Dev Log #12 (MULTIPLAYER Game Announcement!)

Long time no see! I'm back with another dev log, and quite a bit of news to share! 

Due to my own burnout, I'm making some changes to the update schedule for 1.2 onwards! I was originally going to do the first four tiers of the endless dungeon, but due to how much content there is I decided to delay the latter two tiers to 1.3. 

A lot of the things I have been working on are for the 1.3 update, and there are also a lot of issues that wouldn't really make sense to solve until the 1.3 overhaul. Stuff like named NPC interactions, quest pacing, and so on are things that would require twice the work if I were to rework them and then redo it again for the new changes. This is the primary reason for cutting some content out of this update.

As such, 1.2 development will conclude in about 3 WIPs total. I'm planning to finish the current one shortly after finishing up some outstanding commission work. After this there'll be another WIP with the first two tiers of endless dungeon content, then another with a bunch of community led content! This'll include quests and items and such.

Here's a (not comprehensive) list of 1.2 content:

• Saevusen playable race (wolf kemonos).
• Druid class.
• Duelist class.
• New Idle Chatter system for/between followers.
• Collectable pets.
• New items, accessories, and equipment.
• New endless dungeon system with two current tiers.
  • Two bosses, six new enemies, and a bunch of new environmental mechanics/traps!
•  New quests (about nine total community quests!)
• Berryable enemies. 

Despite a fair amount of bugs, the Halloween event seemed quite well received! I put out a poll on Discord to gauge general interest in more event type releases in the future, and people voted for more! Unfortunately I won't be doing a Christmas one this year, as I have too many projects going on at the moment! 

That said, I plan some more in the future! I'll probably do a Valentines one or some kind of Lantern Festival event in late January/Early February. I'll likely do a poll to see which has more interest over on Patreon sometime soon! 

HazelHoneyy and I have been working on doing a trade! She'll have a unique quest dungeon & Berry themed playable follower! It'll be similar to the one I did with Percy a while back, but a bit larger in scope! You'll be able to get several different Berry themed accessories depending on your choices in her quest!

You should check out her game here if you wanna see her part of our trade! 

And now for probably the most exciting thing in this dev log, a new game announcement! Swelladia: Plaza (name pending) is a multiplayer spin-off of Swelladia! This title is quite a bit different, in that it is both multiplayer & features real time combat rather than the standard RPG maker style of combat! 

Gameplay

The game will consist of both a large Plaza filled with lots of RP props, minigames, and various facilities, and dungeons for you to explore! You'll queue up with up to three other players in parties consisting of a tank (such as the magic nullifying Warden!), a healer (like the divine Zealot!), and two damage dealing classes (such as a Gunslinger or Elementalist)! 

Each dungeon will have different difficulties, with better rewards with higher difficulty. Higher difficulty dungeons will have enemies and bosses with higher stats, and modifiers for both the dungeon itself and the boss at the end! Below are examples of some of both types of modifier!

Progression

Progression in Plaza will work a bit differently. You'll still level up and unlock new classes, but a lot of your progression will be tied more to your equipment. Forged equipment in Plaza will be a lot more randomized, with different modifiers created for each piece of equipment you forge. As such, the game will be quite grindy by design! 

Minigames

If the game ends up popular enough, I'll be adding some minigames to do outside of the dungeons! These include things like a Dig-Dug themed hide-and-seek map, and a Mario Party style pumping contest where you have to pop your… ally(?) before your competitor pops theirs! 

Releases & Playtest

As of the release of this devlog, there is currently a playtest live on Patreon! There isn't really much content per se, but you can try out two of the classes and blow up any other players that might be online! The first playtest(s) will be available for both Patreon tiers. 

I'm not sure how I'll be handling future releases (since version discrepancies are a bigger deal for an online game), so I'm putting it to a vote over on Patreon! As of the release of this dev log there'll be a poll on Patreon on how I should handle update releases (paywalls or not essentially).

Currently, the servers are hosted by the multiplayer plugin host (in Russia I think!) so the latency is quite high. I'll be looking to get servers hosted in the states somehow in the next few weeks. I have no idea how much this will cost, but consider joining the Patreon if you want to help out!

I don't currently have a release schedule for updates for Plaza, as coding it is quite a bit more difficult than normal projects like Swelladia. That said, most of the core systems are implemented! It's just a matter of finishing adding other classes & getting systems like the dungeon queues set up. 

This might be a project I end up taking on extra sprite artists for, as the real time combat requires quite a bit of spritework! This'll ultimately depend on how I'm feeling and how much interest there is in the project!

Preview

I had recorded a playtest with a handful of people the other day, but the version it was on was so buggy that I decided not to release the footage! I'll be posting a preview of some PvP & player interactions after I do another test later as it has gotten a lot of fixes and polish since then!

It's been a little since I worked on it, but Ranha's Day Out is mostly done! I just need to script the last two fights and do some pixel art for card designs! If you're unfamiliar with the project, here is a link to the announcement page!

I plan on working on this and the first full Plaza release concurrently after the WIP is out! Not gonna give an ETA (because I never meet them) but it'll be ready soon enough! As a teaser here is a WIP title screen art made by the wonderful PercyBulloon!

If there is interest, I might give the game a post-launch update with a bit more content! A few extra scenes & some more polish, and a new game plus are what I have in mind!

 Due to a lack of consistent releases, I'll be changing the Patreon up a bit. The goal of releasing a WIP or two a month is being removed, and instead I'll be changing the text to just say "WIPs whenever ready!" to signal a longer delay between updates. I have been similarly slow on the community drive side-quest series, but I plan to pick up on it more going into the new year. 

Going forwards each update (including 1.2) will have at least one update related to these community-led questlines! Whether or not there are more per update will depend on WIP release windows, as I'll need people to play previous installments and vote on how to continue the story!

I'll definitely be focusing on smaller, more frequent updates in the future. I plan to also stop announcing what will be in future updates & WIP builds ahead of time so I don't delay them to try and cram as much in each WIP build as possible.

If you have purchased a Patreon membership in the last few four months, send me a DM on Discord (@Verblimp!) once the WIP is out. I'll send you a free month's Patreon code! This is mostly due to the fact that I'll be releasing a bunch of stuff I've been working on for the last few months in a bunch in the next month or so! I'll send out a reminder for this as well when the next WIP is out!

That's all for now, thank you for reading!