Reynard Devlog #18 – Tutorial, Death Cam, Chewie Companion, Skins and More (0.8.9)

Finally… A tutorial has been added. The game will now explains its basics in an “interactive” way.

Tutorial

When getting feedback from players, I’ve noticed that very few of them figured out all of the game’s mechanics.

Many players didn’t know that there is crafting in the game, that you can charge your attack or that your attacks don’t deal knockback once you run out of stamina.

That’s why I’ve finally created an interactive tutorial, which also adds some value to the story. Here’s its outcome (check Hammlet’s bruises in the featured photo).

Tutorial will start once you create a new profile.

Death Cam

I thought that it would be cool if you could see last 3 seconds of your life before you failed miserably. I’ve added an optional setting which enables GIF recorder… So you can have some laughs of your failed Prascilla rescue attempts.

On windows you’ll be able to find GIFs under: C:\Users\your_user\AppData\LocalLow\Hyper Fox Studios\Reynard

via Gfycat

Chewie

Feedback for allies is positive and with this update we’re bringing in “Chewy”. He’s a demon-like creature which is immune to fire, deals fiery damage and when he’s not attacking he also breaks crates, pots and other breakable stuff. Which means that you won’t have to spend so much time and stamina on breaking stuff.

Here’s a gif from my testing session 😀

Skins

Since it’s Christmas season, I’m adding the skin which is Santa’s costume.

All Changes

  • [FEATURE] Tutorial section added. Every profile starts with a tutorial scene, which is skipable. Tutorial explains some of the lore so check it out 🙂
  • [FEATURE] You can now enable death camera. It will record 3 seconds before you died in a gif format.
  • [FEATURE] You can now change Reynard’s clothes… Santa’s costume added.
  • [ALLY] Chewy joined the ranks of allies!
  • [RECIPE] Golem’s Plate – Golem’s hand + Poor normal Armor Rune.
  • [INGREDIENT] Golem’s Hand – Dropped by golems.
  • [MINOR] Added SFX to forge, chest, bat, rat, item pickup, item drop.
  • [MINOR] Removed the “+” sign from weapon damage.
  • [MINOR] Added a darker “belt” of water around islands.
  • [MINOR] Edited the chapter of supporters.
  • [MINOR] XP slider not annoying anymore. It’s faster. Thank you VooGzy!
  • [BALANCING] Molten Helmet’s fire resist reduced from 100% to 75%.
  • [BALANCING] Buffed Ferdinand’s base attack damage from 1 to 1.5.
  • [BALANCING] Necro bow now shoots only 1 arrow has increase knockback, damage and crit chance.
  • [BALANCING] Bubba’s potion prices have been increased.
  • [BUGFIX] Removed Boom Joe from Foen and his immunity to ice.
  • [BUGFIX] Fixed bugged acid rune.
  • [BUGFIX] Golden bomb now isn’t blown away from windy room.
  • [BUGFIX] Sometimes you could take items from shrine without paying.
  • [BUGFIX] Ferdinand’s SFX sound wouldn’t stop repeating in some case… even if you kill him.
  • [SPOILER ALERT!] Prascilla now appears back on the Island once you finish the game.

In the upcoming week I’ll focus on boss battles, new items and leaderboards… and bug fixes! If you’d like to recommend anything, please let me know!

Till next time! Happy dungeon crawling 😀

ally chewie death cam reynard skins tutorial

Reynard Devlog #17 – Ferdinand, Improved Armor Runes, Bugfixes and More (0.8.8)

This is our first update since releasing Reynard on Steam. We call him Ferdinand. He’s the meanest of them… for now.

Ferdinand

Ferdinand (the Minotaur) fills the void of not having a boss with a big area of effect (AOE) attack. Just by looking at Ferdinand, players will know that he’s a “tanky” and an agile boss. He has a few tricks up his sleeve so players will have to be careful when taking him head on.

With Ferdinand I’ve tried to include more environment in the boss battles. So without any major spoilers… When you’re gonna be fighting him, try using environment in your advantage.

