Well actually the problem is more the humidity than the heat. A few days ago in my office I had 27°C but 45% humidity, and could work much better than today with 26°C but 70% humidity = impossible to LIVE (not work! ).

I'm sure in Texas is hot too, but not humid as here

Ah! Gotcha. Yeah humidity sucks lol Texas usually isn't very humid at all, at least not the part I live in anyway. Last month we had a week of high humidity days that were 95 - 100 degrees each. I didn't much care for that week lol

If you google for the Humidex index, you see that's more dangerous 30-32°C with high humidity (here I have always >60%, it's rare that goes below that) than >32°C but with very low humidity. It's still bad of course but doesn't make you tired or dangerous for health at least. Of course I'm talking about staying inside, going outdoor with such temperatures is crazy

Then you are still handling heat pretty well, for me, every time it starts getting over 30C I start googling "Is there really no way for humans to hibernate true summer"



True I am surprised you still haven't got AC if heat is disturbing you work so much.

I have it, but I stopped using it because makes me sick. Either you have AC in the whole house (but no way I do that, it's crazy expensive!) or whenever you need to go to bathroom or just take a break you go from cold to warm and you get sick in a day I prefer to use a normal fan instead.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DC_ZVG2XUAUrYzc.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

Back on topic, it's fun how there's stuff that was implemented/possible from the beginning (so, from 2012!!) but I never used it. You can associate a offensive/defensive skill to an item. Since in the story you can get unique powerful items for each character, I am starting to implement them all, and Kusho's Holy Bracers give him the ability to shoot Holy Arrows that won't make the undead happy

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDAc1ACWsAAQn_W.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

another interesting item is the Flamberge Hilt, that is an Accessory but if you are using a sword as primary weapon, adds a Flame Strike skill I tested in game and if you use another kind of weapon you still get the stats bonus but not the Flame Strike skill.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDEo1eWWAAAFyXr.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

the "angry dwarves" are the most dangerous enemy encounter of the game!

Joking, but I love how they turned out haha. Images of good old tavern brawls comes to mind

Awesome-lookin sprites, really badass! >:D



Now, they seem to be from a new artist, am I right? If so, will we see more from this artist in the future? 'Cause I really dig this style.

He's the same artist who did some of the Queen Of Thieves enemies (the guards, other thieves, etc). This time though I asked for more detailed images because (rightfully I think) some people complained saying that the QoT enemies images were too low resolution

Yes I'm probably going to use him again for tasks like this (sadly his style doesn't match much existing Loren's artist so wouldn't work well for normal characters).

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDPP-T5XgAA48l6.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

despite the heat and mosquitoes bites (they really LIKE me!) I managed to get a productive morning of work. I designed several unique items:

13 unique weapons

11 unique armors

3 unique accessories

my goal is to have at least a unique item for each inventory slot of each character (main protagonist excluded, you'll be able to use a variety of items), so it would mean 6 inventory slots x 10 characters = 60 items!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDUIfZYXYAAXWJ2.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDUIgARXUAAiPIJ.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

Dasyra's ultimate item is not a staff, but a Brooch (and the related storyline it's really well written and an interesting story). I might have made it a bit too powerful though In practice allows you to cast her resurrect spell (albeit at level 1) for just 1 SP and at almost half delay. Considering it also regen 1 SP each turn, means almost free resurrects

I tested in some more tough battles and while it's very powerful, against stronger enemies we're not at "cheat mode" levels yet!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDVpdVQXUAAihga.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDVpfDtWsAUFE_I.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

I've added more info in the inventory/vendor screen when an item gives an extra skill to use in combat, so you know what you're buying

That brooch sounds EPIC in what it does!!!!!



One thing I don't understand, though: what's Parry do? Is that a thing like an automatic counter if an enemy strikes?

If was counter, would be caller counter

It's used to determine if a target is hit or not, like in Queen Of Thieves you can miss the target and deal less damage than a normal strike.

So Parry is added to the calculations (higher value means the character is harder to hit).

So today randomly found out that I was considering just the generic "attack" value in the RPG calculations And then I added the "Damage" stat to the weapon items only:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDj0u0bXoAUU97Z.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

and I will also clearly explain in battles how much extra damage you got from the weapon you used (depending on the attack type of course):

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDj0vfiXkAAzVNo.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

In practice before, having only attack, you were getting ALL the weapons bonuses no matter which attack type you did: if you had a bow with +10 Attack, you would get that attack bonus even if you attacked an enemy using a dagger Which is not really realistic. I mean, the weapon can be magic so could empower the character, but there should be some difference if you use melee or ranged attack, depending which weapon you use.

So I swapped the attack value in the weapon items with Damage, which will be added after the normal calculations.

Like in the screenshot above, Kusho would normally hit for 13, but thanks to the weapon he used (an Axe with +4 Damage) the total damage done was 13+4=17.

Obviously this screws up completely all the balance but at least I found it out very early in the game development! Also weapons won't have high damage values since otherwise they would be too powerful (just a +10 damage weapon could be super-powerful!).

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDoa2aJUIAA29vw.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

Dryad's earrings are the latest fashion item in Aravorn!!

Jokes apart, having items associated with spells/skills it's quite interesting, you can buy one of those (if you have money) and put it even on a Berseker like Galan, so he can in theory self-heal. Of course, they still consume SP, so those items can never completely replace for example healing potions (which also work on other characters and not just self).

So they don't break the balance but at same time allows the player to vary their builds.

I definitely want to have the possibility to associate skills/spells to item even in the new framework since it's a cool thing!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDuNshRXoAAxWNR.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

this morning finished coding a proper loot screen, even if in this game the loot won't be as big as SOTW, you'll still get some items while defeating enemies

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDvX2eRWsAE-CsT.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

quest screen added

Also, started coding the arena fights, also known as "The Grinder's Paradise"

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDzJ_itXoAA01eY.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

As said already the game has a specific number of days, but differently from SOTW you won't feel so rushed. In practice after you do the events of the day, if you want you can go in the arena and do some extra fights to grind for XP, however to prevent madness like people reaching the Loren's final boss fights TEN LEVELS above the enemy, I won't let players regenerate HP or SP. Sure you can buy potions but would be a bit crazy to waste them for those training fights... or maybe not?

I think this will be a very popular minigame for many players... lol

Will grinding be necessary or optional? I am among people who prefer to go weaker for a boss and be able to just barely beat it