Thaumaturge-Art

Greetings and salutations!

It's been a while, but I've not been idle--and indeed, here below is the first video devlog for Moons in Crystal!



Stay well, and thank you for watching! ^_^

Summary: In which an announcement is made regarding blog-posts; the new demo's Autumn Moon section gains bordering trees; the demo's Shattered Moon section sees a number of changes; various foes from the Shattered Moon are updated; some lighting is changed; and room-trails are set in place.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows an update to that barrier of autumnal trees that I showed last week, I believe:



The week just past was a fairly busy one, I feel!

But before I begin, an announcement:

I've been finding, I fear, that these blog-posts seem to meet with little response. As a result, I'm thinking that I might switch to video-devlogs--and that less frequently.

I'm still considering how best to handle such things--I want to be careful of spoiling too much--but I'm thinking that I might start with a short introductory video, posted sometime soon.

Now, while this does mean that these text-devlogs will be ceasing, I intend to post the video-devlogs in the same places, and likely with a very brief point-form summary of the matters covered in the videos.

So, don't go away, but rather stay to see how my adventure in video-devlogging goes, and to get news on the project that way!

And let me say: If you have commented on any of my text-devlogs in the past, then thank you for that! Know that it is truly appreciated! ^_^

Now, on to the usual devlog...

Continue reading "Shattered Rooms" »

Summary: In which the Autumn Moon section of the demo begins to see "walls"; particle systems can have independent emission sources; a trail is added to the Autumn Moon section of the demo; leaf-pile spawners are, I think, complete; Centipedes become smaller and faster; spore-clouds slow the player more; and Spitting Snakes gain a status effect.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows a start to some "walls" for the Autumn Moon:



The week just past was perhaps largely a visual one, but with some gameplay stuff done too:

Continue reading "Autumnal Sights" »

Summary: In which a level is further built; a new spawner is made; and lighting is experimented with.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows a more-colourful space from within the new demo:



The week just past was, I fear, a bit slow: a family emergency partway through resulted in Wednesday being a write-off, Thursday being very slow, and Friday being a little slow due to tiredness.

Nevertheless, some things did get done:

Continue reading "Centipede Surprise" »

Summary: In which a level continues to be built; doors and breakable walls take on line-of-sight; and water is depicted.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows once again a space from within the new demo:



The week just past was one perhaps given primarily to visual matters:

Continue reading "Water-Ways" »

Summary: In which a level is further worked upon; lighting sees changes and experimentation; and enemies gain tweaks and updates to their logic.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows a work-in-progress space in the new demo:



The week just past was a somewhat varied one, I feel, with work in particular being done on level-building, enemy logic, and lighting:

Continue reading "Running Kobolds" »

Summary: In which a level is worked on; an enemy's projectiles are given a new appearance; a tool's UI is updated; some enemy AIs are given logic for handling walls; projectiles also deal better with walls; lighting is altered; and a miscellany of minor changes is made.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows an update in the shots fired by Kobold enemies:



The week just past was an interesting one, I feel, centred around level-building and radiating out from it:

Continue reading "Lightening Up" »

Summary: In which the Ancient Kings gain various tweaks and changes; a miscellany of work is done on the bosses and boss-level of the demo; that boss-level is, I think, now complete; work returns to the standard-enemy-level; various standard enemies are tweaked, fixed, or updated; an enemy being (intentionally) able to walk through walls is addressed; centipedes and mushrooms gain new effects; a potential-but-debated feature is tried; and some tweaks and bug-fixes are enacted.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows the entrance-hall of the boss-level in the new demo. Each portal leads to a boss, and is marked by a flame indicating the expected difficulty of that boss...



I'm curious: Which boss do you think goes with which flame...?

As a reminder, the bosses are:

• The Ancient Kings


• The Dragon


• The Shattered Noble


• The Shattered Knight


• The Thorn Guardian

In any case, the week just past was perhaps primarily a week of tweaking and polishing, although other things were done, too:

Continue reading "To Health Bar or Not To Health Bar--That is the..." »

Summary: In which work resumes in the new year; fluids and crystals gain highlights; line-of-sight is implemented; some bosses are tweaked ahead of the demo; expected boss-difficulty is indicated in the demo; a combat-spell gains a bounce; some bugs and issues are addressed; and a drop in frame-rate is investigated and, I think, ameliorated.

Greetings and salutations!

And indeed, a happy new year! ^_^

This week's screenshot shows some upgrades to my crystal-shader, now including some basic lighting!



The week just past saw my return to work!

I'll confess that it took a few days for me to get back into the swing of things, I daresay--but I used that time to implement a few smaller changes that I had in mind.

Still, the week overall was a varied one, with things being done in visual, gameplay, and technical matters all:

Continue reading "Polished Crystals" »

Summary: In which a holiday is declared; a seasonal wish is given; bosses drop artefacts; a boss sees much work; another boss gains a custom shader; a third boss sees revision to an attack; boss-arenas are updated; spells gain icons and artefacts gain images; two spells gain appearances and effects; and one spell sees revisions to its logic.

Greetings and salutations!

Before we begin, let me announce that today begins my annual end-of-year holiday!

Specifically, it is intended to run from today, the 18th of December 2023, through to Sunday the 7th of January, 2024.

As a result, there will naturally be no blog-posts for a while, with the next being intended to come on the 15th of January. (i.e. One week after I return to work.)

Also, should you observe or celebrate anything at this time of year (or should you have just done so), then I hope that it is (or was) happy, and that you have a good new year ahead! ^_^

All that said, this week's screenshot shows the "mine" spell, now with new art, as well as some revisions to its logic:



The week just past was a fairly busy one, I feel! Once again, much of the work done therein went, I daresay, into bosses--but as shown above, other things were done also:

Continue reading "What Bosses Drop" »