Development of Dragon Hex is charging forward, and I have a lot to show off! The current prototype build is currently running on Android, which makes me personally extremely excited and satisfied with the progress so far. This includes the first batch of levels I am using during testing, which means terrain with enemies and interactable objects placed in the level like doors and levers.

Environment

No dungeon would be complete without some signs of struggle! The dungeon is decorated heavily with various bones, blood pools, scratches, holes, and torture devices. These aren't all just for show, some crackle and pop as you step on them - which may attract nearby enemies that rely on sound. A pool of blood can splash and leave a bloody trail in your footsteps. A crate can be attacked, damaged and ultimately destroyed - potentially holding some trifling trinkets some might call treasure. Lava and acid pits can burn away heroes and fiends alike, and some abilities will find you dunking enemies right in, if you are careful not to get pushed in yourself.

Enemies

Enemies and AI to control them are working! The first enemy is an Octopod with slimy tentacles, other slimy critters are in the works as well including Oozes, Snakes, and other yet unnamed horrors. These critters will hunt you down and drain your precious life force any way they can. Each enemy will have unique abilities to keep the player on their toes and keep their wits sharp.

Interaction

An event system for handling complex object interaction is complete! This allows for levers and pressure plates to trigger other objects in the game level like traps, doors, and puzzles. This system was built in an extensible way to allow new interactable objects to be created on-the-fly with little to no coding.

Lighting

Dragon Hex uses a retro pixel art style, but I still felt that lighting adds so much to a scene - it really helps the world come alive. Adding lighting to sprites is not always a walk in the park, as it can come with all sorts of artifacts. A custom graphics shader was developed to handle lighting on sprites with "normal" bump mapping, which allows the sprites to dynamically catch the light while still supporting transparency and masking.Here is a look at a creepy inner sanctum.