Dev Log Update v0.17

June 14th, 2024

Damage Types

This update features a lot of changes to the damage system. I've reduced the number of damage types down to 11 types. I felt that Death is the same as Necrotic , and Radiant is the same as Spiritual (well, as far as this game is concerned). So I removed both of those, and now there are 11 total Damage Types present in the game, each of which are used by Traps, Enemy Damage to Player, Scrolls, Enhanced Item upgrades, and so on. They are.. Physical, Spiritual, Acid, Earth, Wind, Fire, Cold, Lightning, Force, Poison and Necrotic.

Damage Feedback

When damage is inflicted, the game shows the damage amount for each type over the character's head. The numbers are now color formatted, with slight changes in their speed, to help separate them from one another. Each damage type also has a specific audio clip associated that plays when hit too. As an added touch, I've added an icon for each damage type that appears over the textual feedback, colored in the same color for clarity.

Enemy Damage Variety

Each Enemy can now do 3 different types of damage. The Primary type of damage happens 85% of the time. The Secondary type happens 10% of the time and the Tertiary happens 5% of the time. Note that the Secondary and Tertiary damage types also have a multiplier on them, which allows them to become more deadly as the player goes deeper in the dungeons.

Enemy Ranged Attacks

All enemies are now able to either throw an object, or use a ranged weapon such as a Bow or Crossbow. The type of ammunition is different for every enemy in the game, ranging from bolts, arrows, rocks, orbs, skulls, and more! I've made a point to change the damage type for each ammunition too. For example, there are Fire, Frost and Poison bolts and arrows as well as many other options for thrown objects too.

I felt this update was necessary, mainly because enemies need a way to deal with players who jump up on top of objects and become out of reach. If the enemy can't reach the player, then they will try to shoot them! Problem solved!

It's a Trap!

I added a variety of Damage Variants for existing traps to cover all of the different kinds of damage in the game. I also created a couple of new traps to add to the game too. Check out the new Pressure Plate Trap that shoots bolts at its victims, or the new Floor Jet series of traps that feature Fire, Cold, Acid, Poison and Physical variants.

I also fixed an issue that I was previously unaware of until I started working on these traps. That is, the game wasn't spawning random traps in Dungeons or Catacombs! They were only appearing in Mines & Caves. So... I fixed that little problem, and now the game's traps are appearing as intended. (It's beyond me how I hadn't noticed this before!)

Camera Shakes

I added the camera shaking visual effect for situations that calls for it. This includes, when you fall down a well and land hard on the ground. Or when being struck hard in combat. Or when certain spell effects blast within an area of effect. Or when gigantic enemy creatures walk nearby, you feel the impact tremors from their footfalls with a bit of camera shaking too.

Socketed Item Enhancements

I ended up removing a couple of enhancements from the game. Say goodbye to Attack Range (it wasn't working very well) I also removed the two damage types for Resistances and Inflicting Damage, since they don't exist anymore.  I consolidated the two Loot upgrades into one. So Loot Coins and Loot Rarity is now just Loot and it does both!

Scroll Area of Effect

I've made changes to the way Scroll Area of Effect works against enemies. I felt that enemies were acting too dumb, and just marching straight into the danger zones, so I've made an effort to give them a bit more brains when navigating around dangerous obstacles. 

I also gave some higher level enemies the ability to cast some of these scroll area of effect spells. Enemies are limited in how frequently they may cast these spells and only have a small quantity of them, but it really changes the game when you get down into those deeper levels, because now some enemies can throw spell grenades back at you!

Because both enemies and the player can now throw these Area of Effect Spells, I changed the way the damage behaves. The player's scroll effect only hurt enemies, and the enemy's spell effects only affect the player. (seems fair to me!)

Enemy Loot

Enemies now have a random chance of dropping loot on the ground when eliminated. I've taken steps to ensure that the loot that gets dropped, somehow matches the enemy who dropped it.  I may do a bit more with this later, such as setting exclusive loot to specific enemies, but for now, it's all the same stuff you can find in Crates, Barrels and Chests. 

The loot that drops from enemies is automatically picked up and added to your inventory if you walk over it.  This can be a little annoying, and I find myself trying to avoid picking up unwanted stuff often. I plan to change the Pickup behavior later (definitely before official launch). Perhaps requiring you to hold in on the Use key as you walk over an item. (We'll see!) 

Merchant Shops Show Wares

I changed all of the Merchant Shops in the game to feature all of the items that they can potentially sell, all laid out on tables and shelves. If the item is actually in the Merchant's inventory, it will appear in the store that you see in the World view. This allows players to casually stroll by a shop and recognize whether or not the merchant is currently carrying a specific item that they may be looking for.

When you sell items to the merchant, those items will also appear on the Merchant's shelves in the World view too. I wish more games featured this kind of detail. It's pretty slick, if you ask me! :) 

Other Bug Fixes

• There was no collider on the gate for one of the graveyard quests (The Crypt Keeper quest is the one where the entrance is cut into a hill). This bug was reported to me by the artist who drew the logo and character faces for the game (Thanks Raph!)  I was a bit embarrassed to discover that you could walk straight through the bars and jump into the dungeon without initiating the quest. This is all fixed now.
• When you die after completing all quest objectives, you could click on the Quest Giver and receive your reward, despite the fact that the collectibles that you gathered were all destroyed when you respawned. Now, the only way you can claim your reward is by having the required amount of collectible items in your inventory. If you drop the items out of your inventory, you'll notice that the quest objectives are no longer complete, and therefore you won't be able to claim your reward. But if you pick up the dropped collectible items once again, the quest becomes completed once again, and the Quest Giver will offer the reward.
• There was a bug with Max Health and Max Stamina when you start up the game, or zone into different scenes. Max Health and Max Stamina would not refill automatically when the scene loads. So if you happened to imbue some of your items with Max Health bonuses, you would always have to refill the health whenever you entered the game or loaded into a new scene. This was not intended, and now fixed.
• Some of the skeletal creatures, such as the Wight and Lich were using some harsh sound effects for hits and hurts. I changed those sounds! They were driving me crazy!
• Some of the cave hallways were off limits to enemies. This was unintentional too! The culprit for this unwanted enemy barrier was that some of the stalactite clusters that appear on the ceilings overhead had NavMesh Obstacles on them, and even though they were not touching the ground, they were close enough to the ground to prevent enemies from passing through.  There may still be other objects that generate on ceilings that could cause these blockades, but I think the stalactites were the biggest contributor. 
• Changed the Mouse Sensitivity Slider in the Settings Panel to a float value so that it doesn't snap to whole numbers anymore.
• Prevent enemies from attacking through doors or walls. Although fixed for Enemies, there's still nothing from stopping the player from doing the same thing. I'll address that on another update.
• Payload (projectiles) are destroyed when they impact with a player or enemy. They used to ricochet and bounce onto the floor or hit other enemies.

Steam Wish List

It won't be long before I move this demo over to Steam. In the meantime, I hope you'll Wish List "Go Deep Or Go Home" on Steam, to help support the development of the game. 
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2550910/Go_Deep_Or_Go_Home/

What's Next?

I plan on spending the next few days working on a better promo video for the game. I want the video to really showcase some of the features of the game, and the wide variety of enemies, player faces and costumes, spell effects, action, user interface and scenery.

Now that enemies can throw objects, I think it's time for players to be able to do the same. I'll be adding Ranged Weapons to the game in the next update. This should include throwing rocks, axes, hammers, daggers and other types of ammunition, but more interesting than that, the use of Bows and Crossbows!  While I'm at it, i think I'll work in Two-handed Weapons too.