We'll be launching the Windless Woods update September 22nd!
Some things I touched on last week that will be in the update that I have more information for:
Pets (these are cosmetic, not animal companions) Like this cute chicken!
Dedicated Servers (currently using Steam's service for this, but looking into hosting websites for more options). We did a stress test with our dedicated testers and it went really well! We've turned over all the information to the hosting websites we're talking with and will have more information we hope at launch. Steam's service is working, so if the hosting websites take longer, at least there is that option. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll make sure to get answers from someone who knows them better than me!
This week has been a lot of clean up and making sure all the new items are actually able to be purchased/found/rewarded/etc in the game. There are so many items. At my last count, there were over 60 weapons, 10 outfits, 50 furniture items, 15 house and structure plans, 5 alchemy reagents, 4 potions, and let's say 30 plus resources. Not including cooking, farming, quest items, and all the secrets. That's a LOT of stuff. Here's one of the items that has a really cute icon:
Here's a work in progress gauntlet that just started out looking exactly like something else already in the game:
And here's a greataxe that has a matching set of weapons (not final colors):
I won't go into the specifics of everyone as it's been a little of everywhere for everyone. Just getting everything wrapped up and fixing bugs! But speaking of bugs, look at this fun "invisible NPC"
One of our new systems that was created (that we needed a long time ago) is what we call "vanishing NPCs" which is where the NPC vanishes from one spot and appears in another. So when they tell you that they'll meet you somewhere, they won't be in that first spot anymore. There was some fun bugs with it like the above, where the NPC did vanish, but left all their stuff.
Finally, I want to talk about our arachnophobia mode. We had it set up with potions that would last an in-game day, but some weird bugs started appearing. We ended up changing it to an option in the ESC menu so that it will be set for your whole game. Here's what the spiders will look like (one isn't colored, but it'll be the same purple, just without the legs). It applies to the mount as well so no one can join your server and creep you out with their mount.
That's it for this week. The two monthly community play sessions I talked about last week will be on September 10th at 5pm PST (TOMORROW!!!) and September 24th at 11am PST. Details on our discord. Hope to see you all there!
-Janna
Development Digest August 26th - September 2nd
Happy Friday, friends!
If you haven't seen any of our social media channels (Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube), yesterday we announced the Windless Woods update will be booming into action September 22nd! While this is much later than anticipated (but still summer!), there are so many features and so much content being jammed into this new zone we wanted to make sure everything was just right.
A few things included in this update: -Pets (these are cosmetic, not animal companions) -Dedicated Servers (currently using Steam's service for this, but looking into hosting websites for more options) -New magic system -And of course the obvious: a new zone with new resources, items, crops, weapons, etc.
On October 6th (could change depending on Steam's approval), we'll release the Hero Edition DLC. This is a cosmetic-only DLC that was originally offered to our Kickstarter backers. With the Windless Woods update we'll be giving those who purchased the Hero Edition DLC via Kickstarter access to this content for two weeks before releasing it to everyone on Steam. This DLC is basically additional cosmetic content intended to be a way for hardcore players to further support the development team. It includes a Hero house plan, unique title, and Hero outfit.
Future DLC (if we ever get to that point) will be far more substantial and actually add additional playable content, quests, and likely whole new zones.
Let's get to the week's recap!
While I've been doing a lot of backend planning, organizing, and managing, the team has been going strong on the final touches before the update.
Louis had a lot of cool gifs, but Steam doesn't like the size, so unfortunately I'm having to add these to an external site to view. So here's one for you to see right now: https://imgur.com/vC91YuW
Wendy has been finishing up the level design in the boss area and then working on getting the bugs cleaned up that our testers have submitted.
DD has been finishing up the main questline and ensuring the bugs along the way are fixed.
