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[ManuScythe]

That was a great read! Great to see sll the hard work has been paying off!
Csnt wait to give this game a crack

Thank you! And glad you enjoyed it. Having t go 3D will have the vertical slice take a bit longer, but for sure the game will be way more scalable in content, so that's for the better!

[ManuScythe]

Here's the latest version of the illustration. Do you guys like the style?



I am thinking on producing a bit more with important NPCS or The Castle.
Would you guys like to see that?

[Zireael]

I <3 the smooth animations you have for the knight.

[wizered67]

That illustration looks amazing! 

[ManuScythe]

I <3 the smooth animations you have for the knight.

Thanks! Although those are dangerously placeholder!  

[ManuScythe]

That illustration looks amazing! 

Thank you! It's almost done 

[ManuScythe]

Duelcide Narrative II: Feeding from a classic (The hero's journey).

Hey guys, I am going to do a little creativity exercise and I thought you might want me to share it here. Please let me know what you think about it and maybe I can start a series of posts in the devlog about it as I advance:

Most stories ranging from books to films and videogames share a similar structure when telling their stories.
For those who don't know "The hero's journey", it is a story structure that is often expressed by a ciclical scheme formed by twelve steps that tell the story of a character that, starting from a certain moment of life, makes the decision to start (or is thrown into) an epic adventure which will change that old life forever.

There are multiple versions with small variations. I chose this one for the sake of simplicity:

I will lean on the basic scheme of The hero's journey to help me shape the narrative of Duelcide.

I believe this will be a great exercise that will help hook all the features and lore of the game by facing all these iconical situations that ocur along all these familiar stories. And also I believe this will be a great way to avoid most clichés.

I will not necessarilly apply them all or do it in the same order, but I will nevertheless review each step and anayze the feelings and situations implicated in each of the steps.

Would you guys be interested if I shared it here in the devlog?

[ManuScythe]

QUICK RECAP

Last day I started a narrative design experiment.
Today I want to open it to all who want to participate in the design of DuelCide.

These are the rules:

1- Design: I will be designing one narrative mechanic for each of the 12 steps of the Hero's journey.
2- Post: You can reply suggesting new mechanics, or ideas you think can improve the current design.
3- Iterate: We will review all the ideas together until we decide we exhausted all their potential.   
4- Evaluate: If I like the ideas and I can do them, they get included into the design of the game. 

Simple as that!

Disclaimer: You are all invited! but, notice that giving away suggestions and ideas doesn't provide any owning rights on Duelcide so please don't post anything you might want to hold exclusive rights on afterwards. I can't stress this enough: don't post anything that is exclusive to a game idea of yours.
Only general knowledge and ideas given away to Duelcide as a gift out of the love to the project.

That said, let's have some fun!

Step I: "The ordinary world".

Today, we start with first step of The Hero's Journey: "The ordinary world", or in other words. the "status quo". It is the starting point for the adventure, it presents the world and how the character interacts with it untill the moment before the adventure into the "special world" begins.

Duelcide is an ARPG. This means you Role-Play as a fictional character of this world. So what better way to present the world to a player than through the character role itself?

When aiming to present the world right away, a cutscene would probably help, but this option means zero interaction, and I want Duelcide to put the player in the compromise of  making decisions and chosing. I would try to find something simpler and yet more interactive than a cutscene.

Let's think...

Ok I got something:

Like in traditional pen and paper role playing games -picture the moment of crafting your character sheet- a backstory sums up the character's role in the world until the adventure starts and it aims to help players better immerse in the fiction of the game. Then you can pass it to the other players so you all know who the characters behind the character sheets of your friends are.

For Duelcide, a Backstory will sum up the character's role in the world until the Duelcide started.

note: I am aware that some people don't like to read and that's ok, so the game won't handicap those who don't read and pick any backstory right away, as it is the first choice of the game and there's no "right one" and I want players to be able to  experiment with all the starting clases they want.

