It seems the months are flying by–I feel like I just posted the July devlog, but it’s already time for the August one (and I’m behind again!) Speaking of which, I absolutely used the wrong date in the thumbnail for last month’s devlog. Whoops!

August was a good month, as we finally wrapped up the placeholder pass. Fang continued creating awesome assets, while I added tones, fogs, and color to the game in order to set the mood and tone throughout the game.

While this looks to be a short devlog, there’s a lot of stuff that was done behind the scenes.

Also, excuse the glaringly ugly watermarks on screenshots from now on. As the game gets closer to completion, I’d like to have these in-development screenshots marked appropriately so they’re not mixed up with the real deal when Chapter 1 releases.

Finished Battlebacks

This month Fang finished creating all of the battlebacks. Each major area in the game now has a matching battle background:

(No, the desert won’t actually contain more mushrooms!)

We tried a 3D background with the overworld tileset in order to link the two styles together, and I think Fang really nailed it.

Finished “Atmosphere” Placeholder Pass

This month we finally finished adding all of the placeholders for the game’s “atmosphere”. Every map from start to finish has an appopriate color tone, as well as any placeholders for fogs and special effects.

The game can be played in this state, making it already feel kind of complete. The game’s music, colors and tones already set a distinct mood for different parts of the game, and that’s without having added any fancy tileset graphics yet!

With this, the entire placeholder pass is done, and we’re ready to move on to the next big chunk of the game’s development.

Other Progress

While this devlog may seem a bit light, it’s easy to underestimate just how much we accomplished by finishing the placeholder pass.

There were also quite a few “under the hood” fixes and adjustments with the game’s code that don’t really deserve their own section. As we get into the asset and content development stage, more tangible updates should be available in future develogs.

Thank you for your continued patience and support.

-Jaiden