Summery of weekly updates over on the Netherguild Discord
Hey Steam readers! Here's some of what I've been working on in April.
It includes Fixes and Improvements, some of my initial work on the New Areas and more!
Fixes and improvements
I planned to spend most of April fixing Netherguild! This is because there were some things that needed urgent fixing - for example, the tutorial windows appearing in distracting moments and issues with the inventory - as well as some things I just wanted to fix and improve in preparation for the Steam festivals in summer.
Some of these additions were player-requested, too!
Small Screen Support
If you played Netherguild with a screen slimmer than 1920 pixels wide, or, heavens forbid, less than 1600 pixels wide, you were in for a tough time and I don't envy you. A lot of the UI was incredibly messy and uncomfortable for players with small screens.
Well, not anymore! I spent a weekend going over every single thing at 1366x768 resolution to make sure the game is not only playable but also looks and feels good at smaller resolutions. It even includes custom features like this sliding character roster UI that only appear on smaller resolutions.
Middle Mouse Camera Dragging
A feature that has been requested by many players before (specifically I remember Rale from the Discord asking for it).
Now that I've added I can't do without it - it left me wondering... why didn't I add it before?...
Oh well, better late than never!! (:
Movement Counter
Can you spot it on the right side of the screen?
It should be handy in helping players navigate! I remember a friend of mine (Conan) asking for this as well as a user named CBrauto using the in-game feedback.
Visual Coins Improvement
In the past, if coins were in the same tile as an enemy or loot, it'd end up looking pretty messy...
Well, not anymore.
Smooth Camera
The camera smoothly re-focuses on the current character when attacking. I was convinced this would be annoying at first but it just feels so... satisfying, for some reason.
I also worked on many other small fixes to make playing the game more comfortable to play - feel free to fire up the demo if you haven't in the last month to see what changed!
New Areas
Early infographics, showcasing my plans for the new areas!
Here's some other tidbits:
The title text of the bandit stronghold!
The tin men will have a windup key on their back...
I just started adding the new areas into engine this week, so this screenshot is extremely raw! But over time these bridges will hang at a satisfying arc, torches will light the walls, and bandits will eagerly await you with readied weapons...
Big Events
Indie youtuber Splattercat tried out Netherguild! I was completely surprised when this happened... but it seems like he liked it! Also, welcome to all the Splattercat viewers who joined us since!
Netherguild is also participating in Steam's "Going Rogue" festival!! It is pretty tough to find it among the other thousand (or more) titles in the event, but it seems like some people did (:
I did livestream when the event started which ended up being a ton of fun - so if you missed it out, do expect more of these in future events.
Next Up
I plan on improving the demo's content in preparation for Steam's summer fest!! This means...
- Balance pass on all items and skills, making them more fun
- New mechanics for attacks and abilities
- New equipment
I'm excited to add some new systems too, and perhaps add more speech lines to player and enemy characters... but I don't want to make any promises I'm unsure I can keep with regards to these, so expect to read more about them in next month's update instead (;
I'm also going to continue working on the new areas - expect to see more in-engine stuff in next month's update.
In addition to that, I will keep fixing and improving Netherguild like I did in April, but I won't focus on it as much - seeing how I want to focus on CONTENT this month instead!
-Update End-
A dark screenshot of a (now fixed) bug that made characters t-pose
That's all for this update! Thank you for reading and see you next time (:
-David