Ok! so lets craft the content of the backstory element. First lets brainstorm a list of all the information we need to describe the Status Quo:

1. What is the region or faction to which the character belongs?
2. Is the character is an active member of the faction, or an ex member?
   If Active. What's the character's role in the faction?
   If Ex. Why is the character no longer a member of the faction?
3.  Which are the character's a dominant stat/s?(Str/Dex/Mag/Div).
4. What items was the character carrying when the Duelcide started?

The backstory will inform about 4 aspects of the character: Faction, Activity, Stats and Gear.

Ok! So now we have the content defined lets craft an example of Status Quo for one character factions and lets see how it looks like.

I will pick a the faction of the guy in older posts, a member of the character faction called "The Wolves"

1. Faction Region
The Gates of The Castle and the village ground.
2. Activity
They are active as a team of royal guards. But they guard the people rather than the castle, as their doors were misteriously shut one day, leaving them outside.
3. Stats
Wolves excel at protection being their speciallty defensive close combat with sword and shield. Both proficient in dexterity and strength.
4.  Starting gear.
The wolves wear the royal wolf soldier armor set, including a sword and a shield.

Now we have the skeleton of the Backstory filled up with an actual character faction.

Ok! Now we have the content filled lets sketch a first version of the "Guardian Wolf" role backstory:
note: note that I am not english native so my literature writting skills are very limited, for the actual english texts of Duelcide I will hire a localization professional.


"Originally, The Wolves were the royal guards in shiny armor assigned to keep the uninvited from crossing the closed gates of the Moonlight Castle.

After the gates closed leaving them outside, the wolves learned to spend their days helping the innocent people of the village and protecting them from criminals and outsiders, resulting in high vitality and resistance".


Ok! Now we have a rough of our backstory for the Wolf Guard including all the elements to present the world before starting playing.
This is all for today. Using this little questions we can create the backstory for all the factions of the game.

PS: Anyway having a cutscene is cool, so I will try to include one too.


What do you think? Did you enjoy the process? If you would like to discuss  this approach or suggest a new one let me know in the comments 


Next day, Hero's Journey step 2: "The call to Adventure"

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys,

Quick sum up of the last week from the technical side.

Recap: I am building the states machine in unity
BUT
I need to tweak the turn animation, that currently is taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

So I go and install 3D max. ( I used to get by in it )
BUT
Dunno why 3D Max won't open.

Tomorrow I will try it for the last time with the help of a 3D colleague.
We'll do some shamanic rites hoping we can get it runnig, but otherwise I will try other 3D programs.

Once the turn animation is solved, the character will be able to freely walk in 2.5D using the gamepad controls.


Ok technical stuff aside and back to the design,

today I've been preparing my mind for continuing with the prototype in Unity 3D.

Next thing I want to prototype is the actual core flow of the game -or at least its most essential form-.

I wasn't supposed to have time today but I couldn't resist and I made a quick sketch of what the core game flow would be.

 There are some missing details like leveling up, getting exp, buying, items, doors, and the like, but the core stuff like the duels, the judge and the elevators is pretty much drawn.

That's all for today I guess. Lets see what happens tomorrow, I want to solve everything this week so I can start with the prototype

Then the rest of the attacks, and then the second player

[Pixel Noise]

Been away for a while, so just catching up on over a month of progress. No specific input at the moment, but I just wanted to say how awesome it is to see you digging so deeply into so many different areas of the game. Originally I thought this was going to be a pretty "lite" game, and I'm loving all of the detail and thought you are putting into it. Very cool to read about, and hopefully give some actual input on soon! 

[ManuScythe]

Been away for a while, so just catching up on over a month of progress. No specific input at the moment, but I just wanted to say how awesome it is to see you digging so deeply into so many different areas of the game. Originally I thought this was going to be a pretty "lite" game, and I'm loving all of the detail and thought you are putting into it. Very cool to read about, and hopefully give some actual input on soon! 

