Dev Update #20 - Combat Progress Update & Survey #4

Hey Everyone!

It’s been a couple of weeks since we dropped Ranching, which means we’re ready for our next Survey! But that’s not the only thing we have for you this week. We’re also bringing a status update on the most hotly anticipated part of the Melvor Idle 2 Alpha - Combat!

Let’s get right into it 👀

Melvor Idle 2 v0.7.4-alpha

We have released a minor update alongside this development update with some Ranching quality of life, new artwork for Cooking recipes, and many bug fixes.

You can read the changelog and get the download here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/143978347

✍️Alpha Survey #4 is now live!

Our next Patreon survey is now live! Most of this survey is focused on the contents of our last Major Update, so you can expect questions about Ranching, our recent UI updates, and the changes to Farming and Cooking.

We’re also looking to get your input on where we should focus our attention in the coming months. While we have our main goals pretty much locked in, we want to hear from you to help us prioritize what we include alongside our major content updates.

And, as always, this is a great chance to pass on any feedback you really want to highlight. Please check it out here:

https://tally.so/r/XxxBre

⚔️Combat Status Update

We know everyone is eager to hear more about Combat, so we wanted to take this chance to give you all an update on the progress we’ve made! These last few weeks, Coolrox has been primarily focused on Combat development. 

There’s a monumental amount of work to be done here - Combat is an incredibly diverse set of gameplay elements, and that means we need to do lots of work on the systems to support it. Everything you expect to see in Combat is data that needs to be managed - enemy and player stats, modifiers, combat effect, passives, combat areas/dungeons, loot tables, etc… it all needs to be stored, modified, and displayed with accuracy and consistency. And that doesn’t even touch on all of the other systems outside of combat that need interactions - systems like the equipment and data from other skills. 

In other words, working on Combat means simultaneously accounting for and testing just about every other system in the game!

Great progress has been made though, and we’re quite excited by how everything is progressing behind the scenes.

Here are some of the major features and systems that have been completed so far:

• Stats system has been reworked to accommodate the addition Combat stat calculations

• Combat styles and stances, and how they interact with each other is complete.

• Combat stat calculations and rendering based on weapon/stance/style added.

• Item equipping and unequipping is complete, alongside stat rendering.

• Updated equipment system finished, where you can search/equip items directly from combat screen.

• Our inventory system was reworked behind the scenes to accommodate for the new equipping system.

• Combat Area/Dungeon systems are currently in progress.

While Combat is still in development, we already have a lot of content itself planned and ready to go! Over 200 monsters and their base stats have been planned, with around 80-90 completely finalised and ready to import and test (Up to level 99).

We’ll keep you updated over the next few weeks on how Combat is tracking.

🏋️ What the team have been working on 

Here’s what the team has been working on since our last post!

Development

Malcs:

• Completed the Hunting and Beastcrafting prototypes, which is now in testing.

• Implemented initial Side Quests into the game for testing.

• Worked on new quality of life and bug fixes for the latest alpha release.

• Began work on new additions for the next major update.

Coolrox:

• Continued work on Combat, which we’ve already talked about in this post! This week it’s been all about stats, focusing on implementing systems for the various combat stats, modifiers, rewards (XP and item drops), and more.

• Also refined some aspects of the inventory system, with the aim of improving performance and unlocking new functionality that will be useful in future additions.

Game Design

Prat:

• Started prototype testing on Hunting and Beastcrafting. These two skills are now in the playable prototype phase, so the main focus is now on reviewing and refining their core mechanics and the player experience.

• Started finalising Thieving content.

Artwork

Tapi:

• Created more artwork for Cooking, including Sushi (and Sushi relatives), Pizza, Burgers, Lasagna and more.

• Started work on the artwork for Hunting!

Here’s a preview of some more of the upcoming Hunting artwork!

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed this week’s update! We’re really excited about all the new content we have on the way, and especially the progress we’re making on Combat!

Just a reminder, please do take the time (if you can!) to fill out our survey. Your feedback is essential to guiding us, and we appreciate every bit of it.

- Althalus