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For those who might not know, DreamHack Beyond is a one-of-a-kind hybrid festival that merges the immersive world of gaming with a physical event. Taking place both on-site and virtually, this event is a fantastic opportunity for gamers and developers alike.
Shadowfly
SwarmstingerAn example of an enemy that falls between the previous two is Murdersquid. Attacking the squid from the wrong direction causes the player to hit its shield, stopping the attack and causing damage. Murdersquids can be used to reach new areas, but they also present a challenge for the player. The biggest challenges in creating enemies for DOOMBLADE were in devising different ways to limit the player’s overly powerful attack mechanics from obliterating the enemies before any meaningful fighting could take place. Murdersquid exemplifies this well. It’s not a difficult enemy to defeat, but the challenge is still present.
MurdersquidDesigning the visuals of the DOOMBLADE enemy creatures was incredibly enjoyable and challenging. Due to the unique game mechanics of all the enemies, which stem from the core gameplay design, we aimed to make the enemies appear strangely chaotic while still fitting into the designed gameplay. An excellent example is the Subterranean Broodsmasher. It’s a slowly walking tank-like creature with heavy arms that it swings around when the player approaches. It also has toxic eggs growing on its back, which it hurls towards the player when the player is far enough away. In all the creature designs, gameplay took precedence, followed by the theme of the biome in which the creature was most frequently encountered in the game. With all these considerations in mind, we managed to create around 80 unique enemies for players to encounter.
Subterranean BroodsmasherHaving so many different and interesting enemies meant that we wanted to display them properly and provide a bit of lore as well. This is why we were eager to create a bestiary for the game, allowing players to delve deeper into the enemies they encounter. Although we weren't able to have it ready for the game’s initial release, we have finally completed the bestiary update!
The original fast travel point was just a black monolith. We later changed it into a machine that is activated with DOOMBLADE.We had an enemy in the game we called the Escaper. Once you tried to attack it, it started escaping so that your attack would keep going until the Escaper finally stopped so your attack could connect. We used Escapers to lead the player to places otherwise out of reach or when we wanted to make traversal faster. So why not use a new version of The Escaper in The Void where nothing can get in your way to handle fast travel? And thus, The Voidborne was created.
On the left, the original Escaper later to be known as Feeble Fleebell. On the right, the Voidborne.Traveling with Voidbornes worked great. As we tested the game and traversed great distances in The Void, one thing became clear quite fast: if we had another dimension at our disposal and we were doing a Metroidvania, surely this couldn’t be used just for fast travel and a single boss fight? So much space that could be used for plot points, secrets, and maybe even an additional power-up.
The Art of DOOMBLADE
The very first concept art for DOOMBLADE.The core idea was there though. We wanted the game to be really fast as the core game mechanic allowed us to create super tight action sequences in the game. 
Early concept art demonstrating the tight action gameplay.We also wanted it to be a Metroidvania from the very beginning of development, so it needed to have beautiful environments and a distinctive art style to differentiate it from all other Metroidvanias.
This early concept art demonstrates the Doom Drop power up in use.I was also experimenting with the animation style and the technical aspects of how we should try to create all the characters in the game. What I ended up doing is a sketch of a boss fight character with the art style we ended up with for DOOMBLADE.
Early boss character concept art.The visual look of the game in the first half of the development was leaning more toward bluish-voidy coloring and visuals.
Early screenshot of the Inventory.Somewhere after halfway through development we figured out that the game’s branding and overall theme should be more doomy and gloomy since the name of the game is DOOMBLADE. This thought process led us towards the red-colored theme, since we thought this is more doomy. Also at this time, we figured that the main character had to be something other than Shadow Bug as well, so we started throwing around ideas for Gloom Girl.
The first concept of Gloom Girl.From the very beginning of the game's development, I wanted the game to have more detailed backgrounds than what is usually seen in other Metroidvanias. In most cases, the background is more simplistic and somewhat blurred. I wanted the background to have lots of detail to be able to create more environmental storytelling as well. This was obviously a great challenge, since the more detail there is, the harder it is to try to make all the important stuff pop out for the player to be able to see where to go. Quite often we had the idea of creating the characters with a slightly separate art style from the background, with outlines around them. This would have been a good choice and an easy one. But I wanted the game to be more immersive visually, so I thought the characters and the background should have the exact same visual style to make it “realistic,” which I think gives better immersion for the player visually. Then again, this was a challenge but it also motivated me. It was always awesome trying to figure out how to make things pop out using some little cues here and there. A good example of one of the things I ended up creating is the glow that is present on all of the walkable platforms. I think this works really well to give the needed interpretation in very detailed environments.
So doomy, so gloomy!We also pushed a small update today including the following two changes:
Guess what? The wait is over! We've launched our official speedrun leaderboards for the full campaign! 
Your support and enthusiasm have been the driving force behind our success, and we are immensely grateful for your dedication. We are also listening to our community about ways we can still improve on the game and today we have released our first patch note with fixes after listening to feedback from all of you. Don't hesitate to reach out in our Steam forums, social media, or in our Discord community if there are further changes that you would like to have happen.
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