Improved Armor Runes

Until now armor runes were providing only bare defense against different damage types. With this update, I’m introducing improved armor runes, which can reflect damage, slow enemies, burn them or even boost Reynard’s movements speed when he’s attacked.

From watching gamers play Reynard on Youtube, I’ve learned that the armors are introduced a little too late in the game. Here lies the reason why I’ve decided to add “Pepe – The Armor Merchant” to the basement’s secret room’s rotation.

All Changes

  • [BOSS] New boss Ferdinand joined Reynard!
  • [RECIPE] Crafted Wooden Bow – Wooden Stick + Ordinary Rope.
  • [RECIPE] Bull’s Horns Helmet – Copper Plank + Poor Normal Armor Rune.
  • [RECIPE] Book of the Dead – Common Companion Boost + Common Max Health Boost.
  • [RECIPE] Necro Bow – Bone + Ordinary rope.
  • [IMPORTANT] Added ability to armor runes. They can now reflect the damage, slow the attacker or increase Reynard’s movement speed…
  • [IMPORTANT] Companions will now stay with you until they die or the run ends.
  • [IMPORTANT] Added a “second” secret to the Foen island.
  • [BALANCING] Necro Staff’s recipe changed to “Bone + Poor Necrotic Damage Rune” + Increased the crit chance to 1%.
  • [BALANCING] Pepe can now spawn in the basement dungeon.
  • [BALANCING] Cobra’s poison projectile doesn’t have spreadable damage anymore.
  • [BALANCING] Golem’s health type set from “Ice” to “Normal”.
  • [BALANCING] Modified the Bubba’s prices.
  • [MINOR] Added dialogue to the axe on the island (It sounds weird but it’s not :D).
  • [MINOR] Stamina now refils on each scene change.
  • [MINOR] Added Prascilla’s Idle animation.
  • [MINOR] Renamed some Bronze stuff to Copper.
  • [BUGFIX] “Return” button now works as a confirm.
  • [BUGFIX] Fixed the bug when Wilson’s Beam wouldn’t stop playing when you die.
  • [BUGFIX] Fixed the double confirm button press in the dialogue.

I’ll add the first player who figures out how to pull the axe out from the stump to the book of credits! 😀

Since many new players have joined Reynard community and there is no official tutorial, I hope to have started one for next update. Expect more cool recipes, bosses and updates in the future. If you’d like to recommend something, please let me know!

Till next time! Happy dungeon crawling 😀

armor runes boss Ferdinand fox fox game Minotaur reynard

Reynard – Available on Steam

Finally we’ve reached the milestone of releasing Reynard on Steam 😀

Last month I’ve been preparing everything for releasing Reynard on Steam. From filling out forms, helping to create a new trailer, promoting on social media, contacting curators and creating a dedicated website for Reynard. This all took a fair amount of time.

But it’s finally done… It’s released on Steam and we can’t wait to get feedback from more users. We’re already planning on adding new stuff to the game and working on stuff proposed by current players.

If you purchased Reynard through itch.io you are able to obtain your Steam key from your purchase page! If you’re having any troubles obtaining your key, please let us know!

Oh! I forgot to mention that Reynard came on Steam with a 20% discount!

Have fun saving Prascilla 😀

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Reynard Devlog #16 – New Crafting Recipes, Bugfixes and More (0.8.7)

Previous week I’ve had a lot of stuff going on… Grandpa passed away 🙁 and we’ve attended the SGC. On SGC we’ve received tons of valuable feedback for Reynard. This week I’ve decided to implement and fix some of the suggested stuff. Thus this update revolves around bugfixes, crafting recipes and other minor stuff.

New Crafting Recipes

We’ve added crafting to Reynard pretty early. It’s available from the beginning of the early access. But one thing is adding the system to the game and other thing is utilizing it. That’s why I’ve decided to start adding more interesting recipes and usable items to the game.

