Mischief and Mayhem Studios

This week we are announcing a new project. Sort of. We've been porting our game #ArkDefender from #Unity to #Godot. And once we reach parity, we’ll be adding stuff for a Waiting for Laouylik Update! #indiedev #gamedesign #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday

Here is a “fun” bug I noticed recently. When porting to #Godot, I flipped the input for an interlaced int array. So instead of adjusting sensors by -3 and lasting 3 sectors it adjusted sensors by +3 for -3 sectors. #roguelike #indiedev #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev

You have been waiting for it (maybe, I can hope)? The trailer for the Waiting For Laouylik Content update for Ark Defender! youtu.be/81o2F3GTXo0 #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

This week's Ark Defender short is on Ark fashion! youtube.com/shorts/U-YOu... #roguelike #spacegame #indiedev #gamedesign #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #gamedevelopment

Nothing new to show this week, so just footage The Mega Defense Keep. Found crashed on a barren planet, it was repaired with Terran Republic technology, but still holds mysterious technological secrets. #indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday

No new features for the week, so just some footage of the Battleship ark. Originally a Terran Republic military ship, it has reduced manufacturing ability, but more weapon ports and gunship support. #indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday

Confession! Sometimes things that would be cut instead get added because we need a media post. E.g., recently, the Fungal Whale. A cool boss, but it would’ve been cut if we didn’t have an empty post slot #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

In contrast to yesterday’s post the Vortex Torpedo of the Hangarians in the Waiting for Laouylik update kind of just worked. We had a visual look we wanted and it worked first try. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

Over the course of the Waiting for Laouylik update, one of the hardest things to (re)implement was the Star Wolf boss. It did NOT want to orient correctly. Actually, when recording this I found it GOT REBROKEN! #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev

This week's Ark Defender short is on The Hangarian Siege Cruiser in all its frontal assault glory. youtube.com/shorts/aEztN... #roguelike #spacegame #indiedev #gamedesign #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #gamedevelopment

This week's Ark Defender short is on The Hangarian Siege Cruiser in all its frontal assault glory. youtube.com/shorts/aEztN... #roguelike #spacegame #indiedev #gamedesign #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #gamedevelopment

Since we had not added any yet we added new skins for the Arks for the Waiting for Laouylik update. These are the Hot Rod skins! #indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday

This week we went back and made some new skins for the Arks (new skins was not a component we had previously included in the Waiting for Laouylik update). These are the Flesh Abomination skins! #indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday

Yesterday we mentioned variables (e.g. weapon counts or faction opinions) & flags. Flags also track a value (0 to ∞), but have effects based on triggers (e.g. sector end). Together they drive the encounter system. #roguelike #indiedev #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev

Continuing encounter talk, encounters are made up of a main text & options. When an option is chosen it changes the value of variables & flags, or triggers an event (e.g. open a trade window or start a plasma storm). #roguelike #indiedev #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev

I am indulging myself with a brief dive on how Ark Defender encounters work this week. So…. encounters are sorted by group with only 5 groups (+ “default”) chosen per run. This ensures groups don’t get drowned out. #roguelike #indiedev #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev

We have been working on new encounters for Ark Defender. One of our new encounter focus on the (mostly) peaceful Numani. Although, they do respond to pirate attempts with force. #indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday

As part of the Waiting for Laouylik update for Ark Defender, we are adding 500+ new encounters. One of the sub groups centers around friendly aliens, The nomadic Numani. #indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday

The last of the Go’Phow’Ley Tripods is the Defender Tripod. As its name suggests it protects the others with point defense, intercepting player attacks & giving the other Tripods time to attack. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

The best idea those rascally lab coats have had!

Our #indiegames are on #SteamAutumnSale! In Ark Defender defend from evil aliens, cults & more; in They Dug Too Deep repel unearthed horrors; Mix towers to guard a city in Tower Alchemy; & devour empires in Doomed Stars! If you can't get one be the #WishlistWednesday & wishlist!

Like Harassment Tripods Go’Phow’Ley Assault Tripods move along the edge of the screen. They fire much less often & must remain stationary while they charge their attack, but do much greater damage. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

Go’Phow’Ley Harassment Tripods move along the edge of the screen and fire interceptable plasma balls. While the attacks do damage, their main purpose is to distract players while Assault Tripods charge…. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

This week's Ark Defender short introduce the Elder God Go'Phow'Ley, The Creeping Oblivion! youtube.com/shorts/tkJBg... #roguelike #spacegame #indiedev #gamedesign #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #gamedevelopment

We have all our games on #SteamSale as part of the #SteamAutumnSale! In Doomed Stars you are the empire ender! Unleashed by the hubris of the Imperium of the Binary Stars now you wreak havoc upon their empire! store.steampowered.com/app/3012270/...

