#development update

[mythaura-blog]

Development Update - December 2023

Hi folks, a very Happy New Year to you!

In the spirit of new beginnings, Mythaura has entered a new chapter in its development, which we detail in our December development update. We also take time to review what was accomplished in 2023 (our first full calendar year with Mythaura!).

We've also got our color contest winners, the winning Fighter companion, and much, much more. And of course: our demo is now live! We're so excited for you to traverse the Wild Area, a procedurally generated map with monsters for your team of three Beasts to defeat.

Demo Trailer

Message From The Developers

We're thrilled to share this pivotal update about Mythaura’s development journey, which showcases many of the core features we have planned for this game. Today marks a significant transition: we're shifting from the intricate and challenging phase of game engine development to the exciting realm of feature development.

Since beginning this project, our focus has been on scoping and then crafting robust and core components. Features such as wild areas, battle, and multiplayer systems, not to mention the complex breeding system, passive effect management, player inventory system, and the beast image engine. We've also been diligently integrating these elements with complex user interfaces and ensuring they will work on most devices (an ever ongoing battle). It's been a journey of overcoming unknowns and technical challenges, and we're proud of what we've achieved.

Now, we're entering a new chapter. Our attention turns to fleshing out the game's features, with a special focus on developing an immersive questing and dialogue system, towns & shops, skill trees & progression, and tools for content development among other needed feature development. The hardest challenges have by and large been solved at this stage and our focus can now be how to best deliver an amazing gaming experience by bringing them together. This shift doesn't mean the work is done—far from it. But it's a major milestone that brings us closer to realizing our vision for the game.

We want to express our heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering support and enthusiasm, and look forward to a jam packed 2024.

Year In Review

This year has been marked by numerous milestones. Below is a recap of our key accomplishments, excluding the latest updates which have been a major focus of our efforts for the past several months.

1. Introduction of 'Supers': Enhanced breeding complexity by introducing 'Supers' as a new mechanic, making well-structured breeding projects more valuable. We started with the debut of our first Super: Tegu.

2. Special Additions: Welcomed the special Panda to our list of Specials.

3. Expressions for Beasts: Implemented expressions for beasts, a significant and ongoing undertaking that gives life to your beasts as they interact with NPCs.

4. Elements System: Introduced the Elements system, assigning each beast a pair of inherent elements. An element page was added that delves into the lore of each element.

5. Beast Sizes: Standardized beast sizes, assigning each beast a unique size within its species' range.

6. Beast Classes: Initial build of beast classes, providing each beast with a class-based playstyle and initial items.

7: Radiant Companions: Unveiled Radiant companions, rare alternate colorations for companions that are bound to be highly sought-after.

8: Deep Dive into Seasons: Explored the planned feature 'Seasons', designed to reward ongoing gameplay.

9: The Weekend Traveler: Designed the Kobold NPC known as the Weekend Traveler, who deals in ultra-rare goods, along with the Kobold non-player species.

10. New Colors on the Wheel: Established a sustainable method to introduce new colors to our color palette, allowing us to add 16 new colors this year (including the 3 contest winners).

11. Ephemeral Inks: Introduced Ephemeral Inks, a way to alter the colors of a beast.

12. Color Wheel Page: Created a dedicated page listing colors and corresponding inks.

13. PvP Battle Demo: Rolled out a demo showcasing our multiplayer technology in PvP battles.

14. Mutations Feature: Added Mutations as a rare breeding-only feature, beginning with our first Mutation: Piebald.

15. Items By You: Crafted 11 sponsored companions (excluding recolors), 5 sponsored apparel pieces, and 2 sponsored items.

16. New Game Engine: Designed a render pipeline that can create the 2.5D effects used in Wild Areas during exploration. Including, but not limited to, dynamic shadows, volumetric fog, real-time lighting, collision detection, special & particle effects, and gravity simulation, all accelerated by your GPU.

17. Granular Settings: Created a UI to manage game settings, graphics settings, audio settings, etc as well as added gamepad support with keybind remapping to Wild Areas.

18. Procedural Map Generation: Developed technology to procedurally generate bespoke Wild Areas.

19. Ongoing Production: Work on ongoing behind-the-scenes features such as worldbuilding, map design, systems design, and the exploration features we showcased on this update!

UI Update

You may notice the UI has received an update. This redesign focuses on being accessible for players using controllers, which is something we are working towards supporting on all screens and not just the Wild Area demo. The about page has also been updated. All the links to informational pages you would have found in the left-side menu of the previous design can be found on the about page with the exception of the /species page, whose contents has been moved to the about page.

We have also added an install button to the homepage that will display for users who have browsers which support Progressive Web Apps. This will add Mythaura to your taskbar/home screen for easy full-screen access.

Mobile and tablet users may enable gyroscope to interact with the parallax graphics if they would like.

Feature Spotlight: Wild Area

Wild Areas are a key pillar of Mythaura’s gameplay, and will be where you can expect to spend a lot of your time.

At A Glance

Procedurally Generated Levels

Traverse through uniquely generated levels with your trio of beasts. Control your adventure with WASD for movement and Space for jumps and shift for sprint. This can be remapped in the settings.

Each Wild Area boasts a series of floors. Your goal? Reach the top (or bottom)!

Your Safe Havens: Checkpoint Floors

Leave the Wild Area without any penalties

Choose to start from any previously reached checkpoint.

Encounter formidable bosses or minibosses at many of these checkpoints.

