runecrossed

[runecrossed]

Here's a small Runecrossed update that solely focuses on optimization and minor bugfixes. If you experienced performance issues with 0.002.1, give this one a try and let me know how it works!

Changelog + Download

[ #Gamedev #3DPlatformer #Dragon #Furry ]

[runecrossed]

[ Runecrossed v0.002.1 ]

This update focuses on streamlining Atien's moveset and fixing a few other things up. While it is a smallish update on the surface and does not add any new levels or anything, it does change the overall game feel quite a lot due to certain moves becoming streamlined and simplified.

View the changelog and download via the link above!

[runecrossed]

I'm realizing there's not a lot left on the to-do list for the next build (0.002.1).

It's not a huge update in the sense of new levels or enemies or anything, but it does rework a few things about Atien's controls and streamline the experience, I think it's a lot more fun now.

[runecrossed]

Devlog #2 - Atien Only, Scope Adjustments

Since the release of Test Build 02, I have been having many thoughts about the scope I want to go for with Runecrossed. The earliest plans were incredibly ambitious (especially for my first standalone game), aiming to have SEVEN playable characters, several entire planets to explore, and each character having their own sets of armor and weapons to equip.

As you can probably gather, this did get reeled in as of the Test Builds as I realized just how much work it would all be. The revised plan was for me to refine all three of the remaining playable characters and tell a story mostly on just one planet, their homeworld Cyne.

Atien Only?

However, I'm now considering going one step further and making Atien the only playable character in Runecrossed. This is a rather difficult choice to make, considering my attachment to Efrix and Latra as characters and the potential I see in their playstyles, but I believe letting Runecrossed focus fully on Atien's moveset is most likely the best decision in this first full game of mine.

I am realizing that creating levels and 3D environments takes a lot of work. Every playable character in the roster multiplies the development time by needing to make unique levels for their movesets, and having enemies and mechanics account for their abilities. Not to mention the fact that Atien took so long to improve to the point he's at now, and that Efrix and Latra more or less would require total moveset overhauls to match the fun factor of current Atien before even getting to the "real" levels.

What's happening with Efrix and Latra, then?

They won't be re-added as playable characters, but they will still be present in the story and will of course receive similar updated models. Another thing worth noting is that I never intended for this to be the only game in the series. I have a lot of ideas on how to make playable Efrix and Latra much more fun and interesting, and fully intend to explore their gameplay types in Runecrossed 2 - by then I'll probably have more of the experience needed to make such a game more feasible. But that's getting ahead of myself; for now, I have to reel myself in and just make a game focused on Atien.

What's the new development plan?

Well, this is a bit of a tricky one. For so long the "clear path" in my mind was to do Test Build 02 around Atien, Test Build 03 focused around an Efrix revamp, then 04 for Latra, etc. But now that we're just focusing on Atien for this game, I'm not fully sure what the roadmap will look like!

The immediate next plan is to finish a v0.002.1 based upon feedback 0.002 received. The specific goals with that are mainly to further streamline Atien's moveset and make him feel even better and more intuitive to control. Removing even more "unnecessary" moves like the Down Strike, adding more quality of life to the game feel, making other moves like his Atherian Draw work better. As well as potentially improving upon presentation a bit; all those info nodes Just Placed around the world were always something I was a bit self-conscious about.

I suppose after that I'll be turning my attention towards more level design and decor. I still do not consider the "current" level layouts final, and feel I could do better - and I have a lot of fun ideas for new levels, too. I have no idea how I'll break updates up in terms of version number, when updates will become more Patreon-exclusive as I get closer to a full game, or even if it will be an updated Early Access game at a point or if I will instead just release it when it's done. I guess we'll find these things out as we go.

Anyway, thanks for reading! As always, if you have feedback about this decision or anything with the current build, feel free to let me know. See you all in 0.002.1!

[runecrossed]

I'm making a lot of adjustments to the game following feedback from 0.002.0, including a lot of reworks to Atien's moveset to streamline his gameplay - a lot of changes I'm quite excited to share in more detail in the next update.

In the meantime, here's an idle animation to look at, since Atien was missing one until now!

[runecrossed]

Runecrossed Test Build 02: Atien Revamp is finally out!

View the changelog and download it here on Itch.io: https://zerio105.itch.io/runecrossed/devlog/865975/release-test-build-02-atien-revamp

And of course, if the game interests you and you are financially capable, please consider supporting me on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/c/Zerio105

[runecrossed]

It really is just down to adding missing sound effects and doing final "make sure it all works" test runs for the next Runecrossed Test Build, huh. Wow.

[runecrossed]

Well, that's one of the funniest oversights in this game's development so far.

It's always the ledgegrab state.

[runecrossed]

Recent (very helpful) feedback has me questioning what sort of game I am trying to make here, exactly. Sure, it's a story-focused combat platformer, but what sort of user experience do I want? What level of difficulty? Which aspects of gameplay do I prioritize?

