Development through September has marked several important milestones. We have started testing and using parallax mapping, as well as parallax shading. Here are some examples of what that is, as well as a couple of tidbits about the lore of Murala! Release-wise, it’s almost there!
Humans and Dwarves
In the days before the Exodus, all the known sentient species of Murala lived on the surface. While none of the local inhabitants will ever wonder about such a thing, a curious onlooker might ask how such a variety of sentience came to exist on Murala. The answer has been lost to the depths of time. In short, no one there would be able to answer the onlooker.
Homo sapiens and Dorfus elegans are two species that had enough prominence to establish their own areas of influence. As events came to pass, the two areas came to neighbor each other. If you time skip to the most recent spans of history, the kingdoms of Ban Vyg and Karagoria will have become solid allies.
Where Dwarves are efficient and methodological, humans are magically gifted and otherwise well-rounded. Where dwarven culture has much to do with the common sense every dwarf possesses, human culture is mostly a product of the interpersonal and inter-species relations that they grew to rely on. Humans make the best diplomats, the quickest-learning spell-weavers, and the most worldly and best liked party members.
Puzzle Realms
Magic is intrinsically a puzzle. Thoughts form words and concepts, which turn into spells. The right thoughts lead to the right kind of magic. In this case, a puzzle realm.
Puzzle realms are artificial dimensions tucked away from reality, made up entirely from magic. There are also naturally occurring magical dimensions, but only an artificial one is referred to as a “puzzle realm”.
To make a puzzle realm, you need two things: a practitioner of magic who is powerful enough to manifest the realm, as well as a puzzle stable enough to channel magic without dissipating too quickly or imploding on itself. Solve the puzzle intrinsic to the realm and it will unravel, destroying all of its immaterial contents… but what if there is something material in it? That is a question for another time.
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