DevLog - November 2021

It's been a while since my last update, so I figured now would be a good time to share some details on what I've been working on.

Character Changes

One thing that I was never truly happy with when developing VentureVerse was the main character model. This model was not only used for the main character, but was also used as a base for all human NPCs, including the bosses, and so I had to finalize the design fairly early in development.

Now that I'm in a position where I can spend some more time on the aesthetics of the game, I've decided to redesign the characters. The characters will switch to a smooth-shaded, somewhat "chibi" style. There is plenty of work left to do on polishing up this model, but I'm much happier with the direction it is going in.

If you've played VentureVerse, you may also notice that the character is holding a shield, which brings me to the next major set of changes:

Equipment Changes

The variety of equipment in VentureVerse was intended to give players some fun rewards for completing dungeons. In practice, however, the combat ended up being simple enough that there was never really a good reason to change your equipment.

The major downside of this approach was adding tangible variety within the equipment. This was a problem with weapons in particular, where I tried to add variety by giving weapons different speed, damage and length stats. Ultimately, this resulted in some weapons becoming a chore to use.

Lately I've been working on a solution for this. Now, all weapons and armour are functionally identical, and you can unlock new cosmetics for your sword, shield, wand, body armour and head armour. To add a little bit of variety to combat, you can now equip runes to this equipment.

The new runes system is inspired by the synergies you would get from random items in games like The Binding of Isaac. You have 2 rune slots for each weapon and 2 for your armour, and you can mix and match different runes, or double them up for greater effects.

For example, you can equip one Multiplication rune and one Explosion rune on your wand. Now you shoot 3 projectiles at once, and they all explode on impact. Alternatively, you can equip two Multiplication runes to shoot 5 normal projectiles.

This new system will hopefully give players a fun experience of trying new combinations of runes, or strategizing for combat.

Future Plans

In addition to these changes, I have spent some time refining the dungeon creator and tweaking lighting and colours within dungeons. My next few months will involve finishing the new character design and animations, and then I will focus on changes to the story.

In addition, I will spend a decent amount of time optimizing the game and adding polishing mechanics and visuals. I am not yet ready to give any estimation for the release of version 1.0, but I will be sure to post here when I have some concrete plans.

Thank you for reading,

Matt