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[pmarincak]

Devlog #58 - 04/08/16

Been working on bugs, writing and implementing the crafting system. I seem to have fixed the "entities sliding around the map" bug by hacking in a check into the game engine. It's not exactly the best solution, but at this point I just want it to work. I'll worry about a "proper" solution for when I have the time for it.

In other news, I have most of the crafting system fully implemented. Some gifs of it working:

[pmarincak]

Devlog #59 - 15/08/16

I've still been in writing hell. I haven't been super stuck, but I'm certainty at the point where I am writing a ridiculous amount of meta to help streamline everything.

I can't remember if I have mentioned it here before, but I decided on how I'll be going about implementing side quests from a narrative perspective. I was doing a lot of research into side quests in modern games since I had a few odd responses on my annual survey regarding them. Specifically, people asked that there not be fetch quests. I was really confused since I thought that was limited to MMOs and well, Assassins Creed? Turns out, after I played with XCX, Xillia, and Zestiria for a bit, that they are there nowadays.

I decided that I didn't really want things like that, and would rather have my side quests be somewhat related to either world-building or character interactions. That being said, as far as character interactions are concerned, I decided to have them be more focused on reinforcing certain aspects since they are optional. I also decided the rewards would likely be either very expensive or rare items, lots of money, or extremely helpful debate facts.

So with all of that, I've been going through all my notes and writing a lot of meta. I've also been going over the main plot itself and making sure that if you only played that, the story would still make sense. I supposed you could call it the Minimum Viable Narrative.

I'm hoping I can get a lot of progress on this done by the end of the month, but it's the sort of thing that you can't really rush. At least things are coming together.

[JeFawk]

I feel that the character art direction is not fitting for the Steampunk genre. Steampunk is definitely not about anime looking characters.

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

...but you look like anime 

[Vilanat]

I feel that the character art direction is not fitting for the Steampunk genre. Steampunk is definitely not about anime looking characters.

http://myanimelist.net/anime/28623/Koutetsujou_no_Kabaneri

http://myanimelist.net/anime/5114/Fullmetal_Alchemist__Brotherhood

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia:_The_Secret_of_Blue_Water

http://myanimelist.net/anime/513/Tenkuu_no_Shiro_Laputa

That last one is the debut title by Studio Ghibli so if one of the world's most successful anime studios began their career with a Steampunk Anime, i think having a game with Steampunk Anime style characters is perfectly fine.

[gimymblert]

WOWOWO hold on! You can't talk about anime steampunk without steam boy, it's in the title BRO!



But yeah, anime is the only place where you can find recurrent quality representation of steam punk, and we haven't start looking at video game (wild arms, even most final fantasy, notably 6, are literally steampunk)

[io3 creations]

I feel that the character art direction is not fitting for the Steampunk genre. Steampunk is definitely not about anime looking characters.

...but you look like anime 

------------------------------

As for the game, while there might be some similarity to anime, it reminds me more of "other" (i.e. non-anime) type animations and gives it's unique flavor.

[pmarincak]

Devlog #60 - 22/08/16

Been busy working on some polish tasks I've had in the back of my mind for a while now. I've added the groundwork for ambient music and footstep sounds when the player walks over different areas. I'll probably be writing up a more detailed thing about it later in the week; I've got some extensive testing to do on it first. That being said, I'm glad that it turned out well. Now it's just updating all the older maps to use it.... I'm also thinking of adding clouds or something that float across the screen, especially since there's a lot of open plains.

Also, I've been working on maps again. Here's some WIPs.

[pmarincak]

Devlog #61 - 03/09/16

Been working on various bug fixes and finally finished adding all the sfx and ambience meta data to pre-existing maps. It took quite a while given how many there are and the fact that they're so large. In any case, they're done.

[pmarincak]

Devlog #62 - 08/09/16

I keep forgetting to post here.... Anyways, I've been working on bug fixes and polish stuff. One thing I wanted to do was improve the dialogue box text/effects since right now it just displays text and that's it. I added a typewriter effect to the boxes, and a couple other things like shaking letters. I also had to make sure they could be mixed and matched. Nevertheless, they're all in there now Downside: I will have to revisit all current dialogue to see where to add them to...

[pmarincak]

Devlog #63 - 10/09/16

Here's a shot of the northern entrance to Vescha. It's a city situated in the northern part of Viche forest.

[MegaTiny]

Just posting to follow. Looking good, love the debate system.

[pmarincak]

Devlog #64 - 21/09/16

Did a bunch of map work the past little bit and a ton of writing updates. I started work on designing a Quest Log, but realized that what I wanted to do didn't quite match up much with the designs for the rest of the menu. I also figured out how to gain access to the other glyphs in the font I'm using, so I figured it was time for a UI update.

