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Week 4

Ash gets a face

The green rectangle is gone: Ash is now a real pixel-art character with walking, jumping, climbing and sword animations. The camera moves in closer, the first monsters get real art, and inns open their doors.

Versions:v0.14.0v0.15.0v0.16.0

Leggi in italiano

Three weeks in, the hero was still a green rectangle. This was the week that changed: Ash became a real pixel-art character, and the game started to look like the game it wants to be.

Hello, Ash

The new sprite comes with a full set of animations: walking, a jump that follows the arc of the leap instead of looping, climbing ladders, walking through doors, and a pose for opening chests. A few days later he got armed versions of all of them and a proper sword swing.

Ash, with brown hair and a blue tunic, at the start of Realm 1
Ash's first appearance, at the start of Realm 1.

To show him off, the camera zoomed in 2x. At the old zoom Ash covered only a sliver of the screen; now the world is seen up close, the way a 16-bit console showed it. The walking speed and the jump were retuned to match.

Ash also starts unarmed now. The first sword has to be earned, from the Wizard of Realm 1 or from a shop in the test world.

The first monsters with real art

The red squares are on their way out. The Mushroom, an angry forest mushroom, is the first enemy with hand-drawn pixel art, followed by its smaller cousin, the Corrupted Fungus. Twenty-three fungi now patrol both worlds.

Ash in the test village with two mushroom enemies walking nearby
The first enemies with real pixel art: the Mushroom and the Corrupted Fungus.

The villagers got their first real sprite too, replacing the amber rectangle.

Ash next to a villager in Sylvanor, in front of a house
The first real NPC sprite, in the village of Sylvanor.

Inns, treasures and a lantern

  • Inns: rest in a bed to heal, with the option to save.
  • Hidden treasures: invisible spots that release coins or a money bag when you find them.
  • Enemies can now drop small hearts and money bags, which squash and stretch when they land.
  • A portable lantern, sold in the village, lights up the dark.
  • The shield can be raised by holding Down, and Down + Jump drops through one-way platforms.
  • Small white arrows over doors tell you where you can go in.
  • A looping woodland ambience plays in the background.
The inside of the Sylvanor inn, with a bed, a fireplace and the innkeeper
The tavern of Sylvanor, where Ash can rest.
The inside of a shop, with items on the counter and the shopkeeper
Bran's shop in the test village, now selling a sword.

The inventory is split into two tabs, Weapons and Items, each made of cards with icons and stat bars. The menu moves with the same keys as Ash. In the HUD, the coins sit in a rounded pill in the top-right corner, next to two slots for special items.

The pause menu on the Weapons tab, with cards for sword, shield, armour and boots and three stat bars
The new Weapons tab.

Save slots also show how long you’ve played and where you are.

By the numbers

  • 88 commits.
  • Versions 0.14.0, 0.15.0 and 0.16.0, all in three days.
  • One hero, two monsters and one villager with real pixel art.