Venerable Knights of the Valley!
I'd like to share the latest progress on developing the game... here's what's new:
- Since the last update I Introduced a new character model to the game. This is a big step towards the vision of a highly dynamic world... characters can now update and act while they are not on the current map, meaning they will continue with their life and actions while you are not around. Next time you meet them, things might have changed.
- The interaction engine is now completed. As mentioned in a previous update, there are many ways of interacting with objects and characters around you... I think the system turned out really nicely, and I hope you will like it too.
- I completely reworked the indoor map visualization (buildings and dungeons). Inner walls as well as new transparency and light effects were added, but most importantly, the unnatural restriction that characters weren't able to move behind walls is finally gone. This was a major effort requiring lots of art and coding changes for each of the many types of dungeons and buildings, but it looks so much more real and interesting now, it was worth it.
- I further improved the pathfinding engine - it is much more robust now, especially indoors when steering tightly around many objects. I'm planning to put a bit more work into this later to make it even better, but it already works fine as is.
- Took first stabs at the NPC AI - this is a major project and will be the focus over the next few weeks or months.
- Added many new game characters and items.
- Added new music - a track from Kevin Manthei which we called "Traveling" is now part of the OST, and it's definitely one of the most atmospheric tunes in the game. I will probably share this song before the release, probably with the next (and hopefully final) trailer video.
- Countless internal improvements, additions, and fixes in basically every part of the game. Things run faster and more stable all around, which is critical for the upcoming EAP release. I also replaced the component for playing back cutscenes - this was necessary, as video and audio kept getting out of sync with the old one... it's a surprisingly complex issue, but it works well now.
I created a new video which starts right where the real game will start: in the tavern of the main character's hometown Baileaon, on a morning after a drinking night (major headache).
Watch our hero first walk through the building and interact with a few objects, before he leaves town to explore the world a bit.
Other characters are not yet shown in this video, but they already exist and will soon join the stage.
In a few weeks I'll hit the 6th anniversary of working on this project; this sounds like a long time, but considering the game is being developed part-time, it is the equivalent of three years of fulltime work... which really is not long at all for writing a complex game with a homebrew engine from scratch as a solo-dev.
I'm very excited how things shape up. The Early Access release is on my mind for every task I'm working on now, it's getting closer.