Prepare for the Journey: The Adventure Bag

Your Adventure Bag is your lifeline. Pack it with essential items for survival and success.

Provision Wisely: Stock up and get ready to face the unknown.

Limited inventory space for both what you bring with you and what you find along the way.

Keep Your Energy Up

Your team's energy is key. Keep it replenished with food from your Adventure Bag or found on your journey.

Running out of energy or facing defeat? You’ll black out, dropping your Adventure Bag's contents. But don't worry, you can retrieve them by returning to your last stand.

Encounter the Unexpected

From unlocking treasure chests with lockpicks to aiding NPCs, each exploration offers unique surprises.

Day and Night Dynamics: Encounter different enemies and events. A full day/night cycle completes every 12 real hours.

Wild Areas have natural water bodies, perfect for a fishing escapade.

Escalating Challenges

Increase difficulty with each New Game+ cycle and encounter new enemies and challenging secret bosses.

Multiplayer Co-Op

Up to 3 players can group up to take on a Wild Area together.

Take on enemies as a group with co-op battles.

See your friends jump and move in realtime, split up to make the most of your exploration while keeping tabs on your team-mates through the text chat and the minimap.

Fledgeling’s Forest Demo

The demo features a single floor of the Fledgeling's Forest Wild Area, with unlimited energy.

Day/Night Slider: Experience any time of day at your convenience. (Note: Creatures that spawn remain the same in the demo)

Currently Disabled: Fishing, lockpicking, loot & foraging, multiplayer, and other events are not available in this demo.

NG+ Cycle Update

In last month's update we revealed our plans for Mythaura's New Game+ system. Originally, our plan allowed players from NG+2 and beyond to create any Tier 1-Tier 3 Beast.

We have since changed it so that at the beginning of a player's NG+2 cycle they may make a Tier 1-Tier 3 Beast with up to three Specials, but NG+3 and beyond will not feature any custom Beast creation. The player will instead have access to a pool of NG+3-exclusive items that they will receive items from.

Thank you to our Discord members for all their input, it provided us with a much better direction to move forward with!

Winter Quarter (2024) Concepts

It’s the first day of Winter Quarter 2024, which means we’ve got new Quarterly Rewards for Sponsors to vote on on our Ko-fi page!

Which concepts would you like to see made into official site items? Sponsors of Bronze level or higher have a vote in deciding. Please check out the Companion post and the Glamour post on Ko-fi to cast your vote for the winning concepts!

Votes must be posted by January 29, 2024 at 11:59pm PDT in order to be considered.

All Fall 2023 Rewards are now listed in our Ko-fi Shop for individual purchase for all Sponsor levels at $5 USD flat rate per unit. As a reminder, please remember that no more than 3 units of any given item can be purchased. If you purchase more than 3 units of any given item, your entire purchase will be refunded and you will need to place your order again, this time with no more than 3 units of any given item.

Fall 2023 Glamour: Ghastly Grin

Fall 2023 Companion: Saddleback Rattlecat

Fall 2023 Solid Gold Glamour: Ryu

Custom Color Contest Winners

Last month we revealed the names of the winning colors of our first ever Custom Color Contest--now they've made their official debut in the Beast Creator!

Congratulations again to:

Xander's "Moonstone"

Rhahatl's "Wintergrass"

Andydrarch's "Trench"

We were so impressed by all the amazing entries you all submitted. We'll definitely be running more contests like this in the future, so please stay tuned for them in future updates. Thank you all for participating!

Fighter Class Companion Winner

The brutish Domestic Wolverine will be the starting Companion for the Fighter Class! These brave and hardy creatures are perfectly suited to aiding new Fighters. Next month, we will vote on the next class companion: Rogue.

Meet the Team

We've gotten to learn so much about our supporters over the past year and a half, we thought it was time to share a little bit about ourselves as well! On our About page you can find short bios on each of the devs, including their favorite Mythaura species, color from our color wheel, and other fun and (very miscellaneous) facts.

Safari & iOS Problems

At this time, iOS devices like iPad and iPhone are only partially supported. These are the issues that the dev team is aware of and actively working on:

On iOs, Safari forces a refresh if the memory usage spikes, forcing you back to the demo start page. This happens at different times on different devices dependent on its RAM usage.

Sometimes when starting a battle, battlers start shifted down, then snap to the correct position after interacting with a button.

The zoom in on a beast image is pixelated (Safari bug: https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=27684).

On Mac Safari, battle animations showing with a black background. iOS is fine. Solution is to disable battle animations in the settings.

You will need to be running at least iOS 15 and Safari version 15 or greater in order to use Mythaura.

Mythaura v0.25.1

Improvements to AI Behavior: Improved target selection and behavior profiles for AI enemies.

Class Infrastructure Addition: Added new class infrastructure.

Stat Effects from Classes: Implemented functionality where classes affect stats.

Glamour CMS Process and Fixes: Updated and fixed issues related to the glamour content management system process.

Ability Usage Tracking: Implemented increments in the 'ability times used' counter, enhancing tracking of abilities' usage.

Policy Code Refactor: Conducted a significant refactor of policy-related code, improving efficiency and maintainability.

Item Actions Refactoring and Rename Feature: Refactored item actions and added a new feature to rename items, allowing users to name their companions.

Book Item Type Addition: Introduced a new item type - books, adding to the game's content.

Encounter and Description Fixes: Fixed issues with encounter metadata and corrected miss descriptions.

Shadow Maps Generation: Added tools that allow the system to generate shadow assets.

