In this entry: Making western Rezelot areas - Rannah's Domain and Silver Fields.
February 28
The work on western Kayos starts with an overworld area with an internal name of the West: An area that combines Lockfall, Rannah's Domain, and Silver Fields locations.
Today I've made most of its graphics.
March 1
Graphics are now complete, it's time to work on gameplay!
The current plan is to have up to 6 overworld events active in the West: 3 in Silver Fields and 3 in Rannah's Domain.
Events in Rannah's Domain will be for low-level players: They will contain rogues with timeworn weapons and low-level demons called spores.
The reason why players would want to come to Rannah's Domain to kill low-level enemies is that they will drop T2 items, unlike other enemies of a similar level.
This will be a reward for attentive and exploring players.
Events in Silver Fields will be for high-level players: Enemies here will be the strongest the game ever had so far.
These enemies will be demons called columns - a variant of demons not found anywhere else in Kayos, a breed that was conjured during the War to destroy Grawas.
The toughest of them are elder columns - they have been killed thousands of times and have grown extraordinarily vicious.
Elder columns will drop T3 and T4 loot and will be the most rewarding enemies in the game.
Besides new enemies, Rannah's Domain and Silver Fields events will also sometimes contain silver ore rocks, living ice clusters, and volcanic geodes.
Living ice clusters:
Can be mined by high-level Gatherers for living ice.
Volcanic geodes:
Can be mined by any level Gatherers. Mining results are based on the player's Gatherer level. E.g: Having level 10+ in the Gatherer class adds a chance to get silver ore from the geodes. Having level 40+ in the Gatherer class adds a chance to get gold ore from the geodes. Etc. Geodes also have a small chance to contain unstable pigments.
Another unique feature of events in the West is New Grawas guard raids.
Because New Grawas is inaccessible, killing these guards and losing New Grawas reputation will not be as big of a deal as killing other faction guards.
March 3
Didn't do much today, just coded a bit of what's needed for the overworld events of the new areas.
March 4
Today I have made a bunch of new assets for the new areas.
Pretty happy about volcanic geode sprites:
These should be fun to crack open =]
In other news: 800 Wishlists reached!
March 5
A productive day!
Added more assets and new items:
The most interesting of them is the silver pickaxe:
Normally, a chance of getting a geode from silver and iron rocks is quite low, but a silver pickaxe increases that chance significantly.
March 7
Today I have made event locations.
Now I need to fix a few issues, implement the new demons, create new events, and add new loot containers.
I'm planning to add locked iron, silver, gold, and amalgam chests. The chests will spawn randomly in the overworld events and event enemies will drop keys to unlock them.
This should make things even more interesting.
March 8
Added new events and made other additions to the new area.
March 10
Added columns!
March 11
More progress! Gave columns masks, made some engine improvements, etc.
March 12
Columns are now done minus minor adjustments.
Added a new ability today just for columns - it's called "Cage" and it creates that glowing circle.
It's designed to mess with player strategies, it'll make it more difficult to just run away from the enemy avoiding all attacks.
This ability will eventually be usable by players, like all abilities.
March 13
Didn't do much today, just fixed a few bugs and made Eastern Trilith and Eir Meadow demons drop silver equipment. It felt like they weren't very rewarding to kill - this will fix that.
That is all for this entry - in the next one, I'll write about building Western Trilith and Siw.
Thanks for reading!
LOTLW Devblog #31: Story continues
In this entry: Finishing work on Luma and resuming work on story quest chain.
February 3
At the end of January, I was participating in Global Game Jam. After it was over, I took a few days to rest, and today I was back to development.
I have implemented Luma city guards and merchants.
February 4
Made little progress today - began implementing the rest of the needed NPCs.
February 5
NPCs, new matter kilns, and a way to gain Luma's reputation have been implemented! All's that left for this part of development is to fix bugs and make some minor engine improvements.
February 6
Today is the day! I have made a bunch of screenshots of the final Luma looks:
Today I fixed a few issues and then spent 3+ hours playing/testing the game. And, well...
When making a game, I build it from a loose idea in my head. I have faith in that idea and I work very hard to make it real. For a large portion of the development that's all I have - the game is too incomplete to match the idea.
But at some point game becomes complete enough - and then I see that what I was working on is real, not just something in my head. It's a huge relief and a milestone for the development.
So today's test did that to me, and I'm very happy =]
February 8
Today I have fixed the bugs I've found during testing and uploaded the new version to my Discord server.
Going to take it easy for a day or two - rest and celebrate the release of such an important version.
To summarize, it contains the city of Luma with all its new merchants and crafting stations, Tier 3 and Tier 4 equipment, and new events for Eir Meadows.
February 11
Today I have started working on new quests. Spend the day writing dialogues.
In other news: Light of the Locked World has entered Independent Games Festival!
There are a lot of great games in there and it's a huge honor to have my game among them.
February 12
Done writing the dialogue. Can't wait to introduce the players to the new characters and exciting new parts of the plot!
February 13
Maintenance day: Cleaning up before the end of a workweek, updating stuff, charging wireless devices, etc. I've also spent too much time writing LOTLW description - it's a constant struggle for me to describe the game...
