Steam Light of the Locked World - 0.6.0 - RPG - Play demo!

Phoebe Klim

Member
LOTLW Devblog #9: The new development plan

In this entry, I'll reveal Light of the Locked World's brand new development plan!

Also, sorry for the scarce entries. I'll try to post more often from now on.

Anyway, the plan.

Short term:

These tasks are in order I am planning to do them.
  • Amount input system.
  • Trading part 2: Bartering.
  • Inventory system fixes.
  • Shadow system fixes.
  • Debug tools.
  • Crafting.
  • Key remapping.
  • Map.
  • Quest log rework.
  • Achievements.
  • Statistics.
  • Item storage.
  • Save system.
  • Graphical improvements.
  • Animation improvements.
  • Player appearance customization.
  • Demo update.
  • Final preparations for content development.
  • Content development begins.
  • Combat expansion: Mage and Archer roles, tier 2 equipment.
  • Introduction.
  • Tutorial.
  • Help text.
  • Demo update.
  • Area: Eastern Trilith.
  • First story quest.
  • Transition area: Eir Meadows.
  • Second story quest.
As you can see, right now I'm focusing on developing the features and mechanics for the game.
Once all of those core systems are in, I can start using them to make new content.
It will be much more exciting than it is now: Every month I will add something grand, like a new area or quest!

Long term:

These tasks are unordered.
They also have smaller, currently unknown tasks in between them and it scares me a little.
  • Water graphics.

  • 3rd story quest.

  • Intel quest 1.
  • Intel quest 2.
  • Intel quest 3.
  • Intel quest 4.
  • Intel quest 5.
  • Intel quest 6.
  • Intel quest 7.
  • Intel quest 8.

  • 4th story quest.
  • 5th story quest.
  • 6th story quest.

  • Final boss.

  • 5th role.
  • 6th role.
  • 7th role.
  • 8th role.
  • 9th role.
  • 10th role.

  • Tier 3 warrior equipment.
  • Tier 4 warrior equipment.

  • Tier 3 mage equipment.
  • Tier 4 mage equipment.

  • Tier 3 archer equipment.
  • Tier 4 archer equipment.

  • City: Eiralta.
  • City: Korrev.
  • City: Berelem.
  • City: Thousand Towers.
  • City: New Grawas.

  • Area: Silver Fields.

  • Small area: Kingdom's End.
  • Small area: Western Trilith.

  • Transition area: Lockfall.
  • Transition area: Two Suns Desert.
  • Transition area: Salt Road.

  • Enemy faction: Demons.
  • Enemy faction: Possessed armor.
  • Enemy faction: Spirits.

  • Middle Kayos architecture: Wooden buildings.
  • Western Kayos architecture: Brick buildings.
  • Eastern Kayos architecture: Rock buildings.

  • Traps: Spikes, fire obelisks, etc.
  • Sigils: Arcane contraptions with a variety of effects.
  • Unique items pack: Items to fill gaps between tiers.
When the content development phase will begin, I'll first focus on making story quests and content required for them.
There will be 6 story quests in total. That might seem small, but some of the quests will take hours to complete.

Expendable:


These tasks have been planned, but I have decided that they aren't as important.
They have low priority on the list and might not make it into the final game.
I expect some of them to end up as post-release updates.
  • Legendary weapons pack 1.
  • Legendary weapons pack 2.

  • Mage specialization 2: "Fast caster"
  • Warrior specialization 2: "Destroyer"
  • Archer specialization 2: "Champion"

  • Area: Atan's Enclave.
  • Area: Old Grawas.
  • Area: Spellscarred Plains.
  • Area: Ruins of Azu'urunn.
And now the important bit.

ETA:

Beyond 2020.

I don't believe I'll finish the game in 2020. There's simply too much to do for that to be possible.
I could say it's going to be done in 2021, but I don't want to speculate about that.

The truth is that Light of the Locked World is a very large game for a solo developer like me.
I've been working on it intensively over eight months now and while I made really good progress, the list of things that need to be done is just growing.

So yeah, let's hope for 2021 and prepare for even longer.

No matter how long it will take, the Light of the Locked World will be finished in all its "Epic fantasy RPG - Small indie developer edition" glory =]

Anyway, I'll keep the plan updated, expect an entry about that every month or so.
Next week I'll release entry with a timeline of the world's history - it'll be the first entry focused on the lore of the game.

Until then!
 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Time to fix the shadow system!

EDIT: I have fixed the shadows.

The current old (awful) system:

Draw event:








(scr_draw_shadow() simply draws sprite at object's position - I use it in case I'll want to draw sprites differently in future)

This system creates 8960x8960 large surfaces > then draws shadows to them > then the function draw_surface() is used to draw surfaces at 0,0 of the room.

