I had a couple of days off this week, so I couldn’t work on the puzzles as I wanted, but still, some progress was made this week:

This Week’s Highlights

• Persistent Dungeon Levels: Dungeon floors now save their state between visits, keeping enemies and objects exactly where you left them.
• Rendering Fixes: Adjusted object rendering positions to ensure everything displays correctly on screen.
• Dungeon Cleanup: When the player exits a dungeon, enemies are now cleared. I don’t know if this could be exploited somehow, testing will reveal it I guess.
• Doors & Keys: Added doors to dungeons that can be unlocked with keys, which can be found during exploration.
• New Enemy: Introduced the Giant Rat to the dungeon.

Preview

What’s Next?

This coming week, I’m shifting focus to dungeon layout and puzzle design. Currently I have a small labyrinth I created in a couple of minutes but I want to start creating purposeful, hand-crafted spaces that challenge players and make exploration more meaningful.

Thanks for reading and supporting Solivium! Stay tuned for the next update!

It’s been two weeks since the last update! Last week, I participated in the 7DRL Challenge, but unfortunately, I didn’t manage to finish and launch anything. Still, it was a valuable experience, and now I’m back to working on Solivium with renewed focus.

This Week’s Highlights

• Enemies in Dungeons: I added enemies in the dungeons, they use the same mechanics as in the overworld, although I had to tweaks some stuff like ranged attacks to prevent enemies trying to attack you from beyond a wall, I also added this feature to the overworld.
• Dungeon Combat System: The combat works pretty much the same as in the overworld with the exception that you don’t have to pick a direction to attack.
• Ladders: Added ladders to allow players to climb up and down between dungeon levels.
• Dungeon Tweaks: Made various refinements to dungeon gameplay, mostly on the rendering side, there are still some objects that render a bit offset than they should, I need to think on a better way to do this.

Preview

What’s Next?

Next week, I’ll continue expanding the dungeon mechanics by:

• Adding more enemy types to increase variety in combat.
• Beginning work on puzzles.
• And hopefully finishing this first dungeon.

I’m happy with how the game is turning out, I’m thinking if releasing a demo with this dungeon would be a good idea or if I should make more before any public release, what do you think?

This week was a bit slower due to life commitments, but progress on Solivium continues! The dungeon mechanics are taking shape, I’m also been thinking and designing on how to make them distinct and not just a buch of caves in the world.

This Week’s Highlights

• Dungeon Navigation: The player can now move freely inside dungeons.
• World Mechanics in Dungeons: Features like the stats screen (Ztats), inventory management, and other core mechanics are now accessible inside dungeons.
• Treasure & Loot: Treasure chests and loot screen have been added to dungeons.

Preview

What’s Next?

Next week, I’ll be participating in the 7DRL Challenge, so Solivium will be on a short break while I focus on a brand-new roguelike for the jam. Stay tuned for updates on that project!

Thanks for following along, and I’ll be back soon with more Solivium updates after the challenge!

This has been quite the productive week, I worked on more mechanics for the town and finally started working on the dungeons, here’s what I did:

This Week’s Highlights

• NPC Dialog System: Players can now talk to NPCs. While it’s not as complex as Ultima IV, NPCs provide hints that may help during the adventure. I’m still wondering on how complex should I do this system, I’m trying no to do the game just following the standards but just what I like to see and do in RPGs.
• Merchant Interactions: Talking to merchants now opens the store UI, allowing players to buy and sell items.
• Shops:
  • Added specialized weapon shops and armor shops to towns.
  • Each store offers a selection of items for players to purchase.
• Item Requirements: Equipment now has stat requirements, meaning players must meet certain conditions to equip specific weapons and armor. I might also add a class requirement down the line, I’m not sure yet.
• New Command: ‘D’ for Drink:
  • Pressing ‘D’ opens the potion inventory.
  • Healing potions now restore hit points when consumed.
• Dungeons Begin!
  • Added dungeon tiles to the overworld.
  • Implemented first-person rendering for dungeons, for now the player cannot move in them, but the rendering was the difficult part, now I can focus on all the mechanics in there.
  • The dungeons are going to work like in the early Ultima games or like in Dungeon Master, I have some ideas of how I would make them interesting and unique.

Screenshots and Previews

What’s Next?

For next week, I’ll continue expanding the dungeon system by:

• Implementing movement within dungeons.
• Adding doors, and interactive elements.
• Creating dungeon encounters and mechanics.

The addition of dungeons marks a huge milestone for Solivium, and I’m excited to keep building on this foundation. Stay tuned for next week’s update!

Welcome back to the Solivium development blog! This week marked another productive step forward as I worked on refining core mechanics and expanding the game’s functionality. Let’s dive into what’s new in Week 4.

This Week’s Highlights

• Loot UI Improvements: Players can now specify how many items to loot when dealing with stacks larger than five.
• Enemy Combat Stats: Enemies now have their own combat stats for their damage, defense and damage if they use a ranged weapon.
• Treasure Chest Logic: If a treasure chest spawns on top of another, the two chests now combine into one.
• Title Screen: A title screen has been added, with options for starting a new game, loading a saved game, or exiting.
• Save and Load Functionality: The game can now save and load the player’s data, enemies, and treasures on the map.
• New Enemy: Shadow Hound: A fearsome enemy that acts twice per turn, but are easier to kill.
• Bug Fixes: Fixed additional memory leaks.

Screenshots and Previews

What’s Next?

For the upcoming week, I’ll focus on the following features:

• Character Creation: Allowing players to customize their character at the start of the game.
• Leveling Up: Introducing a progression system tied to experience points.
• Entering and Exiting Towns: Expanding the game world with interactive towns.

Final Thoughts

This was a busy week, I had several things to attend in my personal life, but I still feel like I did some good progress, working on the saving system was probably the most consuming task, but it seems to be working fine for now.

Thank you for following along with the development journey! Your support and feedback are always welcome. Stay tuned for next week’s update as we continue building the world of Solivium.