Here’s the latest news from the depths of the dungeon!
After some slowdowns due to various autumn viruses, the game has finally taken a big step forward with the launch of the second private beta. Below, I detail all the latest progress toward a release that’s getting closer and closer :)
Beta 2 in progress
Beta 2 has finally started, with 20 new players. Huge thanks to all participants for their time and valuable feedback. Thanks as well to everyone who applied and showed interest in it.
I’ve already started receiving feedback (YAY \o/ ) and lot of bug reports (OOHH T_T ). I hope this time I’ll be able to validate everything and prepare the final beta and release :)
More NPCs
This beta version includes an important addition that I had put aside for a long time because I considered it “out of scope”: the addition of more NPCs in the game, more or less hidden in the dungeon, that you can talk to. Not only it’s a big addition for the story and for enriching the universe, but they also can sometimes even help the player a bit…
Shaders
During a discussion, Yvain, a friend and rendering specialist, convinced me to try reworking my shaders a bit, especially for skin and metals. And indeed, after some testing, the result were really nice. So I reworked metals, wood, fabrics, skin, and walls, while keeping the “simple” style. It’s very nice looking and dramatically enforces the sense of presence. Thanks again Yvain for the advices :)
Going back to previous levels
One important request from testers was the ability to go back and revisit previous levels, to avoid feeling trapped when moving to the next level without having collected everything. Indeed, testers were forcing themselves to continue playing a level to get all when they just wanted to see what’s next.
So, after some tests, I finally validated this idea, and it’s now possible to go back to previous levels. It will now remove the frustration of missing something and having to load an old save to get it. This was pretty quick for me to do since my freshly recoded save system had this possibility already implemented. By the way, Pocket Heaven now allows fast travel to all already visited levels.
Maps
To reinforce immersion and worldbuilding, but also to help players orient themselves and build a mental image of the places, I added different types of maps into the levels. Most of them can be carried and equipped in hand, for example you can walk around with your compass to find your way through the sewers. Look at them carefully, they sometimes contains some secrets ;)
Combat – Back to FUN
Over the past few months, I spent quite a lot of time working on combat to make it more tactical, with stamina management, blocking and dodging, and fairly strong enemies… But not only were there balance issues causing a lot of frustration, the fights also weren’t that fun.
So I decided to go back to the “fun” by adding a “kick to ragdoll” feature. When you do a heavy attack or a kick, (some) enemies get thrown into the environment. Sure, combats are now a bit less difficult, but they also are way more fun, and it works much better with the game’s overall physics-fun design. Knocking a lurker over the railing of a bridge is really satisfying.
Reworked area 4
As I already started to detail in the last devlog, area 4 (previously area 2, which caused so many problems in beta 1) has been reworked again. I mainly reworked the visuals of the areas to better differentiate them, made checkpoints more accessible, removed some monsters and reduced their difficulty, and added a bit more guidance. The level experience is now way more smooth while keeping it’s dark and tense vibe. The pacing with other levels is also much better.
Trap difficulty
On other things, I reworked the trap difficulty settings, so you can chose how difficult it is to spot the traps and secrets. Here are comparisons for lowest-highest trap difficulty:
Many other things
As usual, I worked on a lot of other things, fixes, issues, improvements. For instance, I reworked ladders to make them less dangerous to use :)
Christmas special demo
Like every winter, the demo has switched to (optional) Christmas mode. If you want to play (or replay) the demo with these latest additions, now’s the time to enjoy this really nice snowy atmosphere. Why is there snow in a cave? I don’t know, but it’s pretty.
I’m going to take a few days of rest during those holidays, then I’ll have a lot of beta 2 feedback to analyze and probably a lot of issues to fix.
I’ve already started finalizing the last levels (which shouldn’t need major changes).
Then I’ll validate all texts and prepare all the documents related to translation, validate the language I that will be available for release, and start looking at competent translators that don’t use AI, really read the localization guidelines, and answer to dev requests.
I should also take some times to improve the game performances, notably some area still have fps drops that need fixing.
After that, it’ll be time to prepare the final beta 3 :)
Before release, I will also try to find an artist (old-school RPG black-and-white ink specialist) to replace the last placeholders that are still in the game, and maybe even create some new cool art for the intro and some in-game elements.
Finally, with the excellent Alexandre Sciré, who composed the original soundtrack, we’re working on preparing an official OST that should be available for the release.
Merry Christmas & happy holidays
That’s it for today, I wish you all happy holidays and a Merry Christmas, and I hope you loot lots of presents 🎁
Here’s the latest news from the depths of the dungeon!
Summer’s over, and it’s time to double down to finally release Neverlooted Dungeon. In this devlog, I’m going to talk about the progress on polish and the latest level I’ve been working on, the last beta, which unfortunately went pretty badly, and other tasks that are less flashy but just as time-consuming and essential to make sure the release goes smoothly.
