This week, aside from still doing a bunch of bug testing, we’ve been focusing on getting the “elevator floors” for where you’ll battle the bosses just right, starting off with the Shadow Slime floor!

Our first test was with an organic floor, resembling whatever area you fought a similar boss, that would appear around the original elevator. Here’s the process for that:

Our second idea was that the floor would remain in the style of the elevator, with more elevator pieces appearing and connecting to the original elevator. These would then, through the magic of the mirror guarding the tower, be “dressed” in the various decorations that would have been where you first battled this type of boss. As such, here’s the second idea:

For now our favourite is this second version, so we’re gonna go ahead and make the rest of the boss floors in this style, which will be my main focus (in the graphics department anyway) the next upcoming weeks.

Speaking of the mirror artifact, Fred’s been working on some animations for him this week, and here’s one of them:

Now, the elevator will of course move upwards in some way, and Teddy has been experimenting with a variety of speeds and effects. Here’s a bunch of the various speeds:

And here we have the quick ones once more but with blur (and more blur):

Of course, the last thing we want is for anyone battling here to get dizzy from the moving background, so it’s quite a fine line here to make sure it looks cool while still being easy to read. Both the blur and the slower speed seems to be more easy on the eyes, but of course, one option is also for the elevator to stop during the fights. What do you guys think? Do you prefer a moving elevator or a static one? How fast is too fast? :)

Getting ever closer to the end! :D

It’s high time we return our attentions to Story Mode, and so let’s have a look at the interior of the tower this week! Here’s where that boss rush will take place, on an elevator taking you to the top. Here’s the process of the basic background:

The various colored squares in the beginning of the GIF above shows you the various sizes of the boss rooms in Story Mode, which will serve as a guide for when I start making the elevators for each boss. Next, it’s time to add some more details:

And finally, a bunch of moss and small rocks to add further detail to this first floor:

Feels great to have finally started working on this, but there’s a lot more to come in terms of elevators and the like, so stay tuned for more :)

Before ending this post though, here’s a look at some stuff Fred’s been working on as well:

Oh yes, he’s back!! Excited for the final battles to take place? We sure are! :)

This week has been all about finishing up that last bit of Arcade Mode stuff, for me (Vilya) anyway!
That means a bunch of new items have been made that will be available as various rewards, some of which you can see here:

These are, in order of appearance:
* A phonograph that let’s you change the music in your house
* A hat in the shape of a cloud
* A trinket thet lets you have a Lood as a pet
* A trinket that lets you levitate
* A trinket that makes you look similar to Grindea
* A cursed figurine that makes things in your house levitate

I’ve also been working on ways of showing how many catalysts were active during any run on the high score list, which for now looks something like this:

Now it’s back to Story Mode stuff for me, while Fred and Teddy will remain doing a few more things to finish up Arcade (and a ton more bug testing)!

This week has been mainly about bug testing and the fixing of found bugs, as is pretty standard after a new frontline patch! But we’ve also been working on one of the remaining additions to Arcade Mode, and this is something that will be available in Story Mode as well – the statue shop!

You’ve already seen a bunch of the statues made for this shop, but now it’s time to add some more:

And here’s all of the currently available ones:

Of course, these statues will need smaller sprites as well, to fit in the menu and shop interface. Let me tell you it’s quite a challenge making smaller versions of these guys, trying to make them as clear as possible without going over the size restrictions!

Finally, the statue shop needs its own shop graphics, so here goes:

Next week I’m gonna finish up the remaining items and sprites needed for Arcade Mode! Stay tuned :)