Test Build 01 had a problematic difficulty due to its lack of clarity and proper teaching elements to the player, leading things to feel cluttered and confusing. The still-unreleased Test Build 02, meanwhile, was on the course of over-correction. It was streamlining the environment design and making things more clear to players, along with a dedicated tutorial environment to gradually learn character abilities by example. Which are all good things to be clear, but I think I was going a bit far with it.

Thanks to the aforementioned recent feedback, I realized that enemies just letting players run up and destroy them before they can attack wasn't great - even if it was an extremely early level in the game's story. I realized that Atien's movement was way too overpowered and allowed players to easily skip past entire setups and large expanses of terrain unchallenged. Both things I was suspecting and questioning now and then in the back of my mind, but brought more to my immediate attention. This is something I'd like to fix.

Now, I have a lot of big ideas. Revamping more of Atien's abilities further, completely starting the levels over yet again to go more all out with hazards and setpieces, and to be more conscious of things like teaching elements and challenges that escalate in complexity, but I don't want to delay Test Build 02 any further (it's already been a full year since the release of Test Build 01, after all).

Instead, these grand ideas will be noted for future versions, and I will continue to prioritize getting Test Build 02 in a presentable and playable state. However, I did decide to make smaller and quicker tweaks to various mechanics and enemy behaviors to make things a bit less "spineless."

Changes include nerfing Atien's Spiral Dash speed and distance, removing the increase in movement speed gained from sprinting down slopes, and making pretty much every enemy more actively aggressive and interesting to engage with. I believe the changes done so far have already made things much more engaging and fun, even though I am aware there's still a long way to go to make the game truly up to the quality I wish it to be.

Instead of detailing every little change to every enemy in one post, I'm going to leave it at this for now. Maybe in the future I'll do more detailed writeups on a per-enemy basis. Either way, I hope you all enjoy Test Build 02 once it's eventually out!

[runecrossed]

A quick runthrough of the level Distant Outlook as Atien, just to show the current state of Runecrossed while I try to get Test Build 02 playable (hopefully in the near-ish future).

Keep in mind that this is all Extremely early, so don't be surprised if you notice unfinished models or anything distractingly janky.

View the game's Itch page and play an (extremely outdated) old version of it here: https://zerio105.itch.io/runecrossed

[runecrossed]

Runecrossed Devlog 8/6/2024: Outlines

Woah would you look at that, the game has outlines now! You can read more about the technical process and see more screenshots in the full post.

I always loved the idea of Runecrossed having stylized outlines, but every guide I could find for it had some sort of glaring issue I just couldn't accept (outlines extending "inward" and ruining the shape of models, covering too much and looking cluttered, stuff like that), so I finally took more time to learn how Unreal's post-processing materials work so I could make something that is more like what I wanted.

This shader works by comparing locations on the screen according to how far away they are from the camera, and if two parts have a sudden enough difference, it adds an outline to it - technically applying the outline to the surface behind what you'd expect it to actually be on. Honestly, I'm pretty thrilled about the end result. Having to figure it out for myself was tedious, but makes it more fulfilling to finally figure out in its own way.

That alone wasn't quite good enough, though. It turns out those new iron fences I made recently look absolutely horrendous with the outlines on them, and I couldn't just let them. So, I added a way to exclude outlines from specific meshes with the engine's CustomDepth system, basically a form of masking that let me remove the outline if it would be around these specified objects.

This approach mostly works, but it still has a problem. CustomDepth is a mask that is detected regardless of if the object is obstructed or not, meaning it will cut outlines away through other objects, leading to a sort of ghosting effect under the right circumstances.

I can fix one part of this by only cutting outlines away if the source object's surface is far away enough, which means at least it won't cut away the player's outline when they're standing in front of it, but it will still affect things in the middle distance and onward. If I extend the required distance at all, the fences would still end up having their horrible outlines too early. Hm...

Another quirk of this system is that "thinner" shapes like the string of the balloons or the hint circle get this sort of quadruple-vision, because the outlines are basically just four offset shadows being cast in the four cardinal directions.

I'm not entirely sure how to solve these two main issues at present, but I think I'm okay with accepting them as early quirks for now. I'll probably poke at this shader more at a later time, but for now it's probably best if I move on to the other things I need to release the next test build - specifically some additions to menus, finishing remaining touches on the two levels, and making sure the save/load system actually works.

This post is a lot longer than what I usually post to this blog, and I thought it would be a fun way to engage with the game's development between releases. Please let me know if you enjoy posts like this, and I'll try to keep doing them now and then!

[runecrossed]

New fence

[runecrossed]

The earliest state of new objects is sometimes extremely funny actually

[runecrossed]

The earliest state of new objects is sometimes extremely funny actually

[runecrossed]

Well that's not... quite how the rollers are supposed to move

I'll keep at it

[runecrossed]

In the Spiral Dash diving state, Atien now angles downward when the double jump is also unavailable, and will otherwise remain level. This makes it more immediately clear at a glance if you can double jump or not.

[runecrossed]

I think I may have set the recoil a bit too high. What do you think?