Temple Level Polish: Oops, I Did It Again
First off, let’s start with what went well this summer. I worked on the next levels, particularly level 5, codename “temple.” And… oops, I did it again…
You see, the level was already solid, and I was supposed to just do a quick polish pass. But, since part of my brain was stuck on the disappointing beta results (more on that below) and I needed time to let my thoughts on solutions simmer, I started working a bit more than planned on this level. Specifically, an idea that had been nagging at me for months: what if I added a little outdoor area to this level in a pretty cave… And, well, things kinda spiraled from there. I massively reworked the level with a ton of new content. If you visited a particular place in France recently, or played Dark Souls 3 or Elden Ring, you may recognize a few inspirations.
But rest assured, it wasn’t time wasted, quite the opposite. I genuinely think this level is now the best I’ve ever created. I find it gorgeous, varied, with a strong theme and an awesome atmosphere, fully explorable interiors and exteriors, tons of secrets, and fun puzzles. There are rarely seen features in such games, fully explorable roofs, breakable stained glass for alternative entrances, and tons of surprises. Honestly, I secretly hope some of you will consider this the best level you’ve ever played. No big deal. But maybe I’m getting a bit carried away, we’ll see what the feedback says at the next beta (more below).
To whet your appetite and help you wait a bit longer, here are a few screenshots and a modest little video montage to give you a taste of what awaits in this luminous temple… with a few dark corners.
Last Beta: The Cold Shower
For years, the game has been played, replayed, re-re-replayed, etc., by active community members whose help and feedback are incredibly valuable. But it had been a while since I’d had fresh players try the game in its current state. After weeks of prep work, including balancing, difficulty tweaks, bug fixes, etc., I was super confident about the beta and included a discreet little registration form at the end of the last devlog to accept about twenty applicants.
I was so confident about the beta that I might’ve even considered releasing the game in early access as it was. And then, the cold shower. Over 70% of players dropped out during or at the end of level 2! X_X Ouch ! At least, I’m glad it wasn’t the game release, that would have been a disaster.
Before all, I want to deeply thanks all playtesters for their participation, and a particular shootout to those who filled a lot of forms, and also to some who even took the time to record their playtest, that I slowly but surely watch. This is all very valuable feedback, so thanks again.
As I said, I had set up feedback forms for players to share their thoughts on the different levels to figure out what worked and what didn’t. The problem? Most of the players who dropped out didn’t fill out the form, especially for level 2, despite my many follow-ups. Maybe I didn’t clearly enough set expectations for feedback at the start of the tests. Luckily, I had set up (anonymized) analytics tools to track level events and understand what was going on. Thanks to the forms from those who did respond, some recording, and an in-depth analysis of game events, I tried to pinpoint the issues behind this massive dropout.
Looking at analytics, this player died way too much (red spheres is death) than it is expected for that level, showing a probable issue with difficulty.
Here you can see a player missing one secret, so if players miss too much checkpoints or valuables items that will increase difficulty even more.
So, it seems I made several mistakes. First off, since the players who were used to playing were Neverlooted Dungeon veterans, we completely missed the difficulty issue. It looks like the jump in difficulty between level 1 and level 2 was massive, leading to huge frustration and dropouts.
Next, I had recently reworked the attacks of one of the early-game monsters, the “zombie,” to make it run and jump at the player. But it was poorly balanced, and players were terrified, with the zombies being way too hard to kill.
Also, in level 2, some checkpoints were a bit hidden, and a lot of players missed several of them, meaning that on top of dying a lot, they had to replay a long stretch before restarting, which increased the frustration even more.
Finally, some feedback also complained about the atmosphere being too oppressive, the level feeling a bit too repetitive, and the objectives that could be a bit more clear.
In short, a pile-up of issues that created major frustration and a mass exodus. It’s a shame because the two next levels were all well-received by those who made it that far, mostly rated “extremely fun” on the forms.
Levels 1-4: Fixing the Beta’s Flaws
So, I spent the whole summer thinking and experimenting on this problematic level to better decide what actions to take. As it happens, for months, I and other testers had been thinking that this level would work better later in the game, so players would be more prepared and it would fit better narratively. My solution for the next beta is to move this level later and rework the levels, narrative, and balancing to account for it. I’m also working on fixing the raised issues, especially the repetitiveness.
Other issues were brought up for the levels, particularly level 3, which is very open and could leave players a bit lost. Since it’s now level 2, it was even more important to guide the player a bit more while still giving them a lot of freedom. For example, I started reworking the objective’s clarity and added a (super cool!) village map to make it easier to navigate. Look at this, so many shops to loot! Guaranteed* treasure!
Performance – Distant Chunk Optimization
One of the levels still had some framerate instability because certain areas were denser than others. And the temple work with its massive outdoor area led me to improve my custom scene-streaming system by adding partial data loading. This doubled performance on the temple level! Now I need to apply it to optimize the other levels even further.
Why It’s Taking So Long? Debug Example: Randomly Losing Interactivity
This polish is taking an eternity, and believe me, I’m the first to be sorry about it. I really want the game to come out so you can discover everything I’ve poured my heart into (and also so I can rest a bit -_-‘). But making a game of this scope, with so many features and content (15 to 20 hours of gameplay), takes a ton of time. Especially when you run into critical but random bugs.
