Games Status and Progress Update

Hello everyone! It has been a while since the last blog update. This is due to the team spending a lot of time focusing hard on reworks and changes. What has been happening the past couple of months is preparing the game as much as possible for the upcoming first Closed Alpha testing.

I would like to take a moment to introduce myself and my role in Tidewoken. My name is Joseph, or in gaming usually people refer to me as Shade. I am going to be taking on the role of Community Manager. I will be working with the community directly on getting feedback, sharing information, handling issues and questions, and working on making sure that future tests go smoothly. I also do internal testing as well as helping with game design. To reach me, you can contact me via email at community@tidewoken.com or my Discord, Shade#2029.

Enough about me though, let us get into what all has happened since the last post!

Maps

All images and videos seen so far have been on a plain testing map. This has mainly been for giving the team a way of working in-game. However, we plan on having multiple themed maps for the full release. The first map, a lava themed map, has been completed. This map features narrow spots on sides, along with a long open middle area and plenty of places to hide behind.

We will, however, be using the generic play test map during Closed Alpha as well just to work with having multiple map options available. We are wanting to try and have maps feel truly different from a gameplay perspective and not only from a visual one. Due to this, we are not wanting to rush on releasing them, especially since the gameplay is the main priority for now.

Classes

There are 4 classes planned for the full release but we will only be using the 3 finished ones for the Closed Alpha. These are Mystic, Tempest, and Alchemist. Most of the time spent as of lately has gone into completely revamping the old Assault, which is now Tempest. It has gone through quite a few changes, but we finally found out how we wanted to shape the play style for it.

The Tempest will now use a class feature called Wind Essence. These will be used to trigger special skill effects as well as change gameplay by granting high damage at the risk of taking more. The main themes of Tempest will now be teleporting, using your Target Dummy to control the field, and managing Wind Essence for game impacting combos.

We have also made some changes to the Mystic as well, as to give Spirit Realm and Axe Mastery more diversity and purpose. Alchemist is also finished and will be mostly a support style class.

Gameplay Changes 

During testing, we ran into some issues of games being way too long, or skills feeling not so impactful. For starters, we now have given every build 9 skill slots instead of the 8. This is to allow a larger variety of builds and play styles, promoting more synergy. This, of course, is up to being changed, but it is something we feel will be better overall for now. 

Next, we cut health pools by a large amount. In the earlier stages, players had so much health that the games were quite long and fights were somewhat bland because of it. Now with lower health pools, it really pushes the gameplay in the direction envisioned to be a lot more tactical. 

Lastly, a small change was the attribute system. There are still 3 attributes per class and the same amount of skills. What changed was the amount of points given to work with and how they split up for builds. The main reason for this is just trying to make sure the builds aspect makes sense for gameplay, allowing for better synergy between attributes or gameplay choices.  

Current Status and Closed Alpha Testing

We plan on having the first Closed Alpha testing in early 2020 (keep in mind that this will be only through Steam). However, we still need to finish implementing the back end as well as getting in-game sounds added. While this is being worked on, we will also be finishing up major bug testing involving the skills for the classes and trying to make the gameplay as fun as possible.

For the first Closed Alpha, we will only be having a few people join us for this testing that will be able to give all the feedback needed. There will be a form later on for anyone interested in joining us for testing. As testing progresses, larger and more open tests will be planned. We want to focus mainly on fixing bugs and bad optimizations that are found, getting all of the feedback of the testers as to what they enjoyed, did not enjoy, what ideas they have, and as well as balancing the gameplay.

The best way to get in contact with us is through the official Tidewoken Discord: https://discord.gg/hcR2m2R

However, we also have the Dev's Twitter: https://twitter.com/mcfuddl

As well as two e-mail accounts now set up: support@tidewoken.com | community@tidewoken.com

Thank you all who have shown interest and support so far, and we are really looking forward to what is on its way!

- Shade, Community Manager 

Turns

As described in earlier posts, Tidewoken is a turn based game.

Each character gets added to the turn control at the start, while summoned characters can be added later.

Once a character gets removed from the game, this character is removed from the turn control.

Initialization

We're at the GameState

All the now spawned characters will be added to an array, then a random bool decides which team starts first. Now the turn order is written per character, alternating between both teams.

In this step the main game HUD will be updated with the character portraits:

Mystic and Assault

Mystic summoned his Ghost Wolf

Once the Actor Tick of my Game State runs, the turn timer of the first turn starts.

Once the current turn time is below 0, there is a check for pending actions like spell casts and movement. This way you can already skip your turn while moving and the turn will automatically be ended after all actions are done.

"Start Next Turn" is pretty simple, it just increments the turn order or resets it (based on if its the last character in the turn order) and starts the end turn event on the character and also the main turn code.

The main turn code calls functions like On Turn Start/End events

Why Blueprints

In my past I have been working with a few GUI based programming options, like the Warcraft 3 World Editor. I kind of got used to this method of coding and I really wanted to do a full scale Blueprint based Unreal Engine project. 

I think Blueprints are a really good way for new programmers to learn logic without getting hindered by syntax. 

Some functions later on will be written in C++, like server backend communcation, because there is nothing available in Blueprints like this.

If you want to know more about a specific topic, please let me know in my Discord! https://discord.gg/jrGyj2p

A new challenger appears

This post will be dedicated to my first class, showing some of his skills and playstyles.

If you have further questions, feel free to join the Tidewoken Discord server!

https://discord.gg/jrGyj2p

Mystic

I was starting a "design as you develop" approach with Tidewoken, thus needing a class that combines many elements as possible, while still being fun to play.

The goal was to create a class, that is not only a ranged damage dealer, but can be a summoner, support and meele damager.

Therefor Mystic was born, a spiritual caster with a two handed jade axe.

Before creating the 3d model of Mystic, my only Blender and 3d modeling experiences were my map tiles (and a barrel...). So I kind of dived into the cold water there.

The base humanoid was created with MakeHuman (http://www.makehumancommunity.org/).

All the armor and his weapon was modeled in Blender and textured in Substance Painter.

Summoner

Mystic can be played as a pure summoner, focusing on his only summon, the Ghost Wolf.

The Ghost Wolf is controlled by AI, but there will be ways to manipulate the Ghost Wolf's target.

There is a total of 16 spells in the "Clairvoyance"spell tree, supporting the Ghost Wolf and offering map manipulation tools.

Here is a preview of 4 of  them, including a legendary spell:

Caster/Support

The Mystic can also be played as a ranged damage dealer, focusing on magic damage, map manipulation and impairing.

For me, one of the most interesting spells is the Spirit Realm which was featured in the last spell preview post.

This spell allows you to either protect your allies from damage, when just the ally is in the Spirit Realm, but also makes it possible to enter the Spirit Realm with 2 allies and one enemy, increasing your damage against this enemy, while weakening the other enemy.

Realm Keeper improves the effect of Spirit Realm, but not without a cost! :)

Flexible spells like that one is a big part of Tidewoken. I want to give the player the freedom to play the classes like he wants to.

Coming up

Next week I will try to record a video of Tidewoken showing some spells in action. I had some issues with recording software, but I'll figure it out till next week.

I will also post technical background of spells, as this is one of the most complex systems I've built.