Post by Variaz on Sept 22, 2011 19:57:47 GMT -5
Ok, I'm seriously starting to miss my game now. Some online games have been taking too much of my time lately, and I feel like I've been neglecting Portralis too much. It's time to get back to work on this! However, I will get back to it in a smooth fashion, and start implementing features that will be fun to implement, and nothing too harsh. Better get back slowly but surely, than be ambitious and hit another wall, and put the game to sleep for another month.
So here's my plans for the next build!
CLASSES:
I plan on working on at least three classes, since it's what has been requested the most in the latest poll. These classes will be the Priest, the Bard and the Elemental Lord. Here's what I plan to do for the classes:
Priest: Although monks can do some wisdom-casting, we need a REAL wisdom caster, and the Priest will fill that role. The class will focus on wisdom-based casting and especially Mysticism spells, healing(which is something Portralis doesn't have much at this time) and support, and abilities to turn, repel or banish supernatural entities such as undeads, demons, angels and elementals. Compared to the Mage, the Priest will have less focus the raw power of his/her spells, but will make up for it by being able to cast them with heavy armor on, and the healing/buffs will make the character much harder to kill. Combine this with some tricks against undeads, demons and elementals, and you'll have a nice and versatile class.
Bard: For the time being, I have decided to put the music skill revamp on hold. Two reasons for this: one, I don't feel like starting(and aborting) major code overhauls for now. Secondly, the current Music system has potential, and has only been around since 0.4. It wasn't too powerful, however, it could be that the skill itself wasn't bad, but everything else around it was broken. So rather than completely overhauling something that has only been around for one version, I say: let's give the current Music skill a chance. Tweaking it a bit to fit the 0.5 balance, and make some new instruments and song effects should make the skill fun again. Really, it works. It has less flexibility than the normal spells system, but allows you to use a passive effect, and is currently the only skill that allows you to get passive healing, which can be very powerful.
As for the Bard's abilities, they will get some tweaking. The Bard is a signer, not a summoner, and I feel that some abilities that are aimed at boosting friendly monsters could be replaced. Besides, summoned enemies aren't too effective in the first place, so too much focus on them will make the class uninteresting. (and making summons better is a lot of work) The Bard will keep his/her ability to charm enemies with songs, and with the high Charisma, they'll have some good support from friendly monsters. Some defensive or "trick" abilities would be more useful, and more fun. (sound-based abilities to distract enemies and stuff would be nice!)
Elemental Lord: I consider this class to be a staple of Portralis. The class' versatility is well suited to the enemies in Portralis, who often have all sorts of abilities, resistances and tricks to beat you down. Unlike your typical "warrior mage" class, the Elemental Lord specialises in one element, and seeks perfect mastery of this element, whether it be through melee combat, magic combat, dominating enemies of that element or empowering his/her own body. The class will focus on having a perfect mix of melee and magic attacks, doing nice damage both in close combat and range, and piercing enemies resistances.
My goal is to make all available elements useful. The class's defensive and utility abilities will focus on exploiting enemies that are related to the element you chose(meaning having immunities to chosen element). For example, right now, you may be tempted to choose Light over Darkness, since Light is offensively more useful, and lots of enemies have Darkness resistance. But the class will have abilities to protect yourself from enemies of your chosen element, and even tricks to exploit them(such as dominating monsters, or toying with them in some ways). These abilities may prove to be the key to beat an otherwise unstoppable foe, so this will be something to consider when choosing your element. I mean, you won't let the Monstrous Wraith's poison immunity ruin your Kobold Poison Lord's fun, won't you?
BUGS:
Two bugs are currently standing out:
- The self-projections bug, affecting potions, music, lava, etc... This will need to be fixed once and for all.
- Currently, depth 60+ is bugged(I have an idea why...), so this will have to be fixed as well.
I will go through the bugs reports again and see what other things there is to fix, but I will try to eliminate at least these two bugs.
