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Monday Dev Update #21

To secure and speed up the release pace, and minimize the occurrence of delays, you can support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/winterfallgame


Hello everyone and welcome to this new Dev Update.

April features a list of fixes, tweaks and development across many different categories as we slowly make our way towards a release build. Due to the interconnectedness of our systems, a change here often means two additional changes over there, so it's difficult to progress in a straight line and on a schedule. Here are some of the main things we've been busy with this April.


Stats System

We completed a pass on the main stats in the game, that's all the character variables that may modified by one thing or another (equipment, buffs/debuffs, etc). This will come in particularly handy for itemization (craft & loot) & Traits (character creation & progression) in future updates. Currently, the list of such stats is:

  • Stamina-based

    • Stamina (Current/Max)

    • Adrenaline (Stamina Multiplier for when targeted by Hostile)

    • Stamina Regen Rate/s

    • Stamina Combat Idle Regen Rate/s

    • Stamina Recovery Delay (Idle time b/f Stamina Regen starts)

    • Stamina Regen Points to Hunger increase

    • Stamina loss in a Single Hit Threshold to Injury Increase

    • Stamina Loss to Jog

    • Stamina Loss to Sprint

    • Armor/Protection (-Inc Stamina Direct Confrontation Damage) To explain this segment: Stamina is the main vital resource in Winterfall, it's a form of all-purpose HP representing the character's current level of vitality. Stamina depletes not only as of injury but also as of morale loss & misfortune. When going into Combat, Adrenaline multiplies Stamina to make the character more resilient. Some Characters may have greater Adrenaline coefficient than others, making them more resilient to punishment. Protection determines how much incoming Combat damage is absorbed.

  • Damage & Combat

    • Base Outgoing Stamina Damage per Attack (15 by default)

    • Outgoing Stamina Damage Multiplier (based on weapons. 0.5 to 5)

    • Sword Arm/Shield Arm (spend Sword Arm on Attack & Parry events, spend Shield Arm on Block events)

    • Shield Arm (Current/Max)

    • Shield Arm Regen/s (Shield Mastery)

    • Sword Arm (Current/Max)

    • Sword Arm Regen/s (Sword Mastery) To explain this segment: Combat Damage is calculated by multiplying the Character's base Damage Value by the Weapon's Damage Multiplier. Better weapons will of course have higher multipliers, but at the same time, a character with little to no disposition to hurt, or a complete lack of training, will find it difficult to cause damage even with a powerful weapon. Meanwhile, Sword Arm is a self-regenerating resource spent when swinging a weapon or when parrying with a one-handed weapon, while Shield Arm is a self-regenerating resource spent when blocking with a shield or with a two-handed weapon.

  • Time & Environment

    • Passage of Time Multiplier (All)

    • Eating Passage of Time Cost

    • Drinking Passage of Time Cost

    • Healing Passage of Time Cost

    • Relaxing Passage of Time Cost

    • Crafting/Making/Building Passage of Time Cost

    • F Interaction Passage of Time Cost

    • Cloudedness

    • Notice

    • Stealth Detection Countdown Reduction/Extension To explain this segment: Time, in Winterfall, passes as your character performs actions and interactions, which makes it a limited resource per day. Different characters may be more or less efficient at performing certain actions or interactions with more or less speed. Cloudedness is a state within which the Character's perception and sense of place are shifted, which may lead to confusion, hauntings, dread and otherworldly encounters. Notice determines how aware the Environment is of the player's action and location.

  • Social & Character Personality

    • +/- Incoming Relationship Current change Modifier (self)

    • +/- Outgoing Relationship Current change Modifier (target)

    • +/- Incoming Relationship General change Modifier (self)

    • +/- Outgoing Relationship General change Modifier (target)

    • Goodwill (# of available social Interactions)

    • +/- Incoming Mood Change Modifier per Color & Polarity To explain this segment: In Winterfall, a Character's standing with another evolves across two tracks: the immediate impression a Character has of another one builds up into a more general view of that Character. In other words, being often liked by someone will lead to being generally liked by that same someone, so that over time, there may be more forgiveness for unlikable things done. This set of stats serves to modulates how fast Characters build their positive impressions of one another, short term and long term, as well as how deeply one Character may leave impressions. Goodwill determines how good the "energy" between two people is and therefore how long the exchange can go on. Finally, Mood Change Modifiers determine how strongly a Character's Mood may shift when stimulated positively or negatively.


Encumbrance

The game now features Encumbrance mechanics: Stamina expenditure for physical actions will be influenced by how much weight is carried by the Character. Some Characters will be more suited to carrying heavy baggage and some bags will be better at mitigating carried weight than others.

Equipment

The Character has 18 Equipment Slots:

  • 7 Slots for Wearables (Clothes & Jewelry)

  • 7 Slots for Accessories (Armor & Utilities, such as belt, cloak, etc)

  • 2 Slots for Weapons (Main Hand, Off-Hand)

  • 2 Slots for Tools

Crafting

Completed Crafting Logic. The Crafting logic is based on 3 steps within which the Player may fill up 3 slots with different items or options in order to produce an craftable, which must then be taken to the next step. At first, a Draft is made, then the Object itself, then the Object goes through Tuning, to hone its stats according to the potential accumulated in the previous steps. In each step, the following elements intervene:

  • Drafting: Item Type, Item Material, Item Make (cultural crafting style)

  • Making: Tool, Material, Special Material

  • Tuning: 3x Tuning Materials

Drafts will be obtained from studying items found in the world, or taught by NPCs who already know them.

Passage of Time on Interactions We have reworked some of the interactions to include a Passage of Time cost, echoing what was mentioned above (all actions and interactions, including resting, pushing the clock forward).

The next goal for us this next couple of weeks is to complete the itemization stats and some equipment mechanics, in order to improve the combat experience by making equipment play an active role in it, and make looting and crafting rewarding. We also have a lot of work to do with the game's messaging: a lot tends to happen but most of it is barely (if at all) or inadequately communicated.



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