For example, during testing, I regularly had testers report suddenly losing the ability to interact. But it was always weird, some interactions were sometimes partially possible. I spent days trying to figure out what was going on. In vain. Until one lucky day, a player sent me a save file where the bug happened consistently! After a deep dive, I tracked down the culprit! Turns out, some objects were occasionally clipping through the floor, especially objects created when others were destroyed (like bits of debris when you smash a crate). Well, those objects would fall through the ground and accelerate so much that their speed became near-infinite, causing Unity’s physics system to freak out due to floating-point imprecisions.
Since all my interactions are physics based, they started to be broken. For instance, here you can witness the physics raycast missing the book and the table in front of the camera and hitting the ground instead (the green ray with the white cross), making it impossible for the player to interact with them.
And yet, I had a system to prevent this, but some objects weren’t properly initialized. So, I spent two solid days building a robust system to make sure it doesn’t happen again. In these conditions, it’s always tough for me to announce a release date when I know I could stumble on issues like this, whose fixes can take anywhere from a few seconds to several days, like this one.
Register for the Next Beta
I’m working on the next beta, which will again be open to new players, hoping this time my changes will be enough for the vast majority to finish it while having a good time and discover that famous temple I’m pretty proud of.
Time’s flying, the end of the year is approaching, and I have serious doubts the final release will happen before the end of 2025. But there’s “not that much” work left, so the release could still be close. It all depends on the feedback from the next beta, if everything goes well and we don’t need to make massive changes again, we’ll be almost there.
Hello looters, here is the news from the dungeon’s depths.
Still alive and well
First, let me reassure you, the project is well and alive. I know I don’t communicate enough about the project, and some people have started to worry it may be abandoned. But don’t worry, the game is not done, but it’s no longer far from it. I’m sorry I’m still not able to organize my time correctly to give news more consistently.
Why is this taking so long? Well, the whole issue is that I (naively) decided to make, alone, one of the most complex genres of game. An immersive sim dungeon crawler demands a huge amount of features, variety, and content, and all of it needs to work in symbiosis to deliver the intended experience. Cutting things isn’t easy, because the cooking requires precise care, and removing something could break the desired experience. But after all that time, most systems and content are done, what’s left is polishing, balancing, and wrapping it right.
I hope this big update, along with some new screenshots and videos, keeps your interest alive. It’s coming together, slowly but surely. :)
Level 1–4 polish complete
In fact, I recently “completed” the polish of the first half of the game. The levels all reached my goals in terms of content and design. Sure, there are still a few issues here and there, that I correct regularly based on the playtester feedback and bug reports. And even if there are still a lot of things I would love to do for those levels, I’m proud of the result. Half the game is now locked, no major rework planned, and will now focus on the other half of the game.
But wait, does that mean we need one more year of polish for the other half? Well, it should be faster. First, most of the polish I did was global and affected all aspects of the game, so the second part already was improved. Then, the first levels needed more work, whereas the other levels are already very close to final. So there is “not that much” to do to reach the release candidate. After that, there will still be “incompressible time” for localization and a few other things that can only be done when the game is ready.
Here are some gameplay clips of the game, showcasing various environments and features. Note how the first sequence, looting the trapped tomb room, is solved in two different ways.
More sand, more puzzles
In addition to correcting the design issues raised by testers, notably the castle main flow (thanks a lot Alban for raising them!), and adding “more sand” (i.e. gaming situations, see previous post), the first levels were improved in several ways. One nice little addition is the ability to break some of the wall tombs, or stained glass, that reveal a few secrets here and there.
One of the other important things I added to the first levels is a few “classic puzzles”. Even if the game is an “immersive sim”, meaning that there should always be several ways to progress and overcome obstacles, and so that “closed puzzles” are a bit contrary to this design philosophy, I still wanted to add a few of them, mainly for “flavor” and storytelling. Plus, some of those puzzles can, in fact, be overcome by creative ways without solving them.
Pocket heaven
Hidden in the dungeon, there are several “optional challenges”, that reward the player with some trophies. For a long time I was struggling to find a good reward for them, that would not break the gameplay balance or make them almost mandatory to progress. But still, I wanted to reward you enough to get you motivated to find them.
After some prototyping, I recently added the Pocket Heaven. It’s a totally customizable personal place, with an entrance next to the shop, where you can do some housing, stash your stuff, and rest a bit. It comes with a creation wand, to place objects wherever you want, a customization wand, to change for instance the carpet or tapestry colors, and a destruction wand to clean. Finding enough trophies will unlock that place, and finding more trophies will unlock new rooms and customization capabilities.
One of the room when you first enter it:
Making some space:
Placing objects:
My new room:
This feature is still under evaluation, meaning that I still need more playtesting and thinking to fully validate its integration to the game, notably on its effect on the game pacing. But currently, not only this is extra fun to create your own personal space and organize your loot in it, but in fact it creates a particularly welcome rest, after some stressing exploration of the dark trapped dungeon, so the break of the game flow could actually be a good thing for pacing. Plus, some testers already love this feature so much they would hate me if I removed it… ^^
The good thing is that this feature was particularly easy and quick to do, so its current impact on the planning was really minimal, but it brings a lot of value for players, and a lot of possibilities.
