Combat Arena Alpha
We hope you’ve been enjoying playing with Salamurder in the arena! Since the last release we’ve been working on balance changes, adjustments, and bug fixes for the Alpha, most of which will be in the next patch.
Added the preliminary tools needed to create the next arena. We're using some new techniques for the construction on this one, so setup has been an especially intensive process. We think the result will be worth it though!
Made adjustments to NPCs. In the next patch, you should see improvements on predictive aiming, and reactions to crowd control abilities and status effects.
Changed the functionality of some abilities. Explosion now uses the explosion's position as the source of the knockback instead of Embear's position, and a Kinfolk using Riptide will no longer be affected by crowd control effects or stagger.
Fixed issues with some abilities such as Hook slingshotting a Kinfolk into the sky instead of pulling them toward the user, Teleport sometimes rendering the user invisible until character swap, and Explosion and Scorch firing beneath the ground in the Riverside Arena.
Added a visualization for the swapping Kinfolk cooldown.
Made some adjustments to rein in the noodleyness of some characters, including the player character in the single-player, Embear and Lumala.
Single Player
Before we get into the meat of this newsletter, we want to take a second to talk about the goal we’ve been working towards with the single-player side of the game. As some of you may already know, we intend to find a publisher to complete the funding of this game.
In order to achieve that, we’ve been working on something called a VSL (Vertical Slice Lite) which is a self-contained playable “demo” that includes many of the single-player’s core features. This gives publishers a better idea of what the final version of the game will feel like, and it shows them what we can do!
As of this sprint, we feel that the VSL is in a good place to start showing to publishers. We won’t have more news on this front for a while, but we’ll let you know when we have more we’re able to say!
We spent a good deal of time this sprint playtesting and making quality of life changes based on feedback.
Adjusted the difficulty of the single-player across the board. In this early version we want to demonstrate the full breadth of content much more than we want to punish the player's mistakes. This also lays some critical foundation for difficulty settings in the future.
Added a visible experience bar under the health bar.
Made our saving system more durable, and added version support for save files.
Added a window where you can view old tutorials you've already seen. We previously only showed them once, and feedback has been clear that sometimes you want to go back through the old stuff. Additionally, tutorial pop-ups at the start of the game disable input for a brief amount of time so that they can't accidentally be skipped. These also only show on your first playthrough of the game.
Added sprint key support so holding shift gives the human character a burst of speed.
Added fast traveling based on discovered shrines.
NPCs now take fall damage.
Added items to the world as pickups. Here’s a look at that process!
Our terrain is starting to look pretty good! We’re continuing to add various points of interest. In particular, we’ve been sprucing up an area for a certain NPC to set up shop. When it's done, it should be a gorgeous vista spot and a cozy place for a merchant (and you!) to hang out.
We’re working on some new things for the single-player that we’re really excited for! We implemented two new abilities, and with them we’ve now completed at least one ability of every variety that we plan to have in the full game (variety of ability meaning: skill shot, melee, dash attack, cone, minion, etc). We also finished work on two new songs!
Some members of the team will be taking breaks around Christmas, so you might not see too much from us then. Because our next newsletter falls on New Year’s Eve, we decided to do it two days early! See you next time, on December 29! Happy Holidays!
