Wings of Glass
New Patch: Ending cutscene
Made some jumps a little easier.
Made some key platforms more visible.
The addition of 1 life-flower in the Nevergreen Woods.
Changed the area right before Magdrol Factory Boss.
Balanced the Magdrol Factory Boss encounter.
Fixed spelling errors and fixed Salty's plot hole line.
Added an ending cutscene right before the credits roll.
I'd like to thank all of the reviews, discussions, streams, and yt videos of this game, because I think this is about as polished as the first part of the story can get.
Removing anoyances!
Things like moving some notes away from platforming/puzzle elements.
Making some jumps a little easier.
Making some key platforms more visible.
The addition of 1 life-flower in a place where everyone seems to think it should be placed.
Remaking the last part of the second to last map.
Making some changes to the boss of Episode 2.
(I also intend to fix that plot hole where so that it doesn't make Salty look silly for not knowing what her boss looks like when she has seen her face on the stamp. As well as just a few spelling and syntax errors, and trying to find more places to put Salty's special phrase.)
This should all be ready sometime today or tomorrow.
Plans and Ideas~
Today I spent all my waking time adding all of the currently translated Spanish text to the game, though this is only all of the menu text, and the story still remains in need of translation. I'd also love to know if anybody would be up for making a good Spanish dub for Ferace.
Really though the stamps was the big update I wanted to leave y'all on before going on a hiatus from real development of the game. I feel like with the stamps it feels like it's worth the price I gave the game in it's current state. I've got big plans to give you the world, story and characters that you want! At the moment I have insufficient funds from this games steam sales alone to fully realize it in the form you deserve. This is why, for now I'm doing commissions and making plans for small projects to put on Steam to help fund the rest of the episodes for Wings of Glass.
Do any of these possible ideas sound fun to you?
1) Short game adaptation of the story of Comet and Mantis.
2) Slice of life story-based game following Illa and Salty's pre-Magdrol days.
3) Wings of Glass dress-up game all about letting you easily make a Glasswing OC (or sona). This game would also feature some basic areas that you could casually 3D platform around and construct photographs for.
4) A short Wings of Glass game that follows a completely different Glasswing
girl (named Honeybee) in an enemy-free safe world that just lets you learn more lore about the fantasy world, with an optional romantic love story.
5) A beat-em-up where you are playing as a Glasswing martial artist (named Arachnura) doing generic action hero stuff like defeating baddies/monsters and "saving the girl" in the end.
If you have opinions about any of this, let me know in the comments and I'll take your thoughts into heavy consideration for future actions. Just trying to figure out how to fund the rest of the episodes for Wings of Glass that are a win-win for everyone.
PS. In case you haven't noticed, and want to create your own Glasswing OC, all Glasswings must be named after bugs.
Character Stamps Added!
Took a lot of work, but character stamp portraits are now in the game! If you have already cleared all of the available content, I'd recommend going through a second play through since being able to see character faces might freshen up the way you experience the story. I look forward to seeing a how people interpret the story with this graphical addition!
Character Portrait art is finished!
I'm spending today putting them all into the game, and fixing the word text that appears in all messages to accurately depict the same stamp on the texture. While I have your attention I guess I could tell you more about the design choices for the game.
So, you've probably noticed the funny language presented in all the text as it is displayed in the world. This is actually just an alternate alphabet that I use because I thought it'd help make you feel like your in a fantasy world. Character stamps, were not part of the original design, but after watching people play through the game, I feel like they will improve the story. It becomes an artistic quirk of the culture and gives players a better description of who the people who worked in the Factory were. And it should help orient players to understand who is talking in each message.
There is also some nuanced details about the stamps. Like how all demons have a symbol that describes their phenotype under their face. And also the way which fills are done for the stamps differs from character to character, so look forward to that!
Wings of Glass world free trivia
It has come to my attention that y'all like these two for some reason. So enjoy a preview of some more of their stamps. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of design I want the Boss to have for when she was a demon... sooo it will take a bit longer for the update that features stamps to appear. In the mean time, thought I could share some useless trivia about the world. These are not spoilers.