That should be it. Not sure if I will add any content(quests, monsters, items, etc...), I do have a lot of ideas, but since classes are what's missing the most right now, I may focus on that for the time being. Then again, new content is always nice to test new classes...
So here's my plans for the next build!
CLASSES:
I plan on working on at least three classes, since it's what has been requested the most in the latest poll. These classes will be the Priest, the Bard and the Elemental Lord. Here's what I plan to do for the classes:
Priest: Although monks can do some wisdom-casting, we need a REAL wisdom caster, and the Priest will fill that role. The class will focus on wisdom-based casting and especially Mysticism spells, healing(which is something Portralis doesn't have much at this time) and support, and abilities to turn, repel or banish supernatural entities such as undeads, demons, angels and elementals. Compared to the Mage, the Priest will have less focus the raw power of his/her spells, but will make up for it by being able to cast them with heavy armor on, and the healing/buffs will make the character much harder to kill. Combine this with some tricks against undeads, demons and elementals, and you'll have a nice and versatile class.
Bard: For the time being, I have decided to put the music skill revamp on hold. Two reasons for this: one, I don't feel like starting(and aborting) major code overhauls for now. Secondly, the current Music system has potential, and has only been around since 0.4. It wasn't too powerful, however, it could be that the skill itself wasn't bad, but everything else around it was broken. So rather than completely overhauling something that has only been around for one version, I say: let's give the current Music skill a chance. Tweaking it a bit to fit the 0.5 balance, and make some new instruments and song effects should make the skill fun again. Really, it works. It has less flexibility than the normal spells system, but allows you to use a passive effect, and is currently the only skill that allows you to get passive healing, which can be very powerful.
As for the Bard's abilities, they will get some tweaking. The Bard is a signer, not a summoner, and I feel that some abilities that are aimed at boosting friendly monsters could be replaced. Besides, summoned enemies aren't too effective in the first place, so too much focus on them will make the class uninteresting. (and making summons better is a lot of work) The Bard will keep his/her ability to charm enemies with songs, and with the high Charisma, they'll have some good support from friendly monsters. Some defensive or "trick" abilities would be more useful, and more fun. (sound-based abilities to distract enemies and stuff would be nice!)
Elemental Lord: I consider this class to be a staple of Portralis. The class' versatility is well suited to the enemies in Portralis, who often have all sorts of abilities, resistances and tricks to beat you down. Unlike your typical "warrior mage" class, the Elemental Lord specialises in one element, and seeks perfect mastery of this element, whether it be through melee combat, magic combat, dominating enemies of that element or empowering his/her own body. The class will focus on having a perfect mix of melee and magic attacks, doing nice damage both in close combat and range, and piercing enemies resistances.
My goal is to make all available elements useful. The class's defensive and utility abilities will focus on exploiting enemies that are related to the element you chose(meaning having immunities to chosen element). For example, right now, you may be tempted to choose Light over Darkness, since Light is offensively more useful, and lots of enemies have Darkness resistance. But the class will have abilities to protect yourself from enemies of your chosen element, and even tricks to exploit them(such as dominating monsters, or toying with them in some ways). These abilities may prove to be the key to beat an otherwise unstoppable foe, so this will be something to consider when choosing your element. I mean, you won't let the Monstrous Wraith's poison immunity ruin your Kobold Poison Lord's fun, won't you?
BUGS:
Two bugs are currently standing out:
- The self-projections bug, affecting potions, music, lava, etc... This will need to be fixed once and for all.
- Currently, depth 60+ is bugged(I have an idea why...), so this will have to be fixed as well.
I will go through the bugs reports again and see what other things there is to fix, but I will try to eliminate at least these two bugs.
That should be it. Not sure if I will add any content(quests, monsters, items, etc...), I do have a lot of ideas, but since classes are what's missing the most right now, I may focus on that for the time being. Then again, new content is always nice to test new classes...