Midway through September and already tackling a set of internal milestones, we are happy that we have only added to the momentum and excitement we ramped up for Ale Abbey.
We will most probably be giving out a more concrete milestone roadmap in the future, as soon as our Publishing particulars and other development-related details are ironed out and ready to be shared. So far, it's been extremely hard to keep it hush-hush, but it's worth the wait.
In today's Something's Brewing, we showcase the last couple of week's worth of work put into the interior of the Monastery, the in-game UIs as they come to life while testing Ale Abbey's inventory capacity, and the first pieces of animation of the Abbey's Cook!
Without further ado...
-- Interior Monastery design and grid fun!
This past month everyone working on code and art has been dead set on bridging the back and front end together in the smoothest way possible.
Understanding this is a completely necessary step, room dimensions were quite affected and our two artists, Francesco and Raimo, were hard at work in making everything as appealing and aesthetically complete as well as streamlined enough for the code to work seamlessly under the hood.
For those who appreciate contemporary art, feast your eyes on some early WIP...
You can catch a very obvious difference in the pillars of the Refectory seen below, as opposed to the one used above or the preview image for this post. The one shown below is closer to what we're going for, with alcoves that are curvier and with the wall bricks redesigned.
This has been a subject present in many of our posts so far, but progress is still ongoing. As also mentioned previously, we are preparing a more technical explanation of our reasoning behind this endeavor, so stay tuned!
-- The UI... it's alive!
A couple of weeks ago we also shared some progress around Ale Abbey's UIs. Further working on it, Emiliano made some quick captures that can give you a glimpse of what your interaction with the world around the Monastery will feel like.
-- First animations of the Cook
And since we are on the subject of animation, Raimo has also completed a few initial animation loops for the Cook. The Cook's model is still in WIP territory and some design details are not yet finalized (like her clothes and headcloth), but you can still enjoy some of our brainstorming reference designs.
The backside:
And some of her finished animations (more will be made available when we finalize the layout of the Refectory as well).
With this much work on the Monastery, it would only make sense to close with a "job" in the hobby of brewing, bottling... Nobody likes it, everybody needs to do it properly ;)
-- Why is bottling essential and what you need to keep in mind
Beer is a product of fermentation and there's one thing you can be sure about when it comes to things fermenting; once a ferment, always a ferment. Maybe suspended, because it's in the fridge, but the beer in your bottles is very much alive.
This makes properly bottling your brew and knowing when to bottle and store, vital for two reasons: it keeps your still fermenting brew in check and it helps you stow it away safely for later "use."
Just as a super quick reference:
- decontaminate all tools you will be using in the process (there are a lot of cleaning agents designed for this particular activity, do not cheap out)
- keep your bottles clean and dry before bottling
- seal properly (keep oxygen out, or risk contamination and off-flavors)
- store away from light (there's a reason beer bottles are made of darker glass, helps with the process)
- follow the temperature guidelines of the yeast you're using or the beer style you're going for (you go too high your yeast goes rampant, you go too low and you don't achieve the intricate flavor profile you were aiming for or any fermentation at all)
- following the last point, know when it's time to move to the fridge, to suspend the yeast from fermenting further than what its style prescribes
- ???
- crack a cold one open and enjoy!
Thank you for your time and enjoy your weekend responsibly!
-- Hammer & Ravens
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