Shadow Dwellers

The creatures living in the Shadow Temple are sometimes aggressive and sometimes not, but always dangerous. The most recent enemy I made is the shadow. It is able to turn invisible and regenerate. If they are hurt, they will hide in the dark until they are strong enough to fight again. Only with the Illumination Staff, MX is able to reveal them.

This thing is either hiding or attacking…

Shadow Lies

The challenge with the Shadow Temple is its mysteriousness. I wanted to create a dungeon where you always cannot be sure what the shadows were able to built and what awaits you. There are a lot of hidden secrets and only with the Illumination Staff, MX is able to remove the deceptions of the temple for a short period of time. However, as you can see, the illusions cannot be completely removed, so remember what you saw and also what you should not have seen…

The first half of the temple is working quite great and I am looking forward to the second part.

Seems like… a fake chest?

About the game length

Only the last dungeon is missing now in the main quest. I recently did a playthrough of the main story and even for me, with the knowledge of all levels, It took about three hours to finish.

My initially targeted goal (for normal players) for the required time to beat the main story of the game is five hours. The missing dungeon should take about one hour. So far, the testers needed about 150-200% of my time. Therefore, this goal should be easily reached.

After all, I am really pleased with the results of this year. Hopefully, the new one will be similar. I wish you a happy New Year 🙂

How the mafia relaxes

Of course controlling an entire city is exhausting. And after taking over the town hall, the mafia got a pretty big budget. It was only normal to extend the building with all kinds of things, including a big pool in the loft.

I hope they are cleaning the pool regularly

The Chemist

One of the scientists in Darkcity was known because of his tremendous knowledge about rapid chemical synthesis. It didn’t take long until he was a major head of the research work done in the science tower. After El Quappo took control over the city, the Chemist was hired to manage the development of several weapons and defence systems for the mafia. He didn’t thought long about his decision.

Even after MX reached the mafia tower to oppose El Quappo, his affilation did not change and he tries to stop MX. When will players be able to confront him? Maybe earlier than expected…

The Chemist attacking MX with his fiery flasks

The Mafia Tower

Before the mafia boss ‘El Quappo’ brought Darkcity under his control, one of its biggest buildings, a black glass tower, served as a town hall for the people. On its upper floors, office space existed for administrative work.

As soon as the mafia fully ruled over the city, the new purpose of this tower was to serve as a headquarter for the mafia. Office employees and scientists were forced to work for the organization.

MX might not only find El Quappo in this building, but also hints about Snakehammer, whom he has to stop to save his world from the dark elves.

Office space from the former city hall

The Shadow Realm

Last month, I was working on the design of the Shadow Temple, which MX gets access to after retrieving the Satyr Flute. I already had the tileset and a raw sketch on how the inner levels could look like, so the work was to generate the level files in my level editor and take a closer look on the details of the rooms.

The sketch of the entrance
In the engine

However, after I created what I call the layout for this dungeon, I am now going to work on another dungeon: the mafia tower in Darkcity. The level layouts from this tower are the only ones left missing in order to finish the main story of Super MX. After all, my current goal is to work on a first possible playthrough.

Satyr Flute Continued

So what will be the purpose of the flute? After all, MX wants to catch up with Snakehammer in order to stop him, and the only way left to do this is hidden in a shadowy realm.

In the very west of the Blackswamps, a dark stone is standing. Notice the symbols on the stone. The dungeon it will lead MX to is currently in work. Stay tuned!

swamp plain in the west
swamp plain in the west

The Satyr Flute

People who played the Test Phase 3 might have already got it: The Satyr Flute. An ancient flute made by a dark race, hidden on the third floor of Cisar’s Residence.