Michael has been chomping away at his modeling list. So first off, here's some cool new weapons:
And then we have this little bear figurine (which no longer has a purpose. Sad day):
Then the real hard questions came up when talking about the new glyphs with the magic system. Michael needed to model and make icons for each new glyph. So here's the first iterations (which we all didn't love): Here's a gif of one moving: https://imgur.com/HIvPIbl
Then I said "why don't we just reuse all the book icons you made originally? Go back to the roots?" and so Tomes were reborn:
I'm super excited to have the books back in action. Can't wait to get the models in.
On a different note, the team decided to do some feature creeping. They were really stringing me along with this feature creep so I posted some pictures of my angry octopus (those stuffed animals you can flip from angry to happy) and then this happened: And even though I told the team to not spend time on that because we have lots to finish up, Michael decided to strum away at it anyway (it really wasn't that long) and added a new weapon type to the game. I'll admit it's pretty cool, but it still struck a chord with me!
That's it for this week. The two monthly community play sessions I talked about last week will be on September 10th at 5pm PST and September 24th at 11am PST. Details on our discord. Hope to see you all there!
-Janna
Development Digest August 12th - August 19th
Happy Friday, friends!
Louis here again. This will be the last week I get to run the digest before I pass it back to Janna next week. Let’s get started:
I’ll start off this week with a brand new glyph. Not all of our spells are 100% combat-oriented — this one is for farmers and homesteaders. The Raincloud spell can be used to water your fields! It can also be used to extinguish burning allies in a pinch.
(Sorry for the crunchy gif — we had to compress it pretty heavily to get it within the size limit for this post.)
This week we gave the new ammo swap feature you saw in last week’s digest to our testing team. Really positive feedback so far! But before long, I had my hands full of edge case bugs to fix. Stuff like: what happens when you swap weapons using the radial menu while the ammo wheel is up? What if you charge a glyph to maximum, then swap spells right as you’re firing it? These are all fairly straightforward to fix, but they pile up and can catch you off guard if your brain isn’t galaxy-sized enough to anticipate them all.
DD is continuing his work setting up the quest structures and dialog for the main Windless Woods zone storyline. This week he’s been doing parts of the story that take place within The Eyre — the hidden village populated by watchful druids. The story arc he’s working on at present will introduce you to a grizzly new character who has resigned himself to a reclusive life away from the rest of his kind.
If you fancy a peek behind the curtain, this is what the inner workings of our quest system looks like. In the interest of avoiding spoilers, the quest data you see here is from a quest that’s already in game over in the Farmlands.
Most of Wendy’s work this week has been so steeped in spoilers that there’s really not a lot we can show you! In consolation, I offer you this teaser image:
What could it be?!?
She’s also been setting up the first quest you’ll be able to do with the Treasure Hunter faction — they’re the rival group to the Archaeologists. I hope you’re ready for a perilous foray into an ancient crypt!
Jesse is still at work in The Eyre. Now that we’re coming to the end of the level design and filling out building interiors, his work is shifting to filling out NPCs, setting up their schedules, and giving them places to be and jobs to do.
Well folks, that's all I have time to show you this week. Things are really ramping up over here. Next week you'll be back in Janna's company for more juicy screenshots. Until next time!
Development Digest August 5th - August 12th
Happy Friday, friends!
Louis here this week, taking a break from all the systems programming behind the magic + glyph system to bring you this week’s development digest. Let’s get right into it!
DD has been working away this week on the main storyline content for the Windless Woods, leading up until you first arrive at The Eyre — the secluded druid village deep in the forest. I won’t reveal anything here, but stay tuned for some screenshots.
Wendy has been working with the Shrubrian villagers this week. There are some important aspects to the level design that need to be sorted out to prevent sequence-breaking the quest line. Plenty of dialogue changes, too — the Shrubrians have an interesting dialect that reflects their proud demeanour and their tiny stature in equal parts. It’s hard to write with a voice like that and keep it consistent, while also giving each Shrubbie their own personality! Also, not to give anything away, but Wendy and DD have been working together on a riddle puzzle you might stumple upon in the woods. (Yes, that spelling was intentional. Hint, hint.)
Jesse’s still working hard in the Eyre. This week he’s added a nursery — for plants AND children — and populated it with furnishings and NPCs. He’s also set up the Eyre housing plot, and has had some genius ideas for new player furnishings. I’ll include a tour of his work with screenshots at the end of the digest!
Kindred and Janna are off visiting family at the moment so you’ll hear more from later, when they're back.
And as for me, (lucky last!) I’ve been working in two main areas: magic, of course, and a tricky usability problem. I’ll start by cherry-picking a couple of magic updates that make for good GIFs:
Since last week, I built the electric beam damage proc for the Storm Aura spell. I made sure to build it in a way that was flexible — I’d always originally planned to make sure all our spells were modular and could be used for different things like enemy attacks or traps if we wanted to, but I noticed after working on a Magic Missile spell that I'd got away from that goal and made it in a way that’d only work for players. So the zap here is a return to that:
I’ve also done some work on the Launch spell. Kindred lent a hand with the animation, and with the new VFX, it’s really feeling good. Particularly proud of the little wind trails on the hands.
As for that “usability problem” — with some testing, we’ve discovered we need a way for spellcasting players to quickly swap back to their default attack in combat. We’ve trialled a few hotkeys, but the prevailing solution right now is a quick-swap ammo bar, accessed by holding CTRL + scrolling the mouse wheel. Mouse wheel on its own is reserved for camera controls. Here’s a demo GIF, but sound off in the comments if you have opinions or ideas re: the default controls for an ammo system like this.
Alright, alright, I’m hogging the digest! Time to sign off and leave you with those promised screenshots. Until next week, take care!
Development Digest July 29th - August 5th
Happy Friday, friends!
Hey everyone, DD here again to bring you this week's Development Digest while Janna and Kindred are away visiting family for a couple of weeks. Don't worry, work will still be getting done during this time, and we are getting closer to announcing the date for the Windless Woods update. Those of you who have read last week's digest will know that Janna hinted at something special for this week, and unfortunately, it isn't the update date as many of you have guessed. However, I hope the actual surprise is just as exciting; a "meet the team" post that I will be sharing with you all, alongside the regular weekly updates of our progress. It's been a while since we've shared something like this, and with our growing community, we wanted to properly introduce ourselves to everyone once again—or even for the first time in one case. I'll be starting with the meet the team segment, followed by the weekly progress updates. I hope you all enjoy this longer-than-normal post!
Of course, we have to start off with Kindred; the founder of Kindred Games:
"I'm Michael AKA Kindred. I'm the lead developer for Swords 'n Magic. I've been making games since 2007 starting in RPG Maker and eventually going to school for my bachelor of science in game art and animation. When I'm not working on Swords 'n Magic I enjoy playing games, spending time with my family and taking the occasional hike through the woods. I have an unhealthy obsession with collecting art books. There's nothing quite as inspiring to me than flipping through a book of art from some of my favorite games.
My favorite part of Swords 'n Magic is the secrets. When I watch a player discover a secret lever or cave and find a special, unique item or reward inside it makes all my hard work worth it. That joy of discovery was what made me fall in love with games as a kid and being able to create that feeling for others now feels like my calling in life."
Next we have Janna, Kindred's wife, and the person in charge of basically everything:
"Hi! I'm Janna. I'm the Producer and Community Manager for Kindred Games. That basically means I do a whole ton of planning, communicating, and managing. My husband, Michael, and I run Kindred Games as our full time jobs. I love to read and have way too many books in my to-be-read pile (more like 3 shelves). I'm also exploring an interest in baking. When I'm not working, I'm either reading, binging TV shows or movies, or playing with our 7 year-old daughter, Abbi. My favorite part of Swords 'n Magic is the plush collection (mainly cause I keep making more to collect!) along with farming and cooking. Here's a shot of how I display my collection in game:"
Now for Louis, our favorite long-haired programmer who also streams development regularly over on Twitch:
"Hi! Louis here. I'm the lead programmer on the team. It's my job to set up and maintain all the systems that make exploring the world of Tirawyn such a rich experience.
I like spending time in the garden as much as I can. Where I live, in sub-tropical Australia, we have a year-long growing season. If you ask me about plants, I'll have a hard time shutting up.
