SNKRX/devlog.md

Day 1 - 17/02/21

Ideaguyed the basics of the game's classes and mechanics, and implemented basic movement and setting of all the stats it will have. Here are the initial characters, synergies and stats I want to have:

Characters

• Vagrant: shoots a projectile at any nearby enemy, medium range
• Scout: throws a knife at any nearby enemy that chains, small range
• Cleric: heals every unit when any one drops below 50% HP
• Swordsman: deals damage in an area around the unit, small range
• Archer: shoots an arrow at any nearby enemy in front of the unit, long range
• Wizard: shoots a projectile at any nearby enemy and deals AoE damage on contact, small range

Synergies

• Ranger: yellow, buff attack speed
• Warrior: orange, buff attack damage
• Healer: green, buff healing effectiveness
• Mage: blue, debuff enemy defense
• Cycler: purple, buff cycle speed

Stats

• HP
• Damage
• Attack speed: stacks additively, starts at 1 and capped at minimum 0.125s or +300%
• Defense: if defense >= 0 then dmg_m = 100/(100+defense) else dmg_m = 2-100/(100-defense)
• Cycle speed: stacks additively, starts at 2 and capped at minimum 0.5s or +300%

Perhaps I'm overengineering it already with the stats but I wanna see where this goes. From SHOOTRX it seems like figuring out stats earlier is better than later, and these seem like they have enough flexibility.

Day 2 - 18/02/21

Went through like 3 small refactors of how I was laying out Unit, Player and Enemy classes and how I wanted enemies to behave. Settled on just copying enemy behavior 100% from SHOOTRX, which is likely the more correct decision since it saves a lot of time.

Right now basic player and enemy movement works, as well as melee collisions between player and enemy. To do for tomorrow:

• HP bar should be drawn on top of all player units
• Projectiles
• Areas
• Stats: attack speed, damage, cycle
• One or a few of the characters
• Port over enemy spawn logic from SHOOTRX
• Sounds

Day 3 - 19/02/21

Managed to get the first 4 items of the previous todo list done. Removed the cycle stat because the way projectiles work (they're autoshot) already feels like a cycle so having that in would feel redundant. I changed it for area damage + area size stats which feel more fundamental. So currently the synergies are:

• Ranger: yellow, buff attack speed
• Warrior: orange, buff attack damage
• Healer: green, buff healing effectiveness
• Mage: blue, debuff enemy defense
• Void: purple, buff area damage and size

And the stats are:

• HP
• Damage
• Area damage
• Area of effect
• Attack speed
• Defense -> if defense >= 0 then dmg_m = 100/(100+defense) else dmg_m = 2-100/(100-defense)

HP, damage and defense are flat stats, whereas area damage, area of effect and attack speed are multipliers. This is because each character/attack has its own attack speed/area and trying to generalize that too much wouldn't work well. For tomorrow I'll just try to finish the rest of the todo, which is add more characters, port enemy spawning logic from SHOOTRX and add sounds.

Day 4 - 20/02/21

Ported over enemy spawning logic and added all characters. The characters currently are:

• Vagrant: shoots an ethereal projectile at any nearby enemy that deals physical and magical damage, medium range
• Scout: throws a knife that chains 3 times at any nearby enemy, small range
• Cleric: heals every unit when any one drops below 50% HP
• Swordsman: deals physical damage in an area around the unit, small range
• Archer: shoots an arrow that pierces at any nearby enemy, very long range
• Wizard: shoots a projectile at any nearby enemy and deals AoE magical damage on contact, small range, AoE has very small range

The classes are:

• Ranger: yellow, buff attack speed
• Warrior: orange, buff attack damage
• Healer: green, buff healing effectiveness
• Mage: blue, debuff enemy defense
• Void: purple, buff area damage and size
• Builder: orange, buffs construct damage, attack speed and duration
• Rogue: red, chance to crit dealing 4x damage

I'm not sure what I should focus on next. I know that there's sounds left to add, but after that I should probably start doing the actual game progression, but for that I think need a bunch more characters. I should probably try to think of a cast of maybe 15-20 characters (however that number should be as low as possible) that fills up the current classes to their multiple levels. Levels possible are: 1, 2, 3, 2/4, 2/4/6 and 3/6.

