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[Netsu]

Heptych (previously Chromasword) is a game we just started making. It will be kind of a non-linear hack'n'slash with a very timing and positioning heavy combat (think dashes, back stabs, parries and deflecting bullets) plus some metroidvania and maybe roguelike elements. You play as a long forgotten deity trying to bring back change to the unchanging city of the gods.

The screenshot above is all placeholder art, but it gives a vague idea of what we want the game to look like.

To make this thread more motivating to us I am going to publicly state that we plan to release a short (10-15 minutes) version of the game in 10-11 months from now. Kind of a prologue to the full game that we might or might not end up doing depending on how this 'demo' will turn out.

[castled]

The concept art is great! I like the aesthetic and character design ideas already.

Deciding between 'sword' and 'blade'? There seems to be a bunch of *sword (or *sord) games these days, but I suppose the same is probably true for blade!

[Netsu]

Yes, the initial idea was Chromablade, but there is a game called ChronoBlade already and I think it sounds too similar.
We're not 100% set on the name yet, but we like this one so far

[Team Indev]

Looks very interesting, I like the sound of the combat. Can't wait to try it!

[Netsu]

Thanks!

Meanwhile, I'm not wasting time at my day job while waiting for the code to compile.

[ANtY]

epic art!

[sakuyo]

looks really good, can't wait to see more

[ANtY]

naginata

just sayin

[Netsu]

Hah! I let the artist know. By the way, pole-arms are also in the equation, the aninmu-swingy ones, not the realistic-stabby ones.

[Kinaetron]

Looks neat bruh

[Netsu]

Update time!
I've been hard at work polishing the combat mechanics - turns out making melee combat fun is much, much harder than I anticipated, but I think we're getting there.

Normally I try to avoid pasting huge gifs into my devlogs, but I just couldn't resist this time...
All the visual assets are still placeholders and will look much better in the final game


Some basic combat - deflecting bullets, dodging, parrying enemy attacks and killing stuff:



And here's what happens when you manage to parry 3 attacks in short succession:

[Netsu]

Ok, this time around I have a small webm video instead of a huge gif
You can see some prototyped tutorial hints and how the two first encounters in the game will most likely look like.
I also completely reworked the blood mechanics. I switched to projectors from decals but now sadly I'm having problems writing a projection shader that could apply Unity's shadows to it's alpha blended texture :C

http://www.netsu.type.pl/heptych/devlog/devlogMovie01.webm

[ANtY]

cool stuff, dood!

I like how the bodies fall after they die

[Netsu]

Thanks!
There will probably be less high falls like this in the finished level, but those that will be there will sure look much, much better. Throwing enemies off them will be all the more satisfying :D

[BlackLodgeGames]

I'm loving the character design/concept art, but the early game play from the top down perspective and far away zoom kind of loses the fine details.  I'm taking it that the camera is locked at this point?  While top down is tried and true, I'd love to see these beautiful characters from a closer zoom, and from an angle that let's me see how awesome these characters really are.  Just my two cents obviously, I'm sure your vision isn't going to change from one developer's feedback.  Looking forward to watching your game progress!  Have fun!

[Netsu]

The initial idea was to have a more angled and zoomed-in camera, like in most hack-n-slashes, but straight top-down view gives a much better sense of scale of the environment and we don't have to worry about our huge structures obscuring gameplay.

In the end the characters will probably have little detail in-game so they can be easily recognized from a distance, but the environmental art - this is where I expect the artist to go crazy The idea is to have this abstract art-deco/brutalist city full of enormous structures and bottomless depths and top-down is gonna showcase those best.

BUT we are also toying with the idea of camera changing perspective during some actions - short cutscenes when going through a door, meeting a new boss or performing a particularly impressive attack.

[TautNerve]

I like how it looks so far
I know this is the earliest of early prototypes but I'm already imagining how
cool it could be if the camera reacted dynamically to the combat. Like zooming
in on a successful 3-in-a-row parry and stuff for more dramatization, panning a bit
to emphasize enemies that had fallen off the platform and so on.
If the controls are tight these kind of games usually are super fun

[BlackLodgeGames]

The initial idea was to have a more angled and zoomed-in camera, like in most hack-n-slashes, but straight top-down view gives a much better sense of scale of the environment and we don't have to worry about our huge structures obscuring gameplay.

In the end the characters will probably have little detail in-game so they can be easily recognized from a distance, but the environmental art - this is where I expect the artist to go crazy The idea is to have this abstract art-deco/brutalist city full of enormous structures and bottomless depths and top-down is gonna showcase those best.

BUT we are also toying with the idea of camera changing perspective during some actions - short cutscenes when going through a door, meeting a new boss or performing a particularly impressive attack.

Nice!  Thanks for the clarification.  Top-down does make a lot more sense in that context.  I definitely vote for the changing perspective during specific actions.  A seamless camera change can really bring a game to life.

[eobet]

Ok, first off: Gorgeous!

HOWEVER, the ultra clear shadows are much more readable than the straight on top-down actual characters... which makes for a very odd experience.

If I'm not the only one who keeps staring at the shadows instead of the characters, one solution to that problem would be to heavily blur, or even just make blob shadows which stretch out in the general direction or the light, so that they don't take over like they do now. Or perhaps it's just me?

[BlackLodgeGames]

Ok, first off: Gorgeous!

HOWEVER, the ultra clear shadows are much more readable than the straight on top-down actual characters... which makes for a very odd experience.

If I'm not the only one who keeps staring at the shadows instead of the characters, one solution to that problem would be to heavily blur, or even just make blob shadows which stretch out in the general direction or the light, so that they don't take over like they do now. Or perhaps it's just me?

I'd have to see them in context with the actual level design.  I don't think the shadows would be as noticeable on a fully textured floor as they are on solid grey.