Holy crap it's been a year since the gamepage was first made public?! I should have planned something special, like a tearful thank you post or an in-depth progress report on the whole game. Instead I made a promise to talk about a party member in the last blog and now I have to follow through on that. Whoops.

Well, for this totally NOT improvised at all anniversary update, I feel it's most appropriate to talk about a fix to one of the biggest issues the game had since it's initial conception! So how about we do that first?

By far the biggest problem I've faced with this game is to try and balance the feeling of survival with the growth elements of an RPG. The aim was to have every fight be tense, and how player skill and abilities factored into your success rather than levels and high damage numbers. Now, finally, I've figured out a simple solution:

EXP Decay


Amalie's too experienced to learn anything from these chumps!

After a character reaches a certain level, the experience they accumulate will begin to diminish. This means that grinding for levels becomes such a tedious task that players are highly discouraged from doing so.

Not only does this mean that you can't become OP via grinding, but this also comes with the added bonus of giving players a general idea of how much progress they should be making. Due to the linear nature of the story progression, it's possible to accidentally start in a high level area after you've cleared a chapter, and be severely underleveled while being unable to get stronger.

Here's how it works:

Every enemy is given a level, just like your party members. When a battle starts against a group of enemies, the enemy group's level is created by taking the average of the levels of every enemy in said group. After a battle is won, the troop's level is divided by each party member's level to create a modifier decimal, which is then multiplied by the amount of exp they would have normally gotten.

Take a battle in the prologue for example:



Two Savage Wolves. They are both level 6, so that's their troop level. Aeyr is level 4, while Amalie is level 16. After winning the fight, here is the experience awarded:



Aeyr gets the full experience amount normally awarded, while Amalie only gets a fraction of that, as 6/16 = 0.37, and 0.37* 100 = 37.

For those that did the math in their head and realized that Aeyr's experience modifier should be different, that's because, as of right now at least, the experience modifier doesn't go past 100%. You either get the full amount, or you get less. This can be changed in the future, but for now, I feel it encourages you to fight and level up even if you're afraid to because of lacking resources or whatever, which is part of the tension of the survival elements.


So there we go. The biggest potential problem with the gameplay I've had since the game began development has been solved. To get through this game, you have no choice but to learn the mechanics and the characters.

In other words: git gud.


New Party Member: Trill



I've talked about her a few times before, but it was mainly just visual teasers. Now, I'm going into a little more depth about her and why her fighting style is one of my favorites. I would go more into her personality, but seeing as her dialogue isn't implemented into the game yet (it's all written, though), I think I'll leave that for you to see for yourself.

Unlike Amalie, Trill is in full control of her innate powers as a Manna. This means that she can utilize the Miasma around her to use abilities typically reserved for Miasma Monsters. As mentioned before, Trill can use Miasma Charge to, just like monsters, acquire HP/SP regen, Critical Hit chance, boosted Strength and Tech, and alter Drives to be even more potent than before.

Trill's Burst Drives are acquired by drawing Miasma from the environment around her , meaning that her abilities will change via location. They are mostly supportive abilities, but a few attacks are sprinkled in here and there. Again, it varies by location.



One thing that's common among all her Burst Drives, though, is that they become stronger or add new effects if Trill uses them while Miasma Charged. See above for example. You can immediately add two Armor buff stacks in one turn if Trill is charged, which is a pretty big deal if you're facing an enemy with high offense.

"Wow. This sounds OP as heck. If all this is true, then you would certainly want to always keep her charged right? I mean, HP/SP Regen? Higher Strength/Tech? AND Boosts her Drives to be even better than before? Why WOULDN'T you always keep it on?"

Here's the thing: While Charged, Trill essentially becomes a beacon of Miasma, and suddenly becomes the prime target of all enemies. So everyone will want a piece of Trill for their own. And remember: Trill is a Manna. Her physical offense and defense is very low. Charging with poor timing will result in her getting destroyed very easily. Then you'll have to waste a precious revival item to bring her back.

Coding Trill has been a real blast, as her fighting style treads new ground both for new players and Soul Sunder vets. Until Trill joins your party, players should always be wary whenever Miasma Charge pops up on the field. Well, it should STILL be tense when an enemy charges up, but to finally have that kind of power under your control is exciting and should raise many questions about the Manna and what kind of people they are.


That's all for this blog! Thanks so much for reading, and a huge thanks for keeping the interest up for PotF for over a year, and here's hoping to continue that excitement as development progresses!