It’s been a productive week of development and we’ve reached a few milestones that are helping the world feel more like a MUD.

One area key to our design goal is exploration. We recently implemented secret doors that can be discoved by attentive players who pay close attention to their surrounding and experiment with the world around them. One of the things we love about classic games is the feeling that not everything is immediately obvious. Sometimes, a room description contains more than flavor text and curiousity is rewarded with hidden passages, forgotten spaces, and new opportunities for adventure.

Exploration is intended to be an important part of the game and secret doors are just one more step toward making the world feel worth investigating.

We also added potions to the game. In addition to restoring health, potions can provide temporary enhancements, such as increased strength or improved defenses. Consumables have long been a staple of fantasy games and we’ve made sure they’re here, too.

On the economic side, we’ve implemented our first merchant system. The current version is a strightforward buy-and-sell system, but it’s an important milestone for the project. Many future features depend on having a functioning economy in place and this gives us a solid foundation on which to build.

A mage casting a spell at a goblin scout

The most exciting addition this week, however, is the introduction of our magic system.

Our two caster classes, priest and mage, are being designed to feel and play differently.

Priests have access to a large pool of magic points which regenerate slowly over time. Their spell selection focuses on healing, blessings, protective magic, and supporting allies through difficult battles. Priests should feel dependable and deliberate, carefully managing their resources while keeping themselves and their companions alive.

Mages take a different approach. They have a much smaller pool of magic points, but regenerate their points far more rapidly. Their spells emphasize burst damage, crowd control, and mobility. Rather than serving as a steady source of support, mages are intended to create moments of impact, striking at the right time and changing the course of the battle through clever spell use.

Additionally, mages must prepare their spells before combat rather than casting freely from a large spell list. We’re still refining the details, but we like the strategic decisions this creates. Choosing which spells to prepare becomes part of the challenage and planning ahead can be just as important as execution during the fight.

There’s still plenty of work ahead of us, but with exploration features, consumables, merchants, and the foundations of a magic system now taking shape, the world is beginning to feel more alive with every update.

We’ll have more to share as development continues!