September Development Update - Part 1 Completed, Current Development, and Future Plans

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The Secluded Grove, the new base of operations for the player and their allies

Status Report

At long last, Aetherdale is ready for early playtesting. In the last few months I wrapped up what I'm calling "Part 1" of development - which will serve as a demo moving forward. Part 1 includes:

  • 2 Idol forms - Shade and Overgrowth
  • 3 forest areas to fight through
  • A basic shop area before bosses
  • A new hub area that you start in, and return to upon death
  • A few weapon options (biggest differences are cosmetic and statistical, some weapon variety had to be dropped for the time being)
  • 2 boss fights - the Rogue Wraith Guardian and the Runewasp
  • Possibly-working online co-op through Steam
This demo is available by messaging me on Discord for a Steam key - but it will also be publicly available as a demo version on the Steam page soon, so stay tuned on Discord.

Now onto the latest development updates.


Emberpaw

The next enemy to join the ranks of the things that want to kill you in Aetherdale is Emberpaw. Aetherdale needed a "bane of the player's existence" type of enemy, so an agile, fire-breathing hell-cat seemed like a good move. Emberpaw's AI is slightly more "intelligent" than that of other enemies - it will clue into your presence from further way, hunt you down, and attempt to incinerate you with fire breath attacks. If this does not work, it is willing to get its claws involved (they may not be on the 3D model but they are very much capable of harming you).




Spears

Kicking off the re-implementation of weapon types other than one-handed sword is the spear. The addition of the spear brings improvements to the Wraith's animation system, allowing all animations to be swapped out easily to suit another weapon type. These improvements will pave the way to the re-implementation of greatsword and axe type weapons.

    The first spear in Aetherdale is the Almorite Spear - a jewel-adorned spear that excels against elementals and mages.


A Wraith wields a testing version the Almorite Spear




Controller Support

Aetherdale is now fully playable with a controller in the development version. This change will be available in the public demo to be released soon. This change paves the way to greater accessibility, and perhaps console ports one day.




Future Plans

I've mapped out a general development timeline for Aetherdale. At least internally, development will follow a "Part" scheme - where each part contains, more or less:
  • A new thematic region, that comes after the previous last region is completed
  • An average of 2 new Idols
  • At least one new weapon set
  • A few new enemy types
  • 1-2 new bosses
  • Multiple new traits
  • Quest/story additions
  • At least one, but probably multiple, new gameplay systems that enhances all content to date

Part 2 has been planned out already, and its highlights are as follows:
  • The Mines - the second area that must be battled through
  • 4 new enemy types
  • Voltaris, a new Storm-element Idol, and the first tank archetype Idol
  • A revised system for Idol form use
  • Side objectives in each area
  • New weapon types implemented - spear, axe, greatsword, and unique special moves for each
  • Shop improvements
  • New quests that take place within the mines
  • The introduction of the Ithindar - the main antagonists of the game

From there, the next parts are planned out generally, but specifics are TBD:
  • Part 3 - The Ice Caves - beneath the mines lies a perilous network of frozen caves and tunnels
  • Part 4 - The Magma Forge - an abandoned arcane forge, overrun by elementals and other dangerous entities
  • Part 5 - The Demonic Prison - an advanced magical dungeon, imprisoning friend and foe alike. The demonic prison is locked down by powerful security forces, and yet your destination lies beyond it.
  • Part 6 - ??? - A battle with greatest threat that Aetherdale has ever known, and a rigorous test of all of your decisions to that point.

Thanks for checking out the development update! If you haven't already, check out Aetherdale on Discord and on Steam:
https://discord.gg/UsyRfHtWra
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2958610/Aetherdale/

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