Aetherus Development | A Peek Into Development - Aesthetics, Part I
Another round of playtesting on Monday gave me the feedback I
needed to build out my plan of progression. In this newest development build, I’ve
built out the game’s mechanics and aesthetics – this post will focus on the aesthetics
of the game, including a nearly-finished art phase I, some animations, and
early sound.
Normally, Aetherus is a world of open air, of freedom, of
mysticality and of magic. However, the Malevolence’s corruption has tainted
these characteristics, turning open air and freedom into a haze of choking
shadows, mysticality and magic into suspense and fear.
What was once a sunny,
magical island above the clouds is now a clouded, darkened isle.
The darkness is only broken up by the glowing light of the
island’s magical constructs. This myriad of towers scattered across the island
host powerful crystals that channel the Auria, shaping them into destructive
forms of magic against anything that is deemed a threat.
The towers of Ionar.
Within these towers are Aesarean power crystals, instruments of energy that allow
the wielder to channel the Auria into or at anything they wish.
As the original architects
of these towers, the Vara are intrinsically linked with these constructs and
the crystals within. Using their spiritual link through the Auria, they can
direct the crystals, commanding them as defensive weapons. In the final build,
all of these towers will begin dormant – dark and devoid of energy. With enough
Auria, the player will be able to bring these towers to life, and use them as a
line of defense against the onslaught of corruption.
All Aesarean
structures reflect their magical architecture in their blue, Auria-infused
constructs. Bridges, shrines, and towers alike host these moving crystalline
constructions.
Aesthetics are far
from complete. Sound and visual effects are a major part of any game, and the
current build of the game only includes footsteps. In the final version, I want
to showcase Aetherus’ magic through soundscapes and animations – magical,
glowing particle effects around certain structures, rings of power around
buffed towers or the player, smooth trails of magic as towers fire energy
projectiles at enemies.
The beginnings of the
cave system. Though darkness is a key part of the level’s aesthetics, this area
is a bit too dark.
Existing areas and structures, too, are still missing key
components. The upper level of the map still needs texturing, and many of the unique
shrines lack the Aesarean flair that the other structures have. The darkness of
the level requires special visual effects to make these structures stand out –
without them, the player will have a difficult time discerning them from the
darkness in the distance when activated. While dormant, I think it’s good if
these structures aren’t immediately recognizable – a key part of the game is
exploring the map and finding new areas or items, after all, and letting players
roam the darkness and stumble upon a new structure or two would be an
interesting part of gameplay.
The mine entrance and
the forge structures lack visual flair. Without crystals, flames, or lighting, nothing
makes these structures stand out in the darkness. However, while dormant, these
structures will remain dark. It is up to the player to explore to find these
places.
I’ve also spent tireless hours this week working on the
systems and mechanics within the game. The wave system, including random bridge
selection and scaling wave size, and enemy navigation. However, as is typical of code, there have been issues. The scale of the game and the systems within it
require a lot of code – in order to make my work a bit less stressful and
easier to debug, I’ve been writing my code modularly, dividing code into a
multitude of scripts, each of which deal with specific systems or parts of the
game. Some scripts act as object reference libraries for other scripts. Others
manage just projectile behavior. Enemy AI and pathfinding so far have been working
fine, apart from some unusual interactions with the navigation mesh. The wave system
also experienced few issues. However, I’ve only just scratched the surface with
player attacking and the tower system; there are collider detection issues with
player attacks, and the towers, while they would detect enemies, would detect
them too late. Projectile behavior is also in its infancy and, in the current
build, essentially broken.
The foundations of the wave system are mostly complete. However, I still need to work on enemy AI - an important part of the game - and further wave/enemy-related components.
However, priority one for me as I continue development is to
finish level aesthetics, interaction, animations, visual effects, and sound,
due to external requirements. Once I’ve met these requirements and the
development of this game is no longer tied to anything outside of personal
goals, I’ll start working full-speed on game mechanics and systems. Look
forward to my next update!
Comments
Post a Comment