Hello little deities, welcome back to our monthly update! As always, I've been eagerly awaiting this moment to share the latest developments with you.
This month has been incredibly productive. I took advantage of a week off from my main job to make significant progress on Deity's Domain, so let's go dive into the news:
I am happy to announce that the next milestone for the project will be the Demo, which will cover the beginning of the game up to the end of the first phase (there will be three phases in total), with an estimated duration of about 2 hours. The first phase is much shorter than the subsequent ones.
Please note that this first version of the demo will stop just before the acquisition of the creature, which will be included in a second version of the demo. It's a very delicate feature, and I want to take my time to get it right.
As I mentioned at the end of the last devlog, this month I focused primarily on implementing a quest and tutorial system. I'm quite satisfied with the result; I now have a very flexible system that will allow me to outline all the events from here to the demo and later for the entire game.
Most of the tutorials have already been implemented, but they are still placeholders. They need polishing and the addition of events and artistic effects.
Significant progress has also been made with the sound design and visual effects, but it’s still too early to show anything in that regard. These are mainly targeted interventions aimed at consolidating the systems for future polishing.
Another big update is the new map [Work in progress]! The one you’ve seen so far was temporary and had a small advantage that was convenient during the early stages of prototyping and development... it was flat. However, I've always wanted to move to a larger island, especially one structured on various slopes, but this brings many complications from an implementation standpoint.
So this month, I focused on identifying the technical limitations that were holding me back and addressed them. In particular, it was impossible with the old system of fields to play on sloped terrain, so I completely rewrote the system, moving from a fixed grid system to a four-point system that creates a more flexible grid, effectively changing the underlying terrain type.
I’m very pleased with this result, and I’m sure this system will be useful for many other objectives 😉
Some modifications were also necessary for the structures, but nothing too interesting.
Together with the 3D modeler, we’re starting to work on reworking the citizens to increase the variety and quality of your future citizens and (hopefully) followers, here's a little preview of the concept:
There are two more updates. One of them is visible, and the sharp-eyed among you may have noticed—there has been a UI rework. This was a step I wanted to take some time ago when we moved to the Norse setting, but I took some extra time to decide on the style to use. I hope you like this new direction. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments if you’d like 😉
Lastly, over the past few weeks, I’ve also been working on a system similar to Unreal’s GAS (Gameplay Ability System). If any of you developers have worked with Unreal, you’ll know how powerful this system is. I use it every day in my main job, and I have to say it’s fantastic. However, since Unity doesn't officially have anything like it, and the GAS systems available online didn’t quite meet my needs, I’ve been creating my own, with great results. This should speed up development in the long run, though it has required a very thorough restructuring at present. But I’m almost done, and the positive effects of this new development system are already noticeable.
So, looking back on this month, I can say I'm satisfied. The groundwork has been laid for everything needed for the upcoming demo. Please note that it will still take some time; the hope is to have a first public and playable demo available by Q1 2025. However, I can't provide a definitive date just yet, so stay tuned for future updates. I'm already looking forward to our next regular update.
See you soon, and keep following us, little deities!