Crossroads
Two weeks of playtesting, two more of analysis, revisions, and continuous work. We sat down and played Rinthine, and something about it isn't clicking.
That can be an uncomfortable thing to notice about your own game, but it is something we have prepared for, and we are in very good company when it comes to working on a project for a long time, only for it to not be quite there yet. Almost every game you can think of has come to a similar fork in the road, and has had to sit together and hash out how to best move forward.
Dank meme courtesy: Spider Archivist
I think there's a combination of pressure and excitement as we push through this challenge, because we really want to get it right, and there are so many possibilities, so many things that Rinthine can sprout into from what we decide in the coming days and weeks. Our playtesters have loved it so far, but it's still not quite meeting our expectations - what do we do, then?
We keep on workin'! Here's some of the stuff we've done the last two weeks.
Seeing it coming. Wind-up animation passes on every regional creature, and a hit-feedback overhaul across the board.
Leading the shot. Ranged enemies now fire where you're going to be, not where you are - and interactive nests seed fresh threats around them. You'll enjoy resenting both.
A-suh-wingbattabatta. Wider melee animation sets, re-tuned impact timings. Weapons feel distinct rather than reskinned.
The Cartographer Table & Waygates. Don't wanna spoil too much about these yet!
Watch your step. Reworked step-up traversal.
Rooms. New bathhouse doors, truncated wall variants, optimized wall meshes, and decorative statues to give rooms a center of gravity. Some are very good furniture. Some aren't furniture. We'll leave that there.
Where you start. Starter room retuned for pacing, biomes tied to progression, machine rooms and doors marking the way forward.
The Mechanic Unlock System. A central spine for progression items, locks and machine rooms, so capabilities arrive in an order we choose. Early-biome economies rebalanced to match, plus foundations for an in-game item wiki.
Why do we fall? Defeat now opens a real choice: new world, roll back a day, or step away.
Solitude. Checkpoint statues generate into the world as proper safe harbor, and Solitude itself is rebalanced with clearer UI.
Racks on racks. Wooden stands, weapon racks, campfires, armour stands, target dummies and crude tools, all placeable. Gear breaks back down into parts, ammo loading is in, the bow has begun its first pass, and hotbar equipment can carry passive effects.
Kiln & item art. Polished Kiln UI with new mold graphics and looping smoke, a wave of 2D item and entity art, an updated crafting menu, and the start of a player appearance customizer.
Behind the curtain. Our custom outline-thickness tools are done and in the pipeline, so Rinthine's line is controlled directly instead of fought per asset.
Most importantly: We've been prototyping deliberately unbalanced loops and alternative game modes - not promises, just questions we're asking out loud. Some will look unfinished. That's on purpose, and we're in what you could call a state of play, throwing things at the wall and ideating.
Germany, Then Japan
Gamescom - August 26-30, Germany. A playable build at the Indie Arena Booth in Cologne.
Tokyo Game Show - September 17-21, Japan.
Come say hello to the team!
Courtesy: Spider Archivist
A matter of perspective
In any team effort - even more so one that is so publicly building - there are a lot of eyeballs and a lot of opinions with respect to the direction the project should take, and when it comes to "The Issue™" in question right now, there are just as many opinions on how to approach it.
We have systems, a huge amount of in-game content, solid mechanics, and plenty of things for the player to do, but as we speak, the team is grappling with one of the most important challenges it has faced in its entire history - refining the core identity of Rinthine itself.
In a sense, we have really fun questions to answer:
What do we like best?
What should players feel?
What makes "Rinthine", "Rinthine"?
The thing is, all these - and more - are questions we've asked at every stage of the game, in one way or another, and the answers have evolved with us as we've grown together as a team, and as Rinthine has blossomed into reality, but the ultimate question for any game is, "IS IT FUN?" - everything else bends to this, and where we are, good is the enemy of best. We know we have a good game. That's not enough.
There's a fuller devlog coming , a more in-depth look at what we chatted about here, with the tester diaries that pushed us down this road, and a look at what makes Rinthine special for each of us.
Till then, I guess we'll see you in the Labyrinth.
The Rinthine Team
Courtesy: Spider Archivist