PHP 8.3 Compatibility Updates: Made updates to ensure compatibility with PHP 8.3.

Queue Configuration and Fixes: Improved the configuration of job queues and fixed related issues.

Fixes and Updates for Battler State: Addressed issues in practical testing and refined the battler state management.

Refactor of Current Effects: Refactored how current effects are stored and managed. Moved current effects to state and resolved turn resolution issues.

Map Generation and Space Management: Improved the map generator to add empty spaces when out of view.

Behavior Selection and Shadow Rendering Fixes: Fixed issues with behavior selection and shadow rendering in battle states.

Party Leader Management Updates: Implemented changes for setting new party leaders upon defeat.

Stat Resolution Enhancements: Updated the resolution of stats, improving the mechanics of stat calculations.

PvP and Demo Battle Fixes: Made fixes specifically for arena PvP and demo battles.

State Management and Pruning: Improved state management, including pruning data when no longer needed by the system.

Species Data Addition: Added species data to the about page.

Rest & Defend Action Health Gain: Resting no longer increases health but does recover more stamina. Defending no longer recovers stamina.

Remade Companion Page: Used the new scene component to improve usability and performance of companion page.

Adjusted Radiant Overlay: This fixes an issue Firefox users had with viewing radiant companions.

Updated Tooltips: Tooltips have been replaced with a more modern library.

Gyroscope Support: The game can use a devices gyroscope to move parallax scenes around.

Websocket Connection Updates: Ensures websockets get cleanly disconnected at the end of every battle.

Improved Hitboxes and Rendering: Objects no longer appear to "float" regardless of their size and their hitboxes have been refined.

Added Global Sound - App can now maintain music across different pages and the settings control master, sound effects, and music seperately.

Enhanced Settings - Greatly improved the number of modular settings a user can use in both graphics and gamepad.

Wild Area Game Pad Support - Wild areas now support game pag usage. Full game pad support is in progress.

Virtual Joystick - Touch screen devices can control movement with a virtual joystick.

General Cleanups and Tweaks: Conducted cleanups and minor tweaks across various parts of the system.

Thank You!

Our first full calendar year with Mythaura has been one primarily focused on foundation-building. We're so excited to use these systems that we have built to create the content that players will engage with as they travel throughout Mythaura. Again, a heartfelt thanks to those who have supported us through all of this--we really couldn't have done it without you. We hope to deliver an experience that you'll want to revisit again and again.

As always: we'll see you around the Discord!

[pawborough]

[ID: A banner with a nature background. Winnipeg, a longhair in a wheelchair who is holding a frypan, is to the left, and a gray female shorthair is to the right. The Paw Borough logo is in the middle, with a button that says “PLAY THE DEMO” under it. End ID]

Development Update

Play the demo at pawborough.net

Share the cats you make with us by tagging @pawborough and tagging the post with #pawborough!

And a huge thank you to our art team who helped to make this project a reality!

[ID: A credits page. Each artist has an icon above their name. The artists are:

Amelia

(@Amelia B)

Breed Designer & NPC Artist

Arden

(@Ursiday)

Lead Fauna Artist & Gene Artist

Stephanie

(@Xintoii)

Lead Gene Artist

Diana

(@Midreky)

Lead Accessory Artist

Anabel

(@Peachu.Dumplings)

Accessory & Decor Artist

Rhiannon

(@Skazinbud)

Lead Backdrop Artist

Rebecca

(@Jetbytes)

Fauna & Accessory Artist

Remmie

(@Hybridremmie)

Fauna, Accessory, Decor, & Icon Artist

Laura

(@Fulemy)

Gene & Fauna Artist

Harriertail

(@Harriertail)

Backdrop Artist

Emma

(@Missbluefrost)

Manual Color Artist

Kieren

(@Tibbycaps)

Manual Color Artist

Ambrose

(@Ambrosedotty)

Manual Color Artist

Luca

Manual Color Artist

Rose

(@Beetlesprite)

Manual Color Artist

End ID.]

[lorwolfofficial]

We're back! Apologies for the radio silence over the past few months, we're pleased to say that JimJim's arm has been healing well and is almost entirely recovered. Our team has been hard at work building, testing, and creating art assets for the achievement system - and we're pleased to announce that it will be launching today as soon as the scheduled maintenance has concluded!

We've also taken this time to go back and address some of the bugs and issues that have been reported. Recent code changes have been recorded in the latest Patch Notes 1.1.6.

It's finally ready; achievements have just landed in the world of Loria! Players can track their progress as they complete goals and unlock achievement-exclusive rewards through everyday, regular gameplay. Navigate to the Achievements page from the Den menu:

Achievements have been divided into four subcategories - General, Gameplay, Professions, and Den. If you have an achievement reward available to claim, it will display as a small red dot next to the tab name.

General: For completion of general gameplay tasks such as achievements completed, weekly activities completed, etc.

Starter: A category to help onboard new players to the game. Apparel items awarded in this category are not soulbound, and can also be purchased from Marvin's Mole Market.

Gameplay: Includes Arena, Campaign, Gauntlet, and Pageant tasks and awards several different exclusive apparel sets and recipes.

Professions: Covers every profession and awards weekly event vouchers.

Den: A category for miscellaneous tasks such as inventory management, wolf breeding, etc.

Completing an achievement may grant any of the following: Achievement points, Moonstones, Pebbles, Forum titles, Companions, apparel items, food, materials, and more. (As a side note, this update has almost doubled the total number of official game apparel!) Once an achievement has been claimed, it will be sent to the player via Notifications.

