Hey everyone! Here’s a quick update of everything I’ve been working on lately.
Firstly, I’ve been working on a new script for Lenna’s Inception with SamuriFerret. We’ve made some large changes to the story-line in order to ensure all the threads come together into a satisfying ending, and to make sure parts of the story don’t obstruct gameplay. As an example of the latter, several story characters will now contact you via Lance’s mobile when something’s up, so that you don’t have to return to the town and hunt down specific NPCs.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve added 5 new types of enemies to the game:
From left to right: smileder, sharktula, dolphinja, snail, bombshell.
Yes, Lenna’s Inception will finally have water-based enemies - the sharktula and dolphinja. I’ve completely rewritten the monster-spawning code to support this properly.
Next up, I’m going to be adding a new follower, and then I’ll start implementing the new script in the game.
Finally, if you haven’t seen it already, Stardew Valley just released on Steam. It’s well worth a look!
I’ve just pushed the button to release beta8 on itch.io! Humble will get the update as well, after a short delay. To get the update, follow these instructions.
It’s past 4 AM on a Saturday morning, so I’ll keep this post short and instead refer back to my previous post for the contents of the update:
I'm currently putting in the last of the new features for beta8 this evening (sound effects for new items, actions and tiles). What's left after that is fixing the remaining bugs, testing and then releasing the beta8 update! You can see my progress towards the release on my trello board.As I wrote last month, the new GBA-style graphics won't be included in beta8, they'll be in a future update instead. The current plan is for both styles to be available in the final game. While I'm here, here's a full list of all the new features in beta8: Read the rest of this entry →
I’m currently putting in the last of the new features for beta8 this evening (sound effects for new items, actions and tiles). What’s left after that is fixing the remaining bugs, testing and then releasing the beta8 update! You can see my progress towards the release on my trello board.
As I wrote last month, the new GBA-style graphics won’t be included in beta8, they’ll be in a future update instead. The current plan is for both styles to be available in the final game.
While I’m here, here’s a full list of all the new features in beta8:
It’s been a long time since the last update. That’s partially down to the graphical upgrade taking longer than we thought, so we’re moving the new graphics into a later update. That way you won’t have to wait for other new features, bug fixes and polish.
More information follows.
Since the last post, we’ve continued adding lots of polish to the game. Samuri has continued his art rework, and we now have almost all the tiles we need, and a lot of the items.
I’m currently in the process of tightening up the combat: fixing weird hitboxes, making sure enemies telegraph their attacks, improving animations, etc.
A common piece of feedback I’ve had is about the “dead” lower-left corner of the player - it’s not actually possible to hit enemies in that corner with the sword as it currently is. So I’ve extended the arc of the sword a few more degrees:
It’s time for a quick round-up of the latest in-development changes in Lenna’s Inception!
Graphical Upgrade
Jay’s been hard at work on the new art style. So far, the overworld biomes are mostly complete, including (most recently) the graveyard biome and the Autumnal forest:
Here’s an update on what I’ve been doing and what’s coming up for Lenna’s Inception!
Topics:
- Rezzed
- Artistic upgrade
- The plot and the ending of the story (no spoilers)
It’s been a tense month trying to figure out my response to the new EU VAT rules, but in the end Leaf, operator of itch.io came to the rescue! itch.io now offers the option of handling VAT for indie developers, which is really awesome! :)
And finally, finally, I can release beta7 to you today, which includes these lovely new features:
- The autumn biome has been added.
- The graveyard biome has been added.
- Randomized caves have been added to the overworld.
- An obtainable bicycle has been added. This can be used for fast travel by selecting it on the inventory screen.
- The coffee break challenge has been added. This is a short (~10 minutes) challenge mode on a single dungeon with a random ruleset from the other challenges. There is no online leaderboard for this.
- The daily challenge has been added. This is like the coffee break challenge, but based on a standardized per-day seed shared between all players. The leaderboard for this challenge is cleared at the end of the day.
- New music has been added to the laboratory and the nuclear dungeons.
- New music has been added to mountain biomes.
- A new story line chapter has been added to the graveyard area.
- A new building has been added to the town: the Church of N'GHA.
You can buy Lenna’s Inception on itch.io:
It’s also available via Humble:
I might be forced to halt purchases of Lenna’s Inception through itch.io in January due to new EU laws. The details of why (in my rant below) are quite tedious, but please be assured that:
- I'm still absolutely committed to finishing the game!
- I'm currently investigating other ways to make it available (several other stores look like possibilities).
- If you've already purchased it, your itch.io download page will still work, and you will still be able to access all future updates through there.
- I still think itch.io is bloody amazing and want it to succeed.
As I write this, you can still get it on itch.io. If you want it soon, buy it before the 31st December:
The owner/operator of itch.io has said that he is working on EU VAT compliance, so it’s possible that nothing might change for Lenna’s Inception come January. Although it is still quite hard for me to imagine what he would be able to do.
If you’re reading this in January, while the game is unavailable, and you really can’t wait for it:
- Press, youtubers and twitch streamers - shoot me an email
- Otherwise, have you got an awesome piece of original Lenna's Inception fanart to share? :)
Lenna’s Inception version 0.6 (beta6) is live. Get it from the usual place. (There was no beta5, I’m just doing a Windows 9.)
As per usual, in order to access most of the new features you’ll need to visit the starving artists’ house in the town and speak to the NPC inside to regenerate your maps. This won’t cause you to lose any progress.
By the way: I'm going to be giving at talk about procedural generation at the start of #procjam on the 8th of November. Tickets have already sold out for attending in person, but the talks will be streamed online! Check the website and @procjam to keep up to date on the details for that.
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I strongly encourage you to take part in the jam as well if you’re curious. I’m really looking forward to it!
What's New
Features:
- New story-line character Delvin is introduced during the "save the prince" quest.
- More story-line content occurs after completing the "bring Rupert peace & quiet" quest, including:
- A laboratory location.
- A new NPC.
- Progression in the main arc pursuing the Archangel that killed Lenna's students.
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- Unfriendly guards in the main town.
- New boss fight at the current end of the story-line content. This is the penultimate boss fight, so the final boss is still yet to be added.
