It's been a couple of months since our last update and substantial progress has been made! In this dev diary we'll be covering what we've been up to recently, our current priorities, and what updates you can soon expect to see in the demo.
New Gameplay Trailer
A year ago we created a Defiled West trailer for the release of the demo, and while it showed off a lot of Stickstead, it is in no way representative of the game as it is today. Over the past week, we've been putting together a brand new trailer that showcases gameplay elements across multiple towns and buildings, some never before revealed!
This trailer is now live on our store page along with some updated screenshots. We'll begin posting it on our socials closer to the beginning of...
Next Fest (October 19th)
This October, we will be taking part in Next Fest! This has been in the plans for a long time, but we believe that the game has finally reached a stage that allows us to feel comfortable registering for the event. Development on our latest town Fort Experiment is (for now) at an end, so before we move onto our next and final town we want to spend some time polishing Riftwood and Stickstead to ensure the demo is in as good a state as can be before the Next Fest.
Final Town?
From the beginning of development, we had planned to create seven unique towns (or eight if you include Riftwood) for players to fight through and explore. Four of these would have been what we refer to as major towns; large maps featuring boss fights and a higher number of buildings in need of clearing. The rest would be smaller towns: fewer levels but by no means any less packed with things to discover.
So, after the completion of our most recent major town Fort Experiment, the natural progression was to move onto our next small town: The Blistered Bayou, a forsaken swampland festering with corruption and decay. This would have served as a segue between the Fort and our final major town, but recently we have come to a new decision.
The Blistered Bayou will be promoted to a major town, and will be the final location to reach in Defiled West. We have come to this conclusion by a number of factors:
We were much more excited by the prospect of a bayou than we were with what we initially had planned for the final map. This setting fits much better with the story and will hopefully make for a cool area to fight the final bosses in.
Making the bayou a major town means that we have even more room for detail and side-activities.
Six towns will be much easier for us to maintain and polish before release. We are an extremely small team so not having to worry about creating two more towns will relieve a lot of the pressure.
We have some really exciting plans for the bayou; new enemies with unique attack-styles, eerie locations and new weapons that will grant you a whole new level of power. More information will be provided once we are comfortably into its development.
Defiled West Demo Update
It has been a long time since we last updated the demo, and we have a lot of exciting things to share. A great deal has changed since the last version so we will provide thorough patch notes with the release of the next update. Some highlights include:
Introductory Train Sequence
When you first create a game, you will now be greeted by a cutscene wherein you operate a Gatling gun mounted to the window of a train carriage. Here, you will learn to shoot as you make your way to your homestead Riftwood Ranch.
Riftwood Overhaul
Your home turf of Riftwood has seen significant changes over the past couple of weeks, with brand new ground textures, rocks and points of interest. Even the ranch itself has been renovated! We aim to make Riftwood a lot more interesting to explore and give players a reason to return there. Collectables can be viewed and displayed in the Ranch, some may even provide you bonuses!
Among these new features comes the Riftwood Barn, but more information on that soon.
Collectable Whiskeys
A new form of collectable; thirty-two unique bottles of whiskey will be hidden all across the frontier for you to find and collect. Each one provides you with a small stat bonus, but perhaps more interestingly, you will be able to select your favourite and modify your appearance! Your enemies will have never seen such fashionable attire.
Boss Skulls
One of the rooms to the right of the ranch has finally been unlocked! In here you will find podiums carrying the skulls of bosses you have defeated. Each skull, once placed, will grant you a new ability or bonus!
The Carrion Bruiser
A new ranged enemy has made its way to Stickstead! A large, lumbering variant of the undead, the Carrion Bruiser is armed with a mini Gatling gun, ready to tear through anyone unfortunate to be standing in their paths.
And Much More!
Stickstead has also seen recent redecoration and polish, bug fixes are constantly underway and we are actively working on improving controller support. All of this will be available before Next Fest (October 19th) but may come in the form of multiple updates. Stay tuned for the patch notes!
Thanks for reading
That's all for now, as we continue working towards making the demo experience as smooth as possible, feedback is always appreciated. Make sure to fill out the Feedback Form if you have ideas or concerns! We'll be back soon with more information as we move closer towards the Next Fest and begin the developing our final town!
- The Mindmoss Team
