Welcome back, Jason here with our sixth devlog. 

Today I will discuss the progress of conceptualising the enemies that will populate our game world, but first I will speak about the name of our game.

Depths Of Dread

Previously our game was named Sunken Shadows, we were stuck for quite a bit on the naming of our game, trying to find a set of words that could encapsulate the identity and themes that make our game what it is, while also being unique, catchy and memorable. We went through a few titles and Sunken Shadows was suggested, we kept it as that for a while and had (Title Pending) accompanying it as we still weren't sure.

Today in a meeting, we had some fellow college classmates with us and during a discussion on our game, the title was brought up. I then suggested Depths Of Dread, something I had been toying with in the back of my head for a while, the response was pretty unanimous and we had great feedback from fellow classmates, teammates and our project supervisor. I think it captures the game quite well, you are exploring the depths of the ocean, encountering dreadful foes, while also exploring the very depths of dread itself, through the player's journey. 

The Enemies

After I modeled the biter enemy to be ready for our vertical slice, I returned to working on the game design document and made further progress on the game story, but also some progress on our enemies. The enemies the player will encounter will increase in horror and difficulty the more they travel. We currently have several concepts for enemies, a few of which have been worked on more than others. I'll share these with you today, accompanied by some concept art.

The Biter

The first creature encountered, the Biter is a medium-sized and slim predator similar in ferocity to a piranha, but much larger in size. Evolution granted it three eyes for a greater field of vision, incredible manoeuvrability credited to its four fins and razor-sharp teeth capable of tearing and ripping through even metal. Biters attack in packs, almost like a hive mind, when a Biter locates an enemy, the others in the pack follow suit and regroup with their pack member to overwhelm their prey. Fighting this enemy is crucial as the Biters play a war of attrition, which can devastate your oxygen system if left unchecked. 

Pursuer

This creature is quite fearsome, it appears as a large snake-like creature with three long large fins running along its body with many skinny sharp teeth in its mouth. Being the fastest monster you'll face, it uses its blade-like fins to navigate the waters and brush against the player to produce quick and precise cuts. Its tactic is death by a thousand cuts. Shooting it from a distance will be a good plan of attack if escape is deemed too difficult. You won't want to face this enemy, and you could encounter many of them at once, which will require you to be well-equipped and at your best.

Banshee

The Banshee is a creature unlike any you'll encounter, it's the most alien, the one you'll most want to avoid. Its appearance is unsightly, disgusting yet alluring, it is so mysterious and unusual that it is meant to attract prey. It just hangs there, floating, the top half of its body appears humanoid in shape, tentacles protruding from the front of its head and all across its body. The tentacles on its head give it a beard-like appearance, but no eyes can be seen. From a certain angle it looks like a hunched-over bearded old man, from another it looks like a woman bent over with her hair down and it seems gentle and peaceful, alone, slowly patrolling above, this all adds to the attraction, the trap.

The Banshee acts as a living alarm, the player must avoid the attention of this creature if it wishes to survive, as once it knows you're there, it will screech very loudly and call all enemies within its radius to its location to hunt you down and rip you to shreds. It never attacks you, it merely follows you slowly from a distance, telling every monster in the area where you are. It has a symbiotic relationship with the other monsters, it is too weak to acquire its own food, so it alerts other predators of any prey around so they won't harm the Banshee and will leave it food in return. Silencing this monster quickly will be effective and could prevent detection, but avoiding it entirely is the smartest play, however, they will make this difficult.

Crawler

This creature is native to the Crystal Caverns, a small and sneaky crab/spidery monster that blends in with the crystalline environment by appearing as a crystal rock. When idle, the Crawler appears as a regular crystal, but if you're in its radius, it will rise on its long thick legs and quickly rush towards you, moving spiderly across the floor. But where there is one Crawler, there are more. So if you see one moving then beware there are more nearby. The Crawlers move creepily across the floor and if they reach you they will pile onto the legs of the mech and keep it in place, preventing any lower-body movement. This will be quite detrimental if you're also in danger of Biters and Pursuers attacking you. You must kill the Crawlers before they reach you, if not you'll be stuck in place and will have to kill them quickly or force your way out of their hold before you're overwhelmed by other monsters.

These are some of the enemies we have come up with, I hope you can see the potential we can for some interesting gameplay. The rest of the team is continuing to put their heart and soul into this project, Jack will be working further on the AI and polishing it for the vertical slice, Kayne is texturing the mech and bringing it to life (I've seen him working on it in substance painter and its every bit as awesome as you'd expect it to be), Conor and the programming team will also be working on polishing the player movement thanks to vital feedback and we will also be planning the opening section for the vertical slice.  Thanks for reading and stay tuned for our next devlog!

- Jason