The Kristala Dev Blog - Issue #17
Hello, fellow indie gamers and RPG enthusiasts! How's it going? We hope well.
We're a little late dropping this-here new issue of the Kristala dev blog, but we promise we've got a good reason. We're officially in the final development crunch for the vertical slice demo of Kristala!
Wait, wait, wait... Hang on. We really need to properly give that last statement the recognition and celebration it deserves....
*clears throat*
WE ARE OFFICIALLY IN THE FINAL DEV CRUNCH FOR THE KRISTALA VERTICAL SLICE DEMO!
Truthfully, we can't properly express how wonderful it feels to even put that sentence out into the multiverse. It's ridiculously exciting to finally have something tangible and concrete -a living entity! - to showcase with all you fine folks.
We've spent the last two years pouring so much love, passion, creativity, and hard work into this project, and we can't wait to finally share it. After all, our favorite part of the entire creation process - for anything, really - is being able to share it with...well...you!
Until that fateful day when Kristala is figuratively in your hands, you already know we'll be here sharing our dev process with you. So get comfy, grab some snacks, and get ready to dive into our latest round of updates.
Programming
Per usual, Will's been incredibly busy the past few weeks. As our fearless lead programmer, he's got quite a hefty to-do list...pretty much all of the time.
This sprint, he started off by addressing the way our player character interacts with various destructible objects.
After fiddling around and running some tests, Will was able to make it so that the character can effectively roll through various environmental objects - like the barrels shown in the clip below - to destroy them.
Will also readdressed the ability system to accommodate for various weapons’ special abilities, and fixed a bug that prevented mana from being correctly spent before setting up special attacks for both the Impaler Sword and Venom Handscythe weapons.
Will then fixed another bug related to the game's poison system, which you can see illustrated in the log below.
Next, Will wrote up some documentation for creating and implementing destructible items. He also programmed the functionality for throwing consumables in the Kristala demo.
Below are two videos that showcase the throwing functionality; the first is an in-depth peel into the actual programming process within Unreal Engine 4, and the second showcases the throwing in action within the Kristala game build.
Will also created a cure spell for our player character, implemented a special attack for the Rosethorne Sword (which significantly slows enemies), and made a change to the combat system to allow the player character to draw and attack or cast with just one press of a button.
Will finished up this sprint by addressing a few more bugs, including fixing our healing spell’s neverending visual effect. Here's the bug in action.
3D Asset Design
This sprint, Nick has been hard at work in the Kristala greenhouse!
He whipped up all the initial mass-variant flowers for our Dalamase’ level, as well as a few individually sculpted flowers with which players will actually be able to interact.
Keep an eye out for these beautiful buds in the Kristala game.
Next, Nick shifted gears back to one of his specialties - weapons! He created this super cool barnacle staff to match the rest of our Gilsanka enemy's barnacle-encrusted gear.
You can see the rest of Nick's aquatic artillery for the Gilsanka by going back in time to feast your eyes on Issue #15 of the Kristala Dev Blog.
After completing the barnacle club, Nick shifted gears yet again to work on creating some stone walls that will be used throughout the capital city of Nisar - the bustling hub of the nature-loving Nisarga clan.
In the Kristala demo, you'll be playing as Ofelia of Nisarga, but you'll be able to choose from one of six Anagativa clans to play as in the full version of the game, all with their own Capital cities and unique magic and lore.
Lastly, Nick tackled a few unique and important pieces of jewelry that are needed for the Kristala demo. We can't share too much more about these pieces just yet, but we couldn't wait to show them off.
What do you think these might be used for in the game? Let us know in the comments!
Our go-to environmental designer, Cass, continues to create the various structures and dwellings that will be featured in various areas of Kristala, like the Nasahara Ruins and the small villages that pockmark Anagativa clan lands.
Here's a peek at some of the row homes and forest townhomes Cass has been focusing on over the past sprint. Honestly, most of these houses are way cooler than any of our apartments... ;)
We've shown off Bianca's progress on the tree trunk spider enemy in previous issues, and we're super pleased to be showing you the fully textured and painted fiend.
Bianca played around with color schemes for this baddie before finally deciding on the second design below.
Behold...the completed, eight-legged fiend!
Last on our list for Asset Design updates are a couple models brought to you by the newest member of the Astral Clocktower family, Shelly!
Shelly joins us as our Lead Character Designer, and she's certainly talented (and speedy!) enough to have earned her title.
First, Shelly gave a little facelift to the texturing used on our Masarusa enemy. We think he's looking more ghastly and mutated than ever...which is a good thing in this case.
