Weekly Roundup 176 - The Camp Feature - Week 1 (Patreon)

Hi everyone! Hope you've had a great week.

I've made a start on thinking about, documenting, and concepting artwork out the out-of-dungeon experience for the Bindmancer. Let's get into it!

1: What's New?

So this week started with a design document. Nothing too in-depth there but it was me figuring out from a conceptual standpoint what I want the out-of-dungeon experience to have:

The overall design theme I want to go for with this feature in the game is to increase tension in  the dungeon. 

That means health pick-ups in the dungeon will be far less available and you'll instead stock-up on health recharges in the camp. 

In addition, screens like the level-up and gallery screens will be connected to places and characters in the camp. Giving them a much better context and narrative connection then just being UI screens:

The high level idea of the camp itself is to be placed just outside of the tower with the tower in view. Each of the main characters you talk to will be very close by so you don't travel far to get what you need.

Finally, I spent a few hours on some initial sketch designs for these assisting characters. I think a few of these you'll find early on in the dungeon and they'll aid in your quest to free your party.

These character designs may evolve with iteration. But I want to make them all fun and diverse. We have a Item Shop Donkey Girl, A canine tailor who fits your level-up upgrades on. A lizard researcher who records the lore, and a feline inn keeper who keeps the peace. 

2: What's Next?

Next week will be more pre-production work just continuing to flesh out the design ideas, visual concepts and intent of the feature before I start committing to prototyping it in unity. 

It's almost often the case that some time spent in pre-production can save time in the future in the long run. :)

I think this feature is going to take quite a time investment to get it working. A few months for sure, but once its in I think it'll add a whole new dynamic to the game!

Early days on it! - Caroo