Disclaimer - These devlogs are part of a University assignment that Styx is being developed for, so please forgive any stilted wording or weird inclusions!

STYX Devlog #9

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

What's new for STYX?

It's been 50 DAYS since the last devlog- wow wow wow! The pre-production phase of the project - a standalone assignment - has ended, and we're a few weeks into the 'production' assignment with lots of exciting updates to talk about.

The first big development is the level select screen - I've always been a fan of Super Mario World's nice, self-contained overview of the game world, and worked with the team's artists to replicate that for STYX - in a way that was appropriate for the underworld, of course.

I've also been wearing my programmer hat once again to add a crossbow to the game - swapping between the oar and crossbow is as simple as scrolling the mouse wheel, and will definitely be useful when we have some advanced enemy behaviours - our other programmer is proving very helpful in squashing some of the bugs I've been leaving in my wake.

Our artists have also been blowing me away with great progress on the ship, its defences, and the thumbnail for the game's itch page.

If that wasn't enough, the incredibly talented Paul Williamson has made some music for the game - check it out here!

Progress

• Created a functional Level Select screen w/ art assets
• Added a weapon switching mechanic
• Added a functional crossbow
• Added a crosshair to generally make combat more accessible
• Implemented Paul's music
• Began drafting a design document section for a Hydra boss fight - no promises!
• Re-organised the Trello to make it easier for the team to use. Feast your eyes, organisation fans!

Thoughts

Sprint 5 is halfway done, and it's clear that the break has really helped - I can personally say that I'm feeling far more positive about working on the project, and with this 'production' assignment being more about actually doing things than painstakingly planning them out, I can tell the rest of the team is eager to see the game come together too.

With the Trello being easier to use, I've taken a slightly more hands-off approach to let the team pick and choose what they work on, while we still have the luxury of time. It'll be interesting to see if this freedom has an impact on our productivity.

Going Forward

My main focus for now is on getting mechanics working - the art is coming in at a steady pace, so keeping up our momentum is important while we still have lots of stress-free time to work on the game.

Mechanics and fixes I'm planning to work on include:

• Adding 'terrain navigation' to enemy AI
• Fixing enemy damage not working when standing too close
• Adding obols as level rewards
• Locking upgrades behind obols
• Health pickups

Thank you for reading devlog #9!