Zan the Bonebreaker

Hedon 2.4.0 Overview

I have finished testing the new Hedon update, to sum it up, it will introduce a non-slippery movement style, footstep sounds (based on terrain) and a series of decorative overhauls, primarily to the earlier maps of Crystal Heart.

If you guys want an early build, message me here or on Discord. Not sure when the update will go public.

Small Hedon Update Soon-ish

I took some time to work on Hedon's next patch, will be back on Haggard sketching next week.
Since it's been a fair point of criticism, I decided to implement an improved and less slippery movement style in Hedon. For this purpose, I hired a veteran (Nash) from the GZDoom community to work on it, and of course, I had to make some additions to the testing arena so we can make sure it works properly and doesn't break the game's flow and level design retroactively.

I can't tell exactly ...

Map06 Final Sketch

This took an insane amount of effort to pull off, but it is probably the best map I've designed so far, with a lot of thought put into flow, puzzles, stealth, imsim interactions, story and looks (once I get down to building it in 3D that is).

I don't wanna spoil it though, so this is the overview with all layers on, just so you can feel the magnitude.

Only 4 more maps left to sketch now, papyLaPlage has also been making progress on the base system coding, maybe we will do a devlog...

Map06 Sketch More Progress

Remember when I said I'd try to keep this map smaller? 

I lied :^)

Map06 Progress

This has been more challenging than I expected, but then again, not easy to come up with four different ways of getting into a place and then balancing them out and inter-connect them. Expect a fair degree of verticality.

Into Map06

It took me a while to come up with an interesting overall design for Map06 - both in terms of aesthetics, objectives, and the actual level design that will bring everything together.

Coincidentally, this map will be a literal Dwarf Fortress - yes, I know the previous one also had a small fort in the middle, but this will be an entire map dedicated to dwarven military architecture. 

Not surprisingly, some of the key ideas I have for it came to me while trying out the recent St...

Into 2023

On the 1st of January 2022, I got my notes ready and started learning Blender, thus beginning the development of Haggard in proper. 

Today on the 1st of 2023, I woke up and rushed to my computer to write some notes down after having some sudden good ideas for Haggard in mind, then went back to sleep since I was dead tired. One of the ideas was in regards to a particular NPC's dialogue that would better contour the setting and situation surrounding the protagonist, while the other w...

Map05 Final Sketch

Merry Christmas! Santa has certainly brought me enough strength and inspiration to finish this beast!

As you can see from all the overlaying layers, it's probably the most vertical map I have ever drafted so far. Suffice to say, I'm very happy with how it came out and how it flows, inter-connects and loops. Hopefully I'll improve it even further when I actually get to actually make it in 3D.

I also have a lot of cool objectives and interactions planned for it, which will be pure ...

Map05 Sketch Second WIP

This part of town is starting to take a good shape.  A lot of verticality too :^)

Map05 Progress

I heard Dwarf Fortress finally released on Steam this week. Coincidentally, I have also been working on a dwarf fort :^)

Next Hedon Update Work

I made use of the time waiting for the laptop to be fixed and started watching people play Hedon like I used to a while ago. As usual, this always results in me gathering an extensive list of things that I want to adjust and improve, and this is what I've been doing this week. 

Hopefully I'll get my laptop and stuff back and resume working on Haggard next week.

Getting There

Desktop is almost set up, unfortunately I still have no news on my laptop. Even with the desktop, I'll still need it to grab some files and stuff I need to continue working.

Until then, enjoy some art of Zan and that big new Overwatch lady, by breikka ( https://twitter.com/breikka )

Laptop Broke Again, Desktop Soon

You might have seen my Discord rant but my laptop has crapped itself once again, this time with motherboard issues. The sunk cost fallacy is too strong at this point so I will do everything I can to have it fixed, but in the meanwhile I have ordered components to build my own desktop.

It will take a bit to set up my workflow back up, but fuck it. This year has been slow enough, I won't accept any more tehnical issue delays.

Hopefully my next post will be from my new machine. Wi...

Map05 - First Sketch!

Starting off a new map sketch. I did hang onto my promise to make it smaller, although this time around there will be a lot of vertical work to do :^)

If this doesn't scream Thief, I don't know what does.

