Resonant Blade Devlog 34

Underwater Dungeon

Hey, everyone! Welcome back to another Resonant Blade devlog. Today, we’re taking a look at the Underwater Research Lab dungeon and some of the updates with the Ionia Underground Area. Development this week has been a little sluggish mainly due to computer failure :( I've switched over to the laptop for now, and I've been trying to get back on track.

Starting with the Underwater Research Lab - Atlas is sent there to investigate and look for another Resonant Crystal to upgrade the Resonant Blade. I’ve been working on the level design and scenes for this area. There’s almost 20 different rooms in this dungeon. I was able to use some of the designs I came up with a while back and further expand on them. I started with the question - what rooms would you find in an underwater research lab? There’s the obvious ones, like laboratories where scientists run various types of experiments, and docking bays where submarines can come and go. Some of the other rooms I added include crew quarters, a greenhouse area, cargo bay, data center, and excavation caverns.

I added a secret area in the crew quarters. You can get from one room to the other via the air ducts. This was done with some sprite masks that hide one layer of the air ducts while revealing a more transparent layer around the player so you can see where you’re going. I also made sure to hide the air ducts altogether until you break open the entrance and walk through. You’ll be able to see the other room from the starting room, but the door to get in will be blocked off. This should encourage the player to start searching for an alternate way to get in.

Let’s jump over to the cargo bay. What’s typically found in a cargo bay? Cargo. Duh. Since this room will be full of boxes and crates, why not have something like a sliding box puzzle? I started designing something like this where you can move boxes along a grid by hitting them with the matching Resonant Frequency. I still need to iron out the collision to be more precise and make sure that the boxes actually stick to the grid.

The idea for this area is that you walk in, kill some mobs activating the sliding box puzzle, solve the puzzle, get some important loot, and use the loot to get to a previously unreachable area to unlock the exit. Still lots of details to fill in for this dungeon, but the basic layout and level design is mostly sketched out.

The Ionia Subway area has been recolored. Instead of relying so much on lights, I just changed the colors to more grays and blues to give it a dark, moody vibe. In the following underground areas, I added some blurry background objects in the holes just to add some more dimensionality. I worked on a section of the map where the camera will auto-pan to show the upcoming turret enemy and platforming.

I also added a secret area just above those moving platforms. I’m hoping that some players will notice the little blue lights at the top of the screen and be interested enough to check it out. If not, I may have to make it a bit more obvious.

Alright, that’s it for this week. Next week’s devlog is going to be about… I don’t know yet. Kind of a tossup between more maps or player abilities. Don't forget to subscribe to the weekly newsletter to stay up date with latest developments! Thanks for reading :)

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