Eyes Of The ElderWood News

[p]ENOUGH OF THIS SILENCE!

Today we would like to show you what we’ve been working on recently.[/p][h2]Gameplay:[/h2]

• [p]New enemy AI.
  Work on the AI is still ongoing, but we want enemies to have greater autonomy in decision making and to feel more alive. Enemies will no longer chase the player endlessly, they’ll follow as long as they have visual contact. If they lose sight of the player, they’ll try to predict where you might have gone, and if they can’t find you, they’ll return to their routine. We’ve created a clean foundation for implementing enemies, so in the future creating new enemies will be easier and will allow for more interesting mechanics.
  
  Movement speed of enemy is reduced for presentation purposes, and it also uses some temporary animations.[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
• [p]Improvement of the ritual system
  The ritual system is undergoing a major overhaul, which will benefit not only you (more responsive drawing system with much better forgiving of drawing errors detection) but also us (easier implementation and design of new spells). For this purpose, we are stepping outside the engine and working in a custom tool that will be clearer and easier to operate compared to how we’ve been working so far. [/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
• [p]Improving many player behaviors and systems
  This part currently is the biggest task and focuses on polishing and changing current systems, including inventory system (yes, you will no longer need to exit a puzzle every time to select another item, you’ll be able to do it directly from the same window), action readability (prompts like "R – Cancel spell" or "E – pick up item", etc.), sanity system and everything related to player. [/p]
• [p]Bestiary
  As we get closer to early access, it’s definitely worth having a quick-reference encyclopedia that tells you which demon you’re dealing with, what its strengths and weaknesses are, and what kinda of threat it is. It’s also a space to better explore the lore and gather additional information about the game’s world. More on that in future.
  
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• [p]Contextual deaths[/p][p]Currently, the character has only two types of death: either from physical attacks or from sanity loss. We want the death screen to be much more interesting, so depending on who or what finishes you off, you’ll see a different cutscene showing the end of your character.
  
  Few raw animations, without VFX, sound, or camera work. [/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Environment and characters:[/h2]

• [p]LAKE
  The first level, LAKE, consists of flooded areas (near "Długie" Lake) caused by recent floods. This made free exploration impossible for humans, but allowed the drowned creatures much more freedom of movement.[/p][p]The level will serve as a kind of tutorial for the player, giving you space to gradually learn about the threats and to practice drawing spells. [/p][p]This is not final work is still in progress.[/p][carousel][/carousel]
• [p]MUSHROOM FOREST
  A highly psychedelic level, focused primarily on observing the environment, as it can pose a threat to the player (yes, not only demons will be a danger). Here, the player will no longer be guided by the hand as much and will have to decide which path to take, as each will hide different dangers and require a different approach.
  
  Still in blockout phase [/p][carousel][/carousel]
• [p]FIELDS
  The Fields will be a grim and sad level in terms of worldbuilding, but full of tension from a level-design perspective. Here, the enemies will be much more territorial than in any of the previous areas, and you better like cornfield mazes. Still in blockout phase [/p][carousel][/carousel]
• [p]New Animations for Smętek [/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Bonus stuff:[/h2]

• [p]New Low Sanity indicators
  With the current sanity system, it can be hard to tell whether sanity is dropping and what its level is. So, to push both the extra spice of low sanity and a bit of lore (the sisters’ relationship), here’s a small sneak peek of what Dahlia will soon start seeing when her sanity begins to fall.[/p]

[p][/p][carousel][/carousel][p]The distorted images of Dahlia’s memories will be available only in the demo, as in the full game Laura will have different, more contextually tailored visuals, but we’ll focus on that later.[/p]

• [p]New UI
  It's an early concept before being pixelized etc. but the design is very close what do we want to have for mana and health. What do you think?[/p]

[p][/p]

• [p]Loading Screen
  Yes, there will be screens that will show during loading [/p]

[p] That’s all we want to show for now (we have to save something to tease you with in the future, lol).[/p][p]The next dev blog will appear once we feel we have a similar amount of content to show and more production-ready material, because code or early sketches probably wouldn’t be that appealing to you.[/p]

[p]HELLO EVERYONE!
Today we’re releasing a smaller update based on your feedback! [/p][p]
NEW:[/p]

• [p]New ground and grass textures. 🌾
  Many of you mentioned that the visuals were too noisy because of the old textures — we hope this update improves that.
  
  [/p]
• [p]Earlier introduction of spells. ✨ To improve the flow and introduce magic sooner, the first spell — Fire Bullet — is now available in the Nikolai's hut.[/p]
• [p]New settings options. ⚙️
  You can now toggle Head Bobbing and Discord RPC on or off.[/p]

[p]🛠️ FIX:[/p]

• [p]The retro effect should no longer trigger after inspecting items.[/p]
• [p]Smętek (the catacombs zombie) now takes increased fire damage.[/p]

[p] Next up ➜:[/p]

• [p]Improvements to the inventory → riddle → inspect flow[/p]
• [p]Fixes and tweaks to rituals and AI[/p]
• [p]Plenty of QoL updates[/p]

[p]That’s all for now, please report any bugs you find and Happy Halloween! 🎃[/p]

[p]It was an incredible experience! 🔥

From October 23rd, we were at PGA (Poznań Game Arena) gaming event showcasing Eyes of The Elderwood.

