On the other hand, people have pointed out some points on the game that need some improvements. You're right, there are some bugs I need to fix that I didn't see before.
Playtesting is really hard with Vive games. I did as much playtesting and beta testing as I could before launch, but the best test of all is really putting the game in players' hands. I learned so much from everyone's feedback after launch!
There are a good handfull of small changes that could really help to fix the problems that are holding this game back.
What I plan to work on for the next update:
- Improve the armor hit boxes - This is the most important. I have some ideas of what to try, but you never know what will work and what wont. Either way, I'm going to spend some time trying to improve this.
- Sword "Phasing" Through Enemy - Some players said this has happened to them more than a few times and it's very frustrating. I think it has to do with the damage timing code and someone in the forums here suggested a great way to fix that I think.
- Shield - This is going to take some experimenting, because I don't want to put a bad shield into the game. The game is entirely designed and balanced around the player having a sword, so it's hard to say what a shield will be like. The first thing I have to do is make sure it works well for right handed and left handed people. I'm also thinking I'll have you unlock it at the same time as survival mode.
- Make Novice easier - just a little. I think the game gets too hard too fast and a lot of player found it frustrating. I'm going to keep expert as hard as it is, so hardcore players still have a challenge.
- Nerf the Rapier - The Rapier is way OP as many have pointed out.
- Nerf Stabbing and Improve Slashing - Many have also pointed out that stabbing is an OP strategy in this game. I have some ideas on how to make slashing stronger, and I'm going to lower the damage on stabbing swords just a little.
- Reach while swinging - some players said the sword's reach feels like it shrinks while they're swinging. I think I may know why some swords feel this way and I have an idea on how to fix it.
- Keep Enemies Closer to Player - I'm going to mess around with the enemy's movement patterns to make them walk away from you less.
- Less 3v1 battles - 3v1 is frustrating to many players. I'm going to make less 3v1 battles early on. To compensate on difficulty, I'll make some of the enemies a little more agressive.
Most of these changes are about fixing problems that hold back the game from its potential.
If you want to try out the changes I made so far right now, I will upload the changes as I go in the "untested" branch:
You can play that by going to Sword Master VR in your Steam library. Right-click and select Preferences. Then go to the betas tab and select "untested" from the dropdown list.
Once I get all these changes and test them out to make sure there are no major glitches, I'll push the build to everyone and everyone will automatically download the new update.
Thanks again everyone for helping make my first game on Steam an awesome one!
-Eric
