Dev Log #7

Howdy all! I'm back again with another progress update for Swelladia! It's been a while since the last update, so this log will be quite a bit longer than usual as there is a lot to cover! I originally planned to have a second part to dev log #6 showcasing village & settlement NPCs, however due to my work flow I ended up working on other more important aspects of the game instead!

This will likely be the final devlog released before the first beta update comes out to the game. I anticipate it being ready for closed testing sometime in mid to late March! Most of the first release's batch of main storyline quests are done, so most of whats left will be polishing the game, and finishing up a lot of sprite work!

First and most importantly are sprite improvements! Over the course of working on the game, I've gotten a lot better at creating sprites so I've gone back and updated the game's general sprites a lot more!

The POV sprites that show the player's fullness in combat have been updated! I decided to make them pixelated to fit the game's style more accurately! These sprites are toggleable in game if you don't like an immersive tummy blocking your view in fights. As you can see below our poor heroine is fit to pop! I don't think she'll be getting out of this one....

Additionally, the biggest stages of inflation have been redesigned as well!

Many new obvious and not so obvious side areas have been added to the game! Not all of these will be tied to quests, so be sure to explore while you're out pumping and popping your foes! Generally speaking, the better hidden an area is, the better the loot found inside will be! If you notice something looking "off", be sure to investigate!

And next up is a showcase of a few enemies you can fight in the game! The first is one of the malevolent spectres you can find in dark and sinister places! Booooooo(bs)! I'm making an effort to include more types of inflation in the game than just full body inflation, even though that is what I personally enjoy the most. These enemies will try and possess you and inflate you from within your belly, so watch out! Physical attacks won't do much to a ghost...

Next up are cultists! These troublemakers lurk around, especially at night, and cause mischief in the name of various malevolent gods! As you adventure you'll probably encounter them fairly often. Beware their ability to lock down their foes and blow them up!

As you can see below, the game's HUD outside of combat has been implemented. I am still working on improving it visually, but most of the core elements are here! In the top left corner you can see the player's icon, size bar, and resource gauge (think mana, stamina, etc.) below it! On the right are the more calendar related parts of the hud, and the slot for the active item available for use on the right. These elements of the HUD will be toggleable for those that would like to hide them!

To use items on NPCs, and puzzles, the player can select the item from their inventory to make it their active item! This system allows for more seamless gameplay when the player is interacting with a person or object with multiple different interactions available at once. Why listen to a villager yap yap yap when you just want to blow them up anyways!?

In a similar vein, the text box artwork has also been improved! While not perfect, I think this is certainly a step in the right direction for the artistic style of the game that I hope to capture. UI design in general is something I find very important, and will be updating often as development continues.

And now, here is some more info about a few of the classes that will be available in the game upon the launch of beta release #1!

First up is the Sentinel! This class is far more elastic than other classes, and is able to meditate to increase their body's capacity for inflation! Sentinels also excel in physical combat, being able to both use palm strikes to inflate foes, and special breathing techniques to deflate themselves and inflate enemies!

Next is the sorcerer! For those of you that have played the demo, this is the class Lumin uses! Sorcerers in the full game are able to attune to specific elements related to inflation to change up their movesets! In combat, sorcerers posess extremely potent inflative spells to blow up their foes, though they are heavily limited by their reliance on mana! Sorcerers possess a mix of both direct attacks and inflation-over-time effects (IoTs!) to fight foes, so get creative!

The third and final class being introduced in this devlog is the (blow)gunslinger! Gunslingers find themselves among the classes whose skills cost items rather than any kind of resource bar! Gunslingers use crafted blowdarts & pellets to inflict statuses on their foes, and have a slew of options available to them depending on what resources they can find around them to craft with! If you decide to be a gunslinger, make sure you are always prepared! Unless of course, you want to be gunslinger confetti stuck in someone's hair. Yikes.

As was decided by the lovely folks over on the Swelladia Discord server, the winner of the monster poll was the Aquascella! Be sure to watch out when you're walking near bodies of water. I hope you're thirsty! >:D

If you do manage to catch one instead of popping it (or being popped!), you can keep it as a pet, decorate your house with it, or sell it to shopkeepers for a hearty amount of gold.

That's all for now! As I mentioned before, this will most likely be the last devlog before the next update!

If you havent, try the game here!

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https://ko-fi.com/verblimp