I guess I'm overdue for an update, and since people have raised questions about The Shadowgazer appearing at z3, I'll happily oblige. ;D
Below are some of the brainstorming sketches done when I was trying to design the nightmares. They take on a sort of spectre-like appearance when you first catch sight of one, but revert to a shapeless black wraith form when moving at speed or attacking (similar to their counterparts in Link's Awakening.) The locket round their neck contains their essence, rather like a Poe's soul, which needs to be 'purified' to turn the nightmare into a good dream.
They've also got a name now: they're called the Maren. I'm giving the Sheikah a little backstory, making them a shamanistic people who could commune with spirits whilst dreaming, and rather like the native American indians believed, they discovered they weren't all friendly...! The Maren, the manifestation of nightmares, drove the Sheikah to madness and the brink of self-destruction. They were defeated by a single shaman, under the protection of magical totem: a dreamcatcher called the Shadowgazer.
The final design is amongst there somewhere, but I'll leave you to guess what it is...
I haven't started spriting them yet, and probably won't need to for a while.
I know you have said that you should have this ready for z3 assuming that it is around the same time as last year. With it being May 18th, do you think you will have it ready or will you just release early August?
Anyway, I must ask...are you still working on a demo for Z3 or are you putting this on hold until ZFGCCP is finished?
Well, I've not worked on The Shadowgazer in over a month now, as I've been doing stuff for the Community Project, so basically, even if z3 was in August as I'd originally planned for, I'd be behind schedule. So I'm afraid the full demo release is still not set in stone. It will be done and released as originally planned, but it may not be quite as soon as August, and it certainly won't be as soon as May 18th!
What I will do, for everyone who's continuing to support me, is put
something playable together for this coming z3. What form this will take I don't know yet. It could be the first dungeon in isolation, or it could be the prologue...
But I
will still be working on this simultaneously with ZFGCCP. So I'll have a think and let you know. ;D