Until now you could only create a better version of the item if you placed 2 of the same items on the forge. But we want to add more stuff for the forge. We really want the player to be able to create something more powerful if he finds the material for it.

That’s why I’ve added more “Usable” items which are spawned as a loot drop from certain monsters and pots. For now I’ve added 3 new recipes and 5 new items:

  • Wooden Stick
  • Skeleton’s Bone
  • Blacksmith’s Ring
  • Necro Staff
  • Simon’s Staff
  • Poor Wooden Bow

Adding new recipes to Reynard’s crafting system!

I’m planning on adding special challenge rooms that will challenge the player’s skill, but will hold way better items and crafting components. But that’s in the future.

Other Changes

  • Added Simon’s staff and a recipe to create it on Forge.
  • Added Necro staff recipe… On 15th kill spawns a skeleton.
  • Fairy has 5 HP. She heals player for 1 point, but also damages herself for 1 point.
  • Added Poor wooden bow recipe. Breakable wooden bow.
  • Added Blacksmith’s ring. Once dropped on the forge, it repairs player’s equipment.
  • Rats now have 50% chance of fleeing when hurt.
  • Serpentino’s spit now has SFX and when you pass the bridge there is now an explosion sound.
  • Dexter roars before he enters the charging state, added sound effects for roar and charge.
  • Doctor plague now spawns skeletons more frequently and starts roaming sooner and has added sound effects for cast and attack.
  • Wilson Shoots laser beam in random direction.
  • Wizco now has more SFXes.
  • Modified all 100% resist armors that aren’t breakable. They don’t have 100% resist anymore.
  • Buffed the Xeno turret. Faster shooting rate and more damage.
  • Fixed the bug that didn’t spawn projectiles.
  • Fixed the layers of Forge and Pawn… The enemies can now walk on them.
  • Fixed the relic forging bug.
  • Confirm button is now the “dash” button.
  • Fixed the bug that didn’t save “usable” items.
  • Selected buttons now have a brighter color.
  • Shrines, libraries (mini shops) now show the cost of the item instantly.
  • Fixed the bug when Item preview didn’t open up if companions came close to the interactable object.
  • Fixed the bug when the stairs to secret room are spawned behind indestructible objects.

Expect more cool recipes and updates in the future. We’re also planning Reynard’s release on the steam in November! If you’d like to recommend something, please let me know!

balancing bug fixes crafting crafting recipes new recipes reynard

Reynard Devlog #14 – Daily Runs and a House (0.8.5)

We’re turning up the heat! Daily runs have been added to Reynard!

Daily Runs

Previous week’s Wilson is doing awesome! Players like him! More boss patches will come in the future, but first we’ve decided to spice things up with daily runs!

Daily runs use a different dungeon seed on a daily basis, so in scope of 24 hours, you’ll always have an access to the same dungeon!

Once you die or finish the game, your score will be submitted online under name you’ve chosen in the profile selection menu! You’ll also see the leaderboard with the score of top 5 players!

In order to play the daily run, you have to enter Reynard’s house (more about the house down below), where you’ll find stairs to basement. If you interact with stairs, you’ll get to play the daily run!

Daily runs are fairly new in Reynard and will probably change! For example, I’m thinking of adding a cap of how many times you can play a daily run… And I kind of have a feeling that I’ll add that soon.

Reynard Daily Run Leaderboard

Reynard’s House

As mentioned above, I’ve added a house! Not only that it’s “cool” to walk around the house… It’s even more awesome to enter it!

In house you can find “The book of credits”, where you’ll find all the info about who created and helped creating Reynard’s universe, you can enter a daily run and in the future you’ll be able to read the bestiary, check profile stats, daily run stats and see your unlocked achievements.

Other Changes

Here are the other things that I’ve added, tweaked or fixed:

  • Added some particles when you destroy an object or kill an enemy.
  • Increased the chances of getting stamina or energy potions when breaking pots.
  • Reduced HP of pots. They are now broken with one hit.
  • Increased the small health potions HP heal to 1.
  • Increased the big health potions HP heal to 15.
  • Triple Bubble turrets CD reduced for 50%.
  • Fixed the ground decorations outside of rooms in the dungeons.

