Firestone Saga is now available, despite my urge to delay it again. I really like how it plays so far, but my inner perfectionist wants to do more. When designing a game without a true deadline, it's easy to fall into the trap of "if I add X, my game will be 10x better". That's a great way to st…

Without an exciting combat system, adventure games can feel like walking simulators. To prevent this, I designed various interactions and doubled down on the "tiles decaying into lava" mechanic.  Adding more interactions for skills you've already implemented is a great way to add extra depth. 

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After several redesigns, all of the enemy units in Firestone Saga have their own behaviors and abilities. Aggressive foes will chase you down like you owe them money. Meanwhile, some foes are more likely to run away and take a power nap in the corner. My goal was to have each enemy encounter fee…

As you dive deeper into the cavern, you'll get the chance to add new heroes to your party. Each class feels unique and promotes different playstyles due to their respective powerful abilities. While designing a game, it's important to make the player feel powerful. If an ability is fairly weak o…

Why go rogue?

Eighteen months ago I started working on a simple roguelike adventure. I've always been intrigued by randomly generated dungeons but the thought of coding one seemed so daunting. Thankfully there's vast amount of tutorials out there if you plan on working with GameMaker. Checki…