I always wanted some weapons that were related to bosses (attack patterns from bosses) but I never really understood how the whole scripting language worked to do that.
It would be cool if each of the perfect boss achievements would unlock a weapon that was inspired by the related boss. Weapon atterns that are similiar to the boss and such stuff.
Another idea would be, if you beat the game with an incredibility, you unlock a more powerful version of it.
-Swarm Mines (Energy Weapon): Low cost, high firerate, field of tiny low power mines. (Similar to Cluster Grenade in style for the mines)
-Oversol: Picking up healing while full gives temp HP that drop by 1 per new room entered. Incredibility?
Mystery Solver/Circuit Analyst: Sac item, All mystery circuits effects known.
The list would be longer, but I kinda want to try and make some of them before suggesting.
Hmmm, I'm not exactly sure what you have in mind, but I've already created a grenade launcher based on the one from SMASH TV which sounds quite similar. So, maybe I've already created something like that. Maybe!It would be closer to the Hornet mine, but you rapidly lay a grid of tiny mines behind/beneath you.
I imagine this would require engine work, although probably very basic. The main reason I'm not too excited about this one is that I really don't like the mysterious circuits...at all! Those need a big overhaul of some kind.
The only system I can really compare it to is the scrolls and potions in Pixel Dungeon (which, yes, I realize points back farther all the way to Rogue).It's much easier to compare it to Isaac's pills. Starting from there, the big problem with Starward (like you mentioned) would be their rarity vs the size of the existing selection. But that's an easy fix. Cut the fat, making sure unknowns are worth the risk and add new sources that can drop the circuits. Easy peasy. :) (Probations were in worse shape than that.)
It's much easier to compare it to Isaac's pills.
Yeah, so I've heard, but I've not played Isaac.Ah, yeah, that would make it pretty hard to compare. Well, they're very similar, except that said pills are very easy to come by, so identifying one is almost always worth it because you're bound to see it a few more times. Another thing is that the pills are less risky, because they're divided between beneficial/useless/harmful. So the bad ones aren't that common. The circuits are more 50/50 between good and bad, with some of the beneficial ones being arguably useless. Edit: Turns out the number of harmful circuits depends on the difficulty.
I always wanted some weapons that were related to bosses (attack patterns from bosses) but I never really understood how the whole scripting language worked to do that.
It would be cool if each of the perfect boss achievements would unlock a weapon that was inspired by the related boss. Weapon atterns that are similiar to the boss and such stuff.
An example would be, we could make the V-/arrow-like shot from Crystal mother (the green one) as attack with reduced size.
Another idea would be, if you beat the game with an incredibility, you unlock a more powerful version of it.
It would be closer to the Hornet mine, but you rapidly lay a grid of tiny mines behind/beneath you.
It's much easier to compare it to Isaac's pills. Starting from there, the big problem with Starward (like you mentioned) would be their rarity vs the size of the existing selection. But that's an easy fix. Cut the fat, making sure unknowns are worth the risk and add new sources that can drop the circuits. Easy peasy. :) (Probations were in worse shape than that.)
Rare. Even if you identify one, the likelyhood that you run into a second copy of that exact same circuit is vanishingly small
The Mysterious Circuits were originally supposed to be something very different. REALLY early on in development the idea of unidentified items came up, and I discussed it with Chris a lot. NORMALLY, I loathe the mechanic, but I knew of a game (Baroque, on the Wii and PS2, basically the game that got me into the roguelike genre in the first place) that did it in what I thought to be the RIGHT way, so I'd wanted to do a similar system here.
Of course, the items as a whole evolved in a very different direction, and thus the concept was mostly thrown out, but the Circuits are a leftover relic of that mechanic. The final version of the circuits is almost identical to how Isaac's pills work (at the most basic level, anyway), as Logorouge mentions. I don't remember whose idea that bit was. But yeah, they didn't come out all that well... nowhere near as refined as Isaac's.
3. There are items that can influence pills in different ways. For instance, the PHD item alters the run's current selection of pills, removing all negative ones and instead having mostly positive with a couple of neutrals, and it identifies all of them for the rest of the run. This item can actually be found in shops, making it a little easier to get than if it were in any other pool. Or you might have something that can perhaps reroll pickups (anything like hearts, keys, coins, pills, cards, all of those are pickups) into other things. You have a lot of options with these, and pills are a major game mechanic, not something that sits on the side.
Yeah, some boss-inspired items/whatever are coming. Looks like I'm going to be making some of them myself.... that should be "interesting". I'll try not to break anything. Keyword there is "try". But I'm excited to give it a go.
Yeah, perhaps it might be worth revisitng your original Baroque concept?
So...do I add Circuit Overhaul on my notepad?
I don't think there's a single circuit that players will miss not having in the game, they're really just padding the game out with bad content at the moment.
(It used to be minimum 30, but somehow the first floor drones got more expensive with our latest additions, I now regularly see 40, 50, and 70 credit drones on the first floor)The only times I buy those on the 1st floor is when I go for the Blood Money sacrifice. An early crystal drone is pretty hilarious.
