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[ManuScythe]

Hey Guys,last 2 weeks I've been on Hollydays, so I disconnected totally.

I've been back for a couple days now and also I had worked a bit before going on hollydays so here's the new stuff:

Level Design
I have been doing some wireframing on some  basic level design approaches, basically defined the layers and some risky elements like:
 · Slopes and ladders for heights access.
 · Pits for plunge attacks.
 · Visually blocking foreground elements for stealth.
 · Or Big weapon disruptor walls.




Then I made a graybox and added some orientative brick textures.





Dev
- I kept working on the "movement" prototype by making a first pass on the "Jaulevadores" (the cagelevators).
Hope to be able to upload some progress soon.

Music
Sonorization meeting. I'll be meeting with the Composer this week in order to start designing the sonorization of Duelcide.

Art
- A new Illustrator TBA is very likely to handle the Environment Art of Duelcide. We've been iterating on the levels architecture and overall style.

- A new 3D Artist TBA has been helping me iterate the 3D aesthetics of the game, he's currently working on a 3D version of the musketeer character. This model is intended to serve as a reference for future characters to come.

- Pablo an I kept working on the Illustration, and as we are happy with it for now, we're moving into some more detailed character design for 3D reference. What do you guys think?

[ManuScythe]

Hi guys, I merged my new level graybox,this is how movig across the  thing looks like:




Personally I think it feels slow, probably will make the guy run faster, might pass on the root motion and perform the movements through code instead.

But that will be after the combat prototype so that's all for today.

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys, this week I've been pushing forward the horizontal movement prototype

The Cagelevators 0.1

What's done:

  You can now get inside them and they close only after you are inside.
  Once you are inside, the door closes, and the Jaulevador starts going up.
  When it reaches its destination, the door opens.
  After you exit, the door stays open (can close but as there are no corpses it would block the way).



What's pending:
   Finish fixing the character movement (No popping, No flying (should probably stop using root motion).

Other prototypes in the horizon:
   Combat prototype (Weapons hit on enemy armor producing an impact, causing damage and stagger.)
   Grab & Throw prototype (Grab a corpse, drag it thrugh the level and through it on the Jaulevador slot to activate it, making it open so you can change floors. Also Close the door again when exiting.


More stuff soon
Also we started working on the music, and the levels art style, hope to show some of this soon 

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys, kinda riddiculously big update for this month, damn I can't seem to post regularly   


1. Dev
- I started working on the combat prototype.

So far so good, slow as a turtle, set up the basic collision system, it's a bit messy until I have some final animations but hey it's working:

- FSM goes like this:
    1 Anticipation: Just an animation, when it finishes, the effect starts.
    2 Effect: If during the actual attack the weapon hits either a wall or an enemy, it triggers a behavior. When the animation finishes, the recovery starts.
    3 Recovery: During this animation you can chain a combo if the move allows it. Other than that it's just an animation and  when it finishes, FSM comes back to Idle.



Next thing I want to do, probably this weekend, is set the bahaviour for the receiver of the hit. I want to make that little dwarf king whatever fly away until I have the actual animations, it will be the perfect excuse 

Now for the rest of the team that is not me:


2. Music
- We officialy have our second incorporation to the team, THE COMPOSER: Carlos Viola, the awesome guy from games like Blasphemous, Last Door or Pharaonic.

So Carlos is helping me with the Music of the game (Actually he's straightforward composing it all, I just ask for stuff like he was a Santa with way better grove and he just makes it happen.   

We're working on a couple themes for the vertical slice, which will feature a total of 3: The "Blade Dancer" theme, the "Wolf Knight" theme and the "Main" theme. We're focusing specially on the heroic and melancholic parts of the Main theme(probably you are all wondering what the heck I'm talking about, I really need to do a big sumup update including Lore, Art and Music before the combat prototype is ready) ^^



3. Character Concept Art

- 2D Character Concept, Pablo (general concept art) and I kept iterating on the characters design. Making the knight look like the Wolf Knight. This knight guy used to guard the gates of the Moonlight castle. We will probably make him even further slimmer before adding the detail to the armor. what do you think? 


Wolf Knight ( 1st and 2nd iteration )




Wolf Knight ( 3rd iteration )



(I'm also flirting with the idea of straight putting a wolf head helmet on top of his head, just told Pablo and he loved the idea, so probably gonna see it:  )
with a new animator TBA.


4. Levels Concept Art
- A new concept artist TBA (as environment concept artist) has been doing some concepts for the level art, and so far it's looking awesome at shaping my delusional visions into actual art. 

As promised here is a first iteration of the levels concept art. A take on the architecture and overall style of what could very accurately represent one of the main two wings of the Castle:


The Ball Room 0.1






4. 3D Models

- My 3D Artist TBA colleague keeps working on the 3D version of the musketeer character. As soon as we're happy with the Low poly version, we will start working on the 3D art for the levels based on the concepts.

- New animator TBA will loop in once the character low poly model is ready.


I still have to ask to my collaborators for permision on the music sketches and the 3D Character renders respectively, so the quallity standard is acceptable for them, I'll pin em here.

And that's all for now! I hope I don't get this big of a snowball of content next entry! Peace, out! fellow amateurs, pros and gods of the dev!   

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys, here is the first iteration of the musketeer, "Pacheco Carranza", a classic guy, well versed in the arts of the dance and the sword.

Pacheco Carranza 0.1



We will be iterating on the low-poly version and then add some detail to the model along with some textures.

We also want to do some mockup tests under the game camera in order to see if we can make it more stylished while keeping the readability of the silhouette.

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys, quick update today, this is an iteratoin on the Ball Room concept art along with a first iteration on a new concept art piece featuring the waiting room. And also the first sketch on the HUB OST theme!


1. Concept Art:

Ball room v.0.2



Waiting room v.0.1




2. Music: Waiting room OST theme


>> https://soundcloud.com/manu-saiz-1/duelcide-ost-pre-alpha-hub-theme <<





3. Dev

Also I'm wondering how to set up the Inputs to allow for x2 XBOX Gamepads:



My plan is to duplicate the inputs from the Input Manager but, am I missing any obvious approach here?

[nathy after dark]

I'm really interested in this one!! 

[ManuScythe]

I'm really interested in this one!! 

And I'm glad to hear that!

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys, quick update, first iteration on a new concept art piece: the great corridor


1. Concept Art:

We will be adding more depth for a paralax layered layout.
Also we'll be aiming for less morisco styled arcs and more of a gothic styled kind of arcs.


Great Corridor v.0.1





2. Dev

Also started working on the Inputs for x2 XBOX Gamepads:



I duplicated the inputs in Unity Input Manager but

1) The "Horizontal" button seems to stop working if I change names? Anyone experienced this issue?
2) I don't own a second controller X)
3) Might have some reference to "Horizontal" input in my logic and that might be why P1_Horizontal doesn't engage.



 The other buttons work just fine on P1 format, so I guess I'll be investigating it further in case I messed up any code
 If anyone happens to have experienced a similar problem, please share your insights  


Also...

I met with a potential new incorporation to the team: an animator! I'll let you guys know more as we have some progress  

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys, short update today

1. Dev
Started fixing the inputs issue, apparently there were different inputs with the name Horizontal and I was...
duplicating the wrong button. Oops!

Now the Inputs are divided into Player_1 and Payer_2.

I actually need to buy a second XBox controller to see for a fact if inputs tagged P2 are working.
But, for he moment I have tis new bug that causes both P1 and P2 to respond to Gamepad 1.


2. Concept Art

Here is a second iteration of the Great Corridor. I like the arches more now.



Soon we will be adding some depth.


3. Other stuff

Next day I will hopefully bring more splatted bugs and a deeper corridor!

[ManuScythe]

1. DEV

Hey guys, I finally traced the BUG causing both players to respond to Gamepad 1, and it was CRAZY TROLL ! 



The issue was that if you're using a Positive Button, you must indicate the "Joystick 1" in that very field, as the box Joystick doesn't work.

How counterintuitive is that especially given that you do have the Gamepad unfoldable menu down bellow?

Anyway,it is fixed now, hope this helps someone not to suffer the same brainsqueezing xp.

