Hello, everyone! I finished working on enemies. I spent 3 months on them. 3 long fucking months. I have to say that this system was the most complicated one I had ever created in 8 years. My absolute magnum opus. I was afraid of that task, yet it was vital for the game. I’m free now! Wow. … And I’m absolutely traumatized by that task, yes…

I worked on Ent for 10 days straight! That's a lot. I was wrong to consider him an easy enemy. Well, he WAS easy, but programming his eyes and hands was quite difficult. Ent is a completely stationary tank-type enemy. A tree, basically. Every 8 seconds, it fires six projectiles in different directions. If the player gets too close, Ent uses an area attack – ghostly hands emerge from the ground all around him. And, as with the werewolf, his attacks cannot be interrupted.

One of the most challenging nuances of Ent was its eyes. They glow, they realistically survey the surroundings when nothing is happening nearby, and they look at the player when he walks up close. And when Ent dies, he "releases" his glowing eyes, and they fly around like regular fireflies, because they are regular fireflies that I created a few months ago!

Ent's projectile is an ugly pulsating red sphere that can fly through the ground. At the same time, it reduces in size, slows down, and becomes less noticeable in color. I have a feeling that its rework is in order, but let's test it in the next public build first.

I redesigned Deer enemy in 4 days. Why? Because he had no particular task and place among new enemies! Now he is a relatively weak support-type enemy, the first and only of his kind! He heals enemies (and himself) periodically within a certain range. He does not chase the player. When the player approaches, he opens a cool portal in front of him, which quickly releases area-damaging vines in a small area.

Deer’s new projectile is the first healing projectile in the game. It moves slow (through ground as well) and heals everything that comes in its path. This is a subtle hint that you can intercept it to heal yourself! If the projectile suddenly loses its target (say, the target dies), the projectile will hover in the air for 10 seconds. If there is a target in need of healing nearby (including the player), the projectile will pursue it.

I can’t stress enough how happy I am to finish the enemies. It feels like crossing a sea in a boat. What’s next? Pseudo-random locations! Stay tuned! [No more abandoned projects]

Hello, everyone! I’m happy to say that in these two weeks I managed to finish two enemies, lynx and werewolf! Big step forward. The last enemy remains, ent!

Lynx was really hard, it took me 8 days. He’s a “medium” enemy, a fast and long-lasting assassin. He closes the distance fast, then performs his 3-step combo melee attack, turning around after each kick if player gets behind his back. There is a 50% chance (and 5s cooldown) that he will throw a sickle (new projectile) behind player, setting a trap behind you. If lynx is critically low on health, he will jump away and start meditating and gaining health (7s cooldown). If player interrupts him, he will stop meditating and continue to fight. Lynx will also use player’s disengagement and heal to full whenever there is an opportunity.

What about that sickle, lynx’s projectile? Lynx throws one in arc, and it doesn’t hurt you in the air. But when it lands, it “buries” into the ground with its handle, leaving a sharp part above and gaining a glowing outline effect. Now it’s a permanent trap that will be removed only by taking damage.

Werewolf! The first of two tank-type enemies. Big, strong. He’s really simple. He walks (even when chasing player. No rushing), he hits with his claw as a melee attack. But his real threat is a dash that he can perform! Player will be warned of the damage area (by a red line), so it’s really easy to just jump over it.

I’m really happy that in a couple of weeks enemies will be finished! That task was tremendously hard for me… And vital for the game. See you soon! [No more abandoned projects]

Hello, everyone! First of all, I’m really sorry, but I’ve managed to work properly only for 5-7 days for two weeks. Something terrible happened, and it just… threw me off track. It was the hell of a week. But now I’m back and working again. Sorry, one more time.

I managed to add Ferret, and that’s about it. A shy crossbow archer that patrols a small territory but sees far. It won’t trigger on the player until they come into a zone where a crossbow bolt can hit them, however. And if they lose track of a player, they will never chase. On the contrary, Ferret hates melee fights, and it will “push” the player and jump away in any direction, trying to gain distance. It won’t jump blindly off the ledge, don’t worry. It’s smart about directions. Oh, and while it aims, you will be warned with a yellow exclamation mark and a cyan line, showing the trajectory of the bolt.

I also added a new projectile for Ferret (obviously) – a crossbow bolt. A quite fast projectile that flies strictly forward. It can be hit, however, or jumped over. It has a white outline when it’s a danger to the player. It can stick in the walls, by the way! And falls off after some time with a neat physics effect.

