Iridescent Crown Devlogs (2019-2024)

Here are a few devlogs I wrote for my 2d roguelike platformer Iridescent Crown. I initially released it in December 2016, in honor of Diablo's 20th anniversary.

I've taken to updating the game every few years as I see fit. This is really just a glimpse into the many days I've spent working on this game.

1.4 Devlog for Iridescent Crown
Apr 21, 2019

Devlog for new updates to Iridescent Crown:

4/15/19 Fixed tile colors, added new music.

4/16/19 Now displays selected weapon in inventory. Also compares stats to weapon you're holding. Added death particles for enemies. Fixed bug where new music played on pause menu. Fixed weird glitch where ending music wouldn't play after beating the boss a second time. Added titles to the loading screen. Fixed enemy colors. Found a glitch with the pause menu on the boss level.

4/17/19 Fixed pause menu glitch for boss level. Added controls to the options menu. Improved compass GUI. Updated the logo. Added credits to options menu. Added “erase save” option. Now the options menu is fully functional.

4/18/19 Began adding new backgrounds. Fixed an old glitch where you could pause the game on the Game Over screen.

4/19/19 Added new backgrounds. Made the final boss stronger. Beta tested the whole game. You can now discard weapons from the inventory system.

4/21/19 Extended the ending credits screen. Beta tested the entire game one more time.

It's been a long week.

1.5 Devlog: Unlockable poetry and flowers!
Feb 09, 2021

I've added some final updates to Iridescent Crown! There's now a "Story" room available from the overworld, where you can read poetry you unlock as you play. These lyrics give some clues to what the game is really about, but the interpretation is ultimately left up to the player.

There's also flowers in the dungeons now! (Or mushrooms if you're in the later levels.) I think these give the randomly generated worlds a lot more life, color and variety. Even though they only serve a cosmetic function in this game, I think in future games they may be a lot more interactive.

I added a few minor changes to the ending too - nothing I'll spoil here. I also updated the logo to a very simple one that fits IC's style. And with that, Iridescent Crown finally feels 100% complete to me.

Of course, all of this is just preparation for the next game in the series (tentatively titled "Aeon Datablade"). The new game will have a specific focus on fluidity of movement, in contrast to the slower pace of IC's dungeon crawling aesthetic.

The new game should be out in 2021, so follow me for updates! Thanks for reading!

- Dylan

Iridescent Crown 1.6 - Multiple endings!
Oct 27, 2021

Iridescent Crown is done! For sure! Definitely! I hope...

The biggest update is, I've added multiple endings! There are now three endings you can get, based on how many poems you've unlocked. The last is the true one, of course. The other endings taunt you like a Sonic game, which I love.

I feel like the story makes perfect sense now. It makes sense to me anyway. If you read between the lines of the poems, the story is fairly obvious as well.

I feel like the endings are pretty hard to miss, but if you do, "erase save" in the Options can always fix that haha.

Another update is I've added more music - particularly alternate menu, boss and ending themes based on which ending you've unlocked. You can check out the full soundtrack here.

Fighter Prototype

The gameplay itself didn't need much touching up (though I did patch some bugs), but I've decided to tackle a prototype of a fighting engine before returning to the roguelike series.

The fighting in Iridescent Crown is honestly a bit lacking - you're better off with a projectile weapon and/or several partners fighting for you. The hand-to-hand combat isn't as satisfying as it could be, and the player's ability to move around the world could be expanded as well.

Wall jumps are great for getting around, but it seems a lot of gamers are not too good at them. I had already settled on adding a form of flying to IC's sequel. But I shall experiment further.

The Next Roguelike

My current plan is to make a horror roguelike game called "Nightside of Eden", where you descend into hell. Very Diablo-influenced, but in its own world, and part of a much larger one.

Nightside of Eden will be more story-driven than any of my previous games. I'm pretty excited to make it - the story is about 8 years old now and has several layers of lore in a tight package. I've already written about half of the soundtrack as well.

We'll see what happens though, a good fighting engine might inspire me to work on something else. You'll just have to stay tuned and find out. :)

- Dylan

(I ended up exploring the idea of a horror platformer with my game Enoch Never Dies.)

I found the old Multimirror demo!
September 29, 2024

I found an old demo of Iridescent Crown I released in June 2014, back when it was called Multimirror! It's surprisingly close to the final product I released two years later.

You can see the old enemy sprites I used for placeholders, and the Mario-esque brick tiles. The level generation works. Potions, shrines, and partners in cages are already there. The map works, with its placeholder lights. Your weapon works, though I hadn't programmed the inventory yet. You can even find the blue door, though it is not interactive yet.

No items either. No background gfx. No music or sfx. So it's just a beta test level really. But it's really cool to see compared to the final product!

This was the second major public demo I released, with Hillel being the first in 2012. That one is quite different and I have no earthly idea where the file might be on my computer. Maybe there will be more old demos to share, we'll see!

~

I'm particularly fond of Iridescent Crown as I love 2d platformers and this was my first one since Battleground Zero in 2004-05. I do have plans to update it some more, and perhaps make a deluxe version or a revamped sequel. I'm not sure how far I'll go with updating it though, when I have the Aeon engine I could be working with now.

Anyway check out the demo! Thanks for reading!

link to Iridescent Crown

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