Greetings travellers!
Before I begin - I must ask you a favour! It's very simple, if you're reading this right now, and you enjoy looking at these newsletters, then feel free to click the "Like" button towards the bottom of the page or leave a comment. I know some of you are already doing this (and I thank you for that!).
This will just give me a small indicator as to how useful or enjoyable these newsletters are!
With that out of the way - let's dig into all the things that happened in April shall we?
Demo Update
The first important update is that - after so long - there's been a large update to the demo experience!
This includes a bunch of fixes, quality of life changes, and some new features that have been rolled back from the full game. I have also tweaked areas and NPC conversations, that gives a little more insight to the main story of the full game.
Some of the opening and tutorial quests have been streamlined too, reducing some of the friction that I've discovered from player feedback.
Overall, this update changes the demo into a neater package with a more definitive start and end to the experience - but don't worry! The demo is not time-locked, and you can continue playing with the sandbox gameplay after completing it.
You can read the full details of the patch here, and if you haven't already - play the updated free demo now!
Spider Enemy Type
One of the things on my plate this month has been introducing and prototyping a new enemy type to fit into the procedural Swamp biome. I finally decided to settle on a spider enemy, which will be easy to kill but difficult to reach.
This means that they'll be slow when idle, but as soon as they spot you they'll spring into action, darting to different locations and shooting multiple bullets of shadow slime at you. It's only after this where an opportunity for you to strike can occur!
I had posted my progress on these spider enemies on Reddit and Twitter, and received quite a positive reaction!
And here's the prototype all hooked up in game. It's actually pretty close to what I need, the locomotion system of the spider and it's legs was probably the hardest part to figure out. I now just need to add the combat abilities. (Oh, and what's this? A new unseen dungeon area! 😮)
Story Insights - The Museum
For this months newsletter I'd like to dive into one of the game mechanics you will encounter in Tales from The Dancing Moon, and that is the museum!
When you start the game you will quickly learn that the village you've found yourself in has recently been attacked by an enemy known as the "shadow-beasts". Before this invasion, the museum within this village housed many artefacts and relics.
But what happened after the shadow-beast invasion, and the timely event of your arrival? Well - you guessed it - the artefacts have gone missing!
When you first walk into the museum you'll meet Oswyn, the curator and owner of the museum itself. Who entrusts your help in finding any new items that can populate his museum. You're unsure of what items he had before, but sure enough on your adventures you'll encounter mysterious items that Oswyn will be interested in.
Speaking of Oswyn, let's take a look at his character portrait - say hello!
So how do you find these lost artefacts I might hear you ask?
To the east of the village are the city gates, and from there you can explore various procedurally generated zones where you can chop trees, mine rocks, attack enemies, and - you guessed it - find artefacts!
During your explorations you might see something poking out of the ground, when you interact with these items you'll pick them up and initiate the quest for returning these items back to Oswyn.
Let's take a look at an example of these artefacts.
Wait... did we read that correctly? A car tyre? A music amplifier? What are these sorts of items doing near a fantasy village?
Blending the "real world" and the village of Illisor is a common theme within this game. This applies to the museum artefacts, and the lore diaries you can find throughout the world.
The mysteries of why and how this occurs will unravel as you advance through the main story, and you can already get a sense of that if you play the demo! (hint hint! 😉)
(side note: I've been watching His Dark Materials on BBC iPlayer recently. I read the books when I was younger, but I really like the ideas it has of mixing fantasy and real world ideas. It probably inspired me a bit with this game!)
Anyway, after taking one of these items to Oswyn, he'll display it in one of the cabinets that sits within the museum. You can always return to the museum to reflect on all the items you've found during your time in Illisor, and it's always interesting to hear what Oswyn thinks of these strange items you bring to him!
Press-Kit Reminder
Before signing off for this months newsletter, I just want to mention a quick reminder that the official press-kit is now available. I'm happy to partake in any media related enquiries such as interviews, Q&A's, podcasts, etc! Feel free to get in touch!
Have a good one!
- DjMonkey
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https://store.steampowered.com/app/1782420/Tales_from_The_Dancing_Moon/