More Skill-Tree Development

I've been pushing out effects and abilities for the skill-trees almost entirely still.

I've now done the last of the second skill-trees, which was the Archery Tree for the Rogue class.

It has a mix of passive buffs to make your ranged attacks much more potent, but also a number of damage-over-time and debuff options. They will all work with ranged attacks obviously, though some of the passive skills will make your character better at more than just archery itself.

So, with the final class now having two usable skill-trees I might look to implement some more specific and special functionality to use with effects and abilities. I'd like to do something along the lines of Fear and the like. I wanted to also do an effect that changed sides for a creature or character momentarily. Those sorts of things will need some extra code to be written up, but nothing too dramatic. Oh, and one more thing that came up... I have the ability for an ability to put effects on the character, or an enemy, or a location etc... But I wanted to make an ability that puts on effect on a target, and another different one on the character using the ability... so I think I'll need to work out what structure changes I'll need to make to enable that functionality. Again, I don't think it's too hard... but it'll be fiddly and need changes in a lot of little places.

Go-Live and Skill-Trees

So, the testing cycle to go live on the Google Play Store didn't go according to plan. I'd basically been roping in folks (friends, family and some other indie devs) to try to get me over the threshold for the number of testers required to get it published. I feel the app is good enough to be published, I've done a lot of testing and so on - but clearly not enough behind-the-scenes triggers were met for the testing purposes as it was knocked back with "more testing required" and a suggestion of not using friends and family. So, I'm paying a bunch of testers to do it online now. They are pretty confident in getting it approved, and I can see what's going on behind the scenes on the server - so it'll be interesting to see how it all goes.

Meanwhile, even though it's Christmas here and there's loads of friends and family stuff going on, progress is still happening on the game.

I've been working on more skill-trees, and also filling them up with abilities and the effects behind them, so this time round, I've not finished up the second Mage tree - Air and Earth.

They're all there, the skill titles basically give away the gist of what's happening in each one. Having said that, I think I will need to make some more "special" effect abilities, as I am feeling that a good bunch of these skills are starting to feel a bit same-samey. So I think there's going to be some code added in the not too distant future giving things new functionality, and I'll go back and apply them to the spells and abilities that I wanted them to be used in.

On that note, I also added a bunch of functionality around Ranged effects and ways to buff the character for those, as while I do have the Rogues skill-tree for archery set up, I've still to create the actual abilities in the game, so I think that'll be next up.

Paladin Skill Tree

I've wanted to go back and be able to add in at least a second skill tree in every class, so classes can lean into different builds, and the next one was the Paladin skill tree, in the Cleric class.

There's two unlock skills at the entry to both trees. Exclamations are small curses that the paladin utters, generally in combat, which help debuff enemies as an example. This opens up Smite, a powerful sweeping strike against potentially multiple targets, and also Purification, a stronger debuff combined with an attack. Exorcism is unlocked with Smite, and is a powerful attack ripping demons from the very body of the target. These will both unlock Holy Grace, an ability the paladin can use to replenish their mind, body and spirit in the time of need.

The other side of the skill tree starts with Absolutions, an unlock skill that grants small buffs to the paladin - generally asking for forgiveness will result in small favours being offered in return. This also unlocks the Glorified Remittance skill, allowing a paladin to pretty much bank some of these favours, and use them at the time of need, either on themselves or potentially on other party members with a higher level. Blessed Armor is a passive skill that adds divine protection to the paladin, as their armor is blessed and purified. Interdiction of Faith allows the paladin to simply refuse to allow their body to be befouled by wounds through sheer belief in their gods. Lastly, there is Materialized Faith, where a paladin is able to physically manifest their faith into their body, creating a layer of protection that cannot be removed.

Crusader Skill Tree and Publishing

Earlier in the week, I was focused on getting enough testers to meet the Play Store requirements to be able to finally publish the game for everyone. That involved making calls to friends and calling in favours, but I can happily say that in the end, I got the numbers needed - so that's progressing. I think I have a week and a bit left on that timeline before I can request to apply for production.

Now... with all that time up my sleeve, it was of course time to get wokring on something in the game again. I decided to start filling out the skill trees a bit more, as it doesn't take an eternity to do. It's not super super quick, but it's not too bad either.

The Crusader skill tree is the second one in the Fighter class. There's two branches initially to this tree, with Blessings and Curses, both either simple ways to buff yourself, or make your opponent weaker. Next up, Zealous Strike is a strong attack that you can use against an enemy. Righteous Protection is a passive skill, giving the character added defence and armor. Rousing Rally can be used to revive not only the Crusader, but also potentially their allies. The final skill on this side is Final Stand, which the character can use to grant divine protection, making them almost impervious to attacks.

That leaves the other side - Curses will give the crusader a slight advantage, making their opponents weaker or more vulnerable to attacks. Hateful Strike is a strong attack. Principled Ablation is a strong debuff that the Crusader can use against foes, while Energising Fury gives the Crusader and their companions a boost in battle when they need it. That leaves For Whom the Bell Tolls at the top of this branch, a wide debuff against the foes of the Crusader.

Lastly, I went through and fixed a few glitches and bugs - like a new menu allowing characters to learn abilities they didn't have the skills to support, or after I fixed that part, happily still deleting items from inventory even if you weren't able to use them, which I've also fixed. So, the right abilities and the right items.