Day 5 - 21/02/21

Sounds done for everything. Surprising to me how much sounds added to the game and helped me sell all the different attacks way better than with just graphics. I should probably make it a habit to add sounds earlier rather than later from now on.

Tomorrow I should probably ideaguy the full set of characters and classes that I'll need so that the game is playable and start on implementing those additional characters as well as some class bonuses.

Day 6 - 22/02/21

Ideaguyed the entire roster for the demo and implemented a few of them.

Classes

Class	Color	Set Effect
Ranger	yellow	chance to release a barrage
Warrior	orange	increased defense
Healer	green	increased healing effectiveness
Mage	blue	decreased enemy defense
Nuker	purple	increased area damage and size
Conjurer	orange	increased construct damage and duration
Rogue	red	chance to crit dealing 4x damage
Enchanter	pink	increased damage to all allies
Psy	white	returns damage taken based on number of active psy units

Characters

Character	Description	Trigger Range	Effect Range
Vagrant	shoots a projectile	medium
Scout	throws a knife that chains 3 times	small
Cleric	heals every unit when any one drops below 50% HP
Swordsman	deals physical damage in an area around the unit	small	medium
Archer	shoots an arrow that pierces	very long
Wizard	shoots a projectile that deals AoE damage	long	very small
Outlaw	throws a fan of 5 knives	medium
Blade	shoots multiple blades that deal AoE damage on contact	small	small
Elementor	deals massive AoE damage to a random target	long	medium
Ninja	creates clones that roam and shoot shurikens		very small
Linker	links nearby enemies together making them share damage taken	medium	small
Sage	shoots a slow projectile that draws enemies in	medium	medium
Squire	improves damage and defense for adjacent units as well as healing them periodically
Cannoneer	shoots a projectile that deals massive AoE damage	long	medium
Dual Gunner	shoots two parallel projectiles	medium
Hunter	shoots an arrow with a chance to summon a pet	long	small
Chronomancer	dramatically improves attack speed for adjacent units
Spellblade	knives orbit you and hoam towards nearby enemies	small	small
Psykeeper	all damage taken is stored and distributed as healing
Gambler	drops a sentry that uses random attacks		medium

Character Classes

Character	Classes
Vagrant	warrior, ranger, psy
Scout	rogue
Cleric	healer
Swordsman	warrior
Archer	ranger
Wizard	mage
Outlaw	rogue, warrior
Blade	warrior, nuker
Elementor	mage, nuker
Ninja	rogue, conjurer
Linker	enchanter, nuker
Sage	mage, nuker
Squire	warrior, healer, enchanter
Cannoneer	ranger, nuker
Dual	unner [ranger, rogue
Hunter	ranger, conjurer
Chronomancer	mage, enchanter
Spellblade	mage, rogue
Psykeeper	healer, psy
Gambler	conjurer

Class Numbers

Class	Set Levels	Total Units
Ranger	2, 4	5
Warrior	2, 4	5
Healer	3	3
Mage	2, 4	5
Nuker	2, 4	5
Conjurer	2	3
Rogue	2, 4	5
Enchanter	3	3
Psy	n	2

Class Stat Multipliers

Class	HP	DMG	ASPD	Area DMG	Area Size	DEF	MVSPD
Warrior	1.4	1.1	0.9	1.0	1.0	1.25	0.9
Ranger	1.0	1.2	1.5	1.0	1.0	0.9	1.2
Healer	1.2	1.0	0.5	1.0	1.0	1.2	1.0
Mage	0.6	1.4	1.0	1.25	1.25	0.75	1.0
Rogue	0.8	1.3	1.1	0.6	0.6	0.8	1.4
Nuker	0.9	1.4	0.75	1.5	1.3	1.0	1.0
Conjurer	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Enchanter	1.2	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.2	1.2
Psy	1.5	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	0.5	1.0

I've implemented up to Elementor today and ATM in the process of doing Ninja, but today seems like a particularly low energy day so I'm just going to play some games instead.

