Version 0.0.3: Upgrades
First a short notice that I'm planning to add a web version of Ero Hunters on this page soon (during the weekend), together with a second Patch for Ero Dungeons (mostly containing translation stuff). Do note that the web version won't be updated as frequently, will currently only be version 0.0.2 (for stability reasons), and generally runs a bit worse.
Upgrades
I mostly spent this week filling in the blanks created by the upgrades system. Every move/token/dot/gene needs to have its 4 upgrades filled in. Sometimes, this is as simple as filling in increased damage numbers.
Other times it means creating fully new moves.
This way of designing is pretty useful, creating the larger picture and then just filling it in allows the weekly updates to continue at a steady pace. In fact, I've also outlined the future enemies and resources, and plan to spend next week drafting out the full scale world map.
More Role Reworks
As predicted in the last devlog, I've completely scrapped the Commoner role. You're no longer really supposed to swap roles (though you can still do so at later levels) apart from the race's cursed class. Race specific roles also no longer replace default roles, but are instead additions to them. Additionally, the slave and mage classes now have their moves (and move upgrades).
Random Targetting
In Ero Hunters there is no more manual targetting of moves. I think this puts more weight on positioning, especially for moves that hit opposite ranks or the ally in front or behind. And part of me thinks that the complaints about it are "skill issues". On the other hand, it might not be optimal for "tactical" moves, like moves that break charges or blocks, or healing moves, so maybe some exceptions are needed.
I'm still waiting for a bit more player feedback before either making an executive decision or turning it into a Patreon/Subscribestar poll.
UI changes
There have also been some UI changes, but that happens pretty much every update. The idea here is to make the resources and tile info (and the "force combat" button) more visible. All resources (except Legendary ones) now also have names and descriptions.
This is also why I'm not working on an Android yet. Mobile requires some different UI elements, and as long as the UI changes every update, it would take to much time to maintain that.
Changelog
Major
- Upgrades for all moves, tokens, dots, genes, goods.
- Slave moves.
- Mage moves.
- Role rework, see above.
Minor
- Overworld UI reschuffle.
- The game now shows an exponentially weighted moving average of goods produced/consumed.
- Group Heal has been buffed, Holy Bolt has been nerfed, Sharp Teeth now only increase Bite's damage.
- Bite now requires an ungagged/unmuzzled mouth.
- There is now a "Shield" weapon group.
- Audio for the menu and first area.
- Updated the overworld resource and habitat icons.
Bugfixes
- Research was completely broken (hotfixed).
- Weapons would sometimes permanently disappear in combat.
- Ripostes behaved very strangely, working for any ally and cumulating between combats.
- Reducing tokens didn't upgrade the token bar.
- A dead ally that isn't at rank 0 would break the game.
- Genes didn't get updated correctly upon breeding.
- Crash when exiting combat after capturing in some situations.
- Crash when opening the enemy info panel in some situations.
- Crash when accessing the roster after dismissing girls.
If you want access to the preview with these changes (and a debug console), support me here:
Comments
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One thing in regards to the random attack positions that I think make help improve it is making more moves that target single slots, and having the multi targeting moves as moves you can use separately, or potentially adding one slot to some moves that you can specifically choose to hit, but also adding the option to gamble on other slots. I think entirely randomized moves can generally be more annoying than interesting, but I like giving the player the option between a move with greater potential benefit, in exchange for a lack of control.
edit: Having now played the update, I also really like how taunt is being used in regards to this system. A couple moves could definitely use some tweaking though, lay on hands for paladin feel pretty much useless due to the random chance.
Am I understanding this correctly? The combat system will be similar to EroDungeons, but players can no longer manually choose their targets?
I thought the combat system in EroDungeons was well designed, and I dislike adding too much randomness. A little randomness is fine, but when you take too much control away from the player, it can become frustrating and diminish both the gameplay and strategic depth.
In EroWitches, I found myself spamming moves and just hoping they hit the right target. I didn’t feel invested in the combat itself. In contrast, EroDungeons had engaging combat, especially when you figured out the importance of positioning, combos, and focusing on the right targets. You could even defeat stronger opponents by carefully planning your moves.
Taking away that level of control isn’t a direction I personally favor.
A good compromise could be adding extra values or status effects. For instance, a character might be clumsy, whether due to wearing high heels or as part of their personality and have a chance to hit an ally or a different target. Or blindness could not only reduce accuracy but also create a chance to hit someone unintended.
You already had a status effect that increased the chance of a character being targeted. That worked well and was an effective counter to focusing on specific enemies or allies.
Edit: I've now tested the demo and, as I thought, I don't like the fact that I can't choose the target at all. It's not really more difficult, but it takes the fun out of enjoying the fights.
I agree with my fellow friend here, choices are best! in addition to what he said tho, certain abilities (perhaps high dmg abilities or abilities with powerful status effects) could have a "random target" function as a balancing feature...
I completely agree. Combined with the 'random wheel of curio results' it seems like you want this game be a RNG shitshow. RNG has a place in tactical games when used in limited amounts (ie the risk-reward of Occultist RNG healing), but going too far just frustrates the player that their decision making doesn't really matter. Or in the case of your previous game you just avoid things entirely; 70-80% of the curios were frankly not worth interacting with due to the RNG of bad results. You sure you want to repeat that mistake? And yes that *was* a design mistake on your part, not:
'And part of me thinks that the complaints about it are "skill issues"'