[UPDATE - Character Rework + Hope]

UPDATE - Character Rework + Hope

This week we wanted to show off the new character rework and show off a bit of our "hope" system. We still didn't like the old character design and improved it a bit. That being said, the character might take off his helmet at specific points in the game.

On the left we have our latest character rework, animations are not done for it yet.
On the right we have "Sanguinar" a very important npc. More about him later!

Upon dying, you will leave behind a purple marker which we are currently calling "hope." To reclaim hope, you must return to the location of your death and activate it which will manifest an enemy for you to face. Depending on how much hope you had, and the area which you lost it, the enemy will change.

Lastly, we added a new combat gif with a cleaner melee animation and new cape. We're still working on improving the slashing.

Small update, cape looks a bit better now XD

This game looks... amazing.
Thank you for creating this!!!!!!!!

hahaha thanks! It means a lot to see people really it =D

We've been experimenting with new weapon designs.

Also been testing out giving melee attacks a small delay which ultimately adds a bit of timing element to attacking. This does mean we need to re-do some of our attack animations.

[UPDATE - Monster Relics]

UPDATE - Monster Relics

Hidden in the world are many relics that will aid you defeat the challenging bosses.

Each boss has 3 relics pertaining to them:

• Having 1 Relic lets you see the boss health bar + gives you 5% damage dealt increased against the boss
• Having 2 Relics gives you 15% damage dealt increase against boss + phase change indication
• Having 3 Relics gives you 20% damage dealt increase + ?? (secret for now)

Each relic will also hold a sentence long description explaining a specific important boss ability. Relics are hidden in the nooks and crannies of the world.

This we feel will be a collectible people will really want to go around searching for.

[UPDATE - Frustrations]

UPDATE - Frustrations

We have learned a lot so far. It's really important for us to note it all down.

Ways we completely messed up

• Level design had multiple issues. We had play-testers falling down death-falls constantly. This is because they didn't expect them in this type of game.
• The art for our first area "Obsidian Plateau" ended up being below our standards. We experimented a lot with tile-sets and although it's better now, it just doesn't look as good as our newer areas.
• Playtesters got very frustrated by our melee enemies because the didn't telegraph their attacks. We will be giving each melee attack a small telegraph part to the animation."
• The character melee attack turned out a bit too fast paced and makes the game feel less tactical. As a result we are going to add a telegraph to his attack as well. It will add a timing element to attacking enemies.

• Tried making the shield shaman lower his shield while he attacks. Although this gives you a moment to attack with a melee weapon, play testers complained it didn't work well. Getting up close to him while he attacks is very tough.

[UPDATE - The Bulwark of Aldwynn]

UPDATE - The Bulwark of Aldwynn

"Past the city of Aldwynn, you must confront the Bulwark. You are not prepared."

Today we will discuss the structure of the game.

• It is not randomly generated
• Death's Gambit is a non-linear bossfest and explorational game like say Castlevania/Dark Souls/Shadow of the Colossus
• The only thing blocking you from exploring new areas are bosses
• The current idea is that after the tutorial, the player is asked to cross the bridge of Aldwynn
• Crossing the bridge is extremely challenging as the "Bulwark" boss is much more powerful than you at the start. The player can explore the world in order to find items and abilities that will help defeat the "Bulwark"
• Crossing the bridge will mark the half-way point of the game after which the player can essentially explore most of the game.
• We want our bosses to be challenging, no matter in what order you do them
• We currently have 3 bosses past prototype stage. Bulwark is still in prototype and probably wont be complete until after Kickstarter

Showing off the cool light/rain/cloud effects

Tomorrow we'll talk about frustrations with the very first area we made and the state of the combat system

[UPDATE - New Shadows]

UPDATE - New Shadows

]

but... but I'll accidentally swing my sord a lot :<

Hahaha well we lowered the health on the npc for the sake of the gif. He will only attack back after you hit him several times or goes below a set amount of health.

Haha awesome, I love the way he gets on his little turret XD

Thanks! It's still gonna get has some fixes to be done too!

Dude is super pissed...nice touch.

Will all NPC's be mad at you one you attack one, or just the NPC you attacked?

Not sure yet if all npc's retaliate. But most of them will attack you back if you try to kill them yes. XD

[UPDATE - NPCs]

UPDATE - NPCs

Don't piss off the denizen's of Death's Gambit.

Lets talk a bit about npcs!

• There are many people living in the world who will either sell you items, or simply have a conversation with you.
• Hitting npc's enough will cause them to turn against you for the rest of the game! It's not encouraged but they do drop items when killed.
• Some npc's might act different if you have a weapon equipped.
• We want the grand majority of the npcs to have something unqiue about them. This merchant, for example, has a deadly machinegun that makes him an extremely tough foe to defeat.

Melee stuff and new lighting system coming up next !

Third Ally Reveal! These bad-asses do not play a role in the moment to moment gameplay but appear during story events and some specific boss fights.

Art Timelapse

Looks amazing, I'm not sure you need a style shift at all with visuals as good as the originals, but I look forward to seeing what you are coming up with.  

Thanks =D. Well Alex has been working on the art and we both agree, some of the stuff we haven't shown is a step up from what we currently have. To be honest I'm blown away with the improvement the art has been making. I just wish I could post all of it already XD.

Also I really love your game! It reminds me of Dark Souls. Without Dark Souls I probably wouldn't have even dared to make Death's Gambit since I love brutally challenging games XD. I'm excited to see where your vision with it goes! I love that you are also going with a bonfie/save system.

wow that image is very stylish, looks amazing.

So what was the reason behind the style change? I'm guessing you want to stand out from the over-abundance of retro-looking games (not that there's anything wrong with that)?

Looking forward to seeing more images in this new style

I'm glad you like it!

We decided to change the style because we were not satisfied. Basically we tried making new scenes and compared them to other popular games. Until our friends thought our art was the most impressive we decided we wouldn't stop improving. It's just been a big evolution over the last months, Alex and I have been trying out different techniques to make the art better. We are finally reaching the end of the art evolution though. We are really happy where it is now and I can't wait to show you guys more.

Fell in luv  on that first page "mount the colossus" gif. Nice work.

If that's a boss monster, how's the player char going to defeat him?

You have to ride the Phoenyx to reach a new location. You will probably fight something else while on top of it.

Hi there. So...making games is hard. I haven't been able to post much at all on here or on our website. I've been too caught up with planning the Kickstarter campaign and working on the KS trailer. However, there is good news... The trailer is practically complete. Tomorrow we will be shipping off the trailer to Joel, who will be scoring it. His track will probably make it 100x more epic (which is needed due to me not being great at making trailers).

But anyway, YES. I think the boring stuff is out of the way. Hunter got me a bunch of new enemies and obstacles this week and I really just want to get back to messing with those guys and making cool levels. Stopping to tile rooms all fancy and show off certain little mechanics has been SO tedious. Almost detrimental to my outlook on work this past week.

Things are looking bright though. I have a lot of ideas and I can't wait to get this thing up onto Greenlight and such. I'm sure it will at least be a great learning experience. Last minute advice is appreciated!

Title screen looks awesome.

Also good luck on kickstarter/greenlight! It must be really stressful. I'll be in your position soon so I sympathize.
I hope it works out!

Game looks really awesome. I like the tree boss.

I also like the scarf haha, I'm trying to do something similar in our game. More like a cape, but yeah I'm still figuring out the best way to implement it.

Working on a kickstarter scene where the player rides a Phoenyx/Dragon

hey great job, Im really loving the concept of this game.

I was looking at some of the gifs..how does the aiming with the gun work? Apologies if this was already explained. Are you generally playing with controller or mouse/kb? Is there a "lock on to enemies"?

Haha. Well you can currently slash bullets back at enemies which is fun.

This idea is fantastic! Ever played Sin and punishment? Will you be aiming your slashed bullets back at enemies with that aiming cursor?

I have yet to play sin and punishment! But I looked it up looks really fun. Right now slashing bullets always makes them fly in the direction of the enemy that shot it. I think it feels good that way right now but this may change.

Also, the Facebook link in your OP is linking to your twitter account, fyi.

Woops just fixed this =D thanks for mentioning.

[UPDATE - PHOENYX DRAGON + ART EVOLUTION]

UPDATE - PHOENYX DRAGON + ART EVOLUTION

This week we have finally gone full time on new kickstarter shots.

Art Evolution - If you've seen any of the new screen-shots, most changes should be pretty evident.

• We are working on the art style which we hope evokes a more modern feel as opposed to retro.
• Depth is also something we are playing with a lot. In this particular shot, parts look more blurred than others.
• We also want to use light sources in every room as it makes everything just look much better.
• Finally we have agreed to flatten out our colors a bit more, too much shading detail can steer more into the “retro” aesthetic which want to move away from.