Achievement points and titles will display below a player's profile within the Forums. Titles can be set from the Account Settings page.

Some final notes:

Due to this being the very first iteration of Achievements, the majority of player progress made prior to this update can not be backdated. Achievements such as profession and companion level will be updated automatically by the system. Moving forward, players should expect some adjustments as we continuously work to ensure a fair and rewarding experience. We've set the rewards and requirements according to the predicted data of an average player who logs in over the course of a year, but this may change as more players engage with the feature and provide feedback. Some achievements will be met relatively quickly, while others are to be earned over paced regular gameplay. We plan to add even more achievements and rewards as the site and its features grow to ensure the average player always has something to work towards. We welcome any and all gameplay suggestions from our community to be posted in the Suggestions Forum.

New Recipe Search and Mining Ore

A new search, sort, and pager feature have been added to both the Crafting and Cooking professions. Now, players can easily search and sort through their ever-expanding list of recipes without having to scroll through the entire page.

It's time to collect all the shinies - precious gemstones can now be mined throughout the caves of Loria! Players can now rarely find Sapphire, Ruby, Amethyst, Citrine, and Emerald gems. As of now, these gems can be used to craft the exclusive Achievement daggers. We plan to release many new crafting recipes and apparel items featuring these rare gems.

New Breed Sneak Peak

Shown above are a couple sketch ideas for Lorwolf's upcoming wolf breed - Direwolves! We're aiming for this breed to be big, bulky, and powerful; with massive fangs and a short bob-tail. It will be similar to lynx cats in appearance and will have a special affinity for nature and ancient magic.

In other news, our annual Black Friday sale returns next week; more info about that will be coming soon! Thank you for sticking with us, especially when development may seem slower than usual. Our small yet passionate development team is committed to bringing the best experience to our players. We are so proud of how far we've come, and we want to thank you for your continued patience.

Moonsblessings, Alaunis, JimJim, and Swell

[twstfournights]

A Very Important Update

Sorry for the radio silence folks, it's been what, two months now?

I am so so so sorry.

Development for the game has not been entirely halted, it's had to take its pauses. I personally have gotten a few sprites worked on that will be needed for the prologue, and was even working on the extra special cg that will hopefully set the tone for the game.

There's just been one teensy problem... my health.

For those who just want a quick summary, I've had a string of unfortunate health issues, that while manageable at first, has now led to a very severe wrench into development plans for now. If you don't want any details, skip the cut. Especially if you're sensitive to the topics of cancer and heart problems.

With that in mind, development has NOT stopped entirely. It's just made me more glad I said not to expect the game anytime soon. I still want it finished, God himself can not tear this game out of my hands. I just have to be a little careful with how I go about it for a while.

I see we've gotten so many more followers, and there are plenty of messages for me to parse through, and I'll be getting through those! I hope to be more active now that I'm on what we could call the road to recovery, and I hope to deliver more content to you soon. For those who want more in-depth answers and insight into what's going on. The cut below has it all. I felt awful keeping you all in the dark, and Salt has suggested I finally tell y'all. So here it is.

To start with. I have Thyroid cancer, have had it for a little while, and I'm set to begin the real meat of treatment and chemo and all its fun stuff within the year. With that, it doesn't actually impact my life too much. I'm more tired yes, and I can only really do things in my free-time on days I don't work, since I work 10 hour days and those take up nearly ALL of my energy, so far it's been a good cycle.

I've found my rhythm, and I was working on the game through it! ....So, what changed? About almost 3 weeks ago now, I had a heart attack at work. It went untreated since I was unaware of the signs of a heart attack at the time, and due to that, I merely just finished my shift and went home. Yes, that's right. I had a heart attack and kept working.

I know. It was so so so stupid at the time, but I was so worried about inconveniencing my coworkers that I stayed. Thankfully it was not a severe one, more on the light to moderate side. I passed out for a few seconds, but mostly just felt like my heart had been kicked by a horse, starry vision, numb left arm, the works.

The next day I felt so awful I skipped work, but the day after I went back in, still feeling bad, but due to how my dad raised me... If I'm gonna suffer, might as well make money while doing it. Turns out, I was nowhere near better! I passed out at work, several times, and finally decided oh shit.. I should go to the hospital. They were able to diagnose that yes, I had a heart attack, and that I probably had caused some damage to my heart, damage they at the time couldn't see, and basically sent me home with a doctor's note to avoid work.

That's fine! Just a few days off, and I'll be better right?

Hahahaha, no.

I kept continuing to pass out, and as the days passed, it was happening more frequently. I'll save you some time, I was in and out of ER's, and finally two days ago, I was in-patient in a hospital for over 24 hours.

They found out that my heart is seemingly fine, but for no reason they can tell at the time, my BPM drops below 50, and sometimes even below 40 when I pass out. Walking, standing, heck, even sitting, can cause me to pass out. And even just laying down (I was marked as a high fall risk patient so I was basically locked to my bed the entire time watching Bluey ((I may be someone who writes awful things but even I love Bluey))) I still continued to pass out.

Literally just yesterday I was cleared to go home, with a little machine patch on my heart, that will record my heart rate for the next week, and if i pass out, I'm to hit the button on it, and record in their journal what happened, when, and why. Seems easy stuff, and for now I'm totally home-bound. I can't even walk out to my shed without having a severe fainting episode.

