SallazarSpellcaster wrote:
Pros:
+The red mana mechanics are quite interesting, and make the game overall more manageable, since with a bit of smart resource management you can keep using your heavier weapons and stay healthy all the while. Also, I really like the sprite you used for the mana crystal
+The increased speed of the crystal mace makes it more viable, and fun, to use
+Golem familiar is really cool
+The graphics for the mana batteries look awesome
+Flechettes are more viable for use now, not quite as strong as they were, but far more useful as they are
+The swamp wildlife (those tiny dragon things, and odd bird things) are really fitting for the maps they appear in, and add a lot of ambiance
+Bubbles to indicate where Stalkers are at. Thank you.
+Being able to hit Centaurs even with their shields up (I think this was present in v.2, but it seemed more notorious in this one)
Thanks, that red mana crystal's sprites are just recolors of the orbs that orbit the heresiarch while it's shields are up.
Those mana batteries use voxels that I made. It took a few hours to make them, since (i'm pretty sure) there's no copy/paste feature in MagickaVoxel, so I had to redesign each side by hand. Worth it though.
I'm going to make more wildlife to spawn in even more environments. The way that they currently work is certain decorations will spawn certain wildlife near them, such as stalagmites spawning cave bats, and brown trees spawning spiders. I'm also going to add ambient wildlife, that don't attack, but are there for, well, ambience.
SallazarSpellcaster wrote:
Cons:
-Those goddamned spiders; the new cave spider is very quick and difficult to see, and pretty much invisible in, well, caves. To be fair, they deal very little damage so they're only annoying
-Being able to hurt your familiar, being hurt by your familiar, and not being able to walk through it. That reduced a little, not much, of its usefulness
-Without intention of being reiterative, Quietus' main attack still feels flimsy; secondary attack though is awesome
-More like a personal gripe, stock Hexen maps get boring once you know them by heart
I'm going to make normal spiders jump from closer distances, since I agree they can be annoying. The cave spiders use a system of attacking and retreating, where they bite you, run away for a bit, then come back for another bite, and repeat.
I would be perfectly able to make familiars passable and unable to hurt or get hurt by, but I'm worried that will mess up deathmatch, since all players share a species type with the familiars. I could just try making the script spawn a different version of the familiar in DM.
Ah, the Quietus. I
still haven't got around to bringing it to it's potential. That is first on the list right now.
Stock hexen maps do get boring after a while, especially when you have to test your mod out so damn often, but brutalized hexen maps might be better right? I've got quite a bit to do on that, but I'll release a beta for that once I get the shadow wood hub completed. I'm also working on some compatibility patches for some custom wads that I like. I believe a friend of mine might be making a Hexen map pack as well.
SallazarSpellcaster wrote:
Suggestions:
*As Valherran mentioned before, as possible way to make Quietus be stronger but balanced, why not making its primary attack slower but far stronger (like a 1-2 combo killing a brown serpent,) while making its secondary an unlockable for level 12-15ish? Its secondary feels like a proper badass ultimate attack, so it may be good as an unlock by the end of Hub 3, or midways through 4
*The ability to customize what your familiar upgrades into would be a neat addition, if not changing the overall appearance, perhaps the types of attack it uses- On that note, a possible future familiar could be Dragonling > Gargoyle > Wyvern
*Unlocking red mana based abilities as you level up. In the case of the Fighter for example, a berserker mode costing say 50 mana, that lets him use his fists only but deal quite some damage, or some such, unlocked as the character levels up
*The ability to synthetize armor using red mana, as the pickups found through the game are few and far between to make a longlasting difference; otherwise, perhaps give certain monsters a chance to drop armor pickups
*Improving the crossbow's accuracy as it levels up, to make it a more viable sniping weapon in the long run
*A magic explosion of gibs and stuff for Bishops, their stock death seems rather tame compared with the rest of enemies
*Same with Reivers
That would be it on the suggestions front; as before, the pros outdo by far the cons, your mod is seriously shaping into something really fun to play. Do you plan on finishing the Fighter class before making the rest?
For the quietus, that sounds like a good idea. I also thought that a wide slash attack that hits multiple enemies in front of you and knocks them back would be cool.
Customizing familiars is definitely something that this mod is just asking for. I've had a good history of getting things done that I would have previously thought were nearly impossible, so I might eventually even add a system of equipping the familiars with weapons/armor/enchantments/etc.
Abilities fueled by red mana is, once again, something that this mod is just asking for.
Synthesizing armor with red mana? I think i've got something else in mind that would provide more armor for the player. I would like to implement a crafting system that allows the player to create artifacts and armor from things that were dropped by enemies or picked up from broken decorations.
I think the crossbow's accuracy already increases with leveling actually, it's just not nearly as noticable as it should be.
Reivers and bishops will get better deaths, it's just difficult to remember stuff like that since they appear later in the game.
Do I plan on finishing the fighter class before making the others? That's hard to answer since I would rather get the fighter's class finished and just make the other classes based on what the fighter has, but I'm not sure this mod is ever going to be "finished". If I wait, then I'll always find an excuse not to make the other characters, since I'm constantly thinking of "totally amazing new features". I should probably get started on updating the other classes now.
EDIT: I would also like to thank you, SallazarSpellcaster, for all the useful feedback you've provided me with, as well as everybody else who has posted feedback here. It's more helpful than you might think.