Sep 2, 2024
Mudborne: Frog Management Sim - ellraiser
Mudborne's new demo is finally out, and it's been lovely to see how much you've all been enjoying it <3
Now that the dust has settled and the demo is stable enough for the time being, I can get started on actually building the full game - no pressure me!
After getting nowhere with that approach apart from some bigger, slightly more organised lists, I decided I'd start with trying to plan out the world map, and the regions inside it. I thought this might help me narrow down the journey the player will take, and the different mechanics/frogs/npcs/story that would tie into that region.
For each region I narrowed down the details seperately to give me a rough starting point, as well as a list of the items/machines the player would find there.
From here I could then plot out all the new items + machines as well as their related mechanics, and start drawing them all out. This helped me a lot as I could focus on one specific region and worry about the whole picture later.
I made little sections in aseprite for each region, and drew out all the machines for each one, as well as any other items. While some of the machines will probably change a lot when I actually implement them and start playing with them properly in-game, it gave me a good starting point - as well as letting me make sure all the machines were consistent with each other with the different concepts + layouts introduced.
Each of the coloured regions in both the scribbled map and the aseprite image above represents an area of the game, which will introduce the player to certain concepts...
There'll be a few tweaks to some of the machines that exist in the demo, like the cultivator having a seperate output bucket slot, and a few new bits too, like a new "breeder" machine for making lots of frogspawn/tadpoles for a given species.
(Sidenote: the bright green outlines in the larger screenshot of all regions isn't part of the game - it's actually just to help me keep track of what I've implemented/changed so I can quickly see what I still need to do!)
This is the "goal" of the game to open to help bring back the Pondmother and all the frogs in hibernation, with one really big genetic lock to open, but you have to go do a bunch of stuff in three "key" areas to open the path first - will be one of the salvage team here to speak to and teach some advanced stuff like ancestry (which I introduce a bit "earlier" in the demo just to show where things are going)
For the most part the "machines" here are like the reflection gates, specific one-off structures with their own fancy interface and requirements - I won't get into details here and let you try and interpret the designs yourself!
The algae blooms are a physical thing that prevent you moving past them as well as stop any growth or bug spawns, nasty stuff! But once you get the mushrooms of this area and boost your frogs you'll be able to eat it up in no time, and also go remove some of the algae you find in other areas that you might have already come across.
Hybrids essentially let you combine any two standard mushrooms, meaning 1 powder can have 2 effects (so up to 6 effects in one magic mud!) - lots of brain melting in your future I'm afraid :D
There'll be some other uses too, by mastering saturation you'll be able to provide extremely dry and extremely wet environments for your cultivators, giving you access to some new mushrooms you couldn't get before.
This is also the region you'll be introduced to "croakwork" machines - some lite automation machines powered by ribbets that remove a bunch of the "manual" labour from the game (harvest mushrooms, grind mushrooms, chop trees etc).
By mastering the "Umbrage" trait, you'll be able to produce some very angry frogs that give off so much heat you can start to thaw the region, and access stuff that's been frozen over for a while now.
You'll also be able to access the climate extreme mushrooms (1/7 temp), plus better storage upgrades thanks to the blueprints in this area.
A sort of dream "skunkworks" lab area with some interesting prototype machines, and some more exploration of the dream world and it's properties.
You'll need to have got the mushrooms/machines from at least 2 of the key areas to access - this will have some more useful stuff like the predictor/analyser type machines of the demo, cloning machines, generation reversal etc
By this point you'll have also come across "forgotten" sections of the dream, places where the memories of the hibernating frogs have failed. You'll be able to restore these regions with memory fragments, allowing you access to stuff that's been forgotten, or repressed...
I haven't 100% narrowed down exactly how this mechanic works yet, but I don't need to right now - I just know there'll be these "barriers" to restore and you'll have a few tools to do so. Whatever it ends up being I'm sure there'll be some puzzle elements/maths involved, as you know I love to do!
There's also a story to follow along and history to uncover, so exploring will reward you in not only new stuff but new secrets too! It'll be a lot to design but it'll be worth it in the end.
It's also not 100% set in stone, I'm sure a lot of stuff will change, like who you meet and where, or how certain machines work, or how some of the mechanics might work - but in general this is roughly what I'm thinking right now. Once I start implementing stuff it's easy to see what's wrong/missing, so I'm not too worried that I don't have it all nailed down!
I also have a list of like 100 odd misc. stuff, like decoration or your own house or fast travel or pets or fancier frog furniture which all has to go somewhere too, but that's a future ell problem :D
For the next month or so I'll just be working solidly on implementing all the machines + items to cover the mechanics I've talked about above - by the end I should be able to make a new map with all the new mechanics so I can playtest them all properly together, and then can go from there!
~ Ell
Now that the dust has settled and the demo is stable enough for the time being, I can get started on actually building the full game - no pressure me!
World Building
It's a bit daunting having to just sit down and make the rest of the game, and hard to know roughly where to start. I spent a few days just picking at random areas, and trying to combine various notes that I'd written while making the demo - both physical ones and random ones on my phone when ideas hit me.After getting nowhere with that approach apart from some bigger, slightly more organised lists, I decided I'd start with trying to plan out the world map, and the regions inside it. I thought this might help me narrow down the journey the player will take, and the different mechanics/frogs/npcs/story that would tie into that region.
For each region I narrowed down the details seperately to give me a rough starting point, as well as a list of the items/machines the player would find there.
From here I could then plot out all the new items + machines as well as their related mechanics, and start drawing them all out. This helped me a lot as I could focus on one specific region and worry about the whole picture later.
I made little sections in aseprite for each region, and drew out all the machines for each one, as well as any other items. While some of the machines will probably change a lot when I actually implement them and start playing with them properly in-game, it gave me a good starting point - as well as letting me make sure all the machines were consistent with each other with the different concepts + layouts introduced.
Each of the coloured regions in both the scribbled map and the aseprite image above represents an area of the game, which will introduce the player to certain concepts...
Spawning Pools (Light Green)
The demo is loosely based on this area, will be a few less quest introduced as i needed to pack more into the demo, so will be a bit more chill in the real game, but still take you through the basics of getting new frogs + making magic mud.There'll be a few tweaks to some of the machines that exist in the demo, like the cultivator having a seperate output bucket slot, and a few new bits too, like a new "breeder" machine for making lots of frogspawn/tadpoles for a given species.
(Sidenote: the bright green outlines in the larger screenshot of all regions isn't part of the game - it's actually just to help me keep track of what I've implemented/changed so I can quickly see what I still need to do!)
Grand Gate (Brown)
This will be a central temple area with a GIANT version of the little gates you see (like you're standing on a huge platform thats the tiny little stone step of the normal pools).This is the "goal" of the game to open to help bring back the Pondmother and all the frogs in hibernation, with one really big genetic lock to open, but you have to go do a bunch of stuff in three "key" areas to open the path first - will be one of the salvage team here to speak to and teach some advanced stuff like ancestry (which I introduce a bit "earlier" in the demo just to show where things are going)
For the most part the "machines" here are like the reflection gates, specific one-off structures with their own fancy interface and requirements - I won't get into details here and let you try and interpret the designs yourself!
Kindergarten (Green)
The first "key" area, kindergarten, mentioned in the demo - this is where you meet the botanist and learn about mushroom hybrids, also where you come across deadly algae blooms you need to remove by using v. hungry frogs (edacity/energy trait), and get some improved bug stuff, like bug traps to gather more bugs quickly using stinky frogs. The algae blooms are a physical thing that prevent you moving past them as well as stop any growth or bug spawns, nasty stuff! But once you get the mushrooms of this area and boost your frogs you'll be able to eat it up in no time, and also go remove some of the algae you find in other areas that you might have already come across.
Hybrids essentially let you combine any two standard mushrooms, meaning 1 powder can have 2 effects (so up to 6 effects in one magic mud!) - lots of brain melting in your future I'm afraid :D
Residential District (Blue)
This is where you meet the engineer and have to help fix the flooded houses with min. saturation frogs to help "drain" them - unflooding the houses then leads to other areas you couldnt access and some lore stuff.There'll be some other uses too, by mastering saturation you'll be able to provide extremely dry and extremely wet environments for your cultivators, giving you access to some new mushrooms you couldn't get before.
This is also the region you'll be introduced to "croakwork" machines - some lite automation machines powered by ribbets that remove a bunch of the "manual" labour from the game (harvest mushrooms, grind mushrooms, chop trees etc).
Cold Storage (Yellow)
Cold storage is the region where the pond stores their food and resources, as well as where the caretakers have their own special residence. Things here have gone a bit haywire without anything looking after stuff, and so you'll be met with a much colder environment that usual.By mastering the "Umbrage" trait, you'll be able to produce some very angry frogs that give off so much heat you can start to thaw the region, and access stuff that's been frozen over for a while now.
You'll also be able to access the climate extreme mushrooms (1/7 temp), plus better storage upgrades thanks to the blueprints in this area.
Dream Lab (Purple)
A sort of dream "skunkworks" lab area with some interesting prototype machines, and some more exploration of the dream world and it's properties.
You'll need to have got the mushrooms/machines from at least 2 of the key areas to access - this will have some more useful stuff like the predictor/analyser type machines of the demo, cloning machines, generation reversal etc
By this point you'll have also come across "forgotten" sections of the dream, places where the memories of the hibernating frogs have failed. You'll be able to restore these regions with memory fragments, allowing you access to stuff that's been forgotten, or repressed...
I haven't 100% narrowed down exactly how this mechanic works yet, but I don't need to right now - I just know there'll be these "barriers" to restore and you'll have a few tools to do so. Whatever it ends up being I'm sure there'll be some puzzle elements/maths involved, as you know I love to do!
Everything Else
While those are the main "areas" there'll be plenty of other smaller locations and set pieces to visit, and the mechanics introduced by each region are not limited to that area - so there'll be lots of places to explore and unlock by revisiting an area once you've got access to new machines or frogs (frogvania? frogtroidvania?)There's also a story to follow along and history to uncover, so exploring will reward you in not only new stuff but new secrets too! It'll be a lot to design but it'll be worth it in the end.
It's also not 100% set in stone, I'm sure a lot of stuff will change, like who you meet and where, or how certain machines work, or how some of the mechanics might work - but in general this is roughly what I'm thinking right now. Once I start implementing stuff it's easy to see what's wrong/missing, so I'm not too worried that I don't have it all nailed down!
I also have a list of like 100 odd misc. stuff, like decoration or your own house or fast travel or pets or fancier frog furniture which all has to go somewhere too, but that's a future ell problem :D
For the next month or so I'll just be working solidly on implementing all the machines + items to cover the mechanics I've talked about above - by the end I should be able to make a new map with all the new mechanics so I can playtest them all properly together, and then can go from there!
~ Ell
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