This update adds abilities and trading system: Now it's possible to buy and sell items.

Learn new abilities and unleash them upon your enemies!
For the combat testing purposes, iron swords and ability instructions can be found in the spawn point, so grab them, get right to the new combat, and tell me what you think!

No longer rely on enemy drops to equip and heal!
Head to Locul emporium and see what the merchants there have to offer.

• Powers UI: A page to check learned abilities and cast learned spells.
  
• First non-combat spell: Resurrection Gate. It teleports to resurrection point.
  
• Value 2.0: Rebalanced item prices and gold rewards.
  
• Critical hits 2.0: Critical hits now always deal more damage than normal hits.
  
• Improved and expanded enemy AI.
  
• Improved HUD and health bars.
  
• Improved collision checks: Fixed many problems with interacting through solid objects.
  
• Improved engine overall: Many new systems and scripts that will help me further develop the game.
  
• Added new sound effects.

• Trading part 2: Bartering, player to player trading.
  
• Crafting.
  
• Key remapping.
  
• Map.
  
• Achievements and trackers.
  
• Save system.

This demo update contains over 4 months of changes.


The game now has two short quests with a bit of lore and adventure.

Gain XP and level up.

Visit the first town of the game!

Now player 1 can use both keyboard and mouse for maximum comfort.

Added shadows, improved assets.

Warning: Shadows may severely slow down or even crash the game - if that is the case turn off shadows in the options before starting the game.

New style, new tooltip system, new HUD, game log.

New enemy NPCs, bags and crates with loot, more content.

Better NPC AI, NPC chatter system, character interaction system.

The first three factions have been implemented: Rogue, Neutral, and Locul. You can gain Locul reputation by completing one of the quests, and you lose reputation by stealing from and attacking Locul's citizens. If your reputation drops below -99, Locul's guards will start attacking you.

Combat 4.0!
The previous demo had combat 2.0 - position based combat. Later I created combat 3.0, but it wasn't fun, so I had to remove it and leave combat as it is now.
Now I'm going to work on combat until I'm happy with it.

As always, I'm looking for feedback.
If you got any, you can fill this form:
Link >>

During October I worked a lot - I was participating in what is called Devtober.

Without going into details - because the entry would be way too long - here are the things I've done:



12 buildings, 14 NPCs, over 50 tiles, and many other assets - that is the town of Locul!
Each building can be entered thanks to interior system 1.0, which was challenging to make and potentially tripled the amount of time city areas will take for me to make - but was totally worth it.



Attacking faction NPCs and stealing their supplies will decrease your reputation to that faction.
Lose too much reputation and combat system will mark you as the enemy of the faction - everything is authentic and dynamic.
The reputation system will continue being one of the most important systems - it will allow competing players in multiplayer to divide the world among themselves, it creates an entirely new way of playing the game - being criminal, there will be faction unique items, it should be great.



You can't have an RPG without them!



Interact and move using keyboard, attack and browse UI using the mouse - for maximum comfort.



I made it possible to loot containers - bags, crates, etc. - and that is simply wonderful.

I am going take the game's demo to GameOn, Lithuania's gaming convention, so I need to prepare the game for it.
I think it's in good shape right now - I will be releasing a new demo soon.

The goal remains the same - create a miniature version of the game, then use it as an example to develop the rest of the game.

After GameOn I'll make first quests, the Mage role and the remaining 20% of the Moonrise Desert.

Until next time!

PS.: I've got a creator's page now - if you like what I do, consider following me:
Link >>

It's been a while since the last entry and the reason is that I was working on another game.

But I've been back to Light of the Locked World since September 21.

I have reworked combat - made spells activatable with different keys like in many other games and added 3 new spells.

After that, I have added roles and started working on Locul town.

So, what are roles?

In most RPGs you pick a class and then go do whatever is that RPG wants you to do - complete quests, kill monsters, save the world, the usual.
You get XP and level up, get attribute points, build your character, become more powerful.

