HP System

Body parts have been removed from the game, alongside things like attributes that went alongside them. This should make the gameplay much simpler, but in a good way. You no longer have to manage six different body parts plus the blood bar, and you no longer have to target enemy body parts.

While I was very attached to the body part system, it's very evident to me now how much confusion, frustration, and boredom it added to the game. I think the game feels more focused and streamlined now.

Now, you just have a single HP bar that determines if you live or die.

Because I got rid of all the body attributes, I replaced them with the POW bar (looks like a heart-rate). As this value decays as you take damage, your attack power goes down. This simulates your body decaying in a simpler way.

Your HP, stamina, and stun bars also shorten as you take damage and die. This happens gradually, unlike the discrete levels body parts had.

You no longer spend materials to undo decay. Instead, you use "life bulbs," a new item that's basically just human effigies from Dark Souls II. The Dark Souls influence on my game is probably pretty obvious, so it's not like this is the first idea from DS that I liked enough to mimic.

Map and Territory System

The world is no longer clearly divided into big, blobby territories. Instead of conquering whole territories at once, each control point controls the area around it, making creatures of that tribe spawn there.

Instead of hiding and revealing a whole territory at once on the map, you reveal the map gradually as you move and capture stuff. I think this should make the world feel more mysterious.

Long List of Changes

This is a long list, but there might be changes I forgot to list.

• Removed body parts and associated systems (like body upgrades and body attributes).
• Simplifed HP/Blood stuff into a single HP bar. Mini HP bars now appear above damaged creatures in the world.
• Made stun display in other bar instead of status effect window.
• Made max stun variable.
• Combined all body attributes into a single "POW" stat
• Made Max HP, Max Stamina, POW, and Max Stun decay slowly as damage is taken
• Changed how visual effects on creatures for things like stun, burning, and poison display. They no longer accidentally linger after the creature is destroyed, and also now display over the creature in HUD.
• Made damage dealt by burning be absorbed/resisted by armor, so burning will damage armor.
• All armor now protects simultaneously. Different slots don't protect different parts.
• Changed how objects are stored in chunks, leading to better performance
• Changed HP values and VIT HP bonus
• Added Life Bulbs, which restore max stat decay, boost POW to 150%, and fully heal you
• Added damage numbers that appear when something or someone gets hit.
• Tweaked world generation to create slightly more even tribe distribution
• Removed old territory system. Switched to making both map revealing and area control based on individual, 4-block wide hexes.
• Fixed bug that prevented enemies from moving north or west.
• Fixed a bug where enemies would freeze up trying to heal when out of syringes.
• Made humans more likely to appear all over the place.
• Changed syringes. Syringes heal best if they match your body material. If they don't, they build up material in your body,and can change your body material.
• Made space stations and settlements smaller, more compact
• Made red chest icon on map change when chest is emptied
• Adjusted weapons, armor, and creature values.
• Added new structures.
• Removed call button, after realizing it could be abused for 100% risk-free battles.
• Added map center button on map screen.
• Added messages that appear when a partner dies, telling you who killed them.
• Changed tutorial messages to reflect changes to game.
•  Updated manual.

NEXT

For small things, I want to fix up the synthesis screen and status panel that appears when you click an item panel. There's a lot of empty space now.

For big things, I want to make Hell accessible much earlier, and develop it into a more important hub.  I think many players have never even reached it, unfortunately.

I really need to start moving towards adding other planets and an intergalactic map. To me, this has always been the most obvious feature needed to make the game FULL. I've spent years with just one planet. I don't think I expected to procrastinate this part so long, so I need to really, seriously, start working on other planets.

I have some other cool ideas floating around, like vehicles and stuff, but those need to wait until I've gone and made more planets.