Pale Coins News

Hey there,
Let's have a look at the progress made in September and the roadmap of 2024 and 2025.




Enabling Mod support has become the most important feature on my list lately. I've been thinking a lot on when and how to enable mods for you. Ultimately, giving you the option to create your own content in Pale Coins as soon as possible sounded excellent.
Even though the final release might still take a while, you should be able to add and create your own content until then.



Everything in the image above is modded content. The world, the room, the weapon, the armor and even the equipped artefact is loaded externally. All of the needed configs and sprites can be placed in separate mod folders with the option to enable or disable them.

A guide on how to mod your own content will be released eventually.



[h2]Demo Update[/h2]
In the last few months huge progress was made on gameplay improvements, immersion, QoL features and - as mentioned before - mod support.
The next logical step is to let you decide if you like the direction Pale Coins is going towards. Therefore, a new demo version will be released in October, which lets you experience the world of Grenmark in a new light. And possibly with new, community created, content.

Obviously, mod support is still in the works and needs more testing. As soon as I feel comfortable with the test coverage, I'll let you know and release a new version.

[h2]New Trailer[/h2]
Behind the scenes, a new trailer has been worked on for a few months. This has been the most challenging excersise for me so far in terms of video editing, pacing and actually finishing the whole thing.
The trailer will be released around the time the new demo releases. I am looking forward to that as well.

[h2]What's planned for 2024?[/h2]
After the release of the new demo I want to get back to the different regions in Pale Coins.
Some of them need to be reworked, such as the capital. Others are still missing and have to be implemented.
By the end of the year, I want to have a majority of the regions and dungeons finished.

[h2]What's planned for 2025?[/h2]
Unfortunately, I won't be able to finish everything needed in 2024. Therefore, development will go on in 2025.
The following is planned until the final release:

• finish all mandatory regions
  
• finish all mandatory bosses
  
• mid- and late-game items and skills
  
• factions
  
• pets / companions
  
• more questlines
  
• different game modes
  

I am looking forward to the release of the new demo, the trailer and, most importantly, your feedback.

Thank you so much for sticking around and your support. I really appreciate every single wishlist, comment and mention.

Have a great day and see you next time,
Lukas

Let's have a look at all the new stuff in August.


The old forest, one of the very first areas you traverse along your search for the Champion's Coin, was lacking the forest look I was going for. Therefore, new trees were added, the grass got darker and overall more flora was added.


New dialogue portraits were added to the most important NPCs. Above are two of my favourites.


Stones and lanterns were added on the road between the capital and Erstadt. Also, certain maps offer stables - currently empty - to enhance the immersion.


Due to my love to the dark fantasy setting, I wanted to create a new title screen design. I hope you like it.




* Graphical Improvements in the old forest
* new Character Portraits
* Road improvements
* Title image
* Several bugfixes and minor improvements




That's all the progress in August. A new demo will be released soon with all the improvements of the last few months. I am looking forward to it.

Come visit the Discord server and let's talk about Pale Coins and other games: Discord



Thank you so much and have a great day,
Lukas

• Character Portraits
  
• Item Sockets
  
• Perfect Blocking with Shields
  

I am quite excited about this change. The new character portraits make the NPCs stand out and improve the immersion. There are still a few more portraits missing, but there is an end in sight.


In the last few months I was thinking about itemization a lot and ultimately improved items and modifications. However, there was still one thing missing... Sockets.
Now it is possible to socket items with gems and other things to increase your damage, enhance your resistances, improve your item find or even add status bonuses.


Recently, shields got a major improvement. When blocking right before an attack hits, you won't use any stamina to block that attack.
Heavier shields tend to use more stamina when blocking an attack, so this new feature may be useful for your "sword and shield" builds.



That's all the progress in July.
I am looking forward to the development in the next few months and thank you so much for reading.
Make sure to wishlist Pale Coins to support the development.

Thank you so much and have a great day,
Lukas

Summary:

• a new procedurally generated dungeon
  
• a new dungeon boss
  
• Crystal Bulwark boss re-design
  
• finalized the academy layout
  
• new item slots for boots and gloves
  
• new mid-game items and skills
  

After sacrificing a certain key item at the blood altar in the wasteland you’ll be teleported to the blood dungeon. This dungeon is different every time you conquer it’s planes and features a lot of foes to fight.
Upon defeating a majority of the enemies the blood portal activates and you may enter the next plane.



The true test of skill awaits you at the end of the blood dungeon - the Gazer.
This boss is capable of reducing your health to a minimum with it’s laser beam and teeth. Not only does the Gazer inflict a lot of damage, but he also summons tentacles randomly which may cause troubles.


Recently I decided to redesign the Crystal Bulwark boss as I’ve been working hard on improving my pixel-art skills in the last few weeks and months.
What do you think about the re-design?


The academy of the wizards is now complete and features NPCs with different quests and information about Grenmark.
In the future I want to add more NPCs to the academy and also enable the player to join the wizards.


Now, this change is something I am very excited about. You now have two more equipment slots to work with. Along with the improved item modifications, you have so much equipment to choose from and build your character exactly like you need to.


One of my new favorite things to do is to dash at enemies with two-handed greatswords or axes. The Greatsword Dash is an AoE attack which slices through enemies in a straight line.
Additionally, spears got a new skill as well - the multi-thrust. While the damage of each thrust is slightly reduced, this still does more damage than a basic attack.
Along with the new skills new items were added as well for you to find.



That's all the progress in June.
I am looking forward to the development in July and thank you so much for reading.
Make sure to wishlist Pale Coins to support the development.

Thank you so much and have a great day,
Lukas

May has been an interesting month for the development of Pale Coins.
As I've received great feedback lately about the current state of the game, and several ideas on how to improve the gameplay and items, I decided to add new mechanics, as well as change existing mechanics.


Exploration is key in Pale Coins, therefore you may want to search every corner of a map to find new gear, interesting stuff, and special enemies.
However, I had to realise that there was no reason to visit a map multiple times, which ended up making them boring.

[h2]Less map sizes[/h2]
Most map sizes were reduced, to remove unnecessarily long paths to certain destinations. As a side effect, searching for stuff in maps is more efficient and makes it more fun.

[h2]Sprinting[/h2]

Talking about more efficient and more fun: Sprinting is now a thing!
You are now able to move faster by sprinting around the map. It uses stamina, so be careful around enemies, as you may want to have some stamina left to dodge.

[h2]No Enemy Respawn[/h2]
Enemies stay dead per session. As you may visit maps more than once, it sometimes felt tedious to deal with the same enemies over and over again.
This is now changed, as you have to reload the game, to make enemies respawn.

[h2]Elite Enemies[/h2]

You will encounter new enemies which are way stronger than their common variation. These enemies will spawn after certain events in the main story, and will be placed randomly each session.
They also drop rare materials to use later in the game.

[h2]Random item pickups[/h2]

To make exploration more fun, I added new stuff to inspect and loot in the wasteland.
Corpses will spawn randomly per session, which drop gold and sometimes recovery items.
I think they are a great addition and want to add them to other areas as well in the future.


I've been thinking a lot about items and how to improve them.


[h2]Item Modifications and stats[/h2]
I wanted to make items and their stats more meaningful. I felt like the items were boring, as there was almost no difference besides the damage or the defense.
A friend of mine suggested adding random modification to all items, based on their level. This has the side effect, that you may want to keep low level items with certain modifications, as they may give a buff to a build you are trying to make.
Also, I removed the resistances of common items, so you are more dependent on the item modifications.

[h2]Dodge / Block mechanics[/h2]
The overall speed of the gameplay increased by adding sprinting and having smaller maps. I want to add more speed and variation to the combat as well, so I figured to add default dodge mechanics.
I started with a short backstep on greatswords. This one has few iframes, but is sufficient to gain distance and eventually dodge an attack.
Following this, I want to add a block mechanic and shields, so that one-handed weapons are no longer inferior to two-handed weapons.


Progress was made in the academy region as well. All buildings are placed and a few NPCs have been added already.
One of my new favourite NPCs is working hard in the academy. He is a winemaker and has a lot of wine to taste.


I had some spare time and decided to update most of the UI elements. A new font was introduced as well, as the previous font was hard to read at times.



That's all for now.
Make sure to wishlist Pale Coins and support the development.

Thank you so much and have a great day,
Lukas