Now imagine that instead of one XP bar, you get several, one for each of the classes and that you're no longer are locked to one class.
You can switch classes whenever you want and while you are using that class, it gains XP, levels up, you become better at using that class.

That's the role system!



Similar systems can be found in RuneScape, Skyrim, Ultima.

Currently, I have made 2 classes or roles, as they are called in-game: Survivor and Warrior.

You get Survivor XP by using Regenerate spell and restoring health.
Later you'll be able to get XP by using health-restoring consumables and maybe even surviving lethal strikes.
Leveling up Survivor increases your maximum health by 3 per level.

You get Warrior XP by dealing damage with Warrior role weapons, which are melee weapons.
Leveling up Warrior increases damage and accuracy - but it only applies while using Warrior weapons.



The next demo version will also have Mage and Archer roles, which will function in a similar way to Warrior, but it will be about flinging magic missiles and shooting arrows to kill enemies!

In total there will be 10 roles and it will be possible to level up roles up to level 50.
It should take over 10 hours to max out all of them,

In future leveling up roles will not only make you stronger, that will also be required to unlock new content.
For example, to equip silver equipment you will need to be level 10 Warrior.

The main goal for me right now is to make the first quest and finish the Moonrise Desert area.

This is what the first quest requires:

- Role system.
- Mage role and equipment: The quest's boss is a mage.
- The first town: NPC that starts the quest is in the town.
- NPC interaction and dialogue systems.
- Quest log.

Currently, I am building the town, that's how it looks right now:



When the town is finished, I'll be making the first non-aggressive NPCs and interaction systems.

So that's where the game is at, until next time =]

UI rework is coming to an end!

I'm very happy with how it looks now - buttons will move, features will be added and removed, but the style will stay the same.



Another thing that will make it to version 1.0 is the new tooltip system!



They are incredibly versatile and easy to customize - they will be crucial in building the rest of UI.



The next tasks are to convert the rest of UI to the new style - currently, only the Items page have been converted - and make a new HUD.

I'm hoping to do that next week and then start working on combat changes I've written about in the previous entry.

Until next time!

It's been two weeks since the last entry.

The first week I've been making shadows, the second - finished shadows and started making new UI.





I decided to work on the UI because it has been bothering me for a while and because I wanted to do something different after working so long on shadows.

First I played with colors and frames, hoping that would be enough.





None of the mockups felt right for the game. I want an immersive UI, and none of those felt like a part of the game's world.

I wanted something UI as cool as old RPGs had - with statues, stone arches, columns, gems, parchments, and other good stuff.

While thinking about all of this, an image flashed in my mind, it looked something like this:



I've spent an entire day trying to make it fit the art style of the game.

The last iteration of castle UI even had shelves in the inventory.



But I've run into problems.

I had two options: Make it noisy and tiring to the eyes to display all of the useful information, or hide the information to make it look better.

I really hate choosing between convenience and beauty, so I decided to drop the castle UI and try something else.

The next idea is to go for a medieval adventurer logbook/diary feel.



So instead of putting things on shelves in a castle, the adventurer would instead draw pictures of owned items on a piece of paper.

Currently, it's the best idea - this UI has the same looks as the rest of the game, it makes sense, and it's convenient.

Hoping to finish it next week.

Anyway, about the combat:

The feedback I received since the pre-alpha demo was released is clear - combat needs to be better.

Like castle UI, position-based combat seemed like a great idea at first.
It turned out that it's just more complicated than it needs to be and has no significant benefits.

I want to get rid of the position aspect of the system, and instead, allow to use attacks everywhere with different buttons as many other games do.

I also want players to be able to change their strategy during fights and have more options.

The weapons should offer 3 or more ways to defeat an enemy.

For example, ideas for the iron sword:

Attack A:
A quick attack that deals low damage, but makes the target bleed and increases movement speed temporarily.
The plan is to jump to the enemy, make it bleed and run away, repeat until the enemy dies.

