Dungeons & Douchebags news

So, development grinds ever onwards and I'm not updating anywhere near enough... But that's going to change, I promise!

The toughest thing with development at the moment is making the dungeons both challenging and fun. Brainstorming and implementing worthwhile traps and puzzles to the game is a tiresome process, but I'm finding that the more and more I do it, the more and more I enjoy it. The test dungeon that exists at the moment has been transformed from a dull, lifeless hole in the ground into a heroes nightmare of spinning blades, bottomless pits, and angry skeletons.

One of the biggest hurdles that has recently been overcome is the enemy pathfinding; I was originally using the official Scirra pathfinding behaviour (A* method) combined with another moveTo behaviour to make enemies move in 4 directions, but this was proving problematic as enemies weren't animating correctly. I narrowed this down to the 3rd party moveTo behaviour calling directions too late, so after much deliberation I decided to go with just the A* pathfinding. I was dubious about how the enemies would look moving in more than 4 directions, but once I saw it working I liked it and decided to keep it (and it works properly in terms of enemy animation calls!). This was a big stumbling block for the project, and to have it finally overcome is a great morale boost.

The overworld has gotten an overhaul recently too; the trees got a new lease of life with more detail and birds were added to make the place to feel more alive. The dirt/cliff texture is in the process of being reworked too.

Next on the list of things to do is to get the trader working, closely followed by chests that give random items when opened.

Stay tuned for the next update, where we'll be introducing the main character Buster in all his grumpy glory!