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[TunaUppercut]

This is just wow. its looking great.

[somn]

UPDATE - SHIELDED ENEMIES

So shielded enemies are a success. Our combat system... not quite there yet. I've been working on improving the combat system. Specifically melee weapons and abilities.

After finishing our indiecade demo we felt the combat system was not up to par with out standards, the player only had two weapon slots and an item button.  The character movement also felt clunky, so we're taking steps to improve this. Our current combat “toolkit” will include two weapon equipment slots, 3 ability buttons, 1 item button, and 1 heal button. Each weapon will also have weird side-abilities as well.

Here's a couple of gifs using two different ranged weapons.

Ranged weapon – Energy Lance - Rapid fire. Can be charged for a poweful blast.



Ranged Weapon – Graviton - Bullets come back towards you. Charge up for a powerful blast.




Were pretty happy with how the shaman enemy turned out, he's got three attacks that are easy to dodge but the idea is that he will fight you along-side other enemies.

NEW FAQ's
Will there be melee weapons?
Yes, we are currently prototyping melee weapons.
How do you explore the world?
The game is non-linear. Most new areas are accessed via defeating bosses. There are always many routes to take. If you are having trouble with a specific area then you can always do something else.

[Uykered]

Looks beautiful!

There's no random level generation then I'm assuming? As you said at the start it's an execution puzzle that you can solve and move on from.

[Bones]

This is definitely something up my alley.
Keep up the great work.

[Farage]

Theres a really ~epic~ feeling about this game, i like it alot.
I think someone said it here, but it reminds me a lot of shadow of colossus.
Good luck with your project!

[karlozalb]

this is amazing :O, foooollowing!!

[somn]

UPDATE - KOTAKU ARTICLE POSTMORTEM

“...from her ashes, we will be reborn.”

This week we ended up on Kotaku

Notes

• We have no idea how we landed the article. We did not even get contacted haha.
• We have spent most our time looking for a new artist and dealing with the emails
• The article garnered 40k+ views, our website got about 6k views in 2 days
• Alex has been arting up scenes for the kickstarter trailer
• Jean has been preparing for the push to improve the demo we have. Added some cool new items.

Prototyped two new items

Abyssal Ghost - (Rare Consumable) When used to create a controllable ghost that can scout the areas ahead of you. Lasts 15 seconds.
Intent: Our levels are very dangerous with traps and monsters that lurk in corners. This rare item can allow players to see what is ahead.

Ravager Ring - (Accessory slot, purchasable) Increases all stats by 10. If killed while equipped this item will be destroyed.
Intent: We want the items that increase stakes and make death carry weight. This is an early-game item that is very powerful. To be used in dire situations. A useful item during speed-runs as well.

There's no random level generation then I'm assuming?

Nope! There might be some very specific things that are randomly generated but we don't plan on making the levels generate randomly.

[SolarLune]

Posting to follow~

[ANtY]

ppl are pretty sited for this project 

[Mr.Blue]

This is cool, it seems really dynamic.

[tieTYT]

FAQ request: Were you inspired by Shadow of the Colossus?

[Christian]

FAQ request: Were you inspired by Shadow of the Colossus?

I asked the dev about this in my Q&A:

Q: Perhaps the most compelling and intriguing aspect of Death's Gambit is the Shadow of the Colossus vibe, as seen in the image and GIFs where your character ascends a towering beast. Why did that game in particular influence development? How central will these battles and enemies be to the overall experience?

A: So this is a fun anecdote. The giants (called Gaians), were not a part of the initial design “draft” for the game. Jean initially was inspired to add climbing sections after prototyping a grappling hook. It was then that he coincidentally was linked to an “Attack on Titan” video, which sparked an idea to prototype a giant's leg. He was so excited to find out if a giant would look/play well, that he ignored all schoolwork and worked until 6AM.

