Its been weeks of mandatory quarantine for most of the world, and the Guardian of Lore universe is no exception. Sayris been weathering the storm with us at home, wondering whats with the change in scenery and why on Earth were working in our pajamas (dont try to deny it, dude, we KNOW youve worn your slippers to one too many work meetings). Its not every day that you get to save the world by staying home, so were doing our part, just like you! Read on to find out what weve been up to these past few weeks!

We want YOU to join Guardian of Lore - Pre Beta Testing is UP!

How many platformer games inspired by Native American Lore have you come across? If the cricket sounds are loud on your end, we have your back! Guardian of Lore gives you a chance to delve into the stories that guided the lives of thousands of people from all parts of America for hundreds of years, all while vanquishing a wide array of bad guys with the help of incredible spells and all sorts of offensive and defensive weapons. Follow this link [https://guardianoflore.com/pre-beta-sign-up/], fill-up the form and submit it for a chance to test Guardian of Lore! Youll have a front-row seat at the shaping of this marvelous, one-of-a-kind universe. Your input matters! So, come on board, lend a hand, were ready to launch!

In-game Development - Details make all the difference!

Back in our February Devlog update Yerba Mate, Testing and More! (Previous Announcement), we spilled the beans on our unofficial testing before our Pre-Beta subscription was launched (a Pre-pre Beta Testing, if you will?). The observations, comments, and suggestions we received were super useful and gave us lots to focus on. Some of the changes weve implemented since then may appear small, but they make a ton of difference in gameplay and general feel of the game! Heres a list of some of the improvements weve put into effect: A cancel spell button! If you come to regret casting a spell, you can take it back. If youre using a controller, its the RB button, whereas if youre playing on a computer, its the keyboard key Z. We replaced the icons of resistance, immunity, and weakness of shields and armor for words, as they were somewhat confusing.
We reversed the position of the inventory and the glossary, with the former on the left and the latter on the right. The spheres which grant Sayri knowledge were replaced for new ones! Arent these tiny orbs neat?
We revamped the spell icons on all menus and inventories. Now they look like this:
On the Pause menu, we added an option to access the Tutorials. This gives players the chance to brush up on the mechanics of the game any time they desire. The last Boss has been given a final touch-up: the rays he shoots from his eyes are finally done!

Heavy duty Indie In-Game Dev

Apart from improving Guardian of Lore aesthetically, weve been hard at work behind the scenes, making sure the game runs better and better all the time. What does this entail? Check out some of the changes and improvements weve implemented this past month: Debugging! Theres no jumping on bugs to make them disappear, Mario style. We have to straight-up roll our sleeves and work through them until they are fixed for good (which in turn may or may not bring new bugs, but that comes with the job!). Check out this moves!! Weve been paying special attention to the written content of the game: grammar and spelling check galore. Weve rebuilt the platforms of every level. Now they run way more smoothly and load faster. Its easier to realize where Sayri can step on and the game is 1 GB lighter. The Animal Spirit spell is up and running! Players get to cast a spell that takes the form of an animal. The first form is a Jaguar, and weve just finished another level of the spell, which is an Eagle. Players can control these animals - theyll be a great aid against the Lore destroying army of foes! Weve advanced A LOT in the development and design of the second level of Guardian of Lore: Snowy Mountains of Merida.

Game Dev from home? Challenge accepted!

We wont lie, folks, working from home has presented us with greater challenges than we anticipated. Those of us with families are tackling the extra workload of homeschooling as well as household chores, on top of designing the indie game of our dreams. We've been working around the clock, running on very little sleep and absolutely no weekends (Saturdays and Sundays, whats that now? Were living on an eternal Monday!). Still, when you want something as much as we do, theres no other choice but facing hardships and obstacles head-on. Were taking our Guardian of Lores example now, and following his lead. We will protect our project with everything in us, and power through. Theres also an evil army out there destroying our very real world, we have to stay home to fight it, and so we will do. Our project may or may not be delayed in the process, but we will prevail, figuratively and literally.

Guardian of Lore in Discord and Steam

Its not all in-game improvements over here! We have also been taking care of matters outside of the game: Weve optimized our Steam capsule so people will have an easier time finding Guardian of Lore with Steams game search feature (for example, using the word Lore). Cool surprises are about to come for those in our Discord community. Join us here [https://discordapp.com/invite/u7vKfFf], we are excited to talk to you one-on-one! Our trailers finished and uploaded everywhere! This is all for now! Find us on Twitter, tweet back, we cant wait to hear from all of you at home! Stay safe!

[ 2020-04-24 22:16:58 CET ] [ Original post ]