February 14
...luckily today I've managed to put together something I'm okay with. I went ahead and updated the description in all sites the game is in.
With that done, I've gone to take another look at the dialogue I've written for the quest earlier. The secret to good writing is to rewrite the thing you're writing a dozen times. Probably.
February 15
All I did today was give the Immigrant Guild immigrant members appropriate looks.
February 18
18th already?! Gah!
Haven't been productive lately, mostly because I've started a side project. I'm not happy with losing time, so tomorrow I'm going to put an end to it.
Anyway, I still managed to do a bit of work - added icons for items required by the quests, polished quest script, added new quest UI icons, implemented a new music track, added Luma teleport spells which - a surprise for me - weren't implemented before.
February 21
21st?! Help!
I'm fully back to LOTLW though and made some good progress today. I have moved new dialogue strings - containing 2000 words! - to the game's files and began piecing together the quest.
Feels good to be back =]
February 22
I've done quite a bit today, but I can't write about it, because it's story content.
Because of that, I'm going to stop writing entries until I'm done with the current batch of story content.
So in a week or two - when I'll start working on Western Kayos content: Western Trilith mini-area, Siw mini-area, and Silver Fields overworld area - exciting stuff.
I'm going to end this with a small teaser:
What you see above is the Foreign Aid Bureau of the Immigrant Guild. It's an immigrant organization and a "self-deployed intervention force".
The Bureau is working to protect the young democracy of Kayos, accelerate the world's development, to "Make Kayos into a place people would want to immigrate to if there was an option".
The Bureau's leader is an immigrated knight of Order Tempest. Which is basically UN with more teeth - their motto is "Peace or storm".
Thanks for reading! <3
LOTLW Devblog #30: New items
In this entry: Adding 100+ new items.
January 11
I've actually managed to make pretty much all of the required sprite sheets.
I've expected to be making sprite sheets for a few days, but I've done it in a day. It's a good feeling - and it's twice as good when I know that for a while I will be doing only exciting tasks!
Creating sheets is quite tedious.
January 12
Added new items to the item database, so I could see how they look in the game. Looking at them in the game revealed many tiny graphical issues.
January 13
Spent the day fixing the many tiny graphical issues.
January 14
Finished working on equipment graphics!
It's all looking correct now.
With that done, now I need to code items - set their stats, and implement new systems for the new item types.
I was about to do that, but I've got distracted by writing books. I'm implementing several books, so I need to write a text for them.
Planning to add eight books - four of them will contain the historical timeline of Kayos, three will explain the magic system, and one will be about demons.
This should give players who will read those books an explanation for many of the things that happen in the game.
I've managed to write most of the text today.
January 15
I was meant to finish writing books today, but I wasn't in the mood for it and so I decided to postpone books for now.
Instead, I was making equipment icons.
January 16
Most of the icons are now complete, going to start working on the item gameplay soon - setting the stats for equipment, implementing food, drink, and elixir systems, etc.
January 18
I am done with icons now.
New crafting materials, spell instructions, alchemical products, etc.
Notable items:
1) Aura battery. Increases maximum aura - goes to ammunition slot when equipped. This means the ammunition slot will be at least a little useful to builds that don't use arrows.
2) Steel blood elixir. Increases maximum health when consumed. The effect is overwritten when a different elixir is consumed.
3) Arrow bundles. Can be opened to add 1000 arrows to the inventory. I'm making arrows untradable - instead of arrows themselves, the players will buy arrow bundles - this will allow me to reduce the cost of arrows.
4) Metal cutter. An item that removes barbed wire fences. It will become useable in the future, but I'm adding it now for efficiency reasons.
January 21
I've been busy with some non-game development stuff the last few days, so I made little progress.
Today I spend most of the day rebalancing item stats. Equipment now gives significantly more defense and health, so having armor will become more important. Also, this should help to negate the high damage of T3 and T4 weapons.
I don't have much faith in the new numbers because it's based on nothing but speculation - my current plan is to simply test the game many times and keep adjusting stats until they become appropriate.
I think this method fits the "handcrafted" nature of LOTLW, makes things more unpredictable and unique.
January 22
The majority of items are now implemented. The finish line for the Luma update is now in sight!
January 25
Today I finally got back to development - had to take care of several things on the previous days. One of them was submitting my game to Independent Game Festival. Fingers crossed!
Anyway, I have implemented food, drink, elixir, and new ammunition slot item systems, fixed several problems with the items, did the arrow changes I mentioned earlier.
Once item implementation is over, I'll be adding new items into the game - mostly through Luma's characters and crafting, which will be very exciting.
With characters implemented, Luma will be complete and I'll move on to making three new quests that will take place in Luma, Eastern Trilith, and Moonrise Desert - filling these areas with even more content.
Right now the main goal is to finish the story campaign - this would make the game finished and I would be able to release it.
I will probably still continue working after that to make the game more polished and to implement the last of the planned features.
So, yeah, that's the plan. Can't wait!
January 27
Today I have made it possible to craft multiple items quickly. This makes crafting very fast and fun - players will no longer spend minutes rapidly clicking to turn that silk grass into silk.
I've also fixed problems with elixir crafting - vats did not support crafting non-stackable items.