Ferret was a quite easy-to-add character. I’m optimistic about other ones. Lynx (the next one) will be the hardest to add. Werewolf is quite easy. And Ent is a piece of cake. Sorry, again, and see you in two weeks. [No more abandoned projects]

Hello, everyone! I’ll try to be short today. Nothing interesting to tell about, anyway. This enemy task drained my energy really well. But the progress is visible, and the hardest part is behind, anyway. The grind continues.

So, I’ve created the rat! The first “real” enemy in Homelands! A small and somewhat weak melee enemy. It patrols a small territory, then chases the player and stabs them. Rat also has a chance to leap behind the player and perform a powerful “strong stab." During the slow preparation for this attack, a yellow exclamation mark appears above its head. Like, “Warning! This will hurt a lot!”

Working on the rat, I had to tweak a lot of code. Yes, polishing it even more. Fixed about… ten or twelve small and big bugs. The base enemy code is still not perfect, but these changes were necessary.

Started to work on another enemy, ferret! A small, fearful crossbow guy, designed to bring terror to the player from afar. He will push the player if they come close and try to jump away. It likes its personal space~ Still in the process, though.

I had to change all projectiles, dividing them into player and enemy projectiles. Then created a base for both types. Adding a crossbow bolt for the ferret enemy won’t be a problem, I think.

I had to say, adding ferret is much easier than adding rat. I think (hope?) that all problems are behind, and I have a very stable base for the next 4 enemies. And I also hope that I will add them quickly. In 2-3 weeks, at most. Anyway, thank you for your time, and see you in two weeks! [No more abandoned projects]

 

[No pic this time, sorry. Nothing interesting to show]

Hello, everyone! For the last two weeks I had a pretty simple, yet big task. If previously I was getting the enemy base ready for expansion, this time it was the expansion itself! The deer enemy in Demo was a “placeholder” enemy, and right now it shines with intelligence~

I've reworked the pathfinding system. Enemies can now go and stop anywhere they like, not just at specific points. They understand different levels, "see" the various "islands" between "pits", and can also jump up and navigate unfamiliar terrain. They have a preferred patrol size, now. And in new terrain, they will patrol a specific area they'll choose.

Enemies now more accurately assess their surroundings and can more reliably spot projectiles that fly by. Enemies will no longer spot the player if they're behind a wall.

I've created a unified effect node (like the floating green plus signs for healing I showed earlier) for all creatures. These are now universal. And yes, they work on enemies of different sizes, whether they're a small rat or a huge ent.

Now the icons above characters' heads actually follow their heads. For example, after an enemy's death, the dialogue icon will move to the prone body instead of hovering in the air in its original location. 

I've created a system that allows enemies to speak using dialogue bubbles above their heads! This made the game much more vivid! Enemies will now react differently to events like taking damage, losing sight of a player, or being defeated. I plan to greatly expand this system in the future. It's a really easy way to add life into the game.

Enemies can drop not only coins and souls upon death, but also any other loot (like necklaces) now.

You can interrupt an enemy's attack with your own attack once every five seconds now. And enemy projectiles can react to this, too! Using the deer shaman from Demo as an example, if you attack him while he's "casting" a purple orb, the orb will be destroyed. But, again, the attack won't be interrupted by damage for the next five seconds.

I fixed DOZENS of bugs and created just as many new ones, lol.

So, the improved character base is ready. The next goal is to actually make 6 new enemies! Rat, fetter, deer (new), lynx, werewolf, and ent. It won't be easy, but I've tried to prepare the code for everything I might need in the process. Stay tuned! And thank you for your patience! [No more abandoned projects]

Hello, everyone! Today I will be short. The last two weeks were pretty intense, yet most of the work was rewriting existing code. My goal was to turn the simple deer enemy from Demo into a complex universal base for all 6 new enemies, which I achieved. Some old fans know that I HATE making such systems. So I’m really proud of myself, because this new “base enemy” is pretty complex and cool. Let me tell you more~

So, the new deer enemy does everything the previous version of him was doing. Which is patrolling, chasing the player, and shooting. But now his behavior can be (possibly) changed in any way! He can change the patrol points, chase for longer, dodge attacks.. whatever. So my actual goal was to create the base for any possible upgrade. And for other somewhat similar enemies.

Now, the next goals are: improve pathfinding, create one universal node for combat effects (like healing particles), and add as many enemies as possible! Out of six. [No more abandoned projects]