Problems:
  • 8960x8960 surfaces crash the game on older computers.
  • While surfaces are being created and filled, the game freezes. This happens every time the game is minimized, it's pain.
  • Attempting to interact with the game during the creating freeze makes the freeze last longer? Sometimes I have to wait for minutes until whatever the surfaces do is resolved.
  • The game room is actually 17920x8960 - in it, I simulate two 8960x8960 rooms for multiplayer purposes. The second "room" is outside surface and shadows are not visible in it. So it needs an even bigger surface to work in this system!
The new system idea:

For static shadows: Creates multiple smaller surfaces and draws them separately. E.g.: 20 1024x1024 surfaces.
For dynamic shadows: Creates two surfaces with the size of two views and draws shadows in the view and surface locations.

I went with one surface for both shadow types - the game only draws shadows inside views.
It's more resource consuming, but overall I think it's an upgrade.
 
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CMAllen

Member
Never do more work than you need to do. Draw to a screen-sized surface, dropping draw calls for shadows that fall outside the screen. Draw this shadow surface to screen-space coordinates.
 

CMAllen

Member
Yes, I went with that.
With a little creativity, you can even use one surface (and a shader) to handle both lights and shadows. Assuming you intend to do that sort of thing, mind you. Lights are drawn to the color channels (so you can do colored lights), and shadows get drawn to the alpha channel.
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
LOTLW Devblog #10: History of the Locked World

As promised, this entry is about the game's lore.

Now, the full lore is a dozen pages long, so for this entry, I'll only share the timeline of the Locked World's history.

The world's map is at the end of the post.

So, here it is:

Year 0:


Council of Worlds order to build the World Gate that connects Kayos, now known as the Locked World, to the World Network.

- There are a lot of terms included the timeline, I'll try to briefly explain most of them.
- The Council controls the World Gates, which connects a few dozen worlds to the Network.
- The Council's main functions are to maintain peace between worlds and to expand the Network by building new gates.

Year 3:


Council of Worlds order to sink a collection of confiscated magical weapons in Abyssal Waters.

- Abyssal Waters is a large and very deep body of water.
- Only 20% of the world's surface is covered by water, and Abyssal Waters does most of it.

Year 84:


Abysts are discovered by mages who were sent by the Council to check on the sunken weapons. Abyst Rush begins.
Gate City begins to grow near the World Gate.

- Abysts are unique crystals that form at the bottom of Abyssal Waters.
- These crystals amplify magic, they are extremely useful for hundreds of applications.

Year 95-106:

Demon Moon is being built.

Year 106:

Demon Moon was risen, the demon population shrinks rapidly from this point as they are banished to the Moon.

- Kayos is infested by demons.
- These strange, aggressive, and mindless beings are unkillable, the only way to get rid of them is to banish them where they can't do harm.

Year 130:

The Glow phenomenon is discovered: If a large number of abysts are in one place, they start glowing and it makes all sentient beings in the vicinity lose sanity.
Council of Worlds bans the use of abysts and orders to lock Kayos.
A year is given for evacuation, most of the colonists and abyst miners leave.

Year 130:


Celeraths - a corrupt family of nobles flees to Kayos.
They use their wealth to acquire several abyst mining docks and quickly become influential.

Year 131:

Worldlocks are sent to Kayos. Teleportation spells, demon banishment spell, and the World Gate stop working.
Abyst Rush ends.

- Worldlocks disrupt teleportation spells.

Year 131:

Celeraths form an army of mercenaries.
They take over the Gate City and rename it to Azu'urunn.

- Azu'urunn was the name of the city Celeraths used to control.

Year 132:

The eldest son of the family, Talyann, is crowned as a king of the Kingdom of Azu'urunn.
Soon Celerath army takes over the rest of Rezelot.

- Kayos is also a tidally locked world.
- Rezelot is the side of the World that is under the Golden Sun, inhabited by human races. It's where the game takes place.
- The other side of the world is called Erquaria - it is under the Violet Sun. The game might be expanded to include it.

Year 132-279:


World develops.
The magic dampening effect of talkstone is discovered and talkstone-based teleportation spells were invented during this period.

- Talkstone nullifies all magic, including the teleportation-disrupting aura of worldlocks.
- Talkstone is used in various ways to activate and deactivate magic, creating short moments when the teleportation can be performed.

Year 131-251:

Demon population grows because they are no longer getting banished.

Year 168:

Talyann the First dies.
His son is crowned as the Talyann the Second.

Year 227:

Talyann the Second dies.
His daughter Branna becomes the queen.

Year 251:

Talkstone is sent to Demon Moon and a new banishment spell is created.
Demon War begins.

Year 251-255:

Demon War. Demons are being hunted down and banished.
They gather into massive swarms to defend themselves and often retaliate, attacking human settlements.

Year 255:


The demon population is reduced to a minimum.

Year 273:

Rannah builds first abyst towers.

- Rannah is a mage and alchemist that invented a way to fuse gold and silver into a new metal called amalgam.
- The most powerful craftable equipment will be made from this material.