There's just one problem, besides moving around, and I feel like such a weak Victorian maiden saying this. But if I get too wound up or excited, I also grow faint. I literally. Faint at the sight of ankles now. I am so weak and dying.

What this means for the game is a little rough, since the game itself makes me so happy, heck, just talking ideas with Salt has me bouncing off the walls, and I have to take breaks from doing so to go lay down cause I'm gonna pass out from happiness.

For a... spicy game. With spicy elements. It means I have to pace myself so so so much cause my ass swooning harder than the girls over Gaston just cause I drew Malleus shirtless.

Good news is with this patch on me, recovery should be coming soon, they'll HAVE to find something. It can't last forever. I initially had an awful arrhythmia, and that went away, so the future is open! They've already determined it's not fatal, so I won't perish, but if I do go...

I hope I go out because I saw a spicy fanart of Malleus and got so excited I passed out and cracked my head open.

It's the only way to go.

Thanks for listening, and I hope to be able to give more updates soon, on the game, not me, please do not worry for me. I am literally immortal until proven otherwise.

[wiregrrrl]

Finally got around to posting an update on development!

[gelatinocomics]

Regius Development Update #2

For this update, I'd like to highlight a really unique pokemon family that I came up with for the game. It has some of my favorite character design work I've ever done, and I'm really happy with the way its members are related.

Let me start by sharing their pokedex entries:

Limpacle, the water-type barnacle pokemon. Magmacle, the fire-type barnacle pokemon. And finally, the mighty Terrisla, the ground/dragon-type island pokemon.

The idea for these pokemon had been developing in my mind for a long time. I wanted to do something with the idea of island formation. When underwater volcanoes release molten lava into the cold ocean, the material solidifies into solid rock. Poetically, the combination of water and fire creates earth.

I tried for a long time to figure out how I could capture this idea with a unique type of pokemon evolution: perhaps two pokemon can combine into one? I also had to take into account the limitations of what I could mechanically accomplish in my rom hack. In theory any modification is possible, but it would be easiest to stick with what the game engine can already handle. My solution ended up being a good compromise between unique and easy to implement, and I'm quite proud of it.

The Limpacle, Magmacle, and Terrisla family is an example of convergent evolution, something unseen in any official pokemon game. Either Limpacle or Magmacle can evolve into Terrisla. They evolve using evolutionary stones, the opposite of what you might expect: the water-type Limpacle evolves with a Fire Stone, and the fire-type Magmacle evolves with a Water Stone. This is how I was able to preserve my idea of Terrisla evolving from the combination of water and fire.

There is another very unique aspect of this evolutionary family: Terrisla gets a different ability depending on its pre-evolved form. These two abilities are also brand new, and I invented them so that Terrisla could carry an elemental "fingerprint" from its pre-evolution.

Terrisla that evolved from Limpacle will acquire Cistern, which boosts the power of all water-type attacks by 50%.

Terrisla that evolved from Magmacle will acquire Caldera, which boosts the power of all fire-type attacks by 50%.

That's not all that Terrisla will carry over from its earlier life. As a ground/dragon pokemon, Terrisla can learn some powerful moves, but it does not naturally get any water or fire attacks. However, its pre-evolutions do! A Terrisla that evolved from a Limpacle, for example, might still have some of its pre-evolved form's water-type moves, like whirlpool or water spout. A Terrisla that evolved from a Magmacle, on the other hand, might retain some fire-type moves like fire spin and eruption.

Do you see what this means for Terrisla? Essentially, despite no visual difference, Terrisla has two forms! One of which is water-aspected, and one that is fire-aspected. Your Terrisla can be offensively considered a water- or fire-type pokemon, depending on what it evolved from. Crucially, it cannot be both at once! If you wish to train this magnificent beast, you'll have to decide which moves you want it to have, and train your Limpacle or Magmacle to learn them.

Pictured: an early sketch of Limpacle from 2017, demonstrating its cowardly disposition.

Training this family is no easy feat. Limpacle can be found on the ocean floor, and Magmacle can be found in volcanic areas, but neither of them are particularly common. Furthermore, their stats are a bit underwhelming. But treat them with lots of care, and they will eventually learn powerful moves. When you're ready, evolve into the massive Terrisla, a beastly pokemon with pseudo-legendary stats. Very few will be able to oppose you!

Designing these pokemon was a delight, and I'm very happy with the results. Making them functional in a modified pokemon emerald rom took some extra work to accommodate their unique characteristics (such as ensuring Terrisla gets the right ability upon evolution, and making Terrisla only produce eggs of its pre-evolved form). I hope Terrisla will offer a suitable challenge for players to face in battle, and an even more rewarding challenge to raise for yourself. I'm looking forward to getting one during my playtesting, but the rest of you will have to wait!

That does it for today's update. Look out for more coming soon!

[crescent-cove-blog]

Donation Center NPC, Charity!

Been working on designs for Covelings recently, including NPCs. This is a work-in-progress design for one of the shopkeepers at the Donation Center, Charity! She's a kindhearted and outgoing Coveling who has a special interest in cats. The other Donation Center's shopkeeper, Salem, works the nightshift and we'll see them in the near future!

Charity is also an example of one of the most common Covelings in Crescent Cove! They're currently an unnamed species (I'd love some suggestions if you have any ideas), and have raptor-inspired feet and faces, as well as large tails that are aquatic in nature.

