Haven't checked us out on Steam yet? Well...
We’re finally released and ready for purchase! Now you can get a copy of Net King’s Call V0.3.6 in your Steam library. Being in Early Access, we’ll be making regular updates to the game and doing what we can to make it the most enjoyable experience it can be. To do that however, we’ll need feedback from real players. You can also download our demo to get a feel for the game’s mechanics before you buy!
Onto the Updates!
For Net King’s Call V0.3.6, our most important update (from our perspective) is the addition of a new unit. We’ve also added a customizable flag system, AI changes, etc. If you’re more interested in the Update TLDR, scroll down below. You’ll also be able to see the more minor changes we’ve made that don’t exactly warrant a whole section.
The Bishop
Behold! We introduce to you, the Bishop, a powerful ranged support unit. Similar to the Plague Doctor, this unit heals your allies. What differentiates the two units is how they heal their allies. The Plague Doctor needs to stand behind their healing target in order to restore 10 hit points to the ally. However, the Bishop can heal all of its allies at the same time for 1 hit point every time it goes through its “reading” animation.
The Bishop is not only able to heal though, they have a secret weapon! This unit can smite enemies with an AOE lightning strike 5 tiles away after charging. Careful using this attack however as you’ll be grounded until the smite lands! The AOE is shaped like a plus/+ symbol, with the center hitting first and the outer strikes landing about a second after. All of these strikes hit for 15 damage each, so watch out if you encounter this enemy in the field!
Customizable Flags
This is a feature we didn’t think we’d be adding so soon, but in order to test new faction interactions and features, we need to be able to visually differentiate between them. Adding in the flag system makes this slightly easier in the sense that now we can give each faction a unique flag. When creating your flag, you have three different parts to customize. You can change the shape of your “shield”, and the look of the “center icon”, and the “outer decoration”. You can also change their colors using RGB sliders to produce unique flags for yourself. At the moment we have 10 different options for each part allowing you a whole lot of combinations! If we see more interest in adding in more options, or the ability to insert user made images, we may get to that. For now, it probably shouldn’t be at the top of our list.
Update TLDR
+Added the Bishop!
+Added flag creator.
+Minor factions now spawn with custom flags.
+Added more dialogue for Guy throughout a campaign game.
+Adjusted AI for Archer and Medusa to prevent them from moving tiles during attacks.
+More visual indicators for where the Medusa’s gaze will land.
+Updated battlefield background.
+Updated Mountain Tile graphic.
+Added in two new spell graphics.
+Updated building materials.
+Expanded Help Menu.
+More visual feedback when units damaged and destroyed.
+Adjusted bloom on combat tiles.
Bug fixes and known bugs
+Fixed bug where unit animations in the battle will keep playing through a “command pause”.
+Unmoved squads counter fixed to display correct information.
-There seems to be a bug when researching a tech, where sometimes if there is one turn left until completion, it will take one more turn.
Developer Thoughts:
Thinking of streamlining gameplay
Over the last week we’ve been coming up with ways to get you to the points you want to get to. What does that mean? Basically, there are some people who enjoy the strategic parts more, and some people who enjoy combat more. We want to let players who enjoy those particular sections, get to the parts that makes the game fun to them quicker/easier. Over the last couple months we’ve been doing a better job of it, but there’s always room for improvements.
One of the bigger issues we see is how we’ve set up the research tree. Currently, it’s set up to support the tutorial and show new players how to research new tech. That’s fine, but for returning players it may slow down their game by a couple turns which can be annoying. We’ll be adjusting accordingly in the future to get you into the action quicker.
What's Coming Up
Story Implementation
It’s critical at this point that we implement the story of Net King’s Call more than it has been. We’ve been tied up fixing bugs and testing for release to make sure gameplay is solid enough, but this came at the cost of major story elements being in the game. We hope by the next update that we add in more narrative for our players to enjoy and get immersed in.
More Research. More Spells.
Like the last update, we’re always wanting to put in more research and spells. This time we’ve added all the research trees, but need to make more techs to expand them. Spells are in a similar vain.
More Characters. More Units.
We have promises to keep making new characters and definitely need to add more units. Now that we’ve implemented the Bishop, we’re looking to add in our other unit once it is fully animated and revealing that soon! We’ll be working around the clock to get it to you ASAP!
VoxPop Games is pretty cool, go check them out
If you haven’t heard of a company called VoxPop Games and are a streamer, game developer, or PC gamer, keep reading. They’re creating a brand new online distribution platform for video games, similar to Steam, Itch.io, Gamejolt, etc. The goal of this platform is to create a new source of revenue for streamers with a peer to peer model. Streamers and users can promote games, while developers can set aside future gains for these groups in order to get more exposure, helping everyone in the process. Of course the people at VoxPop know better than we do on this subject and you can find them linked below. We’ll be putting up Net King’s Call on VoxPop very soon!
Wrapping Up
Thanks for reading through the Net King’s Call V0.3.6 Devlog! If you want to follow and have some influence on our development, you can join us on Discord, follow us on Twitter, and wishlist/follow us on Steam “Coming Soon” page. A link to our Discord server will be posted below. Feel free to ask us any questions or send us any feedback you may have!
