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[tchassin]

I'm having trouble describing the graphics... It reminds me of C64, but with more fidelity. Either way, it looks really cool. Will be watching this.

C64? As in Commodore 64 ? That was not really intentional but thanks!

Update 35
Programming-wise, I have been rewriting quite a chunk of the battle system the for the past two weeks. I am finished with the core mechanics, and now that we have discussed the features we want with Pierre, I just have to extend the system.

Speaking of the battle system and its features, I did not talk much about it up until now, so I guess it's time to fix that.

Until recently, the game was played like any other RPG, except you could play several time in a row, which sounded like a good idea at the time. The main issue with this idea was to find an interesting way to make acting once or several times different. That and Bravely Default doing basically the same, but better.

We tried several options, such as introducing a combo system, combining successive attacks into more powerful ones, giving defensive patterns to enemies, etc. Some of them were interesting, but each had its own problems and none felt quite right. this is the main reason behind the lack of communication on this aspect of the game.

Not too long ago, we had the idea of dividing skills into two categories: action, and action enhancement (any suggestion for a better name?).
Action is just a generic name for the things you can usually do in any other RPG: defend, attack, use an item, etc. Only one action can be executed during a single turn.
Action enhancements (still looking for a cool, flashy name) are a way to customize the previously chosen action and give the player more options. For example, you can either strengthen an attack for some extra MP and ATB or add a counter-attack to your guard. For now, only one action enhancement can be used each turn.

The new system with the new resolution but the same graphics and terrible UI.

It's not groundbreaking (actually there is a class in Bravely Second that does the same) but we're pretty confident that we can design some interesting fights with this system, and it's pretty easy to combine with other systems such as the skill tree.

Cheers 

[Dan_BATOVI]

Cool pixel art style and nice classic gameplay!

[tchassin]

Cool pixel art style and nice classic gameplay!

Thanks! We're working on making both even better at the moment!

Update 36
I am still improving and refactoring the battle system. One of changes worth mentioning is the damage equation. Until last Friday, damages was computed as following:

Code:

// TODO (01/05/2015): Take defense into account
damages = skillPower * casterAttack * 0.02

with casterAttack being either the caster's strength or magic. A bit simplistic and not taking defense into account was problematic (don't even ask about 0.02, I don't remember). So after some thinking, we came up with a new equation:

Code:

damages = max(1, skillPower * (50 + casterAttack) / (50 + targetDefense))

We introduced constants so that things don't get too crazy at low level. This should be pretty useful for the demo, which takes place early in the game.

The guard system also receiving a lift. With the old system, if a character was defending, incoming damages would just be divided by 2. However, we decided to extend the system to give the player more options, such as covering an ally, triggering a counter when hit, restoring some HP or MP, etc. Ideally, this should make defending a bit more interesting than a convenient way to skip a turn.

Pierre had an artwork planned for this update, unfortunately for you and I, he was very busy preparing for the Stunfest, where he was demoing Lije, so no eye-candy today.

Cheers!

[tchassin]

Update 37
It's been almost a month since the last update and we've been making some nice progress on the game.

Code-wise, I've been working on having a testable build, so I've been fixing and polishing a lot of things, but it turns out the game is hardly playable because the current UI controls are really bad. Right now, UI elements only work with the mouse, because it is simpler to implement with Unity. Since we are aiming for keyboard/gamepad controls for the demo, we decided to rewrite the whole thing from scratch rather than fixing the current controls. Once it is done, we'll test the battle system to make sure the game is fun to play.

We have also been working on the dialogues and we're pretty confident in what we have so far. It allowed us to improve the story with better character development and more interesting relations. I think we're going the right way with the whole dialogue thing, and it really makes me want to bring these character to life and tell you their story.

Regarding the graphics, I was not going anywhere with the poses for the new sprites, so I decided to take a break and go back to anatomy/perspective practice for a while. I really want to replace the five years old sprites, but at the same time I want to have some real improvements to show, so it will take a little longer before the graphic update.

One more thing before wrapping up this update: Pierre made some really nice concept art for the Ver Lanec village (that you will be able to explore in the demo), so we decided to share it with you!

Cheers! 

[tchassin]

Update 38
The new controls are done for now, and the battle system now supports them. It feels much better, even if it could use a little polish, but that is not the top priority. We would like make a better battle UI before moving on to the menus, so I have some mockups to show today.

Of course, we are planning on making pixel-perfect assets and replace the portrait sketches with yummy colored pixels, but we're also try to make the UI less intrusive (and not hide enemies anymore) while adding some help messages and skill/item descriptions.

Look at all this additional space!

The icons indicates the skill/item type, and the number on the right the MP cost for a skill and the number of remaining use for an item. The ATB cost for each skill/item/enhancement will be indicated by a blinking cursor on the ATB.

We tried adding a small help window that the player can toggle on/off. It's not very large so descriptions would have to be very concise in this case. Alternatively, the window could appear beneath the ATB, in which case the ATB would simply move up or down as needed.

We also considered having a help mode, with a more intrusive window. We came up with two different ways of handling this
Once the help mode is activated, either:

• The player can still navigate the current set of options and selecting one would exit the help mode
• The player has to exit the help mode by pressing any key/button before selecting an option or resuming navigation

Less space, more information

We are not to sure about the whole help window thing, so any feedback/advice is welcome!
Cheers!

[Ashedragon]

Looking really good! <'3

The second way for your help information seems like it could be vaguely annoying, maybe? If I were playing, it would feel somewhat awkward to have to exit out when it doesn't really seem to be all that separated from the main system, y'know?

[tchassin]

Looking really good! <'3

The second way for your help information seems like it could be vaguely annoying, maybe? If I were playing, it would feel somewhat awkward to have to exit out when it doesn't really seem to be all that separated from the main system, y'know?

Thanks, we are working on making the game look even better!

We have been discussing the help mode and we came to the conclusion that it would break the game flow, so we will probably go with the smaller, less intrusive window. Maybe we will have some longer description available in the menus, or have the text automatically scroll inside the window.

[tchassin]

Update 39
Hey it's been a while! The last few months have been quite busy on my end, hence the lack of updates.

The game has been through a lot since the last time. After some testing, it turned the ATB system did not make the combat system more interesting than the traditional turn-based approach, while raising some technical and conceptual issues. I tried implementing a simple turn-based system and got some encouraging feedback so I think we will stick with it for now.

The implementation of the isometric perspective as 3D objects represented by 2D sprites also had many drawbacks and prevented us from using most external tools such as Tiled in our content creation pipeline. Furthermore, we were not satisfied with the way the game looked, so the game is now in 2D with 3/4 top-down view. It was not an easy decision, but it was critical to make it before putting together the game maps and we are confident it will save time in the long run.

As the 4th iteration on the game nears its end, we are focusing on releasing a demo. Most of the code is done and I am currently working on a complete graphic overhaul. The next steps are balancing the game, putting together some maps and cut all incomplete features from the build. The demo should be available in early December on itch.io.

Cheers! 

[tchassin]

Update 40
The demo is still in the making but may take a little longer than expected. After years of programming, my pixel art skills got a bit rusty, and I would rather see the demo delayed than rushed. Since I am working on the graphics, I though now would be a good time to explain our content pipeline for characters.

First of all, Pierre, makes rough sketches of the character until we are both satisfied. The final sketch is then cleaned and colorized so I can use it as a reference for a sprite.

Before making a complete sprite sheet, I start with a single, fully-detailed frame of the character in a neutral pose. This reference frame then goes back and forth between Pierre and I until we are both satisfied. After that, I make the remaining reference frames. The sprites are 8-directional outside of combat, but since I am the only animator on the team, I am only animating the sprites in 5 directions, the remaining 3 are obtained by flipping horizontally the sprite in-game. This significantly reduces the workload with little consequences on the game's quality, so I think it is a good trade-off.

Once the reference frames are done, I start by sketching a rough silhouette animation of each of the main animations in one direction which allows a short iteration time. Once again, the animation goes back and forth between Pierre and I until we are satisfied before I can work on the other directions. Once this is done, I add the sprite to the game so I can test if it feels right.

After testing all the rough animations in-game, I add color blocks representing the main sprite elements then I polish until the sprite looks good enough.

I am currently working on the rough animations of Victoire's overworld sprite. I tried reducing the number of frames in the run animation from 8 (4 key frames and 4 in-between) to 6 (4 key frames and 2 in-between) but the reduced number of in-between made the sprite less readable, and reducing the delay between frames did not help, as shown below.

      

I am working hard on making an attack animation feel right at the moment. This will also be useful for the combat sprite, so I consider it time well spent. At first, I tried giving the slash animation from the previous sprite more impact, but it ended up looking like "she is decapitating a dragon", to quote Pierre.

Making the slash horizontal made things better, but at a cost. It was going to be harder to animate in all directions, and the sprite made the hit zone feel larger than it really was in-game, which was frustrating for the player. Since we liked this animation, I may end up using it for the combat sprite.

In the end, I settled for a sword thrust. I think it is a good compromise between readability of the hit zone and dynamism, and it is far easier to animate than the horizontal slash.

As you can see, there is still a lot of work to be done, but I think I am getting somewhere.

Cheers ! 

[tchassin]

Update 41
I have good news and bad news today.

Bad news:
I just found out a game named Action-Blade of Victory recently came out on the iTunes app store, so we will have to come up with a new name, after 5 years of development...

I also barely made any progress on the sprites this week, so no eye candy today.

Good news:
Despite a delayed batch of sprites, the demo is coming along nicely.

When I started testing the new animations, I found some nasty bugs that took several days to fix. I also fixed all known bugs, removed from the build all broken and/or incomplete features and created a itch.io page with a playable web demo on it. Since I would like to work a little longer on the game before showing it, the page is private at the moment.

Once the new sprites and a couple new maps are in, I will share the link to the demo and keep the game in a playable state until release. I plan on updating the game every once in a while, but I can't say how often for now.

In the mean time, Pierre and I have been rewriting some bits of the scenario to improve the pacing and make sure the player gets a full party as soon as possible. There is some more work to do on the second half of the story, but it is coming along pretty nicely.

Cheers! 

[Excy]

Loving the art style and general look of the game. Keep it up.

[tchassin]

Loving the art style and general look of the game. Keep it up.

Thanks! We will keep doing our best!

Update 42
The rough animations are done! I have started cleaning some but it takes me forever because I am the slowest animator in the world. Here is a little preview of the run cycle:

I also spent a lot of time on the forest tileset, in particular the tree tiles. It is now much easier to use so once we come up with a couple layouts, we should be able to start creating maps for the demo.

Since Christmas is around the corner and given how slow I am, the demo will not be complete by the end of the month. Since the game is in a playable state, we can either release a demo with a partial graphic update and (hopefully) patch it in January or wait for the new graphics to be done to release it. We are currently leaning toward an early release followed by a patch because it will allow us to get feedback sooner.

This will be the last update before Christmas, so happy holidays!

Cheers 

[tchassin]

Update 43
Happy new year y'all! 

This update will be shorter than usual. The demo was delayed because we decided to slightly increase its scope. This also mean that most placeholder sprites will be replaced when we release it.

Since we are beginner level designers, we will use the demo to experiment and learn. We have a dozen maps planned and designed, but we still need to build them. This will also help us test our level build work flow and identify bottle necks. Since we do not know how long this will take, I will not try to give a release date for the demo.

We also decided to add more features and content. Treasure chests, for example, were planned for the 6th iteration, but implementing them now allowed us to improve the level design by adding points of interest.

We hope you will enjoy what we are making!

Cheers! 

[tchassin]

Update 44
Hey there! Happy Valentine's Day!

I am currently fixing the last batch of bugs and about to wrap up the v0.4. I had to write a few quick workarounds for bugs that would have further delayed the demo, but there are very few items left on the to do list.

We also added some new skills to the game. I hope you like buffs and debuffs! While most of the battle screen is made of placeholder art, I spent some time making visually interesting visual effects for these. Here is a little preview:

     

I try to keep animations that will appear often such as these short so that the combat is not slowed down. I hope it is still readable though! (Please tell me if it is not.)

See you soon for more eye-candies!

Cheers! 

[Ashedragon]

I dig it. Seems very readable to me!

[tchassin]

I dig it. Seems very readable to me!

Thanks!

Update 45
Blade of Victory 0.4 is code complete! Hurray! All that is left is adding content and removing some debug tools for the demo!

On that note, Pierre made some nice little bushes for you to cut to pieces (some may even drop health)
In fact, Victoire can cut things with her sword, and she will have to clear a path through the forest.

Since there is no town or village in the demo, we added some foxmen statues that will restore your health. Keep an eye out for those!

Cheers! 

[tchassin]

Update 46
Maps are about 25% done! Setting up our content pipeline took a bit of time, but we are now churning out maps. Also here is a sneak peek of the level design, for those interested. We tried to aim for "simple and functional".

Our current level build process is the following:

• Pierre uses the Tiled map editor to place tiles
• I add collisions using Tiled
• I import the map in Unity using X-UniTMX
• I place exits and other interactive elements using the Unity Editor
• We test the map using the good old "run into every tree and bush" technique
• Rinse and repeat

Pierre and I are currently considering adding a couple more feature to the demo, such as enemies that chase after the player, to spice things up a bit. It would probably delay the demo by a few more days, but it could make the experience a lot more enjoyable. Any advice and/or though on the matter?

Cheers! 

[tchassin]

Update 47
The level build is done! 
It still needs some thorough testing, balancing and polishing, but it is essentially done (at least for the demo). Now that I can finally show something else than a big green rectangle, have the first screenshot in a long time:

I also implemented some basic enemy behavior, as mentioned in the previous update. Enemies now randomly move around a small portion of the map and will chase the player when approached. Unfortunately, our current setup does not work well with Unity's pathfinding tools, so do not be surprised if enemies get stuck in trees or bushes.

And with this, Blade of Victory v0.4 is officially over!

Cheers! 

[tchassin]

Update 48
Brace yourselves ladies and gentlemen, we added a boss to the demo! You will be able to test your long-term planning skills at the end of the demo.

It required some dirty little hacks to get it working properly, but it was a good way to test the flexibility (or lack thereof) of the battle system. On the bright sight, I now have a pretty clear idea of how to improve it.

Just like in the Persona series, strong enemies have a different color (red means danger). Consider yourselves warned!

Cheers! 

[tchassin]

Update 49

We did it! The demo is out on itchi.io!  

You can play in your browser of choice here (not mobile friendly).

It was a great learning experience and we are considering writing a post-mortem in the upcoming weeks. We will now take a little break and wait for feedback before resuming development.

The next step is making Blade of Victory v0.5. This new iteration will focus on improving the combat system, the interface and fixing the menus to provide you with a better and more polished experience next time. For those intersted, we added a roadmap to the next demo to the itch.io page.

Have fun and do not hesitate to send us feedback!

Cheers !