Hello, dear players!
New Year's holidays are over, I had a lot of rest and procrastination, but still managed to do some useful things for the game. Also, another delay happened.
Presumably, the game could finally be ready either around May, or after the summer, I can't give any more specific dates, because I'm really, really bad with them, which was obvious from the previous delays.
But let's get to the good news and progress on the game!
Changed the beach in front of the Water District
The beach connected very poorly with the rest of the game world, so I decided to tweak it and connect it better to the other location. Also, I have removed the roots of the Dargratt tree from location's upper half, since it doesn't reach the beach to that extent.
The beach has its own "music" too.
The scenery on the lake now changes in real time
The time of day in the game is now not controlled by the story, but is fully dynamic. The lake scenery didn't fit this dynamic system, so I took some time to make a fully dynamic time change in the scenery itself as well.
FPS setting
This setting rarely shows up in pixel games, and indie games in general, but I managed to add it and it even seems to be stable.
If you have a high refresh rate monitor this will make the game much smoother!
Improved follower movement
Long time ago, followers would perfectly follow the path you traveled, including little zigzags and back and forth turns. I redesigned this system so that followers wouldn't blatantly follow you, repeating your path 1-to-1.
Later, I realized that small movements and turns in one place shouldn't cause a follower to run over behind you as well. Now they will wait quietly until you choose a new direction of movement.
Of course, you can now stop and just look at your follower. (They might even react to you staring at them)
Improved surface characters
The game's dynamic time of day change had its costs - the characters would simply disappear when daytime changes.
I was able to make a much more interesting experience out of this, and now the characters come and go to their places at a certain point.
This is just one example of this character behavior in the world, there will be more.
Story Progress
Certain things will once again lead the protagonist to the Water District, but in a new role.
Water District expansion
Among other things, the Water District has now gotten a little bigger, going deeper towards the old factory.
Draft for a quest with Froga
I won't tell or show you much, but here's a screenshot.
During this quest, the Froga will be a follower and walk with you everywhere. You can learn a lot about her, the Water District, and more.
Changes in the Forest District
In the midst of many improvements, I haven't forgotten about the Forest District, which has been made even prettier. Even with new locations!
Other improvements
Characters can now look at the protagonist and follow him with their heads, within some distance. (This is a detail I looked up in Hollow Knight)
Character leaving the location as night falls.
The cars have a soft red glow from the taillights at night.
With a small chance, insects may fly out of the vegetation.
That's all folks!
Join the Discord server of the game, it's the easiest place to contact me, the developer!
Or email [email protected]
Hope you enjoyed this post! Over the past months full of rest and procrastination, I've done quite a few secondary things, so the main story still needs time. Nevertheless, the game is slowly but surely getting closer to release. Thank you, for your continued attention and love of the game!
Sincerely,
uglycoal
:melon: