Devlog #01: Building Corel.

[h2]Devlogs from the Edge[/h2][p][/p][p]Welcome to the Fading Echo devlogs, our dispatches from the frontlines of building a multiversal, collapsing reality held together by code, caffeine, and questionable decisions (might or might not be Chouffe related). [/p][p]We're a small team chasing something big: a game packed with fluid systems, cracked worlds, and characters who bleed story. [/p][p]These logs are where we share how it's all coming together: the mechanics, the lore, the scars, and the sparks. It's messy. It's ambitious. Sometimes it breaks. [/p][p]But every broken piece tells a story, and we want to bring you into that process, one devlog at a time. No polish. Just passion. Probably some clumsiness also… [/p][p]Anyway, the Maze is open. See you on the other side! [/p][p]The Emeteria Team[/p][p][/p][h2]Devlog #01: Building Corel. A Story of Mad Science, Broken Shards & Questionable Choices [/h2][p][/p][p]Let’s talk about Corel. [/p][p]The world. The wound. The lab rat that bit back. It’s not just a setting in Fading Echo. It’s a character. A system. A broken machine that still lashes out. [/p][p]From the start, we knew Corel couldn’t just be another “fantasy biome.” Our goal was clear: create a world on the edge of collapse and make the player feel every crack. ⠀⠀[/p][p][/p][h3]The Art of Ruin. Corel’s Design Blueprint[/h3][p][/p][p]Corel was built around three core pillars: [/p]

1. [p]Systemic Depth – Elemental interactions, layered logic, and true player expression.,[/p]
2. [p]Narrative Embodiment – Worldbuilding told through decay, exploitation, and consequence.,[/p]
3. [p]Traversal as Storytelling – Verticality and fragmentation that reflect the destabilized state of the world.,[/p]

[p]We applied those principles to every layer, from level design to combat, pacing to UI feedback. Because Corel isn’t just a world to explore. It’s a dying ecosystem that fights back. [/p][p][/p][p]Did you know? We decided not to build a horizontal slice. Too long, too complicated for our small team. So we built the Bastion. Then an island. Then another. Then we realized it wouldn’t work. So… we built a horizontal slice. As planned…[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]P.S. Initial vision for the game’s level structure. Final result: not even close. As planned.[/p][p][/p][h3]The Echoverse Connection [/h3][p][/p][p]In the Echoverse, Shards are prime realities, and Corel is one of them. An Æther-rich anomaly that caught the eye of House Kelevra and their unique brand of “unchecked expansion.” (More on the Legendary Houses soon) [/p][p]Unlike most Shards, Corel was born without Shadows, meaning no mirrored realities, no echoes. That gave us a narrative free pass to overengineer every inch of it: tighter, more isolated, more oppressive. [/p][p]Under Kelevra’s domination, Shadows eventually formed as twisted reflections shaped by their exploitation. We designed them with the same philosophy: everything tells the story.[/p][p][/p][h3]Bastion & Breakdown [/h3][p][/p][p]When Kelevra stumbled across Corel, they didn’t see a lost world. They saw a blank slate. A goldmine. A perfect Shard to mold to their will. They arrived. With drills. Without mercy. [/p][p]They built the Bastion, their extraction hub. And that’s when everything started to spiral. We asked ourselves: What does colonization look like when it’s dressed in baroque armor and powered by liquid magic? Corel is the answer. [/p][p]We visualized its unraveling through: [/p]

• [p]Fragmented island clusters – instability made explorable. [/p]
• [p]Environmental storytelling – abandoned machinery, shattered sites, ætheric scars. [/p]
• [p]Fluid systems – literal (water-as-magic) and metaphorical (morally grey choices woven into play). [/p]

[p]Even its Ætheric Intelligence, Vellum (the god-spirit of this Shard, we also need to talk about that at some point) began to fracture under the pressure, torn between servitude and rising self-awareness.[/p][p][/p][p]Did you know? We built Corel’s lore early, alongside level design and character work. Parallel tracks. Then we realized nothing fit. Turns out, one was fragmented, the other wasn’t. So… we broke the narrative on purpose. Then rebuilt it around the fragments. As planned.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Gameplay Roots in World Rot [/h3][p][/p][p]Corel is alive… and pissed. Each zone is part of a reactive, layered Ætheric ecosystem: [/p]

• [p]Elemental puzzles? They’re the Shard’s nervous system, misfiring. [/p]
• [p]Enemies? Not just mobs, they’re localized anomalies, grown from corruption. [/p]
• [p]Combat? Changes based on terrain, fluids, and dynamic states. [/p]

[p]The player’s goal? Reconnect Ætheric sources to stabilize Corel. [/p][p]We’ll go deeper on that in a future post, but at its core (pun intended), it's about rewiring a world’s nervous system, connecting short, mid, and long gameplay loops directly to narrative stakes.[/p][p][/p][h3]Enter: One [/h3][p][/p][p]And then we dropped One into it. [/p][p]A teenage Legend, born in the wreckage of the Cataclysm. [/p][p]Unaware of her legacy. Unprepared for what she carries. She’s not here to save the world. She’s just trying to survive it. And maybe, just maybe, flood it all to build something better. [/p][p][/p][p]Did you know? [/p][p]One came to life fast. Felt like she knocked on the game’s door and walked in. Obvious. Effortless. We were thrilled. Then came the hair… Months of work. Like Custom tech months of work… Now we have our own plugin called “Bigoudi – Revolutionizing hair physics in real time”. We even got a grant. Official letter, signature, the whole thing. As planned.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Corel Was Never Meant to Be Comfortable[/h3][p][/p][p]Corel is a hostile sandbox where everything wants something from the player: The world. The systems. The history. And the only way out… is through. [/p][p]We’ll dive deeper into Corel’s systems, [/p][p]Ætheric mechanics and narrative architecture in future devlogs. There’s a lot to unpack and yeah, we’ll also talk about the Maze, the core loop, Vellum, the Houses, and all the weird stuff we've buried in this thing. [/p][p][/p][p]Got questions? Wanna see more?[/p][p]Join us over on Discord and get in the loop.[/p][p][/p][p]The Emeteria Team[/p]