dq2 Overcoming "Level Designer's" Block -- DQ2 Progress Report for August 2021 Our north star is making sure that each character's identity is established as solidly and clearly as possible before moving on. The player should instantly be able to grasp, "this is what this character is for."
defenders-quest The Rule of Firsts in Game Testing -- DQ2 Progress Report for June 2021 The first thing you tell a player to do in your game will become the default way they expect to interact with everything, and this pattern repeats fractally through every one of your game's sub-systems
dq2 Elements and Leeches: DQ2 progress report for May 2021 The presence of a leech in a battle gives the player a choice: 1) Dedicate defender(s) to killing the leech, taking them off the front lines? 2) Focus on the battle lanes and let the leech steal half your juice?
dq2 Balancing Defender's Quest 2's "minion" classes We just added 8 new characters to Defender's Quest 2. How do we keep all this stuff balanced?
defender's quest Parade of Parasites: DQ2 progress report for March 2021 Howdy Defender's Quest fans! Today we have a progress report and a new build up on Steam for Windows/Linux. As we covered in March of the Machines, each of the two parties
dq Tanking Texas Temperatures: DQ2 progress report for February 2021 It got really cold and scary in Texas for a bit but somehow I actually got a few things done!
defender's quest March of the Machines: DQ2 progress report for December 2020 + January 2021 In the December/January progress report we talk about three new "machine minion" characters that help fill out the party.
defenders-quest Defender's Quest 2 Progress Report for November 2020 This month we talk all about level design!
dq2 Reflecting and recharging - October 2020 This past October I did something I haven't done in over 6 years – took a vacation with my family. After I got back I took some time to reorganize some things in my life, and a plan for DQ2's continued development.
dq2 Collecting Details: Defender's Quest 2 Progress for September 2020 September's progress report includes changes to item design, status effect display, defender placement, and lots of other details.
dq2 Defender's Quest 2 Progress for August 2020: Electric Four Square Once again emphasizing visual communication: - Energy shields - Show buff zones more clearly - Ultimate is now a 2x2 sized unit
defenders-quest Fun vs. Balance: Defender's Quest 2 Progress for July 2020 In previous months we've talked about how we ensure that DQ2 is balanced.Today we're going to talk about how we ensure that DQ2 is fun.
news Independent once more: Defender's Quest 2 Progress for June 2020 Notes on ending my contract with Valve, and a progress update for June
dq2 Back in the Saddle: Defender's Quest 2 / my life progress report for May 2020 Time for an extremely overdue update on everything going on with Defender's Quest 2 development and my life in general.
dq2 Extra Quarantine: Defender's Quest 2 Progress for April 2020 Progress report for May 2020 -- quarantine is hard, but we still did some stuff.
defenders-quest Balancing Quarantine: Defender's Quest 2 Progress for March 2020 Quarantine sucks, but DQ2 is still making progress. Learn all about balancing careful intro stages for our hero units.
dq2 Laser Lightning Bugs in the Spotlight: Defender's Quest 2 Progress for February 2020 This month, we're working on visual design language and gamefeel.
dq2 Defender's Quest 2 Progress: January 2020 Defender's Quest 2's progress report for the month of January.
defenders-quest Defender's Quest 2 Progress: December 2019 December progress report for Defender's Quest 2
defenders-quest Collecting Power -- Defender's Quest 2 Progress: November 2019 It's mid-November, so here's the latest progress report for DQ2. Details on the "Collector" and "Eliminator" classes.
dq2 Steamy Bees -- Defender's Quest 2 Progress: September 2019 Let's talk about angry intelligent bees in Defender's Quest 2 in this month's progress report!
defenders-quest Defender's Quest 2 Progress: August 2019 It's the ides of August, which means it's time for another infodump progress report for Defender's Quest 2. Skill trees and character classes and a bunch of other stuff.
defenders-quest Defender's Quest 2 Progress: February-July 2019 We're starting something new -- Defender's Quest 2 monthly infodump progress reports.
design Wash your game's windows Ever played one of those games where you have no clue what any of the mechanics actually do and you just kind of muddle through? Playing this kind of game is like peering through a dirty, smudged window. What a game like this needs is some Windex.
