Completely fruitless. Kind of completely. I jumped in deep water with the combat system, which I wanted to be one of the more unique things about my entry.

What have I accomplished in this first month (PolyStyle - HAH)?

- Dialogue engine

- Opening cutscene

- Classes implemented, but each only has a few spells finished (need graphics)

- Action combat engine supported by using the mouse to position and cast spells

- The story in its entirety is complete, now time to actually implement it

- Composed half the tracks and implemented a solid sound system

- The leveling and stat system is complete

- Stat curve is high to make sure there's no grinding, and levels mean something big

- Pretty much finished the HUD

- All the conceptual shit I should've finished before the competition began

The most time-consuming part by far was doing the different classes. I've considered scrapping a few to speed development. We'll see soon enough. But first, a briefing:

There are eight classes, each of which falls into one of four categories. In order: Tank, Melee, Ranged, Mage.

Guardian - Uses shields and defensive spells to keep both himself and his party up. Damage is based on shield integrity, so you can still dish it out.

Bloodwielder - Focuses on healing both himself and his party through damaging and leeching attacks. The Bloodwielder gains extra damage both if his health is low, and if he overheals.

Render - A powerhouse melee class that focuses around heavy stuns and durability.

Shadowlurker - The roguelike class, capable of vanishing from sight and executing deadly blows. Mobile yet delicate.

Skirmisher - The melee/ranged hybrid. The skirmisher spends much of his time dashing in and out of the fight to deal damage, and can fight effectively at melee or at long range.

Tracker - The full on ranged class that deals damage through charged sniping attacks. Deadly at long range, but delicate in melee.

Corruptor - Deals damage indirectly through areas of effect and curses. The corruptor is a versatile class with several different playstyles.

Particle Artist - The bullet caster. Uses thick barrages and familiars to damage his enemies without getting close. The downside? Some of these are rather hard to aim and predict.

Time for screenshots. Everything looks better in motion, so I don't have much.

I guess now is a good time to ask what of the eight classes you find most interesting, and what you find most boring. Being a third of the way through the competition, and this being my biggest obstacle, I figure weeding out some of the harder stuff would be in my best interest.

Other than that, I decided not to do co-op after all, but the story revolves around making difficult decisions that influence the course of the game. Have fun with that.