Hello impatient worshipers of the pineal gland, Don’t read this newsletter. Instead go to Steam and download the [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1573390/Lilas_Sky_Ark/]demo of Lila’s Sky Ark[/url] right now! We promise 45 minutes of celestial sheep, the Wisp King, and magic. Also, it’s free. Since you’re back already, let's remind you this is, Views from the Monolith, our chaotic newsletter filled with adventures in the world of video game development (and occasionally consumption). Steam is hosting its #NEXTFEST with lots of fresh demos, starting today. Over the last weeks we took a detour from our roadmap to splice together some preexisting content of Lila’s Sky Ark. We promise to go on the gamedev-journey together and having you dig into it as soon as possible is crucial. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40056258/475e856f1ebd3a3df0d7d8ef7352c3e513514145.png[/img] This demo should give you a pretty good idea of how we want Lila’s Sky Ark to feel— pick-up and throw mechanics are in place, an early stretch of the story is laid out, and the first mini boss is waiting for you to challenge him. If you get the chance to download and play the demo, we would love to hear from you. Did you enjoy it? Does it get you excited for the full game? Does it come up to your expectations? Please reach out directly via the in-demo feedback or [url=https://discord.gg/uAkZgBp7gz]visit our Discord[/url] and let us know what we can improve. After all, we’re crafting this video game for you. [h1]The Mountain[/h1] Besides putting together the demo we also made some massive progress on the overall game over the last weeks. Not only did we finish the first major boss (no spoilers, yet), but we also made substantial headway on the second biome of Lila’s sky-island: the Mountain. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40056258/d436441ae963a61ef8b25546c0651728173f0764.png[/img] Here, in the realm of the Spirit Elephant, queen bees breed tiny bees, priests meditate to rhythm of the field, and rock giants do what rock giants do: they insult you. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40056258/61f1dcfed8e5f79aaf94b93b806f3b9add2307e5.png[/img] Since the core mechanics should be established when reaching the mountain, battles will be more nasty, puzzles more mind-boggling, and encounters and dialogs as ridiculous as we get away with. [h1]Robot Graveyard Design Process[/h1] Speaking about ridiculous encounters: last month we expanded the forest by an area called the, “Robot Graveyard.” Since many of you have asked us about our pixel-design workflow, we recorded the whole four hour session, and compressed it [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF1d79UJUAA]into a 30 minute video[/url]. Enjoy. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40056258/021c913b1fcac69230cecc8ec323b09675b4ff34.png[/img] [h1]Resolutiion’s Birthday, Encore[/h1] The last piece of news for this newsletter is another goody as nostalgic as it gets: Richi rummaged through the archive, digging up Resolutiion’s very first build, when it was still called Red Wars. It’s bad, buggy, and ugly, but awesome to see how far we have come since those early days. What also struck us was, how much we kept from this initial prototype, regarding architecture and level design. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40056258/c8a2d36ba46ba0048a080b6ce78bde38c11037cc.png[/img] [url=https://resolutiion.itch.io/red-wars]Download Red Wars v0.00001 at itch.io[/url] for Windows and Linux, and try to reach its end without crashing the build. There’s also a speed-run competition happening on MoM’s Discord server, so feel free compare your time with the community. Thanks for reaching the end of this newsletter. May your pineal gland receive cosmic enlightenment. Bye for now.