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

[KoBeWi]

But then, there's this:

Since adding these will make the few actually story-relevant (or otherwise more important) ones less apparent, we're considering making another version of the magnifying glass that's bigger and more epic looking to signify this piece of information might be useful to you somehow.

If someone is not interested in small flavor texts, but still are a completionist, he can just skip the non-important texts and it's no different than searching for treasure chests with useless items someone doesn't want. If important texts have a different icon, it's more likely that they will be read even is someone isn't really interested.

I could see it offering completion progress if you had a Lore section in your journal. The more people you talk to in the game who mention the goddess, or the more bookcases you inspect that mention the goddess, or the more goddess statues you inspect add information to a 'Goddess of Grindea' lore entry in your journal.

That's quite reminiscent of Starbound.

 

[Own]

Doesn't SB just have specific books you randomly find that add book entries to your codex in any order? So like (Subject) 1, 2, 3, etc books, as well as a bunch of random ones.

Inspecting either Pumpkin Woods statue, Seasonne statue, Mt. Bloom statue, or talking to the priestess giving her sermon about Link/Randi/Terra to gain (Goddess of Grindea 1) seems a tiny bit different. Your character learns more as time goes on, but they always start at the basic level for doing any one of those, then adds a bit more for doing any of the remaining ones.

 

[KoBeWi]

I meant Starbound missions. There's a mission connected to each race, and to locate your destination, you need to find clues by scanning different objects. Each object has a score that contributes to the quest completion, so you have to scan enough of them. It's not directly related to lore, but it's somewhat similar to what you described.

 

[Own]

March 6

Explosive vomiting!

http://www.vilyaroo.com/2017/03/mimic-stage-3-preview-2.html

If this is all he does until he dies, it seems like a little bit of an underwhelming ending just at a glance. Just by comparing him to Gundam's end (bullet hell meltdown) and Winter's (blizzard+fists everywhere, tight squares.) This seems more like a phase 1 or 2 thing, re-killing old enemies. The visual of the phase seems like a souped up Toy Machine, sans puzzle. A large part of it depends on whether or not enemies will be spat out as elite versions, or if they will be much leveled up or easily killed in one hit. We get to see different elite enemies on screen at the same time, so it would be really cool to see all-elites interacting with their specials on hard mode.

Or does he have other attacks in this mode beyond projectile vomiting enemies/rockets/etc? Like, if he's being bombarded by melee attacks too long, swipe his tongue side to side. Or magic distance attacks too long, sneeze a wide beam of golden coins at their location. Those aren't quite desperation ending attacks either, though...

(Or if you want to end the battle on a joke instead of a desperation phase, just having him cough up a kitchen sink at the end would be a great visual gag. Out of crap to spit at you. )

 

[KoBeWi]

Does the first phase happen in the past? If so, was the Pumpkin Woods already there? I thought it was cursed and then transformed into the Halloween version. But game doesn't really state when it happened, so maybe it's ok.

 

[Own]

An immigrant into Tai Ming explicitly mentions being happy to be away from chompy pumpkins, in the first section of Tai Ming I think. So Pumpkin Woods have been haunted for over a thousand years, yeah.

 

[KoBeWi]

Oh, right. But isn't the woods just turning haunted as we meet him?
That would mean it transformed over few years, someone made a painting and then we fight Mimic.

 

[Own]

March 13

Get by with a little help from strategically timed healing crystals.

http://www.vilyaroo.com/2017/03/mimic-boss-room-stage-3.html

If the devs think you'll need healing orbs at this point in story mode, I can already see this being the ultimate hell in arcade mode. Like some sort of Touhou final boss situation. And it'll be sixteen floors in. (Well, assuming Arcade doesn't get gigantic revamps! But I wouldn't mind a sixteen floor slog. )

The health crystals aren't pictured in the finished version below, but they'll be growing in the parts where the cave floor is peeking through:

Having health crystals you can't help but burst open in the middle of the fight / accidentally pick up while moving around seems like it might result in a bunch of people unintentionally snatching up all the orbs in co-op. Or be difficult to avoid in general, if people would rather have the challenge of beating it sans-healing. Would it be better if they were out of the way / you actually had to earn the healing? A few healing crystals in the corner, behind several of those giant crystals protecting the Mushroom Cap? Desperately wailing on them to get to the delicious healing on the other side.

