March Development Update - Shade Idol and Tangleroot Valley

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Status Report

March has been a light month - I've been working under the hood of the game systems and evaluating new approaches to artwork. In light of this, I don't have too many things to report, but the things I do have are looking better than ever.

In this update:
  1. Shade Idol
  2. Tangleroot Valley
  3. Timeline Overview


Shade Idol Form



This is the big-ticket item for March. I first mentioned Shade many posts back. He will be the first "Idol Form" - a form you can transmogrify into to unleash powerful elemental attacks that exceed the Wraith's capabilities. Shade in particular will be an assassin - mobile, elusive, and with powerful single-target damage meant for picking off priority foes.

    This month, I fleshed out Shade's kit to the point of being ready for the playtest in June. Alongside devastating dual-sword attacks, he has the following abilities:
  • Vanish - Shade turns invisible for a short time
  • Warp - Shade teleports to a target location, emitting an explosion of smoke where he appears. Enemies hit by the smoke are stunned and take damage
  • Mark of Annihilation - Shade marks an enemy for destruction. It takes 1.5x damage for a short time. If the target dies while Mark of Annihilation is active, the mark jumps to a new nearby enemy
All of Shade's abilities deal Dark damage. This will eventually have properties differentiating it from physical damage, but for now it's just a different color damage number.



Tangleroot Valley



The first forest themed area in Aetherdale is Tangleroot Valley. Found in the undergrowth of a giant forest, Tangleroot Valley is gripped in fungi and roots that sprawl throughout the area. Both serve as tactical vantage points for Wraiths looking to find adventure here.

    While not finished yet, I've stepped up the artwork present in Tangleroot Valley, bringing it a lot clsoe to its final state.

    With my discovery of Tree It, a tree generating tool, I expect future level design in the forest areas to be a lot faster, as trees were something I struggled with for far too much time before.



Timeline Overview

Although making progress, there is still a lot to do before I would consider the game playtest-ready. I still expect it to be in June.

The bare minimum I will ensure is complete by then is this:
  1. Overgrowth Idol Form added
  2. Player in-sequence progression, in the form of upgrades that last until the player returns to the hub
  3. Add sound effects to the majority of content that needs them

If these are in place, I will pursue some of the following goals, in no particular order yet:

  1. Player account level, and permanent upgrades unlocked by increasing it
  2. More enemies
  3. Improving forest area art
  4. UI improvements
  5. Improving animations

As always, thanks for reading. Until next time.

 

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