This week, we’re starting off by adding a new currency!

This is golden essence, which like normal essence can be traded for rewards at Bishop’s in Arcadia. We’re also thinking you’ll be able to trade a (big) amount of regular essence for one of these. The reason we came up with this currency is because we thought it’d be a better reward to get in that final floor chest, rather than getting the rewards themselves. This way you can pick and choose whatever rewards you want in any order (except for some that you will need to unlock by completing Arcade Mode in all difficulties), and it seems a bit clearer that you always get a reward of golden essence rather than an arbitrary number of rewards only to suddenly not get any more.

This way adding new rewards is more streamlined as well – if we decide to add more rewards, Bishop will simply update his shop rather than you having to complete arcade mode once again to see what sort of item(s) we’ve added!

Next, we wanted to add something fancy for when you manage to finish off one of those new and spicy floor-wide bets, so I threw together a little background for a room in Bishop’s realm where you get sent once you’ve cleared the floor:

Next up, we wanted a wagon for the potion salesman that sells you Super Potions, so I made some tweaks to Remedi’s old thing in Arcadia to better fit the salesman we have in mind:

And here we go, the second attempt at that bad-ass fae, Badasu! This one looks a little more badass, no?

Meanwhile in Fred’s department, it’s all about hands! Grindea’s hands, to be precise! Have a look:

This week is all about the shop, which will now get a proper indoor map, where it’ll share its space with either Little John, Farmer Oak or a potion salesman that allows you to change which pots you have equipped. For now though, let’s start with the regular shopkeepers part of the room:

And here’s what it’ll look like what the shop is shared with Little John, who will let you upgrade your bow:

Next, what the shop will look like when it’s shared with Farmer Oak and his pet taming-item store:

And finally, this is what the shop will look like when it’s sharing its space with the potion changer:

Meanwhile in Fred’s department, he’s been working on a pretty epic animation featuring giant Grindea opening her eyes! Let’s take a look:

In this Monday’s Meeting, it’s been all about perks! We haven’t had a lot of those before, so we’ve spent some time thinking about what more interesting ones we could add. Here’s a list of our current ideas:

* A perk that gives a low chance of pins dropping from defeated enemies

* Arrows deal more damage

* Bigger chance of getting a specific type of event room (we want at least one of these for the fishing rooms, since it can be quite a challenge to catch all of the fishes, however, we haven’t decided 100% yet if this will be a perk or a quest or an item of some sort)

* Bigger chance of Loods appearing

* A perk that guaratees that you’ll get a pin as a reward after a challenge win

* A perk that gives you x gold at the start of every new floor

* Bigger chance of getting card drops from enemies

* A slightly wider selection of items in the shop

* A perk that lets you start with an HP potion

* A perk that gives you a good 1h weapon at floor 5

* Same as above but for 2H weapons and magical weapons respectively

Do you have any ideas for more perks? Let us know what you’d like to see! :)

Next up, I’ve made a test for a portrait of that fae that comes along to help you fight against bosses (for a fee). However, this is only the first try, and after some discussions we’ve decided we’re probably gonna give him a slightly different look, making him look a bit more badass. For now though, here’s the old version:

Next up, in preparation for another one of the rooms, I’ve made a bunch of Super Potions. These potions can be bought from a potion salesman that appears in questionmark rooms, and the potions themselves are stronger and last longer. To start of with, the potion salesman will present you with one random potion of the selection below, but if you pay up some essence you’ll be able to unlock a second slot in his shop which will also feature a random potion:

Now, time for a newbackground! This one features the Spa, where your character can regain some HP by standing in the enchanted pool:

In Teddy’s department, let’s take a look at a new interface of sorts, featuring Bishop as he provides you with a bet! Now he’ll appear in the lower right corner to remind you of the bet you’ve taken:

It’s another Monday starting with another meeting, and in this one we discussed more stuff to add to the final update of Arcade Mode. Here’s a bunch of our new suggestions in terms of events and event rooms you may come across during a run:

* First up, an event room that’s a spa where you can pick up a couple health orbs, just a nice little treat that may show up once in a while

* A potion salesman that sells “bootleg” potions that last longer than the ones you have equipped normally. These potions are usable items you can use whenever you like but will last longer and possibly be a bit stronger.

* A version of the fortune teller room in which you can change the boss of the floor, but for the next event room! In this room Astrid the fortune teller will let you know what event room is the next to spawn, and you’ll be able to let her swap it out for another one, for a fee.

* A “Boss Assistance Fae”, a fae adventurer that may show up randomly in a room and help you clear it out, only to suggest you employ his assistance in battling the boss. Of course, having his assistance will cost you! This fae may also show up occasionally in Astrid’s Fortune telling room where she predicts which boss you’ll face off against next.

* We’re also discussing having floor wide bets, where Bishop will appear at the start of a floor and give you a bet across the whole floor, such as clearing the floor within a limited time!

* Maraccas, who will show up in later floors, letting you exchange silver points for talent orbs, just like in Story Mode

* Trick & Treat buff service which will give you quite a powerful buff – but will also include quite a massive debuff. For example, in an early floor you might get a skill leveled to max, but you’re not allowed to use any other skills or your shield.

* A Trade Up Guy who will take three of your items of the same kind and exchange them for a better version of them

* A Lood room, which is an event room with a lot of loods and one big master lood who is a NPC of sorts

* The Ice Cream parlor, where you can make your own ice cream that gives you different boosts depending on which flavours you pick

* A person who shows up at the beginning of the last floor you died, or possibly after you’ve died at the same floor a number of times, selling buffs that will last until the end of the floor

If you have any other ideas for event rooms or fun things to happen throughout a run, be sure to make a comment! :)

Finally when it comes to Arcade Mode event room entrances, we have the Ghost Ship, the Desert, Tai Ming and Mount Bloom:

Another couple upgrades we’ve been working on is a proper preview window for Shadier Merchant, which compared your items to the ones on display as you approach:

As well as a nice blue warning for the main menu when your save is incompatible (previously it was brown, as can be seen below):

Next, it’s time for another one of those Grindea battle updates! Here, let’s take a look at two more of her moves, still a bit WIP but it’s looking better and better for sure:

As you know, we’re drawing ever closer to the completion of this game, and since I’m usually a bit ahead of making the background art and such, we’re nearing a point where I’ll run out of stuff to do! So how to keep me busy?

Well, we’ve had a budding idea of having me prepare the graphic assets and likely, most of the writing, for a little side project, or a companion piece if you’d like: basically, a visual novel where you’re a Collector, interacting with other collectors and sentient artifacts!

This game will be a very short game to go along with the Grindea universe, so we’re not talking any big investments of time here, even for me – but it’ll give me something to do while Teddy and Fred finish the last bits of animations and code for the main game. And it may also serve to give you guys a bit more insight in the world of Grindea!

Because of the planning needed, you’re likely going to start seeing some sketches and rough ideas for this project come up on this blog soon. So how do you guys feel about visual novels? Any particular ones you like, or dislike? Features you’d like to see in a project like this?

Again, keep in mind our goal here is just to make a little companion piece, so it’s not gonna be very long or super complex – just a little side project in the same world :)

Next up with actual Secrets of Grindea stuff though, for the Grindea boss fight we’re looking at having a total of three different HP-bars! Time to take a look at those:

Now with the Grindea boss fight drawing ever closer to completion, it’s time we start working on a proper victory UI for Arcade Mode instead of the standard Game Over one!

Here’s the regular version, as a reminder:

And here’s the post-Grindea one, which will be more blue. It has a star instead of the floor number, and will most likely show up against a black backdrop as seen in the second picture below, as it’ll appear after the credits:

Of course, in the above examples there’s still the usual Game Over text, but in the actual interface it’ll say “Victory!” one you’ve defeated Grindea. We’ve made three versions of the next now, though, with “Victory?” showing up when you finish the game without battling either Bishop och Grindea, and “Victory” showing up when you defeat Bishop!

Next up, for Grindea’s big battle, we want to add a starry space-like background for one of her attacks, and as such, I was tasked with making a simple space background! Let’s have a look:

As we draw ever closer to you being able to finish your Arcade Mode journey, it’s time to add a proper way of getting up to that island where your fate will be decided. Using a standard portal? Nah, let’s do something a bit cooler: flying up yourself! Have a look:

One thing that’s been missing from the stylist for a while now is a way to rotate your character preview so you’re able to see what you’d look like from more than one direction! Since we’re working on adding the final haircuts now, we decided it’s also time to add that missing feature, and as such, we’ve spent some time trying out various interfaces showing you how to rotate the preview:

Right now our current favourite is the last one. Which one do you prefer?

