1) Finished the first version of Items page. Items page is inventory + equipment + stats.
2) Changed the way game handles UI, fixing a lot of problems and making the process of developing UI much faster.
UI still needs a bit of work, but most of it is ready for the pre-alpha demo.
Now the only big obstacle left is area loading - I'm still stuck on that.
Anyway, I was suggested to write about the combat, so let's get into it.
This is how combat works:
Holding attack key - can be any mouse button, controller button, or keyboard key! - will charge up attack.
Once it is charged, animation plays and attack is executed.
Where it gets interesting is attacks themselves.
The player always has 3 combat spells: Melee position spell, limited position spell, and open position spell.
To execute a melee position spell, your character must be in a melee range of an enemy character.
In pre-alpha demo melee spell simply deals weapon damage to the nearest enemy character.
To execute a limited position spell, your character must be near something that you can't move through - rocks, walls, cliffs, bodies of water, etc.
In pre-alpha demo limited spell restores 10% of health. Currently, it's the only way to restore health.
To execute an open position spell, your character must not be in limited and melee positions - away from enemies, edges, and obstacles.
In pre-alpha demo, open spell teleports your character to nearest enemy melee range and binds the enemy for 4 seconds. Bound characters are unable to move.
In future combat spells will be determined by the equipped weapon - this is where limitless design space comes from.
To make weapons and combat have good variety all I need to do is add about 50 combat spells, which is not too difficult.
Another important aspect of this system is that level design changes the combat.
I can make long, narrow passages where open position spells are impossible to execute, fields with no limited positions to retreat to, and trap-filled mazes where enemies don't let you get close for melee spells.
So to summarize, in the end, combat should become varied, highly customizable, easy to learn, skill demanding, and PVP viable.
A combat system to be the core of an RPG =]
That's all for this entry!
If there's something you want me to write in the next entry - let me know in the comments.
LOTLW Blog #1: The journey so far
Welcome to the first LOTLW development blog entry!
Light of the Locked World is what happens when old school MMORPG is turned into small, but dense RPG with local splitscreen multiplayer.
I have started working on it in 2018 October and serious development began in 2019 March, when I released the last content update for my other game.
Here are other important moments:
January 2019
In January I have defined LOTLW's artstyle and implemented pathfinding.
February 2019
During this month I have added inventory systems and written the foundation for the game's story.
April 2019
This month was all about character graphics - I have implemented animation and equipment sprite systems, made walking and attack animations.
I have also added the wind system, which was a huge success - the game feels a lot more alive with plants, flags, and capes moving in the wind.
May 2019
May was epic! During it I was working on combat - now it finally resembles what it will be like at the end of development.
I also implemented basic faction systems. Factions will be very important to the game - player actions will determine how NPCs react to them.
The Present
My current goal is to release the pre-alpha demo in June.
There's still a lot to do - finish Moonrise Desert area, add HUD, rework interface and world chunking systems, make the game more player-friendly, add a way to customize keybindings, and so on.
So, yeah, I am not very optimistic about releasing the demo this month.
Whatever happens, I'll keep you all updated =]
If there's something specific you want me to write about in the next entry - Story? Combat? First area? Faction system? - let me know in the comments.
Until next time!
Steam page is now live! Demo ETA late June
Light of the Locked World is now live on Steam!
If the game has sparked your interest, consider adding it to your wishlist - the wishlist count will help the game a lot during the release.
If you need more information about the game, go to Q&A thread in discussions - questions are usually answered within a day.
The next important event is pre-alpha demo release - it should become available by the end of June.
If you want to follow the game's development, here's where the news about the game will be shared:
