HammerHelm News

Although they resemble what one might think a demon to look like, the Deep Dwellers are actually distantly related to Goblins and Orcs. Though they share some physical similarities, make no mistake, a Deep Dweller is a far more dangerous foe.

Concept Art created by Ash Jackson (click to see full size)

The Deep Dwellers wear strong armor capable of shrugging off attacks from weapons made from lesser materials, such as copper or iron. Many are known to wield magic to increase the effectiveness of their weapons in combat or cast powerful offensive spells.

Nobody has seen a Deep Dweller for many centuries, but one must always be prepared when exploring the deeper areas of the world for once disturbed, their attacks are relentless. The only way to stop their advance is to destroy their leader. Doing this will break their resolve and send them back to the depths!

We're currently working on getting these guys in the game. Their models are done and we're tweaking some things with how they animate along with finishing the textures. I hope to have some animated versions to show you soon!

Also, after getting some feedback, I decided to expand the Trading system to include some more resources. I showed this on the Discord channel a bit ago but wanted to put it here too.



The idea is each resource has a trade value and a cost value. This way you can trade whatever you want and take whatever you want. I decided to go with the manufactured goods rather than raw resources. The value and cost of resources will change over time, probably twice an in-game day.

-Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna
[email protected]

• My Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperSixStudios
  
• Discord Channel: discord.gg/soedesco

I wanted to write an update regarding my work on the story as it involves a lot more than just quests and fiction. There are new game systems that are a part of this as well as some cool quest rewards.

So, without giving away any spoilers, I'd like to talk about one of those new systems. The trading system. This is a quick mock-up and I'm not going to list what the new resources are (they're tied to the story) but the idea is you'll be able to trade some of your goods to get these two special resources. These resources will be used to build special structures and upgrade existing structures.



I'm considering expanding this to include more resources, both to trade with and to trade for as well as a simple pricing system where resource values would change each day. The resources you can trade in the mock-up are related to the story.

Again, holding back some information, who you are trading with and what resources they have, as that would be a spoiler. I'm undecided on whether to tie the system to a new building or us an existing building or something totally different.

I've slowed down my usual rate of game updates so I can focus on this. It's a lot of content! So I wanted to let you all know that progress is being made and that the game is still very much in development! :) I'll be posting more information about the story over the next few weeks.

-Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna
[email protected]

• My Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperSixStudios
  
• Discord Channel: discord.gg/soedesco

Tonight's update includes a bunch of fixes and improvements based on player reports and comments.

• Updated the mines system and fixed a couple of issues related to building a mine with blood stone and miners collecting blood stone.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the mines to cap at 7 rather than 6.
  
• Fixed a graphical bug that caused the townspeople manager to display copper ore when a miner was set to collect blood stone ore.
  
• Fixed a few localization typos.
  
• Added the quest complete and the haunted mansion doors to the new sound system.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the previously built building to be the default when using the building tabs. I actually fixed this last week but I had to revert it as it caused another bug. All good now!
  

What's not listed here is the work I've been doing on the new story, so I wanted to share a bit about that as well.

I'm building the new area, which will serve as both a place for quests and meeting new characters. I've got a lot of it done and we're continuing to work on new parts of it. This is a work in progress shot of a new part that will be a big part of the quests.



I'm also working on hooking up the main quest reward (I can't wait to show these to you!) as well as a new gameplay system that will unlock after you complete the quest. The UI for the new dialogue system is also complete and I'll be building that next. Once that's done, I'm going to make the updates to the existing quests that will serve as the beginning for the new story, most notably Grrrumble's first quest, the Haunted Mansion Quest, and the Orc Quest. I'm probably going to hold off on releasing these updates until the entire story is complete otherwise it might feel weird to learn stuff that then doesn't go anywhere.

The new monster models are also still in progress but I can show the concept art for one of them. I'll show the others in upcoming updates. :)



These guys will be part of the main antagonists in the quest.

As always, thank you everyone for your support and feedback. I'm having a lot of fun working on this new content and I'm really looking forward to hearing what you think once everything is in the game!

-Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna
[email protected]

• My Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperSixStudios
  
• Discord Channel: discord.gg/soedesco

Today's update includes some fixes related to the Night of the Scarecrows quest along with a few others.

• Fixed some missing collision in one of the rooms in the Haunted Mansion that would allow you to go through the wall and fall of the map.
  
• Related to the above, fixed a bug that didn't properly reset the Haunted Mansion if you died or fell off the map (the latter of which shouldn't happen anymore, but just in case!) causing you to be unable to open the locked door.
  
• Replaced a bad campfire particle effect from one of the monster spawners in the Haunted Mansion.
  
• Reduced the immunity after taking damage from 2 seconds to 1 second. This system is meant to keep you from taking a bunch of damage at the same time from multiple sources, but two seconds was way too long.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the build menu to display the wrong selected building when using the build menu tabs.
  
• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the final Mine (diamond) to not be buildable.

-Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna
[email protected]

• My Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperSixStudios
  
• Discord Channel: discord.gg/soedesco

As part of adding the story, I'm working on an updated conversation UI for when you meet characters that are part of the story. This will differ from the regular quests (that just have the "quest" button) and allow you to learn more information about the character and the story. This will also make it easier to know when you're doing something related to the story versus a regular quest.

(click to see full size

(click to see full size

The above shots are mockups to help me as I work on the system. This will also be used for the Lich and parts of the Orc Quest as both of those will be part of the larger story too.

I'm also continuing to work on the new location and the rewards for completing the big quest. The main enemies for the story are in progress as are some props for the new location. I'll also be modifying elements of the Scarecrow and Orc quests to be part of the story.

-Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna
[email protected]

• My Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperSixStudios
  
• Discord Channel: discord.gg/soedesco