Hi, my name is Chris and this is the first devlog for my game Tales in the Undergrowth: Wooden Colossus. 

I probably should have made a devlog when I posted the first playtest demo, but I didn't, so I'm doing it now.

This post is for the second playtest demo I've made for my game. The game itself is a top down adventure game like A Link to the Past on the SNES, so it's not 100% top down, but that 45-50 degree angle. I wouldn't call it isometric just cause the orientation of the tiles, I think the tiles would need to be skewed and be like a diamond and not a square to be truly isometric.

I've tried to make games before, and never gotten this far in the process, so hopefully I can finish this one. I tried many many times to make games in 3d, but that third axis really got in the way of development.

The gameplay of the final game will be something similar to a top-down Zelda game. I'm not sure if the game is gonna be an overworld with dungeons or just be 1 big dungeon. I have 5 sections thought up for the game: Mine/Cave, Underground Ruin (like Moria from LOTR), Mountain Peak, Cliffs, and a Mountain base area. The world the game takes place in is world comprised almost entirely of wood, with a giant World Tree at the center, but the game itself is centered around a location that is a mountain, but made of wood. So with that comes all the trappings of a mountain/cave themed world: stalagmites, mine shafts, bats, dwarves, goblins, blind creatures, etc etc.

Despite being a top down adventure game there are some platforming mechanics, currently the player character can perform a Jump after they Hop, inspired by how Mario's jumps work in Mario 64. Jumping is used to clear gaps created by pits, but unlike most platforming games you don't die when you fall into a pit, instead you fall into another level, usually with a geyser to teleport you back to the level where you fell in. The intention is to have an increased sense of verticality to the world through this, though that's not present in the current playtest demo.

The game's primary mechanics revolve around an abstracted time system represented by a Flower icon in-game. The flower sprouts, grows, blooms, and wilts to represent the passage to time. As time progresses the player's "Stamina" meter, represented by Maple Candy, depletes, limiting their capabilities. This also will effect certain objects that will be interacted with, such as Sap Fountains, when you collect Sap from a Fountain that fountain will regenerate the Sap after a full cycle. There will be other mechanics like this such as barriers that were broken down regenerating, and bridges that have been built deteriorating, but that is not in the current playtest demo. This kind of system was inspired by the exact same thing happening in Pikmin 2, the bridges that Pikmin build can become un-built upon returning to a Stage on a future date.

The Stamina system was something I was hesitant to put in, but I didn't want my game to be like a Zelda game where the player just rolls the entire time to get across the environments, but I did find inspiration in Ocarina of Time, using the Carrot mechanic from horseback riding. Hopping or Jumping uses a "Maple Candy" which regenerates after a few seconds, but using them all makes them all regenerate slower. It works out well in my own internal playtests where, once the running mechanic is obtained, I try to keep the running state up a long as possible.

Originally the design of the game was such that the player would have ALL of their abilities at the start, so the player character doesn't get more powerful through upgrades, but rather the player's skill increasing over time reflects the player character becoming more powerful. Though I realized as a playtest demo it's better to incrementally introduce the player to mechanics, but also I doubt for my first game I could actually make a game where player skill is the foundation of progress.

There was some really great feedback from some of my brother's friends who played the first playtest demo, so I fixed and tweaked a lot. 

• Countless bug fixes
• Doors are more obviously doors
• The player character no longer falls down when they've hopped/jumped into a wall or obstacle
• There's a clear indication for objects and NPCs that can be interacted with
• the intro screen is skippable
• I changed the keyboard layout to use the mouse buttons instead of Q and E  for the Crouch and Interact buttons.
• The math used for the thrown item and projectile arcs was changed.
• there is now a punch via the Action button when crouched to damage NPCs, certain objects, and to knock back projectiles
• player movement speed has been increased
• the player now enters a run after hopping or jumping
• Levels have specific Pit levels associated with them instead of 1 giant pit level that for every "room".
• Greater sense of direction through paths, arrows, and signs in-game
• there is a Stamina system now, represented by Maple Candy, that is used for Hopping, Jumping, and Punching.
• Total Maple Candy depletes after the time system completes a cycle
• Maple Candy can be increased by paying 15 sap to a Candy Maker NPC.
• Hollow stumps can be hopped at to knock Armour or Sap pick-ups out of them.
• Stalagmites can be punches and drop Sap when destroyed
• 10 Sap can be collected from Sap Fountains, and will regenerate after a full cycle from when they were harvested.
• NPCs drop Armour pickups upon death
• The player character can die now, taking too much damage will cause them to collapse and restart the level.
• A few enemies are not present in the current playtest demo
• enemy dialogue has been removed for the time
• there are now Houses with interior spaces
• the focus of the demo isn't to get an item and bring it back to the start, but now to use items to unlock doors
• There's probably some other stuff too, but I forgot about it.

Hopefully the next playtest demo won't take 3-4 months to post. Not entirely sure what my plans for the next playtest demo is, probably just this Demo, but with a boss battle at the end.

Any feedback is welcome and appreciated.

I'll post the videos made for the first and second playtest demos below so you can compare the differences. I can't believe how slow the player character used to be.