See the feature in action (there is still a little work to do for visuals and sounds):
Light & Shadows
One of the game levels I’m currently polishing has a strong link with lighting (well, it’s called “The Temple of Light”), and to polish it visually I started to work a bit more on some lighting techniques. While most of the dungeon is dark, this one has really intense lights and needed more than the standard lighting.
So, I finally started to experiment with some “global illumination”, a way to have light “bounce” and create nice dim lights in concave places. This technique has a really minimal visual impact on most levels since they are mostly in darkness, this is why I didn’t really look after it for a long time. Here are some results, what do you think ?
Also, I adapted a “soft shadow” shader asset to make it work with my own shadow optimizer to have nice soft shadows, and I love it. My two concerns are first, obviously, to get a minimal impact on performances, at least to have settings to tweak it, with no cost for low settings and high end PCs can make their PC heat the room for winter. The second is that it slightly changes the visual style. I’m really fan of those shadows, but sometimes I wonder if you, the players, who liked a lot the “old school vibe” of the current style, would also like those soft shadows. Here are some comparison screenshots. So, what do you think? Is it a good direction?
Comparison before (hard shadows) and after (new soft shadows):
Here are more screenshots of the new shadows:
Quality of life features
A lot of attention was also given to quality of life improvements. The shopkeeper now offers a (paid!) recovery service, in case you die and have a hard time recovering your previous corpse to loot it.
The wand usage has been improved, notably player inputs. Some wands capacities have been extended, and you will have a lot to enjoy with them.
The difficulty settings now can customize the penalty of dying, which is how much your inventory is damaged after dying (or dying again before recovering your corpse). This add a nice level of tension for people looking after some challenge.
After some time, I finally decided to add an (optional) quick save system. Even if this goes a bit against the core design, notably because dying is fully integrated and part of the game, you can enable quick save at any time, after I display you a big warning message telling you you should not do it. That way, if you want to have fun, or for accessibility reasons, you can use it, and enjoy the game the way you want.
Finally, the “no spider” option finally replaces them with another monster, so you can enjoy a spider-free game while having a challenge.
Debug, refactor, optimization
Like always, a lot of work can not really be shown, as it’s debug, refactor, solving issues here and there, improving this or that. Notably, I did a complete refactor of the save system, for better performances and flexibility. This was done months before the Pocket Heaven feature, but this save improvement actually made it possible to code in a few minutes the ability to save the whole housing system.
Playtest
You still there? So, you might be interested in this. I’m looking for new beta testers. Not just people who want to play early, but people ready to deal with bugs, give pertinent and honest feedback, and help move the game forward. Recording your playthrough is a big plus, especially with webcam on, so I can watch and analyse it. Slots are extremely limited, because I don’t want to be drowned in feedback I can’t process. To be clear, I’ll give priority to the most active people on Discord that already have shown an interest in helping, notably by providing feedback. It also comes with a simple NDA; you’ll agree not to share content publicly. If you’re just curious to play, better wait for the final release, to play the polished and complete game. If you’re interested, register here, and you might be in the next tester wave.
Roadmap
So, the game is not done, but it’s no longer far from it. I will continue the game polish on the second half, improving the game based on feedback. Then will come the localization, and other release stuff.
Hello looters, here is the news from the dungeon’s depths.
Merry Christmas
First of all, let me wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and most of all an Happy Dungeon Looting.
Release date
The sound of hammers echoes in the depths of the dungeon, where I continue to work hard to prepare for the release of Neverlooted Dungeon. You probably already guessed it from the current date, the game will not be released in 2024 as I had planned. But I have not been idle, the game has progressed well. I even played last year’s version before writing this post, and the gain in quality is palpable. I tell you again, it would have been a shame to release the game last year, without these improvements.
In this end-of-the-year devlog, let’s review all the major work accomplished in 2024 and discover my latest work.
Texture work
This spring, I created a lot of new textures, using the amazing Material Maker software. I created a large number of textures for floors, walls, tapestries, stained glass windows, paintings, sculptures, and other decorative elements. This decorative and narrative elements really make the game more interesting to explore.
Even more monsters
This spring too, I added several new monsters. Not only does this add some welcome variety, but their inclusion also greatly improved the atmosphere of the levels, making them feel more alive and immersive.
Some of the tested monsters didn’t made it to the game, for instance I decided not to include this cute gelatinous cube.
This is my last creation. If you love to devour books, know that in Neverlooted Dungeon the books also love to devour you :)
Interactive ending
This summer, I focused on the creation of the game ending, in particular to make it an interactive playable scene. I obviously can’t tell you anything about it, but I put a lot of effort into it to reward looters who will reach the end. I had to create a lot of elements to do it, it took some time, but I’m very happy with the result.
I even added hidden alternate endings and small variations to reward the smartest among you :)
The ending is almost in its final state, but I still have to find a voice actor to dub the voices, because I want it to be fully voiced. I have already received quite a few applications but, as always, recruiting someone always takes me a long time.
Monsters vs. Monsters
This fall, I have thoroughly reworked the behaviors of the monsters so that they finally can fight each other. Why? Well, attracting one enemy to another can be a good way to get rid of them. Also, the rat summoning flute or the charm wand now allow you to give attack orders, which makes them even more useful. Do you want an army of rats to devour your enemies? Well, you can! Besides, the charm wand allows you to do really cool things in the last level, will you be able to discover them? ;)
Level design improvement: “More Sand”
For the past year, I’ve been in the “polish” phase. The game is complete and playable, and with each version I improve different aspects according to certain priorities, whether it’s visuals, systems, level design, difficulty, narration, bugs, etc., until I am satisfied with the result.
To do this, I created several custom evaluation grids, and with each iteration I play and evaluate the whole game, and I define the improvement priorities for the next build.
For example, one of my current priority is a level design task that I call “add more sand”. Indeed, with all the systems and gameplay, the game is providing a large amount of “toys” to be played in the “sandbox” levels. But I find that some levels still lacks situations of use. My mission is not only to continue to improve the levels on various domains, but above all to ensure that they are all largely provided with interesting situations with which you can exploit the great possibilities of the systems.
For example, but not limited to, more situations for climbing, searching, burning, breaking, physically interacting, sneaking, disarming traps, etc.
Full rework of level 3
In the last devlog, I already presented you my work this spring of the whole rework of the level 2. And as I was working on the level 3 for my “more sand” update, I was still very bothered by the fact that this level structure was not exactly what I wanted.
Indeed, for a long time this level was supposed to be two separate levels. Two years ago I had started to slit it in two separate levels but I had to put this project on hold. Then, this summer, I went back in this direction with some “extensions” of the level, to include the “must have” elements I had in mind, but also to test if the level split was still doable. Finally, this Fall, after a few day of prototyping the level split, I re-dedicated a few weeks on it to re-do it in depth and finally create the two levels that I had in mind from the start, using the different versions of the level, its extensions, and the stuff on hold. And now that I have finished this task I am really happy with the result, as I was also able to “add more sand” as I wanted.
These new levels are now really solid, and this task ends my “major rework” tasks. I still have minor improvements of the other levels to do, but nothing as radical as a complete rework.
With all these changes, I sometimes think that it would be interesting to publish one day the different versions of the game in a kind of playable making of, where you could play the various versions of the game with some dates and explanations, to discover its evolution. What do you think?
Combat improvement
Among the flaws criticized in the game, it was often the combat that came up. I spent some time to correct some aspects, in particular on the reactivity of the inputs to chain attacks and parry. There is still work to be done on the balancing of stamina. Do not hesitate to tell me what you think.
Finalizing the music
I worked with Alexandre Sciré on the music, in order to give him relevant feedback to finalize the soundtrack. I also created new mixing and fading tools to make the loops as invisible as possible and further enhance the immersion.
Technical debt
As always, a lot of bug fixes and various improvements. In this regard, I would like to thank everyone who take the time to report bugs. I was a bit behind in support and a major bug was reported over 40 times in September! I finally released an update to fix it. Please continue to report bugs, I always end up fixing them :)
Demo reviews
The demo has exceeded 178 reviews, and they are 99% positive! Thanks to everyone who left a review! If you didn’t yet, don’t hesitate to do it to help. I read them carefully to know what you like and what needs to be improved.
All these positive reviews confirm that my particular game, mixing several genres and influences of classic games, seems to convince you, and I am working hard to make the rest of the game live up to your expectations :)
This fall and winter, it was the occasion to re-enable the (optional) Halloween-special and Christmas-special versions of the demo. The Christmas special is still available throughout the month of January. If you missed Halloween … change your computer date ;)
Bunch of screenshots
Finally, here are a bunch of screenshots to show you a little bit of what awaits you in the depths of the dungeon.
Roadmap
There’s still work to be done before release, including level improvements, final texts and localization, voice acting, some illustrations, optimization, debug, and finishing up small additions here and there. I won’t risk giving an approximate date anymore, so it’ll remain “I’ll release it as soon as possible”.
Thanks for reading this long devlog. See you soon, Arnaud
Development of Neverlooted Dungeon continues and the game gets closer and closer to its final form. I feel like a sculptor finishing his work, the sculpture is almost finished, its general form is already great, some places are already perfect but some others are still a little rough. I have to continue refining here and there, until the final experience of the game is as close as possible to my vision.
Some people tell me that I’m stuck in an endless finishing loop, but when I show them the evolution and improvements of the latest versions, they admit that indeed the result is much better and that it was worth it. This is the main problem with working alone, everything is very slow. A little more patience, it will soon be done.
Leave a review on the demo
Before we begin, I would like to announce that following changes on Steam, the demo now has its own page, on which it is possible to leave a review. So if you liked the demo and want to support me, I invite you to go to the demo page and leave a review. This is very important to help me gain visibility.
