Kalia and the Ancient City (Chapter 3 Dev Update)

Hello everyone! I realized it's been a while since my last devlog. Work in chapter 3 of the demo has been progressing, and I figured I should show you all what's been on the works. Those who follow the game on Twitter (I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize X!) should have seen some of these already, but it's good to bundle everything into a nice blog post. Onwards then!

Chapter 3 Level Design and Construction

The third chapter of the demo has Kalia uncover the buried ruins of an ancient mining city of which there have only been hints of so far. Unlike the closed-off environments of the first two chapters, chapter three will take place in open streets, alleys and plazas, a much more open kind of environment for Kalia to explore. Instead of corridors, the player should expect plenty more branching and parallel paths to take. However, the city has been in disrepair for millennia, and many paths will be blocked off by rubble or fortifications, requiring the player to navigate the streets to reach their destination.

 The city's overall layout as well as the level's layout are already done and can be seen in the above image. The red tiles indicate areas where streets and alleys will be blocked off in order to enforce a flow to Kalia's exploration of the city and the level as a whole. The large plaza at the center will feature a street market, being the "hub area" for the first half of the level. Kalia will be faced with a gate blocking off access to the rest of the level, and must explore the city and locate three keys that will allow the gate to be opened.

Old Asset Revamps

 All assets in the KatFS demo are placeholders... But some are more placeholdery than others. As part of the chapter 3 update, I have gone back to some of the older assets such as the zombies and wooden crates and given them much needed "death" animations. As a result, breaking stuff is now more satisfying than ever in the game, and should hopefully better reflect the intended feel planned for the full experience.

Faux Shading

Chapter 3's environment is full of detail, even more than chapters 1 and 2. There are plenty of buildings with doors, windows, balconies, overgrowth... And then you have the streets, alleyways, canals, bridges... An old challenge was becoming too much to ignore this time around, and that was the challenge of giving KatFS's 2D top-down perspective a better sense of depth and structure. And after some experimenting, I believe I've reached a solution that works for the time being - faux shading! In the image below, you can see it applied to chapter 1's environment:

How was this achieved? Well unfortunately there's no fancy shader or lighting work going on here (yet!). What was done instead was a revisit of all our structural sprites and manual shading of their different faces, using consistent rules to ensure they all still match when put together. The result has been that the shapes of the structures in the game are now more readable - it's easier to understand the faces and angles of the walls and columns.

Additionally, a "faux ambient occlusion" effect has been added to the ground, using a new set of tiles that can be drawn to create the impression of ambient occlusion. This should help in indicating what's walkable ground and where the walls are in the game, as well as just making everything look just a bit better.

What's Next?

The goblin AI is mostly done and ready to be put to the test in this new city map, as per the last devlog. The next step however is the detailing of the city streets, including the blockades. While I already have some new assets ready for this, some new ones will have to be made. After the streets are detailed, it'll be time to place the level logic and enemy encounters, and start internal playtests.

Oh, and then there's the final boss for this level (and the demo as a whole!) While work on it hasn't started yet, the concept for the boss is already set and all I can say for now is that it will be the best one yet! (and a better representation of the full game's roster)

This is all for now, thank you for reading!