Steam News13 April 20262mo ago

Devlog #26: New assets, map layer, general visual

This time, I added the ability to hit your own allies - and actually removed the whole concept of "friend vs enemy" altogether.

Full notes

Full Alchemist update

Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.

What changed

0 fixes4 additions1 change1 removal

Gameplay
UI and audio
Balance

addedThis time, I added the ability to hit your own allies - and actually removed the whole concept of "friend vs enemy" altogether. Now everyone sees everyone, even if an enemy is considered a friend by another enemy, or friends are friends with each other. It simplified the code significantly, and made the system much clearer overall.

addedI also added a trigger zone for certain actions. For the demo, this will be used for an additional activity - entering the player's house. While inside, you can do whatever you want: trigger dialogues, change the state of the world, and so on.

addedI bought new sprites with much higher detail. They include character sprites and a large set of animations. Some of them are already implemented, while others are waiting for their turn. I think this will greatly improve immersion and make the world feel more alive.

changedI also changed how character HP is represented. Now, instead of UI bars or indicators, you have to look directly at the character's sprite. If parts of the sprite are missing - like before - it means their HP is not full. The type of energy they have is indicated by the color visible in those gaps.

removedI did this because I wanted to completely remove traditional HP indicators and make everything more integrated into the world, while still keeping it understandable for the player. And since there's a rule that characters can't see or damage each other if their energy doesn't match, I decided to keep it this way. Knowing the exact type of energy isn't as important - what really matters is how much of it is left before the enemy disappears.

addedFor the player, however, there's a need to actively use the primary energy. To represent this, I added a cloak - it visually displays all the energy the player has. Right now, I'm thinking about reducing the number of energy types from 8 to 4, but that still needs testing.

Right now, I'm thinking about reducing the number of energy types84

This time, I added the ability to hit your own allies - and actually removed the whole concept of "friend vs enemy" altogether. Now everyone sees everyone, even if an enemy is considered a friend by another enemy, or friends are friends with each other. It simplified the code significantly, and made the system much clearer overall.

I also added a trigger zone for certain actions. For the demo, this will be used for an additional activity - entering the player's house. While inside, you can do whatever you want: trigger dialogues, change the state of the world, and so on.

I bought new sprites with much higher detail. They include character sprites and a large set of animations. Some of them are already implemented, while others are waiting for their turn. I think this will greatly improve immersion and make the world feel more alive.

I also changed how character HP is represented. Now, instead of UI bars or indicators, you have to look directly at the character's sprite. If parts of the sprite are missing - like before - it means their HP is not full. The type of energy they have is indicated by the color visible in those gaps.

I did this because I wanted to completely remove traditional HP indicators and make everything more integrated into the world, while still keeping it understandable for the player. And since there's a rule that characters can't see or damage each other if their energy doesn't match, I decided to keep it this way. Knowing the exact type of energy isn't as important - what really matters is how much of it is left before the enemy disappears.

For the player, however, there's a need to actively use the primary energy. To represent this, I added a cloak - it visually displays all the energy the player has. Right now, I'm thinking about reducing the number of energy types from 8 to 4, but that still needs testing.

And honestly, it all looks really cool now - definitely better than before.

That's it for now. Leave a like, subscribe, check out all the links below the video - and see you in the next devlogs.

Source

Steam News / 13 April 2026

Open original post

Changelog.gg summarizes and formats this update. How we read updates.