Subterranean Weekly News: September 24 - Updates coming for Caverns and Dryads, Language of the Dryads, Euoi scream

I’ve been busy both with writing the story and programming Caverns and Dryads. So busy that I haven’t been able to write this weekly post every week.

I’m going to tell you everything here. The game will have an update soon, which I’m currently testing. I’ll also tell you about other things, reflections, discoveries…

UPDATE 2.4 OF CAVERNS AND DRYADS IS IN TESTING

I’ve implemented several features and I’m testing them to make sure they are solid:

• Take All Loot: A button in the loot screen to take everything available, as long as it fits in your inventory.
• Quick Spells: Hold on the spell book. It will open the same spell type and realm as the last one used, making it faster to repeat the last spell or a similar one. A normal click opens the grimoire as always.

That’s the most important part. There are also some smaller changes:

• Shops will pay different prices depending on the type of shop.
• The names of items will now be shown in their descriptions inside shops.
• A tutorial the first time you camp, to help new players.
• Fixed the description of Umbrials in the Bestiary DLC.
• Fixed a critical bug that could occur in some special circumstances.

Update will come probably early next week.

Palace of the king of Arcanopolis. Illustration for the

upcoming update that will bring the monster quests.

THIS WEEK'S MUSIC

I may make a few posts, if I have time, about the different kinds of music I’ve been listening to lately. I have a medieval music playlist. This is one of its pieces.

It made me think about the language of the dryads, which I mention many times. If you’ve read my short story ("The Dark Green Eyes"), you will notice that Tamzyn speaks in a strange French. If you read the books when they are released, or reach certain moments in the game, you’ll notice that she speaks a language nobody understands.

It is not Romance, not Occitan, nor French. It is another similar language. The dryads’ accent is soft, and sometimes it links words together, much like French liaison.

HOW EUOI SOUNDS

At some point in the story you will hear this cry. Euoi is a Greek cry of exaltation and ecstasy, which often appeared in Dionysian cults. Of course, it has something to do with Aubeline.

However, I didn’t know how it sounded when repeated in its original context. In this video, the female voices are uttering the exclamation, and when the voices pile up it ends up sounding almost like a neigh or a howl.

I found it very interesting, so I’m sharing it here.

A THOUGHT ABOUT LANGUAGES IN WORLDBUILDING

I’ve been listening to podcasts and videos about languages in fantasy literature and worldbuilding. There is currently a lot of debate about Tolkien and whether it is necessary to do what the master did. You know, inventing languages with their own phonetics and grammar.

My opinion is NO. You don’t need to invent anything, because you would only end up making a fool of yourself, since most of us are not experts.

Besides, it doesn’t really make sense. When a character doesn’t know a language, what the reader needs to know is that they understand nothing. Or how the language sounds to their ears. Little more than that.

There is always the possibility that someone translates, as Sioul does with the Gnomurk.

Triptych image "Look at the dandelions"

BLOG VISITS

They have increased dramatically. On one day alone there were more than 1,600 visits. Most people come to see the game-related content. The game currently has a very high click-through rate, and 15 reviews with a positive score of 93%. I think everyone appreciates the work and passion behind Caverns and Dryads. Thank you very much! :) 

There is also curiosity about the photorealistic images of Tamzyn, so I may post some more, along with a few wallpapers.

*    *    *

Well, that’s all for today. In the next few days I’ll publish the update for my dark fantasy game Caverns and Dryads on Steam.

I’m still working on several things, including the commissioned boss monster quests and some aesthetic improvements.

Let’s see if I also have time to post more here, because many things I wanted to write about have been piling up.