This week, we’ll take a first glance at a less dangerous part of the Winterland, a yet to be namned village area!

This place is inhabited by the race of Faes. Despite being about as tall as an apple, they play a pretty major role in the world of Grindea.

Below is a screenshot of the village, as well as a portrait and some sprites of its tiny population.

Staying with the winter stuff, Teddy has been adding a bit more flair to the area by putting together some weather effects. No winter area is complete with a proper snow effect after all!

Click the image to view the animation

This week we’ve continued on our different paths. Vilya has continued with the snow area, creating a bunch of fishes for you to catch:

There’s also two more portraits to see:

Can you guess who they are..? ;)

Next up for Vilya is making a new village, hidden among the snowy trees with some quite interesting inhabitants… More on that later!

Fred, on the other hand, has started on something new: more skills! We want all skills in the game to be unlocked on level one – and we still have a long way to go before that’s achieved – but as of this week we’re a little closer!

Here’s the new skills:

This skill is part of the fire tree and calls forth a flaming meteor from the skies and deal aoe damage.

Here’s a second earth skill with whom you’ll summon plants that will help you fight!

We’ve also sent out requests to our sound designers for more sound effects so that we can get that promised video rolling as soon as possible. How long it takes largely depends on how long it takes before we receive the sounds though, so hang in there!

Another week has come to pass, and with it the usual teasers of the work we’ve done!

Animation wise, Fred is churning on with cleaning up and adding flair to the dungeon. Below is a small buffet of some of the effects created this week!

At the same time, things are continuing to shape up in the Winterland. For the ice, we’ve added a reflection shader to give it a more interesting look! For those who enjoy the fishing minigame, this lake offers a chilly continuation of that little pastime :)

The inhabitants of said Winterland are also beginning to take shapes, and several have already gotten faces! Here’s the owner of the cupcake house, and also the competitive younger brother of a certain other connoisseur of sweets and pastries already in the game…

And here’s a couple who lives with their kids in a small cottage, unable to afford anything closer to the city after running into some bad fortune :(

Now, onto bigger topics:

Let’s talk about release dates

We’ve been getting a lot of questions regarding the release date lately. Most of you are simply wondering if we have an exact date, while others are very upset about us not having released the game yet. Both Facebook and our Greenlight page have been getting a fair share of these posts, and we’re beginning to feel it might’ve been a mistake to ever making an estimate in the first place!

Our stance on when we’ll release the game has ultimately been the old Blizzard saying “when it’s done“, but we’ve tried making some estimates as to when that might be. Turns out we’re better at making games than guessing release dates! Looking at most other games, this seems to come with the job…

Please rest assured that no-one wants to see this game released more than we do. Eating food other than this week’s bargains? Having money to attend trade shows like PAX and GDC? Long term financial stability? Heck, sign us up!

However, what’s more important to us than these things is releasing a product you’ll enjoy, and we’re proud of. What point is all this effort we’re putting in if the game isn’t what it should have been?

So, without further ado, we’re removing all estimates of when the game will be released! It’ll return to and stay “To Be Announced” until we’ve come to a point where we positively can give you a reliable time.

This doesn’t mean we’re planning to slack off or anything, but just that we understand the frustration some fans have felt regarding delays, and this is the only course of action guaranteed to prevent that from happening.

While the Winterland is a cold and harsh landscape, there’s quite nothing like snuggling up under a blanket in front of the fireplace inside one of the cozy buildings the area has to offer. Below are the insides of two of those, the Cupcake Store as well as something a bit more christmasy!

Jumping over to the temple, enemies won’t be the only dangers to worry about for the players. Puzzles and traps will be in full display, so watch your steps!