Thanks man! Last week I've been unravelling the narrative design a bit more with some more diagrams and it is super exciting!

Here's a sneakpeak of what I've been shaping up yesterday



I am considering the XP harvest mechanic as some oportunities arose, will let you guys know when I finish it.

But that will be the next day cause today I'll be working full on the project from the technical side. I'll let you know how it goes  

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys, super brief update.

Tech
I reinstalled my OS and now I coud finally open 3DsMax, guess I had somethig wrong with it. But it is now fixed, yay! So next week is going to be the "learn-animation" week.

Design
The rest of last week I've been evaluating one design choice that has been messing with my mind:

I like how souls games use their "replenishable" healing item as an intensifier of tension to psychologically manage the will of the player to try and progress a bit further.


I think the healing item for Duelcide should reflect a deep aspect of the narrative. Honestly I have been procastinating it ( in favor of more essential systems ofc )  but yeterday I was having a walk and it just clicked:

The reward for harvesting an oponent is a crystalization of their very life. The healing item in the game is a crystal with as many uses as lives you've Harvested.
Max uses are limited and thus there's an exact exact number of duelists you'll need to permakill if you want all the flasks.

Well the dilema is:
I am thinking on whether XP should be gained by:
A) Harvest oponents (current design, where throwing enemies alive grants XP)
or
B) Defeated (but not necessarily harvest) oponents.

Option A demands a ruthless stance that implies condemning your neighbors if you want power and I LOVE this paradigm. It's super powerful and clear, but maybe a bit too hardcore? not even the hardest games do this.

Option B is a bit less inquisitive as every win makes you stronger (which makes sense) and allows player for auto adjusting difficulty by farming.

So harvesting in option B would turn your enemy into a durable healing item (the equivalent of a souls "estus flask shard").

I still love the original approach, but this idea is definetly worth exploring.I guess I will most likely have to prototype it to banish all doubt.

What do you guys think it's better, A or B?

A) Should all victories grant exp and you harvest for crystalized life.
or
B) No XP on win and you have to harvest to get the XP

or maybe a combination of both?

[ManuScythe]

Hey,

Quick update on the design of the harvesting mechanic and its rewards.

Yesterday we discussed the XP system. The temporary conclusion was chosing between two alternatives (always give XP and reward harvesting with other means) versus (give exp only by harvesting). Today I saw things from a diffeent angle and I realized the solution is right in the middle: both should be merged.

Imagine having the life of a character literally in your hands, crystalized in a life-time glass, and being able to do all crazy stuff with it. It feels uterly powerful and honestly to me also an extremely sexy mechanic to prototype.

Harvesting a defeated enemy will grant x1 life crystal,
which is a crystalization of the life energy of that person. This life energy is tied to its actual lifespan from a body health perspective, so we assume that if we harvest someone, the crystal will bright in a certain way depending on how much time left that person had at the very moment of the harvest.

Everything involving power is tied to the time-life crystals.



So,Crystals are obtained by harvesting your defeated oponents,
Harvesting steals your oponent's life-time and turns them into empty cocoons.
Zombie-like beings, yet capable of fighting, but not much more.

Crystals can be used in two different ways:
Crystals can be Consumed forever for rewards, or Equip them to activate a passive effect.

And...
every character-empowering mechanic in the game is tied to crystals.

It may be also possible to return some people from their cocoon state by offering a lifetime crystal to them under certain situations.


This is how the decission tree looks like with this feature designed on paper:



So this still needs prototyping, but...All of a sudden...  BOOM!!!  power is now tied to cruelty in a 1:1 scale.

That would be the big revelation of the day.

Thanks for dropping by.

[ManuScythe]

Today I've sit in frony of my PC for 2 hours trying to import an animation in 3D Max.

This is the animation:




It's been a ridiculously counter-intuitive experience so far and the farthest I've got so far is importing this messed up guy without arms





And it's not even its final form. It doesn't even animate.