Day 7 - 23/02/21

Not a lot done today... My sleep schedule is fucked up and I've been unable to focus properly. I managed to get 2 characters done though and also changed their definitions a bit:

• Ninja -> Saboteur: calls on other saboteurs to seek targets and explode on contact, AoE has small range
• Ninja -> Saboteur: rogue, conjurer, nuker
• Linker -> Stormweaver: infuses all projetile attacks with chain lightning, medium range
• Linker -> Stormweaver: enchanter, nuker

Day 8-9 - 24-25/02/21

Finished all characters finally. My sleep is so fucked these two days blended together seamlessly. It's so fucking hot and I'm so tired. God damn I fucking hate the summer so fucking much. I hope I can sleep properly today. Definition changes for one character: Spellblade - knives slowly spiral outwards.

Tomorrow I'll probably do some UI work so the player can buy new characters as he goes from arena to arena, or work on the game's progression in terms of enemy HP and DMG. These are fundamentally the only two things missing and I have a essentially 1 week to do them, which should be more than enough.

Note: remember to attribute https://freesound.org/people/Hybrid_V/sounds/321215/ for turret_deploy sound in credits.

Day 10 - 26/02/21

Another day with almost no sleep and just general low energy because of it... I managed to get things done though. I got all the class set bonuses working. Here's what they do:

Class	Set Numbers	Set Effect
Ranger	2/4	10/20% chance to release a barrage
Warrior	2/4	+25/+50 defense
Healer	3	+25% healing effectiveness
Mage	2/4	-15/-30 enemy defense
Nuker	2/4	+15/25% area damage and size
Conjurer	2	+25% construct damage and duration
Rogue	2/4	10/20% chance to crit dealing 4x damage
Enchanter	3	+25% damage to all allies

Tomorrow I should get started on going from arena to arena, buying characters and figuring out enemy scaling.

Day 11 - 27/02/21

Took a break today. Although I went through the game's stats because I noticed some of them were diverging from my internal docs as well as the tables posted to the devlog a few days ago. Here are current tables based on what's actually in the code:

Classes

Class	Set Color	Set Numbers	Total Units	Set Effect
Ranger	green	2/4	5	10/20% chance to release a barrage
Warrior	yellow	2/4	5	+25/+50 ally defense
Healer	green	3	3	+25% healing effectiveness
Mage	blue	2/4	5	-15/-30 enemy defense
Nuker	blue	2/4	5	+15/25% area damage and size
Conjurer	yellow	2	3	+25% construct damage and duration
Rogue	red	2/4	5	10/20% chance to crit dealing 4x damage
Enchanter	red	3	3	+25% damage to all allies

Characters

Character	Description	Trigger Range	Effect Range
Vagrant	shoots a projectile	medium
Swordsman	deals damage in an area around the unit	small	medium
Wizard	shoots a projectile that deals AoE damage	big	very small
Archer	shoots an arrow that pierces	very big
Scout	throws a knife that chains 3 times	small
Cleric	heals every unit when any one drops below 50% HP
Outlaw	throws a fan of 5 knives	medium
Blade	shoots multiple blades that deal AoE damage on contact	small	small
Elementor	deals massive AoE damage to a random target	big	big
Saboteur	calls 4 other saboteurs to seek targets and deal AoE damage		very small
Stormweaver	infuses all allied projectiles with chain lightning	medium	small
Sage	shoots a slow projectile that draws enemies in	medium	small
Squire	improves damage and defense for adjacent units as well as healing them periodically
Cannoneer	shoots a projectile that deals massive AoE damage	long	medium
Dual Gunner	shoots two parallel projectiles	medium
Hunter	shoots an arrow with a chance to summon a pet	very long
Chronomancer	improves attack speed for adjacent units
Spellblade	knives that pierce spiral outwards
Psykeeper	all damage taken is stored and distributed as healing to all allies
Engineer	drops sentries that attacks with a burst of projectiles		medium