Update is live and kicking on itch.io!

Till next time! Try to beat me in the daily run!!! 😀

daily runs leaderboards reynard score

Reynard Devlog #13 – Wilson (0.8.4)

New boss Wilson has arrived to Reynard’s dungeons!

Wilson

Previous week we’ve released an “easier” boss Doctor Plague and now I’m presenting you Wilson! He’s a weird entity (big eyeball) accompanied by small “Willies” (little eyeballs).

Wilson deals chaotic damage and has a powerful energy beam attack! So you better be careful when you’re poking him in the eye!

Doctor Plague Buff

As mentioned previous week, I knew that I’ll have to buff the doctor… and so I did! He’s now roaming around cemetery raising skeletons!

Doctor plague update

Other Changes

I’ve added some decorations to the Dexter’s level and changed the whole progression through the dungeons. If you’ll want to save Prascilla you’ll have to go through:

  1. Basement dungeon
  2. Basement dungeon
  3. Boss
  4. Basement invasion
  5. Desert dungeon
  6. Desert dungeon
  7. Boss
  8. Desert invasion
  9. Winter dungeon
  10. Winter dungeon
  11. Boss
  12. Winter Invasion
  13. Final Boss

I think that the progression is more interesting this way… You have to face one more boss in the end, but you’ll progress through the dungeons faster! Other thing that I’ve changed is that special rooms like: Forge, Library, Shrine… are now populated also with different pots, traps and so on!

Update is alive and kicking on itch.io!

Till next time! Have fun POKING WILSON’S EYE!!! 😀

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Reynard Devlog #12 – Doctor Plague and More! (0.8.3)

Our fox is on a streak! We’re releasing another Reynard update! This week we’re bringing Doctor Plague to the party!

Doctor Plague

Some of our players complained that they can’t defeat our first boss Dexter because he’s too “difficulty”… Well… We don’t like nerfing stuff… But we can surely spice things up a little bit can’t we?

I kind of started designing Doctor Plague with a word “easy” in my mind, so that the players that have to get “git gut” could have a higher chance of reaching the second biome. But I don’t want to make the challenge too easy for the players. That’s why I’ve added some spicy moves to the Doctor Plague and I’m sure that we’ll have to balance him a little bit in the future updates.

Boss Orders

We’ve noticed that our players had a very happy reaction when we suggested that maybe each run the bosses should be picked randomly. That’s exactly what we did! Now when you fight your way through the dungeons, you’ll never know which boss you’re gonna face!

Other Changes

  • Fixed the Boom Joe! Effect zone didn’t clear its targets when disabled.
  • Added potion UI icons.
  • Acid Mick HP reduced from 5 to 3.
  • Boom Joe’s and Freezer Face’s charge range reduced from 4 to 3.
  • Removed the credits scene, will implement it rather in-game world.
  • Fixed the infinity punching with spamming special attack button when special weapon was equipped.

Till next time! Have fun slaying the bosses!

doctor plague fox plague reynard

Reynard Devlog #11 – Pawn shrine, Buffed enemies, Potion Hotkeys… (0.8.2)

Another week, another Reynard update! Last week we released the “Merchants” update and this week we’re introducing you to the pawn shrine, buffed enemies and potion hotkeys!

Pawn Shrines

On your quest through dungeons, you will hoard a lot of items. Some of them will be useful, others not so much and because of Reynard’s limited item carrying capabilities you’ll want to drop the “not so good” items to free up some space in your inventory. It would be a shame if those items would just be left on the dungeon floor. Here lies the reason we’ve created the pawn shrine!

The Pawn shrine is a shrine similar to the Forge shrine. You step on the Pawn shrine and drop the item on it. Mysterious powers will grant you some gold in return for your item.