Before joining the Kindred Games team, I worked in academia. I find myself much happier in the world of gamedev, though I do still teach introductory programming classes at my local university for a few months each year.
For a long time, my favourite part of Swords 'n Magic was the forge mechanic - the backbone of the metalworking and crafting system. It was one of the very first things I added to the game when I joined the team in May of 2021. However, the spells and glyph system I'm working hard on for our upcoming magic overhaul are quickly making their way to being my new favourite part of the game by far."
Wendy is next, who most of you probably already know since she's been on the team the longest (aside from Kindred of course):
"Howdy, I'm Wendy. I'm primarily a level designer for the team, but I also dabble in quest design, visual effects, and most recently AI design (exciting!). My job mainly consists of placing trees and grass with the occasional rock to spice it up. Outside of Swords 'n Magic I spend a lot of time pursuing my hobbies and passions like woodworking and community outreach. I also spend a lot of time gaming, catch me in some Foxhole or Project Zomboid. My favorite part about SnM is the weapon windmill because I think it's incredibly silly and I had a lot of fun making it."
Now my turn! I don't need any fancy introduction:
"Hello, my name is David, but most people online call me either DD or Double D. I'm a writer and quest designer for the team. My job focuses on designing and creating quests, writing dialog for NPCs, making job boards and writing descriptions for them, and a few other fun things. Before I joined the team, I participated in a few Kindred Game Jams—and miraculously won a few of them, mostly thanks to my amazing teams—and submitted a lot of quest ideas and in-game lore book suggestions. When I'm not working on the game, I'm probably playing another game in my way-bigger-than-it-has-to-be Steam library. Or occasionally, I'll be out playing or watching soccer.
My favorite part of Swords 'n Magic has to be Dwight's quest to destroy his ridiculous collection of pots. It was probably the most fun I've had creating a quest for the game, and it was all thanks to a suggestion from a community member on one of Kindred's Twitch streams. I love seeing all the suggestions and creations from the community make their way into the game, and I can't wait to add even more in!"
Next is our team member with easily the coolest name:
"I'm Rex aka Soupy. I design the outfit textures for the game as well as doing some of the icon design. In my free time I love to play tennis, cook, and read. While I will cook anything, I mostly enjoy baking. When it comes to books, I love fantasy and historical fiction. I am also the youngest member on the team, currently in school to get a degree in Computer Science at the University of Notre Dame.
My favorite part of Swords 'n Magic has to be the rewards of exploration. The game rewards you for wondering what might be behind an obscure rock or tree and I find most open world games don't do that. It creates an immersive experience that I cannot get enough of. Start climbing and you are almost bound to find something interesting and rewarding. By far that is the aspect of the game that I enjoy the most."
Last but not least, let me introduce you all to our newest member on the team, Jesse! It's also his birthday today, so I'm expecting you all to wish him a happy birthday:
"Hi! I'm Jesse, and I do a little bit of level design here and there. Mostly my job consists of decorating spaces and recolouring things. I sometimes build houses, and set up furniture items that you can decorate your own spaces with!
Like literally everyone else here, I enjoy playing video games in my spare time (Wild, I know), with a particular interest in fantasy and horror. I'm also usually playing a session of Dungeons and Dragons once or twice a week (I'm a level 8 Warlock, if you're wondering).
I feel like it's cheating if I say my favourite part of Swords 'n Magic is Housing, but it is! One of my favourite things to do is visit other players worlds to see what they've created in their own plots of land, whether it be a nicely decorated cottage, or an insane giant chicken statue."
Now that you've properly met the whole team, let's get into our weekly progress. I'll start with Jesse since it's his birthday. Jesse has been hard at work finishing up the level design in The Eyre, which is now nearly complete. We've shared a few screenshots of The Eyre in the last few digests, so go check those out if you missed them. He also made this adorable backpack:
Kindred has been working on modeling the big boss for the end of the Windless Woods storyline. I'd love to share some screenshots of it, but you will all have to wait for the update to see it.
