Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well.
Lately I've been very sick due to some kind of flu (I am still a bit sick to be honest) so I couldn't post the report on the last week.
Here is the current milestone progress:
The image looks quite similar to the previous one, but in actuality we are a lot closer to a potential Closed Beta release than it seems.
Most of the features (like New Clan Unlockables) are around 90% done, with a few last touches remaining to be finished, but that data isn't conveyed on the milestone image.
Anyway, let's start.
News and Announcements
A Wednesday Devsnippet about Stable Diffusion!
Previously I said that I lost plenty of devsnippet footage through bare misfortune, I explain that a bit further on the beginning of this new video:
This new Wednesday Devsnippet is focused on the usage of artificial intelligence image generators (like Stable Diffusion) to help speed up the process of making game art.
It is quite interesting in my opinion so if you are interested in AI, generators, game art or stuff like that, it may be worth your while! (I added plenty of resources on the description also)
Making a new NPC
I am currently working on the Loan Shark (the character silhouette in this announcement's capsule is hers), I used SB (Stable Diffusion) to speed up the process, but the art still lacks a bunch of polish and refinement.
It is interesting to see how the SB slowly works its way through a fitting result though, and yes, the Loan Shark is indeed an elderly lady.
I'll talk more about the mechanics later, but to summarize it:
Since characters cost coins and die permanently, it is possible to enter a softlock state where you are not able to play due to not having enough characters for an expedition and also not having enough coins to buy a new character.
That's why a Loan Shark of sorts needs to exist.
Progress In-Game
5 New community designed Upgrade Crystals!
Before getting sick I was preparing a devsnippet where I show the development of all 5 upgrade crystals ideas submitted by our Discord community members.
I have shown the Toll Crystal previously, so here is another one, designed by BlackDragonMagician:
There are other three crystals that I'll be showcasing on the next video, so stay tuned.
Polishes and Bugfixing
Polishing and bugfixing is something that will have to be executed until and probably during the Closed Beta itself. Jaqueta is doing a great job polishing several VFXs and UIs in the game, take a look at the poison effect he made:
(May take a huge while to load, so here is the direct link instead)
I am mostly focusing on the bugfixing and audio part, as you'll see below.
SFX and Soundtrack
I have been working on pending voice acting, SFX and soundtracks for the game.
On the topic of soundtrack, the dynamic battle music for the Jungle Segment has been finished
There are 12 separate tracks that will alternate in play in different moments (when a character attacks, dies, on enemy's turn, etc.), and it took around 6 different iterations to finish this song, but I think it will sound cool and fitting on the final product.
For the voice acting, I only managed to finish the Warden and the Troll for now, since my voice is absolutely dead now that I am sick, but I plan to finish all 15-ish remaining characters alongside my wife soon.
Sound effects are also being made, there aren't many instances of missing SFX but I tend to take the opportunity to do some other polishes simultaneously.
Anyway, those aren't things that can be shown unfortunately, but I hope your ears like what they hear when you play the Closed Beta! :)
Others
- After testing the game for a bit, I decided that the Jungle boss is balanced for now. We'll have to collect feedback on the Closed Beta to do further balancing.
- We'll be taking part on the Steam Next Fest that will be happening on the end of this month. (Steam Scream Fest) I'll be doing a proper announcement eventually.
Plans and Wrapping Up
For the next week, I hope to get rid of this damn flu.
And of course, I plan to address the "80%ish done" features to turn them into 100% done ones instead.
The delayed devsnippet about the Community Upgrade Crystals will be happening next week unless I am still too sick to record/edit stuff.
And I think that is it. See you soon!