[p] Firstly, letting you all know that Shrine's Legacy will be part of the indie.io (our publisher) booth at Gamescom in Germany on August 20th to 24th! We won't be personally present, but if you are there feel free to check out the booth and show your support. :)[/p][p][/p][p]Also, we've had an amazing last month for events in general! We participated in the June Steam Nextfest, which was active until June 16th (big thanks to everyone who checked out the demo during that time!), and were also being shown by a friend at a convention in Canada called Game Con Canada![/p][p][/p][p]We most recently also participated in the Indie Quest 2025 Showcase, and The MIX Summer Showcase![/p][p][/p][p]Check out our updated trailer AND our new trailer on YouTube:[/p][p][/p][p]Updated Trailer: [/p][p]New Trailer:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]We've had some great results from these events and our wishlists are currently looking pretty promising![/p][p][/p]
Content Complete
[p][/p][p]The game is now tested and fully playable with the entire story now integrated front to back. But there are still some optional scenes, a handful of puzzles, and more detailed collisions missing or buggy for many rooms. There are also some sprites and sound effects that have been made already but that still need to be properly implemented into the correct parts of game. And other random things like steam achievements still must be done.[/p][p][/p]
Cutscene Progress
[p][/p][p]All main story cutscenes are now complete! Some of them, especially in the late game, still need a healthy layer of polishing wax, however. I've been finding it hard to choose cutscenes to show that won't be spoilery, so please forgive me. Instead, please check out the new trailers above and await the upcoming release date announcement trailer for more spicy stuff![/p][p][/p]
Map Progress
[p][/p][p]New maps were made! Now all the maps are on a first draft at minimum, though many will be returned to for some final polish. 💪[/p][p][/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/38833680/80bf2b35af16920e11994094d50a7349559d00ff.png"][/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/38833680/4a3e4b0850235f006620cedd13284a7059c603b7.png"][/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/38833680/104547461b0f621d6de5c61bd930782038df6330.png"][/p][p][/p]
Closing
[p][/p][p]Thank you for reading another Steam Chronicle![/p][p][/p][p]Until next time,[/p][p][/p][p]Joe[/p]
Steam Chronicle #37: Cutscene and Balancing Progress
Greetings and happy May! This will be a short update as we're busy grinding toward Content Complete for this month!
Cutscene Progress
We're on the final cutscenes. We've officially made it up to the inner part of the final dungeon, with final scenes and a handful of optional quest cutscenes remaining.
Enemy Balance and Other
Enemy balance first draft is now complete for most of the game, every enemy has now had base stats set, and only the last few dungeons and optional areas still remain to be tested.
Additionally, a bit more pixel art has been completed, and mapping has been done, although there is still just a bit more to do for both of these.
Pictured below: These guys don't mess around!
Pictured below: Rio and Reima patiently awaiting the game to be finished!
Closing
Hope you all have a happy May! We will keep pushing towards the finish line the best that we can. Stay tuned for more info as we accelerate into the final phase of development before SL is launched!
Until next time,
Joe
Steam Chronicle #36: More Mapping and Cutscene Work
As we enter a new month and we get closer to Beta it's time for another Shrine's Chronicle!
Mapping and Enemies Placed
Many more maps are complete, with almost all maps for the game being at a base level in appearance now. Some collision work still needs done but some progress was made for that too. The main exception to appearance being complete is the optional dungeon which still needs to have the rooms tiled.
Additionally, all the enemy placements are now done for almost all of the maps!
Let's take a look at a couple new treasure spots:
Cutscene Progress
Every remaining cutscene in the game is now planned out in the code but a number still need to be scripted. However, they are closer to complete now than ever! We should be pretty close to having the cutscenes finished by the next Steam Chronicle.
Closing
Thanks for joining us for another Steam Chronicle!
Until next time,
Joe
Steam Chronicle #35: Cutscene Polish Part 3
Happy March and welcome to the 35th Steam Chronicle!
More cutscene work, maps, and pixel art have been completed!
Mapping Progress
We're getting started on finishing up the mapping for the remaining towns now (such as Omdale, seen below), along with Pyragord Mountain. Here's a couple newly mapped screenshots our main mapper Decky lined up for us to share in the update:
Pixel Art
Pixel art as mentioned before is nearing completion! There's only straggling pieces of art left that we come up with while polishing and finishing cutscenes that aren't finished now.
Here's a glow-up for our save point, including one for where quick travel is available. The artist really went above and beyond with this one, and I think it turned out amazing! :
Cutscenes
Cutscenes from the 7th dungeon through the 9th dungeon are underway and should be done soon! After these are done there be only one major story dungeon left to do cutscenes for. 🙂 There is also a couple optional dungeons but the cutscenes within will be relatively simple.
Trying to avoid very spoilery stuff is challenging since we are getting deeper into the story with the most recent scenes. I will share a proper cutscene in the next update, but for now, here is our new improved effect for water rising and lowering in Veyrlorn Palace:
Closing
Cutscenes have been exhausting, but it's been very cool seeing them come together. There's still a lot left to do, so back to work I go. ✨
Until next time,
Joe
Steam Chronicle #34: Cutscene Polish Part 2
Happy February!
Again this month, the main focus has been on finishing up cutscenes.
We've also got some new maps and graphics to share! So, without further ado...
Mapping Progress
We have a hefty number of new maps done! In fact, by the next update, we should have all the maps complete (minus some polish) for the entire game, other than the optional dungeon which will still be in progress.
Here's a couple examples of cool new maps we have for this month:
Pixel Art
We are on to the finishing touches involving pixel art at this point! We only have one small active art commission going right now, and there will likely be only one more after this one.
Check out this small sample of new art for the game from the last month!
