Hey everyone!
I wanted to write up a post detailing what I've been working on the past month, now that updates to the demo have slowed down.
I'll front-load this with some information you probably want to hear the most, and that's when Allumeria will release (into early access). And right now, I do not have a clear date set. I want to make sure that the early access release still stands on its own as a solid game. So, I want to make sure it has a good amount of content and features that people would expect. I am almost certain it will not take more than a few months to finish this, but the plan is to only announce a date once all the content is done and I am just working on bugfixing and polish, as I want to avoid announcing and then delaying.
I want to provide a TLDR, high level overview of what you can expect from this release. (0.15) For early access, I want to focus on the core game and progression, so I have a stable foundation to build upon. If the demo was a vertical slice, consider 0.15 to be more of a horizontal slice. I aim to have about 3x the content as the demo, with some new features sprinkled in. That being said, the following is the essentials of what I am developing right now:
Finishing the snow biome content. Currently its maybe 70-80% complete, but needs some work to make the caving experience more fun, and the boss needs tweaking.
Finishing the desert biome content. Currently the desert is about 30% complete. I have implemented a new biome generator, a new tree type, some new blocks, a new ore and toolset. But there's a lot I still need to implement:
Lots of new enemies. I have made a bunch of new models but these are not implemented yet
Lots of new weapons. I have made some textures and have been brainstorming ideas for unique weapons. Originally I wanted to implement a magic system, but this will likely be postponed until after 0.15 comes out. I'm trying to cut down on the amount of brand new systems I'm adding between now and release to ensure I have the time and energy to finish it all and get it into a polished state.
Desert dungeon. I've been working on this recently, and will have screenshots later in the post.
Desert boss. I have not started working on this yet.
NPC's, housing & comfort system
This system is maybe 70-80% complete.
Housing detection is in
comfort system is in
Bed's are in, and they use the comfort system
I have two townsfolk in the game right now, you can talk to them, and they sell items.
I wanted there to be more unique mechanics involved, but for now I am cutting that off to ensure I can polish what I have.
Most of the new content and systems being added revolve around these 3 pillars. Read on for a more detailed report of what I've been working on, including screenshots.
The first thing I started working on after 0.14 was the comfort system. I wanted this to be a modular, re-usable system so I could use it for multiple game mechanics. I wanted to use it both for NPC's to determine if the house you have given them is suitable, but also to determine if the area you are sleeping in is comfortable. This is to prevent cheesing the sleeping mechanic. You need to build a decent bedroom before you can sleep. No sleeping in an open field.
Next. I started working on the NPC's themselves. Currently they are very basic. They walk around in their house and stop and look at you when you approach. You can right click them to start a dialogue.
Clicking "comfort" will have them describe how comfortable they are with their living situation. Clicking shop will open the shop menu with the items they are selling. The aspect that is currently unfinished, is how these npcs show up. I am still a little undecided about this aspect. Currently, you need to place an NPC sign in the room, then run a command, /town, to have one show up. The most basic way would be to have this run automatically in the background, but this process feels too opaque to me. I also have not decided how comfort will effect the NPC. I would like to give certain NPC's special requirements, but I am not sure how to communicate those requirements to the player. Either way, this is where I am at. I think it probably needs at least one more week of work done on it. But for now, I am taking a break to work on other things.
I've been working on an optional guide book to help players who get stuck.
This doesn't give any material rewards and does not influence the game in any way, it's simply a resource to help give some direction to those who need it. If you prefer to explore without a guide, this menu will not get in your way. Systems wise, it is finished, it just needs saving/loading to be implemented. After that, I will finish the guide once the progression has been finalised.
I recently implemented a system that keeps track of biomes in 3D. This allows me to create atmospheric effects that can really improve the vibe of a biome. Some examples: (click left/right)
What I refer to as biomes is a very specific thing.
