Hello wonderful people from the internet!
Welcome back to the 24th chapter of our development journey!
This week, we’ll be holding our first event of the year, where we’ll have the chance to showcase our game to a larger audience. We’re heading to the Baltic Games Fest in Neumünster and are really looking forward to exhibiting there. This means that our full focus this week will be on tasks related to the exhibition.
What is the current state of play?
Game Design
Last week, we worked on the tutorial level for the game, so the release build. In this level, we aim to introduce various mechanics, platforms, traps, and enemies in a way that gradually acclimates the player to the game, which can become quite complex. To achieve this, we’ve adopted a new level-design strategy and are following this approach to ensure a smooth introduction to the mechanics. The Chart of what to intodruce when in this level, is right below. This was done because the current tutorial level have more of a vertical slice feel style. The table helps us better convey the introduction of mechanics and other elements to the player. The mechanic being introduced is revisited later on and keeps coming up for the player, so that learning this mechanic, whether it’s an enemy or a trap or whatever, feels natural.
Art
We started with environmental assets that match the style of how we envision the final style. Here are some of the assets to see:
We also tweaked some additional enemies and redrew our main character for another exhibition in a new format, as shown below.
Programming
This week, we’ve fixed a few more bugs in the Baltic Games build, which means we’re now done with bug fixes for the time being, at least on the technical side. We’ve reworked the Pull and Slow runes, adjusted the knockback, and fixed a few input inconsistencies, such as being able to attack after rotating.
We’ve also continued working on the enemy system rework, which is designed to help us organize enemies more effectively and develop them more quickly. We’ve also spent the last few weeks reworking and expanding the inventory system. We can now easily switch between different tabs, and equipping and upgrading items will feel smoother and more intuitive. For example, we changed the behavior of the runes and the gear. The runes are now stored in a separate inventory, so they don’t take up space needed for the gear; therefore the tabs to organize them. We’ve also overhauled some of the internal code. Below is a short video that briefly demonstrates the new features.
What we will do this week?
Game Design, Art und Programming
This week, we’ll all be working together on the build, focusing mainly on decorating the level with assets, since we’ve already finished all the mechanics and features for this build. That means that by midweek, we’ll be decorating the world with older, yet very fitting and beautiful assets.
In the meantime, we might as well continue working on our respective tasks. In game design, that would mean continuing work on the tutorial level; in art, creating more environmental assets; and in programming, reworking the enemy system and finishing the inventory system.
And that’s a wrap for this update. Step by step, Enu is taking shape, and it’s exciting to see everything gradually come together. We truly appreciate you being part of this journey, your interest and support mean a lot to us. There’s still plenty ahead, and we’re looking forward to sharing more with you soon. Stay tuned!
