Vilya's Work-blog! (aka Pixel Ferrets behind the scenes)

Own

Moderator
http://www.vilyaroo.com/2018/06/desert-enemy-preview.html

Few thoughts.

Slime - It's spin attack doesn't appear to do anything new. It seems to spin at roughly the same distance and speed as the ice slimes charge. It isn't immune or doesn't take reduced damage while in spin more, and... I may be wrong, but it only spins in cardinal directions?

This slime would stand out more if it's spin attack targeted where a character was, spun to that spot and only stopped spinning when it reached that spot, not changing it's course even if the player moves. Taking significantly reduced damage when in spin mode, too, making it only truly vulnerable between spins. It needs... something more than being mostly an ice slime, but that's just looking at a single image.

Bird - A bee that generates more bees is already one of the most annoying boss battles in the game, not necessarily difficult but tedious. :p Please don't go that route, especially since players are unlikely to get anything for killing the spawned foes.

An idea could be to have an assortment of eggs laid, with the type of egg laid hinted at by the pattern of five dots on the egg.

X formation: Upon hatching, explodes fire in the surrounding intercardinal directions. Bomberman-style.
+ formation: As above, but in the four cardinal directions.
^ formation: Bursts into a goopy yellow mess that gives any monster that moves through it a significant amount of buffs.
v formation: Bursts into a goopy white mess that reduces the stats of characters who walk through it for a while. Ewwww.
? formation: Bursts out a random plant monster. I guess it's been eating some exotic seeds.
Star-shaped formation: 1% chance of being laid, only on the first egg each bird lays. Hatches into a golden egg item if not broken. sell for a tidy profit.
 

KoBeWi

Jumpkin
I like this quote:
Our original idea was to have each egg spawn another bird unless you break it in time, but we're also playing around with having it lay different kinds of eggs, each with a hazard of its own. However, it might end up too similar to the mimic which you just fought, so we might play around with some other ideas as well.
>adding another Rabby clone, just like Jumpkins, Presents and Mushrooms
>adding another slime
>Bird itself is basically a bee clone
 

Own

Moderator
I was hoping for a little more complexity with the desert area too, yeah. They seem a bit basic in the previews from the enemies we've been squaring off against. If an enemy type returns I always hope it gets some kind of new gimmick. Shroomies scattering blinding mushrooms, for example.

An ice slime that spins instead of lunging but still appears mechanically the same and a bee that lays bees, not even able to dive up/down or maybe intercardinal directions, looks a bit simple at first glance. I'm sure the Elite versions will each have some extra oomph to them, but...

... no one fights elite versions of enemies unless they're actively grinding in an area, or in arcade mode. No elites have a chance to spawn when the screen is entered, and adding in mandatory elites to fight as a result of the story isn't something we've had outside of wave-rooms in Tai Ming. :(

Edit Wait, Rabby clone? The cactus doesn't aggro on anything, it just bounces around at random shooting off spikes. That's a new enemy type.
 

KoBeWi

Jumpkin
http://www.vilyaroo.com/2018/07/a-strange-dream.html
Right now we're still undecided exactly how this place will look graphically [...] We'll see where it all ends up, and here I think we'll need a lot of help from you guys as you test it out in Frontline.
First idea I had in mind was Frore Ciele from Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight. This is a really weird location accessed through some portal. Graphically it has eerie feel, the music is calm and somewhat unpleasant and your character looks like a ghost. It's never explained or even implied in game whatever is this place. It's just there.

Another inspiration might be nightmare battle in Iconoclasts. Your heroine is shot with some fear-inducing alien gun and has to defeat nightmares in her head.

Other than that, I agree with the second comment under the post XD
commit to it, guys. Go full horror. Do you know how awesome and strange and shocking to the average gamer that would be. you are playing this happy game that gets darker and darker and more screwed up. people would be talking. it would be like the hunter x hunter of video games.
 

Own

Moderator
I think the game can safely have a horror zone in it on the level of the Kakariko Village Well Dark Dungeon from Ocarina of Time. Or Alternate Fourside from Earthbound.
 

KoBeWi

Jumpkin
These puzzles are a bit different compared to the ones already in the game, as these will involve more actual math (including addition, subtraction and multiplication
How about adding division and when dividing by 0 the statue will break and open a path?
 

Own

Moderator
http://www.vilyaroo.com/2018/11/enemy-progress.html

Sailsword - Just stands and slashes at you. The Season Knights and Echo of Madness are more complex. Hope to see him getting at least one additional attack. Maybe tossing his blade in a circular arc before it returns to him. Or, in the spirit world, his slashes wound the world itself - leaving behind inky black gashes in the air for several seconds. Touching these inflicts damage while in the spirit realm?

