Been a bit quiet with updates on the game lately. Still trying to figure out in my head how to redo a complete "story arc" of sorts that would probably take up 2-3 hours of playtime. We're getting there since I do have WIP tiles and a bit of a dungeon started to replace my original scrapped story beats. I'm also hyper focused on trying to finish a Mario side project at the moment, so Penumbra Crystallis is still "on hold" until probably the middle of April or so. That's about all I can give on game progress for now. The point of this blog post is not about my progress, it is about...
MONSTER GRAPHICS!
As usual, these are by the ever-awesome level2janitor! With these additions, most of the current placeholder monsters are now out of the game, so things are looking good! level2janitor's monster designs just fit so well with the overall aesthetic and tone of Penumbra Crystallis, so I'm always delighted to get new graphics from him. Anyway, what we have here today from left to right is...
Princess: The name of a tricerastegotops that resides within the Grandoise Amphitheatre. The player has to fight Princess at a certain point in the story to prove themselves. I told level2janitor to just make a dinosaur that had the head of a triceratops and the body of a stegosaurus, and I think he did pretty awesome with it. Princess is the first time this graphic will be seen, but it will also show up later in the game for the standard tricerastegotops enemy.
Rock Golem: This bad boy currently resides in the Salar Volcano, and the placeholder sprite that I was using was easily three times the size of what level2janitor designed. I am so much happier to have a graphic this size, because the other one was enormous, but it was all I had to use as an acceptable placeholder. This golem graphic just hits all the right notes. He's got a sufficiently grumpy looking face to intimidate players, a chunky body to denote good defense and strength, and just an overall nice design with A+ texturing! I love how this one turned out.
Guardian: I've mentioned in the past how Penumbra Crystallis has a lot of ancient temples that are short temples/puzzle dungeons that are similar to Legend of Zelda: BotW's shrines. Guardians can be fought in these temples if the players are careless. This sprite is also used for a boss in Hautley's Tower, so it will already be playing double duty. I told level2janitor that I love the way that it looks like the animated armor is magically controlling the sword through telekinesis. Very cool as always.
Anyway, these sprites are already in the game and have had the enemy formations that feature them realigned a bit to fit with the new graphics. I'll probably have screenshots showing some of the newer monster graphics in action, along with progress on my next dungeon and the slime ranch that I previously talked about, once I finish my Mario side project in another 3-4 weeks time. Until then!