Finally, I've implemented Sword Siege ability - it's similar to Curse Conduit, but it applies corrupt and stagger curses instead of daze curse, and costs 30 aura to activate.
January 28
Today I have implemented two new abilities: Curse Arsenal and Healing Field.
Curse Arsenal can be used to change the curse of a beacon weapon type. For example, if the player is low on health, they can cast Curse Arsenal, change the curse to Heal curse, and then apply the curse on enemies to regain health.
It's an ability with a lot of ways to use it and I can't wait to see what the players will come up with.
Healing Field is also unusual for LOTLW - it's designed to be used by in the multiplayer mode - a signature ability of the healer's staff.
Well, that is all for this entry - in the next one, I'll be finishing Luma and resuming the story campaign development.
Thanks for reading =]
LOTLW Devblog #29: Items and interiors
In this entry: Finishing Luma and starting the next task: Adding 50+ new items to the game.
With street numbers, sturdy benches, variations of pavement tile, and building shadows added, Luma's exterior is complete!
Incredibly happy with how it looks!
Now it's the for the interiors. Hopefully, it won't take very long - the interior space is much smaller than the exterior.
The library interior is done:
I've also finished placing the floor and wall tiles in all buildings.
January 5
Made solid progress, an entire street is done, it will be finished in a day or two.
January 6
Interiors are done! Kind of... Still need to set a few variables. Since I'm pretty sure the game would crash if I tried to run it now, there are no screenshots for this day.
January 7
Luma graphics are now complete!
Immigrant Guild interior.
Storage house interior.
Next step: New item batch.
- Gold and amalgam equipment. - Arrow rework: Arrows sold and crafted in bundles of 100. - New alchemical products and materials. - Instructions for new abilities and spells. - Tool for Adventurer class: Metal cutter. - Luma faction items. - Food. - Drinks.
Once all of that is implemented, I can add new matter kiln recipes and stuff Luma with knights in gold armor, merchants, decorative NPCs - that's when Luma will truly be completed.
January 8
Started working on the big item update. For day one, the main goal was to figure out how T3 and T4 items would look.
And here are the armor sets! (I apply colors with the code - outside the game sprites have to be discolored) Still needs some polishing, probably.
I've figured out the looks for most of the weapons as well.
January 9
Today I have finished making equipment - as I call them - concepts. Now I need to move them into sprite sheets.
Now, this looks like a lot, and while It really is a lot, the list is a bit misleading.
The most work actually goes into making idle sprite sheet. Once that sheet is done, creating other sheets is a lot easier - I just copy from the idle sheet many times with minor adjustments.
Some sheets have their own shortcuts, for example when making attack sprite sheets I don't need to do anything with character legs.
I'm ending today's work and this entry with colored armor sets:
Thanks for reading <3
LOTLW Devblog #28: Luma
In this entry: Building Luma, Light of the Locked World's first city area, a high-level hub.
December 18
Started the work on Luma. Just went through my notes about the city a couple of times, made a rough sketch of the place.
Luma timeline:
Year 90
First inhabitants come to the shores of the abyst-rich bay and begin lifting.
A haphazardly constructed town of wooden buildings and dangerous abyst lifting docks appears.
Year 103
First fire. Luma almost completely burned down.
Year 104
Second fire.
Year 104
The City Council established. The first constitution was written. The most notorious of the new laws was the Stone Law which prohibited the construction of wooden buildings.
Year 95-131
Luma's Abyst Rush period. Massive growth. In those forty years, the dirty and dangerous town turned into a real city.
Year 130
The evacuation. Order Tempest gave the world of Kayos one year to evacuate. During this year Luma lost ~20% of the population.
Year 131
The world is locked.
Year 132
The loss of independence. During the chaos after the world is locked the Celerath family took over Kayos and created the Kingdom of Azu'urunn. The City Council was forced to accept the supreme leadership of the Kingdom.
Year 131-141
The Dark Decade. Famines, riots, shortages of all kinds - all because access to the riches of the Linked Worlds was lost.
Year 141-151
The Gray Decade. The time of slow progress. After farmlands were established in Eir Meadows and Spirit Pastures, there were no more famines. Material shortages were still common.
Year 151-204
Luma grows again, profits from abyst lifting. The City Council begins to talk about making the city independent from the Kingdom.
Year 204
The City Council sends a delegation to Azu'urunn and demands autonomy. The city suffers a year of economic blockade, is forced to sign an agreement that prevents the City Council from even asking for independence.
Year 211
The City Council makes an attempt to create the Coastal League. The intention is to unite coastal cities against the Kingdom. The Council is penalized with another economic blockade and the creation of a legate position within the Council.
The legate is appointed by the King and oversees the Council, limiting its freedom even further.
Year 218
The Shadow Council is created by the City Council's members that are loyal to the idea of independence. The Shadow Council's goal is the liberation of Luma.
The Shadow Council is uncovered the same year, all of the known members are executed, the City Council is disbanded and the legate becomes a one-person ruler of Luma.
The Shadow Council isn't destroyed completely.
Year 218-254
First legate's rule.
The Shadow Council grows in power. Assembles an army in secrecy, acquires companies, forms an alliance with the Foreign Aid Bureau of the Immigrant Guild.