Character Classes

Character	Classes
Vagrant	warrior, ranger, psy
Swordsman	warrior
Wizard	mage
Archer	ranger
Cleric	healer
Scout	rogue
Outlaw	rogue, warrior
Blade	warrior, nuker
Elementor	mage, nuker
Saboteur	rogue, conjurer, nuker
Stormweaver	enchanter
Sage	mage, nuker
Squire	warrior, healer, enchanter
Cannoneer	ranger, nuker
Dual Gunner	ranger, rogue
Hunter	ranger, conjurer
Chronomancer	mage, enchanter
Spellblade	mage, rogue
Psykeeper	healer, psy
Engineer	conjurer

Class Stat Multipliers

Class	HP	DMG	ASPD	Area DMG	Area Size	DEF	MVSPD
Warrior	1.4	1.1	0.9	1	1	1.25	0.9
Ranger	1	1.2	1.5	1	1	0.9	1.2
Healer	1.2	1	0.5	1	1	1.20	1
Mage	0.6	1.4	1	1.25	1.2	0.75	1
Rogue	0.8	1.3	1.1	0.6	0.6	0.8	1.4
Nuker	0.9	1	0.75	1.5	1.3	1	1
Conjurer	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Enchanter	1.2	1	1	1	1	1.2	1.2
Psy	1.5	1	1	1	1	0.5	1

Day 12-15 - 28/02/21-03/03/21

I didn't work on anything.

Day 16 - 04/03/21

UI work on the game's first screen. These days that I ended up not doing nothing happened because of a mix of me not knowing what to do next, fixing my sleep schedule (failed, so I give up on this already), and trying to think up how exactly I want the game's UI to be like. I ended up thinking too much and paralyzed myself into not doing anything.

Right now I'm just doing the most basic thing I can that still looks reasonably OK and conveys all the info needed.

Day 17 - 05/03/21

More UI stuff. Fairly slow moving but I'm slowly getting a clearer picture in my head of what the game's UI should be like which should make it easier to get it done.

Also found this cool article today: https://halt.software/dead-simple-layouts/. This reminds me of one of my attempts from a few years ago at creating a clean UI abstraction but with a slightly different focus that seems promising. I wonder if I should try implementing this now or leave it for the next game.

Day 18 - 06/03/21

Transition from first screen to first level works. Polish it up tomorrow with more sounds, tutorial markers (left/right arrows) and more consistency and anticipation when a level ends, and then start work on the main buy screen.

Day 19 - 07/03/21

First screen, transition from it to arena, arena and transition from arena to next screen are 99% complete and polished. There's one small bug left that I can't replicate where it will end the level right away, but I can't tell with which win condition it's happening... I'll fix it in time. Tomorrow I can get started on the main buy screen for real.

Day 20-21 - 08-09/03/21

Initial work done on the main buy screen. Fairly slow moving still. There's a sort of conceptual fuzziness that happens when writing UI code where there's a few different ways of doing it and this freedom seems fairly paralyzing. I've been thinking really hard about what to do about that but it's still up in the air. The "dead simple layouts" thing is a good idea but layouting is not necessarily the main problem I have, it's more like relationships between different objects and a UI coordination issue that seems to stop me.

Day 22 - 10/03/21

More UI progress on buy screen.

Day 23 - 11/03/21

Finished all visual progress on the main buy screen. Now all I have to do is make it all work logically, which is actually a lot easier than making it all work visually. This fact tells me that most of my problems with UI programming have to do with visuals and not much else. I would wager that most of it has to do with not knowing how the overall UI should look, and the rest is just building each UI component visually in a quick and easy way.

The first problem can be fixed by just trying to draw the UI beforehand, which I never do but maybe I should start doing. The second problem is more involved and essentially it involves writing UI components that are generic enough like buttons, labels, image buttons, lists, etc, but also allow for enough specialization that I can make them really juicy, as this generally requires a lot of detail fiddling the inner works of the object. I think the Node refactor I'm planning will probably help with this, especially the idea of everything simply being a Node and classes being able to be defined inline by just defining update/draw/on_enter/etc functions.