Lately, I’ve been particularly focused on storytelling, in all its forms. Whether it is the writing of dialogues, books and notes, the creation of visual elements, tapestries, paintings, sculptures, and other visual elements, narration has made a big leap forward and I am delighted about it. I also continued my effort to make the place more alive and plausible by adding many small elements and details. I still need to work on some parts, especially the ending sequence, but the bulk is in its near-final form.
Levels improvements
I started my improvement work on levels 3 and 4. A first pass is done and its very encouraging result proves to me that it was a good idea, and that I need to go a bit further for these levels. They’re not quite in the “dungeon raider” experience I envision, but I’m getting closer and closer, and I’m confident that I’ll get there very soon.
More polish and reducing technical debt
The polish is also done on the entire game, the other levels, the features, the visuals, the audio, etc. In particular, I continued to fix bugs and improve features. I also do a lot of things that are invisible to you, including reducing “technical debt”, for example by completely recoding certain elements that were problematic for me, like the player controller which, extremely rarely, slipped on the stairs.
Roadmap
This summer is a bit complicated for me, for various reasons I don’t have many long periods to work, which slows down my pace quite a bit. Regarding the 2024 release date, I still think the game will be finished at the end of 2024, but I may postpone the release by a few weeks to avoid this already very busy period. I’ll let you know.
I hope you are well since last time. It’s time to take a look at the development of Neverlooted Dungeon.
Still polishing the game
As I announced last time, the game is now in the polish phase. The game is almost finished, but I continue to improve it until it finally reaches my level of requirements.
My process is quite simple at the moment: I play and analyze the latest version of the game, I do some playtests and analyze the feedbacks, then I sort things to debug, improve, change, add, delete. Then, I work on a new version with the aim of improving the things with the most impact in a limited time. Once the deadline is reached, I finalize the game version, and I start the analysis and improvement loop again.
Full level 2 rework
One of the big challenges I tackled was the complete rework of level 2. For a very long time I found that this level was well below the others in terms of interest, because it was one of the oldest levels that I had created. And as it is important to “confirm” the interest of the game after an already very appreciated first level, it became urgent to take care of it.
I started out simply reworking it, but it ended up creating a completely new level. The best parts of the previous level have been reused in this or other levels. It was a big challenge but according to my own tests and playtests, I think it was largely successful. I’m also very happy to have completed this work in just a few weeks.
More life in the dungeon
Among the important improvements of the latest versions, I worked on the creation of new unique creatures, especially for the last levels. Indeed, certain levels were really lacking “their creatures”, whether for novelty and variety, but above all for the atmosphere and narration that they provide.
I started by creating a lot of creature placeholders with very coarse geometry and place them in the levels, and made a lot of tests. I finally really created several of them, including also some variations. There are now crabs, zombies, living statues, and many others which I will not talk about so as not to spoil their discovery. I am very satisfied with the result. In a future version, I will improve their animations, behaviors, and adjust their difficulty, in particular some of them are much easier to defeat than they should be.
Here is a glimpse of some of them. You can find the cute crab in the latest version of the demo.
Stronger focus on epic traps
Part of my goals in polish is to improve the “Epic Tomb Looting” aspect, particularly by improving and adding “Indiana Jones”-style “epic trap rooms”. I am improving and adding small puzzles too, more for the narrative and atmospheric contribution than for the real challenges, but don’t worry, some optional puzzles will be real challenges. I have actually done things that I find really nice in the new level 2, here is a short preview:
New trailer in progress
In order to better highlight the latest developments and the work on the atmosphere, I started to create a new trailer. It’s always the same structure based on the same musical track, on which I replace the clips with new ones. I think almost all the clips have been changed in this latest version. When the trailer is done, I will officially publish it and promote it. However, I have already put it on the Steam page, so if you visited the page lately you may already have seen it. Here is the current trailer, what do you think ?
Overall improvements
I also work on many things that are not necessarily visible, notably on fixing bugs or improving certain design elements.
I also continue little by little to improve the art style, notably with work on textures and lighting. I would love to have time to improve some atmospheric elements, like adding a waterfall in the first level, more particle and light effects, more visual scene elements.
Visibility and festivals
In terms of the game’s visibility, I’m happy because I feel like I’ve finally managed to break through a bit. I’ve been part of some festivals lately, and I started being really noticed, for instance with an article from Rock Paper Shotgun during the FPS Fest. I must now focus on making the best game possible, so that this visibility has a use when the game is released.
Roadmap
I am currently focusing primarily on improving the narration, with the addition of dialogues, notes, books, indirect and environmental narration, which I had always left at a minimum to concentrate on the gameplay.
My other priorities are improving the UI to have something cleaner and more professional, and finding an illustrator to create the introduction art and various visual elements of the game. Besides, if you are a freelance professional 2D artist specialist in fantasy, do not hesitate to send me your references.
My last really big challenge will be working on level 3. Several months ago I created a new version of this level, but I was never really satisfied with it. I would like to be able to combine the best of the existing level and this new version, to make it one of the best levels in the game.
Then, there are still a lot to do, like improving the combat, balancing the economy, improving the art, and many other things to round out the corners and have the best possible experience.