Year 254
The First Rebellion.
Legate escapes Luma, the City Council is briefly reestablished.
Year 254
Luma's army crushed completely in the short battle just outside the city gates.
The Council faces a devastating defeat.
Year 254-259
Occupation. Luma is ruled not even by a legate, but by a general of the King's Army. The general knows she will rule temporarily, so she uses that temporary power to rob the city.
Year 259-279
The Preparation. The oppression of the army only fuels the desire for independence. The Shadow Council's power continues to grow.
During this period Luma is ruled by a "Sleeping Legate" who barely interacts with the city. The real decisions are made by the legate's advisor - Sivetaana Ke'Tale, a member of the Shadow Council.
Sivetaana is often called the Legate of Shadows for her achievements in that position.
Sivetaana succeeds in forming the Coastal League during the legate's visits to other coastal cities, pulls off countless schemes, makes the legate get vast loans from the Kingdom's treasury.
King happily authorizes the loans, hoping to cripple Luma further, but it backfires, as Luma - thanks to Sivetaana Ke'Tale - invests that money into building infrastructure: Iron Stronghold, walls around the city.
Some of the money even ends up in the budgets of the Shadow Council and the Coastal League.
Through the Coastal League Luma forms a new army.
Year 279-286
The War.
Year 279
The beginning of the War. Sivetaana Ke'Tale and the Shadow Council emerge from the shadows and declare Luma an independent city once more. Legate is made a rogue in front of a cheering crowd.
Luma's new army comes to the city and swiftly takes it under control, Luma's second open rebellion ends in success.
The City Council is reestablished.
The Kingdom responds by sending an army, but it is unable to reach Luma as Iron Stronghold turns out to be completely under Luma's control.
What everyone feared happens - the Kingdom refuses to accept Luma's independence and declares a war on Luma and its allies.
Several months pass, and Luma remains independent. Siege of Iron Stronghold drags out, with the Kingdom unable to break through the soon-to-be-legendary fortification.
The War truly begins after the Kingdom stops a caravan of supplies traveling from Berelem to Luma - the Coastal League's attempt to aid the independent city.
The King sensing that his control of the Coastal Cities is rapidly weakening, orders city councils of Berelem, Grawas, and Korrev to disband and choose a legate loyal to the Kingdom.
After that, the entirety of the Coastal League joins Luma's war for independence.
Year 284
Luma's army liberates Korrev that was occupied by the Kingdom in 283.
Year 286
The Kingdom ends the fruitless siege on Iron Stronghold and sends the army to Luma on a newly built road that goes the long way around it.
Luma and Berelem send armies to stop the Kingdom. The armies meet and after a battle that lasts a week, the Kingdom's side declares defeat.
The Kingdom is occupied by the Coastal League's forces, the capital - Azu'urunn - is surrounded.
The rest of the Coastal Cities declare independence.
The Coastal League demands a surrender from the Kingdom - a delegation is sent to Azu'urunn when Talyaan the Fourth agrees to begin negotiations.
When the delegation enters the Royal Palace, Talyaan casts an apocalyptic spell that floods a vast area with auric energy.
Thousands die, including most members of the royal family, Sivetaana Ke'Tale, other prominent figures of the Coastal League.
The Kingdom's cities - Azu'urunn, Deldrayon, and Mirinit - are destroyed. Refugees flee to the Coastal Cities.
Year 286-309
Post-war times. Luma - as the most capable of the Coastal League's cities - combats countless crises as the world attempts to withstand the aftereffects of the War and the Kingdom's fall.
No longer oppressed by the Kingdom and open to refugees Luma rapidly grows. Vast wealth accumulated by the city that became a hub of commerce is spent almost to the last coin to keep the civilization from collapsing.
Luma prevents famines by sharing the food grown in Eir Meadows with the other cities.
Luma builds protective walls around the Kingdom's ruins, as it becomes infested by demons and other magical anomalies - a major threat to the now-free cities.
Luma aids the survivors of Grawas destruction and invests in the construction of New Grawas, preventing a refugee crisis.
Luma handles the Korrev crisis when the unfortunate city falls to the Glow.
Luma funds banisher campaigns to reduce the demon population that grew during and after the War.
December 19
Today's goal was to set the Luma's layout.
To clarify, I'm not building the entire city as originally planned - I'm only making one street.
That's because, obviously, building a whole city as detailed as Locul or Eastern Trilith is insane. One street will be more than enough.
The main goal is to create something that looks like the city skyline from the game's official artwork.
Independence Street will have these features:
- Three matter kilns with tier 3 and 4 equipment recipes. - Coffee house. I guess I'm implementing coffee with this update! - Library. About time to implement books as well. - Statue of Sivetaana, the Legate of Shadows. - Guard spire. Guard captain will sell Luma faction items here. - Immigrant Guild. Minor spoiler: A hub for most story quests! - Adventurer Guild. I think NPC here will sell explosives to clear rocks and create shortcuts. - Supply store. Healing and replenishing consumable merchants. - Luma treasury with a talkstone chest. - Several talkstone pillars to teleport to. - Street merchants.
Once the layout was ready, I decided to make one building.
