Upcoming feature: Rulesets

An update on things as of version 0.2.8a.

Pain Limit / Damage reduction

The Pain Limit calculation is working correctly.

The number shown in Inventory > Attributes tab > Pain Limit is calculated and applied correctly.

Reductions from resistances are being applied correctly.

When receiving damage from any source, after reductions from your resistances, if the amount is greater than your Pain Limit, the amount is reduced to match your Pain Limit.

The real issues are:

• Burst damage from multiple sources in quick succession can kill you quickly. Four hits from something can kill you.
• Since there is currently no invulnerability window, four hits can feel like one hit if you're suffering from melee, projectile, and/or trap damage in a hectic situation.
• Damage numbers from enemies and traps increase too harshly after a "Dungeon grows stronger" intermission is shown.

Adding a combat log will help (though also need to be able to review a combat log post-death).

Numbers aside, the game's core mechanic – raise your shield – works correctly. You can fully block trap damage and incoming melee and projectile damage that's in front of you. However, enemies behind you, projectiles bouncing behind you, and incoming flails (since flails can extend behind you), are dangerous as your back is exposed. Not having your shield raised is dangerous, and getting stunned is dangerous.

Solution in progress: Rulesets

In preparation for version 0.3's number overhaul, I am currently refactoring the game's single Spreadsheet class (which currently handles hard-coded number-related calculations) into customisable Ruleset classes.

The new Ruleset class will allow almost all numbers to be exposed and tweaked: number ranges, thresholds, multipliers, etc.

I anticipate making Rulesets adjust drop rates, chances, luck calculations, item modifier rolls, chest rarity rolls, number scaling, potion strength, weapon strength, shield health, regen ticks, souls required to level-up, Demon Statue reward numbers, AI timing intervals, etc.

I anticipate Rulesets being used for:

• Difficulty options
• Punisher / Challenge runs
• Special modes (like the upcoming Kitten Collect-a-thon)
• Mod support
• Major version tweaks

Rulesets will allow the behaviour of each run or mode to be tweaked, without breaking other modes.

Version 0.2's hard-coded numbers are being converted into a Ruleset, and I am looking forward to creating a 0.3 Ruleset.

I anticipate a cascading effect for Mod support and upcoming pre-run Perks – a Mod or Perk would not necessarily have to modify all aspects of a Ruleset; just a small selection of things to change if desired.

Steam Workshop & Leaderboards

While the current Steam Leaderboards are based on main version numbers (0.2 being the current board), I anticipate changing this to have boards be based on Ruleset versions, rather than global version numbers.

With upcoming Mod support using custom Rulesets, I foresee the ability for big Mods to have their own leaderboards, which I think will be cool. Will be able have Mod Leaderboards sit alongside regular Version Ruleset Leaderboards, and possibly with other difficulty options.

So, changes to make the game feel fairer, and more customisable, are in the works.

– Chris