Shrine's Legacy News

Hello and welcome to Steam Chronicle #14! It's Joe again this time. 😀

The demo is nearing its update time! Stay tuned to the Clemmy Games YouTube channel on June 6th, as they will be doing "Best Indie Games Summer Showcase 2023" which we are part of! And...this is where we will be announcing the exact day of the demo update!

Be there or be Square!
The big priority for the moment has still been working on the demo, but we do have some nice non-demo things to show off too! So then, onward to the updates since last month!

[h2]New Enemy[/h2]
This guy is still WIP but he'll be hopping around and shooting lasers at you in the future, so be prepared!

And with a name like "Goreye" you can guess he's probably not very friendly.

[h2]Demo Update Progress[/h2]
We are finishing up the final graphical updates for the demo, along with a few more cool surprises! All the Groonis Island enemies are getting improvements, including the Groonis. But for now, here's the new and improved Sea Lurker.

Yes, and he has an attack now! 🙂

Some of the art in Marize has also been improved, and you can see that the interiors have some new objects in them as well, such as a fireplace and oil lamp!

The Hiroshi Bros are looking pretty spiffy too!

[h2]Closing[/h2]
That about wraps it up for Steam Chronicle #14! Thanks for sticking around even while updates have been a bit slower! Looking forward to finishing up this demo update very soon and getting back to making more brand new content so we can get this game to ya'll! 💓
Until next time,
Joseph

Hello there, and welcome to Steam Chronicle #13! There’s a good amount to go over this time around, so let’s dive into it!

[h2]Final Demo Update and Progress[/h2]
Our goal is to prepare our final major demo update by early June, so that we can have it for the Steam Nextfest coming up. Aside from some new enemies and spell animations, the demo update has still largely been our focus this past month. We can't wait to share the final result of these updates and hopefully you will find them to be worth the wait. 😊



If you’d like to see more, we also just updated the Steam screenshots for the game! So be sure to check those out and drop a wishlist if you like what you see and haven’t done so yet. 🙂

[h2]New Enemies[/h2]
Also, enemy sprite commissions are now fully underway! This is exciting because we’ve focused on static level and overworld art for so long that it’s simply a breath of fresh air to design enemies. There is still the matter of programming their AI into the game, but this is still an exciting time for us. Here’s a sneak peek at a couple new/updated fiends below, this time made by DumpsterCat!

The Metal Head has been reworked and animations completed!

This ghosty may be cute but don't be fooled, he's a troublemaker!

[h2]Mysterious Figure[/h2]
You may remember an unknown figure in a dark blue cloak at the start of the (soon to be outdated) demo. This character is even in the key art.

He thinks he's a sneaky fella out there on that cliff...

We’ve largely avoided talking about this cloaked figure. I assure you that whoever this person is…they are important to the story in some way. Is this person friend or foe? You’ll have to wait a while longer to find out.

Art update for this cloaked figure made by FinalBossBlues

Closing
Well, here we are at the close of Steam Chronicle #13. If you made it to the end, thank you. It sincerely means a lot that you took the time to read up on our current progress. Take care of yourselves and keep your mental health in check because it is very daunting when you’re stressed and overwhelmed. Always remember there are those who love and care about you. 💓


And please look forward to our (hopefully last) demo update next month! There will be some surprises in store for players… 😉


Be seeing you soon,


Alan

Hiya! This is Alan taking the helm of writing this time around. It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to write an update, so here goes.
Steam Chronicle #12 is here! Now that we’re out of March Madness, there are milestones we’ve finally cleared and more to go over.

First, progress on updating the NPC sprites and various art assets in our demo to better match the quality of the new art for the heroes is basically finished! Below are just a couple examples of the numerous updated NPC sprites. Check ‘em out!

Before and after of Mala, Rio's friend since childhood

The Hiroshi Bros have never looked more macho! 💪

[h2]Environment Art Assets Are Done![/h2]

We are happy to announce that almost all of the environment art assets to build each area in the game are complete, thanks to the hard work of the many artists we’ve had the honor of working with. Jamie (@MagicaI_Girl), Glen (@Glentgm), Tim (@pixelgroover), and Justin (@JustinM56576532) all worked hard and the results are fantastic! There are a few miscellaneous assets that still need done, but for the most part we are ready to build out the remainder of the world of Ardemia. Other than a few odds and ends, it’s full steam ahead working on the art needed for enemies and bosses now!

Speaking of environments, the layout isn't final but we’re happy to show off a new environment! Take a look.

I wonder what mysterious place this is?

[h2]Shout Outs!
[/h2]

It’s been a minute since we’ve shouted out other cool projects. Here's a couple that are live right now (as of posting this update) on Kickstarter.
First up is:
[h2]The Golden Eyed Ghosts[/h2]
If you like top-down pixel art games, check out The Golden Eyed Ghosts on Kickstarter! It's a dark fantasy Zelda-like game with metroidvania progression. The solo dev has been hard at work on it since 2020, and is finally releasing the game this year. Any support on the Kickstarter would be very helpful to them. They share the same publisher as us, but we've had our eye on their project since before we realized that.



You can support them and help them get funded at the link below! 👇
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thegoldeneyedghosts/the-golden-eyed-ghosts

[h2]SELINI[/h2]
SELINI is a nonlinear exploration platformer about dark and corrupted replicants, alternated gravity, an old spaceship, a deserted fishing boat, replicas of worlds into other worlds, secret tribes and much more... Get the control of the last replicant and figure out what has happened! Perhaps most interestingly, Selini is an adventure with no traditional text! 😮 It communicates through symbols, so you can play it no matter what language you speak.





SELINI is already funded, but there is an awesome Companion stretch goal and a secret goal! Check out the campaign and support it here 👇
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cymban/selini

[h2]Closing[/h2]
This concludes Steam Chronicle #12. We deeply appreciate you sticking with us. Hope you enjoy the newer art we’ve changed for the demo thus far!

Be seeing you soon,

Alan

Time for Steam Chronicle #11!

First, a quick announcement, we will be releasing what may possibly be the final demo for the game around the middle of the year (likely May or June) in time for Steam Nextfest. Mostly this will feature a lot of updated art and a few tweaks. Speaking of which...

We are proud to announce that the main character sprites for Shrine's Legacy have been updated! They are now much more faithful to their genre!

Now that's what I call better Contrast!

And here is a lengthy showcase video showing the new sprites in action! 👀⤵

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

This is thanks to the hard work of finalbossblues, a friend of ours and an excellent pixel artist! He's really breathed new life into the characters that we never could have imagined before now. If you are an aspiring gamedev (especially for RPGS), he also has a massive amount of pixel art assets available through his Patreon that we highly recommend checking out if you can!
finalbossblues | creating Pixel Art Game Assets | Patreon

It's been really cool seeing how the characters have evolved over time! Seeing them reach their current form has been truly satisfying. Thanks to the wonderful artists that have helped us get this far! From the questionable early days before we revealed the game. To the sprite designs I made for the current demos. To the early original digital designs by Shrimptoast. To the awesome portraits by Toaomr. To the fantastic digital designs by Steph for our Key Art. And finally full circle back to the sprites redesign by finalbossblues. Rio and Reima have already been through quite the journey, and the game's not even out yet!! 🤯

To everyone who's pushed us to make the game the best it can be, thank you! And if there's anyone else I'm forgetting who contributed to the designs in some way.... thank you too!!! 😊

Closing
That's all for Steam Chronicle #11. Thanks for hangin' around with us!

Until next time,

Joseph

All major towns now have their basic foundation set. Things like NPCs and shadows are not placed yet, nor do all the houses function, but it shows a somewhat accurate account of how the town layout will be when it's finished.

As an example, here is more progress on the Mountain Town of Illdar:










Last time we had a mockup of Parum Tunnel, this time we have the Tunnel working in-game. It could still get some adjustment, but it's good to have the tiles and lights working in-engine.

A more finalized look of Parum Tunnel, in-engine


That ends Steam Chronicle #10. Please keep an eye out because we plan to have some really exciting news in the coming month regarding our favorite two protagonists! 😎

Until next time,

Joseph