Year 276:

Queen Branna dies.
Her son is crowned as the Talyaan the Third.
Talyaan the Third proves to be a bad king and pushes the Abyst Cities to rebellion.

Year 279:

Abyst Cities - Eiralta, Grawas, Berelem, and Korrev - start a rebellion against the Kingdom, it turns into a war that spreads to all of Rezelot.
During the first year of the War, the Kingdom achieves many victories against the unprepared rebels.

Year 280:

The Kingdom's forces begin the siege of Grawas city.
Talyaan the Third is taken as a prisoner when Grawas retaliates.
He is executed shortly.
His son is immediately crowned as Talyaan the Fourth.
Talyaan the Fourth - now known as Talyaan the Last - orders to summon demons.
Demons are unleashed upon Grawas and the city is destroyed.
The Kingdom becomes aggressive and reckless.

- After the War, the survivors of Grawas' destruction builds a new city, now known as New Grawas.

Year 281:

The Kingdom attempts to attack the city of Berelem.
The King's Army is ambushed in Edario's Island.
The Great Mage Edario traps the King's Army in the Island and starts a desperate battle of one against thousands.
He's not defeated for hours, his spells slay hundreds of king's soldiers. After he is killed, the army is in such poor shape that it has to retreat.

Year 282:

The Kingdom begins the siege of Iron Stronghold.

Year 283:

The Kingdom builds talkstone triliths.
Triliths allow the King's Army to move quickly around Rezelot and for a short time this advantage grants them a few victories.
The Kingdom takes over the city of Korrev.

Year 284:

Army of Eiralta frees the city of Korrev.
King's Army tries again to take over Berelem.
The Army is ambushed on the border of Bereland and is defeated.
Berelem's army pushes the Kingdom's forces out of Moonrise Desert.
The Kingdom's army dwindles.
To replace the soldiers, the Kingdom's mages invent possessed armor.
It's speculated that if not this invention, the Kingdom would have been defeated in 184.

- Many rogues the players will fight are deserters from the King's army.
- Possessed armor created when a demon is summoned into a suit of armor.

Year 285:

The Kingdom is weakened, the king becomes more desperate.
The power of the rebel cities grow, the Kingdom shrinks rapidly.
The king orders to build a new road around the Iron Stronghold, as the siege of Iron Stronghold is not giving any results.

Year 286:

The War Road is finished, the Kingdom launches the final attack against Eiralta.
The War ends as the Kingdom's army is defeated.
The City of Azu'urunn is surrounded, and lords of the Free Cities send a delegation of mages to bring Talyaan to them.
Mages attack Talyaan trying to defeat him, but he unleashes an unknown spell of vast destructive power.
The magic lashes the Kingdom and kills everyone in it, including every member of the Celerath family and the City Lords.

Year 286:

Lord Atan, a noble of the now-gone Kingdom takes over territory north-west from Eiralta.

- Now it's called Atan's Enclave and is a center of influence for monarchist movement.

Year 286:

City councils are formed, they begin to rule the devastated Rezelot.

Year 287-300:

A massive wall is being built between the Fallen Kingdom and Eir Meadows to protect the civilized lands from the Kingdom's demons and possessed armor.

Year 291:


The Glow occurs in the city of Korrev. The entire city is lost.

Year 286-309, Present:

The world is recovering from the War.
The Fallen Kingdom burns in unnatural, inextinguishable flames, hordes of possessed armor and demons flee from it, Lord Atan grows in power, rogues roam in the uncivilized lands.
The Abyst Cities regaining power and are starting to suppress these actors of chaos.

- Demons, rogues, and monarchists will not be your main concern during the story campaign.

Year 309, Present:

The World Gate malfunctions and brings you to Kayos.



I hope this was interesting, if there will be a demand for it, I'll make more lore-related entries.

Until next time!
 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
LOTLW Devblog #11: Crafting

I have started working on crafting!

The current plan is to have two crafting roles: Materialist and Alchemist.

Materialists will craft items using machines known as matter kilns, which is a fancy name for a crafting station.

The process is simple: You bring materials to matter kiln, click on desired item crafting recipe and an item is made, granting XP for Materialist role.
Higher Materialist level allows crafting higher level and value items.



I was thinking about incorporating a timing minigame in the crafting process, but...

I want players to be constantly on the move, exploring new locations, completing quests, conquering challenges, and stopping only for a moment to turn collected resources into new equipment. I felt like crafting has to be as fast as possible to not waste exploration time.

So that's why I decided to make it this simple.

But not mundane - I plan to have many matter kilns, each with a unique set of recipes.
Some items will have more than one recipe, which will allow invested players to search the world for interesting kilns and make decisions.
"Kiln with recipe A uses more resources, but kiln with recipe B is in infested ruins and I'm running out of arrows. Hmm..."

Kilns also come with lore attached to them.

What goes inside them was a well-guarded secret of the Azu'urunn Kingdom, only a few dozen people had access to that knowledge, and all of it was gone when the Kingdom was destroyed.
New kilns are no longer made, and old ones are becoming faulty with time - eventually, they will all stop functioning.
You fill find broken kilns and ones that are barely functional, with recipes that turn expensive materials into useless items because a part of the mysterious machine has stopped working properly.
Your destiny as a Materialist is to gather enough understanding to be able to repair, reprogram, and maybe even reverse-engineer kilns, preventing the technology from being lost.

The Alchemist role is a bit different.

Aside from finding the kilns with efficient recipes, there's little discovery in the Materialist role, kiln recipes are not concealed in any way.
Meanwhile, Alchemists will have to discover recipes for items - materials and elixirs - by combining alchemical materials.

For example, in the upcoming version of the game, your character will be able to create disinfection fluid by combining alchemical silver and salt.
Disinfection fluid is a key component for crafting healing kits.

The goal is to have a small number of alchemical components, with every combination producing a useful material.
I imagine it will be very exciting to find new alchemical materials when each of them will be used to produce dozens of items.

Alchemy's signature creations are elixirs.
These are like potions in many other RPGs, except that their effects don't run out.
For example, if your character drinks an elixir that increases damage, the damage boost effect will remain active until your character drinks an elixir with a different effect.
And some very special elixirs will permanently increase your character's stats.

Alchemy lore is tied to Erquaria lore. Many of the alchemical materials you will experiment with are imported from that strange land under the violet sun, land in which the art of alchemy originated.
If you work hard, you may get a chance to learn from the true masters of alchemy - members of the Erquarian Alchemist Guild.

So that's the crafting!

I'm having a really good time turning all of this into reality and I hope it sounds exciting.

Until next time!
 
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Phoebe Klim

Member


Today I have added a laboratory to the town of Locul: It will be possible to buy alchemical materials from a merchant in it and use a device called alchemy vat to create disinfection fluid which is used to create healing kits!
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
LOTLW Devblog #12: The Vision

A week ago I've been worried about the game.
While I love it unconditionally and developing it is incredibly fulfilling, I was unsure how to explain to others why is the game worthy of attention.

I would go over the features that LOTLW will have, and would not find any exceptional ones.
But it was a wrong approach. It's the little things that together make a game I am confident in.

I have discovered that when I have started writing down all of the ideas I want to try with LOTLW.
Later that list has turned into a new feature list for the game.

Here it is:

(Keep in mind it's about the finished game and it's just a plan for it, not a promise)
  • Role-based progression system build on and improved upon from the similar systems found in RuneScape, Skyrim, Ultima Online
For those who are unfamiliar with such systems: You are not limited to gaining experience in one class - instead, you have access to all. Your actions will determine which class gains experience, naturally turning you skilled in classes you like.
Light of the Locked World brings this old system to the future: Flaw of it was that eventually, you would become a master of classes and at the end of the game your character would be identical for all players.
The game's roles come with the perk trees which you will not be able to master 100% - meaning you will have to choose carefully and create builds for each for the 10 roles the game has.
  • An uncommon setting
The game is set in a world that is a manifestation of ideas from western and high fantasy genres.
Industrial cities recovering from a recent war that succeeded in ending the monarch tyranny, lawless lands outside city walls, bounty hunters, magic crystal "gold rush", immigrants, magic-powered technology, demons and spirits, ancient runes and portals.
  • Slowly unfolding story
Unlike many games, Light of the Locked World does not have a grand opening that immediately establishes the story.
That is because your character is not special - no prophecies, no unique powers, just a regular person.
Start your journey as an unskilled, weak, poor immigrant and see what the Locked World will turn you into.
  • Authentic non-player characters
The theme of the player character not being extraordinary is also prevalent in the character design.
All human non-player characters - NPCs - are almost identical to player characters.
There are many similarities, but the most important is that NPCs have inventories that they can fully utilize - use healing consumables from them, equip weapons and armor, even pick up items.
Many fascinating situations and decisions emerge from this - dying to enemies might mean that they will get your items, there is an option to allow enemies to level up, merchant inventories are not safe from players who don't play by the rules, and so on.
  • Faction reputation system
All characters belong to a faction.
Attacking faction characters will reduce your reputation, and might turn entire regions of the game's world against you while doing favors for the faction will make you respected unlocking special benefits and items.
  • Persistence
Many of the things in Light of the Locked World are persistent.
Enemy characters don't regain items you took from them, looted chests and mined ore veins don't refill with goods.
  • Asymmetry
Most numbers and designs in the game are given a slight nudge, making the game asymmetric, giving it unpredictability and even more emergent situations.
  • Metroidvania elements
There are areas and shortcuts unlocked by acquiring items and abilities.
  • Large cities
Four detailed cities with hundreds of buildings, many of them can be entered.
  • A bouquet of classic features
Quests with cutscenes and dialogue, character appearance customization, sophisticated equipment system, crafting, trading, traps, treasure, books, spells, secrets, and more.
  • Local multiplayer mode
All of the above works in the game's drop-in/drop-out local splitscreen mode!
The game allows two players not only cooperate but also play competitively - duel, compete for rare resources and items, use a reputation system to divide the world.
E.g.: Player 2 attacks Player 1 which is a member of Luma city faction. City NPCs become hostile to Player 2 and the city becomes a safe zone to Player 1.
Don't have two controllers? Not a problem! Multiplayer can be played just with a keyboard and mouse.

Anyway!



I am very happy to inform that the crafting and key remapping 1.0 has been completed.
Next week I'll be working on an in-game map!

So that's all for now, the next entry is about the numbers LOTLW has generated so far.

Until then!
 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Making a map. It still needs: 1) Controller support for moving the map. 2) UI polish. 3) More features? Town/point of interest names, zooming in/out.

 

AriesGames

Member
Zuurix I always liked your game design style. I recommend adding more background objects in level design, like mountains and stuff.

Like I said too Simon and others, I expect nothing less from this community.
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
The map is finished - I have started working on the "Logs" UI page. It's a page to access quest log, achievement list, statistics tracker, map, and notes.

The screenshot shows how I construct the graphics for the UI. I do it in Aseprite - white lines and squares help me arrange the elements and make the graphics consistent and symmetrical.

UI design WIP 2020-02-13.png
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Quest log 2020-02-16.png

Working on a proper quest log. Supports new features: Players will be able to do multiple quests at the same time, the log instructs how to start the quest and has the text about how the quest was finished, including the rewards for completing it.
 
This looks wonderful. I personally love the minimalist aesthetic. The audio is nice too. My only suggestion from watching the trailer is that you make the animations a little more advanced. I know that isn't an easy thing to do, but personally I think the walking animation looks a little too static. Either way, very professional and wonderful art style. Your visuals are fantastic.
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
My only suggestion from watching the trailer is that you make the animations a little more advanced. I know that isn't an easy thing to do, but personally I think the walking animation looks a little too static.
There's a problem with walking animation that makes characters seem limp. I will fix that.
Besides that, I don't have ideas of how to improve the animation, but I guess I can go to and ask more experienced animators for that.

As for other animations...
Soon I am going to work on a new animation system. I'm going to try to automate things like limb movement and then use the code to easily create many new animations.

Your visuals are fantastic.
^_^
 
There's a problem with walking animation that makes characters seem limp. I will fix that.
Besides that, I don't have ideas of how to improve the animation, but I guess I can go to and ask more experienced animators for that.
Take a look at Hyper Light Drifter. I feel like something like the Drifter's walking animations would work well in your game... However it might take some great skill to make something like the walk animations in that game.
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
I'm done with: Statistics + Quest log + Notes + Achievements!
Three more features - item storage, save system, avatar customization - and I can start polishing/making content!

 

Phoebe Klim

Member
LOTLW Devblog #13: Progress report

This is a follow-up to "LOTLW Devblog #9: The new development plan".

This is how the plan looks now:

Done:

A huge chunk of features has been completed.
  • Amount input system.
  • Bartering.
  • Inventory system fixes.
  • Shadow system fixes.
  • Debug tools.
  • Character and UI improvements.
  • Gatherer role.
  • Materialist role.
  • Alchemist role.
  • Crafting.
  • Key remapping.
  • Map.
  • Quest log 2.0
  • Achievements.
  • Statistics.
  • Notes.
  • Item storage.
Short term:

Only two features left on the list: Save system and avatar appearance customization.
That very soon the only things I'll be working on will be content and polishing.

  • Save system.
  • Graphical improvements.
  • Animation improvements.
  • Player avatar appearance customization.
  • The content and polishing phase begins here.
  • UI improvements.
  • Demo update.
  • Create the game world out of placeholders.
  • Pathfinding rework.
  • Combat improvements.
  • Combat expansion: Mage and Archer roles, tier 2 equipment.
  • Introduction.
  • Tutorial.
  • Help text.
  • Demo update.
Long term:

Long term tasks remain unchanged.

Highlights:

Tasks I am looking forward to.
  • Create the game world out of placeholders.
I'll build all of the planned areas out of placeholder assets!
I might even populate it with placeholder NPCs.
For the first time in the development, I'll know the true scale of the game. It will also allow me to develop the whole world at once - every new piece of content will be applied to all areas.
  • Combat expansion.
New equipment, new roles, new abilities, new ways to fight, and new enemies - this will have a massive impact on the game.
  • Introduction.
I'll make an introduction cutscene which visually explains how your character gets to Kayos and introduces players to the Linked Worlds universe.
This will be fun to make and I can't wait to show it.

So that's all for this entry: Next one is longer, possibly "Geography of the Locked World" =]

Until next time!
 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
LOTLW Devblog #14: Geography of the Locked World

This is a follow-up to "LOTLW Devblog #10: History of the Locked World", this time it's more about the locations and less about the events.

The world's name is Kayos. Its title of the Locked World has two meanings: It is teleportation-locked, meaning that standard teleportation spells do not function in Kayos, and it's also tidally locked.
Tidally locked worlds do not spin around their axes, so one of the sides always faces the star. In Kayos' case, it's tidally locked between two stars.

The side that always faces the yellow giant - Dragon's Eye - is called Rezelot, and the side that always faces the purple dwarf - Erquam - is called Erquaria.

Astronomy of the Locked World?

Anyway, as I mentioned before, the game takes place in Rezelot, Erquaria will be inaccessible.

Rezelot is the land surrounding Abyssal Waters.



(The map size is 1600x1600, try viewing it in a separate tab)

Abyssal Waters

Abyssal Waters is an extremely deep body of water.
Abyssal Waters captures and redistributes the heat, giving the surrounding areas a gentle climate.
It's also special because crystals called abysts grow on the bottom of it.
If not abysts, Rezelot would have never been colonized.

Two Suns Desert

A desert east of Rezelot, that doesn't fully belong to Rezelot and Erquaria.
The middle of it is a permanent sunset zone of both Dragon's Eye and Erquam.
This where the light of both stars meets, it's the hottest region in the Kayos.

O'ool

A frozen wasteland west of Rezelot.
Like Two Suns Desert, it is between Rezelot and Erquaria.
The sky above O'ool is always covered by clouds of smoke from a chain of volcanoes in Erquaria, it's dark and cold here.
O'ool gives western Rezelot a cool climate.

Pole Wastes

Rezelot, Erquaria, Two Suns Desert, and O'ool converge in the world's pole wastes, which are lifeless gravel fields.
There are two points of interest in Rezelot that are close to the Pole Wastes - Azu'urunn and the Listening Tower.

Pinewoods

Impassable forests of tangled kayian pines that occupy a large part of Rezelot land between Northern Pole Waste and Abyssal Waters
These pines are the only trees that grow in Kayos.

Moonrise Desert

A desert in the north-eastern part of the Rezelot.
Under a thin layer of the desert's sand, there are deposits of iron-rich rocks.
This is where the iron to build an artificial moon was mined from, leaving pits that followed the rock deposits.
The moon was later launched into the orbit, giving desert its name.

Moonrise Site

A field in Moonrise Desert where Demon Moon was launched.

Interference Point

Interference is a disruption of the World Gates, which brings people from other worlds to Kayos.
Interference takes people to a spot in Moonrise Desert, south of the Locul town and that spot is called Interference Point.

Locul

Town in Moonrise Desert.
It used to be a miner town, now it's a small outpost of civilization in the middle of nowhere.
It has a tavern, an emporium, a lab, a small mine, two matter kilns, an immigration office, and Locul Mining Company headquarters.

Eastern Trilith

Eastern Trilith is on the edge between Moonrise Desert and Eir Meadows, it's the closest town to Locul.
The other and bigger half of this town is on the other side of Rezelot.
Those halves are joined together by talkstone triliths.
Eastern Trilith is a town not bigger than Locul and is mostly inhabited by soldiers who guard it.

Eir Meadows

West from Eastern Trilith is Eir Meadows, a land of fertile soil covered in grass.

Canals

Irrigation canals that take water from Abyssal Waters to the edge of Moonrise Desert, extending the Eir Meadows.

Eir

A small but busy farmer town. Meadows around Eir is has been turned into farmland, which feeds the city of Luma.

Luma

The largest and most influential city in Kayos often called the capital of the world.
If it isn't that, then it's is the capital of Rezelot.
Like all coastal cities in Kayos, Luma is an abyst city.
It means that the main function is the city to lift crystals with magic amplifying properties from the bottom of the Abyssal Waters.
This difficult work is done in the mining docks, that extend far into the Abyssal Waters.
The dirty and noisy port area is surrounded by tall, beautiful houses, mansions, and towers - Luma is a densely populated and rich city.

Smuggler's Hat

An island that looks vaguely like a sailor's hat when viewed from one of its sides.

Kingdom's End

North of Luma is a battlefield in which Luma's and Berelem's armies defeated armies of the Kingdom, ending the coastal city rebellion against the Azu'urunn monarch tyranny.
It's a land ravaged by magic, covered in remains of war equipment, and haunted by possessed armor, the Kingdom's artificial, demonic soldiers.

Atan's Enclave

A small territory northwest of Luma, controlled by Atan, lord of the Kingdom who survived the War.

Atan's Fortress

A name for both a fortification and a small town in its shadow.
A base for monarchist movement, also inhabited by rogues and other criminals, which are welcomed here by Lord Atan.

Iron Stronghold

A fortification north of Luma, a defense line between pinewoods, between the Kingdom and Luma.
If not its iron walls, Luma could have been taken over by the Kingdom, putting an end to the rebellion.
It was under siege almost all seven of the War's years, but with support from all of the rebel cities, it did not fell.

Rogue Wall

Rogue Wall is a line of barricades built by rogues of Moonrise Desert to funnel travelers into a passage for easy ambushes.

Talkstone Mine

A place where the talkstone is mined. This material is used to circumvent the magic that blocks teleportation.

Salt Road

A trade route for goods - mostly salt - from Erquarian Station, though most of the goods reach the rest of Rezelot via boats from Berelem.
Salt is nowhere to be found in Rezelot, so it has to be imported from Erquaria.

Edario's Island

An island created by Edario, a powerful mage of Berelem.
Bridges to the island were destroyed by Edario to trap the Kingdom's army who marched through the Island to attack Berelem.

Erquarian Station

Erquarian trade, diplomatic, and military outpost.
The only place in Kayos where you will meet erquarians, the non-human people from the land under the purple sun.

Bereland

A land around Berelem, protected by wooden walls, built after the War when Rezelot became full of deserted soldiers and possessed armor.

Berelem

It's a city of alchemy and architecture that imitates the erquarian style.

Karaem

Largest gold mine in Rezelot, part of the reason why Berelem is so rich.

Western Trilith

Western Trilith is bigger and busier than the Eastern and it's full of soldiers - Western Trilith is far in the Fallen Kingdom.
Soldiers fight every day to keep demons and the possessed armor away from Trilith and the road that connects west with the east.

Thousand Towers

An industrial city south of Western Trilith.
Its name comes from hundreds of abyst towers - contraptions that are used in the creation of amalgam - light, strong, and spell amplifying metal made by fusing abyst dust, silver, and gold.
Thousand Towers and Rannah's Domain is ruled by Rannah, inventor of amalgam, the only person who knows what is happening inside the abyst towers while amalgam is being created.

Rannah's Domain

A land recognized as a property of Rannah, a neutral zone that does not belong to any of the abyst cities.

Cooling Lake

A lake that provides water to cool abyst towers.

Depleted Vein

Abandoned silver mine.

Forest Way

A road that goes through pinewoods.

Glowing Village

The abysts have a dangerous property - if there are a lot of them in one place, they start glowing and emitting magical waves that damage the minds of people in the vicinity.
They never stop glowing, this village is one of the places in Rezelot that were abandoned because of this effect.

Spirit Pastures

A grassland north from Korrev, on the coast of Abyssal Waters.
It's roamed by spirits that for some reason flock to this place.

Korrev

A glowing city. It's not known what lead to the accident that turned Korrev into it.

Lockfall

A cold wasteland where worldlocks fall. Worldlocks are giant crosses made out of the tainted lead, a material that disrupts teleportation spells and portals.
Worldlocks are sent to Kayos every 50 years and this is where they end up.

Grey Glacier

A glacier of strange, unmelting ice.

Silver Field

A large field between O'ool in the west, Abyssal Waters in the east, Grey Glacier in the north, and Demon Forests in the south.
It's most famous for silver ore veins.

Siw

Small silver miner town next to one of the largest silver mines in Rezelot.

Old Grawas

Ruins of a rebel city destroyed during the War. Infested by demons that destroyed it.

New Grawas

An island-city built by the survivors of the original Grawas destruction.
It's small, new, rich from abyst mining, and still mourning the fall of Old Grawas.

Demon Forests

Pinewoods infested by demons that fled here during the Demon War and after the destruction of Grawas.

Branna's Hill

A demon banisher town. Has world's only banisher academy, people come here to learn and train by going on hunts into the forests and fields infested by demons.
The Hill's banishers also ensure the demon population is controlled so they wouldn't spread north.
Found during the Demon War by Queen Branna.

Demon Pastures

Fields roamed by demons.

Velt

Abandoned fishing village, where ships take mages to and back from the Listening Tower.

The Listening Tower

Mages come here to invent new spells and listen to the True Ocean, the source of magic.
It was built here because it's far from civilized lands, where the Ocean is being constantly disturbed by spells.

The Fallen Kingdom

A territory that is south of Northern Pole Waste, north of Pinewoods, west of Two Suns Desert, and east from O'ool.
During the War, this territory was controlled by the Kingdom. Before the War, the Kingdom controller the entire Rezelot.
It was ravaged by an apocalyptic spell cast by Talyaan the Fourth, the Last King.

Firstwater

First bodies of water found by the human colonists.
Vaults of the Glow

It was a test site for the Glow.
The experiments that determined what causes the Glow made the site a place with the largest concentration of glowing abysts in Kayos.

King's Mine

A massive mine complex that provided the Kingdom with iron and gold, especially during the War.