Louis is still working on our magic and glyph system. He's been making all sorts of magic spells, such as this storm shield: We're still working on coming up with a name for the spell, so come leave us some ideas in the Discord. Louis has also been working on a system to change your ammo and glyphs on the fly. It's still very much a work in progress as of right now, but maybe next week we'll have something cool to show off.
As always, Wendy has been working on some amazing level design. This week I have some screenshots of the Shrubrian village courtesy of Wendy: She's also been working on some particle effects to help Louis out with the magic system. Also, Wendy and I have been working together on creating the main storyline for the Windless Woods. Kindred got a good start on it for us, but now we're taking over to let Kindred focus on making all the new models that are needed for the new zone.
As for me, I've finally finished reworking all the jobs in the game, as well as adding a ton more new jobs. There should be no more job board talk until close to the update when I add in the last few Windless Woods jobs for the job board over there. I've also been working on some quests and NPC dialog, and as mentioned above, helping with the main storyline for the Windless Woods.
That's all I have to share for this week, thank you all for reading and thank you all for your support! I hope you all enjoy the rest of your day.
Until next time, DD
Development Digest July 22nd - July 29th
Saturday update!
If you've missed Louis's streams this past week, you've missed out on a ton of cool new magic spells. He's also been posting gifs (too large for these posts) on our discord so make sure you check those out.
In other news, check out these new images of things the team has been working on:
I'm excited to say that I am done with summer camp! So for the next few days I'll be working hard on new furniture and new items. Towards the end of this coming week, Kindred and I will be heading out on a summer vacation to visit family for a couple of weeks. I'm putting the team in charge of getting these posts out on time!
Next week I have a little something new planned for you. So ominous.
See you then!
-Janna
Development Digest July 8th - July 15th
Hey there! Kindred here!
You probably guessed I was doing the development digest today based on the fact that it's several hours late, huh?
Janna's been super busy and will be for the next two weeks as well. It's not easy keeping things together without our producer and community manager!
This week I've been working on a few odds and ends as I chip away at the main storyline for Windless Woods.
I built a new visual lore-writing tool behind the scenes. Now Wendy, DD and I can write more in-game books without having to wrestle with data tables and page formatting. It's already proving to save us a ton of time and should result in lots more fun lore (leading to fun secrets, of course).
I also spent a bit of time scrolling through our new Canny board for features and ideas, as well as our ideas channel on the Discord. and found a few super simple features I could knock out. So I did that!
I made the trellis furniture items into planter items so you can now place seeds in them, added a toggle on player housing signs to hide the property marker posts, and finally, made some changes to the weight system. We kept hearing gripes about inventory size and so, after really breaking it down, we decided that there were a handful of different items that really shouldn't count toward your weight. So I spent some time building a filter and a tag system that we can use to tag specific items to no longer count toward your inventory weight. Currently this includes keys and seeds. We also discussed some potential unique bags that would make specific item types weigh nothing, like a miner's bag which would make all ore and gems weightless.
I also did a bit of modelling this week and started implementing a new special crafting bench similar to the astral forge. I don't want to spoil it though, so you'll have to wait until the update to discover where and what it'll craft!
Aside from fixing a whole bunch of items in the world I broke, Wendy spent the week doing a lot of clean up work in Dewdrop Village. She's also begun setting up the NPCs there as well as started writing a few quests and dialog for them. Dewdrop village is going to be a really fun little area for you guys to explore, I think. It has a good sense of progression built into it and I think it'll really add to the overall theme of the zone.
Louis has got the brand new glyph magic system working this week. In the last couple of days, he's added the first two spells to the game. The first glyph is the classic, tried-and-true staple of RPGs, Fireball. This spell launches a ball of burning arcane energy which will erupt in a huge radius on impact. Don't get caught in the explosion! You might have noticed he spent a bit of extra time on the VFX, too. You certainly won’t be getting this glyph confused with the (now defunct) basic attack from the old “Novice Staff of Fire”.