Obviously, none of this is set in stone yet, and I'll probably redesign some things. However, I'm pleased with the idea so far and hope to expand on it more in the future. I also have some ideas for some other Coveling species in Crescent Cove, but I'm focusing on NPCs only for now. Once I get around to NPCs of those other Coveling species, I'll make sure to design and share them here!

[mayhem-writes]

so i’ve been plodding full steam ahead with sanctuary and gearing up for the release but i’m not gonna lie, i haven’t been seeing a lot of interest.. which isn’t necessarily a bad thing: i’m doing this for fun and to improve my coding skills. i think what i’ll do is release a part of chapter one and see how that’s recieved - and if there’s enough interest i might keep releasing chapters. if not i may just not post it on here lol. idk how i feel yet! i set a deadline for myself so i could release something but now i’m not so sure? it’s not like anyone’s waiting with bated breath lol. maybe i’ll just release when i’m ready since there isn’t much pressure to actually do it on schedule yk? please interact (comment) with this post, or message me privately..id like to know what you all think!

[nekropsii]

200 Days Until: Sprite Showcase... 2!

Thank you for your patience! Or... Impatience!! Impatience is flattering also!

This one's a bit more varied than the previous Development Upd8! Rather than just showing off one character, I'm posting several!! From what I can tell, you guys seem rather fond of these characters- and for good reason so far!!

From left to right, we have...

Presae Covnul, our Knight of Void. When she's not suffering bouts of narcoleptic fatigue, she's keeping the game together with duct tape and tears! Though she may not be well versed in technology- to the point of being actively afraid of most electronics- that's certainly not stopping her from being a wizard at it. She's a bit of an anomaly, and likes hiding in dark places... But don't worry about that too much!

Emeric Sargas, our Bard of Mind. She's an oddball who wears her heart on her sleeve and toxic chemicals on her bare skin and hair! If there's one thing she prides herself on, it's her well-earned titles of Mad Scientist and Local Exterminator. Though she displays some... At times concerning behavior, she means well, and is a beloved and silly friend!

Annomi Errata, our Prince of Heart. A troubled young man from the depraved warzone called Chittr. He's a pessimistic media critic who longs to one day write his very own screenplay- and he's not taking "pipe dream" as an answer... For anything. Loneliness oft drives one to obsession, and prolonged participation in the Panopticon of Fame may dull some to the humanity of even their most beloved figures... Which may or may not be relevant.

Thank you all for tuning in so far! I may do a bonus round later... But until then, I thank you all for your endless support, and for viewing!

[yama-au]

April, May and June Development Update

Hello everyone! It's been awhile since we've done of these right? I'm really, really sorry about that! But some things happened which kinda slowed down the development, but everything is solved, and development is going back on track! Anyways...

What we currently have done is:

- Some Tileset work for a specific area on the FARAWAY FOREST is almost done.

- YAMA's Battle Portraits are done.

- MARI's Battle and Dialogue Portraits are done.

- HERO's Dialogue Portraits are done

- BASIL's Dialogue Portraits are done

- KEL's Dialogue Portraits are done.

- Dialogue Portraits of another character is done.

- Some Weapon/Item Icons are done.

- The Script for the First Boss Battle and Tutorial are done.

What's currently being worked on

- Finish all the Tileset work for that specific area on the FARAWAY FOREST.

- SUNNY's Battle and Dialogue Portraits

- THE FOURTH PARTY MEMBER'S Battle and Dialogue Portraits

- The Script for some of the remaining Cutscenes.

...And some other stuff that can't be mentioned here due to spoilers... Sorry!

Anyways, thank you all for being so engaged in the project, we hope to be able to bring you all a demo soon! Here's also some nice sneak peaks of what we've been working on!

[mythaura-blog]

Development Update - May 2023

Hello hello folks, Miyazaki here! We've got a big update for this month--we've rolled out Mythaura's battle demo and are so excited for you to give it a try!

Topics covered include:

Battle Demo & Guide

Quarter 4 (2023) Rewards Reveal

Beast Creator Contest

New Homepage Splash Screen

More info available under the cut!

Battle Demo Guide

Welcome to Mythaura's battle demo! Here's a concise guide to help you navigate the 3v3 battles and make strategic decisions:

1. Battle Setup

The battle takes place between your beasts (on the left) and the enemy beasts (on the right) and ends when one side is defeated. For this demo, all beasts in this demo are level 1 and have average size for their species.

2. Beast Details

Click on the info icon in the corner of your beast's avatar to view its details. From here, you can read their abilities and see a breakdown of their stats.

3. Elements

Each beast has 2 elements, including a species element that is always shown. You won't know your opponent's secondary element.

For this demo, a beast's secondary element is currently randomized.

Check the elements page for more information on elements and for a breakdown of type effectiveness.

4. Turn Actions

Each turn, your beasts can perform one of the following actions:

Use an ability or surge ability.

Defend themselves or an ally.

Rest to regain stamina.

Once all players have submitted their actions, the round is resolved with the following priority:

Resting beasts rest first.

Defending beasts defend next.

Abilities are resolved.

Within each action type, the order is determined by ability priority, beast speed, weight (with lightest going first), and then randomly if all those values are the same.

5. Abilities

Beasts start with 4 abilities: one surge ability (species-based), one neutral ability, and one ability for each element. If a beast's species and individual element match, they will have 3 abilities.

Abilities with elements can be super effective or resisted, affecting the damage dealt. Pay attention to moves' effectiveness and your foes' abilities for better results.

Abilities incur fatigue and the fatigue cost is shown on the ability button.