In terms of release, my current schedule is to aim for the end of the year around November/December. I think I’m still on time, but with the incompressible delays for the localisation and its testing, I can’t guarantee anything. There may also be the issue of overload of game releases at the end of the year that I should take into account.
I’m sorry I do not write devlogs more regularly. I’m too focused on the development of the game and I completely neglect giving news and promoting the game. That’s really not a good thing. This devlog will therefore be a long overview of the many things that I have done in recent months and the state of progress of the game.
Development status – entry into polishing phase
Last time, I told you a little about my work on the last level, and it’s now finished. I think it’s really great, and I can’t wait to see more people playing it. Of course, it still has some flaws. The various playtests revealed some problems which will be corrected gradually.
In terms of general progression, I am now “feature and content complete”, that is to say that all the levels and the content planned for release are done in a playable in a rather clean and polished version. I am now moving into the “polish” phase, that is to say multiple successive iteration and improvement until I reach sufficient satisfaction with all the elements of the game. Of course, I may add a few things here or there.
I’d like to do one or two more iterations on the whole game before doing more open playtests, but they’ll be coming soon.
After a big period of fatigue at the start of the year, this summer finally went well, but I am currently experiencing a seasonal autumn fatigue. This is usually the period of the year where I do a deep look at the project. It is an opportunity to lay the foundations, the vision, to review the schedules, to return to the cor experience, telling myself that this year will be the one!
You will probably have guessed it for yourself regarding the date, the release will therefore not take place in 2023 as we all hoped, once again the release date has been postponed. I had really neglected the accumulated fatigue which seriously affected my production rate. Additionally, the stress generated by approaching the end of development makes me question everything and waste time going in all directions.
Gloomy2
Last year I drastically improved the art style with the “gloomy” update, that consisted in a full rework of all textures and materials. This month, I just completed the “gloomy2” update that goes further with creating better and more varied textures, new environment meshes, and improving the atmosphere using fog, particles and special effects.
This update jas significantly improved the aesthetics of the game, and I plan to continue working on the artistic style.
Improved stealth
For a long time, I had wanted to improve the infiltration system, to return to a richer system based on light and sound, inspired by Thief: The Dark Project.
I finally took the time to create a prototype in which I reworked the detection systems. The goal was to test the technical feasibility of such system in the actual game, but also its impact on the core experience.
Previously I only used a simple detection cone with a basic detection test, which resulted in a binary “seen – not seen” state. Detection is now affected by how hidden you are in shadows and how much noise you make. The system incorporates multiple levels of detection, NPCs will first “look at something suspicious”, then “investigate” if you are almost detected, and be “alert” when they spot you.
I put my levels to the test by creating more interesting stealth situations in each level, to see if it worked well with the experience I was trying to create.
Well yes, the new infiltration system enriches the game’s experience as I was expecting. You explore “slowly and carefully”, which allows you to detect and avoid both traps and monsters.
So I validated this change, and integrated it into the game. With these improvements, you can now move slowly and silently in the shadows to completely avoid combat or perform sneak attacks. You can also create diversions by making noise, such as throwing objects, or sneaking up behind an enemy to push them into a trap.
Besides, did you know that there already was a lure system based on food? Monsters can be attracted if you place the appropriate food nearby. For the rats, it will be cheese. Use it to keep them away from you or lure them into a trap.
You can test the new stealth system in the last demo update.
Combat Improvement – Dodging, Blocking
A significant criticism of the game was that the combat was not very interesting, consisting only of circling around enemies. Even if combat is far from being one of the priorities of the game, because it’s not an action and combat game, I decided to nevertheless improve it.
This time again, I created a prototype to try out new features and see how to improve combat. After some experimentation, I finally added two new moves: dodging and blocking.
Blocking can be done with the weapon in the right hand or with a shield equipped in any hand. Shields can even block arrows and certain traps. However, be careful when blocking, as it consumes stamina and you will be stunned if you block without enough.
Dodging revitalizes movement, it is much easier to avoid an attack or to slip behind the attacker’s back.
These new movements are well in line with the type of combat that I am trying to create, slow and strategic, where the management of positioning, rhythm, and endurance are priorities to defeat your enemies. I don’t want a game that’s too action-heavy with quick fights where you chain monsters together. I want to encourage players to detect and then approach monsters thoughtfully, by creating an advantage, or using the environment to their advantage.
These changes have also been integrated into the game, and you can also test them in the latest version of the demo.
Player progression and skill tree
In Neverlooted Dungeon, there are no experience points and levels, it’s a “light” RPG. But actually, yes, there are. Gold coins are the equivalent of experience points, and magic items and equipment are the skills you unlock by spending your gold.
Consequently, there is a kind of “skill tree”, even if it is a little hidden. As you progress, you can buy more and more magical items, more varied, but also more powerful. For example, after purchasing “speed boots”, you can choose later to buy “advanced speed boots”, or rather “double jump boots” if you are more of the acrobat type, or even “powerful kicking boots” if you’re the warrior type.
