It’s been a loooong ride, but I’m finally almost done with the next build, which will be the first of 2015 and should hopefully be ready to play by sometime next week. 
A whole slew of new consumables (including the ones you need for fusing demons together), significant balance changes, and bug fixes are coming soon. This will also be my first attempt at a Linux build, a fellow on the Temple of the Roguelike forums mentioned he would be willing to test it for me since I don’t have a Linux box around of my own, but wouldn’t mind a few other testers. I’ll go digging around and see if I can find a few after the builds are pushed out. Happy new year everyone!
Author Archives: Herbie
Zombie + Slime = Vile Slime
Two of the new items coming in the next build allow you to sacrifice one demon to apply a modifier to another. Modifiers have existed prior to this, but were only generated randomly. Now you’ll be able to (when you find the appropriate item) exercise some control over them directly.
Once you find one of the items (either a Silver Matrix, or, if you want to modify a unique demon, you’ll need a Gold Matrix) and use it, you first select a demon to sacrifice. The modifiers each potential sacrifice provides are shown:
Then, choose a demon to gain the modifier:
Next, you’ll be shown a preview of the result. It’s easy to back up a step or two to change the sacrifice and the target, so you can quickly review the various combinations and their previews:
Once you find a combination you like, press Enter on the preview screen to confirm and ta-da, you have a newly modified demon, complete with new abilities!:
This feature has taken longer to work on than I’d have liked, but I think the next build including these and the other 20 or so new items will be pretty exciting. I’ll keep everyone posted on progress. 
Happy holidays!
What’s going on here?
Item Progress and Scrolling Support for Lists
First, an updated build link: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B-sx_4eW-B5hWnhNZlRPclZLeUU&usp=drive_web
There’s no new build as of 11/9, but Dropbox finally ticked me off enough to ditch it after they started bugging people downloading things to sign up. Compared with the false positives web browsers rarely gave about any download from Dropbox being malware, I reluctantly went back to Google Drive and its somewhat terrible interface for actually downloading things. Boo.
Persona Q has proven quite the lengthy distraction (70 hours played so far and still not done), but given Demon is in part based on Shin Megami Tensei, I suppose it’s fair to call this research. Despite that, I have still been working on the items and their related interfaces, just taking a bit longer than expected.
One of the major parts of that that I just completed is scrolling support for list interfaces, which is required now that Demon will be supporting over 30 item types (way more than could fit in a non-scrolling list.) Here’s a screenshot of the new list support in action (if a screenshot can ever be said to be in action 
):
Persona Q Detour
Hey. No official update this week due to the release of Persona Q. Shin Megami Tensei is one of Demon’s major influences, so I always take time to play new entries in the series when they pop up. Progress on the consumables is still going well though. Happy Thanksgiving!
Up next: Improved consumables
I’m currently working on a fairly major revamp of the consumables in Demon: I’ll be going from 11 items to over 30 in the process, including some rather interesting goodies I don’t want to spoil.
The major goals of the revamp are:
* Standardize items into ‘types’ a bit to help with understanding what items do and how they are used (i.e.: Runes are things you use on enemies, Stones are things you use on single allies, Essences are things you use only on the main character, etc.)
* Add some consumables that, rather than just being ‘save me from bad things’, are exciting treasures that do awesome things, such as permanent stat boosts, extra training points for your favorite allies, etc.
I’m still working on implementing the items, but the art is already complete, so I can share that with you.
11/12: Welcome laptops and Retina displays!
Link to builds: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/akfvy4z8fmsavdm/AACrg9QrE7tcXDtLQOsYb_7Ga?dl=0
This post is actually a bit late, with apologies, the build’s been up for a few days. Finally got laptops and Retina displays working by adding support for a smaller resolution (1080 x 720 in addition to the previous 1152 x 864) and tweaking my sprite code a bit. (“Sprite code?” you ask? Yeah, Demon started before Unity 2D was around, so I still use my own stuff. )
If you tried playing before on a laptop or Retina display and had trouble, give the new build a go and things should be much better.
One note: The resolution Demon runs at is chosen by Demon itself when you run it: it will pick the best of the two your system can support. No need to select it manually.
Here’s a couple of screenshots of the two resolutions (1152 x 864 followed by 1080 x 720):
11/1: Download Hosting Switch and another Sharing Saturday
NEW Build Link (older links no longer valid!): https://www.dropbox.com/sh/akfvy4z8fmsavdm/AACrg9QrE7tcXDtLQOsYb_7Ga?dl=0
Switched to Dropbox for build hosting because even I was tired of Google Drive’s “how do I download the thing” interface issues. Dropbox can occasionally cause Chrome to throw ridiculously overblown warnings about downloading .exes, but I’m hoping that won’t happen much. And now, to the update notes!
Update Notes, 11/1/2014
Interface
- Continuing to adjust ‘new player help’ features, such as hint banners for summoning and
recruiting on the party display, and glowing buttons in the hotkey bar when there context
is relevant.
- Recruit, Item, and Train now display glowing hotkey buttons when appropriate.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug causing Distract, along among debuffs, to not target through enemies.
- Fixed a bug with the grammar engine that caused improper pronoun usage in some cases for uniques.
- Fixed a bug with Poison Needle’s icon.
- Fixed a bug with how enemy summoners reacted to player portal usage.
A screenshot of what some of the new player help features look like in action:
10/25: Sharing Saturday Build
Build link as always: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B-sx_4eW-B5hWnhNZlRPclZLeUU&usp=drive_web
Added some very minor “new player help” functionality to address issues players have had picking up on the summoning mechanics, as well as fixed a number of minor to moderate bugs.
Update Notes, 10/25/2014
Interface
- Added purple “hint” glows to Summon, Dismiss, and Rest when you should consider using them
to help new players get a bit of a nudge in the direction of Demon’s summoning mechanics.
- Will probably add more of these and/or make adjusts to how they work in future builds.
Bug Fixes
- Bloodlust no longer falsely claims to restore SP on missed attacks.
- Improved Adria’s AI further, maybe this time it will stick
- Fixed several interface/AI bugs related to “protect the target” capture mechanics.
- Sleep no longer sometimes gives a double turn to the victim once they wake up.
- Spin Slash now uses the correct messaging ‘verb’.
10/21: A Few Quick Fixes
Link to PC and Mac builds: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B-sx_4eW-B5hWnhNZlRPclZLeUU&usp=drive_web
Adjusting the manual and the very early game a little bit to be slightly more welcoming to new folks. Demon does have some fairly unique and interesting mechanics to learn after all, even for roguelike veterans.
Update Notes, 10/21/2014
Interface
- Did a moderate revamp of the manual, adding a tips section and consolidating party
management (recruiting, summoning, etc.) into its own section.
Balance
- Adjusted the encounters on Tower:1 slightly.
- Adjusted Cunning, making it more important to have it if you want status effects to land.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an incorrect icon bug on Terrifying.