Abilities will generally have a small chance to miss or be a critical hit. The chances of these can vary per ability.

Abilities have 3 types: Combat, Projection, and Support.

Combat: Attack vs Defense

Projection: Focus vs Barrier

Support: Non-damage dealing abilities

6. Surge Abilities

When a beast's surge meter is full, they can use their surge ability for a powerful effect. Surge abilities don't incur fatigue and never miss. After using a surge ability, the surge meter goes back to 0%. Please note that the surge abilities in this demo may be changed before the game’s official launch.

7. Defending

Beasts can defend themselves or allies, reducing incoming damage by 75% for that turn. This effect does not stack. Defending slightly charges the defender's surge meter and recovers a small amount of stamina.

8. Resting

Resting recovers a substantial amount of stamina and a small amount of health.

Remember, understanding abilities, elements, defending, and resting will help you make the best decisions during battles. We have provided an in-app form you can use to report bugs and provide feedback. Good luck and enjoy the demo!

Planned battle demo updates for the future:

A "quick queue" button that queues with the first available other quick-queue person and does not require a PIN

PvE Mode versus an ai battler

Timeout for move submission

Controller support

Weather effects

Ailments

Ability to set desired element from the queue screen

Better reporting and improvements to history, such as remembering when you discover a super effective element on a specific opponent

Quarter 4 (2023) Rewards Reveal

Our Quarter 4 rewards have been completed and are ready for their public debut! Thank you to the Ko-fi Sponsors who voted on the different Glamour and Companion concepts, we appreciate your support and feedback.

Q4 (2023) Glamour: Koi Pond

Q4 (2023) Companion: Blooming Jackalope

Q4 (2023) Solid Gold Glamour: Adult Basilisk

Special One-Time Companion: Radiant Golden Ossiflage

1x copy will be awarded to all previous and/or current Bronze, Silver, and Gold Sponsors

Sponsors of all levels may purchase one (1) additional copy of the Radiant Golden Ossiflage in our Ko-fi Shop.

Beast Creator Contest

We're back with another Beast Design Contest! We're looking forward to all the fantastic creations that this community comes up with.

Here are the parameters:

Each individual can submit one (1) Beast option for consideration

Any species fine (babies included)

Fill out Google form; provide both a picture and the preview code

We’ll pick three winners to have their Beasts featured on the front page for Quarter 1 (July 1 - September 30). Winners will also receive:

1x Beta Key

1x Quarter 4 (2023) Skin: Koi Pond

1x Quarter 4 (2023) Companion: Blooming Jackalope

These rewards will be applied directly to your account.

Submissions for the Beast Design Contest are due by June 15, 2023. The form will close at 11:59pm PST. Winners will be announced in the July 1, 2023 Development Update.

Homepage Splash Screen

Our wonderfully talented senior artist, Luci, created a scene detailing an early stage in a group of adventurers' journey in Mythaura. This perfectly captures the vibe of the opening series of introductory quests that players will undertake at the start of the game. We hope you enjoy the art, and hope that you look forward to playing through Mythaura's single-player story when we launch!

Mythaura v0.17

Updated homepage layout

Merged and finalized battle demo, fixing several bugs found along the way

Thank You!

Thanks for sticking through to the end of the post! We hope you love the battle demo and are looking forward to your feedback, which will help shape the nature of the game while still in its early development--leading to a lasting impact when Mythaura launches. Your help here is invaluable!

See you around the Discord!

[pawborough]

Development Update

[ID: A video showcasing the Paw Borough demo. A mouse cursor selects several different options to customize different randomized cats. End ID]

The demo is DONE! ✅

After all the hard work from our artists and developers, we can finally release the creator to the public. We will be posting the full rundown of all the features and a link tomorrow, so check back soon for our huge update.

We cannot wait to see all the combinations and original characters!

Also… peek some never before seen breeds in this screen capture 🐾👁

[lorwolfofficial]

Spring tidings, Lorfolk! Spring arrives, and the swamp blossoms to life in Loria. There’s much to unpack here in this Dev Update, so let’s dive in together.

What's new?

New Direwolf Breed

Murkwood Seasonal Event

New Content

Breed Showcase - Direwolf

Description: The Direwolf breed is a relic of the past. Once hailed as Luana’s Warriors, modern Direwolves have now spread out further than just their native home of Murkwood. They are a large breed with dense wiry fur more akin to a Colpach’s pelt than other Loria breeds. They typically weigh between 95 to 140 pounds and stand 36 to 44 inches tall at the shoulder. They have a noticeably short tail, a large maw with equally huge teeth, and a powerful, heavy set of shoulders, which allows them to throw their entire weight on their foes, crushing them with both tooth and body. Their bite sports an array of deadly bacteria, making even just a graze enough to cause serious harm.

Behavior: Direwolves prefer to hunt alone, stalking their prey before rushing them in one fell swoop. Whilst they can be aloof, they have a soft spot for those who prove themselves in battle. With their focused and loyal personality, they make an impressive sparring partner. They have become accustomed to teaching other Lorwolves their ways and skills in modern times rather than remaining totally outcast from others.

Direwolves have long since stopped being Luana’s Warriors, but when push comes to shove, Direwolves can call upon their roots and go into a battle frenzy. Power will course through them, buffing their already powerful abilities beyond their limits. After calling upon this power, a Direwolf will need to rest for several days. Direwolves can often be found sunning themselves on hot rocks or by fires after a particularly rough fight.