Azu'urunn

A city from which the monarchs ruled the Kingdom
The first human city in Kayos.
A city around the World Gate that brought the humans the world and that became inactive after Kayos became the Locked World.
Now ruins burning with eternal fires created by the Last King's Spell.

Mirinit

A ruined city south of Azu'urunn.

Dendrayon

A ruined industrial city south of Mirinit, where equipment for Kingdom's armies was made.

If I haven't missed anything, that should be all of the places on the map.

I hope it was an interesting read, and I'm cutting this entry right here, as I already spend a lot of writing it.

Until next time =]
 
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S

Sam (Deleted User)

Guest
This has grown tremendously! well done! I'm excited to see the first official release. :D
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Added new NPC: Chaos agent Civenoa.
She sells gray capes, which change faction to a Chaos. This allows players to do PVP without losing Locul reputation.

In other news: I am preparing the game for the demo update that comes out next week!

Chaos agent Civenoa 2020-03-08.png

Gray cape 2020-03-08.png
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Demo update! Version 0.3.0: Crafting, save system, item storage

The demo is still not representative of the final version and severely lacks content, but it will take a few more months to fix that, and I don't want to have large gaps between demo updates.

The big changes in this update are:

Crafting:
Use the new Alchemist and Materialist roles to craft items.

Mining:
Use the new Gatherer role to mine rocks for ore, that is used in crafting.

Save system:
Progress is now saved! Press the "Save" button on the pause menu.

Item storage:
Find a talkstone chest in Locul and use it to deposit items.

Logs UI:
Achievements + map + notes + quest log 2.0 + statistics + reputation page shortcut.
This UI will be very important in the future.

This demo also is the start of the LOTLW beta testing program!

I am going to start adding content soon and most of it won't be available in the demo.
I don't want players to get bored of the game before it is completed.
However, I still need help from the players, so I will make the full version available to the beta testers.

As a reward, beta testers will get a copy of the finished game.

More info >>

At the moment the full version is no different from the demo, but this should change soon.

Anyway, now that demo is released, I am going to:

- Build the entire game world out of placeholder assets.
- Do an animation rework.
- Implement all planned weapon types: Two-handed melee weapons, bows, and staves.
- Add character avatar appearance customization.
...

That is all for now, until next time!

 
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Phoebe Klim

Member


Added an arrow launcher. It is needed for the new introduction quest - "When Luck Runs Out" - that will replace "Follow the Signs".
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
LOTLW Devblog #15: The last entry?

Hey all,

This might be the last entry I write because it just takes too much time. For example previous entry - "LOTLW Devblog #14: Geography of the Locked World" - took me almost a day to write and publish.

So instead I'll just make quick development updates on Twitter and Discord.

Twitter >>
Discord >>

You can also see how is the development going on LOTLW Trello board:

Trello >>

Anyway, since the previous entry I have:
  • Reworked "Follow the Signs" quest: Now it's called "When Luck Runs Out" and is better in every way.
  • Moved NPCs and changed some numbers making the demo very similar to what the game will feel like when it's finished.
  • Done an animation rework which fixed many small problems, improved animations, and made them easier to assemble.
  • Started working on combat expansion: Two new combat classes, new items, mechanics, and abilities!
This is how one of the new classes - Archer - looks:



Now I'm working on Mage class, after that I'll add even more items, then I'll need to teach NPCs how to use those new items, then I'll want to make NPC AI rework, loot container rework, and... And then I'll probably update the demo!

So that is all, see you on Twitter/Discord!
 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Demo update! Version 0.4.5: Combat expansion!

This massive update adds two new classes, new items, new abilities, new weapon types, improved combat, new introduction quest, improved animations, improved enemy AI, new rogue NPCs, and dozens of smaller changes.

As always, feedback is very important: If you got any thoughts, share them in the comments, my Twitter, or Discord.

Plans for the next demo update:

New area: Eastern Trilith, silver equipment, demons, player character creation, visual combat improvements.

Until next time!
 

Yrbiax

Member
Hey, i tried your demo.

lightlock.png
Ended up killing most of rogues. Couldnt really figure out where to go after that.

I was surprised how strong first enemies were. Ended up luring them to those guards in the beginning.
Well enemies seemed to be running to their friends as well, so i dont feel so bad about that :D

Combat was pretty fun, but i think animations could use some extra images.
It would be nice to have hotkey for map with "M" for example.
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Hey, i tried your demo.

View attachment 33271
Ended up killing most of rogues. Couldnt really figure out where to go after that.

I was surprised how strong first enemies were. Ended up luring them to those guards in the beginning.
Well enemies seemed to be running to their friends as well, so i dont feel so bad about that :D

Combat was pretty fun, but i think animations could use some extra images.
It would be nice to have hotkey for map with "M" for example.
Thank you for your feedback!

There isn't much to do besides killing all rogues in the area. You could also try mining and crafting, but it's quite limited at the moment.
I'm probably going to give starter enemies very weak weapons, so they would be easier.
 
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