Final Status Update

I've got all the hard drive issues sorted out, and I'm back to work with a bold claim, the final status update! I've worked the better part of this week, and finished up a good chunk of the endgame content. Now the to-do list has come down to 1-2 more quests, last set of items, and any final tweaks/bug fixes.

I'm really excited to soon be able to call this game complete. When I first came up with the plan for Dego, I wanted to finish development in a year, but now it's been 20 months! I'd like the thank everyone who has been following this project. I appreciate all the comments, feedback, suggestions, and most of all, stories of people's adventures in the game. It has taken longer than expected, but I want to remind everyone that this is a full length game with 30-40 hours of gameplay per character, and I want to release a final product that I believe is worth the wait.

On a side note, I'm really satisfied, almost surprised, with how well the character development turned out, considering a player can only equip three items. With each new tier of equipment, the game introduces new effects and passive abilities, and by the time you make the jump to endgame items, there is a huge variety of combos. Between dungeons, you can completely change how your character plays. I'm constantly trying to find new, horribly overpowered combos to make sure everything is properly balanced. I've found a theoretical combo that, with careful execution, can make a thief character permanently invincible. I already have 2/3 of the items needed; I just need to get a hold of an extremely rare item to make it happen. Still thinking of how to balance this one!

Here's a summary of some of the major changes made since that ancient demo I released, so long ago:
-Melee characters have inherent damage and defense boosts, plus a much larger attack radius. This helps them keep up with range and magic users, who have an easier time dodging. Some enemies will screw over melee characters, but be easy for ranged attackers, while other enemies will be a nightmare for magic users, but easily fall to melee weapons. This makes for better multiplayer, with each person having a more specialized role.
-Immediately threatening conditions like shock, freeze, and confuse are clear and obvious to spot. When you are frozen, your character in physically covered in ice. Trying to quickly move back and forth will crack the ice, causing it to shatter and free the player trapped inside. Confusion now reverses your controls, instead of randomly switching them. This lets skilled, experienced players be able to guide their character even while suffering from confusion.
-Content wise, the game is leaps and bounds from the demo. There are 28 dungeons, including hard mode, and over 400 items. Plus, there are quests all over offering unique monsters to fight and exclusive items to find. Each dungeons has hidden rooms stacked with treasure, mysterious NPCs who may join you or sell exclusive items, and a secret room with alternate, rare versions of monsters.
-Players can use their skills faster. You get more SP per attack, more SP when damaged, more SP while fighting bosses, and everyone has a natural SP regen. This ups the pace of the game and makes combat more strategic, putting a bigger impact on your class and the diversity of your party members.
-The story is much fuller and has a proper resolution. There are a much larger number of NPCs, with each adding a personal insight into the world's conflict with the horrific Malice King. And with more dungeons to travel, there are several main, reoccurring characters who go dungeon hopping with you. The tale is still pieced together by the player based on who she meets in the randomly setup dungeons, but there are now a few forced cutscenes towards the end. Of course these are skip-able, for the adventuring party that has fought that boss a hundred times.

All this text and no mention of a release date? For that I say, sometime soon. Read More!

A Minor Setback

For some reason, I decided it was best to handle all of my development on a nearly decade old computer, already one step past the edge of its life. Last Saturday, my old faithful hard drive decided its time was up. Now irreparable hard drive damage is the last thing you want to hear, especially when it contains the latest Dego build. Unfortunately, my most recent Dego backup wasn't all that recent. It was missing 50 new items, an extensive new quest, and a handful of bug fixes and balance tweaks - not anything I'd like to redo. Luckily, a friend and I managed to recover a significant amount of data from my little dead hard drive, and the data is resting safely on his external drive. Now all I need to get back to work is buy an external hard drive to hold all my backed up data and install all my development software on my laptop.

Not wanted to give all bad news, here's the remaining to-do list:
-Make reward items for 3 finished quest
-Make 2 new quests
-Make any extra items
-Make final tweaks
-Have a final round of testing
-And possibly add a secret dungeon (but I guess it wouldn't be a secret if I confirmed it, would it?) Read More!

Item Spotlight: Bomb

This weapon was suggested by Dawnbomb, and I thought it was a really neat idea so I made sure to include it. Instead of a direct attack, the special attack of this item sets down a bomb. It counts down from 3, then blows up, damaging anything nearby. Even players suffer damage from the bomb, so make sure to stand back! This weapon is very useful for clumping monsters together and hitting them all at once. The bomb is quite special and can only be bought from an in-dungeon merchant. Read More!

Quest Spotlight: The Maestro

This is more of a minigame than a quest. The Maestro is a master composer known throughout the land, and lucky for you, he is willing to offer his services. He is willing to train anyone interested in music.


There are seven notes on the floor. The Maestro will play the middle note for reference, followed by a random note. Players must choose the right note to gain a point; choose wrong and you lose. Once you earn ten points, the party wins a reward, and the highest scoring player wins a bonus. Read More!

Item Spotlight: Fire Sword

This unique burning sword can shoot a powerful fireball attack. When a hero picks up this weapon, they have the versatility of switching between melee and range attacks at a moments notice. And being a sword covered in flames, it naturally has a chance of setting enemies on fire with each attack. No merchant can get a hold of one of these elusive blades, but treasure hunters say you might be able to spot one in the Catacombs. Read More!

Quest Spotlight: The Lost Sword

Since I'm working on quests and items, a couple people have suggested I post some updates showing off some of the quests and items in the game. So here is the start of short series of updates that will last until I'm ready to release the final game.


This shady, villain-like man asks you to pick up his lost sword, but refuses to explain why he is too afraid to do it himself.


The task seems simple enough. The sword is resting on the ground, surrounded by four inanimate stone statues. I bet nothing bad will happen when you pick it up. Read More!

A Quick Update

I completely underestimated the amount of time it will take to finish this project! I know I said my next update would have a trailer, but I want to post this quick update to make sure everyone knows this project isn't dead, and I'm still working as often as possible.

This game is heavily item based, giving players the chance to put together countless equipment combinations to customize their character. Right now there are 300 items, a good portion of which offer something unique. Most of my time right now is going into making these items and testing it all. Additionally, there were a couple quests and minigames I had planned, but still needed go back and add in. So basically, quests, items, and testing left to do. Don't know when Dego will be finished. Read More!