Let me tell you guys, the Spanish summer is not the best time to be hard at work!
Despite the sweltering temperatures, we've been making solid progress - mostly around parts of the project a little farther from the core gameplay. Working on new classes, abilities and enemies is the fun part, but there is also a lot of grunt work that goes into shipping a game: from adding a settings menu (we did that!), through tweaking UI to work at various screen sizes (did that!) to making sure that the random number generator is properly seeded everywhere (yup, did that as well!).
But there is another thing that we've worked on quite a bit over the summer, and that is the metagame - everything that you do between runs when you're not actively fighting monsters.
What you see here is the Demonhunter's Guild Great Hall - your central base of operations.
You'll use this place to get ready for your next run, unlock new things and buy your upgrades - but also to arrange various gadgets and tchotchkes representing your achievements. Each painting, item and piece of furniture has a smaller or bigger task behind it, so the guild hall starts pretty empty and fills up as you play and beat the game. It's intended to be a cozy place to visit between runs that you can furnish yourself with mementos of your exploits.
You might have also noticed that conspicuous symbol taking up the center of the room; that's the Master Seal. Much of your efforts in the campaign mode will be centered around awakening various minor seals so that you can complete the pattern. Doing that won't be easy, but since you're here reading about an upcoming roguelike, easy is probably not what you're looking for.
Once you venture behind the door to the Demonhunters' Guild porch, you face a view of the realm, with a randomly chosen roster of characters that you can send to the various demon lairs.
Two of them, the Weyrwood and the Fivefold Church, you can visit from the get go. Unlocking the Sunken Palace, the Soulforge and the Crystal University will be up to you, and it might or might not have something to do with that mysterious seal I just told you about.
Each environment comes with its own complement of elite monsters and maybe even some special challenges and rules unique to the place.
There is of course way more to the metagame: everything from the unlock schedule, through how each specific upgrade works, to the overall progression mechanics.
These parts are important, and they were a big part of our work this summer - they're the invisible machinery that makes a game rewarding and keeps you motivated. There is a lot to balancing this: making it simple but deep, engaging but not exploitative, driving you forward but respecting you as a player.
This type of work is not easy to show on a screenshot. The only way to truly appreciate it is to play the game and we're doing our best to make that happen for you as soon as possible - read on!
WHAT NEXT?
If all goes to plan, the culmination of all that metagame and user interface work will be a limited beta release. That's going to be a closed beta, so keep your eyes peeled for the next update if you'd like to participate and give the game a go before anybody else! Following the game here on Steam or on any of the socials is a good way to not miss it.
That's the next milestone we're working towards - but to be honest, the actual next item on the development plan is two weeks vacation for everyone. That's what the team needs the most after working through the summer and the last thing we want is to burn ourselves out before the finish line, so we're getting a bit of rest like the responsible adults we sometimes are.
Take care of yourselves and see you around the dungeon,