Guess I will try again tomorrow.


(edit:) this are the import options by default:




Oh, by the way, I'll be meeting with a potential 3D artist for the game tomorrow

[Pixel Noise]

Was going to comment on the A/B option on XP/Harvesting, but I think you've pretty much nailed it. I think every encounter, regardless of what you choose to do once you've won, should grant some sort of boon, whether XP, item, etc.

I definitely don't think that the player should be encouraged to harvest/permakill EVERY opponent, as I think you've got a great potential for lots of interesting narratives, based on allowing opponents to live, and possibly encountering them again later.

[ManuScythe]

Was going to comment on the A/B option on XP/Harvesting, but I think you've pretty much nailed it. I think every encounter, regardless of what you choose to do once you've won, should grant some sort of boon, whether XP, item, etc.

I definitely don't think that the player should be encouraged to harvest/permakill EVERY opponent, as I think you've got a great potential for lots of interesting narratives, based on allowing opponents to live, and possibly encountering them again later.

Hey thanks for dropping by and sharing your perspective.



I have been flirting with the idea of designing a crystal based XP system. I'm suffering from seiorus seduction by this idea, because I know it's gonna be challenging but still I feel the need to try it. I am even starting now... oh jeez. It could be like this:
- You get 1 crystal for winning and dropping the defeated alive.
- You kill your oponent, you get no crystal.
- Prior to that, you have the option to harvest for extra essence, and manage your greed a la vampire, harvest on your own risk, because the other person might get serious brain damage, or even get full zombie.


Anyway. I need some 1st hand experience on the flow, currently there are many systems to hook for the harvest mechanic to be fully functional:
- Player being harvested (This should be like a durable version of the Bloodborne blood echoes: kept by killer).
- Player death, Checkpoints and Replayability (farm should be posible. WIP idea here. Secret ending material tho).

I expect that I can get this insight from a prototype, but before that prototype there is the cage-elevator basic navigation prototype and the basic combat fully ported to 3D ( And I still need to nail the 3D pipeline for that, will also depends on the new 3D aesthetics (yet to be defined) and the remaining attack animation placeholders.


And that's it. Wow, that was probably way more information than required, dude I love this game and talking about it.  

[ManuScythe]

Fixing the 3D turn animation (aka my personal 3 weeks tech pit).

Hey guys I finally worked this everlasting issue and I will tell you how I did it in case it can help someone in the same situation. Note there are many ways to fix this and probably most are better but this is the one that worked for me.


1. The problems

 1. The turn animation placeholder was a "180º turn" type, but it wouldn't rotate 180º sharp. And as I learned afterwards, it wouldn't do 180º even without blending:
2. The animation was super slow and can't be edited in Unity so I needed to accelerate it from a different software.





2. The Plan

 My plan was opening my FBX animation into 3D Max and tweak the animation to
  I) Isolate the 180º rotation form the rest of the animation to avoid blending from interfering.
 II) Shorten it. Dramatically reduce the duration of the 180º rotation animation as it was too slow.
III) Reimport back in Unity and adjust the blending to the start and end segments of the animation only. (Only those independent from the 180º rotation).



3. What actually happened
  
I) Max wouldn't install. So I spent 2 weeks trying all crazy options I could find to fix it. Nothing worked so I decided to fresh instal my OS. It worked. 3DMax opens now, but reinstalling everything back practically took the whole weekend.



 
II)Max Import Messed Up. So I tried several import options but the the FBX was rotated all wrong and  animations didn't seem to be importing. Thats funny because there's this option in 3DMax import settings that practically says "Do you want to not import your animation keyframes?" and it was expressed in a negative form of "Do you want to fill the timeline"? I mean, I assume it won't be filled with chocolate milkshake, but I think that could have been more clear.




III) I didn't remember how to use 3DMax. So the animation was there, but I was having a hard time to intuitively work on the environment. Also It had been many years since I last opened 3D Max and I needed to spend some days learning it back.



