Future “battles” update: the organs (6/6)

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]