Hello folks.  It's been one crazy week.  We worked on a number of cosmetic things for the game and I think it looks much better than it did.  It's amazing what a little color and some coordination will do for a game. We're not ready to reveal any of that yet, however.

The other thing we started working on was how to get grass working in the game.  One thing you should have noticed about all previous shots is that they've been mainly indoor zones. This is mainly because we've always been at odds with nature. This past week we decided to really look at grass, trees, and the like to see what works for the game.  Many many options later and we finally found something that works.  I really like how it looks in the game.  The angle we're at really makes grass look pretty terrible.  However, this current grass we're using works much better.  It's actually a combination of different models that don't look so good alone, but combined they look pretty good.  Below are some shots that show off what I'm talking about.  So now we can work on outdoor zones and feel confident we can make them look good.

Well, at the very least, I'm pleased with the results.





You guys have a great day.

Wow.  This game looks great.  Nice to see it coming along so well.

I had a few minutes to kill so I figured I'd talk a little bit about combat and my thoughts on it. I said a long time ago that the game isn't like Diablo.  It's easy to get that impression from just looking at some of the media we've put out.  On top of that, RPGs with this camera angle tend to be like Diablo.  I chose this view because one of my all time favorite RPGs is a game called Soul Blazer for the SNES.  There was something about that game that really connected with me.  When I was planning Skullforge: The Hunt, I thought about what would be a good way to do it that is unique and relatively easy to do that isn't 2D.  I settled on what you see now.

So when working on combat, I wanted it to not be something where massive amounts of mobs come at you from all directions like Diablo.  It's just mass killing and I suppose that's video games in a nutshell, but I wanted something a little less spammy and more about strategy.  I played with a number of options and decided to go with something that limits button mashing.  However, it's not "dial-a-combo", either. Right now, it's kind of like PSO (the original).  There's a timing aspect to it.  Button mashing won't produce results, which means the player will have to be more careful with how they do things.  No lock on makes it even more important to make those attacks count.

What this really means is that combat requires a lot of moving around and waiting for the right moment to strike.  Enemies don't wait to attack you like in games such as Assassin's Creed.  When they see an opening, they attack, which means it's easy to get mobbed.  Too many enemies and you're dead.  I did this to keep players on their toes.  So many games people just run in and destroy everything.  It makes the game fairly easy.  I don't want that to happen in this game.  However, I do want it to be fun, so finding that balance is something we'll be working on and as we do more tests, we'll make adjustments.

Of course, this isn't to say there won't be some huge battles, but they won't be often.  Fights against 3 or 4 enemies at a time should be fairly common.  Using skills and good tactics should ultimately win the day, but I imagine that people will die fairly often when fighting multiple mobs at the same or higher level.  Lower level mobs will be much easier to dispatch such is the advantage of leveling up and getting better gear.

It'll be interesting to see how people handle the fights and what strategies they come up with.  In all honesty, it's one of the things I love most about designing things.  Have a good day.

Hey folks.  It's been a while since I last posted.  A lot has happened since then, the most important thing is that I made the move from Japan to the U.S.  Considering that the U.S. is where I'm from, it's strange being back.  Perhaps living in a foreign country really does change how you view the world you grew up in.

All that aside, we're still working on the game and have made some really nice progress.  I'm getting to be rather pleased with combat, even though it's still not exactly where I want it to be.  At the moment, it's about timing to get combos to work and less about button mashing.  I want the game to be relatively fast paced, but this isn't Diablo, so there should be a certain amount of strategy, especially when facing big targets or multiple enemies.  This week I'm going to make a little "Danger Room" so I can test out the combat with multitudes of enemies.  Something my wife suggested the other day.  The one thing people may not like is that there isn't any sort of "lock on" system.  I decided to avoid it since the pacing requires a bit of tactical know-how and providing a "lock" would make things a little too focused.  Of course, this could change once my "Danger Room" is up and running.  One thing I'm fairly certain about is more than 4 mobs and it gets a little hairy to survive.  Mobs don't just stand around and watch you beat up on their friends.  They'll try to flank you and are constantly attacking, which means the player can get surrounded and destroyed pretty easily.  There are multiple ways to handle this, but I almost always go with a divide and conquer tactic.  With more abilities at a player's disposal, I imagine players will find a way that suits them best.  Which is what I'm counting on.

