Devlog #02 – Tactics before the fight

Picking the right approach for an adult roguelite with actual gameplay was not easy. I went through a lot of options and playtested most of them. I'm a big fan of the Wizardry series, and I've played a ton of RPG Maker games with turn-based JRPG combat, so my first instinct was something in between: turn-based fights with skills, items and equipment.

I was sold enough on that idea to sink a HUGE amount of time into building it. It turned out decently – but it didn't feel right. All that clicking in every single fight worked against the relaxed pace I personally enjoy, and that's when I knew the combat had to be rebuilt from scratch.

The question was how to keep a tactical layer while asking for very little input from the player. By sheer luck, around that same time I stumbled onto a couple of really good autobattlers, and it just clicked.

So now the tactics live in choosing the right skills and equipment. Once that's set, you sit back and watch a fast-paced fight play out.

You can already see this in the demo, though it's far from final. One thing I'm still not happy with is the sheer amount of equipment. After playtesting it myself, I decided that much gear just doesn't make sense in a game like this, so I've already started trimming the slots down. The character will have two upgradable slots for armor and weapon (upgradable in the Smithy, naturally), plus two trinket slots.

On top of that, I made a small but meaningful change to combat: Lynn can now recruit one of the villagers to accompany her and help out on her quest. In the full release, this will lead to some spicy situations along the way too.

So yes – I'm planning to update the demo to show these mechanics off. Right now I'm heads-down testing and polishing, and I'm aiming to have it all in the demo around the beginning of November.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the next devlog, where I'll share more about the game.