In Allumeria, a biome is a fully unique area of the world from top to bottom. It implies lots of new content and depth. New enemies, new items, new weapons, and probably an associated dungeon and boss. When you suggest adding a biome to allumeria, consider that this is a lot of work, representing likely 100+ hours of development on my part. I also need to carefully consider how the biome fits into the game's progression, as each biome in represents a step up in difficulty and a step forwards in progression.
Sub-biomes are much more surface level and are possibly what you think of in the context of sandbox games like Allumeria. These are variations applied on top of an existing biome. The forest in the demo uses sub biomes to create more variation on the surface. The maple, birch and oak areas are all sub-biomes of the forest. This works out because they are all thematically consistent with the forest itself. So, if I want to add sub-biomes, I have to consider how they would fit as a subset of an existing biome. (Like desert or snow).
The desert existed before the demo, but it was mostly barren. Just sand and cactus. I wanted to find a way to make it more lively, so I went with what you see here, some palm trees around an oasis. It's still a work in progress, but I think its coming along nicely and looks much better than it did a few months ago.
The desert is home to a new ore, palladium. This will likely be the final metal tier in 0.15. There are also environmental hazard, like quicksand.
Currently this stuff is still in the conceptual phase. I only just ironed out the details yesterday. But I have a mockup to show you.
The gameplay would be as follows:
You enter the tower, must fight your way to the top, possibly with some sort of challenge/spawner blocks, launchpads, and vertical game mechanics
once you get to the top, you can open up the roof to see the desert below
there are chests with paragliders, and some sort of altar that you can use to summon the desert boss, a giant worm
looking down at the desert in front of you you can watch the worm burst out of the ground, and you can fly down around it with the glider
The tower design would allow me to design each floor and randomise them for each seed. This could also affect the exterior and generate interesting patterns.
The snow biome remains mostly unchanged since it was introduced in 0.9, but if you are new you may not have been around when it was publicly available to play, so here's some screenshots.
I think the snow biome needs more work. I will probably work on it once I am finished with the desert. Even though it has content, (new ore, new weapons, new trinkets, new enemies, new dungeon, new boss) I don't think the progression flows smoothly yet. It's a bit of a jumble. So will see how that turns out in the future.
I've been working on a bunch of new enemy designs in the background.
I am rebalancing all the health, damage and defence in the game to work with a base HP of 100 instead of 20. This allows more fine-tuned control over how much damage things do. It helps prevent unsatisfying instances where you block damage but it gets rounded up or down weirdly.
The demo will only be getting bugfix updates for the moment, as I want to put my full attention towards finishing 0.15. There is a LOT of work to be done, and I don't want my attention to be split. I know this is frustrating as it's going to be a while before you get your hands on new content, but I believe its for the best. If I added everything I was working on to the demo, then the early access release wouldn't be very exciting. I'm not sure what the plan for the demo is going forwards after the early access release. It will be hard to maintain two versions of the game. The most likely outcome is that the demo remains as-is, and eventually I will add a warning, as the worlds generated may become incompatible with future versions of Allumeria.
I asked in the Allumeria Discord if anyone had any questions they wanted me to answer.
At which point will an official modding API be introduced
This is a big unknown for me at the moment. I can't promise anything at all, unfortunately. I would absolutely LOVE an official modding API, but I am one person, and I need to focus on making a fun game first and foremost. My rationale is that in order to have a modding community you need to have a game worth modding first.
How many memes/easter eggs/references are you planning to add?
As many as I can without it coming across as tacky or annoying. I personally enjoy making items that are puns or involve wordplay. And subtle hints and references to other media / concepts are cool too.
How will player skins be integrated into the game?
Currently you can make your own skin and play using it, but its a little janky. The short term goal would be to make it so you could potentially just drag/drop your own skin onto the character during the character creation process, and have it show a preview. Right now you have to go into the game files and add the skin manually. Something I would like to do (but can not promise at all, don't count on it) is a built in skin editor. This is very ambitious though, so would be on the backburner for a loooong time most likely.
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