Buffed Enemies

To spice things up in the dungeons, we’ve decided to add buffs to enemies! For now enemies can be buffed in 4 stats!

  • Max health buff.
  • Health regen buff.
  • Damage buff.
  • Movement speed buff.

Potion Hotkeys

We know that in the middle of battle, opening up the inventory and drinking potions was really annoying. That’s why we’ve added hotkeys! A visual indicator is still not available, but we’re planning to add it ASAP. The hotkeys will select the most powerful potion in your inventory and leave the weakest potions for last. The default keys are:
  • “1” or “Dpad-UP” – Use health potion.
  • “2” or “Dpad-RIGHT” – Use stamina potion.
  • “3” or “Dpad-LEFT” – Use energy potion.

Other Changes

  • Modified leprechaun perk, you now earn 20% less score.
  • Modified blind monk perk, you deal 20% more damage.
  • Silver key shrine now takes only gold.
  • Thin blade now deals slashing damage instead of blunt.
  • 200 additional experience gained if the whole dungeon with secret room included is cleared.
  • Added buffed enemies. The more dungeons you clear in the run the more buffed enemies will spawn.
  • Modified the health bar. Now it also displays the type of buff the enemy has.

PS: 3 days till giveaway ends! We’re giving away 3 keys for Reynard! You can enter the giveaway here. Till the next time! Have fun exploring the dungeons 😀

devlog reynard update

Reynard Devlog #10 – Merchants Update (0.8.1)

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a devlog in this form… Reynard has hit an early access stage and it’s available on itch.io and this is first content update which brings Merchants to the game!

Merchants

Until now, if you discovered hidden stairs, you could only reach library which offered different relics in exchange for different payment types. For an example: You could get relic which boosts your health regeneration in an exchange for consumables or score reset… The Merchants update brings 4 merchants which offer various goods! These merchants are:

  • Izak (Weapons)
  • Pepe (Armors)
  • Abdul (Runes)
  • Bubba (Potions)

Merchants unlike statues, libraries and other “mini shops” take only gold! So gold is getting another use case in the game and it’s not used only for building turrets anymore. Each of the merchants offer more items and set the price semi-randomly based on its quality.

Other Changes

  • If the description of the item is long, the description window slowly starts scrolling down so you can read more.
  • Fixed the “Throwing Acid Spear”.
  • Added experience bar at the “End of run” screen instead of using only numbers.
  • Fixed multiple typos in item descriptions
  • Removed “+” signs in item descriptions. Now only “-” is displayed.
  • Bats now collide with buildings and can hurt them.

Giveaway

We have also decided to create a giveaway! We’re giving away 3 keys for Reynard! You can enter the giveaway here.

PS: Sharing is caring 😀

devlog giveaway merchant merchants reynard update

Reynard – Road To Early Access

A fellow user on Reddit asked us a couple of questions about us, inspiration and the development process of Reynard. So I’ve decided to write a more general article… Let’s call it “Reynard – Road To Early Access.”

TL;DR;

We used Unity3D and the C# language. We were inspired by the wish of making our own video game and were influenced by games as Final Fantasy, Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past, Warcraft 3 TD maps and Binding Of Isaac. Technically we started developing Reynard on 6th of October 2017 – that’s the date of my first “pet project” commit on git. Project was originally called “Into The Fray”. We’ve been working on a couple of games earlier, but we never developed anything this “big”. Our advice for aspiring game developers would be: “Start small, set smaller milestones and finish what you’ve started”.

Game engine we used

We developed Reynard in Unity3D engine using C# language. The engine itself is fantastic, but when we started we wrestled with pixel perfect camera, tile extrusion and so on. Maybe if we picked an alternative such as Godot we’d avoid these problems, but then again we were familiar with Unity3D and in the end, it has tons of learning material and a very well equipped asset store.

I also kind of cheered for Unity3D, because there are many employers and project which use it. I wanted to know that even if our games fail, I’ll learn something useful, something that will help me on my developer path in the future.