Day 24-25 - 12-13/03/21

Finished buy screen. Now the only two things left is are redoing the first screen to take advantage of all the UI built for the buy screen, balance/progression and then fixing smaller details and finishing everything up. I can probably finish it all before day 30 which would be great.

Day 26 - 14/03/21

The game is finally playable from start to finish. It is pretty fun as it is but it's clear that a few things need to be added so it can be even better. I'll add these after I release the demo with the game in the current state since these additions will take some time and I don't want to delay the demo's release any more than necessary.

Enemy Modifiers

Enemies right now feel pretty samey, and a few small modifiers would help a lot:

• Grant nearby enemies a speed boost on death
• Grant nearby enemies a damage boost on death
• Explode into projectiles on death
• Charge up and headbutt towards the player at increased speed and damage
• Immune to knockback

Mini Boss

Every 3rd level there should be a difficult increase in the multiplier for enemy stats as well as a mini boss. This mini boss has significantly increased HP and damage and can spawn enemies of his own on top of the ones spawned by the level. He can also grant modifiers to enemies. Upon completing such a level, the player will be granted the chance to choose 1 out of 3 passive items.

Other Ideas

• Show a unit DPS list like Underlord's to the right side of the screen
• About 20-30 passive items that can be collected every 3 levels
• Lv.3 effects for every character
• New classes and characters (I'm not in idea guy mode ATM so I can't think of much, but it will come to me eventually):
  • Trapper: releases +1 trap
    • Plague Doctor [trapper, nuker]: releases an area that deals 6 AoE DoT
    • Fisherman [trapper, warrior]: throws a net that entangles enemies and prevents them from moving

Day 27 - 15/03/21

Mostly done with balance tuning. Now all that's left are some final details:

• Pausing
• Muting sound/music
• Music + pitch
• Win screen
• W to wishlist
• R to restart
• Allied unit death sound

Day 28 - 16/03/21

The demo is finally 100% complete. Now tomorrow I'll spend some time recording gameplay and hopefully finishing the trailer. After that I can start working on the steam page. If I have it done by tomorrow and Valve takes 5 business days to approve the store page I should have everything ready by the 25th. And then I can release the game 14 days after that, which would be the 8th of April. I definitely want to release it around that time, before the 15th because then I will have completed the game in less than 60 days which is my limit, although I should probably aim for 40 days going forward.

Week 5 - 17/03/21 to 24/03/21

This latest week I did everything necessary to get the game into a playable state as well as all the work needed for a Steam page. Most of it was spent making the trailer, but I feel like the more trailers I make the faster I get at making them. This time it took like 3-4 days out of laziness, but I can easily see it being a 1 day job in the future.

I also tested the demo out with a few people and the results were underwhelming. No one seemed to play it for too much time, which I suspected would happen given that the longer term loop of the game isn't in yet. More interestingly though, all of the feedback I was given about things that needed to be changed were things that I knew needed to be changed/added for the game's release, which means that I have a pretty good idea of where the game is from other people's perspective.

The web build has a few bugs that I can't fix like sound effects not playing randomly, and since my strategy was doing a web demo coupled with the page's release, I've decided to change it. Both because of these bugs and the underwhelming response I feel like releasing a demo at this point will damage the game more than help it. I have ~3 weeks until release date (13th of April) from now, and that should be enough to add enough things into the game to make it significantly better.

Going forward I think the Steam page reveal demo strategy probably isn't a good idea for these 1 month games. They're small enough already as they are and releasing them in an ever more crude state is probably a waste of time. The only thing I need to schedule better for next releases is my trailer making timing. If I want to release a game in 1 month I need to have a trailer by day 15 at the latest, which means I need to work on the game for 2 weeks and then take 1 day to make a trailer.

As for feedback given from the demo: