Introduction
September has come and gone in an instant and with it, another devlog is due. This month featured a lot of changes “under the hood” regarding the combat system, world optimization through level streaming and LOD’s and many UI reworks, tweaks and fixes. New content this month includes a new and improved central castle, a new boss with several varieties, all new skeleton enemies (each with their own unique weapons) and more!
Starting this month, I’ll be recognizing Holomento’s patrons in each monthly devlog. If you would like to become a patron, please visit the project’s Patreon. I’d like to extend an ENORMOUS thank you to Holomento’s patrons below:
September Patrons
Daniel Garcia
Vincent Metal
Eventide Chateau (Partial) Overhaul
Eventide Chateau has been neglected for quite some time and has been needing an overhaul. This month I worked through the early stages of creating various levels of destruction for the castle. After beating the dungeon a specified number of times, players will have the opportunity to upgrade the castle and convert it into a thriving town. These changes are in the early stages but the destroyed version of the castle is mostly complete. There is also early work on the upgraded town version as well.
Docks Town (Early WIP)
This month I also got a jump start on an early version of the Dock Town (I’m really bad at names). Currently, everything that has been added is mostly decorative and/or infrastructure. This area has a long ways to go but this months progress is worth mentioning here.
Combat Optimization and Skeleton Enemies
Now I know it isn’t quite Spooktober yet, but I couldn’t help myself in adding some skelly bois to the game. A lot of combat focus this month has been on optimization and QOL updates so I figured it would be nice to test these features with some new enemies. All AI has received a massive overhaul and has allowed me to add unprecedented amounts of baddies on screen at once. In reality, the hard cap for enemies on screen will likely be around 30-40 as frames start to drop after that.
Another fun new feature to combat I added this month was spawning and despawning of enemies with a custom dissolve system. Without going into too much detail, this system will spawn enemies in with a reddish glow and despawn them after they die using the same color as the player’s current element.
Player UI and Combat Changes
This month brought many changes to the UI and a few tweaks to the player combat system: namely the “unarmed” attack types have been changed. Instead of purely firing magic projectiles from both hands, the system has been changed so that the player utilizes the Holomento book instead.
UI changes include proper death and run complete screens and a new reactive in-game overlay that only appears when needed. There are a number of bugs to work out with this system, however it is great for reducing clutter on the screen while in-game.
Giant Skeleton Bosses
Among the other combat changes this month, I was able to get started on a new boss concept. The giant skeleton boss variety will have multiple types. Currently two exist. A tower skeleton with green eyes and lush trees and vines growing upon it name Lichen Bones and a towering skeleton with a turret on its back named Spire bones. These giants have a variety of unique attacks that do various amounts of damage depending on when you are hit by them.
Various New Locations
Various new locations have been added this month as well including a reworked Autumn Forest and a secret cafe. Each of these new locations will be brought to life with various new NPCs that can be found scattered throughout the world. A new bird-people race is in the works as well.
Wrap-Up
Alright, that’s all for this month. Don’t forget the Holomento Alpha is live so updates will be frequently posted to the Steam Community page. This Dev Log will continue but does not guarantee the latest information. If you would like to keep up with the latest updates on the project I invite you to follow progress via the links below:
- Steam – https://store.steampowered.com/app/721700/Holomento/
- Twitter – https://twitter.com/HolomentoGame
- Discord – http://discord.gg/FbaQ8zJ
- Subreddit – https://www.reddit.com/r/Holomento/
- Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS7TjrKTM42sWjoVxuSRBeg
- Twitch – https://www.twitch.tv/sheenweedy
- Website – https://holomento.com/
See you all next month!
Sean