Duck Life 9 News

Clothes have always been a big part of Duck Life, ever since we introduced hats all the way back in Duck Life 1. In today’s dev log, we’ll be going through how your own duck fashion can elevate your flock, not just in terms of style, but substance as well!

[h2]Check out the drip[/h2]

This time around, clothes are more than just for show. You can put them on a duck to give it bonus levels to its skills! Each item of clothing you equip provides its own unique combination of skill benefits. You might want to use them to make up for a particular duck’s shortcomings and turn them into a more rounded racer, or to boost its highest-level skills all the way to the moon!

This means that as well as making your ducks look all spangly and catwalk-ready, they also function a little like the weapons and costumes from Duck Life Adventure, which had certain affinities and resistance bonuses tied to them. Don’t worry - your inventory will have more than enough space for you to chop and change your looks between the members of your flock!

[h2]These boots were made for racing[/h2]

No more chilly flippers for these ducks - just straight style. Now that the ducks have proper webbed feet, we felt it was time to give them some shoes to wear. Duck Life 9 will be the first game in the series where you can adorn your duck’s feet with a slick new fit! With hats, costumes and now shoes, players can now finally rock a complete a full head-to-toe outfit ensemble. Speaking of ensembles, some of these items will be part of a matching set, whereas others will completely standalone designs so you can create a truly unique look! More about this below...

[h2]Sharing is caring[/h2]

Of course, you can acquire clothes from many different sources - shops, race winnings, or even from the jelly coin machine! Above you can see a pretty chilled-out duck modelling the fabulous rabbit outfit, as if he could get any cuter. Should you choose to pair items from a matching set together, you’ll often end up with a duck who is an absolute powerhouse in one or two particular skills. Bunnies are good at jumping, so you can expect to bound ahead in races! If you recruit a new duck to your Flock, they will often bring some clothing with them. Ducks love to share their wardrobe, so you'll be rolling in options before you it!

Also, seeing as you’re controlling more than just one duck this time around, you won’t be locked to just one single copy of each costume, hat or shoe. If you want to give the entire flock a single uniform look, then you bet you can try!

[h2]Customise the cosmetics[/h2]

Each costume, hat and pair of shoes comes with multiple different colour options. The items that you buy in the shop will usually just have a random colour, but if you’re not feeling it then you can always build a Dye Shop in your flock area to recolour any of your items to your liking - for a small fee, of course. Make your colour palette as complimentary or as hideous as you like, and then when you get bored, do it again!

[h2]Create anything your heart desires[/h2]

We have many different costume options to choose from, but if that isn’t enough for you then why not make your own? That’s right, we’ve saved the best ‘til last!

Unlock the brand new T-Shirt Machine for your flock, and you can draw designs for your own custom T-Shirts! Sketch away and create a painterly masterpiece, or even directly upload a photo to use as the design. The possibilities are literally endless, and once the game comes out next year, we can’t wait to see the crazy outfits you come up with.

Come back for the next dev log in 2 weeks time, where we will be looking at the new 3D races and tournaments! In the meantime, join our Discord channel to keep updated and to join the discussion. We’ll also be posting trailers and updates on our YouTube channel, and if you’d like to wishlist the game you can do so now on the official Steam page (wishlisting helps a lot with getting the game featured on Steam when it releases, so please do it if you can!)

Hello folks, it’s Sam again! This week, get ready for a wild ride as I spill the beans on all the juicy details, the secret sauce, and the magical wizardry that goes into shaping DL9 into an absolute masterpiece!

Now I know what you’re thinking - it’s probably something along the lines of “this game should look like the last game, but better!” And hey, you're kinda on the right track (we definitely want it to look better!) but there’s a lot more to consider when you’re pushing the series in a bold new direction. Let’s take a dive into the pre-production stages of The Flock, shall we?

[h2]The early bird catches the worm[/h2]

As some avid blog-readers may recall from my last post on the dev log, we’ve spoken about how the duck’s design has had to evolve now that they’re all living in this vibrant 3D world. However, there are also several other aspects about the new design that the ducks actually share with the world around them!

You may have noticed that Featherhaven Island consists mainly of lush, pastel-y colours, and that some parts of the environment sport some stylish outlines. When it all comes together on-screen, this will hopefully marry every aspect of the visuals together into a design that stays true to the simple, cartoony look of the original games, while also functioning in a 3-dimensional world.

[h2]Get out your crayons[/h2]

Next up - the colour palette! This time round, we’ve deliberately gone with a spectrum of colours that maintains some charm and appeal even when the subject matter isn’t quite as pleasant. For example, down below you can see a concept I put together for another area of Featherhaven Island where you learn to hone your balancing skills. One wrong move, and you’ll go hurtling into the poisonous fungi below! Even though this forest of dangerous growths very much dominates the area, I haven’t let that dim the mood of the zone overall, as well want to keep a lovely, chipper tone for your ducks to adventure in.

[h2]Prepare for the big time[/h2]

Now I’m afraid that we can’t share too many details on this last one, so I’ll have to be careful! Here goes… Time to talk about how the structure and progression of the game affects the design of the areas!

By now you’ve seen a fair few of the areas across our beloved Featherhaven Island, the grassy starting area known as The Flock, and others including a blossomy meadow and sun drenched cove. As you work your way through the world of Duck Life 9, the pool of resources available to you will grow more and more as you discover new items that only certain zones can offer. With each new zones, the resources you acquire become increasingly fancy, and that is also reflected in the setting of the zones themselves! Plundering Spring Meadows? You know you’re gonna find some delightful flowers! Harvesting Crystal Desert? You bet you’re gonna be surrounded with sparkly shards!

As the settings become increasingly extravagant and the stakes reach dizzying heights, get ready for an absolute visual feast awaiting you on this incredible journey!

Come back for the next dev log in 2 weeks time, where we will be revealing some of the new duck outfits and shops. In the meantime, join our Discord channel to keep updated and to join the discussion. We’ll also be posting trailers and updates on our YouTube channel, and if you’d like to wishlist the game you can do so now on the official Steam page (wishlisting helps a lot with getting the game featured on Steam when it releases, so please do it if you can!)

Before you read this devlog, make sure to watch the new trailer we just released on YouTube! All done? Okay, let’s explain what that was all about!

[h2]Duck Life 9: The Flock[/h2]

As I’m sure you know by now, the subtitle for the game is ‘The Flock’. A flock is the name for a group of ducks, and that’s exactly what this game is about. Your journey starts with a lone, daring duck, but by the grand finale, you'll be the proud leader of a full-blown duck dynasty! So how do you gather this quirky crew? Recruit ducks to your flock by beating them in races, or impressing them by helping them out with quests. Every duck is naturally good at different skills, so it’s a good idea to use different ones for different races. Some ducks you recruit will bring items like hats and costumes along with them, which you can then share with other ducks in your flock.

[h2]Building the ultimate village[/h2]

With a bustling flock, they need a place to call home. Create a thriving duck village using resources earned from races and training games. From cooking pots to training centres, every aspect can be tailored to your ducks' needs. And let's not forget about the essential duck necessities – somewhere to sleep and yes, even somewhere to poop! Adorn the village with decorations and shops, where ducks can find stylish hats, costumes and more. Just make sure to recruit a suitable shopkeeper first!

[h2]Sharing the knowledge[/h2]

You’ll train your ducks one at a time during training games, but ducks are social creatures! In Duck Life 9, they love sharing knowledge. Higher levelled ducks can talk to lower levelled ducks to help them gain XP without even doing any training! Build a stage to give your ducks a platform to teach multiple other ducks at once. You’ll need to enter a group of ducks into the many Featherhaven tournaments so make sure you spread the training knowledge!

[h2]Feeding the Flock[/h2]

All that training and racing makes a duck hungry! You can feed your ducks basic seed if you want to simply curb their hunger pangs, but if you want to increase their energy level you’ll have to do better than that. Luckily your ducks are expert farmers, and can grow all the food they need (if you provide them with the right equipment). Take a trip to the fishing beach to catch some tasty morsels for your ducks. Combine ingredients to discover new meals and send those energy levels soaring!

[h2]Upgrades, upgrades, upgrades![/h2]

Everyone loves upgrades, and here in the Flock almost everything can be upgraded! Want access to more training games? All you need do is upgrade your training centre! Everything, down to the speed at which you chop down trees can be improved, so get saving your resources and set yourself some milestones! With a little hard work, your ducks will soon be the buffed-up lumberjack powerhouses they know they can be!

[h2]No planning permission required[/h2]

Get ready for a splash of excitement that goes beyond just decorations! Curate your flock zone like a conductor crafting a symphony. The way you lay out your buildings and utilities isn't just about looks – it impacts how efficiently jobs get done! Fancy a farm haven? Cultivate a crop paradise that would make any duck proud. Or perhaps you're the mentor of mallards, dedicated to turbocharging newbie ducks into full-feathered pros in record time. So, dip your toes in the pond of possibilities and let your imagination take flight

Come back for the next dev log, where we will be discussing the game's new art style in detail. In the meantime, join our Discord channel to keep updated and to join the discussion. We’ll also be posting trailers and updates on our YouTube channel, and if you’d like to wishlist the game you can do so now on the official Steam page (wishlisting helps a lot with getting the game featured on Steam when it releases, so please do it if you can!)

Hi everyone - my name’s Freddie and I’m a Game Developer at Wix Games. Recently, I’ve been having a lot of fun writing dialogue for Duck Life 9, and I’m looking forward to giving you all a sneak peek into how it’s shaping up. We’ve put a lot of effort into filling Featherhaven Island with fun, engaging characters - let’s see some of them in action!

[h2]Speak easy[/h2]
For those of you who don’t know what dialogue means: it’s just a fancy word for the conversations you’ll be having with characters you meet in the game. And in Duck Life 9, it’s the best it’s ever been - we’ve given unique personalities to every character on the island, while also retaining the relatable, approachable, and slightly absurd personality of the series. You’ll never quite know what to expect when you start talking to someone!

Personally, I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from the Animal Crossing series of games and how well they get across an animal’s character in only a few lines of text. In Duck Life 9, the dialogue is as short and punchy as it can be - it’s something you’ll look forward to, not just something to mash the A button through.

[h2]The bird is the word[/h2]
An important part of Duck Life 9’s dialogue is how interactive it is: the responses you choose to give while talking to other characters will greatly affect how the rest of the conversation goes. To make this possible, we’ve written dialogue that branches off in lots of different directions - this means that you’ll be able to have multiple unique conversations with the same character.

In this example, you can either choose to question the legal grey area that Em’s found herself in, or side with her and ask about what’s on the TV. Your choice will take the conversation in one of two drastically different directions - and you’ll have to talk to her twice if you want to see both of them!

With this new approach to dialogue, we’ve been able to breathe life into a cast of new characters, as well as some returning faces from previous titles - but more on that another time! We hope you’ll enjoy uncovering all of the possible dialogues for each character and learning more about them along the way.

[h2]Quack of all trades[/h2]
As fun as it is to think of funny things for the ducks to say (and trust me, I’ve been doing a LOT of that!), there are also other things that dialogue can be used for in Game Design. For example, characters can tell you about the area you’re in and help you progress through the game. So, if you’re ever stuck and not sure where to go next, we’ve made sure that there’s always someone nearby you can talk to to help you out.

I’ve also been using dialogue to help each area in Featherhaven Island feel rich and vibrant. Many of the ducks will give you some interesting backstory about the area they’re in - so, for long-time fans of the Duck Life universe, there will be plenty for you to sink your teeth into! Some ducks, on the other hand, will have more whimsical, personal stories and opinions to share, but these are just as important as explicit worldbuilding when it comes to making an area feel alive. Our Art team has been working hard to create some awesome-looking environments for this game, and so it’s only right that we do them justice by creating fun, engaging stories for every inch of the island.

Wait… where is that duck, anyway? Is that a new area?

That’s going to wrap up this week’s Devlog - I hope that you’ve enjoyed discovering more about Duck Life 9 and maybe even learned a thing or two. If you like what you’re seeing, then feel free to join our Discord server and get stuck into discussion with other fans of the series. We’ve also launched a Steam page for Duck Life 9, so be sure to wishlist it there!

Hi everyone, I’m Alex and I’m one of the programmers at Wix Games. Today we’ll be doing a deep dive into one specific mini game coming to Duck Life 9, Running Beginner Training! In this training game, your duck is faced with a challenging obstacle course, and the aim of the game is to go as far as you can without falling in the water. With our recent upgrade to 3D, we’ve been given a lot more creative freedom to work with, and we currently have 11 unique obstacles and challenges in this mini game, each more different than the last! Each of these sections is generated by the game engine to be slightly random and varied, so that even when you move through multiple instances of the same section, it’ll still present a new challenge.

After all my hard work making all of them it’s quite difficult to pick a favourite, but I’ll go through a couple down below to showcase some of the challenges we have in store for your ducks…

[h2]Curious Cubes[/h2]
Every second or two, these little cubes get interested in their surroundings and attempt to move around. They’ll move in random directions, so be careful not to fall! At higher levels, the puzzle increases in speed and size to become a truly daunting floating maze! A clear path to the other side may not always be possible straight away, so these sections will often require a bit of patience and foresight. Can you make it to the other side, or will you get completely stranded?

[h2]Perilous Planks[/h2]
Perilous Planks procedurally creates a bridge going all the way from the entrance to the exit of the section, meaning each time you attempt this obstacle it will be a little different - memorising the course won’t help you breeze through this one! The goal of this obstacle is very simple… Don’t fall off!! While this may seem easy to some, the true difficulty comes in when you combine the longer stretches with an overconfident speeding duck! If you are truly gifted in the ways of the running skill, you’ll be able to complete it without stopping or slowing down, but that of course, will come with practice.

[h2]Cyclone Crossing[/h2]
Cyclone Crossing requires you to do battle with the strength of the wind itself in order to stay above the water. With each difficulty increase the strength of the wind grows to almost tornado-like proportions, (you can see where it gets its name) not to mention the fact that the length of the central bridge becomes longer and longer. How far can you get before you’re swept away?

[h2]Trapdoor Tumble[/h2]
In Trapdoor Tumble you have two different coloured doors presented to you. Choose wisely, because one of those colours will send you hurtling down into the depths of the water below. Sometimes the red doors will swing open, other times it’ll be the blues… However, there is a method to their madness in the form of a certain sequence, so the keen eyed among you may be able to predict which ones are about be yanked from under your feet.

The rest of the challenges will be kept a secret for now, but we’ll tease you with the names of the remaining sections here:

Revolving Relay
Bounce Blitz
Hectic Hammers
Swingball Sprint
Splashdown Spinner
Doughnut Dash
River Rush

This concludes out fortnightly roundup, so tune in in a couple of week’s time for more. Until then, get involved in the conversation over on our Discord channel to stay updated. We’ll also be posting trailers and updates on our YouTube channel, and if you’d like to wishlist the game you can do so now on the game’s official Steam page