I had some fun with real time shadows in Abstráctomon. This isn't raytracing or even real 3D lighting, just some fakery with mirroring and rotating the sprite, depending on the player's position relative to the light source.

For now only the player's shadow will react to a nearby light source. If you move away too far, the shadow will turn into the regular old drop shadow again.

Just a neat little effect. Maybe I'll add it to other NPCs later if it doesn't affect the framerate.

In the team overview, fainted monsters are now highlighted with a red box to make it easier to tell how your team's doing.

There are now separate volume settings for music in and outside of battles.

I changed the "Tuca Track" route a little.

This screenshot shows a new battle background.

Happy Easter!

I added some useful features to the A.S.S. (Abstráctomon Storage System). You can now store up to 300 monsters in 12 boxes. Boxes can now be renamed and you can change their background image.

Monsters can be moved freely between boxes and you can take a stored monster's item without having to put it into your team first.

I made some tiles for ditches. They add some depth to the sand dunes on the beach, for example.

I also changed this rock. Yeah.

Since "New Pokémon Snap" came out and the ability to take selfies with your team in Abstráctomon Venom Violet Version already exists, I thought why stop there? Let's take photos of wild Abstráctomon, too! That could be a fun side activity. And it could be another incentive to visit the "randomly" generated "Wild Shards"-islands.

Obviously, in a 2D game it'll work a little different then in the Pokémon Snap games.

So first I added a professional camera item to the game. You can lend this camera from the photographer when going on a "Photo Safari". It can be equipped similarly to other gear like the shovel. You can then walk around freely with the camera in hand and sneak up close to wild Abstráctomon...

... (which are now visibly roaming around in tall grass and other places) and SNAP! They might get scared of you and run away, so be patient!

I haven't implemented the actual resulting photo yet, but the idea is that your position and distance to the monster will be reflected in the finished photograph. It will look something like this, but with the wild Abstráctomon instead of the player character and his / her team:

Maybe the photographer will eventually rate your pictures or request some specific ones in the future? We'll see.

At this point I had some visible monsters on the Wild Shards. I then decided to let them appear anywhere in the world. They're not fully animated and simply "hop" around, but still they make world feel more alive than ever.

Outside of Photo Safaris, they can be fought and caught like any other encounter. If the spot you, they either flee or attack.

Abstráctomon you haven't registered in your DEX yet appear as a black silhouette.

To be clear, tall grass and stuff still triggers regular fights! These visible monsters are just a little bonus. They might be slightly higher level than the invisible encounters in that area.

There are still some bugs to figure out, so I'll post another update when the photo mechanic is finished. Until then, why don't you try to find all Abstráctomon hiding in this screenshot? Zoom in and have fun!

New GIF: Taking pictures of wild Abstráctomon (WIP)

I'm currently (re)drawing back sprites for all Abstráctomon. The new sprites show the whole body. Before these sprites were cut off since you couldn't see the whole body of your own Abstráctomon during a fight, but know I need complete sprites for the photos taken with the Safari Camera. This includes drawing back sprites for the smaller overworld sprites as well. Well at least I have something to do while the game compiles...

Photos taken with the Safari Camera now include the current weather. The game saves the current time of day and location the photo was taken as well.

The photographer works for a local newspaper (the "Noddmany Times") and asks you for photos of wild Abstráctomon.

She can give you a request for a special photograph, e.g. a photo of a specific monster, at a certain time of day, in a certain location, with a specific monster type or a certain number of monsters. Such a request can even be a combination of these conditions!

If you fulfill a request, your photo earns extra points and you get paid!

During the the photo grading, the previously best photo of the monster is now displayed when you get a new high score.

The player's name and the date the photo was graded are now displayed when you view the photo album.

I also added a dialogue option to decline a request from the photographer. She'll then request a different photo.

I added two new fonts to the League Pass editor (Comic and Small).

I made new backgrounds for additional beach areas.

Here are the full back sprites for Cuddl and Grizzl.

Below are some more photos I've taken with the Safari Camera. Have a nice week!

Photographed Abstráctomon now cast shadows!

The first Abstráctomon of your team can now follow you around! I'm currently working on this little feature. 

Here you can see a new variant of tall grass for beaches.

You can now let one of your Abstráctomon follow you around (still a little buggy). They can swim, too.

The game now shows a small screenshot with the time, date and the name of the location you saved in when saving or loading a save file.

The Abstráctomon that follows you around has reflections now, too. Your character & your monster will also be wet for a short while after exiting water. Jumping over ledges is a bit smoother now.

I remade the battle backgrounds for the ocean. Shout out to "Sketches for Humanity" and his awesome Blender tutorial!

Here you can see the new back sprite for Weremoo. Happy Halloween everybody!

I redid the battle backgrounds for tall grass, the ocean, the Tuca Track route and more. Pretty much all battle backgrounds and many other assets are based on 3D renders created in Blender. I then touch up those renders in Photoshop.

I improved the Tuca Track layout a bit once again. It's the first route in the game and connects Herringtin and the Tuca Woods.

Watch Abstráctomon follow you around end enjoy some new atmospheric weather effects!

Watch the  latest update video!

In the video  I show off some   cool new environmental details     like rain puddles, ice pillars and fancy new grass tech!

Below are some   brand new screenshots showing     the smoother lighting & stuff.

I didn't mention it in the video, but   shadows can now have colours  depending on the time of day and area. For example, shadows are now tinted light blue on snow and light brown on sand!