Marsh-Frog Mondays 7 - March features & additions
about 7 years ago – Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 12:09:24 AM

Hey everyone,

It's that time again! First of all: apologies for the slow pace. It’s cold and flu season here, and when two people on a small team come down with something nasty it can slow things down a fair bit.

We’re still busy adding new features to the upcoming alpha, which is getting closer by the day [still no ETA, but we'll send out extra emails to gold key holders when it's time].

Key Updates

 Here’s a list of the new additions which we can currently talk about.

• Stamina, the main resource of fighting-type investigators has been added! Jumping, non-magic abilities, and attacking now drain your stamina points; when you hit zero you must wait for it to recover. We’re also working on new support enemy types which focus on draining and fatiguing your investigators.

• Health, Mana and Stamina now regenerate dynamically, and can can be increased, decreased or halted through equipment, spells and effects. Regeneration is increased out of combat (currently: 2x Health and Mana, 4x Stamina).

• Rest feature added. Out of combat, and when there are no enemies nearby, you can camp to recover your health and mana. The system is pretty basic for now, but in the future we hope to add nighttime ambushes and detection via gadgets or spells.

• After a few tweaks and fixes, the enemy AI is exactly where we want it to be. There will be some new variations to implement between now and full release, but this is now checked off for alpha and beta purposes.

• Spellcasting is now much more responsive. Numerous bugs fixed, including issues with the targeting and line of sight detection.

• Large, monstrous enemies like the Bruiser Skeleton can now stun their victims on hit. They also have a habit of targeting the closest investigator, so make sure you send your toughest fighter out to intercept them!

• Skills are now more dynamic. They can be increased or decreased through equipment, spells and status effects. We hope to implement features such as curses which make investigators momentarily forget how to evade or handle weapon types effectively.

• Character creation: we’ve added an ‘auto-generate’ team feature for faster testing. We hope to replace this with a system of templates, allowing players to save their newly created investigators/teams for future playthroughs.

• Character selection: Star ratings on investigator strengths/weaknesses removed. Replaced with a text box containing 3-4 bullet points and a short overview.

• 80% of the player talents, previously known as perks, are now in the game. During character creation, players choose three of these, which help govern the character’s theme and playstyle.

• The Technician joins the upcoming alpha’s playable lineup (previously she had been planned for the beta). Her animations have been polished and updated.

So that about sums up March’s fixes and additions. There have been other changes which we're not ready to talk about as they may veer into spoiler territory. Next month we’ll be focusing on the quests, cutscenes and fine-tuning some of the branching dialogue which will be appearing in the upcoming beta.

Thanks for reading. We'll be back in two weeks with another update.

- Inglenook Games

Marsh-Frog Mondays 6, The Scribe
about 7 years ago – Tue, Feb 21, 2017 at 12:24:31 AM

Hey everyone,

We’ve been busy working on new features and content for the upcoming beta, but since they're not ready to showcase just yet, we’d like to present you with another character spotlight.

This time it's a spell-casting character: the Scribe.

THE SCRIBE

‘And he turned his mind to unknown arts.’
- Ovid

Primary Attribute: Spirit.
Melee weapon: Staff.
Suggested Roles: Support, magic (Priest, Arcane, Nature).

Background

Despite being a renowned scholar, the Scribe isn’t one to rub shoulders with the upper echelons of Witchmarsh academia. He moves in different circles: the kind which forms by candlelight, usually in a forested ruin or secluded manor. There he works, away from the chanting and unholy blessings, sorting through the stacks of dusty tomes amassed by his employers.

While it’s true that his chosen career path involves an element of risk (he’s crawled out of more sacrificial pits than he’d care to admit), it would all be worth it if he could get his hands on an elusive volume. The one which it is said, contains an account of the founding of Witchmarsh, and the true nature of the town's supernatural activity.

Passive Trait: Keeper’s Tome

By anticipating encounters and researching accordingly, the Scribe need never enter a new location unprepared. Once per day he may study a scroll item in his backpack, memorising the spell it contains and etching it into his tome. One ability may be learned at a time in this way.

Passive Trait: Scribe’s Armaments

Dusty Sling: Blunt thrown weapons have an increased chance to hit their target. Stones and conjured bullets are the Scribe’s thrown weapon of choice, especially against enemies with a high evade skill.

