DevLog 10: Reflection, Tuning the Battlefield, and Setting Up Shop

Happy DevLog 10 Ya'll,

We have come a long way from DevLog 1: Welcome to Grimoire back in September 2022 and Grimoire: Four Aspects (In Development). Back then I had just started a new job, was still taking care of my newborn son, trying to have some semblance of a stream schedule, and stay sane all at once. It was hard. But thanks to the support of the amazing Discord, forum and itch communities, Grimoire has evolved into something so fricken amazing. So before anything else:

Thank You. Truly. 

In true Puppet Knight fashion I waited a long ass time to get this DevLog out (I’m a good 2 weeks later than my target date). Half the fault of life responsibilities, half me recognizing that changing one mechanic has a domino effect for a lot of other systems. Today’s devlog is a milestone for my itch as its #10, though obviously I put a lot into the forums for a while too. In an effort to better synergize and stay organized, this will be the last numbered devlog. Going forward I will follow a date centric formatting. So DevLog mm/dd/yy:, I’m American sue me lol.

This update brings a mix of mechanical refinements and aesthetic upgrades as development on Grimoire: Four Aspects continues. The battle system saw a few key adjustments, including improvements to the Aura gauge logic and the introduction of the Rush mechanic for yellow skill pages. Meanwhile, Veil is a new skill that serves as a regenerative tool for the updated Aura system, tying into the game’s evolving relationship between risk and rhythm in combat.

On the visual side, we’ve implemented a new shop scene layout, designed to feel more cohesive with the rest of the game’s UI direction. And behind the scenes, we’ve phased out the more complex element stacking/reflect logic in favor of a cleaner, more readable approach to elemental strengths and weaknesses.

Last but certainly not least we have new Battle Music!!

This devlog is all about small steps with big impact—tuning systems for clarity, pacing, and fun.

Let’s get to it!

Battle Mechanics && UI

The Aura mechanic has been adjusted. Previously Aura acted as a Shield (based on MP) for each party member. This would be their first line of defense in battle. I have shifted Aura to instead be a damageOffset mechanic as a shared gauge between MP and TP totalling 100. 

As the battle progresses the party members Aura Gauge will shift between physical and magical damage offsetting. Which direction the gauge shifts to will be determined by the Hit Type of the skills used. Physical attacks will mean a lowered defense against future physical hit type skills, and vice versa for Magical attacks. Players will have to be mindful of the vulnerabilities 

The Battle UI for the Skill Pages has been updated to show players what hitType that skill is. Better preparing them during battle for potential Aura shifts. Using the Guard command increases the user's physical damage offset. We’re also adding a new Actor command “Veil”. This will focus on magical damage offset. 

hitType has been better highlighted in other areas as well. Being such an important mechanic, I want to be sure the player can see it easily.

Additionally the hitType will be shown in the Skills HelpWindow in and out of battle to ensure the player is always properly informed of what they are equipping and learning.

On the visual front, I’ve updated the page colors to be more vibrant in-menu, to be more distinct (especially yellow vs white). I’ll come back to this scene to standardize the removal of skill costs shown in that middle window and replace them with the hitType icons as they appear in the helpWindow. In-game lore and some help items(like manuals) will exist to remind players what each icon means. 

Yellow Pages have been updated. Originally yellow paged skills were called “Drain” skills, that worked in a more traditional Mp Cost way to drain the party members shield in order to use the skill. With the change to the Aura mechanic, Yellow Skill Pages have been updated to what will be referred to as “Rush” skills.

Page Color is a separate mechanic from the skill’s actual effect. Rather than stuff like adding status effects, page color impacts the flow of battle for that user. The chart below explains the current page colors, their names, and impact on the flow of battle:

[ create and insert table/visual breakdown of skill Types]

Elemental Impact on battle has been altered. Originally I was using stacked multipliers, counters, weaknesses.. you name it from my plugin. It was overkill. I’ve stripped the project of most elemental damage multipliers. What will stay is the interaction between a skills element and the states that create or replace on the targets.

Shop Scene UI

I have adjusted the Shop UI to include the standard information about skill pages when they are being purchased. I’ve also included indicators if the current equipment being focused on is already equipped by a party member. 

If it wasn’t obvious, the theme of this dev log is Player Awareness haha. I will likely further update this scene to switch views to indicate what items a party member has equipped if you hover over something like an Apple. 

Battle Music

In the middle of March I almost ignored a forum post titled Starlit Music ~ Free Music for your Games! I am so glad I didn’t. Our updated battle theme is the wonderful track “Flash of Light” luckily the first track in the demo video Starlit shared in the post.

[try to embed the video here]

To quote myself:
“I have never started a song and instantly went. yep thats my new battle music the way i did for Flash of Light. hooolly shyt thats good stuff”

This track just IS Grimoire. Be sure to check out all of the tracks released on Starlits itch page.

This took me a week to get out to you all. There was so much to cover and I just wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything. 

Next Steps

I am going to be continuing a code cleanup sparked by some of the battle mechanic changes. Mainly I have to streamline a lot of custom functions. After, will be coding the new Rush mechanic and working on a few more explainers to add in the game. Last step is refactoring the party’s Talent skills and creating a couple more element skills. 

All 3 prologues are already done as well as the brunt of the first Chapter 1 mission the party takes on.
Once complete, I can confidently say that we’ll be ready for a demo to drop. 

Until then.
See you online,

- Puppet