Malvanean - Announcement coming soon

Art by @squp.bsky.social

The Argentonymus is a sort of "abyssal mirror life," life naturally occurring deep inside reflections. Bringing it into the real world requires the refining of silver into its purest essence, where it is prized by cultists of Chazakiel, a fallen angel associated with reflections.

Art by @squp.bsky.social

The Embryon is what remains of the prime matter of flesh when all else is stripped away from it. It shambles around, resembling a humanoid- though it lacks every single trait of a human save for 'the flesh.' For alchemists, the Embryon is a blank slate on which to build new life.

The Ficus Genetrix is an example of a Myiasis-type demon, a demon symbolizing how organisms turn other organisms into more of themselves, in this case inspired by the life cycle of the common fig or Ficus Carica

By making the game's attacks and spells tie into an overarching pseudo-alchemical philosophical system we hope to make it feel like a coherent world, and in making it a coherent world we hope to more effortlessly communicate information about both gameplay and story to the player.

As such the 'Myiasis' element is a corpus element symbolizing the often predatory way in which life turns other life into more of itself. Myiasis-type attacks infest enemies with bugs under their skin. Myiasis spells heal you by drawing on another's health- be it enemy or ally.

A big part of the themes of Malvanean is the spirit yearning to go in one direction and the flesh yearning for another, so we've split the game's eight elements in two groups- four 'cosmic' elements relating to the soul, and four 'corpus' elements relating to the body.

One thing we don't want to do with Malvanean is use elements like 'fire,' 'air' or 'water.' Plenty of games have fire attacks. Few games have attacks based on an element symbolizing the process by which the larvae of the wasp turn the flesh of the caterpillar into more wasps.

Artwork, as usual, by the talented @squp.bsky.social

The Witsilver is cinnabar, the moon-element of change and mercury as well as one of the four components of the cosmic self distilled into its essence. It is an amorphous metal blob capable of taking any shape, yet is most prized for its staggeringly large intellectual capacities.

The Bottlebird is the bile, the caustic element that breaks down organic material distilled into its essence. Alchemists call acids "bottled spirits," likening the digestion of matter to a spirit devouring them, but the true spirit from the bottle is this ravenous, predatory bird.

Ultimately we don't want to show off unfinished content and we don't want to create hype when we can't be sure when the game will be properly done yet. Malvanean needs more time in the oven to be a properly good game, and when we do reveal the game we'd like it to be mind-blowing

'Malvanean' has gone through some delays because of some publisher drama and several of the devs having been struck with sickness at once. We're back on track now and we'll be posting new demon sprites on a regular basis, as well as more general development / game design updates.

A big part of it is that we don't want to show off unfinished work and don't want to create hype when the game just isn't done yet. We've gotten done reworking combat and are reworking the systems for dungeon exploration and random encounters now. The game just needs more time to be a good game

We've been going through some hard times, with publisher drama and some of the team members having been sick for extended periods of time. We're back in development proper now, though. We'll start making more posts about dev progress, discord server will have to wait for now though

Artwork by the talented @squp.bsky.social

Alchemists adore distilling elements down to their essence, and in an animist world these essences can have forms reminiscent of the myriad forms of life. The Gnome is the essence of lead, prized by many an alchemist for it's darkly comedic demeanour and hardy, unyielding nature.

Not yet, we want to have more game to show off first!

One of my all time favourite games!!

happy people energy from the Outside

Artwork as usual by the talented @squp.bsky.social

All that remains of the Tartar army are sparse remnants scattered throughout the Abode and corpses with teethmarks on their bones. The few remaining generals stalk the labyrinthine halls, having failed their task yet now something more than human. They roam, looking for new meat.

It's a bit of Persona, a bit of Shin Megami Tensei and a whole lot of dungeon crawling roguelike. It's a permadeath game (also for your demons!) where you traverse dungeons, collect demons to use in battle and fight nasty bosses

Talk to them, fight them, summon them to your party, take them out exploring and on dates to max out their social link and maybe even romance them!

it was fun to draw a sprite from someone elses design :D im happy with how it came out

Creature design by the wonderful @junestrings.bsky.social

The Sharp Prince is one remaining half of a living artefact, a thing blurring the lines between 'organism' and 'tool.'

She is a blade of judgement made the focal point of a web of living string and thread, pulsing as arteries would, and entangling as threads of brain-silk would.

With nary a drop of divinity in him, Belial desires to rule but is unable to attain any deific state. Still, he styles himself as a worldly ruler carrying the mandate of Buer. He has taken control of the lower realms with military might, now ruling as a mockery of human nobility.

Give in to the temptations of the flesh. Explore the oceans beyond the firmament. Get lost in the cosmic void of the self. Ascend the throne of the Sun.

A roguelike monster-catching dungeon crawler where the only way to heal is eating your allies.

Announcement coming soon