It's the Library of Luma, the city's largest building - an allusion to the importance of data in modern times.
Well, that's a start. Now only if I could put a dome on that roof, or gargoyle statues or something...
December 20
Looking again at the library, it's clear that it's not going to work.
Wooden doors and windows worked for small towns of Locul and Eastern Trilith, but it doesn't feel right for megapolis.
So today I was making new assets - here's the new version of the library:
I've got an exterior of another spire done as well.
Walking between those giants feels exactly how I wanted, it's working!
December 22
Today I was placing building exterior tiles and added a bunch of new assets.
December 23
Another day of tile placing. Also started working on water graphics:
December 26
Water is done:
I've also added a few new assets for the water's edge part of Luma:
Then I have decided that I'm not a fan of weird windows, so I have started to make new ones, inspired by narrow windows on Locul buildings. They are quite elegant and have that shape/composition that creates the skyscraper feel.
December 27
Done some serious progress today, Luma is starting to look quite good. No screenshots for this day because I want to wait until I have something more finished.
December 28
More progress!
December 29
Added advertisement columns and vertical construction barriers, expanded the city, added several fake houses outside the limits of the area. It's confirmed: Fake buildings work and will speed up the development of the area significantly.
The city should be done within a week from now.
December 31
Getting close to finishing the city exteriors now. Made new assets - building signs and flags.
Luma flag
The symbol is a stylized shape of Luma Bay. The black color of the bay symbol means that the bay is rich with abyst. It's the color of abyst crystals. The blue color symbolizes water, an important theme for a coastal city.
Immigrant Guild flag
The symbol depicts immigration to Kayos: Triangles pointing to the shape of a world. Blue and white colors show the peaceful nature of the organization.
Adventurer Guild flag
The arrow cross symbolizes opportunities and freedom, it's a symbol used by adventurers and explorers. The white symbol in a red field stands for conquest to achieve an honorable goal, the fight not for wealth or power, but for the betterment of the world. While most adventurers are treasure seekers, the Guild itself is created to guide adventurers to more meaningful adventures.
January 2
So 2020 is over, huh? Neat!
Anyway, made more assets today - only a few more are needed. It will take more time than planned to finish the city, still about a week of work is needed.
And, uh... Yeah, that's all for this entry - in the next one, I'll hopefully start making gold and amalgam equipment.
Thanks for reading!
LOTLW Devblog #27: In the meadows
In this entry: Eir Meadows, event system.
December 8
Today I have finished implementing kill messages:
They are important to show the outcomes of fights, especially when the fights are happening offscreen between NPCs. As a bonus, they show the character names.
With that out of the way, I have uploaded version 0.5.4 to my Discord server and started working on version 0.5.5: Eir Meadows!
To be able to make the city of Luma, I need to implement Eir Meadows first. Eir Meadows is going to be a large overworld area.
With Eir Meadows I'll also add the encounter system which will make overworld areas very interesting.
Basically, whenever the player is in the overworld, there's a chance that an encounter will appear.
Interacting with an encounter in the overworld will transport the player to a small area with randomly chosen enemies and objects.
Encounter ideas:
1) Combat encounters. The player will be taken to an area with several enemies. It could be demons, rogues, or Locul/Eastern Trilith/Eir/Luma guards.
2) Silk grass. The area will contain silk grass that the player will be able to gather.
3) Traveling merchant. The area will have a merchant with a random inventory.
It's very likely that encounters will be a source of infinite content - enemies, merchants, and silk grass will be refreshed whenever the player enters the encounter area.
I could always cap the number of encounters the area would spawn, but I'm not sure if I want to that yet.
So to summarize, the current short-term goal is to make Eir Meadows and populate it with encounters.
I have started working towards that goal by adding area transition hints:
They are small arrows that show where the player needs to go to enter a different area. This will be important later.
December 9
And Eir Meadows has been added! The next step is coding the encounter system.
December 10
Began working on encounter systems.
Because I've changed my mind about how encounters will work, it's more accurate to call them overworld events.
These "!" icons keep appearing and disappearing every X - to be decided - seconds. The player no longer needs to move for the events to appear. The icons can be interacted with - doing so will transport the player to the event area.
So today I have implemented some of that.
December 11
Today's progress:
- Implemented systems for leaving and entering the event area. - Random NPC generation system expanded to create random event characters. - Implemented an event NPC spawner system.
That's pretty much all of the overworld event basics, going to start polishing and adding new content to the system soon.
December 13
The first of the event areas. The event areas will be generic like that so it would feel more like they are different parts of Eir Meadows.
Might add more interesting and rare event areas in... far future. It's good enough for now.
Also, this is why I needed the transition hint arrows - with hint arrows I can make areas that aren't bound by suspiciously conveniently placed rocks/barricades/pits/etc.
December 15
Today I have added two remaining event areas and fixed several bugs in the event systems.
Also, I have gone through some old accessory items and changed their stats:
- Silk cape health bonus increased to 30. - Silk sash health bonus increased to 10. - Pink cape health bonus increased to 35. - Red cape health bonus increased to 40. - Red gloves health bonus increased to 10. - Red sash health bonus increased to 15. - Enchanted cape critical hit chance bonus decreased to 3%.