The second glyph he’s added is a throwback to the original single player version of Swords ‘n Magic that some of you may remember from my early days on Twitch, or from the library of old versions we have available for certain tiers on Patreon. It's the “Launch” spell. This utility spell will send you soaring into the air, if only for a brief moment. Use it to escape a sticky situation or to reach unexplored heights.
Jesse has been hard at work adding the final touches in the Eyre and getting me and Janna super inspired to start making new furniture pieces for you guys to discover in the shops there.
And last, but definitely not least, DD has been chugging away at balancing quest rewards and tweaking the job boards in each town. A lot of our existing jobs in the job boards had quests that would take you all the way to the other side of a zone, even when there was a closer job board in that area. He's been restructuring a lot of these jobs to be more interesting.
We also spent some time chatting as a team about our existing quests, specifically on Azura and their purpose in the game. We've come to the conclusion that the job boards are a great alternative to some of our early game quests. Most of those quests were built when we had very few tools to work with for quest design and very few features and interesting item types to give out. We decided that it would be worth our time to go back through and refresh some of those old quests. And somewhere through that conversation, we also decided that from now on quests in the game have to meet a few requirements. They need to give unique rewards or perks, never just some gold or basic resources, and they must always be associated with a longer, more immersive story. We'll never be making simple fetch quests for the sake of having more quests. And that means that if an existing quest doesn't tell an interesting story or lead to a unique reward, it'll be scrapped or updated.
Unfortunately, we definitely don't have time for a lot of these changes for the Windless Woods update, so it'll be a future endeavor. But we're really excited to clean up some of those old fetch quests we've never really been happy with.
That's about it this week. We're mostly in the cleanup portion of this update, so we’re spending a lot of time tying up loose ends and linking our mechanics together to make a cohesive experience. Next week's digest will probably not be as interesting as this one... Unless Louis knocks out some wicked cool spell glyphs we can share with you!
Development Digest July 1st - July 8th
Happy Friday, Friends!
DD here for the second week in a row. As I mentioned last week, I've been working on changing up our job board system to be a bit more exciting. I'd like to elaborate a bit more on that for those interested.
My idea behind the job board is to make the jobs a little bit simpler to complete, but also still feel like they're worth the effort. Currently, some jobs require you to gather several different types of materials at once, or craft several items at once, and it can feel a bit daunting to complete. For the most part, in the next update, you'll now only need to gather or craft one type of item at a time, though you may need several of that item to complete the job. Additionally, the rewards will mostly match the job you complete. Grow some vegetables? You might receive seeds back in exchange. Defeat some creatures? Enjoy some combat equipment such as potions, arrows, and food. Gather some logs? Here's some chopping potions or food that gives you a chopping buff. Aside from these rewards, you will also be getting some amount of gold depending on the job. Gold is always useful to people still progressing in the game, so the job boards will continue to be a good source of gold for those who need it. Overall, the testers that have tried these new jobs out have said that it's an improvement over the current system. I hope that when you all get to experience them, you will enjoy them more as well. I'd love to hear your suggestions and opinions about them in the Discord.
[table] [tr] [td] Hi all, Louis here, chiming in to lend DD a hand with this week's digest while Janna is out of commission. Funnily enough, I've been sick out of my mind this week too. I've made sure to take some time to rest, but my plans are still in motion for the big upcoming update.
My focus this week has been on magic. You may have seen this GIF in a previous digest:
As you can see, magic staves are getting a few changes. First of all, with the introduction of more powerful spellcasting, every staff now has a simple, rapid-fire basic attack instead of the charge-up + aim-down-sights that you're used to. It was important to us to differentiate between the combat roles of mages and archers, and the new basic attacks serve as a counter-balance to the powerful Glyph system we're working on.
"Glyphs" are the basis for spellcasting in Tirawyn. These magical stones have spells inscribed onto them by powerful mages. They can be equipped in your ammo slot to cast spells from a staff. Different glyphs have different charge/cast times, and a wide array of effects and forms. You can hotbar glyphs just like arrows or splash potions. Glyphs also have durability and are not stackable, so when you expend all your glyph charges, you can recharge them in town. So you could use glyphs to cast a light aura, cure everyone in a radius of poison, heal the caster or allies, launch a meteor, spray a cone of ice shards, levitate the caster - these are just a few possibilities.
