Hello everyone,

Are you ready for a massive devlog update? Here’s the news from the front.

Awesome Key Art

First of all, I’m proud to present the official artwork for Neverlooted Dungeon. The illustration was produced by David Alvarez, a specialist in role-playing and fantasy illustration, among other things. Personally I love it, David did a really great job! And you, what do you think?

David also worked on different particular formats, including variations on the positioning of the characters and other elements, for the steam page, for the cover, for wallpaper, etc.

Full Localization of the Demo

After having programmed everything that was necessary, I called on a translation company specializing in video games to translate the entire demo into German, Russian and Chinese, as well as a proofreading of the English version.

Thanks to Aurélie for proofreading the French version.

A Japanese version was courtesy of one of the discord members, Toyoch. A big thanks to him!

I still have to analyze the statistics of the demo to see if these new languages ​​have brought in more people, and decide which languages I ​​will keep for the release. Localization is expansive so I can not simply do it for all languages.

Improving the Levels

Since the last devlog, I have made good progress on improving the different levels of the game, especially with a lot of level design work.

The idea is to make each level contain a wealth of traps, puzzles and physical obstacles, to make the most of the different unique mechanics of the game. I also worked on the topology of levels, multiple paths, secret or unlockable passages, verticality, to offer interesting levels to explore – and re-explore.

Level 1

With this in mind, the first level has therefore been completely reworked, with now a real entrance worthy of a Legendary Dungeon™. I am particularly happy with the result and my objective is to rework all the levels to obtain an equivalent richness and quality.

You can already test it yourself by playing the latest version of the demo!

Level 3

Level 3 required a lot of work, because I had decided to rework and merge two previous levels to make a unique and very rich one.

The first playtests are very positive, and I can’t wait to have it tested more. The finale of this level is really cool, and it contains a surprise that you won’t soon forget…

Level 4

Level 4 is almost done. The idea behind this level is to offer something short but very rich in surprises (narrative, gameplay) to revive the dynamics after a somewhat long level 3.

Fire Propagation and Deep Water

In parallel with my work to improve the levels and existing features, I am working little by little on new features, to get ever closer to my initial vision – very ambitious. The idea is not to pile up features, but to create rich systems which interact with each other, to offer even more variety on traps, problems and solutions.

For example, it’s all physics-based, and any physical interaction can trigger a trap, like throwing a crate with a gravity wand, or kicking a rat. The idea is to add more systems to interact with, like Fire and Water.

Fire Propagation Experimentation

I wanted to add a fire propagation system to burn objects and spread the flames to nearby objects. Indeed, in some advanced levels, several traps were based on fire, and I didn’t like that you could block flames with simple wooden crates. I hesitated to remove these fire traps, but I wanted to first try quickly the fire propagation, to see what it brought and its advantages and disadvantages in terms of technique and game design.

So I set up this feature, which is currently enable in the demo, and I want to continue to explore the possibilities it offers, in terms of traps, obstacles, and interactions.

Now the crates will ignite, and will also be able to spread the fire to other objects, to monsters, to the player … You can also ignite objects from other objects of the scenery, such as chimneys or campfires. It’s great fun setting an entire room on fire and watching the flames spread, or to use it to kill monsters. Be careful thought, you could also be burning valuable items, like JumpJump™ Boots!

I will therefore continue to explore possible interactions with fire, fire-based traps and obstacles, and other possibilities and interactions with other game systems. Based on the playtest feedback and my own design experience, I will decide if I keep it or not.

Deep Water & Swimming & Water Physics

Another feature that has been close to my heart for a long time is the addition of deep water, water physics, and swimming. Indeed, a big fan of the very first Tomb Raider, I particularly like everything that water can add to exploration, in particular diving to find secret passages, swimming in underwater mazes, or simply the atmosphere provided by flooded rooms.

Along with the physical system, floating objects also add new possibilities for obstacles and physics-based solutions, such as making floating bridges, using water to move heavy floating objects, etc.

Finally, I have a large list of water-based traps, and it would be a shame if the game came out without a little trap or two based on flooding a room whose door suddenly closed behind you ;)

Upcoming Features

There are still plenty of other features that I would love to explore, but to avoid spending all my time on them, my focus remains on levels and traps, and improving existing content. However, I always keep a little time to explore certain things.

In small teasing, breaking more stuff, flaming oil, explosive gas, electricity, a better monster detection system to enable stealth, especially in the dark, more magic wands, even more magic equipment, … ;)

October Events Update

The last few months have been very busy in terms of marketing events, which is an important task and one that should not be overlooked. I participated in the Steam Next Fest at the beginning of October and at Game Made in France at the end of October.

Steam Next Fest

At the beginning of October, the Steam Next Fest took place, the Steam event that highlights the next Steam releases, in particular games with demos. So for the occasion I had prepared a new demo, and I performed several live streams. I had also set up a small contest to win keys, bravos to the 5 winners! I am happy with the visibility that has been provided, but there is still a lot of work to do.

Games Made in France

At the end of October, I participated in the Games Made in France event, a four-day streaming event on Twitch and Steam, featuring the selection of French games on Steam. I had the pleasure of participating in a live interview with MisterMV and DamDam as they discovered the game live in front of thousands of spectators. I am very happy with the visibility and the feedback from the spectators.

If you missed the stream, you can watch it in replay here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1183660087?t=08h11m06s

Halloween Demo

Finally, to celebrate Halloween, and relax a bit after all these events, I did a little Halloween demo update. I added pumpkins, graves, more skulls, and turned 1st level into a deadly candy hunt.

If you missed this demo, you can find it on itch.io: https://wildmagegames.itch.io/neverlooted-dungeon-spooky

Players Feedback Analysis

When I set up the Steam Next Fest demo, I added a feedback form for players to give me their opinion on the game. I received over 350 responses, and I thank all the people who took the time to answer them. I spent a lot of time reading all the comments that were left, sometimes very, very long, sorting them, ranking the items by importance.

Overall, the responses are very positive, and I have noted the remarks on what pleases and dislikes. I have a long list of things to correct and others I could add :-).

The negative comment that comes up the most is that the fights are a bit boring and not very inspired. I wanted to keep them simple because the focus of the game is on traps. Despite this, I have plans to improve some points of the combat system, for instance I am investigating the possibility of parrying hits with a shield, to offer another approach of fighting.

Be Part of the Private Alpha Test

I quietly started to set up a private alpha, where I give access to an alpha version of the game to a handful of handpicked people. The more weeks go by, the more people I will add to test more and more levels. I prefer to give keys little by little so that I can improve the game between each wave of new users. I have set up a dedicated form to be able to register and participate.

If you are interested, REGISTER HERE.

Roadmap

So I will continue to improve the different levels, while improving the existing features, in order to have the most fun game possible for its release. After a slower pace of development due to my focus on marketing, development restarted faster and I can’t wait to tackle the next levels and have you try them out.

 
Oh Wow, that was a very long dev log. Thanks for reading, and see you soon,

Arnaud.

Hello everyone, here is the news from the front!

The last few months have been very productive, the development of Neverlooted Dungeon has progressed well. The new features are complete and integrated into the game, and bring the hoped-for richness to the gameplay. Let’s see all of this in detail.

Monsters

Still at the prototype stage during the last devlog in February, they are now complete and integrated into the game. From now on, beware of the lurking monsters when exploring the dungeon.

There are several types of monsters, each with their own ambush specialty, to better surprise you. I won’t reveal them all so as not to spoil the surprise, but here is at least one: the giant rat, a monster essential to any self-respecting dungeon.

The most interesting thing about these monsters are the new game possibilities and situations they bring, thanks to their interaction with all the other game systems, especially with traps and physics. Your sword is broken, are you running low on health? There are many ways to get rid of these monsters …

Fights

The goal of adding these monsters is not so much to add combat like in all classic RPGs, but above all to add a different type of trap, the living traps, where the monsters wait in various types of ambush.

This did not prevent me from further improving the weapon and combat system to make them interesting, in the event that a fight takes place with one or more monsters.

The combat has therefore been reworked. It is based on dodging and endurance management, while remaining very dynamic. The different types of weapons have been enhanced, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

Kicking

Kicking, a feature that I wanted to do for a while and that I finally took the time to do, and pretty quickly too! Now that it’s in the game, I wonder how the game could have been released without it. For a game where all of the gameplay is physics-based, being able to kick things is a must have. It is therefore a new way to interact (violently) with the world, in particular to push obstacles, open doors, or push monsters into holes.

Style

I finished reworking the graphic style of the game, in particular by completely redoing all the textures of the floors and walls. I also reworked the lights and colors. I must say that I am very satisfied with the result. When I compare the current game with its previous versions, I’m glad I did, as the graphic and artistic improvement is important.

Dynamic music

The game’s composer, Alexandre Sciré, continues to create great ambience tracks for Neverlooted Dungeon for exploring the dungeon. I made him a rather particular and difficult request on these tracks. The idea is to have dynamic music, using tracks played on several layers, with their intensity depending on the location and the context.

For example, a basic track sets the mood, a little melody is added when you are near a campfire, a dramatic track is played in particularly deadly places. The changes in the game are very subtle, but they help to subconsciously reinforce the tension or on the contrary to release it, to avoid monotony and to make the experience even more intense. And you, did you notice these changes while playing the demo?

Demo and playtests

Thanks to everyone who tried out the new private demo which featured monsters, combat, and kick. Thanks to the feedback I continue to improve the game in its entirety.

The next public version of the demo should be released soon. I still have to decide on its content, because the first level alone seems a bit short to me, but the first two levels seem a bit long for a demo.

In the meantime, if you are interested in testing the latest alpha versions of the game, do not hesitate, join the discord and join the playtesters!

Roadmap

In the last few months, an important step has been taken, I find that the game has finally reached its maturity in gameplay, narrative, visual and audio. My efforts having been mainly focused on the first levels, especially those of the demo, I now have to rework the rest of the game to offer a rich and interesting experience on all levels. A first full alpha release should go to testing in a few weeks, and I’ll be working hard to get the game released before the end of the year.

See you soon,

Arnaud.