Into the Future

Posted by Herbie on

So, some interesting Demon news to start off Wednesday.

Effective September 4th, I am resigning from my job to spend at least the next year working full time on Demon. :)

Probably don’t have to spell out too much of what this means: more feature, bigger features, and coming faster than they have been. :D

Don’t worry: Demon will always be free to play, and in the true sense of that phrase, not the modern “free to download but nickles and dimes you during the game” sense. Not in this for money, I just want to make an awesome monster collection roguelike. :)

I want to thank everyone who has tried Demon, given feedback, and shown it to friends. :) It makes me really happy that people already are having fun with Demon, even this relatively early in its development. :D

Now then… let’s see just how high this tower can go. :)

2 responses to “Into the Future”

  1. I’ve been enjoying Demon for a couple days. In each battle I usually have to make an interesting decision, which so far has usually been the wrong one. Still, I’m enjoying it.

    Question: What is “Power?” It’s constantly mentioned in the ability descriptions, but I haven’t been able to figure it out. It doesn’t seem to be an absolute number (or is it?) and it doesn’t really make sense as a percent (of what?) For example, is, say, Heavy Blow more powerful than the normal attack?

    I tend to be the number-loving type, so I like to calculate formula-y-thingies.

    Another question: When fighting the ice fish monsters, what’s up with the stumbling? Does Chill have a random turn loss effect or something?

    • Awesome. :D I’m glad you’re fun with Demon. :)

      Power is the percentage of “base damage” that an ability deals when used. (Base damage is based on your level.) This result then gets modified by a whole lot of things: your Strength or Magic versus the target’s level, relevant buffs/debuffs, resistances, and a mild random factor. What you come up with at that point is the final damage or healing applied.

      I can explain in more detail when I get home from work and have the code and exact numbers in front of me, but basically, one of the key balance equations of Demon is how much Power it is expected to take to kill an equal level character. I think that number is in the high 400s/low 500s currently, I’ll post again with the exact figure when I get home. (I’ve been happy with the balance for a couple of months now, so I haven’t looked in awhile. :D )

      You’ve got it on the ice fish: they have a passive called Headwind that adds a turn delay effect when they deal Ice damage to characters that moved on their last turn. Turn delays stack with diminishing returns, resetting when the target does finally take a turn. It takes roughly 4 successful turn delay effects to completely remove an entire turn, but even 1 can be enough to throw a target out of sequence and let you act again before it gets its next turn. Turn delay is best used in small or heavy doses: small doses get you this “de-sequence” effect cheaply, heavy doses accumulate enough turn delays to strip multiple turns from the target. Moderate amounts probably won’t have much more payoff than small amounts. If you’re interested in trying it out, the Vodun Mask (Body primary and/or Mind secondary), Orb of Power (Mind secondary), and Hand of the Dead (Body secondary) offer good starting abilities for experimenting with it. :)

      I hope I’ve given you at least a decent amount of detail for now. :) I’ll follow up with some specifics after work. :D Cheers!