Attack B:
A slow attack that in addition to dealing damage, binds both you and the enemy.
There is a short window for the enemy to escape.
The plan is to bind and outlast the enemy.

Attack C:
Creates an energy field that deals high to enemies that are performing attacks against you.
The energy field will also deal low damage to enemies around you.
The plan is to create the field and punish aggressive enemies, then finish them with area damage.

A is effective against C because you don't have to stay in the energy field. A is useful if you have low health and can't afford to take too much damage.

B is effective against A because bleed is only useful if it's possible to run away. B is a good option if you can take some damage or an ally is healing you.

C is effective against B because it requires the enemy to attack you. It's also a defensive option because it punishes enemies that are attacking you. Also effective against enemy groups.

This should give the player plenty of choices and make new things possible with AI.
NPCs could react to what you're doing, for example, try B when you're doing A.
Then you can switch to C for that retaliation damage or B - if you are confident that you can outlast the enemy.

I have no idea if this will work, but I think it's safe to say that the next version of the demo will be more interesting to test!

I'll be changing the combat when I'm done with UI and other graphical improvements, so in a week or two.

That's all for now, until next time!

Go to store page >>

The purpose of this demo is to show what the game will be like and gather early feedback.

Feedback form:

Link >>

To complete the demo content, obtain a full set of iron equipment, cape, sash, and amulet.

Note:

To do PVP, find and equip red cape.

This will change your faction alignment, allowing you to attack the other player.

Have fun!

EDIT: I posted this on Sector Six hub by accident. Sorry!

After releasing the alpha demo I've been working on improving the game's graphics.

I've started with small things - cloud shadows and sand particles.



Cloud shadows went through several changes:







Currently, cloud shadows are still not finished because I started working on non-cloud shadows, which currently look like this:



I've also made minor changes to attack animation, added idle animation, and changed the font.



Improving graphics is just one of the many things that I want to do before releasing the next demo version:

Add interior system and Locul town

• A system to allow you to go inside houses and then a bunch of houses!

UI looks 2.0

• Current UI looks too bland.

Character interaction system

• Pressing a key while you are near to a character will open a screen with options, such as talk to a character, trade with character, etc. This is system is necessary for making quests and trading.

Role system and first four roles

• This is a big one: It requires a lot of coding, staff and bow attack animations, 6 new attack spells, and countless UI additions. The first 4 roles to be added are Warrior, Mage, Archer, and Survivor. Expect to get more information about roles in the future.

The first quest

• Combining roles, new content, and character interaction system into your first big adventure in Caios!

My goal for next week is to finish working on graphics and start working on the interior system.

That's all for now, until next time!

The demo should be uploaded to Steam soon if it's possible, but meanwhile, you can already download it from:

GameJolt >>
Itch.io >>
GameDev.net >>
IndieDB >>

Send your feedback:

Link >>

Have fun!

This week I finally fixed area loading and now I'm building the first area - Moonrise Desert.

Here are a few screenshots:









About Moonrise Desert:

It's an arid land around Moonrise Site, the place where Demon Moon was built and risen.

Demon Moon is a giant iron sphere built to be a prison where demons are taken when they are banished with Ritual of Banishment.
Demons must be banished because they are completely indestructible.

Moonrise Desert is very rich with iron, the ore veins are close to the surface and are easy to mine.
That's the main reason why the Moon was built here.

Pits and ditches in the desert are left by mining to get all the iron required for the Moon.

Currently, the only humans in the Moonrise Desert are exiled criminals.



Anyway, I also want to share an epic track from LOTLW's OST!

Music for Light of the Locked World is composed by Bert Cole, a musical genius who has also made Sector Six OST.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1779042316 Capital of the World will play in Eiralta, world's most important city.

If you want to know more about Bert Cole, visit his website:
Link >>

That's all for this entry.

Until next time!