The accessory health bonuses stayed unchanged, while health numbers have gone up with combat changes, so they became less useful - which I am fixing now.
About enchanted cape - it was never meant to keep the 9% critical hit chance. It only made sense during the early stages of the game when it was - if I remember correctly - the only source of critical hit chance.
December 16
Added the remaining overworld events.
As planned, there are 4 events:
- Fight 1-3 demons. - Fight 1-3 rogues. - Fight 1-3 guards of Locul or Triliths factions. - Trade with a traveling merchant of Locul or Triliths factions.
Merchant inventories are randomized - for example, an armor merchant may have:
3 x Silver body armor 1 x Iron glyph hood
OR
2 x Light silver leg armor
OR
...
Rogue and demon events.
Anyway, another new thing is a merchant price modifier. As the name suggests, this modifier increases the prices of items in the merchant's inventory.
This will be used to create interesting merchants and control the item economy.
For example, this is a new merchant in Eastern Trilith:
I have mentioned in other entries that teleportation spell instructions will be locked behind combat and exploration challenges.
This has not changed - this is simply an option for players who will fail to find or lose the original teleportation instructions.
That's why the modifier is 1000% for this merchant, the players are still meant to find the instructions in the world.
December 17
Made finishing touches to Eir Meadows and uploaded version 0.5.5 on my Discord. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhupYdfz67I That's all for this entry, in the next one I'll be writing about Luma - Capital of the World, LOTLW's first city area, and my next goal!
Thank you for reading =]
LOTLW Devblog #26: Quests
In this entry: Quests!
November 17
I've been working on the cutscene.
November 18
The cutscene is finished for now.
Today I've been fixing various bugs with it. This was the first full workday in a while, I'm feeling better now.
November 19
Today I was improving When Luck Runs Out - the first quest.
Here's a list of changes:
- Archer's equipment crate now contains an arc instead of a bow. - Ria now moves to a more correct position when speaking with the player. - Made minor improvements to quest's dialogues. - Replaced old events with the new moment and encounter systems. - Added an encounter: A rogue that offers to show the player a shortcut to Locul. - The second rogue player meets is no longer aggressive. - It will become aggressive if the player steals from the nearby crates. Stealing tutorial, kind of. - Colored important parts of the quest log text.
The most important change is the encounter and moment systems.
In 0.5.0 and older versions, the encounters like the good rogue that gives the player iron helmet/gauntlets would start when the player would enter the encounter zone.
It wasn't possible to avoid the encounter and it would stop the gameplay until the player would go through the dialogue.
That's no longer the case: NPC encounters are now triggered by speaking with them, and non-NPC encounters start when the player interacts with what I call moments.
Here's an example of a moment:
It's another tool for my quest toolkit - I imagine I'll use a lot of these in the upcoming quests.
So that was another productive day, I'm getting back into the routine.
November 20
Today I have started working on the second quest: "Unemployment Crisis", formerly "Wanted Dead".
"Wanted Dead" is now a part of the "Unemployment Crisis" - the quest is no longer just about being a bounty hunter.
With the new dialogues, the transition from clueless immigrant to an amateur bounty hunter should be smoother now.
Also, they provide a little bit of normalcy that - I believe - will make more dramatic quests further into the story feel more special by contrast.
November 22
An incomplete workday, but "Unemployment Crisis" is even closer to being done.
November 23
I'll have to rethink this format because I don't like showing quest progress, so I won't have anything to show at times. Hmm...
November 24
I'm done with "Unemployment Crisis"!
Some non-spoiler progress - overhead icons:
Players will no longer need to guess if the character is interactive or not.
Anyway, since the quests are done, I'll be able to update the game again soon.
Just want to make several miscellaneous improvements first.
Today I have:
- Fixed missing shadows and missing building tile inside 2nd Strategic Fortification. - Reduced bow damage, gave Archer equipment defense bonus. - Renamed "Gold" to "Guldens". To not be confused with "Gold" as a material. Plus, more unique. - Rogues now have 100 less health. To make it easier for the new players. - Fixed bug: Having a full inventory will no longer destroy items inside loot containers. - Reduced the amount of loot - the inventory won't fill up as fast now. It really was a problem.
November 25
Today I have improved the "Arrow Wall" ability.
Now it hits everything in a large zone, so it's more reliable and - while harder to avoid - will no longer cause "Why did I got hit, I was standing in between the lines?!" confusion.
November 26
Today I have:
- Improved introduction cutscene. - Added "Ability ready" audio and visual hints. - Fixed a few bugs. - Nerfed silver arrow damage bonus because it was making bows overpowered. - Graphically improved the overworld.
Now it has wood texture in the background - the idea is that the map is on a table.
Later I might add decorations like daggers, coins, coffee cups, and other items that should be on a Kayosian tavern's table =]
November 27
Today I have updated the demo!
I've also done some writing for the quest that comes with the next demo update: "Wanted Mad". It's going to be another smaller update, the only goal I have for it is adding that quest.
November 28
Today I've done a bit more writing, but the majority of the day was spent making an area for the new quest.
Aside from quest stuff, it will contain several small iron ore rocks, loot containers, and three new enemy NPCs. Bonus content!