(Also, I see Link visited the room sometime during phase 2 and phase 3. Triforce / Heart Piece is gone!)

 

[Own]

March 14

Opinions!

http://www.vilyaroo.com/2017/03/a-question-for-you-guys.html

Personally, I like the one where it freeze-frames with the tongue around the crown. Because it's sooner and has more comedic/confusing timing, like the giant thorn worm introduction freeze-framing with Kinton in the air.

 

[KoBeWi]

I see it like this: choose the first one, if the Mimic doesn't attack the player when it gets the crown, but has some delay.
The second one is much more dynamic, and I'd imagine Mimic to attack as soon as it retracts the tongue.
So for me, it depends on how soon the battle starts and if the Mimic goes right into attacking. Well, even if it's not like this, maybe the first attack can be scripted to happen instantly, because I prefer the second one tbh, but it would go better if the Mimic didn't wait any second after the introduction.
But that's me.

(btw, seems like I was right about the crown being the Artifact. Did I win anything?)

 

[Own]

March 16

Another choice

http://www.vilyaroo.com/2017/03/mimic-boss-portrait-part-one.html

I wouldn't mind a series of boss pop-ups, ala Giant Thorn Worm. Sounds like it would be fun. Both in the sense of "Wait, there's more? ... And another?!" and having a very brief breather between battle transitions.

Plus having a temple boss's only portrait being that tiny seems wrong. Gimme menacing!

 

[The G-Meister]

A like is the sign of my agreement when I have nothing to add, by the way. At least it has been for the last two posts. I'll probably stick with that throughout the forum, if the post has something to agree on and I haven't added anything after it.

 

[Own]

March 20

Another meeting. But no mention of burgers. A tragedy.

http://www.vilyaroo.com/2017/03/monday-meeting-mixed-discussions.html

Finally, we talked a bit about the spirit world and what kind of objects should appear when using the skill. We want certain things to be able to appear in order to create puzzles and challenges - such as a bridge that only exists in the spirit world, and so on. During this discussion we talked about what they should look like graphic wise.

Right now we're thinking that we should go full on horror style - having the objects be made of bones or dark goo or other creepy things you'd associate with ghosts. We're still balancing on an edge where we're not sure if it's gonna be too creepy or not (the game hasn't been that scary until that point, even if we begin to see some darker things in Tai Ming), but hopefully it'll not feel too off in the end.

I don't think anyone is going to be terrified of bones. So long as you're not showing gore or bloodsplatters everywhere, it's probably fine.

Though if you really need an alternative, the spirit world things could all be strangely shaped ghosts. A rope leading up, a tall skinny ghost with two small hollow eyes at the top. A bridge to pass, a long flat ghost stretched over a gap with two hollow eyes in the middle.

 

[Own]

April 3

More meetings. Still no talk of delicious burgers. I can only conclude they have barricaded themselves inside Pixel Ferrets HQ and are on a hunger strike until the update hits Stable.

http://www.vilyaroo.com/2017/04/monday-meeting-whats-next.html

6. Quest Skipping After Multiplayer Completion

So how would this work? You start the game and the game realizes you were present for the 'Finished Flying Fortress' quest turn-in on single player, so when you're given the 'Do Flying Fortress' quest you're given the option to just fade the screen to black, unfade it and be where you would be post-Flying Fortress quest? Or are we talking just normal side-quests, like murdering Santa.

7. Season Orbs

So are there going to be random season orbs littering the world now, like the one outside of Mt. Bloom? If so, maybe they should be covered in stone but still retain their shape, a clue that they're important (and ancient/fallen into disuse) but you can't do anything with them right now. Smack them when you have the season changing power to un-petrify them and use them? Because otherwise I can see people trying to figure out if a type of elemental spell needs to be cast on them, thanks to Secret of Mana.

We've had various ideas about the nutrition either being available throughout the world or sold by Oak in the farm in Evergrind West. Still haven't finalized that part but it's likely we'll finally implement it before the desert!

I can think of a fun way to award it without just buying it. After Tai Ming, Clint needs his special fertilizer from the barn, but the barn has been overrun by some bad seeds that were mistakenly shipped to him and fed off the fertilizer. It's filled to the brim with elite, level-boosted Bloomos, Halloweeds, Toxic Tulips and Plantae Hostilis. (Maybe other plant-related critters like Shroomies, Jumpkins and Bees?)

