Updates! From the lands of Nhaastans.
Let's talk about real retro influences. The games that star in this romantic drama are:
Barbarian (C64), Golden Axe (Amiga), Moonstone (Amiga).
Also, Bubble Bobble! This may be a stretch, but it's the purity and effectiveness
of the one-screen levels that somehow adds a clear objective in the game. After all,
Thy Sword started as a friday night idea of Bubble Bobble with swords & stuff.
Probably featuring some sorcery.
Those games had it all (almost). World maps that shows your progress and your route to glory.
But let's face it: they also could be a bit jerky in controls or execution here and there.
Our goal is to include the old (gold) aestethics and make the game play really well and be as
responsive as possible. Then we have the roguelike element, obviously done really well in Spelunky
and similar titles. Done REALLY well in the old gem Nethack.
We did our own level generator. Hah! Simple, we thought at first.
Turned out to be rather tricky. platforms need to have proper distance, height, connectivity
and lot of other features. Got it done! It's so satisfying to never see the exact same level twice.
Level layout, done with the procedural generator.
You choose your hero character and a variety of weapons and items can be bought to further
increase the fighting capabilities. To a certain degree you can choose your playing style.
Some heroes start with just a sword, others with sword plus a bow and some arrows.
What you focus on and how you upgrade is up to you, the player. On top of this there are unlockable
characters that can be found thoughout the mysterious lands of Nhaastans.
We set another goal pretty early in the design process. No inventory management.
trading/selling can be cool, but we wanted to do a game where it's handled in a more
casual manner. A platform game seems good for this anyway.
Example: when the player finds a health potion, and HP is already topped up, the potions
value gets translated into gold. (which can be used for shopping and gambling in the village)
In Thy Sword, our aim is a challenging game. That doesn't mean unbeatable. Hard games are
fun, but we've tried to broaden the concept to where it's easy enough to pick up and play
(if you have some fingers and a brain) but offers some long lasting challenges.
If you want the ultimate challenge, the Heroic mode let's you play in permadeath glory! If you want a few chances despite biting the dust now & again, the adventurer mode is for you! (Plus you get to see this cool credits HUD display animation)
Once again, thank you for reading. Until next time!
//GamePhase
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