It's devloggin' time again! *coughs* Hi! I'm Neon-Gr33n, the leader and director of Team Grit, and the one writing this very devlog, as per usual, now then, I'd like to go ahead and first, introduce our newest team member @devotzzes , he's been creating some really sick stuff for our battles, and we're excited to show you more in the near future, and also note that this devlog will not be as massive as June's, but we wanted to be transparent and provide you all with what progress updates we do have, with that all being said, let's go ahead and continue on with this month's devlog! I hope you enjoy ^^

Programming

Starting off with a bit of a bang here! we've gotten quite a bit done on the front of programming, we recently rebuilt our cutscene system from the ground up to make it not only more flexible, especially in terms of "how" we use it, but to make it easier to use overall, and massively decrease the amount of time it takes to create even a single cutscene.

How puzzles will be puzzling

I also went ahead and reworked out puzzle system, this post by @jevilhumor , served as a starting point, but the general idea remains the same

We have a "lock", and a "key" or more likely multiple "key(s)",

each valid "key" instance, parented to obj_puzzle_key has a defined object that it must look for a collision with/detect, tells the game it can "open" the lock, and sets the target lock to increment on collision, in this case, the door is our lock, and the Einar must collide with this object to help unlock the door

The door is a "child" of obj_puzzle_lock meaning it'll inherit it's default parameters, and in it's creation code, we can override it, now, every frame we check if it's NOT been unlocked, this way, when locks_opened is greater than or equal to the amount the object is looking for, the lock will become unlocked, and "event_user(0)" will trigger, oftentimes, this contains a cutscene, or even a simple sound play event, if not all the locks have been opened, it'll just keep going until you've unlocked 'em all.

An overhaul to localization

In addition, our localization system is finally complete, per your suggestions, we've made it so that it is VERY easy to load in your own unofficial localization, even going as far as making it compatible with fonts (and sprites!) do keep in mind, that for anything beyond text, you WILL need to use Undertale Mod Tool (use the latest stable release, which as of the moment is still v5.1.0, not bleeding edge, you'll encounter plenty of bugs if you use that)

As a friendly reminder, you no longer need to add language based "keys" to a lang.json file, instead, you'd have eng.json by default (alongside any other languages we might manage to include with the game, simply copy and paste eng.json (CTRL + C then CTRL + V on Windows or Command + X then Command + C on Mac) and open it up! we recommend using Visual Studio Code, but if you prefer another text editor, that's totally okay! use whatever editor you feel comfortable with ^^ once the files open all you'd need to do is translate the text that you want to translate into your desired language!

Battle User Interface Visual Updates

Definitely cannot go without mentioning this! after receiving a suggestion from @souptaels we opted to change the coloration of our Battle UI! less edge, more color! It'll also dynamically shift colors depending on what area you are in, although, you'll see that shift happen for the first time in Chapter 2, regardless, here's a screenshot of our updated interface! let us know your thoughts ^^

How's the overworld coming along? also enemies?

Thank you so much for asking! we've been working hard on conceptualizing bullet patterns for enemies and getting them implemented, I've been working on Whimsun, personally- we are however in the midst of planning out and creating attacks for the two major bosses for Chapter 1, and revising overworld maps to make them more exciting to explore. this could include anything from special, hidden items to NPCs who'll give you hints about certain gameplay mechanics.

Writing

We're still actively working on the dialogue overhaul which we have mentioned in a few of our posts, it's been a bit of a slow crawl, but it will definitely be worth it in the long run, even if it means there's a bit of a wait.

Music

Other

Estimated Progress?

We mentioned our estimated progress in an older post, however, we believe these estimates are rather inaccurate now, and while we cannot guarantee that the estimate we give here will remain accurate, it holds true for the moment

We'll be listing estimated progress for both a BETA build (0.0.9) and the demo release build (1.0.0), the reason we are having an open beta is so that we can get your feedback heard, and see what we can adjust to make the experience better! ^^

Estimated Progress (BETA)

Rooms/Areas ~ 75% Complete

Art - 85% complete

Writing ~ 30% complete

Programming ~ 60% complete

Music ~ 100% Complete

Estimated Progress (Demo 1.0.0)

Rooms/Areas ~ 55% Complete

Art - 60% complete

Writing ~ 20% complete

Programming ~ 50% complete

Music ~ 95% Complete

Closing remarks

Hey there, if you read this until the very end, thank you! I appreciate it quite a lot I know I said I'd have the YouTube content ready shortly after I got moved into the new place, so I just wanna apologize for not having it done by now, been kinda swamped lately with work, and A.D.D goes brr, but I'll be alright :3 anyway, have a great day/night and stay safe!! ^^

// Neon-Gr33n, Leader and Director of Team Grit