4. The Plan B

I) Shorten Animation. Find a shorter free Turn animation.
II) Snap character's rotation to 0º or 180º after the Turn animation is completed.





4. How I solved it
 I) I downloaded a new free animation, way shorter in time, and some blending tweaking after the waiting time issue was fixed. Yay!
1/2 Solved.
II) Identified Rotation problem. The snap rotation idea wasn't bad, but it wouldn't work as mecanim root motion was overriding my rotation code.
III) Deactivated root motion during turn. That allows me to rotate during turn without mecanim interfering.
IV) Used Lerp & Quaternions. Obviously direct snapping wasn't an option as it would produce a poping in the animation. So I asked around. How do people perform this interpolation? After talking to my friends it was clear that I needed to learn about the famous "quaternions".

Most of you will know them, these are the guys:

Code:

transform.rotation = Quaternion.Lerp(from.rotation, to.rotation, Time.time * speed);

They basically allow exactly what I was trying to do: Lerp the desired rotation (180º) in a fixed amount of time.
In my case the turn animation lasts 3.3' seconds, so that's the turnTime I have to make it lerp:




V) Solved an arising bug. At this point everything was set, but the character wasn't properly chosing what direction to rotate, given that the Lerp aparently picks the fastest rotation path and we are exactly 180º away from the turn in both directions, and thus it became confused:



The small trick I did to fix it was to sum +10 to the angle on each rotation, that way it always knows how to rotate.

VI) Enjoy! So now that I can rotate during the turn animation:



Voilá!  




What's next?
Next thing is polishing all the transitions that remain slow. Now that I know all these new tricks it should be easier

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys, quick update today.

Last day I realized you can't transition from a transition: that means that I couldn't roll if I was just starting to walk from Idle. 

So I am learning blend trees for the ground movement states. 







This is what how far I managed to progress. No one said going 3D was gonna be easy tho!

Wish me luck

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys,

Last week I kept working on the animations and state machine.

I opted for a 1D BlendTree, as characters will be walking only in one direction.




Although functional, the blendtree is acting more like a pop-tree, as walking, idle and run animations do not blend when the speed parameter changes. This is because the speed parameter changes on the spot (when you let go the joystick the character suddenly stops, with no blending at all).


And I am super happy with my little progress, it is finally as responsive as I want it to be!

I am pretty clueless now, so I am learning a bit more about Unity, C# and Mecanim each day, which can only be a good thing I guess. Anyway it feels good when things finally work out.

The Good: Responsiveness



I managed to make the states machine actually serve the inputs and now the controls are 100% responsive to the states and the blend tree plays the correct states based on input.



The Bad: Wrong directions.



Roll and Backstep ignore that they have to be either 0º or 180º and thus the character displacement is wrong.



The Ugly: blending popping



Although functional, the blendtree is acting more like a moonwalker-tree Walking, idle and run animations do not blend when the speed parameter changes. This is because the speed parameter changes on the spot (when you let go the joystick the character suddenly stops, with no blending at all).




So what's left until it movement works?

1. I need to snap character's rotation before starting a Roll or a Backstep.
2. I need to have the speed interpolate rather than pop so as the blendtree actually blends its motion clips.

So next week I will try to learn what's needed in order to achieve these changes. Once these 2 are fixed I will

start prototyping the cagelevators. Can't wait to solve all these design doubts!

edit: btw if someone wants to help with the blending problem that would be awesome 

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys, quick update today.

I kept working on the animation:

I fixed the wrongly aimed roll and backstep with a simple method that snaps the rotation of the character to 0º or 180º based on where it's looking. Simple and yet super effective! 

Also gave it a try to the "fixing the animation popping" issue from running to Idle. I am not 100% sure how to approach it yet.

Will give it another try soon and if I don't get to fix it I'll record a slowmo gif and post it here so as some of you guys can give it a look and maybe point out some classic mistake I might be commiting.