So, it’s been a little over a month since the Early Access release!

Q: How’s it going so far?

A: GOOD.

Following the first quick bugfix build a few days after the initial steam launch, I continued working on fixing bugs and crashes, and easing back into game dev mode after the hectic weeks leading up to Early Access.

Then, March kicked off with the Game Developer’s Conference, where I gave a talk about procedural level generation. People seemed to like it, so that’s cool! Since I had to gather some resources and make slides for that presentation anyway, I’m gonna use that as an excuse/jumping-off point to finally do a write-up about CK’s level generation that I’ve been talking about making for a while, so look forward to that happening sometime very soon.

At GDC I also met a ton of rad people working on groovy things, like moppppin, who’s making Downwell, and Tim Keenan, who got me excited for Duskers, and Nihilocrat, who does cool nice things that I dig. And, I mean, there were a ton of other folks. Like wow so many — all doing groovy cool rad things. Jeez, just too many.

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Anyway, after recovering from GDC and getting that wombat of creativity dug down in my gut again, I got back to The Kids.

Since the EA release I’ve been keepin’ three eyes on Twitch streamers and Youtube Let’s Plays of the game - due in part to narcissism but also so that I can see the areas people are having trouble with, take note of bugs and balance issues, and laugh at their many, many (many, many) deaths. Watching these videos has brought about a few balancing changes, like making enemies hit softer on the earlier floors, severely shortening the duration of the spell Shadow Cloak, and a few other tweaks and changes to make the game easier or harder in the proper places.

I mean really, why did Shadow Cloak even last that long in the first place?

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During the Monday streams, I continued work on Trance, adding another valuable tool to the player’s arsenal. Trance is the counterpart boon to Overload: where Overload focuses on making spells more outwardly powerful, Trances are more about imbuing the player with a more passive aspect of the spell. This doesn’t mean that Trances are always merely defensive - though that is a trend they have - but that rather than having an immediate outward effect, they grant the player some trait or ability that persists for a short duration.

I’ve also made Trance and Overload require Charge Stars, which was actually the intention for them all along but which I didn’t have finished in time for the release. Essentially, casting a spell as an Overload or Trance will cost a kind of spell charge called a ‘Star’, and that spell can’t be Overloaded or Trance’d again until its Charge Star has been recovered. Charge Stars can be found in fancy chests and may sometimes be dropped by tougher enemies.

They also make a nice sound when they hit the ground; a consequence of the work Hryx and Doseone have been doing to make the game sound amazing.

Hey did I mention how pumped I am to have Doseone working on the game? I don’t think I have, so there’s that. Him and Stevie have been killin’ it together aurally for nearly a year now, and I can’t wait to make some headway on the Anticropolis so you guys can hear the beauty it’s shaping up to be even in these early stages.

Lastly and most recently, I’ve set to work knocking out some of the inefficiencies of the code that had been having a significant impact on performance. Not least among these elements are gasses, which have been completely reworked. They now are able to spread around corners an be blown around by Whirlwind, in addition to their previous functions. This is also good because gasses will be an important aspect of the Anticropolis, and even moreso the Deep Dark.

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So that’s how my month has gone. The first real monthly build update to the game will happen sometime later this week, and include all of the above changes plus a bunch more, as well as a couple other announcements.

Look forward to it!