New Items & Systems

Following the release, here is the first big update OVERKILL receives! I have received many feedbacks, thanks to the great indie game developer community out there, that greatly changed my current workflow and future plans about the game.

In this development log, I'll be covering the latest additions to the game and how they may be improved later on.

Legendary Items

As you know, the main upgrade the player hero gets between levels is the artifacts that are randomly generated and can be chosen at the end of each level. Previously, there only existed four different rarity levels, those being common, uncommon, rare, and epic. 

In this version, I have also added legendary items, which work in a little more different way than normal items work.

While normal items increase certain stats by a specific amount, increased by the rarity, legendary items affect the stats of the hero by multiplying them. In the picture above, the legendary item has an orange light on the background, specifying that it is a legendary item. 

The item in the picture doubles the ATK and triples the OVRM attributes of the hero, which makes it a really powerful item at certain phases of the game. 

Although legendary items are much more powerful than normal items, it might not always be a great choice to pick them up since some of them lower certain stats and might not be worth it.

Rerolling & Transmutation

One of the biggest problems with the previous version was that you couldn't have any effect on the run. When you were unlucky, you would end up getting some bad artifacts and it would be much harder than other cases when it is much easier. In order to close this gap caused mainly by luck, I have added a rerolling and transmutation system.

Let's consider the situation above. The player has gotten a roll of an epic ring, a common glove, and an uncommon sword. If the player doesn't really need any of those items, but maybe a helmet, can reroll the dice and get another three artifact choices. 

In order to reroll the artifacts that have been generated, an amount of 4 gems is required, as can be seen from the bottom left corner, the player currently has 7 gems. Gems can be obtained in a couple different ways.

After an enemy is defeated, a specific amount of gems are rewarded to the hero for completing a level, and the amount depends on the level the player is at. For example, the first two levels reward only 1 gem each while the first boss rewards 4 gems, which is equal to one reroll chance.

Another way to get gems is transmuting the current item roll, which takes us to the second mechanic that was added in this version. When the transmute button is pressed, current rolls are gone for good, but the player receives a great number of gems which can be spent later for better rolls. 

In the worst-case scenario, the player gets three common rolls at the end of a level. With the transmutation system, since common items are generally not desired, the player can just transmute the items and get gems to spend later to try his luck harder. 

A common strategy is that transmuting items after the hero gets powerful enough to clear a few more levels easily, and using the gems gained from transmutation later to get legendary item rolls and push the stats of the hero to the limits. 

Another strategy is that transmuting even the legendary items in the early stages since they worth many gems, so the player can try his luck for at least rare items throughout the run. Personally, I like the second strategy more since it provides a more persistent increasing power curve.

What's Next?

I have mentioned in the previous development log that my main priority was to offer players more than a couple hours of different content. I didn't have the idea of a rerolling and transmutation system back then, but now, it is added with legendary items. 

I should also mention that the number of legendary items will increase greatly, and there are still many item types that I haven't added to the game to keep it simple at its current phase.

In the upcoming update, it is possible to encounter a merchant or a hunter wandering in the woods. Maybe they'll be willing to trade with you, who knows? Apart from that, my first priority will be adding a post-game screen so that the players can share their best performances with others.

Please do not hesitate to share your thoughts about the game, every inch of feedback is highly appreciated!