I played around a bit with making different background patterns with a different color scheme and asked #indiedevhour what they thought. Here's the full list of them:

The Original


Dark Version


Version 2


Version 3


Version 4


Version 5


Version 6


Version 7

Although I like the new patterns on their own, in the menu they end up being too distracting. In the end, people said they liked the original or the dark version of it best. I'm going to put them into an option in the menu to switch between. I hope I can find a use for the other patterns somewhere else... although I might just throw those in as options too.

---

Just posting to follow. Looking good, love the debate system.

Thanks :D

[pmarincak]

Devlog #65 - 16/10/16

Whoops it's been a bit. I even missed out on my 1 year anniversary on having this devlog here >w>;;; But wow it's been one crazy year of technical improvements work. Thanks for all the support and interest thus far and going on into the future~

I've just been off dealing with writing and updating UIs which isn't too exciting and extremely time consuming. I'm finally at the point of adding the new Quest Log, so I'm quite excited for that. I think that's the last? (hopefully) major gameplay feature I'll be adding. I can't really think of much more I could add... though I'm sure testers will let me know.

In the meantime, I'm working to get a beta release out this month with all the technical improvements I've made over the summer, the new UI, and adding in the rest of the features. Afterwards I can move ahead with content adding again, something I've been really itching to do for a while.

[pmarincak]

Devlog #66 - 16/10/16

The quest log is finally in! \o/ Minus the upgrades I need to make to the mini map to display the currently selected quest.

[pmarincak]

Devlog #67 - 8/11/16

Since the last post I've been working on bug fixes for the next beta release and dealing with little minor improvements. For instance, an amusing bug I came across was that treasure chests would let you continuously open them despite being declared consumed. Infinite items for everyone!

I don't have much to show right now, but one of the improvements I made was to remove the flashing dialog boxes in cutscenes.

Hopefully I'll have more to show soon =A=;;;

[pmarincak]

Devlog #68 - 22/11/16

Oof it's been a while. As per usual, I've been busy with bug fixes and making some minor improvements. I'm hopeful that I will be able to get the beta release out sometime this week since most of what is left is to just play the game. Over and over again. Again.

But for the meantime I've made a few more text effects:

That and, uh, rewriting scripts for NaNo is going great! Considered I only really started the other day. Mmm yes. Great.... (At this point I don't even think I have 50k words worth of script to write)

I'll be amazed if I can get this done in time this year. I gave myself <15 days to write 50k words.

[pmarincak]

Devlog #69 - 26/11/16

New release is new and just as long as the one from January.

Assuming there ends up being no issues with the SFX implementation I'll probably get around to that post I promised months back about how to implement it.

[pmarincak]

Devlog #70 - 09/12/16

Been working on bugs fixes and the like for the past few weeks. I needed to push out a beta patch last week for a critical memory leak, but otherwise things are chugging along.

Since I have the new menu layouts I've been working on fixing the scaling for different resolutions and so forth. I've also been working on getting them to work on the iPad again and that has been... an experience. Developing for Apple is a headache every time I do it. That being said, it's a million times easier than Android.

In any case! Improvements! I'm working on getting a public demo for greenlight finished off so we're working on polish stuff for the next little while. Things like new music, sound effects, updating older debates and writing and so on. Rather exciting. Unfortunately it means that I can't increase the completion percentage much. That being said, we're just shy of 80% done.

Hopefully I'll have more to show soon. In the mean time, here's the UI at different resolutions.

4:3


16:9


Design

[pmarincak]

Devlog #71 - 29/12/16

Been working on improvements again. I've had to update my Mac and the iPad, which has led to a bunch of new bugs on the iPad version, so I've been working on fixing that in between Christmas visiting. Which by the way, I hope everyone's having a good time with the holidays so far.

Another thing I worked on during the month was that I surprised myself by entering Ludum Dare. So, if you're into that, I'd appreciate a look at my entry. Also, if you entered too, let me know I'll try to play through it before time runs out :D

As for Gataela though, I've finally gotten some new music and sound effects so I'm looking forward to enhancing the cutscenes soon.

Also regarding steam greenlight, I might aim for it in February or March. Assuming I get in everything I want to for the demo by the end of January, what's left is mainly just intensive bug testing and making a trailer! I'm really excited to put the game in the hands of everyone.

Once all these improvements are dealt with, I'm really looking forward to returning to content adding. :D

Happy New Year!

Go try out or watch my LDJAM entry ♥