Status update: Systems, Levels, UI.

Hard at work on the new build, as usual! There is quite a few things we've done and doing I'd love to share with you with this small status update.

Making systems connected & bugfixes.

The way we're programming the game is we first created a lot of essential game-supporting systems that work semi-independently from each other (I talked about them in one of the previous posts) .

When we work on those systems, we only test them in "isolated" environment that is only available through our dev tools. Currently we're actually putting them into the "playable game world" and making them function with each other. 

The task initially seemed like it would be somewhat straightforward, however we discovered that there is a big batch of small things and fixes that are necessary to be done first, which does take a lot of time to do, but we're working on it as much as we can... Finishing this is on our top priority, it is an essential thing to do before the next build becomes possible. 

This is also the reason why there weren't new builds for such a long while, and we're finally having that "final boss battle" with it.

Playable levels to show off what we've done.

Just finishing up the systems alone while essential, is not enough to show it all off! The game actually needs some nice flashy graphical content, not only the thousands of code lines... Even though we already have a character to show off new customization system, it wouldn't be fun to run around on an empty gray test level again. That's why I started to work on two maps, first is the desert one I've already teased (for now it's still just a collection of assets) and another one you see here:

Welcome to the "Interspace" (formerly "Transition Reality") - the first place you arrive at when you start the game.

I've toyed with a lot of ideas for the hub-world for our game and the different starting sequences... Remember the research facility or the desert oasis ideas? It's of course nice to explore various ideas, but ultimately I've returned to the very first idea, though fully reimagined... By the way concept art for this "first idea" you can even see on our Patreon page background logo.

The level is full of floating text placeholders to keep track of what to do in the future, some of them will remain even in the next build, so can at least see the ideas we have for it ^^ it's a work in progress thing after all.

Probably a spoiler alert:
The rift in the sky signifies how the Gatekeeper saves Consciousnesses (the player) from a dead, entropic universe where all stars extinguished due to their age, just as everything in the physical realms, including the universe itself, eventually dies. The Interspace is where she offers them a passage into the new eternal multiverse between realities, preserving their very being and their knowledge in the endless library of Khzandithri.

So, what will the Interspace level feature? Well, a little bit of everything: this level is the place to rest between travels, which is key to the core gameplay loop, which we're finally getting to work on. It will have:

• A place for players to meet up in multiplayer game, a peaceful hub for players to select/vote on the reality where they want to go.
• New travel mechanic through the Gateway to new Realities, which is now more like travelling to missions or expeditions. The lonesome starry night sky background is supposed to change when going to new realities.
• Floating islands  that later planned to be player homes (see these ugly placeholder blobs in the sky?)
• A whole tutorial area which also going to be showing off the core gameplay features we've developed systems for. 
• Start of the game sequence, laying & hatching your first character.

Consciousness - this is how player looks when they start the game and haven't hatched from an egg yet, or when their body dies...

By the way, I'm going to be designing and painting concept art of the Gatekeeper dragoness, possibly in a pose of laying an egg for the player to hatch from! That is what I have planned for the in-game sequence for the initial character selection, so stay tuned for that! If you don't know about who she is, well, she is an important character in the lore... she is that blue glowing dragoness on the patreon page's background art. I actually didn't think I'd be making her into the game, but it's all possible only thanks to your support, thank so much!

This particular screenshot shows the idea of a little puzzle that raises the platform to reach the gateway, it has a crystallic machine that needs power, but power needs to be restored first... And at the end there is a terminal that is activated when the creature inputs some dna code (just by licking the button) teaching the player about freedom of interaction... However this particular sequence will probably go through many revisions, just throwing the idea out there for now.

The tutorial is especially important to do right now, because it's not only to familiarize new players with in the finished game later on, but also give you, my dear patrons, a taste of what gameplay features to come in the future alphas and betas! And again, it will be re-done multiple times to see what works best, and as we add more features it will also change. So keep this area in mind because it's going to be reflecting all the new additions and changes, like an exhibition from now on!

All the 4k level screenshots at the end of the post in the attachments.

UI work continues

Just by making sliders and buttons, which I shared previously, UI is not going to complete itself! There has been more work done, now the new Main menu, Graphical Settings, and even (finally) Key Rebinding are complete!

Aside from that, the customization UI is almost done - it just needs icons to be hooked up, more options added and some bugs fixed to be ready to packed into the new build!