Oh boy, two weeks have already thundered past, and let me tell you, things are bizzeh! I’ve been mostly focusing on recruitment, setting up contracts with new freelancers, and planning the workflow for our new pixel artists. But I’ve also had the time to perform such thrilling tasks as filling out forms for the bank, reviewing asset documentation, and working my way through an email inbox that has screamed for some well-deserved attention. We try to answer all emails we get, but sometimes it will take me a while to get to it, depending on the overall workload. Busy days for a CEO, I tell you!
"We don't fight for you. We just fight." -Gnaw Greybeard, Voice of the clans
Carl has just finished the first draft of the Arleon song, meaning the song you will unlock while playing the Arleon campaign. It is a ballad of passion, sorrow, and much more. I sincerely believe you will enjoy it when you finally get the chance to play the game! Carl has continued to rework our magic system after thorough testing and just finished up a rework of skills and level up system. I got a quick summary from him the other day and it seems to me that the system will be a good mix of strategic choices and good old rng.
We are fortunate to have some very talented pixel artists on the team. Here is a step-by-step GIF showing the amazing work of Thomas Feichtmeir creating a majestic oak tree.
Niklas and David have improved our effects system in several ways, laying down more foundation for the big task ahead of making the world come alive. We strive to make the game satisfying to interact with and a huge part of that is using effects to make things pop, stretch, illuminate, and just really burst with visual goodness. It’s been great to see that we have taken a few more steps down that path during these last two weeks.
Niklas also made improvements to a menu where you can choose a reward. Some buildings will give you an A or B alternative, like choosing between troops or gold. Previously, if you chose a troop that wouldn't fit in your army, it just disappeared. Now you can re-arrange your troops and make room so you don’t have to go for the gold if you don’t want to.
We firmly believe in continuously taking small steps towards greatness, these images show how it used to look when you picked up items on the adventure map and how it looks right now.
David spent time doing minor improvements to the battle user experience. Marcus has joined in on the UI and UX work and made a lot of quality of life improvements. This goes for Emil as well who has become more and more involved in the visual aspects of the game (I have to admit that I enjoy working with programmers who very much cares about the visual aspects of the game!).
Anders focused on upgrades and team colors for Arleon buildings, as well as general graphic fixes. He’s been setting up files and adding neutral buildings to the game, which are quite a few already. He has then spent much time getting relevant feedback from our freelancers. As Art Director he is working hard to keep our visuals both consistent (which can be a challenge with so many artists) as well as up to the very high standards we are aiming for. This often means a lot of reworks, grit, and patience from all involved. Thankfully we have an art team that understands the hardships of creating a visually appealing game.
Another example of UI progress. Marcus has spent time considering how the splitting of troops should work in a smooth and coherent way.
Thomas has focused on all of the background art for the battle screens. This includes textures, trees, shrubs, and concepts for special props. The first biome is pretty far already, while he is now trying to get the other areas to a similar level of quality. Our new pixel artists are just now warming up: Martí has already started animating troops and Dawid is getting more acquainted with the palette and the concept art for our adventure map buildings.
Patrik has also been adding missing (and new) artwork to the game, mostly Arleon troops and buildings. He has been dabbling a bit with various special effects shaders as well, just because he loves that stuff (that’s my theory, at least). He’s also been doing asset inventorying, trying to figure out what's been done and what's left to do. He and Anders are now hard at work with getting the Arleon town to look alive, vibrant, and have all the visual impact you would expect from the heart of your faction’s empire.
Who knew that the farms of Arleon had such high yields of bacon? I would like to emphasize that Patrik, who produced this GIF, is vegan and no animals were harmed in the making of this game.
That’s it for now! See you in two weeks time. As always, let us know what you think in the comments below!
Please note that this is a dev blog. Features and graphics mentioned or displayed above may or may not change during the development process.