u/k0rtes

Hi Everybody!

Around 9 months ago we posted a wall of text about our game Sil-Morë, which is a fork of Sil.
There were some detailed explanations about our ideas and history.

I must say we have come a long way since then. We delivered three big updates, each roughly every three months, and we believe it changed the game a lot.
We are focusing on three major game sides:

1. Atmosphere.
2. UI/UX.
3. Gameplay.

First, we completely redesigned dungeon generation using partition and vaults docking systems. It provides a lot of variety in generated levels. Multiple surprises will await you, and it becomes really unpredictable, what comes next.
Then, we reworked connected systems: item creation, item identification, loot drop and updated all artefacts and special items. Everything is rebalanced, special items now can have both prefix and suffix for the new properties (Balanced short sword of Gondolin). Artefacts should feel really unique and connected to lore as much as possible.

We have two musical themes and multiple sounds. And the main theme is specifically written for the game.
We think it completely changes the atmosphere, and makes the game play completely different from our point of view.

We also added multiple new gameplay mechanics, starting from inventory equipment mechanics to various mini quests.

Then, to make the game feel modern, we decided to rework controls and UI/UX.
Sil-Morë now supports mouse, controller and touchscreens, and features absolutely new UI/UX design and functionality. We made it thematic, contextual with mobile only and desktop approaches, and are honestly proud of our work.

Anyway, you probably have noticed that I am trying to keep it short this time :)
We have created our itch.io store front with DevLogs and also started a closed beta test on google play (please dm me so I can include you if you are interested).

So, what I am trying to say is, we would love to see you try our game both on desktop and mobile and provide some feedback!

GitHub

Hi everybody,

We are finally ready to release version 0.9.7. And I must say that is the most difficult one we have had up to date.
After we were done with 0.9.6, we looked into it to decide which way to go, and the most important thing to work on seemed to be UI/UX.
Gameplay was already quite good, we still had some ideas visually but apart from that UI looked like the main destination to embark on.
But it was tough to even start with. What do we want to change? What is the style we are looking for? How should we approach the mobile version?

Anyway, we decided to figure it all out step by step. Tuning menus one by one, playing, and then getting back to tuning again. We didn’t want to erase it all and make everything anew, but rather keep the DNA of Sil and Angband and build on it.
To give the game that modern look, we had to rework all onscreen menus into overlays, breaking them into smaller pieces to make it flexible, adaptable for different platforms, screen sizes, and resolutions. Then we handcrafted current layouts piece by piece, but players can still tweak everything themselves!
So in the end our style was split into two, some menus retained the old school, terminal monospaced font style, and others got that drawn pixel-based style.
The game starts as a book, and tries to carry this style through the storytelling with multiple effects and fonts.

For the mobile design we tried to approach everything contextually with floating buttons and menus. The most difficult part was to figure out movement. In roguelikes players can move diagonally, but just putting an arrow pad on the screen looked bad, and it was easy to mistap, so we invented the ButtonWheel. You can tap it just like an arrow pad but you can also press and drag it to make sure your aim lands precisely where you intend it to. And it also looks cool!

As we decided to go with book style, at some point it became obvious that we should also do the portrait mode. And our modular overlay design helped us a lot. We just reordered it and the game already became playable! We still had to rework all menus to support a narrow layout, but the original idea made it possible in the first place. We also tested everything on tablets and handcrafted layouts there too!

Finally, we decided to make the game more approachable for new players. We tried to create multiple hovers to describe what controls do, both in touch and mouse mode.

Of course we have also introduced gameplay changes. This time:
- New abilities: Warden, Power Throw, Skirmishing, and Rewire Traps (guess what they do, or better just try it!);
- an “active weapon selection”, where you should actually choose what you wield, instead of being able to use everything equipped; 
- harness and pack inventory system. Feel like a real person that can carry three great axes at once! (no);
- traps and chests “throw the dice” mini-games;

Also visual updates! Now the player and monster tiles flip depending on the direction they move. Monsters’ icons are simply mirrored, however character tiles are handcrafted to look different sides!

And finally, we have launched google play closed betatest. If you want to participate, dm me for a link!

https://k0rtess.itch.io/sil-mor-shining-darkness
https://github.com/k0rtesss/Sil-More/

Hi everybody! We have made a game based on Silmarillion. It's a tactical rpg rouguelike where you try to go deep into Angband to steal a Silmaril from Morgoth's crown. It's designed in 2d pixel art style.

We are really big fans of Tolkien's works and Silmarillion in the first place. There is a big backstory behind why we have decided to do it, but I will probably leave it for the next time.

We tried to make it as lore friendly as it can possibly be. There is а storyline in it, you can play multiple real heroes of the First Age (I think most of them), there are side quests involving Valar, very lore friendly artefacts, lots of texts and descriptions.
We also tried to make the descent into Angband visually different with multiple biomes and art styles. We want to create a feeling of a real first age hero going deep into the Enemy's dungeon.

Here is the link to itch.io (we also have google play test going).
Please try it and hope you will like it!

Here is our GitHub page for Mac and Linux build.

Playable Link: https://k0rtess.itch.io/sil-mor-shining-darkness

Platform: Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android

Description:
Sil-Morë is a love letter to Tolkien’s First Age and an evolution of Sil: a tactical roguelike where you enter Angband as a hero of old, steal a Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown, and endure a world where glory fades, curses gather, and hope alone refuses to die.

Free to Play Status:

• Free to play
• Demo/Key available
• Paid

Involvement: Developer