What kind of abilities are unlockable? A lot ! Some examples: telekinesis, rope arrow, speed, high jump, double jump, levitation, slow fall, rock creation, flame thrower, fire extinguisher, enlarge or shrink objects, control and summon rats, fireball…
From a narrative point of view, this system is justified by the fact that when you die, you are a new dungeon raider. Gaining levels therefore makes no sense. However, you can “recover your experience” by looting the corpse of the previous looter to recover your gold and equipment.
Another fundamental difference with a classic “skill tree” is that a skill tree commits you to a branch, for example you have to buy “speed 1” to unlock “speed 2”, and this often prevents you from experimenting because the points are limited. Here, you can simply sell your boots to buy another type, which allows you to change branches whenever you want to try several styles of play.
However, even if there is indeed a character progression, I also don’t want the game to have a “zero to hero” type progression. I see the player’s progression more as an enrichment of the game possibilities, with more and more capabilities, than as a simple “power up” to become a “hero”. It is above all the player himself who will progress and become a better dungeon raider rather than his character.
I hope that these choices will be well understood and appreciated.
Feature Failure: Mega dungeon
When you’re developing a game, it’s sometimes hard to stay on track and always make the right decisions. The creation process is very different from that of software creation, with (more or less) clear specifications and a (more or less well-made) budget. When we make a game, the objective is not clearly defined, we seek to achieve a “vision”, but without always knowing what are the right decisions to achieve it.
When I paused Goblin’s Week to work on Neverlooted Dungeon, one of the constraints I imposed on myself was to have a set of independent levels, and not a mega dungeon with interconnected levels, to better manage the scope and avoid a new pitfall. But for a long time, this idea of an “interconnected mega dungeon” had been circling around in my head, and I couldn’t decide if it was the right decision. So, once all the levels were completed, I wanted to spend a few days working again on this concept of “interconnected mega dungeon” to validate or invalidate it once and for all.
For this, I made several prototypes:
1 – The first was a technical feasibility prototype. Given that I already had everything set up during my work on Goblin’s Week, it didn’t take very long to connect all my levels with object persistence (for example, place an object on the ground in a level and it will still be there later)
2 – Next, I wanted to evaluate whether connecting the levels and allowing back and forth had as much added value as I thought. So I put together the “coolest” ideas that had been running through my head for months. While playing it, there was certainly added value, but I also encountered some degradation of the core experience, and I also found that certain aspects would require more work to adapt than expected.
3 – I was also wondering whether I should connect the levels around a central hub or in a more organic way. I had the central hub set up and started making a more organic version. The central hub was rather unsatisfactory, but the organic connection added even more problems.
The important thing when making a prototype is that it must answer a specific question, here was whether an “interconnected mega dungeon” was the right direction to take to complete Neverlooted Dungeon. No, it’s not a good idea. This is a very important element and one that works well for games that are built around this idea from the start, like Arx Fatalis or Lunacid, but for Neverlooted Dungeon not only does it degrade certain aspects of the experience that I consider important , but it also requires a lot of additional work that I would prefer to invest elsewhere.
I decided invalidate that hypothesis and return to the fundamentals of Neverlooted Dungeon: atmospheric dungeon exploration, traps, treasures, and a lot of freedom of action. From my point of view, there is still a lot of work on this side, and their improvement has much better added value than the connection of levels.
This little paragraph was written to show you that in a game development, it’s misleading to look at the final product and imagine that everything has flowed naturally. The creation process contains a lot of research, trial and error, and sometimes failures and cut content. I recently found the graphic below at a GDC talk and think it expresses this point perfectly.
Many other things
Apart from the work on the levels and major features, all the elements of the game continue to progress. Most of these changes are invisible, but you may notice improvements in all areas of the game.
The music is almost finalized. Alexandre Sciré continues to compose excellent pieces, separated into stackable tracks, which I spend a lot of time listening to in detail, mixing dynamically, testing in the game, writing precise and detailed feedback, so that the soundtrack allows really create the atmospheric exploration experience I desire.
I made lots of tweaks and minor changes here and there. For example, the improved stamina/health UI which better shows consumption or damage taken. Or that nice gamepad control scheme.
I told you last time about rope arrows, they are now available in the demo. Try to find them and use them to reach inaccessible places and collect all the loot.
Don’t like spiders? Look at the game settings and turn them off for a spider-free experience. Also, I was told that I should also add a thalassophobia mode, it will be done.
Christmas demo
Finally, this year, a little break in development to put the demo in Christmas colors. If you missed the Halloween update, now is the time to go and test the latest new features with a winter theme (shields, parries, infiltration, rope arrows, etc.) and give me your opinion.
Roadmap
I am therefore in the polishing phase. The biggest difficulty is sorting the things to do by importance and properly estimating their costs. I’m currently focusing on improving atmosphere, exploration, traps and treasures. Some levels need more work than others. Some levels require more variety of traps and monsters. I also know that the narrative needs to be improved to strengthen the player’s motivations. There is also polish work to be done everywhere, whether on the visuals, the interfaces, the dialogues.
In short, there is plenty to do… 2024, I believe in it!
