I got a ton of responses to my last blog about EBF5’s writing, so here’s a summary of what I’ve heard:

• A reasonable amount of Flanderization/character quirks is good
• Character personalities shouldn’t change much (they won’t)
• People like the writing silly, but a few serious moments are good
• Hint at relationships forming, but not too much
• More backstory and motivations for each character
• More world building and lore – characters should figure it out, not already know it all
• Some internal conflicts between the characters, but also give reasons for each pair to get along
• People like the sound of multiple endings, so I’ll give that a go (to a minor extent)
• People like the in-battle dialogue/reactions, are sad that it eventually runs out (will do more)
• Don’t forget about things established in previous games (the universe is almost the same)
• Try to tie in some continuity with previous games (alternate universes, yo?)

Your concerns have been noted.

Hey guys, I’ve started writing the main character/story dialogue for EBF5, and now’s your chance to to tell me what you want to see there.

Some criticisms of my writing in the past include:
• EBF4 took existing character quirks and focused a bit too much on those. (see Flanderization)
• Bullet Heaven 2’s dialogue was a bit too silly in general and didn’t have a real plot – people seem to actually like a concrete plot, even if it’s quite shallow.
• A lack of character development in general, especially when it comes to relationships.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but EBF5’s story is not a continuation of previous games. All the characters are starting at level 1 and meeting each other for the first time, and they’ve all got homes now. So I think that already guarantees there’s going to be more character development than before. Whether everyone likes how it turns out, who knows? But I’m aiming to have all of the characters grow and act a lot different by the end of the game. (Maybe also some small variations on the ending depending on how you play the game.)

Thoughts and expectations?

Phyrnna came over to Scotland, and we met up for a day to do some sightseeing and other tourist stuff. We rushed through a lot of museums and art galleries, and went on a tour of the Tennent’s brewery (some of you might recognise that brand from somewhere…). We’ve been working together for almost 10 years and this is the first time we’ve met, so that was fun.

Also here’s a leftover gif of the Rapture area. It’s a bit alien looking.

The map menu is finished! And it only took about a day!
I’m really glad I put in the effort to make the map segments line up, and to make the paths very clear. Now it all shows up very well on these tiny screenshots, and there’s not a lot of tearing visible. All looks pretty natural.

Completed sidequests and the location of the next plot goal or key item are also marked on the map.
So no more excuses for getting lost. It’s not too hand-holdy though, since the goal is usually a few tiles into the fog and you have to figure out how to get there.

I started off drawing the map like in EBF4, before realising that it looks terrible and that screenshots work better – and are also much faster to do.

Usually I leave achievements for last, but I’m doing them slightly earlier this time. I can’t implement all of the achievements until everything else is done, but I’m doing the ones that I can for now. Here’s a selection of some of the icons. They’re designed more for the HD version of the game this time, but should still look okay in the tiny 50x50px versions.

There’s probably going to be 100 achievements in total.