Or alternatively, you buy normal fertilizer from the farm and get it enhanced by a spring fairy...?

 

[KoBeWi]

Since you need a limited amount of fertilizer, it makes sense that it should be somehow limited resource. Some could be bought from limited stock, some got from a quest, etc.

As for the water and orbs, when I first thought these spots, I thought we will get swimming ability. Some of them even look like you can dive here to a cave (e.g. Pumkin fishing spot). I will be disappointed if this won't be a secret cave

 

[Teddy]

Clint needs his special fertilizer from the barn, but the barn has been overrun by some bad seeds that were mistakenly shipped to him and fed off the fertilizer. It's filled to the brim with elite, level-boosted Bloomos, Halloweeds, Toxic Tulips and Plantae Hostilis. (Maybe other plant-related critters like Shroomies, Jumpkins and Bees?)

Regardless if the fertilizer ends up as a pure money sink or as a mix of things like KoBeWi said, this sounds like a fun and humorous quest!

So are there going to be random season orbs littering the world now, like the one outside of Mt. Bloom? If so, maybe they should be covered in stone but still retain their shape

I thiiiink we'll just keep them powered down (they're grey and still before you get the season change skill)!

As for the water and orbs, when I first thought these spots, I thought we will get swimming ability.

You and everyone else who've played the top-down Zelda's, I wager

(with mysterious orbs next to the water, perhaps people will react differently)

 

[Own]

April 10

Movin' on up to a better town!

http://www.vilyaroo.com/2017/04/monday-meeting-more-arcade-mode-rework.html

I love all the new buildings here. So is the entire of Arcadia going to be on one screen, or are there going to be 'districts' / screen transitions to go between?

Personally I'd love to see this one included from way back:

Music shop

Mumrik: In exchange for Essence, you can purchase individual songs to customize Arcadia with, along with choosing your basic floor music and boss battle music. Or maybe just Arcadia itself for simplicity sake. Songs only show up once you encounter them in Story Mode or Arcade Mode.

What better way to trigger your friends in co-op than make your Arcadia theme Naniva's theme?

 

[Own]

April 12

Yar-har fiddle-dee-dee, being possessed is 2spooky4me!

http://www.vilyaroo.com/2017/04/merchant-isles-sailor-design.html

When I first saw the hat I thought, oh, hey... they're wearing oldtimey Mayan/Aztec ruins or something on their heads? Interesting design. But I have reservations about how it looks on the sprites.



It's not very aesthetically pleasing, because it blocks their faces/hair/eyes and makes them look like generic nobodies. Like how in anime they don't bother giving characters faces you can actually see if they're background material. This is further pronounced by the fact that they're all going to have the same exact hat, making them all bleed together. Unless they're essentially going to be the 'Guard's of their area and that's the point. Maybe I'm misunderstanding it.

---

On an unrelated Arcadia note, if you need further things for people to spend gold/essence on, maybe we could build houses in town as well? Unlocking 'Rescue' missions in the Arcade itself, if those are going to be a thing. Each person you rescue from the dungeon goes back to town and occupies those houses, so long as you're not at the population limit.

 

[Vilya]

It's not very aesthetically pleasing, because it blocks their faces/hair/eyes and makes them look like generic nobodies. Like how in anime they don't bother giving characters faces you can actually see if they're background material. This is further pronounced by the fact that they're all going to have the same exact hat, making them all bleed together. Unless they're essentially going to be the 'Guard's of their area and that's the point. Maybe I'm misunderstanding it.

All NPCs with these hats will be "generic sailors" from Merchant Isles, so they aren't really designed to be very unique looking on their own. In fact, the whole purpose of the hat is to make the future enemy designs more interesting, as we felt ghost/skeleton with a recognizable hat is more interesting than random ghosts/skeletons

 

[Own]

All NPCs with these hats will be "generic sailors" from Merchant Isles, so they aren't really designed to be very unique looking on their own. In fact, the whole purpose of the hat is to make the future enemy designs more interesting, as we felt ghost/skeleton with a recognizable hat is more interesting than random ghosts/skeletons

Oh! So they are meant to be of the "Guard" variety of genericness. I thought there was going to be a town peppered with them everywhere. Yeah, that makes sense.