#developer diary

[felstar-emporium]

Little sneak peak at the progress on Dungeon Delicacies level 1!!

I just finished up the WIP background tiles today but I'll rework all of them based on how they fit together here as they definitely need some work lololol But its good to see it all in motion! I'm really happy with how its coming together so far :D

Dungeon Delicacies is a video game somewhat inspired by Dungeon Meshi. Follow for more updates and sneak peaks :3

[mossflavouredbaby]

Welcome to the House of Zane baby!

LOOOK AT THESE CONCEPT ART GUYS WOWEE WOW YIPPPEEEE

Follow me @mossflavouredbaby on Instagram or @mossflavourbaby on Twitter if you want :))

[tales-from-the-aether-ttrpg]

I have an idea for a pre-written Adventure that revolves around a casino where instead of money, you bet years of your life. When you enter, you are given coins that represent the years left of your natural life span and you can spend them in games of chance to either earn more years or lose those years permanently.

It would be a noncombat adventure with far more of a focus on social elements and mini games of chance. Potentially something you can drop into any campaign for a brief relief from the main plot. The players could come out dead, nearly immortal, or the same if they are lucky.

[monster-huntologist]

What are you expecting from the final Developer Diary tomorrow?

(I actually have a few speculations about what’s going to happen. I’m also going to be without Internet for a while, so I won’t be able to see it at the same time as the rest of you guys. I’ll see you all tomorrow evening once we find out what gets revealed!)

1. Heaven And Earth Are Yours

There is practically no chance that the OG Black Dragon isn’t going to show up, as Capcom have been giving Fatalis so much focus lately. An entirely new design, putting him in the Flagship poster, making him the only animated monster at the end of the 15th Anniversary video, doing an orchestral cover of his theme. I’ll be amazed if he doesn’t appear. But...

A trend I’ve noticed is that every Title Update after Rajang has had two monsters in each. Safi with Stygian, Raging with Furious, and Ala with Frostfang. In my eyes, this can go one of three ways that I’ll go through in order of probability.

2. More powerful alternate of an existing monster.

To go with Stygian and Frostfang, a monster already in-game will get a upgrade. Possible choices are Lucent Nargacuga (to join Tigrex and Barioth in having a variation), Oroshi Kirin (from that original list that predicted Kulve Luna and Alatreon) and Molten Tigrex (honestly, I just think Molten is better than Lucent and Tigrex is better than Narga)

3. Another returning monster that isn’t Fatalis.

It seems strange to me that what was originally just “Returning Monster” was changed to something as ominous as “The Final Stand”. Maybe this wasn’t originally meant to be the final Dev Diary and they decided to make it more impactful by fusing it with what was meant to be a final Fatalis Diary later down the line. Anyway, ones that I think are the most possible are Chameleos (Completing the trio with Teo and Kush, although Vaal may have stolen that role in this gen), Valstrax (A fan-favourite that many have been hoping for, although it’s origin game being so close to World may present an issue), or Steve (He’s the only remaining Flagship other than Valstrax that would fit in the game. Lagi and Mizu have a supposedly unusable skeleton, the rest of the Fated Four have been overshadowed by Glavenus, and the Magalas may be awkward to implement due to the Frenzy. I know they were in Generations, but that game was made to celebrate the series while World has been more story and lore-driven.)

4. The Black Safi from the original teaser.

The Jiivas have had some of the most lore-focus any monster has had in a long-time. Their introduction has molded how the MH world works in ways not seen since Fatalis. NPC dialogue also implies that Safi has something to do with the Black Dragons. So some people have theorised: Is Safi going to become a Black Dragon itself? We may soon find out. (Dramatics aside, this is the least possible option for a reason. As @ask-magala has said, the black colour could just be an issue of lighting. A choice made to make the initial reveal more ominous. And a monster doesn’t have to be black to be a Black Dragon, as Crimson Fatalis shows.)

[ninjalanews]

A NEW DEV DIARY INCOMING?! 😲

The Next Dev Diary, #13, will be coming to you on March 8 (PST)! 

It will give you the latest info about the upcoming Season 5 and more!

[villagemonsters]

Building a Village - Garden Variety

Hello Villagers!

We all neglect things they really shouldn't. Maybe it's a hard task you don't know how to start. Maybe it's just cleaning your room.

For me? It's the mushroom gardening hobby in Village Monsters. It's "technically" been in the game since releasing in Early Access 6 months ago, but you wouldn't know it. I've barely touched it since then and most players aren't even aware it exists.

That changes now. Let's talk gardens, and then afterward let's clean our rooms!

Gardening

What was once Mushroom Gardening will now be known as simply Gardening. Yep, you can now cultivate all sorts of new plants beyond just fabulous fungi!

But don't expect to be planting boring crops like turnips or corn. No! Instead, you'll be growing suitably monstrous plants: man-eating pitcher plants, never-ending creeper vines, fruit that glows eerily in the dark, and yes: mushrooms.

To help you with growing all these new plants, garden management has received a complete overhaul in both look and design. Check it out:

Each garden now has its own plot (above) that you can interact with to manage all the plants inside. From this screen you can plant new seeds, view the status of growing plants, cultivate the soil, and eventually harvest any mature plants.

You'll be able to purchase multiple plots of varying configurations, but at the start you're limited to the basic 2x2 model.

Your garden won't require a lot of attention if you only care about the basics. You may need to weed it on occasion, and cultivating it with water and fertilizer will definitely help it grow faster, but gardens are otherwise self-sufficient.

After all, gardening is meant to be a passive and relaxing hobby. Of course, there are all sorts of benefits if you want to be an active gardener - let's look at them now.

Breeding

I'm super excited to talk about the new plant breeding mechanics! That's not weird, right? You'd tell me if that was weird??

In all seriousness, I love breeding plants in video games. I'm not sure why - it's not like I have much interest in real life botany - but I always get really into it whenever it's offered. Adding this feature to my own game was a no-brainer.

In Village Monsters, getting started with plant breeding is actually super easy. You just need a male plant, a female plant, and an empty space. Nature can handle the rest!

Your experience as a gardener governs how fast plants grow and crossbreed, and in the beginning of your career it will be pretty slow; plants take several days (and in some cases longer) to grow, and new starter packs are quite expensive and sometimes hard to find.

Don't fret, though! Gardening is designed for exponential growth, and over time a skilled gardeners can completely outpace the other hobbyists.

Hybridization

Hybrids are a very rare type of crossbreed where two plants combine to form a brand new plant.

As you can see from the chart above, hybrid plants generally inherit the shape of the mother plant + the color / design of the father plant.

It takes a lot of skill & patience to successfully breed a hybrid; they're often considered the end goal for most gardeners. There are dozens of unique hybrid combinations, so you'll be plenty busy trying to discover them all.

The uniqueness of a hybrid makes them highly sought after, and Pishky will pay you very handsomely when you're ready to sell. Better yet, you're almost guaranteed to win any Garden Festival if you put one of these guys in your display.

Future Gardens

There are two more big features I'd like to add to gardening, but they won't make the next release (v0.70). Still, this is a dev diary, so I may as well talk about 'em.

The first feature is something I'm tentatively calling Symbiosis. The idea here is that gardening should provide benefits to all your other hobbies - and vice versa! Everything is connected.

For example, you should be able to use certain plants as bait to catch rare fish or critters. Other plants could help you see hidden treasure in the dark. Maybe domesticated critters could provide fast-growing fertilizer for your plants (don't think about this one too much.)

It'll take some time to get it all sorted out, but you can expect this in a future update before release.

The second upcoming feature is called Mutation. Mutations will be similar to hybrids with one key difference: they are completely random! Randomized names, randomized look, randomized benefits, and so on. Procedurally generated plants!

This'll take some time, and it may even have to come in a post-launch patch. I'll keep you updated.

Hey, isn't this like -

Yes, almost certainly!

I really love playing video games, and I'm proud to wear my inspirations on my sleeves. I've borrowed tons of elements from games like Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, even Cookie Clicker and Monster Rancher. If you recognize a gardening element from one of your favorite games then it almost surely is on purpose.

Video games rule.

When can I play with the new gardens?

Very soon!

Everything I described above will be available in Village Monsters v0.70, which will be releasing in the next couple of weeks. Look forward to playing it then!

[platinumgames]

[tales-from-the-aether-ttrpg]

Little update:

Tales from the Aether Beta V2 is very close to completion!

All I’ve got left on the to do list is to finish updating the Abjuration and Alteration spell lists, revamp the Archetypes to account for new feats and spells, and thats it!

Once its ready for release, I’m going to be opening the discord for more play testers so if that would interest you, send me a message or ask!

To learn more about tales from the aether, check out my pinned post!