Hello everyone and welcome to the fifth dev log for Elementalist! My name is Dylan, the game designer for the game and I would like to share some exciting new additions to the game that highlight our passionate attitudes and amazing work that makes the game feel alive and fun!

For this blog I will be breaking down the new additions to the game that made it into the latest build that we sent out for testing. This update will be a little smaller than usual due to the corona virus situations slowing down production in certain aspects. Enjoy!

MENU SYSTEM IMPLEMENTED

To start off with, the game has a fully working menu system that allows the player to Start, Select a World, Pause, View Controls, and Quit the game if need  be.. This seems like a no-brainer, but in order for the menu system to link to what we wanted it to, we had to wait until those specific aspects of the game were ready to even be linked. 

This simple, easy to understand menu was a critical inclusion for the player to fully understand what is going on and what they're jumping into. The next screen available is the tutorial screen that lays out the controls for the player in a cohesive and simple way as well. Forcing the player to read through the controller inputs before they even start the game should be the baseline for any title that is regularly shipping out test builds because there is no room for confusion and the player can be safe in the thought that this control scheme will be exactly what the player can manipulate.

Moving further into the game, the player can freely press pause at any time to select the world, control page, or quit. Again, adding these in seem like no-brainers, but in order for the menus to say and go where we want, we had to wait until we know we have the assets for the menu buttons. 

WORLD SELECT IMPLEMENTED

This one is a very exciting one for me because I absolutely love the menu design and layout selection we have come up with. The inspiration is clearly from Mario's world selection from the Wii game because it makes the player feel like they are jumping into an unknown world, full of collectibles and enemies. 

This basic world select screen will  be the first thing the player sees after the tutorial, making the player feel like they have a lot of work to do before they can officially call this game beat. Of course, the only select-able world currently is the Ancient Forest Level but in the future, clearly all these levels will be playable and implemented in the future but we have a skeleton layout of the world select that crucial to how the game plays out.

Like I said before, a focus should be that the players feel like they are jumping into a world of their own, full of things to find and collect. This world select does a really good job at that.

EACH WORLD AND THEIR RESPECTIVE ENEMIES/PROPERTIES

Each world zone has their own 2 respective enemies that interact with the player. Keep in mind, every world has 2 unique enemies, but the enemies share the same characteristics from each other world. For instance, each world has a flying enemy, and a patrol enemy only killable from the back, but they look different from world to world. We are finally all done with creating enemies in the production process and I would love to share them with you all. Lets go world by world.

ANCIENT FOREST

This is the the Flying Enemy for the Ancient Forest level. I chose an owl because it was a safe pick for an enemy that doesn't look to menacing when you first see it and that fit great for the first level since the player is still learning the ropes of the game. Thank you Vanessa for such a cute, fun model!

This is the Patrol Enemy for the Ancient Forest Level. I chose an ape like this because I wanted to offset the dainty owl enemy and show a true strong enemy type. The patrol enemies do not attack, they defend. This means that when the player is seen in the distance the enemy can see, it curls into a ball and exposes its back, its only way of killing it. Great job to Josh for this one!

LOST SANDS

For the Lost Sands level, I still wanted to have animals you would see in the environment for a desert while also keeping that mystical wonder about the overarching theme of the game. 

For the flying enemy in the Lost Sands world, I chose a vulture to represent it. This is the second world in the game so the difficulty and harshness of the environment should slightly ramp up. Vultures are intimidating and scavengers in the wild. Vultures show that there is decay in the world. This hints that many others before you have trekked the same path and might have not been so lucky to make it out.

This animal is a Pangolin and I chose it to represent the Patrol enemy for this world. Pangolins are known for their defensive nature and curious attitudes, perfect for an enemy that patrols a certain level or platform. We couldn't just have a simple Pangolin for the enemy so we had to spice it up with the mystical spiral that is etched into the animals back. This property shows that there might be something connecting the forest to this creature. Hmmmm.

SCORCHED EARTH

For the Flying Enemy of the third world, "Scorched Earth", I wanted something that can be found in a volcano. No living creatures of this Earth dwell in a volcano but what does move around is lava so I made it an enemy! This lava ball spirals towards the player in a corkscrew, disorienting whoever tries to track it. In reality, it's just a flying ball.

For the Patrol Enemy of Scorched Earth, I chose to dip into fantasy a little more and make an enemy that, similar to the other themes, matches with its surroundings. Thus, a lava golem was born! Again, this enemy doesn't attack, it curls up into a ball and exposes its back which is the only way to kill it.

GHOSTLY GALLOWS

For the last level we have planned, Ghostly Gallows, the Flying Enemy was chosen to be a simple ghost character that haunts the house it died in. This ghost character will fly towards you as soon as you are in sight. I drew inspiration from Mario from the "Boo" character and the "Shy Guy" Character. This is the most difficult level due to the disappearing platforms and it should be accompanied by a scary character as well.

Lastly, for the Patrol Enemy of the Ghostly Gallows world, I chose a ghost knight that patrols the haunted mansion. I love the idea of ghost knights all the way back from Scooby Doo so when I confirmed that we had a ghost level, the patrolling enemy simply had to be the knight. The shield to accompany the knight was excellently done and the emission from the inner of the character glow through the knight helmet in a way that makes the face for you which is amazing.

ALL IN ALL

Overall, the progress on this game from the team has been absolutely amazing and I love logging in every day seeing what new Trello card I can put input on or verify. Watching a game come to life, let alone my game idea, is really another experience and I could not ask for a better team in such times. Next Devlog will entirely be about the animations and the characters fully being available to play and test. We have successfully passed the milestone of creating the enemies for each specific world and that is no easy feat. Sending stuff back for iterations, confirming the changes, and verifying something to be in the game feels amazing and I can't wait for this game to be published and enjoyed by all. Thank you!