2014

Last week’s achievements

* Minor menu fixes
* New “status effects”: Battle Cry, Expert Evasion, Focused Aim, Heart Rally, Hypercelerate, Light Poise, Reckless Abandon, a dozen variations of Speed modifiers, and ten more related to attacks/abilities/magic listed below with a (*)
* Minor fixes to traditional status effects
* Adjusted damage formulas
* New equipment for Tango, Evelyn, and Telia: Grand Guard, Charming Cap, Traveler’s Cloak, Black Pants (I’ll figure out a real name later), Traveler’s Boots, Brave Belt, Lilty Lute, Archer Half-Gloves, Three-Quarter T-Shirt, Sunshine Shorts, Bold Boots, Archer Core Plate, Brave Bandana, Battle Band, Lightweight Leotard, Telia’s Shirt (see Black Pants), Bruiser Gloves, Dragon Dares, Bruiser Boots
* Changed party to Tango, Telia, and Lucky
* New enemies (in terms of stats and names only): Impini, Archweaver, Gigarat, Greatwolf, Griffinaire, Harpilure, Impedi, Impega, Kobold Chief, Kobold Rogue, Kobold Warrior, Norian Raider, Ogre, Orc Mage, Orc Outcast, Slimary, Slugwall, Troll Warrior, Vivavines, Wyvern
* New attacks/abilities/magic (in terms of pure gameplay functionality only): Accelerate, Artful Combo, Battle Cry, Binding Vines(*), Body Slam, Captive Piledriver, Cling, Corkscrew Stab, Crushing Punch, Dark Force Fist, Diving Slash, Double Smash, Double Whip, Earthen Shield(*), Fireball, Fire Wall, Flame Spray, Flare Spark, Freezing Wave(*), Fury Gale(*), Giga Bite, Great Tremor, Half-Shield(*), Inferno, Javelin Throw, Light Flash(*), Mega Bite, Mega Fang, Mega Slash(*), Mighty Charge(*), Mirage Attack(*), Muck Shot, Needle Storm, Noble Hammer(*), Poison Drops

Current focus

Balancing and testing enemies and enemy groups.

Weekly goals

* Send in art feedback for everything that comes in
* Finish creating moves used by overworld enemies of Miharu (the first continent) and assign all the enemies to learn their appropriate moves
* Assign battle AI to at least 25% of all Miharu overworld enemies
* Put together enemy groups for the Miharu overworld
* Test a range of player party attacks against various early-game enemy groups and vice versa

Comments

It’s amazing how much more productive I get when I’m doing what I really care about: putting down all the groundwork to start watching numbers fly around in battles.

…or so I say, but honestly, the impressiveness of the above list compared to some of my previous weeks is mostly an illusion. It took ages to get my basic menu layout right too, but “made a menu layout” will never sound as cool as “made 35 attacks and 20 enemies” even if it took longer. Still, illusion or not, it feels so much better making gameplay than UI layouts. =)

More of the Miharu enemies’ moves are in place now than not. Once they’re all set up, the enemies just have to learn their moves, use them in balanced and appropriate patterns, and join forces to start battling my test party. Excitement ahead!

Dreamblazers Devlog: Week of May 19, 2014

Last week’s achievements

* Sent art feedback for Lash and Kelly round 1
* Minor menu fixes

Current focus

Balancing enemies and enemy groups.

Weekly goals

* Send in art feedback for everything
* Begin implementing a variety of (normal) enemy stats and enemy groups for the first continent
* Implement initial equipment for early-game characters and use those characters to test a range of attacks against various early-game groups

Comments

What time is it? Turn-spreadsheets-into-game time! I have enemy groups for the first continent drawn out on paper and about 70% of their stats penciled out, so I have enough material to enter into a test environment. Until now I’ve been testing with characters who are much stronger than the early game, though, so first up comes adding equipment for Tango, Telia, and Lucky.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic – Season 4 Review Part 6 (Episodes 22-24)

Episode 22: Trade Ya!

Grade: B-

Scott Sonneborn returns after Somepony to Watch Over Me and doesn’t break the trend of my preference for a new writer’s first episode. I give it a B- purely on a technical level. I can’t say anything’s explicitly wrong with Trade Ya!, but I also don’t like it one bit.

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