The way we were received went far beyond our expectations, way more people came up to us than we ever anticipated! They asked questions, wanted to know what the game was about, when it would be released, shared their feedback, some even came back to us multiple times throughout the event just to finally try EotE, since the queues were long and to just vibe with us. It wasn’t just regular visitors, we also received a lot of positive feedback from people within the game dev industry, and many of them said they’re rooting for us.


It’s an incredible feeling to see such a positive reaction from people, that something you’ve been working on after hours, in the comfort of your own home, is being received so warmly.
[/p][p] [/p][p]Even more amazing is seeing how genuinely interested people are in what we’ve created and what we’re planning to do next. Meeting people in person and seeing their reactions firsthand is an entirely different feeling compared to just watching numbers on Steam, and it gave us a massive boost of motivation to keep pushing forward. [/p][p]We have prepared some special merch which, to our surprise, run out incredibly fast!


Thanks to everyone who visited us and to everyone who, like us, believes in what we’re doing and is
waiting for the final result of our work. We are dong it for you, and without you, it wouldn’t mean a thing.
[/p][p][/p]

[p]Hi there! Since the start of Next Fest, we’ve been releasing updates almost every day, sometimes even multiple times a day to meet your expectations and implement your suggestions. Alongside numerous fixes, we’ve also focused on improving QoL features and overall readability so here is summary of what we added so far! Future updates will include proper patch notes, instead of the way we’ve handled them this time. [/p][h3]📈 Performance 📈[/h3][p]We’ve seen a few reports about the game running unusually slow despite having stable FPS, that was indeed a bug, and the game should no longer play in slowmotion. We’ve also implemented several performance improvements for smoother gameplay. Please let us know right away if you encounter any performance issues even though the game isn’t graphically demanding, smooth performance is one of our top priorities! [/p][h3]
🧩 Puzzle Helper 🧩[/h3][p]Mortem the Cat will now appear during puzzle sections to offer hints on what to do. Each subsequent hint will become more direct until, eventually, Mortem disappears once his patience runs out.

[/p][h3]🌟 Pickup Indicator 🌟[/h3][p]You pointed out that some items required for progression were too hard to spot and didn’t stand out enough from the environment. While this was partially intentional, since game has Hidden Object elements we realized the visibility needed improvement. Previously, the crosshair would fill white when looking at an interactable item, but that alone wasn’t enough. We’ve now added a small star icon that appears when the player is close to an item they can pick up. We’ll continue experimenting with this mechanic to find right balance between keeping the sense of searching intact, but without turning it into frustrating pixel hunting. [/p][h3]✨ Ritual Drawing Effects ✨[/h3][p]Some of you mentioned being confused about what’s going on with the left hand. To make it clearer and give better context, we’ve added new visual and audio effects to the ritual drawing process.

[/p][h3]🗺️ Expanded Level Start 🗺️[/h3][p]This update was actually implemented just before Next Fest, but we’re including it in this patch notes since it wasn’t mentioned previously.
The previous version of the level start was fairly dull, featuring only a single Drowned enemy that couldn’t be avoided. The current version makes the encounter optional and, if you choose to fight directly, allows for more shooting opportunities.The Drowned enemies themselves have also been updated. Their attacks can now be dodged by crouching just before they strike.

[/p][h3]🔥 Ignitable Torches 🔥[/h3][p]We’ve added torches to the catacombs that can be set on fire using Fire Bullet. They can help indicate whether the player has already been in a certain area. Of course, they can also burn out after being ignited.

[/p][h3]🔍 Inspect Improve 🔍[/h3][p]Due to the retro visual style, we noticed that some of you had to disable post-processing to properly see items during inspection. To make the experience smoother, the retro effect will now automatically turn off when inspecting an item and turn on when get out of inspect (if it's turned ON in settings).
[/p][h3]🏃 Improved Sprint Feel 🏃[/h3][p]You pointed out that movement in the game felt like pushing a shopping cart (lol). We’ve improved it by enhancing the effects that contribute to the sprint feel.
We’ll continue monitoring both the actual speed and the overall feeling of movement. Additionally, we plan to add an option in the settings so each player can adjust headbobbing to their personal preference.

[/p][h3]What's Next?[/h3][p]We’re currently focusing on improving existing systems, such as enemy AI (a top priority), and preparing new levels for early access. The demo will also receive updates when significant progress will be made.
Here’s a small preview of what we’re working on:

Lake level on it's early enviro
Mushroom Forest level on it's blockout phase
Official concept of the boss for the Mushroom level [/p][p]
Early concept of an enemy for the Fields level
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[p][/p][p][/p][p]As you may know, we’re taking part in this year’s Steam Next Fest, and with it, we’re giving you access to the demo version of Eyes of The Elderwood![/p][p]
We’re really curious to hear your thoughts what you like, what needs improvement, and what didn’t quite work for you. We read every piece of feedback, so we encourage you to share it both on the Steam discussions and on our Discord.
(If you haven’t joined yet, you can do it HERE!)[/p][p]
We’ve also prepared an FAQ that you might find interesting! It’s divided into sections about the demo, development, and our vision for the full game.
Link to FAQ

We hope you’ll enjoy this small slice of the game we’re sharing with you, because what we’re preparing for Early Access (and especially the full release)… well, let’s just say, we are hyped as fuck.

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