Inspiration for making video games and Reynard

I will write this from my perspective and I’ll ask Boštjan to add his points of view.

Inner struggles

I had a wish of creating my own video game since I was a kid. But… You know… It is different when you daydream about something and when you decide “I’m gonna do it, or die trying”. Since I didn’t and don’t (yet) have kids and I saved some money that would keep me “alive” for several of months, I decided… I’m gonna do it! I’m gonna pitch an idea to my old school mates.
That’s how it started. For the “test of collaboration” game, we’ve created our first simple mobile game Math Panda. After Math Panda we’ve decided that we’ll try to create a game inspired by Kingdom called Pariah: Anton. In the middle of making Pariah, I gave a proposal for creating one “sprint” match 3 clone – Space Cyclops.
The reason for a sprint was behind me being stuck in the development process and not seeing an exit, I just really had to do something else before I lost my motivation… it was probably too ambitious a project for me back then. So when we finished Space Cyclops we went back on Pariah… and soon I again started working on some other pet projects. The next pet project’s prototype name was called “Into The Fray” which later turned into “Reynard”.

Influences

Reynard has been influenced by many games we played growing up.
When I was a kid my parents bought me my first gaming console, the SNES. The game that came with it was none other than Super Mario World. I immediately fell in love with it. But then you beat your first game and you need something more. Luckily I got Final Fantasy Mystic Quest from my half-brother’s cousin. I couldn’t understand the game because it was in German. But you know, back then I just went with it… even though the game is presented as a “starter RPG” for the European market, I loved it. I really liked its top-down perspective and the art! There was this huge manual that I couldn’t understand but the art in it was amazing and the cover image was epic!
So time goes by… I get a PC and it has the ability to run console emulators… which opens an opportunity to play all other games that I didn’t even know exist for SNES. First I went for Final Fantasy games… Played them all. But then I remembered about the cool looking top-down game my school mate once brought with him to school which we played in a class room (it was a special day in school and not a thing we did every day :D). The things that stuck with me were: no waiting for turns like in Final Fantasy games, cool story and pixel art. The game was none other than The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
The next game of inspiration was Warcraft 3. Blizzard hit the jackpot with the level editor. You could download thousands of player-made maps and you could play them with your friends! That’s what we did… we played tons of tower defense in Warcraft 3 😀
And Boštjan… He is an Isaac maniac (770+ hours played :D) and we both love its rogulike elements.

Development and larger hurdles

The first commit was on 6th of October 2017… but it was just a prototype… Back then I was working on Pariah. I still dream about finishing that game. Well, anyway… Pariah started to get more complicated, and in my free time I started working on a top-down game. I just wanted to do something else from time to time. Eventually we had a meeting with the team and we decided to switch to another project and start working on a roguelite top down game. We thought that it would be more fun and easier to make… Fun? Sure! Easier!? Not really 😀

Some of the hurdles were:

  • Not being synced with the team – in the first half of development, I was the only one working on Reynard fulltime. Luckily, Boštjan committed to the project when I needed him the most. Believe me that having someone to discuss matters with is very powerful and keeps you motivated.
  • Many times we had a working system but sometimes I just didn’t think it was flexible or good enough so I redesigned some of them completely from the ground up even though they were doing their job just fine. I guess the reason behind this was that we never really had a clear picture of what we were building and that I tried to program systems that we’d reuse in future games.
  • Not having an artist. Learning to draw pixel art was fun but it took a lot of time that I could spend on programming.
  • Unity importing small assets every save (importing lasts around 10 minutes). Still looking for the root cause of this problem.

If you’re interested you can read some of our devlogs which you can check out here.

Our advice for aspiring game developers

“Start small, set smaller milestones and finish what you’ve started”.

Future

We’re gonna add more content to Reynard and polish it. At the moment I’m working on different merchants, area of effect spells and so on. We’re also starting the process of steam submission.

So if you like what you’ve read and you’re interested what Reynard is all about,  you can check it out here:

 

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