The giant prototype turned out to be a huge success. So much so that it impacted the future of the game. We want to make sure it captures the same sensation as SoTC does, in sheer size and impact. The Gaian functions as it’s own level, so we want every climb to take you on a journey that tells a compelling story about the creature and world, while making the combat encounters increasingly more challenging.

[Fuzzy]

This game is really awesome!
Keep up the good work 

[somn]

FAQ request: Were you inspired by Shadow of the Colossus?

As Christian posted. Initially no, but this specific encounter with the giant is very inspired by SotC and Attack on Titan. Were making the climbing sequences a bit more important than they were in the initial idea for the game.

[somn]

UPDATE - COMBAT AND ART EVOLUTION

NPC Reveal for Death’s Gambit! Here is a timelapse video!


Ability prototype!(character animation and effects are temp)

We have been working on combat!
In the initial design of the game, the player only had guns and that was the extent of it. After finishing our vertical slice in June, we realized that to make the combat satisfying and complex, we needed to add more interesting ways to fight. We prototyped all kinds of stuff from shields to hookshots. Not everything worked but the stuff that did work made the combat much better. We are working on melee weapons, abilities, and items. After adding a few prototype abilities/items, we realized that this quickly made the combat 20x more awesome. Every second of combat became a decision-making point.

• You currently can hold 2 weapons, 3 abilities, and 1 item.
• Some abilities can only be used with certain weapons.
• Abilities will have a set amount of “uses,” and once they are depleted, they can only be regained at a save point.
• Many equipment items have effects that make you play the game differently.

We have also been working on the art style!
Our art style is still being iterated upon. Most of the Obsidian Valley needs to be revamped, and the character animations we implemented for the Indiecade build need to be reworked. We have been experimenting with lighting and restyling our assets to make it look modern rather than retro. It’s getting there! We’ll make a post dedicated to how our art style has evolved soon.

P.S. Our website has a lefore forum which people have complained about so we will be moving to something better soon =D We’ll make a post about it when we do.

[Slader16]

What do you mean when you say "Changing forums"? 

[somn]

What do you mean when you say "Changing forums"?  

Oh Woops! We aren't moving away from tigsource hahaha. I meant to say that our website has a small lefora forum which some people complained about so I wanted to mention that we care moving over to something different.

[somn]

Not a big update, we have been working on melee attacks.



This is a three part slash combo that were testing out for our blade melee weapons. We currently trying to answer the following questions with out prototype.

• Should melee attacks push the character forward?
• Should enemies "stagger" or be "mini-stunned" when they take a melee hit?
• How does a character with only a sword deal with shielded enemies? Does it even matter?
• What makes the melee weapons better than the ranged weapons?
• Should melee attacks affect the endurance meter?

Also I decided to combine all the notes for Death's Gambit. It all ended up being 61 pages. The "boss ideas" doc alone is 17 pages! Most of the docs are just messy and are entirely comprised of bullet points with random ideas for bosses/story/systems.

[tieTYT]

• Should melee attacks push the character forward?
• Should enemies "stagger" or be "mini-stunned" when they take a melee hit?
• How does a melee enemy deal with shielded enemies?
• What makes the melee weapons better than the ranged weapons?
• Should melee attacks affect the endurance meter?

I have a lot of fighting game experience so it may not be relevant, but I'll use that as my guide:

1. Generally yes. Sometimes leave you further away though.
2. It depends.  Some attacks are high risk high reward, some are low risk low reward.  The former should stagger.
3. Uh, typo?  I'm going to assume you meant player with enemies.  It should bounce off or break the enemy guard, depending on the situation.  The former puts your character at a disadvantage.
4. Generally, ranged attacks take more time to setup and/or to reach the enemy.  They may stagger less so be unsafe to use up close.  If you look at Soul Calibur 2's Ivy, she's got good keep out attacks, but isn't that great up close.  I'm not sure if that applies to your game.
5. In fighting game terms, I don't think there's an analogy to this.

[Savick]

somn, your melee thingy gif isn't working any more. At least on my side. Bandwidth issues?