Disclaimer - These devlogs are one part of a University assignment that Styx is being developed for, so any stilted wording or weird inclusions can be traced back to that fact.

STYX Devlog #3

For a quick recap of what the game is about, see Devlog #1 here.

What's new for STYX?

This week, I've been wearing my programming hat and working on various mechanic prototypes; I'm not much of a programmer, but the essentials for ship combat (rotating & firing cannons) are working nicely, as are the ideas I've been prototyping for the bar that players will visit at the end of each level, giving them the opportunity to gossip with Dionysus and get various upgrades for themselves or their boat.

The rest of the team has been working on some interesting aspects of the game, too - while the main gameplay is presented in a pixel art style, the bar and cutscenes will be shown in a vector art style, taking inspiration from Helltaker. Our programmer has continued working on player controls - they're now in a state where walking and melee-weapon-swinging is possible.

Last week, I mentioned The Keres as our main villains - we've been digging deep into some obscure mythology, and have found some potential for a creepy (and fun) mini-boss fight!

Progress

• Created a cannon firing and rotating prototype
• Started a bar scene prototype
• Created button sprites for our menus to use
• Got music & sounds working
• Wrote a design document section for the 'Death Mist' Keres mini-boss fight
• Wrote a few lines of 'gossip' for the Dionysus 'gossip / gameplay hint' system

Thoughts

I'm happy with our progress this week - getting these simple prototypes working (especially with my knowledge of programming being so limited) has been a big weight off my mind, as the general concept seems fun and has several aspects that can be explored further in accordance with the design document.

Our main area for improvement this week is focus - not in the 'getting distracted' sense, but specifically aiming ourselves at specific tasks and following them all the way to completion before moving to the next one. It's something I definitely need to work on, especially with multiple assignments on the go at the minute, as jumping between  tasks and assignments often leads to nothing getting done well until the very last minute. Similarly, we have lots of early / mid-level concept art, but I'd like to see some characters finalised.

Going Forward

My main focus remains similar to last week's; our other assignments' deadlines are creeping in, so I'd like to see certain aspects of STYX 100% completed - returning in a week to finish half-completed prototypes and artworks wouldn't be as rewarding as finding a new focus with a well-rested outlook.

We haven't reached the end of our second sprint quite yet, so I'll use the rest of the time to flesh out my prototypes, or even begin on others - I look forward to starting (and sharing) level designs in a week or two, too! 

Thank you for reading devlog #3!