(It used to be minimum 30, but somehow the first floor drones got more expensive with our latest additions, I now regularly see 40, 50, and 70 credit drones on the first floor)The only times I buy those on the 1st floor is when I go for the Blood Money sacrifice. An early crystal drone is pretty hilarious.
As for the circuits, I could give them the same treatment as the probations but we could also convert them into something else. For the positive ones, I'm thinking of powerup-like uncommon drops from enemies you could get during fights. Getting a temporary frenzy/firerate boost like that for example would be much more exciting I think.
| Achievement | Item name | Description |
| Kill Final Boss With White Gloss Mech | White Gloss Paint | All your above-average stats are reduced by one. All your below-average stats are increased by one. Then, gain two health. |
| Kill Final Boss With Flame Tank Mech | Flaming Tank of Missiles | Gain double missile capacity and an immediate full refill of missiles, but halve energy capacity. |
| Kill Final Boss With Indigo Dipole Mech | Magnetic Monopoles | Your secondary weapon repels enemy shots. |
| Kill Final Boss With Green Envy Mech | Envious Imp | -1 health, -1 missile capacity, enemies have a chance to drop credits or keycards. |
| Kill Final Boss With Deep Blue Mech | Deep Contemplation | Reduced rate of fire on primary weapon but increased energy capacity and more powerful drones. |
| Kill Final Boss With Redshift Mech | Retired Shiftworker | Time slows down when you're not moving. |
| Kill Final Boss With Humble Mech | Humble Brag | Gain a damage boost every time you buy something from a shop. |
| Kill Final Boss With Alpha Mech | Alf's Budget AI | Randomized perks and a small boost to XP rate. |
| Kill Final Boss With Penumbra Mech | Penultimate Weapon | Greatly increased damage on primary weapon, greatly reduced health. |
| An Entourage Befitting a Hydral | Neinzul Microhive | Firing a missile spawns a short-lived Neinzul Youngling that acts as a drone. |
| Untouchable | MC Hammer | Gain a damage boost that goes away when you take damage but is refreshed when you enter a new room. |
| Noncommittal | Polyarmoury | Permanently replace your consumables slot with a second attachment slot. Press the "use consumable" button to switch them around so you can choose which to replace when you pick up a new attachment. |
| Conspicuous Nonconsumption | Vow of Poverty | You lose all your credits and no more will spawn for the rest of the run, but shops will always have one item they will give you for free. |
| Safari | Hunted to Extinction | Consumable. Next time you kill an enemy, no further enemies of that type will spawn in this run. |
| Do you actually have any cheese? | Cheesed Off | Angry shopkeepers will spawn as enemies, and drop large piles of credits when they die. |
| Perfect Clear: All Mini Bosses | Handicap Match | Miniboss rooms contain two minibosses. |
| Unlock All Items | Paradox | ...wait, an item you can only unlock by unlocking all items? What is this, some kind of j-*boom* |
For each of the "boss perfect clear", I'd ideally like a weapon reminiscent of that boss's attacks. I'm not sure what to do with the "Kill Super-Final Boss with X Mech" achievements.
"Find All Items" is a terribly awkward achievement to get, so I'd honestly prefer it didn't unlock anything.
Quote"Find All Items" is a terribly awkward achievement to get, so I'd honestly prefer it didn't unlock anything.
There's a neat unlock for it, but that possibility is still on the table (we're even having problems verifying that it can be done).
Can you change that achievement so it's "encounter all items" rather than "pick up all items"? There's a bunch of items I might never pick up because I'll read the tooltip and then decide I don't want them.
The easiest fix: Drop the "unidentified" aspect. Throw out all the detrimental circuits, and fold the helpful ones into existing consumables and/or passives.
The easy fix: All Circuits are unidentified when you start a new save file, but the first time you use them, that circuit will become identified for every future run on that file. This turns them into a form of progression between runs. Since all runs on a save file happen in the same "continuity", just with different heads in the mech, this makes sense - the Hydral can keep a recording of what happens every time it tests out a new circuit.
In short, having one is bad. Having two is a toss-up. Having three or more is good, and it only gets better the more you collect. The idea is that the circuits aren't really compatible with your mech, but they are very compatible with each other, so you need several of them to unlock their potential. If you pick one up, you're kind of committing to hunting for more.
Mysterious circuits only ever have a beneficial effect, but they also house a malignant AI that will try to take over your mech. Extra "glitch" enemies will start appearing in rooms, and get steadily nastier the more circuits you have. If you have five circuits, then at the end of the run you get to fight an extra "glitch" boss as the AI makes one last attempt to take over. This is sort of the reverse of overhaul #1 above, in that they start off mostly beneficial and get more troublesome the more you have.
For each of the "kill final boss with X mech" achievements, I'd like to see a pickup that gives you a mini version of that mech's special power.
For each of the "boss perfect clear", I'd ideally like a weapon reminiscent of that boss's attacks. I'm not sure what to do with the "Kill Super-Final Boss with X Mech" achievements.
"Find All Items" is a terribly awkward achievement to get, so I'd honestly prefer it didn't unlock anything.
Thanks for your feedback. Sorry that it's a bit late for us to implement any of your suggestions. Currently the build is pretty much in lockdown in terms of new items and we're looking to push it soonish. Cheers!