I am Overburdened, what takes so long?!

Published June 05, 2017
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Hello everyone!

I've been pretty silent for a while again...
I really dislike this, because I'm usually open and post a lot about my progress, but sometimes it just slows down and I end up in a spiral of "awkwardness", when I'm not progressing too much and I really don't want to talk about that :mellow: .

Oh well, I'm preparing for the beta, some tiny fine-tuning left before I'm ready to upload a build, but before that, I share this update with a teaser.

Menus, menus everywhere!

I completed most of the menus. Some minor stuff (few more characters) are still missing but I will finish those during June. I included myself as the inn keeper :) . Interacting with the guy brings up the help screen and he also tells the "story" of the game in the teaser.

2017_05_24_menu.png

Your journal

I went for a journal look for the classic focus driven menus and your inventory. I think it turned out good looking and it fits the game well.

2017_05_31_menu_1.png

2017_05_31_menu_2.png

2017_05_31_menu_3.png

For item pickup notifications I made a fancy scroll too.

2017_05_31_menu_4.png

Animated box-art

While preparing the trailer and other marketing materials, I had this urge to animate something related to the game :) . The in-game sprites are all static and I wanted to keep it this way, so I made an animated box-art. Some say it's a better attention grabber on storefront pages :wink: .

boxart_animated_art_portrait.gif

Dungeon templates

I made a bunch of new dungeon templates for the generator. Not enough for the final build, but there are already plenty and they provide good variety for a full beta play-through.

2017_06_03_screenshot_1.png

Progress, balance

First balancing pass over the item, monster and pickup power levels is also done. Nothing major, but you can complete the full 30 level deep dungeon now, encountering a new set of monsters and a new tile-set after every 3 or 4 levels and generally fighting stronger enemies as you progress. It is going to take days of tweaking to make it engaging though. I'm planning to devote a full entry to this topic soon.

Teaser trailer teaser

Yes, the following is just a teaser for the teaser trailer :D , a sneak-peek so to say. I'm working on a lengthier one which showcases gameplay features too with music, flashy texts and everything one would expect from a proper game trailer. So this is just the first 20 seconds of the real teaser, but I thought I should share it in this form and ask for some feedback/opinions about it...

Thanks for reading!
Take care.

5 likes 4 comments

Comments

Eck
Eck

re: but sometimes it just slows down and I end up in a spiral of "awkwardness"

We've all been there. Nobody can be on full-productive mode forever. There's going to be the occasional slow downs. Just make sure your breaks don't turn into quitting entirely and you're good to go. :)

The game is looking really polished. I love the animated box-art, and general style of your game. The scroll and book themed UI elements are great.

Oh, and congrats on getting your likeness put into a game. :D

- Eck

June 05, 2017 06:29 PM
EdenAeternum

I was coming here to post because I know exactly what you're talking about when you say you hit those slow downs and it's weird posting "Not much to show today." I'm also working a bunch of interface work which is incredibly time consuming. A lot of people fail to realize how significant a lot of that design work is. That being said, you've got a lot of great designs here. I love the fade in effect you have on the dialogue. I saw one image where there were three different sentences and they all faded in sequence. It's a subtle polish and a random thing for me to focus on but I like it! Just as Eck said, as long as you don't quit you're doing things exactly as you should. I try to picture the faces of players trying my game out for the first time to keep me motivated. If you're ever feeling slowed or unmotivated, try that out.

June 06, 2017 02:50 AM
Navyman

We've all been there. Nobody can be on full-productive mode forever. There's going to be the occasional slow downs. Just make sure your breaks don't turn into quitting entirely and you're good to go. :)

I can second this. Happy to hear that you are still moving forward.

June 06, 2017 05:25 AM
Spidi

Thanks for all the comments, kind words and for the encouragement :) !
Really means a lot!!!

Just make sure your breaks don't turn into quitting entirely and you're good to go. :)

Yep, quitting would be foolish of me, I can not allow that to happen, will do my best ;) !

I'm also working a bunch of interface work which is incredibly time consuming. A lot of people fail to realize how significant a lot of that design work is.

Exactly. I really have a hard time with UIs. I try my best, but indeed it feels like making the game interesting, fun & polished is "much less time consuming" than doing the same with menus. At least I really suck at it :D ...

+ I saw your journal entry and the crafting + cooking interface & graphics looks really cool and well thought out ;) !

Thx. again!

June 06, 2017 07:53 AM
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