Weekly Dev Priorities: Apr 15, 2024

Less pontificating this week than the previous two weeks updates! More details about the game dev.

Mini-Update Rival Combat

Rivals is a small update adding the ability to fight specific named mages in the game. These mages specialize in one of the schools and present a unique challenge to the player.

• Great news! We think Rivals will be ready to hit the Beta branch either this week or next week.
  
• This one has taken a while to pull together for the reason I wrote about last week: Finding the music. Being more intentional about the experience, the feels, rather than just the lyrics and the feature.
  
• I’m not pretending it’ll be the best thing you’ve ever played, but it should feel like ‘Hey, they put some work into this.’ If it does, then this is a good microcosm of the larger ‘find the fun’ initiative we’re going into
  
• There are a number of fixes and Quality of Life improvements baked into this version
  

Exploration

Exploration is our next major update to the game. It will greatly enhance the overworld experience, map exploration, UI experience, dynamically generated quests based on NPC motives, and player progression.

• Jessi, Phil, and our Super-Senior programmer Jonathan are all working on the new UI. The new UI is being architected well (as opposed to what we’ve had to date… which is not). The new architecture will allow something good for you and something good for us
  
  
  
  • The new architecture supports custom keybindings and controller play - eventually this game is going onto the Switch and other platforms, but I personally like playing PC games with a controller and we’re allowing it
    
  • The new architecture allows for automated testing scripts. This will help improve quality and make our new QA Alex’s life much easier!
    
  
  
• Mark is working hard on ‘finding the fun’ (the music) in the new Regions concept for the map
  
• Zach has the dynamic quests working well, but needs to rearchitect some of the branching dialogue tech. My goal is to make a crappy video of dynamic quests working in game next week. It is really really cool!
  
• Nolan and I are discussing the Relationships aspect of the game. We’ve been mulling over ‘What does friendship look like in Archmage Rises?’ To make these NPCs feel good we’re going to use more of the techniques you see in novels and games from the likes of Bioware, Larian, and Obsidian.
  

This Week’s Patch

• Fixed an issue with game start ups due to corrupted setting files
  
• Working on a bug causing some players to experience combat freezing
  
• Improvements + fixes to the Topic Picker, including the ability to ask about monsters. If the NPC knows they will tell you where they are. Invaluable for quests!
  

Other Studio News

• Josh has decided to move on. Our time with him was beneficial and appreciated, we thank him for his efforts, and wish him well for whatever is next.
  
• It just so happens I’ve been in discussions with a programmer for a year. He is looking for something immediate. We’re able to bring him in right away to help.
  

Curious, do you like the more ‘game details’ posts like this? or the more ‘thought piece’ like the last 2 weeks? Give us a shout and let me know.