Dino the Dark Dragon dropped another screenshot of his latest Ultima-inspired programming project, Wisps of Mantis, onto the Ultima Dragons group on Facebook a while back, along with some news of an impending demo of the game:

It’s soon time to release the tech demo for my little game, Wisps of Mantis, and I’m building the level that will serve to teach the game mechanics. I’m currently figuring out the best way to engage the player while progressively teaching how to play.

The screenshot (above) depicts a tutorial level for the game, which Dino describes thusly in a comment to his post:

It starts with the basics (e.g. movement), brings in a monster that won’t attack just so you can get used to targeting and shooting, and then you get to use your other abilities to deal with additional waves of increasingly challenging monsters. With some luck, it might even be fun.

I, for one, look forward to giving Wisps of Mantis a try when a demo does become available.