Cutscene Work
Cutscenes are now done nearly up to the 7th dungeon! We're more than half-way through the game with scenes now, though there's a lot of little side-quests especially in the end-game that'll add up to take some time to script the scenes for.
Here's a video of a fun (and mostly non-spoilery) scene!
Closing
Thanks so much for the patience and for reading this update! We are continuing to work hard to finish Shrine's Legacy!
Until next time,
Joe
Steam Chronicle #33: Cutscene Polish Part 1
Happy New Year ✨! Barring disaster, 2025 is going to be year of Shrine's Legacy's launch. But now onto the details of progress during the past month!
Mapping Progress
Mapping progress is coming along strong! More overworld and dungeon maps have been completed. See below for a couple examples.
Cutscene Work
Progress is going strong on the cutscenes. We've almost got all the scenes polished up through the 4th major dungeon.
Example Scene: Rio and Reima meet a couple of Vulpec characters in the next area after the demo! Including some new face sprites and expressions for the dialog boxes. NOTE: The map for this room is still extremely WIP.
Closing
That's it for this month's Shrine's Chronicle! I hope your year is full of cheer and I thank you tons for being here! 😊🎵
Until next time,
Joe
Steam Chronicle #32: Boss AI Done + Feature Complete
Some big news this update: the Boss AI is completed! We are now also officially in the "Feature Complete" stage. There's still a ton of work to do on content, but it's still a huge milestone for us.
Boss AI Complete
As mentioned above, the AI for all bosses is now complete! I wanted to show off at least one so here is one of the early game bosses after the end of the demo (note that some things like sound effects are still not implemented, and boss behavior is subject to change / polish):
Dungeon and Map Progress
There's been some mapping progress on the Marsh dungeon!
And additionally, many new rooms in the overworld are now mapped!
Pixel Art Progress
More pixel art has also been completed! Here is a small sample preview of the many new jewel, potion, and item icons that have been made:
Cutscene Progress
Alan is done going through the cutscenes and adding portrait expressions! Additionally, a good chunk of new in-game cutscenes have been scripted.
The next couple months will be mostly dedicated towards scripting cutscenes in-game. Expect a non-spoilery cutscene preview or 2 in the next couple updates! 🙂
Closing
Completing the Boss AI is a big milestone for me personally. It's been really cool seeing them all come to life, and I can't wait to see people take them on once the game has been released! Thanks as always for reading, and...
Until next time,
Joe
Steam Chronicle #31: Lotsa Random Stuff!
Updated GameMaker + Bugfixes
I did something I've been putting off for a while and updated our game development IDE to the newest version. This brought some new bugs with it I needed to fix which took some time. But I also took it as an opportunity to fix a lot of long-time bugs I never got around to dealing with. There's still a handful I haven't had time to get to, but it will really help out later having a big chunk of them out of the way.
Cutscene Progress
Alan is almost done going through the entire script of the game and adding character expressions to the portraits throughout! He's reached chapter 20 out of 21, so there's only 2 remaining now!
Dungeon and Map Progress
Postcat Jeff minigame is now mostly functional! Some aspects are still incomplete but this video should give you a pretty good idea of how it will work. You control Jeff the Postcat as he moves on a grid like old-school maze type games. You try to avoid the obstacles and get to the end, maybe collecting some things along the way to open up the path!
We've also gotten started planning out the mapping for another dungeon, the Hendran Marsh! There's nothing new to show yet, but there most likely will be next update.
NPC Pixel Art Progress
We're almost done with NPC's! We have one more batch in the making right now, and then there will only be a few misc NPC's and extra pieces of art for them needed.
Here's a small sample of the last batch of NPCs!
Closing
That concludes yet another update! With some of this other work out of the way, next time around expect all the remaining boss AI to be completed. 💪
Until next time,
Joe
Steam Chronicle #30: Boss AI Underway and Sounds finished!
Boss AI
The in-game AI for approximately 10 new bosses has been implemented, and all the art for each boss has been imported and is ready to be used to make the remaining boss AIs.
As a celebration of this, take a look at one of the new bosses in action: the Sand Hydra! This boss was also made through collaboration with one of our producer tier backers. 🙂
It's important to note that each of the 3 heads has its own statistical and elemental properties so you'll need to experiment if you want to discover the most effective way to defeat each one.
Sound Effects Completed
All of the sound effects for the game have been completed. Some of the new sound effects were put to good use in the video above with the Sand Hydra!
Dungeon and Map Progress
With spooky season coming, it only makes sense to show off some of the major updates to a spooky dungeon called Moglore Woods. Here's a shot of the woods in action:
NPC Pixel Art Progress
Another hefty chunk of new NPC's have been created! Here's a sampling of just a few of them:
Closing
This has been a bit of an intense month for us working on Shrine's Legacy, trying to keep progress flowing at a steady rate! But it's been extremely exciting seeing the bosses and world come to life, and I get a little bit more antsy to finish things the further we get along.
Until next time,
Joe
Steam Chronicle #29: Soundtrack complete and New NPC Art!
Dungeon Progress
2 more dungeons have had significant mapping progress, along with improvements to a previously mapped dungeon!
Here's a bit of new gameplay footage of the Sand Seas dungeon:
NPC Pixel Art Progress
We got 20 new NPCs drawn by our artists, and many more being finished up right now. Progress is going very well and there will be no shortage of interesting characters and animals to interact with!
Here's a showcase of a few new NPCs that'll be found in the world of Ardemia:
Music
The soundtrack for Shrine's Legacy is now roughly complete! At this time, there are 78 tracks and over 1 hour 40 minutes of original music.
Here's a brand new music track for you. If you listen, please leave a comment and let me know what you think. :)