Check out our Direwolf Launch Raffle to enter the draw for a chance to win a Direwolf Breed Change.

Spring, swamp and skirmishes are the very essence of Murkwood. A red hue has overtaken Loria. With that, the Murkwood Seasonal Event has begun! New apparel, new companions, Murkwood’s Consumed and new forum decor. Check out the lore page of Murkwood’s encounter with The Consumed here and the entire event post here.

Leopard and Plain Patterns

As requested by Lorfolk feedback, the Plain pattern has arrived to let your wolves' natural bases shine. Create more unique combinations to get your wolves precisely the way you want them. You can purchase these patterns at the Mole Market for 20k pebbles.

Quillaras, Apparel, and Totem of Whelping

They're dainty-looking, yet they have a glare meaner than an angry Nytha. Don’t fall too much for their cuteness; they’ll happily take a bite if you rub them the wrong way. These grumpy little fluffballs are available in the Mole Market for 100ms.

Totem of Whelping

Lorfolk can now purchase a Totem of Whelping speciality item from the Mole Market, which bypasses the pregnancy cooldown and triggers birth immediately. The Totem of Whelping can be used via a player's inventory; simply select the item and click "Use." Players will then select the expecting wolf they wish to give birth, which will then immediately send the wolf to the Nest. From the nest, you can then click “Give Birth.”

New Apparel

Are teeth and claws not enough to show how fearsome you are? Get tough with the brand-new Spiked Collar apparel. Spiked Collars recipes are available in the Mole Market to purchase.

[monoscrpg]

monoscrpg dev log #7

the first area is completely done, and work is being made on the second area. i have the start and end of it planned out, but not the middle. shouldn't be too hard to plan though.

also, i got salad's sprites done

spoilers below the cut!!!

:]

[clementinessweettooth]

UPDATE:

Due to some coding problems, "Clementine's sweet tooth" is now changing its game engine from RPG maker to Game Maker Studio 2, that means all the progress has to be redone

Although, I'm working hard on it, trying to deliver the best game experience for this project!

[gelatinocomics]

Regius Development Update #1

As you may know, I've been working on a pokemon fangame for a while. I want to try posting progress about it more often, because I'm nearing the later stages of the project where the bulk of the hard work is already finished, and I have plenty of neat things I can share. Now is the time when I really need motivation to finish up the home stretch, so I hope you'll all enjoy what I've done so far!

I've already posted some of my progress on the game's maps here and here, and if you want to see every post I've made about the project, you can check out the regius tag. But I've never given a proper overview of what the game is all about, so that's what I'll do in this post.

Title

The game is called REGIUS. I'm still deciding how to format the title, and if it should have a descriptive tagline like "Regius: A Pokemon Adventure" or something like that. But one thing I have come up with is a banger logo and title screen to go with it:

I had more ambitious plans for the title screen graphics and created this version as a placeholder, but I'm pretty satisfied with it so I think it will stick around for a while.

So what's it about?

From the title screen, you can see that Regigigas will play some kind of important role, and in fact this is a game that primarily features the whole Regi family (except for the two newest gen 8 members, RIP regieleki and regidrago).

Furthermore, this is a game that takes place almost entirely on the ocean! You'll be exploring the Regius Archipelago, a series of islands connected by open sea. Here are some examples of the types of locales you might expect to see:

Hidden deep in each island, you'll find ruins from an ancient civilization, and a member of the Regi family sealed away. To unlock the secrets of the islands, you'll have to journey to each one and capture Regirock, Regice, and Registeel, and then the path will open to your final goal, Regigigas.

Unlike most other games, the map of this region is very well-connected, with every island joined by a large central stretch of ocean. Your exploration will be self-guided, and you'll be rewarded for checking out every corner of the archipelago, so decide for yourself how you would like to progress through the game!

New Pokemon

Of course, one of the most important features of this game is the set of brand new pokemon! The Regius Archipelago is home to a number of unique species not found anywhere else. In total there are roughly 50 new pokemon I've developed that can be obtained in this game, so look forward to befriending some new creatures when the game finally becomes available to play!

Development Details

This game is being developed using the pokeemerald decompilation project, meaning all my work is based on modifying the source code of Pokemon Emerald. It's a rom hack that will be playable on any GBA emulator (or hardware, if you can get it to run!). It's a lot of work to make a whole new region like this, but it's my preferred way of making a pokemon fangame! I like using the same game engine and graphics as official titles, it makes my game feel authentic.

Development Goals

Now that you have an idea of what the game is going to be like, let me talk about the project's current status. My goal is to get an alpha version of the game ready to release as soon as possible. This will have a full region ready to explore, every obtainable new pokemon, and the Regis all waiting to be discovered. At the moment, I am still working on filling out every map area with objects and scripts, the stuff that the player actually interacts with.

This alpha version, of course, will not be the final version of the game. It will provide you with a fun world to explore and lots of pokemon to train, but I have much more planned! Eventually, the game will have a bigger story, where the player will race against a nefarious band of pirates intending to capture the Regis and upset the balance of the islands. I would also like to remake the whole project in pokeemerald expansion, a large community mod of pokeemerald that includes lots of updated features, like a modern battle system and all official pokemon through gen 8. But that's a long way off, and I'm trying to stay focused on my current goals for now. Just remember there's a bright future to look forward to!

I think that's about all I need to share for now. Let me know what you think, and look forward to more development updates in the future! I'll keep on working hard to make this years-long project a reality.