December 1
Today I have spent the majority of the available time to rewrite the "Wanted Mad" script. Wasn't satisfied with the first version - this often happens when I write, I keep rewriting until I'm happy with the results.
Also decided to rename the quest to "Cold Commands".
December 2
Today I was continuing the work on the quest area.
December 3
A productive day!
Implemented new items that are required for the quest, added NPCs to the quest area, implemented quest challenges, moved the quest dialogue text into the game, finished making the quest area...
Nearly done.
December 4
Only minor improvements remain after today's work.
I've written a lot of dialogue for this quest, took a while to implement it all.
December 7
The "Cold Commands" quest is finished!
Now I want to do a competitive shooter game style " weapon icon, ability icon " messages whenever a character is killed and then I'll start working on the massive Luma city update.
Unfortunately, the "Cold Commands" will not be a part of the demo.
It's not an early game quest and I have made a decision to only include early game content in the demo.
The unabridged game versions will still be available on my Discord server, but the public demo will remain pretty much as it is.
So, that's this entry! I'm going to write more about the Luma city content in the next one.
Thanks for reading <3
Demo update! Version 0.5.3: Improved quests and introduction
This update adds an introduction cutscene and improves the available story quests.
Other changes:
- Improved Arrow Wall ability. - Added the overworld system. - Added Deserter Flat: An overworld area between Eastern Trilith and Moonrise Desert. - Improved the start of the game: Fixed bugs, improved graphics. - Gave interactive characters overhead icons. - Archer's equipment crate now contains an arc instead of a bow. - Ria now moves to a more correct position when speaking with the player. - Made minor improvements to quest's dialogues. - Replaced quest events with the new moment and encounter systems. - The second rogue player meets is no longer aggressive. - It will become aggressive if the player steals from the nearby crates. Stealing tutorial, kind of. - Colored important parts of the quest log text. - Fixed missing shadows and missing building tile inside 2nd Strategic Fortification. - Reduced bow damage. - Renamed "Gold" to "Guldens". To not be confused with "Gold" as a material. Plus, more unique. - Rogues now have 100 less health. To make it easier for the new players. - Fixed bug: Having a full inventory will no longer destroy items inside loot containers. - Reduced the amount of loot - the inventory won't fill up as fast now. It really was a problem.
In the next update: Third story quest!
Have fun!
LOTLW Devblog #25: The improved development plan
In this entry: Overworld, new story content, and changes to the development plan.
November 3
Let's get right into it!
As I mentioned in the previous entry, I have to change the development plan in order to complete the game faster.
I want to have version 1.0 in early 2022/late 2021.
That means that I have to drop more content. The content that takes the most time is areas. I've dropped a lot of areas already but just making fewer areas won't help this time.
If I removed more areas, I'd have to decrease the "size" of a story as well. Can't have a global conspiracy without areas from all over the world.
Luckily, I came up with a solution: Instead of removing areas, simplify them! In my game's case, the areas that aren't absolutely necessary to the game's story will be moved to an overworld.
This is inspired by an overworld in Wastelands 2.
Without an overworld, in order to let player access areas, I have to make areas between those areas as well, even if they aren't necessary for the story.
For example, I don't really need Eir Meadows for the story, but I have to make that area because otherwise, players won't be able to get to the city of Luma. Which I absolutely need.
There are definitely other solutions, but I feel like the overworld is the most elegant one. It keeps the story intact.
I'm also changing my approach to developing the story. Previously the idea was to create all of the version 1.0 areas, then populate them with quests. After making the Eastern Trilith area, I don't think that's a good idea anymore. It's better to have a clear goal when designing an area.
So now the priority is the story - I'll only make areas that are required for the quests.
And so the new short-term plan looks like this:
Overworld system.
Overworld area: "Deserter Flat".
Introduction cutscene.
Introduction improvements.
Improve 1st story quest.
2nd story quest: "Unemployment Crisis".
Incorporate "Wanted Dead" into "Unemployment Crisis".
Polish.
Release the new demo version.
Today I have already done some progress with the overworld system.
November 4
November 5
Improved the overworld graphically:
I'm now happy with how it looks, going to work on the introduction cutscene now.
November 7
I've been wrapping some things up. Now that it's done, I'm back to working 100% on LOTLW.
So, yeah, introduction cutscene. After the player starts the game and creates a character, the cutscene will play.
First, it'll introduce the players to the game's universe: Magic, the Linked Worlds, Order Tempest, tainted lead, all the cool stuff =]
After that, you'll see for the first time the portal malfunction!
I will not be sharing the cutscene until after the next demo is released to keep things exciting. That means the entry will be a bit quiet for at least a few days.
November 8
So after a few hours of work, I decided to not make an introduction to the game's universe. It's quite wordy, probably not required for the player to understand the story, and I really struggled to make it work.
The idea was to show text and have simple animations that would illustrate the text:
"Several things had to happen before it became possible for your life to change this way."
"Year ???: Discovery of magic." "It happened so long ago that no one knows anymore where or when the first spells were cast."
[Glyps appear around the image of a world and then fade away] [The camera moves away from the image]
"Year 774: Invention of the World Gates." "The invention lead to the emergence of something that never existed before: A network of worlds."