Sooo, one thing I have been always about iffy about is the kind of words that I use to describe things in the story. For example, the usage of the word "demon". I mean there not inspired demons from any kind of mythology (i.e. it's not as if they are fiendish hell spawns or cunning yokai). In theory "demon" is a bit of an arbitrary word, and I could have just come up with an original proper noun, since they are a specific entity that isn't quite like most fantasy creatures.
In-universe, demons are actually a single species that is unrelated to plants or animals (including humans). They have a very alien (for lack of a better word) method of reproduction which is consistent for them all. Oh, and this isn't the kind of fiction where you can cross a human with a demon, they are biologically incompatible. You can, however cross almost any demon with any other demon. At the moment, I am currently using the word "phenotype" to describe the different kinds of demons (e.g. examples of phenotypes as read in the game, Glasswing, Knifin, Deltafoot). SOo, Mayfly's phenotype is Glasswing.
Demons also have a property which can make them sometimes turn into monsters. You don't see any of the dancing spiders turning into monsters because they aren't demons, they are animals. So back to the original question, why call them 'demons'. While they aren't fiendish spirits, I like to think that it's easy to imagine that if one were to meet a fictional creature that, in that fiction, is called a demon, that one could actually have a conversation with them. In that sense, I use 'demon' as a way to express a different kind of people than humans. Meanwhile, monsters are just scary, stronger, feral versions of demons that will attack for no reason. You cannot talk with a monster, she cannot understand you, nor communicate with you.
One note about monsters though. If a demon becomes a monster, the person that they used to be is in every sense of the word dead, the monster that she leaves behind, despite somewhat resembling the demon and inheriting her abilities and talents, is not that person, the monster has no person in her. A vicious automated corpse. And--- ok ok, I know that this sounds a little bit like a zombie, and that they kinda look like zombies, but they are definitively not zombies. 1) monsterhood is not contagious, and 2) Monsters are not trying to eat you, they want you annihilated.
Hope you enjoyed this filler post!
Working hard on that Character Portrait update!
Here we go, finally revealing the faces of Illa and Salty. I am really looking forward to adding their character portrait stamps to the game as I feel it'll help endure you to them.
Update about character portraits
Here is the design I came up with for character portraits for documents and dairy entrees.
1) Lorewise, every person in this fantasy world has a unique set of stamps that they use for their documents and dairy entrees (Including Mayfly herself). This is to help immediately orient the reader to have know who wrote it and the tone it should be read.
2) Portraits are only allowed to be 2 tones, and should look like they would make good designs for a shirt.
3) Below the portrait part of the stamp should be a demons symbol. A demon's symbol is an image of the physical trait that the type of demon they are is as it appears on their body. So, for example, Mayfly is a Glasswing, so under her portrait is an image of what the shape of her glass-wing-bit looks like.
Leave your thoughts in the comments if you'd like to!
New Patch: Spin Twirl Enabled
I also fixed some spelling errors. And made the camera center behind you when you wall jump.
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I am currently working on character stamps that will appear whenever you read a found message.
These stamps are made so that it is easier to keep track of who is talking in each document, and in-universe serve a similar purpose to message board avatar icons. For you, the audience, it's purpose is more close to character portraits.
Possible Change in method of story telling in next update.
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Recently, a thought crossed my mind. I think that this could be fun, and a way to maybe expand the culture and lore of the fantasy.
I had this idea where, for example, all of the letters and diary entrees would come with a stamp. The idea is that every person in this fantasy has their own unique set of at least 6 stamps. And whenever they write a letter or diary entree, they will stamp the letter with one of these. In-universe, the stamp is meant to help orient the reader into understanding the tone which the letter is meant to be read.
From the players pov though. These stamps would appear next to the text, and function somewhat similar to an 'avatar icon' for whoever is writing. This should make it easier to keep track of what character is talking and give the player a better idea of what is going on in their heads.
It can add a level of art, culture, and world building as well as personalization for style of the designs of the stamps for each character to help distinguish them.
Any objections to this idea?