I stated a long time ago that there would be a Wii U version of the game.  This hasn't changed.  As a matter of fact, I should have my dev kit this week and HOPEFULLY have some screenshots of the Wii U build next week.  It'll be nice to actually have the game running on the Wii U.  So far, I've tested the game on PCs and Macs.  It seems to run fine in both cases, with some issues with buttons and such that need to be resolved.  I haven't tested Linux yet, but that will be in the next month or so once I can get a dedicated Linux machine built.  I imagine it will run fine.  The only version I'm worried about at the moment is the Wii U.  Just not sure how well it will perform and there's a bit of trepidation that my vision of how this will work for that system will be shattered due to performance issues.  One thing I've been doing recently is trying to get the game to look as good as it can without too many crazy effects and a small memory footprint.  I suppose the next couple of weeks will hammer all of that out.  Don't worry about Wii U support. I'll get it working one way or another.  I'm determined.  I'll probably take a moment next week and talk about the Wii U in my next official blog post.

I already covered this in my official blog (http://skullforge.omc-games.com), but I'll touch on it a little bit here.  Been working on character art and NPCs for a while, but finding a good batch of them has been hard.  As you know, most of what has been done in the game as far as art goes has been from the asset store.  If it isn't on the asset store, then it won't be in the game.  At least at the moment.  Perhaps this will change so that I can add a bit of uniqueness to the game, but that's a matter of money which I don't have much of.  If you've wondered why there aren't many NPCs in any of the screenshots, it's because of two reasons.  The first is just a simple case of having not gotten to that point yet.  Most characters in the game are enemies used for testing the combat.  The second reason is that I haven't found a good batch of NPCs to use.  As a matter of fact, I'm still messing around with the test model for the main character of the game.  Don't get me wrong, there are a few NPC model packs on the Asset Store.  However, I feel like the "look" may not match the game.  I guess I haven't really decided on a "look" yet, which makes choosing a set of NPCs more difficult.

With some important trade shows coming up, I need to figure it all out before then.  At least a temporary solution.  I really want to change the model for the main character.  I like that particular model since it has a more practical feel to it, but I think it's about time for that to be fixed.  The trick is getting the final design finalized and then getting the 3D model made.  Still working on the design and the model...we'll get to that at some point.  I included this in my blog, but I'll post it again here for those who don't want to do a lot of clicking.  The design is coming around, but still in flux.  You'd think after a year we'd have this nailed down, but alas.  Heh, heh.



Well, probably enough crap for today.  I'll leave you guys with a few new screenshots that I haven't posted here.  Here's to the future.

Hello, everyone.  It's been a while, but work continues.  Today, I figured I'd throw up a couple screens for you to check out.  I hope to have a more interesting blog post in the coming weeks as I'll have more free time due to the holidays.  Something I'm definitely looking forward to.  Anyway, hope you enjoy the screens.

Hello folks.  It's been a while, but we're still out there chuggin' away at the game.  I don't have much to say this week, so enjoy this week's screen.



There isn't any furniture in the Mercenaries Guild yet, but the movers are coming....

Been working hard this week on UI things and I have to say it's the part I hate most.  Trying to get everything to look right and actually function is rage inducing sometimes.  The sad thing is after I worked on a few things I came to the conclusion that the UI needed to be redone.  I like how clean the current UI is but it's...missing something.  I'll admit that I don't really have an eye for creating something like this.  Which is why the current UI is a little clunky looking.  In any case, it does what I want it to do.  This is why in recent screenshots, I've turned off the UI. It's just not good and it kinda ruins the feel of the screenshots.  I'll be focusing more on the UI in the next month because I have to get quest and info UI looking decent.  Still a ways off on getting that functioning the way I want it.

Also, I picked up Chat Mapper and I'll be using that for quests and dialog. Keeping track of the crazy dialog trees in the Unity Editor makes my head hurt. Just the few dialogs I used for the Skullforge: The Hunt trailers was difficult to keep track of and I kept messing it up because I would get who said what mixed up. Something definitely needed to be done about that. It would have been nice if Chat Mapper had a Mac version so that I could work on code and dialogs on the same machine...but alas.  Luckily, the ole Windows PC is around and probably pretty happy he's getting some work outside of playing Mass Effect 3 and testing Skullforge PC builds. Gotta admit that the software is a little daunting in the beginning.  Sooooo many options to mess with.  In any case, here's to the future!

I'll end today's blog post with a new screen.  This is the updated warehouse.  You should notice that there is a lot more going on this time.  Woot!

It's another week and another screenshot. Enjoy!

Things have been going quite well with the project and I'm happy with how everything is working out.  I have added a couple of people to help in art and music, so I am now in the need for someone who can do the following:

1. UI design
2. Terrain and world building
3. 3D modeling for the main character

I'd like to have the UI of Skullforge re-done in a more stylistic way, so anyone who has experience in this, please contact me and we can work out the collaboration details.  If you're interested just send me a message or e-mail and we can discuss the details.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Hey, this looks pretty cool. I'm impressed how far one developer can get with a little help by the Unity asset store. I would have easily believed for this project to have 10 people involved just from looking at the screenshots.

I would recommend for you to update the first post and put the youtube video in there. Make sure to not just drop the link since that's easy to overlook, but create a screenshot that looks like a youtube video and link it to the actual video on youtube. This will help people to get a better understanding of the game without having to read up the different posts.

Thanks for the compliments.  I feel like getting good art is the thing that holds many people back.  I was lucky that one of the asset creators is a good guy and put together some great assets for people to use. Of course, being a programmer does make getting things functional a lot easier.  Let's just hope that it all comes together in a great package at the end of the day.

I hadn't thought of adding the video to this blog, but it's a good idea.  I'll go ahead and add it after I finish this post.  It's kinda old at this point, but I suppose it can't hurt to have it there until I can get a better one out.

This devlog is very impressive, especially for a one man dev team using Unity, are you using Unity pro?

Thanks.  Yeah, I'm using Unity Pro.  The lighting features are definitely worth it.  Luckily, Wii U development comes with Unity Pro as well.

Another week and another screenshot.  This one shows off Blackquill's tavern.

Nice looking game.  Good luck getting the trailer going.  Strangely enough I always enjoy making them for some reason. Once your Greenlight page goes up, I'll definitely throw a vote your way.

Heh, I haven't posted anything in NeoGAF in a long time. I should check up on everyone to see how they're doing.  The game has come a long way since then, but it's still a long way from being finished. 

Here are a couple high res shots (720p). I try not to use them here as I feel like they can bog down the page when there are too many screens. 

http://skullforge.omc-games.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Skullforge_27.png
http://skullforge.omc-games.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Skullforge_26.jpg

Perhaps I'll try to include the link to the higher resolution screens in the future.

As for the Steam Greenlight, it's coming along.  Slow, but every now and again I get an e-mail or comment from people who have discovered the game.  I'm going to need to update the screenshots there with newer ones.  If anyone hasn't voted for us on Steam Greenlight, please head over there and throw us a vote.  The link is below.  :D

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=250832280

Hello again. Been going back and making adjustments to the world of Skullforge: The Hunt and one of the places I revisited is Kellum's Inn.  It's one of the inns you'll be visiting in the game and when I first showed it I wasn't happy with the layout, but it was the best I could do with what I had to work with.  However, I was finally able to convince someone that there was a need for a good interior pack and he did just that.  This made the new Kellum's a much better looking place and I hope everyone will enjoy hanging out there.  Below is what it looked like originally.



You can see how things have changed in the new screens.  It's like night and day, in my opinion.  Always feels good to see changes like this.



Well, work continues.  Hope you guys have a great day.

It's been a while, but seems time for a couple of screens.  This comes from one of the warehouses in the game and one that is in the middle of being populated with stuff.  I liked the way it turned out, so I figured I'd share this with everyone since I haven't posted new screens in a long while.

Looks cool.  Perhaps you can capitalize on that since the big guys don't seem to want to.  Heh, heh.

I wish I could update more often, but after my first real reveal and the Kickstarter afterwards, I've been a little wary showing off the game in it's current form.  It's still early and there are lots of things that need to be worked on and updated.  The initial response of "it's crap" or "looks bad" is pretty scathing considering how early it is in development.  Not that this is a complaint against that sort of criticism, but even stating that a lot of what people have seen is early development stuff, it's still taken as if it's what the game will look like in it's final form.

I'm one of those guys who likes to delve into how and why of game development.  Posting screens of what things look like in the beginning and the little crazy things we deal with I find quite interesting.  I believe that there shouldn't be anything wrong with seeing things in their raw state.  It's raw and the game is still being made.  If someone isn't happy with that, that's fine.  I've just come to accept that this is my way and how I like to do things.  Of course, that means I'm opening myself up to that level of criticism as well.  I guess I'm fine with that too.  What's the point of all of this if we can't show off the jank so we can appreciate the strides we make?

Anyway, sorry for my little rant.

Today, I just wanted to say that I decided to change the way the enemy's HP is displayed.  I had messed around with adding windows that showed the enemy's HP on the left side of the screen, but after playing around with it, I found it was better to just put the HP bar over their head.  It's kind of a bummer since I wanted something "flashy" instead of the traditional "bar over the head" style.  However, there's a reason it's the tried and true way in 3D games.  Once there are too many enemies on the screen managing who to target should be about speed as it's a matter of life and death.  Having gotten destroyed by them a few times in testing, I figured it was better to just have the HP bar connected to the mob.  Heh, that's why we test, right?

Also, I have added a musician to our little band of merry men.  He's a great guy and I'm happy that he was able to join the crew.  His first track is pretty awesome and he's given me some ideas on how to handle sound in the game.  This will end up being better for the game and ultimately great for the player experience.  Once we nail down the track, I'll post a sample.  It shows the direction we're going with the audio layer of the game and how it'll be different than what you'd expect from a fantasy action RPG.  I hope that's a good thing.

That's it for today.  Take it easy.

It's been a while since I've posted some screens for the game, but I wanted to give you guys a little look at how things have changed in recent weeks.  What you're looking in the picture below is the original look of Kellum's Inn.  It's dark, and I feel like it doesn't look much like you would expect of an inn.



In the picture below you can see how it's changed.  This is the same place, but we have a better asset pack for crafting the inside of buildings and I think it shows.  We went ahead and improved the lighting a bit and added a little flavor to the room.  There are a few places to work on, so it's taken a bit more time than to get them looking the way we want them.



Hopefully in the next couple of days we'll have a couple new screens from one of the actual dungeons in the game.  Thanks for reading.

Hey folks.  Just making a post letting everyone know we're still alive and working on the game.  I feel like I haven't had much to share since much of what we're working on is in transition.  I've been looking for people to help get a couple of custom models done and someone to do some world layout based on my maps.  Heh, I've tried to do this myself, but I'm terrible at it.  Of course, if I can't find someone to help on this front, then you guys will have to suffer through my crappy terrains.  For that, I apologize.

Had a person work on Desi's design and it worked out quite well.  I'm real happy with how it turned out.  The next point is to get her custom model setup based on his design.  My goal is to get this started sometime in the next couple of weeks.  If you're interested in the character check it out below.

http://skullforge.omc-games.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/desi_wallpaper.jpg

Working on finalizing the total list of places to visit in the game.  This includes inns, taverns, churches, shops, dungeons, etc.  Up until now, I've pretty much added places as they've been needed, but my list is getting a little cluttered and I feel like there's a bit of overlap in areas.  It's time consuming and costly to add a new zone for every little thing, so I want to reuse places so that they have dual purposes.  That doesn't mean I won't add new places if it is required.  I just want to save us a bit of time by not having to create so many buildings and places if they're not really necessary.

I wanted to have a couple of screens this weekend to show, but time wasn't on my side due to work.  Plus, I wasn't happy with how the zone I was working on was progressing, so I decided to hold off until some other time.  No point in showing off some ugly looking zone just so I could have something to show.

Also, in the next month or so, I will be putting together a little video blog to show off some things we're working on in the game.  They won't be very long...4 or 5 minutes, but it should give people some idea on how the game is progressing and how various systems work in the game.  I'm kind of looking forward to this and I hope everyone else is, too.

Okay, that's it for today.  Have a good one.

Hello, everyone.  It's been a while since I've posted here, mainly because I haven't had anything to write about recently.  Most of the work going into the game right now has to do with things under the hood and are rather boring to talk about.  I doubt people have much interest in how the options system is working out.  That said, I am making quite a bit of progress in that area and I'm quite happy about that.

One of the things I've been struggling with has to do with complete controller control vs. keyboard and mouse functionality. I won't lie and say I'm not much of a PC gamer.  The conventions used in most PC games are things that I'm not familiar with and so Skullforge is built with the idea of using either the keyboard as the main input tool with the mouse as a secondary input device used for attacking and dodging, but skill use and the like are activated via keyboard.  This is because I've avoided using "buttons" for almost all the UI design.  This means there aren't many clickable options in the game.  Perhaps some folks won't be too happy about that, but it helps me deal with balancing controller use, mouse/keyboard, and Wii remote.  It probably sounds worse than it actually is, but it's a decision I've had to make recently and I'm happy with how it works in game.

Outside of that, the art for Desi is coming along nicely and I hope to have a pic sometime soon.  Heh, I think she is looking pretty cool.