[Camera moves to a group of worlds] [Gate icons appear on them and lines connect them] [Camera moves, more and more connected worlds enter the view]
"Year 787: Linked world wars" "A cascade of conflicts that scarred the worlds. Something had to be done."
[Worlds shatter] [Lines become broken]
"Year 864: Creation of Order Tempest", "And something was done. Order Tempest, an organization to enforce peace was formed."
[Order Tempest flag icons appear near the world images]
"Year 884: Legalization of the tainted lead use" "But to be effective Order Tempest had to gain the power to isolate worlds that did not want peace." "Fortunately to the Order, the alchemists have created the tainted lead, a material that has teleportation disrupting effect."
[More worlds with the Order's flags]
"Year 928: Beginning of Kayos lockdown" "Kayos was the first of the worlds to become disconnected from the Linked Worlds."
[Camera moves to the world of Kayos image] [World linking animation plays]
"It was colonized because of useful crystals that turned out to have the nasty property of making people insane." "The Order was forced to use the tainted lead and Kayos became the Locked World."
[The link lines disappear] [Camera moves away to an image of a world with a gate]
"Year 1106: Your arrival to the Locked World." "Figuratively all the stars in the Universe had to align for that to happen." "You managed to get your hands on a voucher for something that was called seal charms." "You were told that you can exchange it in the world of Ocia." "All you needed to do is to use the World Gate and walk a bit."
[Camera stops] [Screen fades to black]
I think I'll explain this in different ways - lore books inside the game and dialogues with NPCs, so nothing will be lost.
I was excited about making this cutscene, so I am a little disappointed. But considering how hard it was going to be to make text synchronize with the animations, make the animations, etc., it's probably the right call.
Not to mention that asking players to do so much reading so early in the game is not the best idea. The dialogue with the immigrant greeter is already a bit much.
So, yeah, I choose to be okay with this. Going to take this as another lesson in not doing things, which is difficult for me, hah.
November 10
Did a lot of progress with the portal malfunction cutscene. Nothing to show yet, even if I wanted to spoil it.
It's going well, this cutscene is working, unlike the previous one.
November 11
More progress! Should be done soon.
The biggest news today is that the game has 700 wishlists now! Thank you =]
November 12
I think I was working on graphics this time.
November 13
Today I was working on cutscene's animations and audio. Most of it works now, I could even probably say that it's done, but it still doesn't click for me.
November 14
Wasn't at home, no progress. Just going to post this entry since it's about time I've done that.
So far November has been a non-stop challenge, it's one of those dark times in development when weeks fly by and progress is too damn slow.
Got to say that I've been feeling less happy than usually and that's reflected in the amount of time I was able to work.
Will have to power though it. The improved plan and reduced content will help a lot.
Anyway, that is it.
Thanks for reading and until next time!
LOTLW Devblog #24: Drought
In this entry: Character creation UI redesign, demo update release.
Devtober 20
Decided to redesign the character creation UI because it was too busy. I was suggested to split the UI into two pages, which was an excellent suggestion - this is why feedback is so important!
With two pages, I could arrange buttons in a more pleasant way.
Devtober 21
Okay, now it's visually finished.
Besides doing that, I also implemented the "Random talents" button, began working on the "Random name" button, added confirmation pop-ups for canceling, and finishing the character creation.
Devtober 22
I was fixing the PC.
Devtober 23
Got my PC back, but only managed to work a bit on character name generation before I ran out of time.
Devtober 24
The "Random name" button is now implemented and character creation UI is now linked - meaning it can be used without a mouse.
What's left is opening the UI when the player starts a new game and adding informational tooltips about talent point spending and classes.
This wasn't a full workday either, unfortunately - distractions and chores kept me away from the project.
But hopefully, this development drought will be over soon - I have no distractions planned for the foreseeable future and I'm excited to start working on the next big thing for Light of the Locked World =]
Devtober 25
With tooltips for the UI implemented, character creation is now done!
Now I need to fix a bunch of bugs and implement some sort of analytics so I would get a better insight into how players are playing the game.
Maybe I could even get reports of the crashes that happen to the players - that would help a ton to get the game free of game-breaking bugs.
Devtober 27
Nevermind, I won't be implementing analytics. Getting feedback naturally is nice and oldschool anyway =]
With that out of the way, I jumped into version 0.5.0 polishing - I'm hoping to release it this week.
Fixed several complicated graphical glitches, made NPC AI smarter, and MADE GAME LAG HORRIBLY AAAAAA.
Devtober 28
I have fixed the lag and finished improving AI.
This is how AI sees the environment now: Green is where it can move the character.
Besides that, I've fixed another batch of bugs, improved loot tables again, and made the Eastern Trilith area more enjoyable - during testing I've found out that there are a bit too many traps and that enemies are too difficult, so I've corrected that.
Devtober 30
I've launched an update on this day.
The following days were emotionally difficult for me. After spending so much time working on the Eastern Trilith area, I have realized that Light of the Locked World as planned will take a lot of years to finish.
So I was in a very bad mood. But after doing a lot of resting and thinking, I've got a solution to reduce the development time.
I'm going to write about that and the improved development plan in the next entry.