Next up, we have a bunch of haircut fixes! To start off with, this one seemed to lack a bit of the ‘swirly’ part of the bangs showing from behind, so I added that:

Since this haircut is super wide we needed a version of it which can be used when you wear a full coverage hat as well, made here below:

As for this one, we felt we wanted to show the bangs on the side a bit from behind as well:

Next up, it’s time to decide in what order to display the haircuts! For now we’ve decided to go from shortest to longest (well, kind of – we haven’t measured them all exactly, so some variations may occur), divided over two pages with 16 on each.

Page 1:

…and Page 2:

Finally on the haircut side, we realized the new haircuts looked a bit off when added to the game, due to some palette swapping mishaps. As such, I had to remake them slightly! Here’s a couple of them, with the original version first, the recolored version second, and the improved remake third:

In Teddy & Fred’s department, we’re mainly still focusing on the Grindea fight, but some other animations and cutscenes are made here and there. Here, let’s the a look at one of those, the activation of the portal that will take you to Grindea’s realm:

Now it’s time to start looking at the Mount Bloom / Festival floor of the final dungeon for real! Let’s start off with an introduction room, the first you’ll find yourself in within this floor of the dungeon:

Next up, the exit and northern cave room, featuring the strength challenge:

Next, there’s the fishing challenge, set in a cave setting:

And finally, the running challenge:

And here we have the complete thing, all rooms together:

Meanwhile, Fred continues work on Grindea and her attacks, including a mysterious space rift:

Exciting times! :3

This week I continue working on those final dungeon floors, continuing on with the Flying Fortress floor to start off with. Aside from just having a platform for battling the bosses, you also need an entry point and an exit, which is what we’re taking a look at today:

Next, a quick sketch to give you a basic overview of what the Mount Bloom floor will look like! I do this a bit ahead of time so we’re all on the same page of the layout before I start making the actual rooms.

As you can see from the sketch below, you start of in an introductory room. In the middle, in the very dark spot, will be a very simple phase shift course which will take you either to the room on the left, the room on the right or the room above depending on how you move through it. You need to reach and complete the challenge in each room to be able to continue on to the next floor through the north exit :)

But before heading to Mt Bloom, there’s the Seasonne floor to take care of! Without further ado:

In this next part of the floor, we add some more detail and stuff around the walls so that the colliders are all pretty much even, so you won’t get stuck against the trees if you find yourself pushed against the wall at some point during the battle:

Meanwhile, Fred continues his work on Grindea! Let’s take a look at this epic dash:

Now, let’s continue working on that second floor of the final dungeon. In the main lobby room, we need a bunch of statues with candles that will light up once you defeat each boss. Let’s start off with making those:

We also want a portal that will start working only after you’ve defeated all of the bosses! So time to make that as well:

The idea here is that you’ll pass through the portal without anything happening (you just continue on through/beneath it) until it’s fully activated, after which a staircase leading upwards will appear within.

Now, for the next couple of floors, we need a bit of sketching going on here as well. To start off, for the flying fortress floor, we wanted the player first to battle two phasemen, and then GUN-D4M. However, as you may remember, the sizes for these battles are very different. Below you can see a comparison, showing the Phaseman battle area beneath the Gun-D4M battle area which appears in a darker colour:

To solve this, and make what we believe will be a pretty cool transition between two differently sized battle areas, once you’ve finished your battle against the two phasemen GUN-D4M will appear and literally smash the original phasemen-area with his fists, making it crumble and leaving you with only a GUN-D4M battle sized area remaining:

In Seasonne, you’ll battle Marino while a bunch of trains try to run you down, much like in your battle against the Toy Machine in toy factory.

When sketching this battle arena, I used the Toy Machine background as base and though about ways to include more of Seasonne in it – after all, Seasonne is a lot more than just the Toy Factory. So I thought about adding some snow and trees breaking the walls here and there to let the outside of Seasonne into the factory:

Meanwhile, it’s busy days with Grindea prototyping! Let’s have a look at these new moves (and as always, keep in mind there’s a lot of placeholder art involved here):

Trunk seems a little bit stressed out! Looking forward to see how you guys fare against this boss :)

And this week, it’s time to start taking care of the second floor of that final dungeon! Let’s start with the first room, which will throw you into the cursed floor:

Next up, a couple of the horizontal floors:

And some vertical ones:

And finally, the lobby room that will lead you to each of those rooms:

This room will also have a bunch of statues and a portal, but we’ll take care of that in next week’s post!

Meanwhile in Fred’s department, it’s still all about Grindea! Check this out: