Hello wonderful people from the internet!
Welcome back to the 25th part of our almost weekly blog!
This week, we had the pleasure of showcasing our game at the Baltic Games Fest in Neumünster and letting event attendees play it. The event was a success and was a ton of fun overall. We got to meet nice new people, catch up with old friends, try out other cool games, and show Enu to new people. And that was a success too, since we mostly received positive feedback and people were really into the game.
The current version of the game we had on display will be uploaded to itch.io next week, where it can be downloaded and played.
What is the current state of play?
Game Design, Art und Programming
Since we spent more time working on the build and less on individual systems last week, it’s easier to describe what we did overall. It was mainly adding decorations and fixing bugs… lots of small bugs. We also encountered other structural issues that we noticed while the guests were playing or received as direct feedback.
One thing we noticed, or rather, something we already knew but then actually saw, was that we need to tweak the rotation display a bit. The functionality and handling of the rotation mechanics remain the same, however, certain assets and colliders are only activated once the player has touched the ground. This gives us the advantage of continuing to give the player the freedom to decide when to rotate, while still allowing us to control what the player sees and when. This also raises the idea of not penalizing an incorrect rotation with a game over, but rather with a reset, which might help alleviate some frustration.
Another point was the game’s introduction and our approach to the tutorial. We already have many ideas on how to better explain the rotation mechanics, which can seem a bit confusing at first, to players, as well as the gear system and its complexity, which needs to be explained more clearly and in a way that’s easier to grasp.
On that note, the next point. The inventory was a bit confusing and unintuitive, but we were already aware of that, so two weeks ago we started working on the new inventory system, which we hope will be much more intuitive and easier for players to navigate.
But overall, we’re very satisfied, and here’s a trailer featuring the new decor and the latest build:
What we will do this week?
Game Design
This week, we’ll be finalizing the skill tree system, focusing on the tree’s exact structure and how it works. We’ve already shown an early version, but here’s another image of how it will be set up. It’s a bit too complex to go into detail here on the blog, but we’ll definitely present it in detail again or, if needed, be happy to explain it on Discord.
Art
Enemies, enemies, enemies…this week we’ll be drawing more enemies and looking at iterations of them. We’ll probably create the next basic enemy, one that can run around platforms, as well as a current trap that we will transform into an enemy.
Programming
Here, we will continue working on the enemy system, which is designed to help us create new enemies more quickly and efficiently, as well as finalize the inventory.
Furthermore, once we have finalized the design, we will begin work on the skill tree system.
That’s all for this week’s update. With each iteration, Enu continues to evolve, and it’s great to see the vision becoming more tangible over time. Thanks for being along for the ride , your support and feedback help shape what comes next. We’ve got a lot more in store, and we’re excited to share it with you soon.
