Well… this is awkward. Maybe nobody will notice? Maybe if no one tells anybody, then nobody will say anything?? I should probably just stop talking… but then what will people read?? Nothing! That’s tragic!
Well, you know what they say…
My apologies for the delayed VV Eekly Update. Hopefully no reader was holding their breath!
Today, I want to talk more about difficulty (from VV Eekly Update #12) and show you more about those affixes (from VV Eekly Update #8.)
Difficulty Levels
As a refresher from the last time I talked about this, the difficulty levels I had planned are:
- Base game difficulty
- Players heal less during fights.
- Enemies recover faster from moves.
- Enemies deal more damage.
- Enemies have more health.
- Affixes are enabled!
- Players start with less health.
- Enemies recover even faster from moves.
- Enemies deal even more damage.
- Enemies have even more health.
- Minibosses are added!
I’m no longer sure about this. After thinking about it more, I see two big problems with this:
First, affixes are first enabled at difficulty level 6.
This is a big problem! Affixes are a big part of the game! I don’t want to make people wait until at least the 6th time (and probably more) that they start the game to experience affixes. I’ve been devoting a decent amount of time into affix development, and I genuinely think that they make the game more interesting. Once people figure out the basic flow of gameplay, going through rooms repeatedly can get a little repetitive, and affixes are a great way of mixing things up each run.
Second, I don’t think each difficulty has enough impact on its own.
In general, the vague idea of the difficulty increases is a good idea. I admit that the difficulty increases takes direct inspiration from Slay the Spire‘s ascension levels – in Slay the Spire, each ascension level buffs some small aspect of enemies/map or nerfs some small aspect of player gameplay. In total, there are 20 ascension levels, and each one does feel like it’s a decent jump up in difficulty.
However, a big advantage that Slay the Spire has is that its gameplay is inherently more re-playable. While I aspire for a game I make to have that level of re-playability, the reality is that Vyn and Verdan is not that game. Unless I can make each difficulty level feel more distinctive somehow, I don’t think an increase in health is going to really feel that different.
So what does that mean for the difficulty levels? At this point, I’m not sure. I definitely want some sort of “intro” pre-affix difficulty level, I want affixes to be enabled early, and I want some distinct jump in enemy difficulty. That’s at least three difficulty levels. I probably want a couple more than that… so maybe five difficulty levels? I’ll have to experiment!
Affixes
Here’s a couple more examples of affixes!
In this affix, bombs spawn! You can see the cherry bomb spawn right next to the players. Don’t let the bomb go off!
In this affix, enemies remember you. All enemies start with some influence, but they also do more damage to you! Players have to be careful to not get whacked too hard.
This affix causes the seasons to move quickly. When the red stars pop up around the screen, Verdan is more powerful and Vyn is less powerful. When the blue stars pop up, then the reverse is true. Players should time their attacks to the seasons!
In this affix, players’ abilities are slower. Each ability takes a longer to be used, but, in return, each ability is more powerful with more oomph.
That’s all for today’s VV Eekly Update! If you have any comments about the difficulty levels or on affixes, please drop by the regular Discord!