Dev Update October 12, 2026
Darkhaven Dev Update: D2-Style Monster Design, a Bigger World and Smoother Liquids
The Darkhaven team shared plans to bring more Diablo II-style mob design into their creatures, talked about filling out a world that's already twice the size of the last demo, and showed some uncertainty about a new liquid animation experiment.
Here’s a roundup of what the Darkhaven developers have been sharing in the official Discord over the past couple of weeks.
Creature Design and AI
The developers said they want to bring more of the mob design style of Diablo II into Darkhaven’s creatures. They described it as “a very intentional way of designing creatures” that the team is regularly reminded of and wants to invest more in.
Part of that effort will involve an AI update, which the team mentioned they need to get around to soon. No further details on what the update will include were given.
World Expansion
The developers said that this week’s focus would likely be expanding the game world. According to them, the world is already twice as large as it was in the last demo, but it still needs more “stuff” to fill it out.
Liquid Animation Experiment
After some players commented on the liquids during the demo, the developers wrote an interpolation scheme so that liquids animate smoothly when their levels change. However, they’re not sure they like the result yet, saying it feels like it’s in the “uncanny valley.” In their words, it either needs to go back to the previous, rougher version or be improved further. No decision has been announced.
How the Team Works
The developers also shared some insight into their development process. Their approach is built around the idea that they won’t know what’s fun until it’s in front of them, so they focus on building systems that let them create and iterate quickly, then follow whatever turns out to be interesting. They noted that they do still think things through before building them, but they don’t spend much time in a paper design phase.