Today we’ve been playing around with a bunch of different options for what the gate will look like when you reach the final Arcade Mode floor and it’s time to either go back to Arcadia or proceed on to the Bishop or Grindea battles. Starting off with the portal back to Arcadia:

The portal to Bishop meanwhile has a more sinister tint of purple and shows a dark sky:

The portal leading up to the Grindea battle will look a little different and more abstract, illustrating the fact that something rather strange is about to happen. Playing around with a couple of colour options here:

Now, as I mentioned before we’re gonna add a little statue shop with housing items, so I better start making a bunch of statues right? Let’s have a look at some of the ones that will be available:

In Fred’s department, there’s more final dungeon stuff, including a spring version of the hydra and the summoning animation for that platinum level Frosty Friend:

Finally, Teddy put together some words on our design decisions behind the final dungeon! Here goes:

So a while back we shared an intention of overhauling the final tower quite substantially, shifting from a large surrealistic “travel through the game again but weird”-type dungeon, to having it be a boss rush of sorts.

Nearly all feedback we received on this has been negative! We actually were expecting some feedback like that, but not of this magnitude. The main worries were:

* Shorter dungeon = less content

* Without a proper dungeon there won’t be storytelling

* It violates the game-design philosophy of a final dungeon being an exam on the rest of the game (think Wily’s Castle in Mega Man)

All these things are very reasonable, and because of this feedback we sat down and talked it all over again. But to even our own surprise, we’ve decided to stick to our guns! We’d like to share our reasoning, since it would be pretty weird to invite feedback, get it, and then ignore it silently.

First off we completely get that it “feels off” that there isn’t going to be a huge old-school dungeon at the end of the game. On paper, it is pretty much objectively weird, considering our primary sources of inspiration!

That said, after designing the dungeon two times now, we fear there is an uncomfortably high risk that it wouldn’t become a very good one, and we really don’t want to end on that note.

So why would we say that? Well, we feel the best “dungeons” of our game were those with the most engrossing context, and we weren’t satisfied with what we came up with for this dungeon.

A “go-to” strategy for us has been to load the dungeons up with story. But we neither want nor need to give any more exposition on the main plot until you reach the top of the tower, and having a side-plot at this stage felt off-beat.

So the first iteration was a plotless chimera-design where we just made random rooms based on old areas in the game, sometimes with combined themes (like season change + time travel in the same room). This was in spirit of the “exam”-philosophy, combined with a tribute to old mechanics. But when going through potential room designs, it felt hollow and without the charm that made our best dungeons good.

So as a “plot substitute” we decided to design a version that’s a surrealistic recap of the entire game. It ended up very similar to the “Curse of the Moon”, but much much longer. We felt this version had more character, but it had some glaring holes design-wise, and when we imagined playing through it we got very worried that it would feel a lot like treading water.

For us (including you guys) a recap might seem like a cool nostalgia trip, but looking at it from a new player’s perspective, it might just feel like weird filler. And while we’ve seldom cared about workload, we also saw that to make this version enjoyable would take a huge amount of work. If we had been in love with our design that wouldn’t have deterred us, but while we felt optimistic about some of it, a lot felt shaky.

So having recently played some very well-received games that actually had done away with giant dungeons before the end (a couple skipping them entirely), the blasphemous idea struck us: how would that feel in our game? Thinking back on playing those titles, our hope and belief is that in the context of an actual playthrough, the player will likely go along with what’s presented, too focused on playing to analyze and compare (though we don’t doubt some players will react).

Another thing that weighed in favor of the light-weight path is thinking about the Catalysts in the context of an average playthrough. Many of our Early Access players have undoubtedly gotten these already as part of full completion, but seen holistically, it’s probably quite a small percentage that will get all three catalysts before going into the tower.

For such a playthrough, getting the (remaining) Catalysts will in fact serve quite well as the Wily Stage of our game: one catalyst for combat, one for quest/puzzles, and one for grinding.

Now, about the boss rush: we’re planning remixes of some iconic battles, and we’ll make sure they all bring something new. One commenter came up with a pretty interesting idea that we’ll likely try out, namely having the elevator stop at some point, during which a short puzzle-section could play out as a change of pace.

We’re quite optimistic that we’ll be able to make this feel like a cool transition to the finale, that will keep the tension of the latest story-beat fresh.

That said, we totally understand some of you still would’ve preferred a classic big dungeon. We hope we’ll be able to win you over when it’s all said and done!

This week we’ll start by adding the background of another Arcade Mode room, the one where Astrid tells you which boss you’re about the face and helps you change that fate, should you wish to:

When it came to the boss preview effect of Astrid’s room, we had a couple different ideas. Our very first one was that she’d have a well of sorts, that would show which boss would appear:

Our other idea was to use a goblet and smoke effects to show it:

Fred then made a prototype for a cleaner effect than just the smoke:

And here we have the current version, some iterations later! In the video below, you can see what it looks like when you change boss as well:

After we asked about whether you preferred statues or trophies as reward for getting the ‘complete all challenges on a floor’ achievement, we thought a bit about it and found that we’d like to have the stonecutter have a little shop in town instead, where you can purchase whatever statues you’d like. As such, I’m going ahead to not only make more trophies, but more statues as well! Starting now with another batch of trophies:

The second batch has trophies from Flying Fortress, Tai Ming and the Temple of Seasons:

And here’s all the trophies, one for each floor:

Meanwhile, Fred has been working on a cool platinum level Frosty Friend that will be summoned by someone really powerful in the upcoming final boss fight! First up we have a bunch of sketches, and at the bottom, the final version we picked:

This week is all about Arcade Mode rewards, namely the rewards you’ll get for managing to finish every challenge on each floor! We’ve been playing around with a bunch of different ones, and here’s some of the ones we’ve come up with, starting with the Pillar Mountains, Evergrind Fields and Pumpkin Woods floors:

The idea with the Jumpkin one is that it’ll have a candle in its mouth which will have a living, animated flame :)

Next up we have the flying Fortress, Seasonne and Mount Bloom floors:

For the Temple of Seasons, here’s a suggestion featuring the Hydra, with three different skins:

And here’s the Tai Ming, Desert and Ghost Ship suggestions:

Finally, here’s all of them side by side:

Which ones do you like the most? Would you prefer that every reward was of the same type, so that all of them were some kind of statue or golden cup? We haven’t really decided if we prefer this version where it’s more mixed or if one specific type would be better. Let us know what you guys think!

Meanwhile, Fred’s been starting work on the first boss in the boss rush we were talking about: the shadow slime! Here’s some tests and an animation of one of its attacks:

So you saw the mysterious elevator from last week, and you probably wonder: what on earth is going on with that? Well, after a lot of thought and discussions regarding final dungeons, we pretty much all felt like maybe we’re just dragging things out a bit too much, and perhaps all you want to do is get into some action and get to that/those final boss(es).

So what gives? Well, we’ve decided that – for now at least – scrap our previous designs for the final dungeon and go with a boss rush mode, featuring slightly reworked versions of some of the previous bosses, one after another, on said elevator as you move your way up in the tower to reach Dad and figure out what the heck is going on!

Of course, if we feel like this version isn’t any good, we’ll revert back to the old idea, which we do have a bunch of backgrounds for already anyway. But for now, we’re gonna try out the boss rush elevator idea, and see how we feel about it. We’ve even more or less finalized a list of potential bosses for it:

Shadow Slime (a dark Giga Slime)
Halloweed
2x Phasemen and GUN-D4M (not at the same time, but part of the same battle)
4x Hydras (introducing the spring hydra – which we have a bunch of ideas for, ranging from it spawning green thorn bushes to spawning the poisonflowers from Tai Ming)
Powerflower, aided by bees (I’m sorry)
and Mimic, phase 2!

In other words, a pretty epic boss rush – though the exact bosses and what new attacks they might have is still in the works.

How do you guys feel about this potential change? Yay or nay?

Before I start working on those potential new final dungeon things though, let’s finish up some moew Arcade Mode stuff! Starting with the world map, which has been a work in progress for quite a while now but now we’re finally able to finish it up:

Now, before you’ve ever been to any of the arcade mode floors, they’ll be blacked out so you don’t know exactly where you’re going next, so time to make a bunch of silhouettes:

And if you have been to an area before, but not during this run, it’ll be grayed out:

Which means the map during a run where you’re currently at Evergrind Forest, but never have been past Seasonne (in any run) would look like this:

Except with a bunch of cool waves, like here, which is what the map would look like if you just defeated Grindea and got an S rank for it:

Another thing we’ve been playing around with is a “pin shelf” where you can store one additional pin without enabling its effects. Of course, in the game this has a rather crude interface at the moment:

As such, I’ve been playing around with making a couple versions of a proper interface for it, one featuring the trashcan which will be used when you first equip the pin, and one without it for the menu, where you’ll also be able to move your pins around and exchange which one is currently on the shelf:

Meanwhile, in Fred’s department we’re starting to prepare for the next big boss fight, this time in Story Mode. I’m sure you can guess who you’re gonna face off against… :)

This week we’ll be adding a bunch of improvements, starting with making the jump down from the Phaseman and Crystal boss maps a bit clearer! First up, the original:

And next, a bunch of different suggestions for clearer versions:

For now, we’ll start by adding the last one, and if it still isn’t clear enough, we’ll blend it into one of the other two after you’ve defeated the boss, to make sure nobody’s confused about where to go after they’ve finished the boss :)

Another addition is that of a temporary space in the shop, for before anything but the shop is available! Looks a bit better than the space beside the shop being completely empty:

The travelling alchemist’s shop also needs slightly more proper graphics, to show off the fact that it’s not just ordinary potions but super potions that are for sale there:

One of the things you’ve told us in regards to the current update-in-progress is that you’d like to see a slightly darker version of the Grindea boss battle area, as she tends to blend in a bit much during the fight!

As such, here’s one such darker version, which we’ll try out and see how it works:

For Fred’s Friday, we have a little sneak peek of something curious… A couple sketches for an elevator! Whatever is this all about? Stay tuned to learn more next Monday! :)

Now, time to showcase the second casino, which will feature a different kind of gamble than the first:

The Pin Collector will make an appearance as well, in a house that seems to follow its own physics (you will be able to see a background filled with stars through the darkness in the floor and walls – quite spacey! ;))

Next, with a battle against Grindea being imminent very soon, it’s high time to give her a proper boss portrait! Let’s have a look:

Next up we needed to make some adjustments to master Ji’s challenge rooms to remove the scrolling from it, so let’s resize that thing a bit!

Some more things some of you may or may not have already seen, the transition between Grindeas health bars and her cool space wings:

And weee’re back! This time, let’s take a look at some of the backgrounds you may or may not have already come across in the meatshield update, which has been up for a little while!

For information on how to access this super crude and potentially buggy version of the beta (at your own risk), come on over to our Discord and have a look :)

In either case, here’s the first of a few new backgrounds, featuring the arcade mode version of the ice cream parlour:

Next up, Master Ji’s dojo:

There’s also a mystical cave where a giant lood and its underlings hang out, ready to provide you with some loot! Let’s have a look:

There’ll also be not one but two casino’s opening their doors in arcade mode! Here’s the first:

Of course, Fred has been busy as well, making animations and other new stuff for the update, such as this ice cream eating animation and a couple fancy wings you can get yourself in Arcade mode by trading in your essence:

A whole bunch of icons for new items and perks is needed, as well as two new housing items you can unlock by completing Arcade Mode and trading in your golden essence, featuring two different types of Grindea statues:

 Shadier Merchant is another character that will get his very own designed room in Arcade Mode, so let’s give him a bit of a spicier background, shall we:

 Maracus will make an appearance in Arcade Mode as well, and as such, it’s time to tweak his room a bit to make sure it can be integrated into Arcade Mode, allowing for exits in three directions:

Finally, let’s take a look at the first phase of the Grindea battle!

Now we’re winding down for a Christmas break (this is a recap so the posts actually ended on the 24th!) Happy holidays to you all!

We will now have a short christmas break before being back to work as normal on the 3rd of January! See you all then :)

This week it’s time to start finishing up Grindea’s battle area, so let’s take a look at how that’s going! In this first part, I’m adding the basic area, the stones and some green details around it:

 And here, we’re adding some more details in the shape of a bunch of isles surrounding the area! Of course, there will be clouds and stuff as well:

Something that’s not quite the Grindea battle floor but closely related is the bazaar that you’ll reach right before it, where you’ll get one final chance to purchase some new things and swap stuff around. Let’s take a look at what that will look like:

Now, with one of the Golden Essence rewards being that our very own musician Riley comes to town to let you pick and choose what music is playing, we of course needed a new interface, including a new shop title! Let’s have a look:

And now, a first sneak peek at the cutscene introducing Grindea to the player! We’re still tweaking this, but it will give you an idea of where we’re going with this:

This week, we’re starting off by adding a new currency!

This is golden essence, which like normal essence can be traded for rewards at Bishop’s in Arcadia. We’re also thinking you’ll be able to trade a (big) amount of regular essence for one of these. The reason we came up with this currency is because we thought it’d be a better reward to get in that final floor chest, rather than getting the rewards themselves. This way you can pick and choose whatever rewards you want in any order (except for some that you will need to unlock by completing Arcade Mode in all difficulties), and it seems a bit clearer that you always get a reward of golden essence rather than an arbitrary number of rewards only to suddenly not get any more.

This way adding new rewards is more streamlined as well – if we decide to add more rewards, Bishop will simply update his shop rather than you having to complete arcade mode once again to see what sort of item(s) we’ve added!

Next, we wanted to add something fancy for when you manage to finish off one of those new and spicy floor-wide bets, so I threw together a little background for a room in Bishop’s realm where you get sent once you’ve cleared the floor:

Next up, we wanted a wagon for the potion salesman that sells you Super Potions, so I made some tweaks to Remedi’s old thing in Arcadia to better fit the salesman we have in mind:

And here we go, the second attempt at that bad-ass fae, Badasu! This one looks a little more badass, no?

Meanwhile in Fred’s department, it’s all about hands! Grindea’s hands, to be precise! Have a look: