WENDIGO
Several ideas for improving our other creature, The Revenant, were made during gameplay testing of our monsters. A jump attack or gap closer, the ability to push or shove players about to perhaps separate them from their group, and a more complicated way of defeating them besides brute force damage were all suggested. While coding these suggestions and evaluating the original Revenant's ability 'kit,' it became clear that the skills were essentially identical to the Wendigo's legend. We already had Wendigo assets on hand, so we decided to apply what we'd learned from our previous physical creature to a new monster. From this work the community received the Wendigo release that came out in version 0.2.
We'll be watching broadcasts, stats, and community feedback in the future to help dial in the general feeling of balance of this new monster. With the help of our fantastic community, we're certain that any major issues will be spotted and addressed in the future, ensuring that the Wendigo is as full and polished as our Wraith.
FOREST MAP
Our players have been getting to grips with the mysteries of Hillview Manor, as we work on a second map for the game in the background. In an ideal world, release maps that could serve as the home of each monster. The Wraith was considered when designing the Manor, and the upcoming wintery forest was chosen as the following map to reflect the Wendigo. It features a large snowy and woodland region on the outside, but it also has cabins, graveyards, and an underground tunnel system where a beast like the Wendigo may hunt. In addition, there are secrets and hints to the aims and machinations of some underground occultist group alluded at in Hillview, just as there are in Hillview.
Taking the gamers out of the traditional mansion and placing them in a chilly forest environment would create a whole new gaming experience. Players can enjoy the clean mountain air as they're being stalked by supernatural creatures.
REVENANT REWORK
As we highlighted the Wendigo earlier, it very much leaves the old Revenant without an identity. The Wendigo is similar to the Revenant, but it is more powerful and has had more time to evolve. However, the lanky creeper that we have all loved in the early months will not be forgotten. The Revenant will be redesigned as our first Hybrid monster, with the Wraith being an Ethereal horror and the Wendigo being a Physical bruiser. We'll explain the new direction of our old friend when he enters active development. Exact information on his new and enhanced mechanics are still under wraps while we focus on the Forest map and continuing bug squashing.
ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS
Dirge now has four investigators and three monsters in our cast. The human investigators may appear to be getting left behind with the release of the Wendigo and the anticipated revamp of the Revenant. Fear not, as we have plans to enhance the number of playable investigators in the future to enable for more active participants and a wider range of options. Our first female investigator is the first of these. We don't want to give anything away about her upcoming release while she's still in development. But don't worry, she's on her way! Following her release, we plan to expand the number of characters available to players.
UI IMPROVEMENTS
Things like crouched indication icons, expanded battery inputs, bad ammunition readouts, and other rapid workarounds have overtaken the initial GUI design we had in place at the start of Early Access as we've introduced more and more quality of life enhancements. With additional icons, information, and comments from our community, we want to totally overhaul our UI. This will involve modifications to tooltips, game feedback icons, the HUD, and other areas. This is a larger effort, but we believe it will significantly improve our game's appearance and readability for players.
PLAYER PROGRESSION
Many members of our community have inquired about our intentions for player progression. Some people have specifically requested it. We had no intentions for a player progression system in Dirge at first, but the community was quite adamant about the idea, and it was pointed out that advancement like this frequently extends the life of a game for a player by giving them something to strive for. We agree, and we're working on a tiered solution that we can incorporate into the game and scale up if it's a success. The initial system might just be a player level that you can raise by playing games and performing actions in the game.
In the long run, tying cosmetics to a system like this is an obvious objective, and we'll investigate the potential.
BUT WHEN
“But Non Nobis!” I hear you say, “You have not said when these features are planned for release. The reason is simple: we don't know for sure, and we don't want to commit to time frames that we will most likely miss. As an independent dev team with only 2 two active in engine devs, how quickly we do tasks is mostly dependent on how well our day jobs are going. We could possibly estimate to a higher degree of precision when we could deliver these new features if we were able to work on it full time or employ extra hands, but that is not the reality of development at Non Nobis. The Wendigo, like the Forest map and our next female character, has been in development behind the scenes for months. Other things are in the planning stages or are in the process of being developed
This roadmap is more of a priority list for us than a timeline, and it is not in the sequence in which things will be released. Instead, these are things that we believe we can commit to providing to our community prior to a complete v1.0 release. That said, it's not etched in stone that we won't listen to community comments or let your enthusiasm for the game influence our objectives. We're just convinced that this list was compiled with the input of our community in mind, and that it will pique the interest of the vast majority of our player base.
Join our discord, as always, and participate in the conversation and fun. If you have any thoughts or recommendations, please let us know through our suggestion channels. We appreciate any and all input that our wonderful community has to give.
Thank you all.
NON NOBIS GAMES
Changed files in this update