Prepare to face off against Snaptors and Kappas

As promised, this update adds not one but TWO new monsters to the dungeon...

🐊 Snaptors

A fearsome new monster and star of the new Talon Trials. Snaptors can move up to 2 tiles in a row per turn, and if anything gets in their way they'll chomp it to bits. Beware their toothy maws!

🐢 Kappas

A deadly swamp creature which features in the new Cucumber Trials. The Kappa roams the field with an armour-piercing spear, which it will use to impale friend and foe alike at a range of 2 tiles.

👊 Change to 'avoided attacks' behaviour

One consequence of introducing the Snaptor's 2-tile movement: it's very difficult to retreat away from their attacks. They would easily follow you and kill you in the next turn, even if you backed away.

I felt that this was a little too punishing, and it got me thinking about the game-wide behaviour for all enemies in this situation. It's quite easy to get stuck in a death-loop of retreating and burning your stamina until you die. So I decided to try out a change to enemy attacks when you avoid them.

Now, enemies who try to attack an empty tile won't automatically move instead. They will now perform a 'missed attack' and remain where they stand.

(An exception to this behaviour is the Redhorn, whose charge attack causes them to move anyway.)

This does remove some certain opportunities for luring enemies into hitting each other, but it also opens up several new ways. Overall I don't think it's a bad change but it does require you to adapt your tactics. Have a play and let me know what you think!

One last note on this subject: I changed the enemy intention markers so they now distinguish between an 'obstructed move which will result in an attack' and a genuine 'intended attack'. The graphics used here may change in the future to clarify the difference.

🎥 Less erratic camera during enemy turn

Several players have complained that the camera zips around rapidly during the enemy turn, as it focuses closely on each single enemy as they perform their actions. This updates adds a more distant, static camera which loosely follows the entire field. It will still zoom in to highlight attacks, but the general feel is hopefully less dizzying. 😵

🆕 Changes

Here's the full list of changes in this update.

• New monster: the Snaptor, star of the the Talon Trials.
• New monster: the Kappa, star of the Cucumber Trials.
• Enemies who try to attack an empty tile will no longer automatically move instead. They will now perform a 'missed attack' and remain where they stand.
• Enemy intention markers now distinguish between an 'obstructed move which will result in an attack', and an intended attack.
• Enemies now have a 'Move Range' stat which is displayed in their info popup.
• All characters who attack adjacent tiles now have an 'Attack Range' stat which is displayed in their info popup.
• Camera during enemy turn is now fixed in one static position instead of snapping to each enemy in turn (except when enemies attack).
• A marker now appears under each enemy as they act to draw your attention.
• Character idle animations no longer flip left and right but squash instead.
• Characters now face their direction of movement, attack, and next intended action.
• Damage values no longer show a minus symbol prefix.
• Attacks can now stun enemies for more than 1 turn.
• "Knockout" perk is now called "KO" (to avoid confusing it with "Knockback" perk).
• KO perk can now be upgraded (up to level 4), increasing the amount of time that enemies are stunned by your attacks.

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Enemies who try to step outside the level no longer take a step backwards.
• The camera now waits for attacks to finish before moving on to the next action in a queue.

I hope you enjoy this update! Let me know what you think in the comments, a review, or on Discord.

Remember to follow me on itch.io, and follow the game or add it to your wishlist for more updates.

Enjoy!

Matt