NIGHTFALL DEVBLOG #6
Introduction
Hey everyone! It's finally time for DevBlog #6! The first blog post of the new year! Woo hoo! We're excited to be back. It's been awhile since our last blog post. We spent the last bit of December celebrating the holidays with our family and loved ones. We hope that all of you had a great holiday season as well! Thank you for being patient with us while we took some much needed time off! Although Christmas/the holidays are now over, James made a really great graphic that we shared on our Twitter and Discord for Christmas day. It's too great to not share again so if you missed it you can find it by clicking here!
Over the month of December, we shared a lot of our new models for creatures, but we've made a lot of progress internally as well. Our programmers have been working more or less non-stop on improving the game and the way it runs. We worked very quickly to produce some of the results we did in our first couple of blog posts and now we're playing a bit of catch-up with the bugs. (See image above). Multiplayer is a big thing that we need to go back and take some time to make sure it works with all of the new things we've added. In this blog post, we'll show you some of the new stuff we've been working on, share some more information on things we've already talked about, and discuss some of what will be happening for the rest of January. We also have a new soundtrack piece to share with you! Enjoy!
Main Menu
We recently did a total rework for our menu. Our old menu was pretty out of date so we figured it was time for an upgrade. We had the UI for our new menu ready to go, so we swapped the old placeholders out. The buttons change when highlighted and pressed. They are also much more interactive. James did a nice render for the background of the menu to complete the overhaul and it turned out really nice. This might change when we release for Alpha, but for now our Pre-Alpha menu is a lot prettier to look at. If you notice in the top left, we've officially dubbed the internal build, "Pre-Alpha 1.0". This really means nothing other than that we've given the Pre-Alpha a name. If you're interested in using the Main Menu render as a background, you can click here to pull it off of Imgur. It is displayed without the Menu UI in the image below so you can see what it looks like.
Creative Mode
We were getting a bit sick of going to harvest supplies to craft something every time we wanted to test a new feature or build something cool. To remedy this, Jacob slapped together a quick Creative menu. This is exactly what it will look like in the final game… Just kidding. Obviously, you can tell this is a temporary tool for us to use as we work on the game, however, we'll likely build our Creative Mode off an adaption of this some day. This tool has made our lives a lot easier and we're excited for the future potential of a Creative-type game mode.
Chests
Basic Chest - In-Game Storage
In the last blog post, we shared our models for the basic chest with you. We also talked about how it would work in-game and its utilities. As of this post, we're happy to say that storage is now an actual thing in-game. We're not totally finished with all of the features of the chest that we discussed in our last post, but now you can safely put your items into a chest and not worry about them disappearing.
This is more important than it may seem at face value. Individual blocks are now able to store their own data (like items) which means that our custom trees and much more are on the horizon. We'll be slapping some nice animations on this chest in the near future and hopefully showing off some of the other things we talked about chests being able to do.
World Generation
Biomes
Mountains
As you may have noticed from our cover photo, Mountains are now thing in Nightfall. Before we go into anymore depth about these, please note, they are in their very early stages. Size, shape, texture, etc, is all likely to change as we find the right groove. With that said, we're tackling mountains a bit differently than other block based games. We want our mountains to be large and long, flowing ranges. Our goal for them is to be more than something you can just climb in a minute. They'll be large land masses with tall peaks and we want them to make you feel a bit small when you're sitting at their base.
We're working really hard to make these mountains actually look a lot like mountains instead of just steep terrain. For now, we're treating mountains as their own biome. This will let us make certain biomes that only exist in mountain form and vice versa. Picture a fiery, volcanic biome that can only be found in these mountain shapes instead of flatter terrain. This might be something we attempt to do in Nightfall. We can also make biomes we already have become mountainous instead of their original flatter terrain. This is something we're going to give a lot of thought to and really toy with before we pass of mountains to a more completed stage. We'll be sure to share a lot more on our mountains as we progress.
Plants
Berry Bushes
We've shared a few images of individual berry bushes in the past, but today we're going to show off some of their stages of growth and go into a bit more depth of what we're planning for this early-game food source. There will be lots of different berries in Nightfall. Different kinds of berries and bushes will spawn in different biomes. Likely, all berries will be edible, but some may not be good for you. This opens up opportunities for berries to be used as ingredients for things later on as well. You'll be able to relocate these bushes and create a berry farm to produce some early-game food. Berries will not be the best source of nutrients, but they'll be a good way to stave off some of that newbie starvation while you are working on creating better sources of food. This really is not an endgame food source because you won't be able to grow and stockpile enough berries to keep you alive in the Winter. You'll need to explore other food sources for sure, but regardless berries will be one of the first ways we begin to test hunger in Nightfall.
Doors
Basic Doors
Since our last blog post, we've started to work on doors. While these are not in-game yet, we've modeled a couple of variations to work with. In this blog post, we thought we'd go a bit more into detail on doors as the last time we talked about them was in our very first DevBlog. In that first blog post, we laid out many different "entrance" concepts that we were hoping to include in Nightfall. While we are still actively working on having doors that are larger than 2x1 blocks, we're starting simple with a small, player-sized door.
There will actually be a lot of doors of this size so that the player has many ways to express themselves in their builds. Some will be purely cosmetic and not very strong against certain monsters, while others will be bulkier and provide you with more protection. If you're using more cosmetic doors, it may be a smart idea to build a wall around your establishment or build your house in a place where monsters can't easily access the front of it. An example of this would be building on the edge of a cliff face or elevated off the ground to avoid some of the land dwelling enemies. Pictured below are two types of basic doors that the player can craft early on in the game. These doors are obviously built more for protection than they are looks, but are still a great way to cover up the entrance to your humble home.
Doors and the way that creatures interact with them is obviously something we will not be taking lightly. Actually, entrances in general are something we won't be taking lightly. We have plans for large doors and ways to create walls/protection around your base allowing you to still get creative with your building without monsters destroying it or coming in to get you because you chose a more visually appealing door. This is obviously something we're going to put a lot of time into balancing, but we're going to start with the basics. We'll have a lot more on entryways in the future and we'll share more content on these doors as they are put into the game.
Climbing
*Excuse the terrible quality GIF. Still on Winter Break and my Mac Laptop is refusing to cooperate with me.
This past week we started to play with some early forms of climbing. This is movement that we've talked about in the past but something that is now making its way into the game. Variety in forms of movement is something that we would really like to have in Nightfall. This means things like crawling, swinging, grabbing, and of course – climbing. While there are no animations for it yet, you can get the gist of climbing pretty clearly in this GIF. Some alternative movement in Nightfall, like climbing specifically, will require stamina. You won't just be able to climb infinitely. The same goes for hanging on certain blocks/grab-ables and swinging on ropes/vines. This will use your stamina up and when it runs out, you'll fall. You'll be able to increase your stamina with certain accessories and we will also likely lock things like climbing up and sliding down walls behind accessories that you wear as well. we're still working on this system, but the basics are there. For now, we're using “F” as the action hotkey for movement. You can press “F” to grab on or let go of most surfaces and begin to climb up or slide down sheer walls.
Creatures
Deer
A lot of passive creatures have joined the ranks of Nightfall's inhabitants since the last blog post. The first of which are... Deer! We've got a lot of plans for mob behavior that Deer will be a great creature to test with. We'll be working on our mating system with these creatures and they will also be a great way to test Mob Variance through their antlers and the textures of their bodies. Female deer are already ready to go and we're currently working on some baby fawns to incorporate into the game. This will let us work on creature growth as well.
Regardless of all of our plans for the Deer, they are simply beautiful as they are now. This is one of our favorite creatures that we've created so far and we are really looking forward to getting it animated and in-game. You'll be able to hunt this majestic creature as a source of food in Nightfall.
As you can see from the pictures of the Deer shared above, our models go through a really extensive process before they're considered "ready for implementation". The creatures go back and forth between our team to make sure the model and texture work together perfectly. The deer is no exception and we definitely spent a good bit of time making sure that it looks the way you see it in the finished render. These pictures are a great way to show some of that process to you!
Birds
Birds are another addition to Nightfall's roster. These small creatures will be spotted in the trees and skies of the game. Sometimes you may even see them hopping around on the ground and looking for food. We really want these creatures to feel alive, and birds will be no exception. We're planning for their nests to have eggs in them and for those eggs to hatch. We also want the player to be able to feed them seeds or other small bits of food. There will be lots of variations of birds but for now we're sticking with this blue guy and a few others. (Personally, I like Robins, so you'll probably see those soon as well.) We'll keep you posted on birds as we continue to create them but there is a strong possibility of Crows, Owls, and Hawks coming soon! Let us know what kind of birds you'd like to see! Below are some old pictures of where the bird model started so you can compare it to the more finalized blue one above.
Foxes
This is my personal favorite creature, the Fox. Foxes will be another creature that will exist in Nightfall. You'll be able to find multiple variants of this creature depending on the biome you are in. Foxes will hunt smaller animals for food, but will still fear the player if they get too close. These agile predators are fast and cunning and are a hard creature to hunt if you choose to do so. This model and texture went through a lot of back and forth to get to a point that we all felt was a good representation for a fox, and we look forward to adding them to Nightfall in the future.
Monsters
Drainers
In the past few weeks, we teased an image of these bad boys. Meet the Drainers. Drainers will be a fast moving, low health creature that has a nasty jump to it. They'll attempt to jump onto the player and use their sharp teeth to latch onto the player's body. You'll need to click fast on the Drainer to remove it, or if you're playing Multiplayer, have a friend come over and beat on it. Another way to get a Drainer to detach is by jumping into a cold liquid like water. Drainers will slowly suck the life force of the player the longer they are attached. While they are easy to kill, they are annoying to get off, so it is best to keep them at a distance if possible. Their powerful jump allows them to leap towards the player and they will typically aim for the player's face in order to cover their field of view a bit. Overall, Drainers are a bit of a nuisance, but we'll make sure to balance them so that their annoyance is easily put down. They will be about the size of a block/the player's head. We're also working on some variants for these creatures, including a Scarlet Biome one which will be more fleshy.
Here's a bonus picture of where the Drainer started at so you can really see how far it has come.
Hounds
Hounds are a new hostile creature that we are currently working on. I'm hesitant to include this image in the DevBlog as you have seen from before and after shots of creatures in this post just how much the model changes once it exits its first stage of development. However, I think this rough model gives you the basic idea of how these hounds may look. We're not totally set on the name "Hounds" yet either, so feel free to give us suggestions in the comments or on Discord. These creatures will travel in packs and will be hungry for the player. They'll be scrawny and not the strongest creatures but their strength lies in packs. They are most likely to spawn in packs of three or more at night and will not despawn right when the sun comes up. The hounds will also prioritize the weakest creature nearby. Whether this be a player or another passive creature, they'll hunt for whatever will give them the most reward and the least amount of risk. You might even be able to use this to your advantage if you play them strategically against your enemies or bait them using weak creatures. We'll be sharing more on these hounds as they make their way into the next stage of the art process but we couldn't resist giving you an early peek.
Upcoming Monsters...
So what's to come with monsters? We've actually shared a lot of the basic ones we are implementing with you already. The monsters that we've shared so far are the most recognizable/"realistic" fantasy monsters that you'll see in Nightfall. Now, we're starting to venture into the unknown territory with our monsters. You can see the start of this with Drainers and Hounds, but those are nothing compared to what's coming. The creatures that lurk in the shadows of the night are going to become a lot creepier, stronger, and weirder as we start to reveal some of the new things we've been working on. We're really, really happy with the direction a lot of our concepts are taking and this is something we're going to be careful about teasing as we want some of their surprises to still be surprises when you see them in-game. Regardless, we'll be sharing some more information about these monsters soon and you'll really start to see why the game is called Nightfall.
Animation
Spider Animations!
While we are still currently looking to add a 3D animator/rigger to the team, a member of our Discord Community named Psygnozis offered to create a few animations for us while we are on the search for a more permanent solution. These are really great and we're looking forward to working with him more in the future! You can check out his portfolio here: https://www.artstation.com/psygnozis! Go show him some love!
We're starting with some basic Spider animations so that we can add some more life to some of the hostile creatures we already have in game. Our next focus after the Spider will likely be to add some animations to spots where the player is lacking, and then bounce back to some of the other creatures we've unveiled via the blog posts and Twitter.
Spider Idle
Spider Jump 1
Spider Jump 2
Music
You're in luck! We've got another great piece of the Nightfall OST coming out alongside this blog post! Another incredible piece by Jay is up on our YouTube channel right now! Go check it out and please send Jay some love over Discord! He's done such a great job on all of these pieces and we can't wait to continue sharing them with you. He is an incredibly talented composer and deserves the hype!
Dev Spotlight
Stephen
This blog's spotlight is on Stephen! Stephen is one of the programmers on the Venatus team. He has been programming for over four years and is a Computer Science major currently enrolled as a student. In his free time, he plays Quidditch for his school team, juggles, and rides the unicycle. Stephen primarily works on biomes and world terrain in Nightfall. When asked what he would add to Nightfall if he could add anything, Stephen says he would want many different animals that you could tame and ride. He specifically said things like Dragons, Lions, and large water creatures.
We love you Steve!
Development Streams (Twitch)
Some of you may have caught our previous development streams on Twitch. You can check out the channel here. We're planning on doing a lot more of these Development streams in the future so you can watch us model, program, draw, and create the world of Nightfall. We'll do lots of Q+A sessions where we answer your questions about the game, and in the future we hope to do streams of actual gameplay showcasing new features or updates. We might even do streams where we play with the community some day! Here's hoping! If you're interested in watching these streams, go ahead over to our twitch by clicking this link and give us a follow so you're notified when we go live!
Discord, Patreon, and Social Media
Discord
https://discord.gg/2BKtNks
Use the link above to head on over to our Discord. This is the absolute BEST way to communicate with myself, any of the Developers, and the community. We have dedicated areas for you to suggest features, give feedback, learn more, and most importantly - ASK QUESTIONS (and get an answer too!) This is the easiest way of supporting us and is totally free! We are so happy to see so many of you already taking advantage of this by joining, talking to each other, suggesting features, and grilling us with questions! It's been great!
*At the time of this blog post's release, we are doing a giveaway in our Discord! It may be over if you're seeing this in the future, but we will do other giveaways and events in the coming months so it's worth joining to keep an eye out for more!
**I know I mention Discord in every blog post, but seriously, this is a great place to get to know us better! You can earn in-game profile tags, suggest features directly, and we do different things throughout the week for you to participate in like Feedback Friday with more to come in the future! You're missing out if you haven't hopped in yet! ❤️
YouTube
We have a YouTube channel! You'll be able to check out parts of Nightfall's soundtrack on there! We've also got some cool tutorials and DevBlogs headed your way in the future!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb0eFml5-iRYt6mgG2k2LTw
Click the link above to head over and subscribe so you don't miss future video Devlogs and other cool things like music taken from the soundtrack of Nightfall.
Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/vgnightfall
While we don't require it by any means, Patreon is a great way to support us directly. You can pledge to monetarily support us monthly here. We do have various tiers of support that each provide unique rewards like special roles on our Discord server, access to even more direct communication with Developers, and of course, eventual early access to the game to help us test. One of the tiers even lets you work with us directly to add a creature to the game! You'll also get bonus development content and an even closer peek into our development process directly through Patreon and Discord when you subscribe! We've already posted a lot of extra content on our Patreon!
Thank you to our current Patreon supporters:
Basic Supporter - iDraws
Patreon+ - BOWSER0897
If you don't like Patreon, you can also choose to support us directly with one-time payments through PayPal.
You can donate through PayPal by clicking here.
Thank you to those of you who have chosen to do this in the past or through Patreon.
https://twitter.com/venatus_games
Our Twitter is a great way to keep track of weekly updates to Nightfall! We post screenshots, GIFs, videos, art, job positions, and more! Twitter is free to use and an awesome way to stay up to date with all of the Nightfall news! Head on over to the link above and give us a follow to learn more!
(Closing)
And Night is Upon Us!
It's been another great few weeks for Nightfall's development. We're still ahead of where we thought we would be at this point and making leaps and bounds each day. With that said, you'll see some slower progress for a little as we knock out some of those bugs and issues we spoke about earlier in the blog post. We've added so much in so little time and we need to take a little to make sure our servers and networking work properly with all of the things we've added. For the rest of January, you'll likely see a few minor gameplay changes and more art, and less drastic additions to the game. But don't worry! Once we're done with this clean up phase, we've completed a lot of what we need to start on the major features we still want for an Alpha release. Our next blog post will almost definitely show off some of our in-game tools (hatchets, shovels, knives, and pickaxes) as those are almost ready on the internal build. We're super excited for what the next few months of 2020 have to bring for Nightfall! Thank you for all of your continued support for this game and all of the love you give to us. We really appreciate it! It's getting dark so we better head out. Until next time…
Humbly,
Jack and the Venatus Team
