Its the end of the month, and it feels like 2026 is dissapearing already! We're edging closer to our early access/demo release later this summer.
This past 2 weeks we've been continuing to work on the mechanics for the darts matches (which Rob will talk about more in our next update), as well as fleshing out more of the artwork for the shops and pubs in town.
If you didn't know already, the town of Froglington has 3 pubs, The Hat and Horse, The Slug, and The Kings Trousers - work is already ongoing with the Hat and Horse, as it acts as our 'starter' pub, but this week it was time to start work on our next pub, The Slug.
You might have already seen the exterior of The Slug before in our trailer/artwork (as seen below).
Exterior:
Interior:
We're going for a cosier feel for this pub, one of those really crammed boozers on a Friday night, full of cig smoke (we're in the 80's/90's). The smoke has been this weeks challenge, working in after effects and using fractal noise, we've simulated a thin veil of smoke to loop and cycle slowly throughout all of the pubs. It adds a really nice atmosphere and depth, with none of the negative smoke side effects!!
We don't plan on introducing an ongoing hunger/thirst system in our game initially (outside of drinking booze mechanics in pubs anyway...) - so you won't necessarily be able to buy food or alcohol in the shop right away, however the shop will act as a resource to pick up necessary items to aid with everything else in the game, such as;
Buying newspapers - this will be the way to find out what's going on outside/inside the town of Froglington, as well as give you tips to potential quests/tasks you can be doing in town to earn money etc. When we eventually open up new towns and locations, you can find about those places in here too.
Buy scratchcards - tickle your gambling fancy and get yourself a scratchcard to help fund your darts and drinking habit.
Replenish coasters (as seen in our last update) - coasters are integral to darts gameplay - they are essentially playable 'cards' that enable you to improve your darts skills temporarily, or worsen your opponents skills. Each card can only be used once, so you'll need to stock up on more in the shop where possible, or find them out and about in town or by completing quests.
All the artwork in the game is currently subject to change, we're constantly updating it and swapping stuff around as our game develops, any ideas or suggestions anyone has would be greatly welcomed - just drop us a comment below!
Thanks again from all of us at Darts RPG, and we'll see you again in a couple of weeks!
Rich, Rob & Nat