Over the past few weeks at Studio Bhibli, we’ve been focused on refining and consolidating the features introduced in our last devlog. This update is less about adding new systems and more about tightening what’s already in place. From bug fixes to gameplay polish, we’ve aimed to improve the overall experience and lay the groundwork for what’s coming next.

Let’s dive into the details.

HUD

Until now, our primary focus has been on getting the core systems up and running. With that foundation in place, we've shifted our attention toward visual polish.

The Armageddon UI is intentionally minimal, featuring:

• Health bar

• Crosshair

• Skill icon

• Mini-map

Currently, the skill icon hasn't been added, as the skill system itself is still under development. Same with the map. Meanwhile, the health and crosshair elements—which were previously just placeholder numbers—have been replaced with proper sprites. In this devlog, we’ll walk through the visual design process and the choices behind these UI components.

UI Health Bars

Each player has a different health bar sprite. That way, the asymmetry at the heart of the game is reinforced through its visual elements.

The angel health bar is designed as a sword shaped like the Cross of Christ, set against a rose, and rendered in a style reminiscent of stained glass mosaics found in churches. The inspiration comes from Matthew 10:34, where Jesus declares, “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” The rose behind it represents resurrection, a central theme in Christian belief. A metaphor for the crown of thorns transformed into a blooming flower: suffering redeemed through grace.

The demon health bar takes inspiration from the alchemical symbol for Brimstone (🜏), a nod to the biblical depiction of Hell as "a pit of fire and brimstone." Rather than using the symbol directly, we modified it—replacing the base with a serpent, referencing Lucifer's guise in the Garden of Eden when he tempted Eve with the Forbidden Fruit. The result is a health bar that resembles both the Brimstone symbol and the tongue of the serpent, reinforcing the demonic theme through layered symbolism.

Crosshair and World Health Bars

The original crosshair was a placeholder pixel art asset, used purely for testing. It was a static texture, hardcoded to the Player node. We've since overhauled the system: each weapon can now define its own custom crosshair, and we've implemented a reactive system that updates the texture dynamically when an enemy is hit.

Additionally, we’ve added floating health bars above all world entities that have a Health Component. This feature is experimental and subject to change; it may be reworked or possibly removed entirely.

Damage Overlay

Using shaders, we added a screen effect meant to visually convey the level of health in the player. It consists of a pulsating reddish background with a radius of transparency. The effect scales linearly with the player's health, becoming darker and reducing the radius.

NPCs

In this version, we resolved several AI-related issues affecting NPC behavior. NPCs now correctly acquire aggro on players and drop it appropriately if the player dies. We also implemented dynamic hitboxes, allowing players to deal damage to NPCs based on shot placement. Certain areas, like the head, are designated as soft points and apply increased damage.

We also introduced animations for the Idle and Walking states. These were procedurally crafted, using a combination of skeletal rigging (bones), pixel interpolation, and frame interpolation—allowing for smooth, lightweight animations without the need for hand-drawn frames.

We are new to this method of animation. Usually, the artist in charge just makes the animations by hand, and frame by frame. So they might look a bit weird in some cases. But there still a lot of time to polish, if we deem it necessary.

Sound

We started  to add sounds to the game. Currently, the sounds effects implemented are:

• Shooting
• Taking damage

For both events, we used simple sound effects: a firework burst and a visceral, blood-like hit. To prevent these single-track sounds from feeling repetitive, we applied random pitch variation on playback.

What's Next

With a strong base to work with, we present our planned features for the next iterations:

New Map and Territories

We are throwing out the old test map, and making a proper setting. But first, we want to implement the tactical heart of the game: the mechanic of capturing territories. We are considering to add a global timer, showing the time left before game over.

The winning conditions would be as follow:

• A player captures all territories
• The player with the most territories when the timer runs out

New Weapons

The weapon and bullet systems are built to be highly modular—allowing any weapon to use any type of projectile, with fully customizable behavior. We're planning to introduce two new weapons:

• Shotgun: Slower than the current assault rifle, but significantly more powerful at close range. This will serve as the default weapon for the Angel player.

• Rocket Launcher: A pickable weapon designed for high-impact moments, capable of delivering devastating damage to the opposing team.

The current default weapon for the Demon player remains the assault rifle, emphasizing sustained fire over burst damage. 

Players and Skills

It is time for us to start working on the players again. Right now, we are using a Base Player Component, with all the expected shared behaviors between teams. Using that as a base, we can add custom behaviors depending on Role, by extending such component. The first, and highest priority would be to add the skills promised in the introductory devlog. The vision for these has changed a bit, and now stands as follows:

• Trumpet of the Apocalypse: Angel skill. It stuns all nearby enemies, within a small radius.
• Mark of the Beast: Demon skill. It corrupts an enemy NPC, turning it into an ally permanently