Plated Vestments: The Scribe’s robes provide some protection against knives and other pointed implements, which often proves useful in his line of work. Piercing melee attacks have a small chance to be deflected, dealing no damage.

Weaknesses

• The Scribe has a low health pool and armor rating, and is therefore vulnerable to physical attacks.
  
• Can't deal much in the way of physical damage.
  
• Low maximum stamina. Easily slowed and stunned by enemies with stamina-draining attacks.

Key Skills

• Rituals: Special abilities which require a reagent item in order to be cast. Also unlocks new dialogue options, especially when parleying with cults and supernatural entities.

Have you heard: The Adventure Zone

In this space we usually tell you about about another Kickstarter or game being launched, but this week we're bending the rules. We'd like to recommend one of our favourite podcasts, The Adventure Zone: a weekly D&D podcast starring three brothers and their dad. If you're looking for a dose of adventure and comedy while you wait for Witchmarsh to launch, the McElroys have you covered.  IMPORTANT NOTE: Strong language aplenty.

That's all for this week. It shouldn't be long until we're ready to start the countdown to the beta, so keep checking the updates.

- Inglenook

Marsh-Frog Mondays 5
about 7 years ago – Tue, Feb 07, 2017 at 12:27:50 AM

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the brief hiatus, but we're still here, working hard on Witchmarsh. This week we've been focusing on the remaining unfinished elements of the user interface. We're pleased with the results, and we hope you will be too.

• Marsh-Frog Mondays will continue to roll out every two weeks (next one will be Feb 21st). We'll try to bring back the character spotlights, too.
• Kotaku featured us in their list of western RPGs in 2017.

UI Overhaul

We've been busy polishing the UI for the next version of the test, including an all new character selection screen. Rather than picking characters from a drop-down list, we wanted something which has plenty of information, as well as adding a touch of immersion to the experience. Here's the latest version, complete with info panels and waiting room scenario:

Outtakes (trouble with TNT)

In case you missed it, a video we posted to our twitter account shows the ranged throwing weapons not exactly working as intended. In fact, we forgot to set a cooldown/limit on the number of dynamite items you can throw (oops). The issue has been fixed.

Well that's all for this time, sorry about the lack of new information as to the full release and ETA of the backer test. Stay tuned, though, we'll be back with more news on the 21st.

- Inglenook

Marsh-Frog Mondays (or thereabouts) 4
over 7 years ago – Tue, Jan 10, 2017 at 07:56:51 PM

Hey everyone, and welcome back. Apologies for posting this up so late, we’ve all got January colds, resulting in a groggy start to the week.

Collywobbles aside, we’re determined to make 2017 a great year for the project. Learning from past mistakes we’re now communicating between ourselves (and as a direct consequence, with you, too) far more effectively.

So, what’s been happening since the last update?

• IGN kindly featured us in their 38 Games to keep on your radar in 2017.
• There’s a new environment type on the way (teaser below).
• We’re back on Twitter and Facebook. Why not follow us for miscellaneous posts, teasers and news between updates?

A trove of treasure and clues, or a watery grave for foolhardy investigators?

Anyway, we'll get back to working on the next build.

Until then,

Inglenook Games

Marsh-Frog Mondays, 3 - A quiet one
over 7 years ago – Mon, Dec 19, 2016 at 11:13:37 PM

Hey everyone, 

Sorry we're a few hours late!

We're winding down for the holidays, so it's going to be small update this time. Please excuse the lack of lack of shiny gifs and images: most of the progress has been with the code and story. Here's what we've been working on.

• We've updated the upcoming features, bugs and known issues document, ready for your feedback and bug hunting when the next test commences (gold tier backers). We plan to launch it as soon as a few remaining bugs and issues are sorted out.

• Joe's been working hard to ensure the tactical pause and follower commands will be back for the next test. As well as adding strategy, they also bring much needed breathing room to combat when things get dicey. Although we hadn't initially planned for these features to be in the game; they've been requested often, especially by backers interested in single-player mode.

• Lou has added another large branching dialogue tree to the game's campaign. These are optional and allow players to learn more about the town, the events unfolding in the game's narrative and its cast of misfit characters.

• We still haven't been able to call a definite release date. Apologies for the uncertainty, but we think it's best if we hold off until we know for sure.

Next time we'll try to bring you more content, but this month has really been about under-the-hood progress. We hope you enjoy the holiday season, wherever you are and whatever it is you have planned.

Take care,

- Inglenook Games