TrenchBroom Test Map

Looks like I graduated from using Doom's level editor to Quake's level editor :^)

Did a small test map to see what it is capable of and so far I'm pretty happy, although there are a few particular things that might ultimately prevent me from using this editor effectively. Still, so far, I really like it, so who knows?

Map03 Sketch

Aaand it's done. At least the Map03 part of it. I swear, I will try to make the next maps smaller, this is getting ridiculous.

Regardless, I'm very happy with the end result, there's a ton going on here and it all ties together nicely to the point where barely anything constitutes padding.

I'm debating whether to start a new map sketch or set up a demo area in Trenchbroom next. I'll keep you posted.

Map03 Rough Sketch Overview

In case you're not able to tell right away, this level has been absolutely kicking my ass. It is probably one of the most ambitions maps I have sketched so far and it took me almost a month to piece together all the objectives, story elements and visuals I wanted.

You might notice from the file name that this is not only Map03 but also Map10 - the final map (which will obviously be expanded and have many different areas). This place is the Capital's religious center, and much like the L...

Haggard Map03 Second WIP

Onward with the sketching! There's going to be quite a bit of verticality with this one.
I doubt anyone can tell what this place is since I'm trying to implement more abstract designs :^)

General Update

You might have noticed that I didn't post anything last week, and I figured it might be time to explain what's going on before I get right back on track.

This year has been kind of a mess and on top of me picking up two projects, one of which essentially required to learn a lot of new skills from 0, there were two additional factors that really slowed me down - the impending economic crisis and the war happening right next door.

Since I like being prepared, these 2 major chaos fa...

Haggard Map03 First WIP

I wanna push myself to do more weird stuff :^)

Update 2.3.0, Merch Store & Album Cover

Hey guys, a lot has happened last week, culminating with RD2022. Thanks to the guys who came to the watch party over on Discord, it was fun and we got our eyes on several promising indie games! 

So here's 3 important things that happened:

1) Update 2.3.0 is finally out on GOG too, for those of you who were asking. You can find the changelog HERE.<...

Hedon 2.3.0 Update Coming Soon

Planning to release update 2.3.0 for Hedon this Friday, on the first day of Realms Deep 2022! There are many touch-ups and minor improvements coming, most notably a whole new area added to Map01, which I had planned for a while now.

I'm also preparing the launch of Hedon merch prints on Redbubble.com so keep an eye out for that too!

See you on Friday :^)

Gnasher Sprite Sheet

I finally got my laptop back, hopefully this was the last time I will be unable to work for a long time. Hopefully.

Anyway, here's the Gnasher's sprite sheet :^)

Gnasher Preview

I was planning on posting the full sprite sheet for this new enemy I've been working on, but guess what - my laptop is back in service (power button became increasingly unresponsive since the last repair) and for some reason it's taking forever to get it fixed.

Anyway, here's a front animation draft I had sent to Vostyok. The Gnasher is very similar to the base Cultist, but the graphics were completely made from scratch, as usual.

Gameplay wise, Gnashers will spit out nails in a...

Railer Test

This has to be one of the most satisfying guns to shoot up to date :^)

Modded Spike Gun WIPs

Been working on a new weapon for Mira :^)

Map01 Sketch

Damn this took ages to make. Here's Map01, though, although as you can probably tell from the file name, some of the areas will be common with Map07, which will be expanded further south.

Believe me, I tried my best to keep it small, but it still ended up kinda big. I'll try to restrain myself more in the future :^)

Durna's Neighborhood

The map is expanding :^)

Durna's Home Sketch

This took me way longer than I'd like to admit, but the reason is pretty simple - since this is where the game starts off (well, excluding the very first tutorial map), I wanted Durna's home to be a memorable landmark, along with the rest of Map01.

There are certain ideas at play here which I will detail on later - mostly concerning the ways in which this dwarven society would approach urban planning and how they'd integrate their buildings into the surrounding cave environment. Suffice...

Hedon Easter Eggs

Instead of talking about the easter eggs inside Hedon, I figured I'd share with you guys something else this time around!

Hedon has been steadily growing for the past years and it receiving more and more love, especially through fanart and easter eggs. 

I'm very honored and I know a lot of you who support my work here have also contributed with art and other fan made content. For this, I'd like to deeply thank you :^)