All our games are on #SteamSale as part of the #SteamAutumnSale! In our #Roguelike, Ark Defender, see how long you can survive aboard the Ark, humanity's last hope. Defend from dangers within & without. Eldritch Cults, hostile aliens, cranky reporters & more! store.steampowered.com/app/1885080/...

Go’Phow’Ley! An ancient eldritch trans-dimensional foe of the Hellspawn! It crawls from cracks in reality to destroy the ark! Assault Tripods focus on heavy damage while Defender Tripods intercept player attacks! #indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday

A new boss, an eldritch being split across multiple forms that crawl from reality to overwhelm the ark! Harassment Tripods focus on light damage via saturation attacks & distracting the player. #indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday

We have all our games on #SteamSale as part of the #SteamAutumnSale! In this turn-based Dwarven #Roguelike, you are sent to deal with the swarms the dwarves unleashed. Can you fight goblins, robots, demons & more now that the dwarves, well, They Dug Too Deep? store.steampowered.com/app/2462100/...

We have all our games on #SteamSale as part of the #SteamAutumnSale! Tower Alchemy is a Tower Defense game with a twist. Mix & match basic towers to create new powerful combinations from necrosis towers & lightning fences to Holy water cannons! store.steampowered.com/app/1588300/...

To go with our revised visual options, we took another crack at customizable UI. It was more complicated than it felt like it should be (had to generate some texture at runtime), but we got there. Eventually. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

Following off of the initial visual setting options, we decided to add a few more sliders (once we figured out how to implement them without resolution loss). Doesn't mean all the settings look good though. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

We are trying to improve player options so this week started adding some visual sliders. Perhaps due to laziness we eschewed presets and left if for players to muck about with. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

This week's Ark Defender short is on the Sarien Alliance Skeleton boss! #roguelike #spacegame #indiedev #gamedesign #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #gamedevelopment youtube.com/shorts/SvO2-...

The Hal’Goph Behemoth is a new boss with the titular Hal’Goph eyes on the end of tentacles, eyes either have Point Defense or Beam Attacks and serve as the otherwise damage immune boss’s weak points. #indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday

The Hal’Goph Skull, bounces across the top of the screen, its tentacle tips firing bursts of plasma, the main challenge being balancing shooting it with intercepting the flood of fire. #indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday

The Hal’Goph Defender is focused on point defense. It has the other Hal’Goph traits, but can intercept up to 3 projectiles at a time. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

The Hal’Goph Attacker is the mainstay of the faction. It has all the gimmicks and a powerful beam attack. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

This week's Ark Defender short is about a new Faction, The Hal'Goph! youtube.com/shorts/KQkEH... #roguelike #spacegame #indiedev #gamedesign #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #gamedevelopment

The Hal’Goph Eye is the weakest of the Hal’Goph, lacking most of their gimmicks. It’s just a beam firing eye on a weird tentacle. Looking at it now, It does remind me a bit of the Neversoft logo. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgam

Our new faction, the Hal’Goph, are particularly deadly. They absorb missiles that get too close, leave a trail of torn reality, & a missile swallowing void on death. #indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday

We could not help ourselves. We made another faction. They are a tier 8 faction that randomly occurs (but has a higher chance the longer the player survives). Meant to be part of the final escalating challenge. #indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday

The rear part on the default skin of the research platform is supposed to rotate to provide secondary forms of simulated gravity. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

The array of Research Platform Ark skins. The Valentine skins ended up being made via overlaying pieces from other skins. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

The Research Platform was initially devised because we need to create Arks in pairs to keep the Ark selection UI balanced. And a stats focus (e.g. science/sensors) was not something we had done with other Arks. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

This week's Ark Defender short is on the Hangarian Boarding Party boss! It is thethe most unique of the boss encounters (and has taken the most development time to actually implement, lots of writing). youtube.com/shorts/mVGAe...

While we like our new arks, not all ark ideas make it that far. We toyed with a flesh-abomination ark, but couldn’t figure out a good idea for its own play style. Maybe we’ll bring the design back as a skin. #indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday

The Research Platform is a new ark with low pop, no gunships, & higher manufacturing costs (but discounted gravity warheads). However, it starts with max science, max sensors, & generates upgrade points each sector. #indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday

The little squares that cover the Mobile Refueling Ark were originally intended to be solar panels, but it is not like you get a lot of solar power in deep space. So, let’s call them “dark energy” collectors. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

The array of Mobile Refueling Ark skins. B type skins tend to have stuff added to the base, while C Type tend to have stuff removed. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame

The Mobile Refueling Ark was originally named the Short Range Ark. But we couldn’t figure out a good lore blurb for why it has so much temp power. #roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame