Hi everyone! It's been a while since the last update here…
For the past two months, I've been working on SWOM almost every day, from morning until evening. Sometimes I'd sit down to fix one thing and end up working on something completely different… Writing a devlog while developing the game is hard, so there's a lot to read today (but I hope you'll find it interesting).
In the previous devlog, I planned to finish the interface, work on the characters and story, improve the locations, and get the game ready for testing. SWOM has changed a lot since then, and now you can finally play my game. More on that at the end.
First, let me tell you more about what I've been doing while I was away. A quick heads-up: not everything mentioned here has made it into the demo.
Story and Russian voice acting
- I've added dialogue with Russian voice acting and subtitles in different languages, quests, encounters with characters, and cutscenes. At first, you'll need to tackle the familiar basics of survival: finding food, starting a fire, building a shelter, and so on. Then the story starts unfolding, and you'll need to use… well, you already know this spoiler — magic!
Your first custom spells
I've already told you about creating spells (and received a lot of positive feedback), but over these months I've spent a lot of time working on how players discover this system.
- The laws of magic are tied to progressing through the game and learning more about the world. In the demo, for example, you'll discover your first law of magic (which one do you think it will be?).
- I've improved the spell editor and put a lot of careful work into recognizing the hero's wand gestures, recognizing your voice as you say spells, the effects of casting magic, and how magic interacts with objects.
The world and its inhabitants
I've continued filling the locations with various points of interest. I've been improving the terrain, vegetation, rocks, buildings, and places along the main character's journey.
A lot of time (a whole lot of time) went into lighting, environmental effects, and weather. Sometimes a small change in the lighting, contrast, saturation, or fog density completely changes how a location feels, so I adjusted those settings over and over again. You can see the results in the demo (let me know what you think).
I'm currently working on six different creatures: their movement, reactions to the player, animations, and sounds (they'll appear in Early Access).
A new interface and map
Oh, I've almost completely reworked the interface during this time: the main menu and settings menu, inventory, quick slots, quests, saves, and so on.
You'll be able to keep track of quests and their individual objectives, look up recipes, work with magic, and take notes.
I've also spent time on the map. It has zooming, filters, and custom markers with names. A good campsite, resources you need, or something suspicious can now be marked on the map so you can come back later.
I've been improving readability, control hints, and how text is displayed in different languages.
Animations, music, and sounds
I've added and improved first-person action animations: picking up objects with your hands and working with tools. These are things you see all the time, so they have a big impact on the overall feel of the game.
There are a lot more sounds now, too: interactions with objects, tools, magic, creatures, the environment, the interface, and cutscenes. I've worked on the music and the pauses between tracks to leave time to listen to the world itself.
Optimization, loading, and saves
As the amount of content grew, I had to spend a lot of time on the technical side. I've reworked how the world is prepared and loaded, the quality settings, and shader prewarming. I've moved object placement data to a more compact format (the file is now roughly one-third of its previous size).
In the settings, you can now choose DirectX 11, DirectX 12, or Vulkan. The change takes effect after restarting the game. The FPS limit is disabled by default (you can set one yourself if you'd like).
The loading screen shows tips that change every four seconds: some are useful advice, and others are slightly strange remarks about the hero.
Of course, performance work will be ongoing. If the game runs poorly on your computer, please share your specs, graphics settings, and where in the game it's especially noticeable on the game's website. Thank you!
What's next?
I've updated the game's Steam page with images, screenshots, and GIFs. Now I'm preparing a new gameplay trailer to show how much SWOM has changed during this time.
After the demo is released, I'll be gathering feedback, fixing bugs, and releasing updates. I've really put a lot of effort into this :)
You can play the demo from SWOM's Steam page, and leave your ideas and bug reports on the game's website.
I'm still making SWOM on my own, and your support really helps me keep going. Thank you to everyone who follows development, adds the game to their wishlist, shares it, and simply looks forward to the next update.
Let me know what you think in the devlog discussions. I'll be sure to read and reply.