But that's it from me this week! We hope you're excited for the changes coming to our magic system. I'm getting back to work now, so I'll hand you back over to DD to wrap up this week's digest. [/td] [/tr] [/table] Alright folks, let’s round out this week’s digest with some screenshots of places around the Windless Woods you might not have seen yet: Before I sign off, I know many of you have purchased the game recently in the Steam Summer Sale – if you’ve been enjoying the game, please go leave a review on Steam. Reviews are the number one way you can help a small indie team succeed.
Thanks again for all of your support. We're extremely excited for you all to experience the next update. Until next time.
Development Digest June 24th - July 1st
Happy Friday, Friends!
As Janna recovers from her week-long illness, I will be hijacking this week’s development digest. For those of you that don’t know me, I am DD, and I do a lot of quest design and writing for the game. For those of you that do know me, hello!
Before I talk about the progress we made this week, I would like to give you all a friendly reminder that Swords ‘n Magic, as well as the OST, are both currently on sale for 30% off. So if you haven’t grabbed a copy yet, now is the perfect chance to do so before the sale ends.
For starters, a lot of my work for the past couple of weeks has involved rebalancing our current Job Board system. At times, the jobs either felt too difficult to complete, or the rewards didn’t properly represent the difficulty of the jobs. I hope that the new jobs and rewards will feel a lot better in the next update! Along with this rebalance, I have continued adding more quests to the Windless Woods. Because let’s be honest, who doesn’t love questing.
Here’s where you will be able to find the job board in the Windless Woods when you are ready for more jobs!
Now for the rest of the team. Louis has continued to work on the combat system, as well as the map. Here’s a WIP mock-up of what the new map could look like. If you’re interested in seeing more of what Louis does, you can find his stream here.
Kindred (also known as Michael) has been busy making a whole ton of models. A lot of it is still too much of a secret to be shown off just yet, so enjoy this screenshot of some of the new alchemy ingredients found in the Windless Woods which can be shown off instead.
Wendy has also been a busy bee (pun intended) with work on the wasps’ nest. You’ll definitely want to explore it, but be careful not to get yourself into any sticky situations.
For those of you interested in seeing even more behind the scenes screenshots of what we’ve been working on, check out the Patreon! We have lots of cool things posted, including my personal favorite, this snail decoration.
I hope you have all enjoyed seeing all the fun things we’ve been working on this week. We can’t wait to share more with you. Until next time.
- DD
Development Digest June 17th - 24th
Happy Friday Friends!
Right now is the time to grab a friend a copy of Swords 'n Magic as it's on sale! We've joined the Steam Summer Sale and put the game and OST at a 30% discount.
Next round of news, if you aren't on our Discord, I'll be hosting a community event tomorrow at 4pm PST where I open up my world and have everyone join and we hang out in a voice call and chat and play! Last month, we even played checkers in-game (not kidding, a community member made a checkers board in my world). I host a community event once a month through our Discord. Come play with me! I usually end up answering questions and giving some hints about what's to come.
Now let's talk about the cool stuff. Louis has been finishing up loose ends with traps, triggers, and some combat stuff. He'll be moving onto the map next to add in the new Windless Woods map and some other details to round out the map overhaul. Here's the map Michael made:
You'll be able to zoom into it in game and see all the great details. Steam doesn't allow me to post high resolution images, so the above will have to do for now!
We've also got some magic happening over in the Eyre. Check these out:
And just for funsies, take a look at these cool new items going in. Can you guess what they are for?
Not too much to share this week. It's been a lot of bug fixing, tweaking, and technical things. Make sure you check out Louis's stream on Twitch as he works on the programming side. Michael hasn't been streaming as often since he's been in focus mode, but feel free to follow to get a notification when he does go live.
