Rituals'Rituals' is my first heavy-scale project. I started working on it almost a year ago (back then, with XNA), but the process ended as I didn't have a clear vision and I stopped using XNA. Now, the Fenix has risen from the ashes, this time powered by my own hand-written engine!
Here's a screenshot from the original, XNA-based project:
What is it?Back then, it was just a random-dungeon crawler with just about nothing to do. Now, it has grown to be an action RPG with a story! Now, the graphics portion should be the most interesting part here: It's a full 3D game, but it will look like a 2D retro game. It will feature full dynamic lighting and shadows, combined with pixel graphics to make a combination of old and new (the image above isn't even close to what will be!). There's real-time physics involved along with destructible stuff. You can launch a huge magic missile to blow out walls (and enemies, of course), or you may get flattened by a falling rock.
What about the gameplay? It's a combination of old RPGs like Link to the Past, with hints of modern hack'n'slash. The focus will be split between the story, adventuring and fighting. The story starts off all nice and calm, but things get dark pretty fast...
Who's doing this?I, manabreak. I'm a master's student of information processing from Finland. I've worked in the gaming industry and done some scientific 3D visualization as well. On my spare time, I've done a lot of games-related stuff, although I have never published anything. I'm working on 'Rituals' alone.
When is it coming out?Hard to say, it depends of so many things. I'm trying to get some money so I could focus more heavily on this without having to worry about the income, and the more money I can get from i.e. cultural aids, the faster the game will get finished. I would say that the game engine and internal dev tools are ready in the next two months or so, and the game content would be ready by the end of 2013. I really want to aim the next fall (say, August or September), but I really can't say anything conclusive at this point.
