Patreon Weekly #28 - Dec 15th, 2019

Hey Patrons!

0.8.0 Beta-2.0 and 2.1 are now out. 0.8.0 now includes all the new regular enemies which I had planned for this update, including the Patreon poll winners!

I will likely be releasing a Beta-2.2 in the next few days as well, which will fix balance issues and bugs as they come up, and will also include key remapping for desktop! With the addition of key remapping the new desktop build will have every feature the old one did. Additionally, so far the new desktop build seems to be pretty bug-free, so old the desktop build is definitely being retired when 0.8.0 fully releases.

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With all enemies and technical stuff out of the way, my main focus is now (finally!) on boss changes. I don't yet have a finalized design for DM-300, but here are some more details:

Just as with Tengu, the DM-300 fight will have a number of unique mechanics. Keep in mind that these are all still in the concepting phase and may change or be removed entirely.

The arena that DM-300 is fought in will be changed from a simple circle. I don't yet have a final plan for this, but I'm experimenting with a design that's still circle or oval shaped, with some tunnelways toward the center and edges. Because DM-300 will be a large enemy it will be incapable of moving through these tunnels. I haven't yet decided whether I am going to remove, retain, or adjust the mechanic where DM-300 heals if it steps on an inactive trap. 

DM-300 may use these abilities when it is in its regular phase:
- DM-300 can shoot a jet of toxic exhaust toward the enemy. This will be similar to the DM-200 ability and will replace the passive field of toxic gas. I actually was considering this ability for DM-300 before adding it to DM-200s. This ability is mainly useful for smoking out heroes who are hiding in tunnels, but also helps to encourage players to move around if they're in open spaces as well.
- DM-300 will strike the earth and cause rocks to fall on the next turn. These rocks fall in random places, and indicate where they will land, but will always leave the player some nearby location to run to that is safe. Of course, if the player happens to be hiding in a tunnel that nearby safe spot might be in a wall, and the player will be forced to tank some rock damage. This replaces the previous passive ability of rocks falling when DM-300 moves.
- I might like for DM-300 to have a 3rd regular phase ability, but I don't yet have a solid concept for this.

When DM-300 enters an enrage phase it cannot use the previous abilities, but gets new mechanics instead:
- DM-300 will take a short amount of time to start enraging, but when it does it moves at 2x speed and is invulnerable to all forms of damage. The only way to avoid getting pummeled is to take cover!
- When enraged DM-300 has the ability to mine through terrain! This slows DM-300 down significantly however, so while tunnels won't be permanent refuge they are an excellent way of gaining some space. Keep in mind that once mined out tunnels don't regenerate, so you don't want to run out of places to hide!
- DM-300's enrage will trigger at various health thresholds, and I haven't yet decided exactly how enrage ends. The obvious solution is to just have it on a timer, but I feel like this will make running from DM-300 during enrage a bit too simple. I am considering adding some number of 'power pylons'  to the fight, which act as the source of DM-300's invulnerability. Finding and destroying the active pylon will end the enrage and move the fight onto the next stage. This gives the player something they actually have to do instead of just running away.

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I'm hoping to make good progress on DM-300 this week, so look forward to some more final design and some WIP spritework next week!