Building Blocks

We’re still very much in the process of building some of the core of the game and that’s one of the big reasons we haven’t been showing too much since the Kickstarter. So, we want to set the expectation that this update and next month will be a little light but we are planning to finally hit Alpha in March. When we hit the Alpha stage, we plan to release more footage of the game and show you a lot of the bells and whistles we’ve been working on. However, we do have a couple of cool things to show you right now. 

Going Rogue

One of the things we wanted to show off was our hide mechanic for rogues. We were thinking about how we can make rogues more unique in a turn-based game like Externus and realized that they aren’t always used to their potential. In particular, the stealth aspect isn’t always highlighted. So, we have been working to make sure that changes with our “Hide” mechanic. You can see that below. 

The “Hide” mechanic, as you can see, is both something that can be used by you and the enemy. This should pose some additional challenges when facing certain enemy types. We can’t wait to show more in the future. 

Building A Scene

The other thing we wanted to show you is the process of creating a level from concept to reality. This will be the first time we show off the Throne Room of Alanon Castle as it will play an important role in the final game. 

Our levels start as a basic grid that Moudy will build off of. So, in this first picture, you can see the parts he wants to add to the room. 

In this photo, you can see that we have added some walls and allow the scene to get some sort of framework. 

You can see the checkerboard pattern of our test levels, this is what we use to put the level in the game before we have the textures and artwork available. This way we can have created levels working in the game before we’ve added the art to them.

Now that Moudy knows the framework for the level, he starts to create the actual artwork that will be attached to the level. You can really see how the individual pieces will come together to make a beautiful throne room. 

Going from linework to adding color, Moudy is able to choose the color palette that will match the scene and materials that the image will represent. 

You can’t have a good throne room without stained glass and this is the beautiful piece that Moudy has created for that. These pieces along with some custom textures for the floor and wall will bring the throne room to life. 

This is how we plan to frame what you’ll see for the Alanon Castle scene, this is how it looks prior to adding the artwork. 

And here is where the magic happens! We have a throne room fit for an Elven Queen!