Ghost 2.0 - Slowing field areas was introduced as a mechanic in the second bossfight of the game. It's been brought back in Flying Fortress, Pillar Mountains Queen Bee and the Desert. It feels... a little late in the game to just have this be a slow effect, and also a little played out after already dealing with the birds from the previous area using it. A few options, with or without the slow effect.

Ectoprison - For a few seconds after touching the goop, you cannot shift between the world of life and spirit.

Nightmare Fuel - Touching this goop temporarily robs you of your sanity. You begin to see additional Ghosty (or other, possibly even enemies from earlier areas in the game?) monsters that are not truly there. They will attack you but not be able to hit you or be shielded by you. These visions fade when the debuff runs out. I think it'd be pretty great to touch the goop and see an Echo of Madness, Vilya, Marino, Freddy, Teddy or even an elite boar terrorizing the player.

Mage - Looks awesome.

Crab - Nice to see an enemy that'll remain consistent between worlds!
 

KoBeWi

Jumpkin
Nightmare Goop - Touching this goop temporarily robs you of your sanity. You begin to see additional Ghosty (or other, possibly even enemies from earlier areas in the game?) monsters that are not truly there. They will attack you but not be able to hit you or be shielded by you. These visions fade when the debuff runs out. I think it'd be pretty great to touch the goop and see an Echo of Madness, Vilya, Marino, Freddy, Teddy or even an elite boar terrorizing the player.
+1 for this :naniva:
 

Own

Moderator
http://www.vilyaroo.com/2018/12/spirit-world-part-2-sleeping-skeleton.html

More creepiness! This time focusing on a single room. There's skeletons, spiders, eyes, tongues, skulls, oh my! If you get any more cool ideas for creepy stuff to add, feel free to let me know!

1. An empty bed on one side of the room. Claw marks leading from the bed to a hole in the floor/bottom of the wall nearby. Possibly blanket/pillow shredded.

2. A broken mirror on the wall that occasionally flashes fragments of a face in the remaining shards that fade away just as quickly.

3. A tattered black cloth hanging from the wall. Rarely the long strips of cloth hanging from it form the shape of abyssal black tentacles, writhing side to side, then shrink back to normal.

4. A room you pass through many times having the locations of certain items in it shifting around at random each time you enter.

5. A room you pass through many times having a painting of an ordinary man in it. Each time you pass through the painting gets darker and darker, until it ends up pitch black, with little droplets of black pitter oozing out of it and pattering upon the floor below.

6. A corner of a room with two eyes painted on the wall. If you stand there the music gets slower and slower, then silent before a ghostly laugh sounds and you're afflicted with the blind debuff.

7. A room you enter and the gates immediately slide up behind you, barring your exit back. A low, heartbeat-esque thump-thump sounds on loop. Each new exit you approach causes a new set of spikes to shoot up in front of them. 5-10 seconds after all spikes are up, they begin rapidly shooting up and down before all finally lower. You're allowed to leave without a fight.
 

KoBeWi

Jumpkin
2. A broken mirror on the wall that occasionally flashes fragments of a face in the remaining shards that fade away just as quickly.
Also a non-broken mirror that in spirit world reflects you as a skeleton.

And a shady, uneasy-looking character that disappears when you get close or look in its direction. Also a ghost that appears randomly behind you and disappears when you look back.

And talking about blindness, a room/moment, when you temporarily get the blinded debuff and when you walk around, you see something walking out of your sight.

Maybe also some spooky footprints that "walk" toward you and suddenly disappear.
 
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KoBeWi

Jumpkin
New Ghost Ship Mechanic #1: Lighting Candles
Make sure the ghost isn't covered in regular flames (but e.g. blue ones), otherwise people will get confused why they can't use flamethrower.
 

Own

Moderator
The game has never indicated at any point that any skill can be used any context beyond a combat one. You can't melt the snow barriers in Temple of Seasons with fire, you can't melt the frozen fairy's ice with fire, you can't freeze the water with ice to get to new areas, you can't stasis trains to stop them.

Anyone who still thinks they can use combat skills during puzzles in Temple 4/5 is beyond help. :p
 

KoBeWi

Jumpkin
As you can tell, I've yet to make a painting to go inside the frame, but I'm kind of thinking I'll make a painting of the ship itself. What do you guys think?
Would be interesting if that painting hinted at some secret on the ship.
 

CatBug

Rabby
Haven't been here in a hot minute but it looks like the game is nearly done. Is it alright if I ask what is left after the ghost ship? I've missed too much content ;-;
 
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