The Circle Is Complete!
We now have a full working game loop! What do I mean by full game loop? Well it goes something like this:
1) Create Character
2) Arrive in game world at overland map
3) Visit battle caravan, do some shopping
4) Return to overland map
5) Click on a town, travel there
6) Meet arena overlord, arrange for a fight against one of X gladiators
7) Fight gladiator, gain XP
8) Level up if you have enough XP
9) Return to overland map to either shop at the battle caravan, travel to another town or fight another battle in this town
So that's the game loop in a nutshell. We're nearly ready to get the demo wrapped up for the big Steam Next Fest in February!
Sounds Remastered
I've also been remastering and normalizing a lot of the sounds in the game. Battle now feels much more alive, the clangs of swords and shields can be heard a lot louder and sound richer and fuller! You can of course tweak all the sound settings in the game too, with 5 different audio volume sliders to allow you to mix and match sound how you like.
Aside from that, I've worked out a way to save Arena Champions separately to regular gladiators, meaning I can arrange folders of them for tournaments. This may even lead to mod packs down the road if the game proves to be very successful.
So as you can see, tons going on, lots of moving parts and incomplete features to keep track of. Tis a battle to keep on top of everything but I'm excited with where the game is at.
Cheers,
Oliver Joyce
Whiskeybarrel Studios