As part of PAX East, we've uploaded an update Way of Rhea demo! The new build contains a number of bug fixes, quality of life tweaks, and improvement to the narrative. On top of that, the full game has a lot of new content in it that isn't available in the demo build.

The Hub World

Much of the placeholder artwork in the Hub World has been replaced.

The Forest Biome

The Forest Biome is now complete, and Shrew has finished artwork and animations.

The Mushroom Biome

While the Mushroom Biome isn't included in the demo, we've been working hard on it behind the scenes, and it's now complete! If you're going to be at PAX East this year remind me I promised to show it to you and I'll use the cheat code to load it. In the mushroom biome, you learn that you can actually swap staves with staves laying on the ground--instantly changing your color. Unlike orbs, staves are reusable. You also meet everyone's best friend, The Professor.

The Ice Biome

Only the first level of the Ice Biome is included in the demo, but behind the scenes we finished designing the puzzles for each level. In addition, artwork is done for nearly the entire biome, and Hermes is now in game.

The Jungle Biome

The puzzles for the jungle biome are all complete. The artwork is still a work in progress, but you can see a sneak peak here.

Quality of Life & Bug FIxes

• Fixed a problem where the gate animations in the hub world would trigger unnecessarily
• Fixed some minor visual glitches
• Work began on a better sound backend, this will eventually allow for better music looping
• Adjusted time of day in a few levels to align better with the narrative
• Improved dialogue throughout
• Cut down on some unnecessary VRAM usage
• Added additional secrets (not available in demo)
• Fixed undo problem specific to controllers with analog sticks
• Fixed some Steam Input problems
• Fixed problem where staves could be thrown through gates just before they close (not in demo)
• Made dialogue system more flexible to address narrative needs, group conversations are now possible
• Changed some chapter names
• Improved the save point system allowing for more frequent autosaves in the ice world
• Fixed problem where undo/redo history wasn't cleared when loading a save point
• Fixed on screen controls not showing up when loading a level
• Added talking animations
• Fixed speech bubble drift on undo
• Fixed some inconsistencies in snowcrab behavior (technically included in the demo, but only affected later levels)
• Fixed problem where it wasn't obvious the snowcrab was carrying an orb while facing left

If you try out the new demo, let us know what you think! Cheers, Mason

[ 2022-04-09 22:40:56 CET ] [ Original post ]