Hello there!
This is Michael Wolf, Game Director of WaxHeart, and I'm back with another dev log!
This August, we've been preparing for external play-testing by validating our final puzzle designs. Meanwhile, we're also getting in some major assets and scenes that we've been cooking on for a while.
⚠️ There will be a lot of spoilers in this dev-log, so please proceed with caution! ⚠️
Check out this month's log to see what we've been up to!
Entering the Corpse of the Whale God
We finally got our whale corpse model into the game! Its been two years since its inception, and we finally have it in the engine!
This one took a lot of planning and coordination between our concept, level design, and 3D art teams because the whale is in the center fixture of the area, which you can platform on, around, and inside the body.
The level design for the space needed to be FIXED, because it couldn't change once we handed it over to the art team. This meant we had to have the puzzles and platforming tuned to a finished state before we could even start adding in the art.
We did a lot of play-testing and iteration, and once we were certain that it wasn't going to change, it was handed off to the art team.
Sun Tower Chase Vis Dev Update
The Sun Tower chase vis-dev is making great progress!
This month, we were able to figure out our overall aesthetic for the space, and we're currently working on figuring out its color palette.
Our biggest challenge with this space is that it's hard balancing the aesthetically "bright" look of the space against the functional need for the environment to contrast the player's light. If the area is too bright, we can't see the border of the player's light, and it becomes very difficult to play.
Candle Girl Scenes
Candle Girl is the only other sentient character you meet in the world of WaxHeart.
In the last act of the game, she makes a much bigger appearance than before, and this is where the animation team has their work cut out for them!
We've been getting in some awesome new scenes into the game slowly but surely, and we're finally able to see a lot of them in action during this month's review build.
I'm excited to see how players react to her!
Dark Forest Abomination Chase
Every month, we're making sure the team is playing the forest chase as a group and giving notes to make sure it's improving consistently.
There are still quite a few kinks to work out, but it's looking pretty good!
What's Next?
This weekend will be the first of many external playtests for the team; we're putting the game in front of people who know very little about the game and watching them play the whole thing all the way to the end!
This will help us to know what's working and what's not, and if anything needs to change before art production fully commits to "arting" our puzzle designs.
Next month, expect to hear a lot big "realizations" from me, because that's what these playtests are all about.
I think it's important to embrace iteration, and trust the process; if something isn't working, we'll have to make some changes, and test again.
Eventually, it'll get there!
Hopefully, we won't have to pivot too hard on anything!