Dark Sky News

Greetings,

Today is the start of the Deckbuilder's Fest here on Steam. With that, we are so excited for you all to experience the brand new demo we’ve built for this event, if you’re reading this, the new demo is out and available now! The team has put in a ton of work, updating this demo from our previous version. We've focused a lot of attention on redesigning and overhauling the combat, the deck building and card crafting menus, adding new indicators and information, updating the HUD and UI, and adding additional content!

Today, you can also join Rob and Felipe from Ganymede Games as they stream the new demo, right here on Steam, to talk through some of the design philosophy and updates made in this latest iteration. They’ll also walk you through some of their favorite builds!

We’re excited to hear your feedback on the new demo. Join us on Discord to get development infights, post suggestions for the game, and chat with the devs!

In the meantime it would help us a LOT if you could wishlist the game:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1454960/Dark_Sky/

With the new demo and update there are a lot of changes, too many to list, but here is a short tally of some of the major changes, updates, and overhauls from the previous version.

[h2]New content in demo:
[/h2]

• New level called ‘The Shipyard’. This is where the demo begins now, it's the first level of the game, where we set up the story, present Squig and Norton, and teach the basic mechanics of Dark Sky.
  
• The Shipyard also features 3 brand new enemy units, the Guild’s Security (or GSEC) bots.
  
• New level called ‘Moros’. After the party leaves the shipyard, the player arrives at the Town of Moros. This is a purely narrative level where players will experience a series of conversations that move the story forward and set up the mission for Act 1. Agama is introduced here, as well as some new NPCs. Finally, the player can access a new feature here, the Blueprint Shop, where they can buy card blueprints to craft new cards for their decks.
  
• Wolf Hollow has had some tweaking in the general flow of the level, and the conversations in it. The Boss battle has been slightly tweaked with new mechanics as well.

[h2]Major Demo Feature Updates:
[/h2]
[h3]Combat:
[/h3]

• Added a new combat mechanic called Ignite Reaction - players can use it by combining Static or Poison, with Burn, which can then deal a large burst of damage as a combo.
  
• New and improved movement system using ‘Movement Points’
  
• Improvements made on enemy abilities - targeting and intent indicators mostly.
  
• Improved card range indicators.
  
• Added a Mr. Squiggles Card for Squig
  

[h3]Dialogue:[/h3]

• Have added an auto-play mode that can be turned on/off.
  
• Dialogue scenes can now be skipped.
  
• The conversation log can now be hidden.
  

[h3]Overworld:[/h3]

• Improved interactive objects indicators.
  
• Changed player avatar movement to be point-and-click based.
  
• Improved visual feedback of looted objects.
  

[h3]Deckbuilding & Menus:[/h3]

• Added 2nd tier upgrade for each character, allowing you to further customize your build
  
• Redesigned the Deckbuilder menu and the Upgrade and Crafting functions within it.
  
• Added more customizable options to the Options Menu.
  
• Added the Quest Menu and quest logs.
  

We hope this change list provides a look into the updates and redesigns we've made and our drive to make Dark Sky the best it can be!

In the meantime, if you want some help on putting together some builds within Dark Sky we've enlisted the help of the team to put together a nice build guide to help provide just a glimpse of what you'll get later this year with the full release of Dark Sky. Included in this guide are detailed breakdowns of each card's capabilities, optimal pairing suggestions with other cards, their upgrades, and tactical advice to maximize their potential.



[h2]Build Guide[/h2]

These builds include cards that you will receive at the card shop in the second demo level (Moros), and we’ve indicated the priority order of cards to craft and upgrade. Be sure to gather all of the resources in the overworld so that you can craft every card. Lastly, these builds are created with level 7 in mind so that they can be used to take on the final fight in the demo!

[h3]Keep Calm and Recycle[/h3]
Build Overview
This build is based entirely on Flashbang and its Recycle upgrade, which gives Squig one Power and two Vulnerable stacks when the card is discarded. Power stacks are especially deadly when combined with Laser Burst, since Power stacks increase the damage of every hit from an attack. In one deck rotation (3 Power stacks gained), your upgraded Laser Burst will deal a whopping twenty damage!

The main DPS in this composition is Squig, who will stay in the back at all times to avoid taking damage. Norton is using a defensive build, though he has two strong attack cards in Chain Lightning and Shocking Claw, which can turn around a combat should Squig fall to long range damage. He should be placed in the middle grid slots, since the front will be handled by Agama. She has three fully upgraded Evade cards to stay alive as long as possible while Squig gains Power stacks, and she also speeds up that process with three fully upgraded Quick Wits, which are very helpful when trying to cycle through the deck. Be very careful with Flashbangs though, they are Volatile! If you end your turn with one copy in your hand it will be removed for the rest of the combat.

[h3]Squig[/h3]
Laser Burst (x3)

• Tier 1: - EP Cost (1st)
  
• Tier 2: Damage (4th)
  

Flashbang (x3)

• Tier 1: Push (2nd)
  
• Tier 2: Recycle Effect (3rd)
  

Shine a Light (x2) (Obtained via Card Shop)

[h3]Norton[/h3]
Block (x3)

• Tier 1: Block per Charge (2nd)
  
• Tier 2: Charge on Hit (3rd)
  

Charge (x3)

• Tier 1: Charge (1st)
  
• Tier 2: Card Draw (4th)
  

Chain Lightning (x1)
Shocking Claw (x1) (Obtained via Card Shop)

[h3]Agama[/h3]
Evade (x3)

• Tier 1: Evasion (1st)
  
• Tier 2: Movement Refund (4th)
  

Quick Wits (x3)

• Tier 1: - EP Cost (2nd)
  
• Tier 2: Encore (3rd)

Push (x2)



[h3]Ride the (chain) lightning[/h3]
Build Overview
This build centers around Norton and his attack card Chain Lightning, which deals more damage the more Charge stacks he has. With three fully upgraded Charge cards to maximize the Charge gained, this attack can cause a lot of mayhem on any combat!

The main damage dealer will be Norton, who will stay on the back row gaining Charge stacks until he has enough to defeat a couple of enemies. This build is more defensive, since it takes a while for Norton to gain the necessary Charge stacks. Agama and Squig will be placed at the front of the battlefield in order to prevent Norton from taking damage. They are loaded with defensive cards like Block, Evade, Mending Mesh and Flashbang in order to gain as much time as possible for Norton to ramp up.

One very important card is Shine a Light, which lets you stun an enemy without downsides when fully upgraded. Finally, we round out the build with three fully upgraded Quick Wits to cycle through the deck faster and get Norton more Charge stacks.

[h3]Squig[/h3]
Block (x2)

• Tier 1: Block (2nd)

Mending Mesh (x2) (Obtained via Card Shop)

• Tier 1: Block (5th)

Flashbang (x1)

• Tier 1: Push (1st)

Shine a Light (x3) (Obtained via Card Shop)

• Tier 1: - EP Cost (3rd)
  
• Tier 2: Effect (4th)

[h3]Norton[/h3]
Charge (x3)

• Tier 1: Charge (1st)
  
• Tier 2: - EP Cost (3rd)

Block (x2)

• Tier 1: Charge (2nd)

Chain Lightning (x2)

• Tier 1: Range (4th)

Shocking Claw (x1) (Obtained via Card Shop)

• Tier 1: Range (5th)

[h3]Agama[/h3]
Quick Wits (x3)

• Tier 1: - EP Cost (2nd)
  
• Tier 2: Encore (3rd)

Evade (x3)

• Tier 1: Evasion (1st)
  
• Tier 2: Movement Refund (4th)

Push (x2)



[h3]The Roof is On Fire [/h3]
Build Overview
This build takes advantage of the Ignite reaction to deal lots of damage really fast. Squig can cause the Burn status with all of his attacks, Norton can inflict Static with Sparky Jack and Agama can Poison with all of her attack cards. This build is a little more RNG heavy than the previous two since you need to draw different cards from all characters to cause the Ignite reaction, so the redraw mechanic is especially helpful here.

Squig has the Burn upgrade on both Attack and Laser Burst to Ignite. We don’t carry three copies of Laser Burst because it’s an expensive card and the Burn upgrade blocks us from taking the cost reduction upgrade. Norton has the extra target upgrade on Sparky Jack for more Static Clouds. We don’t take Norton’s Attack cards with the Static upgrade since that would leave us without Skill Points to upgrade our defensive cards. Agama has the Poison Cloud upgrade of Poison Grenade to be able to target any field on the grid and the Poison upgrade on Attack. Finally, we upgrade Evade because Agama will be the dedicated frontline for this build, Squig and Norton are less tanky and benefit from the range.

[h3]Squig[/h3]
Attack (x3)

• Tier 1: Range (1st)
  
• Tier 2: Burn (2nd)

Laser Burst (x2)

• Tier 1: Burn (3rd)
  

Block (x2)

• Tier 1: Block (5th)
  

Mending Mesh (x1) (Obtained via Card Shop)

• Tier 1: Regen (4th)

[h3]Norton[/h3]
Sparky Jack (x3) (Obtained via Card Shop)

• Tier 1: Range (2nd)
  
• Tier 2: Target (3rd)
  

Charge (x2)

• Tier 1: Charge (1st)
  

Block (x3)

• Tier 1: Block per Charge (4th)

[h3]Agama[/h3]
Poison Grenade (x3) (Obtained via Card Shop)

• Tier 1: - EP Cost (1st)
  
• Tier 2: Poison Cloud (2nd)
  

Attack (x2)

• Tier 1: Poison (3rd)
  

Evade (x2)

• Tier 1: Evasion (4th)
  

Quick Wits (x1)

• Tier 1: - EP Cost (5th)

[h3]Pest Control [/h3]
Build Overview
This build focuses on the Poison status effect inflicted by Agama’s attacks. Every turn, it deals damage to the enemy affected by it equal to the number of stacks. By applying a lot of Poison with Agama’s Poison Grenade and Attack, this can snowball very quickly and lead to +20 damage per turn passively.

In most builds Agama is the frontline thanks to her incredibly useful Evasion, but here we actually want to position her behind Squig. He will be doing all of the tanking thanks to his insane Block + Regen when stacking multiple upgraded Mending Mesh cards. We’ll also be taking advantage of Mending Mesh’s double target upgrade to place Norton on the frontline, so he can both tank for Agama and gain Charge via Block’s upgrades. This will help him tank better but also charge up for a big Chain Lightning or Shocking Claw finisher if it ends up being necessary. From the second row, Agama can move back and forth depending on if she needs to use a melee Attack or a ranged Poison Grenade. She’ll have all of the space required for it since Squig and Norton will remain on the frontline.

[h3]Squig[/h3]
Mending Mesh (x3) (Obtained via Card Shop)

• Tier 1: Block (2nd)
  
• Tier 2: Target (3rd)
  

Flashbang (x3)

• Tier 1: Push (1st)
  
• Tier 2: Range (4th)
  

Shine a Light (x1) (Obtained via Card Shop)
Block (x1)

[h3]Norton[/h3]
Charge (x3)

• Tier 1: Charge (1st)
  
• Tier 2: - EP Cost (3rd)

Block (x3)

• Tier 1: Block per Charge (2nd)
  
• Tier 2: Charge on Hit (4th)
  

Chain Lightning (x1)
Shocking Claw (x1) (Obtained via Card Shop)

[h3]Agama[/h3]
Attack (x3)

• Tier 1: Poison (2nd)
  

Poison Grenade (x3) (Obtained via Card Shop)

• Tier 1: Poison (1st)
  
• Tier 2: Retain (3rd)
  

Quick Wits (x2)

• Tier 1: - EP Cost (4th)

[h3]Attack of the Clones [/h3]
Build Overview
This build revolves around Squig’s Mr Squiggles card, which creates a holographic clone on a chosen field in front of him. With the Turret upgrade, every clone creates a Turret Attack card at the start of the turn. Playing the card causes all active clones to attack in a line in front of them. Combining this with Mending Mesh to keep the clones alive, we can have an army of clones that can deal damage to the entire board!

You might think that the smart play here would be to keep the clones on the frontline, but since we actually want them to stay alive to deal damage the best play here is to keep Squig on the backline and place the clones right in front of him. The frontline will be handled by Norton and Agama, who are using defensive builds to better protect the clones. The only outlier is Norton, who’s carrying a double upgraded Chain Lightning that can chain through himself. This is because the clones deal a lot of AoE linear damage, so there will usually always be an enemy left at the backline that won’t get hit by the attacks. This is what the Chain Lightning solves. Squig is also carrying some defensive utility in the form of two Shine a Light cards, that can really help for some of the stronger attacks that need to be stopped at all costs. The build’s plan is to spawn the clones, give them block if necessary and then start spamming Turret Attacks.

[h3]Squig[/h3]
Mr. Squiggles (x3) (Obtained via Card Shop)

• Tier 1: Clone Armor (1st)
  
• TIer 2: Clone Attack (2nd)

Mending Mesh (x3) (Obtained via Card Shop)

• Tier 1: Block (3rd)
  
• Tier 2: Target (4th)

Shine a Light (x2) (Obtained via Card Shop)

[h3]Norton[/h3]
Charge (x3)

• Tier 1: Charge (1st)
  
• Tier 2: - EP Cost (2nd)

Block (x3)
Chain Lightning (x1)

• Tier 1: Range (3rd)
  
• Tier 2: Conduit (4th)

Shocking Claw (x1) (Obtained via Card Shop)

[h3]Agama[/h3]
Push (x3)

• Tier 1: - EP Cost (1st)
  
• TIer 2: Retain (4th)

Evade (x2)

• Tier 1: Evasion (2nd)

Quick Wits (x2)

• Tier 1: - EP Cost (3rd)

Attack (x1)

• Tier 1: Poison (5th)

[h2]Conclusion[/h2]

We hope the build guide and change notes give you a starting point to try out in the demo! Let us know how these builds worked out for you!

And remember, this demo only contains some of the cards for the characters, there are more cards for each character to unlock, craft, and upgrade! If you thought chain lightning was cool, wait till you learn about Norton’s thunderstorm ability and Agama’s Thousand Winds. When you combine that with three new characters beyond the trio of Squig, Norton, and Agama -- there’s a ton of synergies and powerful builds to uncover in the full game release!

The demo is available now on Steam, so please let us know if you have any thoughts or feedback. You can join our Discord to give us feedback directly, or head over the Steam Discussions section and let us know what you think.

-Ganymede Games & Midwest Games

Greetings,

Please join Rob and Felipe from Ganymede Games as they stream the new Darky Sky demo, right here on Steam, to talk through some of the design philosophy and updates made in this latest update. They’ll also walk you through some of their favorite builds!

If you want more information and builds check out our most recent build guide linked here!

- Ganymede Games & Midwest Games

Greetings,

A lot has happened in the last few weeks, if you did not catch our last developer update we recommend checking that out. In that update, we announced a new name, our publisher partner, and our upcoming demo and participation in Steam's Deckbuilder's Fest on March 25th!

For this month, we wanted to focus on Paul-Drauz Brown, the Sound Designer for Dark Sky, and give him a chance to share some of his insights and process on building out the audio for the game. He covers capturing the essence of the characters, layering multiple sounds to form ambience, and more!

Take it away Paul!

[h3]Developer Focus[/h3]
Hey everyone I'm Paul, the Audio Designer here at Ganymede. When approaching the audio design for this project, I felt it was important to reflect the hand drawn and cartoonish aspects of the characters and creatures that inhabit the world, without falling into the trap of making ‘zany’ sounds which would undermine the story. To move in this direction, the bulk of the audio design is intended to feel grounded, but with each element having a little extra flavor that stops it feeling mundane and instead a bit more fun. As the project has evolved, more emphasis has been placed on creating punchy transients within sounds, again to enhance the bold, slightly cartoonish art style.

Exaggeration of certain sounds was key in this; for instance, some carnivorous plants in the environment, rather than sounding like pretty much other plants, instead give off squelching and gurgling sounds I recorded while feeling hungry. This still feels in-world, but is a bit more interesting than the standard rustling you’d expect. That’s just one example, but this approach is layered throughout most of the sounds in different ways.

With many assets to create and a game that has kept evolving, maintaining flexibility when it comes to implementing sounds was key. On Dark Sky, using the audio middleware tool, FMOD, has been very helpful in this regard. It allows me to layer up and randomize sounds in many ways without requiring additional assistance from our programmers. It does have some limitations when it comes to things like controlling music states and more complex, layered systems. However, it has been of great help on this project.

An area where it shines is in designing ambiences. I made heavy use of scatter containers in FMOD, which allow you to trigger spatialised one-shot sounds around the listener object, in this case the player. Most ambient beds were created in this way, with a small selection of base loops and then layers of these scatter containers to add randomized details and background sounds. In the shipyard for instance, the sounds of ships flying offscreen and crashing were placed in such a container with a modulated pan applied, so they would randomly streak left, right, back and forwards before exploding
[Fig. 1]. A concern with using these is keeping track of the voice count, which can climb very quickly, so I made sure to keep these at acceptable levels using voice limiting and stealing.



[Fig. 1] An example of the ambience layers and scatter containers. At the bottom is an LFO controlling the movement of ships as they fly past

The second component of the ambiences are the emitters in the level itself, which are dotted around to add more specific details. For instance, in Bloody Tears Gulch, there is a derelict ship which is being hacked to pieces from the inside by the Runshaka. This emitter is actually a set of scatter containers which play various mechanical hits, whirs and groans, creating a fully randomized sound of busy workers hidden inside. As mentioned, these containers and ambient emitters in general can spike the voice counts easily, so every level emitter also controls its play state based on the player’s overlap. I set the radius according to the sound’s attenuation distance, so it can turn on and off during gameplay while retaining the smooth volume fade as you approach. For simpler, looping emitters I would either create variations, or set random start points and pitching in each event, meaning that even if the same source sound is playing for two level emitters, they will sound quite different.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
For oddly shaped and long environmental features, there is a custom emitter which follows the player on a spline, such as along the banks of a river. In Bloody Tears Gulch, there are three of these river sections which blend into one another, creating a transition from the fast flowing part of the river, down to the slow trickle and acidic quality it has as it reaches the edge of the crystallized, toxic Dead Barrens. This provides the best of both worlds; a more consistent volume along the banks, and fewer emitters in the level.

To enhance the sense of a space, we make use of convolution reverbs, which produce reverb based on the recording of a real space, and can create very realistic results. These are expensive to run, as they require a lot of continual processing. To offset this cost, however, almost all of these reverbs are placed on separate reverb buses in FMOD, so other tracks can be sent to them. In order to avoid requiring a lot of micromanagement, all spatialized sounds have a reverb send set inside their attention settings preset. Those then all send to a single reverb master track, which in turn sends to the various types of convolution reverb bus. The level of these sends is controlled using ‘Snapshots’ in FMOD, which can be triggered from inside unity upon entering a new ambience zone or collision shape. Using an inbuilt parameter for the distance to the sound source, means that the degree of reverb can be increased as the distance increases too, this is handled using a custom curve for each source’s attenuation setting, so behavior can be customized for special cases.

In and outside of combat, there are many characters and creatures to encounter on Wolf Prime, each with its own visual and sonic identity. When approaching the audio for these, I based my aesthetic decisions heavily on which natural element or feature stood out to me the most in the visual design and VFX. This helps distinguish them from one another more easily, while also opening up creative avenues for exploration.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
For instance, the sound for the Arocknid is made entirely out of earth elements like stone, gravel and sand. Even the vocals are made by squeaking stones together and processing them to sound like small, shrill vocalizations. Other creatures, like the Runshaka, are associated most with the idea of metal scrap, given their scavenger lifestyle. This comes through in both the audio design for their tools and contraptions, which are rickety and unstable, their power sources which buzz and fizz, and their vocals which are made with a broken kazoo.

Thinking along these lines also made it easier to categorize different sounds that characters could share, which helps a lot with keeping the scope manageable. Each attacking ability has a ‘cast’ and ‘hit’ component in separate FMOD events, sometimes with an additional projectile traveling sound. Each hit sound for every attack takes a parameter for the body type of the hit enemy (Flesh/metal/feathers/etc), then plays this material layer under the hit sound, providing more feedback and variation without requiring additional asset creation or exploding the feature scope [Fig. 2 & 3]. This same technique was used for when characters move on the grid, where the appropriate ground type is layered into their unique movement event.



[Fig. 2] An example of the character flesh type layered with an attack hit.



[Fig. 3] An example of one of the shared flesh hits, in this case 'Heavy Slash'.

The Music System makes use of several nested events in order to play continuous music. At the bottom level there is a single event for each location, with internal transition markers and regions to control the moment to moment gameplay, whether we are in combat or not, what is the current threat level, etc [Fig. 4]. These are controlled by parameters and events set from other events or from the game engine itself. These are used to determine which music tracks should play, and which layers should be added or removed.

These individual music events are then wrapped up in a main music event, which handles the transitions between levels and the main menu, using an additional set of parameters [Fig. 5]. Upon launching the game, we play the master audio event, and then control its state throughout the course of the game for a more seamless experience.



[Fig. 4] An example of the music setup for one level and its possible gameplay states



[Fig. 5] A look at the master music event, which controls all referenced music sub-events.

There are many more features and aspects of the design which could be discussed, but I hope this gives some insight into the overall processes and concepts applied. Coming soon will be new settings and creatures which start to detach from the material world, and I’m excited to find new ways to bring them to life while retaining a sense of physicality.

[h3]Conclusion[/h3]

Thanks Paul for that look into the audio design, we hope this has been an informative look into everything that goes into designing and creating the audio that you'll hear more of on March 25th with the release of our newest demo, and later this year upon our full release.

Be sure to check out the new Demo and the Steam Deckbuilder's Fest on March 25th! Thank you all for your continued support and enjoy the brief look at Wolf Prime!

- Ganymede Games & Midwest Games Teams

Hey everyone,

Rob here. I am one of the co-founders of Ganymede Games. I'm thrilled to announce that development is progressing smoothly, and we've scheduled our release for Q3 2024. This will be a full release of the game—no early access. You'll be able to play through the entire story and fully immerse yourself in the game world we've envisioned.

We have a few big pieces of news today. First, we've officially changed the name of Xenotheria to Dark Sky as you may have already seen on the Steam Page.



[h3]So, why change the name?[/h3]

We have been considering a name change for a while. While we loved the uniqueness of the name Xenotheria, it was often mispronounced and misspelled. Over time, we grew attached to it, much like you did, but it was still in the back of our minds that we needed to change it before launching. After months of brainstorming, our character artist, Chris, proposed Dark Sky. It clicked with the team and we knew we had something special. Dark Sky evokes a sense of mystery, coalesces with the themes of the narrative, and has a layered meaning. In a crowded world of games, we need every advantage to get the game out there, and the marketability of Dark Sky is stronger. We hope you’re as excited about Dark Sky as we are!

And now for our second bit of news. Last year, we mentioned that we had signed with a publisher but couldn't disclose who due to the need for planning around the announcement. We're now thrilled to reveal the name of our partner: Midwest Games!

Founded by industry veterans, Midwest Games is dedicated to creating opportunities for the vast talent in the Midwest and other underrepresented regions. Based in New Mexico, with a global remote team, we align perfectly with their mission. We've been collaborating with Midwest Games for several months and are excited about their support in bringing Dark Sky to the market. As we shared in October's dev blog, Midwest Games's support includes funding to realize our full vision for the game, along with assistance in localization, QA, and marketing.

[h3]New Demo Coming Very Soon! [/h3]

With the new name and publisher announcement, we're most excited about a fresh demo we're releasing during Steam’s Deckbuilders Fest from March 25 to April 1, 2024! This demo will showcase the new UX/UI, levels, enemies, cards, and much more. We'll provide complete details and a change list as the event approaches. We can’t wait for you to play it.

[h3]From Xenotheria to Dark Sky[/h3]

Reflecting on our journey with this project, we're immensely grateful for your support. Below is a compilation of screenshots highlighting our progress.

2021


2022


2023


2024


[h3]Conclusion[/h3]

We hope you can feel the momentum here and we appreciate your support. Feel free to shoot us a note on Discord or in the comments with any questions. We look forward to impressing you with the new playable demo for Dark Sky on March 25!

With gratitude,

Rob

Greetings,

As we begin 2024, the team continues to work diligently on updating and building out towards release later this year. Today, we're excited to share a work-in-progress update on our upcoming game's combat HUD and UI. Redesigning the combat HUD has been on the radar for quite some time. We’ve wanted the HUD to improve in two major aspects: readability and visual clutter. Our battles have a lot of info going on with things like the cards, ranges, enemies targeting abilities, status effects, movement, health, and defenses. Our goal was to make all of this information available without making the battlefield a collage of icons flying around, especially when facing lots of enemies. The information has to be clear and accessible, but not overpowering.

First, here is a UX/UI Mockup and guide of the new system and the information that will be shown throughout the update iterations.



First Iteration:

We explored the possibility of using shaped icons for Armor and Evasion indicators instead of colored circles. We also considered hiding unused slots for status effects. There are a total of 8 slots to distribute among passives/traits and status effects, so in this iteration, we looked into the placement of unit names, shortening the HP bar, and adding a Cover HP counter.



Second Iteration:

Here, we addressed the display of Movement Points (MP) with more segmented visuals. We can show as many segments as MP the unit has (if it's just 1, then it will look like a semi-circle). We introduced icons for Armor and Evasion while experimenting with the order of the defense indicators. Lastly, we explored different options for visualizing unit movement, enemy intent, and stun status.



Third Iteration:

We aimed to incorporate more variations to illustrate how the HUD would appear in different states. Things to look at here include Squig, who has expended movement for the turn, Agama showcasing a complete HUD, and Norton portraying the appearance when a player focuses on a character – in this scenario, the HUD takes precedence over all other units.

One challenge encountered pertained to Traits, particularly in Norton's illustration. A suggestion we had internally was having Statuses and Traits share the same space, alternating at a fixed interval, and freezing when the player places focus on them. In this envisioned scenario, Norton could display "Charge" as his trait. Addressing feedback from the team, we realized that we had too many colors. To streamline and enhance visual clarity, a proposal was made to reduce the number of colors, especially since shapes will be introduced in the statuses. Using shapes rather than an extensive color palette should simplify the distinction between different statuses.



Fourth Iteration:

In the standard UI state, Norton is the highlighted unit, causing his HUD to take precedence over all other units while being hovered upon. By default, HP numbers are not displayed and only appear when hovering over the unit. HP bars now feature segments, reminiscent of those in League of Legends, where each segment represents 5 HP. This visual enhancement provides a quick assessment of units' HP status. Hovering over the bars reveals the exact HP number.

Notable changes include an increase in size for Armor and Evasion counters, along with the addition of a background to the icons, this is helping to separate them from the battlefield. Stack numbers in statuses/traits are now larger, and HUDs have been extended slightly to improve spacing between icons. Traits and Statuses continue to cycle at a fixed interval below the HP bar.

A consideration regarding freezing traits/statuses when hovering over a unit, given the existence of the inspect window for closer examination. With tooltips accessible from the inspect window, this becomes a point of discussion. An example featuring a stunned unit is provided, indicated in the Enemy Intent part of the HUD.



Some additional QoL points: The color for movement points has been adjusted for clarity. The Energy Counter has been changed to align aesthetically with the End Turn button for consistency. A vignette effect at the bottom of the screen has been added to enhance separation between the UI and the background, improving readability. A prompt to open the inspect window is now present over the deck indicator. Cover HP indicators have been reduced to match Armor indicators for consistency, as both operate similarly (covers use armor to set the number of hits they can take).

From the previous state, pressing 'Q' or the corresponding button on the controller initiates the opening of the inspect window. This version does not represent Norton's current state but provides an overview of how a complete inspect window could look. When the inspect window is open, players can browse different items within it. When hovering over items in the inspect window a tooltip display appears next to it.



An example is provided for an enemy inspect window, featuring an additional field between Block and MP to show Intent. For characters, this space remains empty unless the character is stunned, considering the potential shift from a Status Effect display. Empty elements, such as traits, persist in the window rather than disappearing. Movement is displayed as greyed out when a unit is unable to move due to stun or when a character expends all movement. In the given example, as the enemy is the focus, Norton's HUD is rendered behind Agama.

Conclusion

Thanks to Felipe and the team for providing the update on the UI and Combat HUD. As we inch closer to the completion of this combat HUD and UI overhaul, the team cannot wait for you all to experience the world they’ve been hard at work on. We would love to hear your thoughts on the UI and HUD updates, please let us know if you have any feedback on what we’ve built so far.

Stay tuned for more developer updates as the year goes on and thank you all for your continued support!

- Rob