New Enemies

New enemies! Half a dozen creatures, some specifically for the volcanic stage.

I sketched and inked each one. Then, in one session I exported each body part to create an idle animation. Doing all this makes me want to go back into the programming.

That skull on a stick is a decoy, which must be attacked first. The alchemist gifts a turn to each enemy, so can be a real nuisance. I'll decide later on what the tiki and mage casters will do. The goblin shaman (not shown) already attacks with fire, so at least one of these will heal instead.

Bravium

Every now and then I download a dozen games for my phone and give each a try. One that has stuck is called Bravium, a freemium (on mobile) side-scrolling game with steady progression set in fantasy/viking setting. Weapons are unlocked by completing new stages, but are purchased within each battle with temporary currency. A rather ingenious design decision because this provides two layers of progression: one on the larger scale where weapons are unlocked, and one on the smaller scale for each battle.

I am not affiliated with this game, or the team behind it. This is not necessarily a game that I would include on my top 10 list of favorites, but it is definitely one that I am infatuated by.

I could see myself taking design elements from Bravium and combining it with Zombie Guard to create another hit.

New Heroes

A couple new heroes to complete the roster: Tortoise and Tiger. I wanted to have two heroes for each of the elemental gem colors of white, red, blue, green (eight heroes total). One caster and one fighter for each color, except white which is physical so both the gorilla and mouse are fighters.

Some failed concepts were a lion and squirrel. The squirrel looked too similar to the fox, and the lion was just a mess. The head is the most important part and the slightest error in shape can impact the entire look. Still, nothing looked worse than the polar bear concept a few months back... absolutely terrifying.

Enemies are easier to create than heroes. I figure about 8-12 more for the desert/volcano and castle stages will be sufficient. In the end, a lot of the effort will be in game balance, introductory interactive tutorial, and a trailer video with licensed music.

I'm very satisfied with how the game feels, especially compared to Match 3 Fantasy. This is an entirely new game built on all that tech and content by changing the flawed design.

Trinkets

All the trinkets for passive bonuses are finished. Also about a dozen prearranged battles.

These are unlocked items that can be equipped for small bonuses.

In other words, the first half-hour of the game is playable. I just need to add a revised interactive tutorial, new icon, and a bunch of new creatures and weapons. I noticed many sprites being blurry, so I have been adjusting the texture import settings.

Only near the very end will I begin to remove all unnecessary assets to reduce the file size. The compressed package for Android is about 50mb, which is as large as I want it to be. In a Unity project, anything inside the Resource folder is included in the file, so I will eventually need to trim the excess.

I want to add at least two new animal heroes. The art and animation will be a good break between the long programming sessions.

Post Process Effects

I have been experimenting with a lot of post-process effects. These are effects applied to the entire screen, or just a section of it. Given a shader script file, all you gotta do is drag-and-drop it onto the camera object in the scene. Easy.

Multiple effects can be applied, arranged in different orders. Vintage film, oil paint, blurs, rain, so many to choose from.

This pack came with over 300 effects. Some designers are true visionaries who know exactly what they want, but I prefer to go in reverse... I start with resources, and then playfully figure out how to utilize them.

Just like when I create a trailer video for this game, I will edit footage around a specific audio track, rather than find an audio track that best matches the video.