Devlog 2: Lux Aeterna Progress Update

This week was all about expanding mechanics and refining interactions to make combat feel more dynamic and responsive. A lot of the groundwork is in place now, and things are really starting to click.

New Enemy in the Mix

I added a third enemy into combat scenarios to test out the juicy combo potential. I’m starting to see how push/pull mechanics create chaotic yet strategic moments. Watching enemies get slammed into each other and setting up chain reactions is exactly the kind of emergent gameplay I was aiming for.

Level Wall & Barrier Logic

• Level Walls: These are now fully implemented, ensuring characters can't be pushed out of bounds or get stuck in weird situations.
• Destructible Barriers: As promised, I introduced a summonable wall that can be used both defensively and offensively. It takes two collisions before detonating, adding an interesting tactical layer... do you block a path or smash enemies into it for the extra damage?

Portal Ability & Void Tether Updates

• Portals: These can now be walked through or pushed through, making for some crazy movement setups. Portals enable teleportation, but they also interact with push mechanics, opening up unexpected plays.
• Void Tether: While still being fine-tuned, the "snap" mechanic is now functional. If a tethered enemy is pushed through a portal, the tether breaks and snaps back, causing a collision. The full tether system is still in progress, but this foundational piece is working as expected.

Tile Draw System Overhaul

I reworked how tiles are drawn to make it easier to scale up new abilities. This update makes it smoother to introduce new mechanics without needing a ton of manual placement or adjustments, which should save time down the line as more abilities get added.

First Battlemap Tileset and Production Efforts

The tileset art for the first battlemap (and hopefully pieces of others), should be arriving in the next few weeks. Tileset work was purchased and is a definite.

The project has also sparked interest in people willing to help out with narrative work and cutscene stills, so hopefully there will be more details in that regard soon.

Next Steps

The next focus is finalizing Void Tether's full behavior, polishing movement interactions, and refining ability animations and the visual feedback on chaining a combo for the player. With these systems in place, we're looking at the first level of a fully playable demo in the next few months.

It’s all coming together. In the meantime, here's a quick highlight video of some of the knockback interactions and Void Tether in its simple form, as well as a few more pages to the Design Document.

Where light fades, The Void listens. Until next time.