2. ART

Also this is the new iteration of the concept art of the feast hall corridor with my feedback applied:



Obviously I love it more now, what do you think? ^^

Other stuff

Next things I want to try are:

- Save money for a second XBox controller.
- Code a simple AI for Player 2.
- Code movement and Remove Root motion.
- Code the Character sheet, stamina and HP system
- Actually represent the Lore of the game in a way that explains what is necesary but doesn't spoil it ( Still need to think how much to say in advance ).

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys, small update today,


1. DEV

I connected the "Attack" action with the "Receive Hit" action.

what's done:
 # The attacker can send its damage.
 # The target will receive this damage.
 # The rarget will substract the attack damage from its Health points.

What's pending
 # The attacker sends different amounts of damage depending on: Attack, Weapon, Stats.
 # The target can filter a % and a RAW amount of the damage depending on: Armor, Stats and Animation (You are more vulnerable when you are performing an action than when you are performing a
     - Parry-2(0)
     - Roll-2(0)
     - Defense(<100%)
     - Idle(100%)
     - Other(>100%)
 # The target animation changes to Hit, Hit2 or Hit3 (Depending on stuff discussed above, specially the stability stat).

This is how the logic looks in debug mode:



2. Other stuff

So this  is what I'm doing atm

- Code the Character sheet, stamina and HP system

Next things I want to try are:

- Save money for a second XBox controller.
- Code a simple AI for Player 2.
- Code movement and Remove Root motion.
- Actually represent the Lore of the game in a way that explains what is necesary but doesn't spoil it ( Still need to think how much to say in advance ).

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys, brief update today,

1. DEV

I) x2 Gamepads working. I got a second XBOX 360 controller and now both characters work independently



II) Animations: We are working on a first bake of the "final" basic move and unnarmed weapon animations, so the prototype is one set of animations away from turning into a fist wrestling demo!  YAY! We are aiming for last days of november to wrap it up.

III) +Programmer: I am planning to loop another programmer... ok, an actual programmer, you know, I am just a game designer playing with sticks and stones so he'll help me gear the project up.     

What's on the roadmap for this fall:
 # Combat
    - The attacker sends different amounts of damage depending on: Attack, Weapon, Stats.
    - The target can filter a % and a RAW amount of the damage depending on: Armor, Stats and Animation(...)
    - Include several hit animations ( slight hit, stunning hit, knockdown)
    - Queue Combos
 # Movement
    - Code movement and Remove Root motion.
 # AI
    - Code a simple AI for an enemy duelist.
 # Lore
    - Sketch a non-spoiler version of the Lore.
 # UI
    - Include the UI (Health Bar, Stamina Bar, Inventory, Character Sheet).
    - So for this I'll most likely be creating a bunch of mockups and fit them into a massive screenflow diagram.

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys, short update today,

1. ART
So my scenario concept artist is gonna have to slow the pacing down as he's going to be more commited to the other Indie game that's already commited in full development.

For now this is the progress on the Waiting hall:


Waiting hall v0.2

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys, sumup text-brick update so that if anyone is interested you can know...

We're still alive and working. This last month has been 50% production and 50% design for me.


PRODUCTION

So basically after several discussions after wether Root Motion should or shouldn't be handling the animations, we've Rigged a rough version of the Low Poly Musketeer so the animator can start solving some issues while me and the new programmer start cleaning the project in preparation of starting to control character movement through code now on.





DEV
- Introduced the programmer to the project.
- Discussed on the structure of the States, Input and Animation systems.
- Cleaned up the project. ( Stil WIP, lots of placeholder resources and shit ).
- Plotted the removal of the root motion from the animations.



3D ART
- Musketeer Low Poly 3D Model is Work in progress.
- Musketeer Rig is done for the rough version so we can start animating.
- Musketeer basic animations are Work in progress.



MUSIC
- Nada ( nothing new, too much Blasphemous for Carlos )



2D ART
- Pablo has been iterating on the character design for the Wolf Knight. We'll post next iteration.
- Juanmi keeps working with Carlos so nothing new this month from him either. 
- A new artist hear about the project and offered to contribute so he'll be crafting a piece I've been wanting a couple months ago but couldn't pipeline to Pablo as he's been busy with the characters. It is what we in the land of the crusaders call "Vidriera". I believe in english it is called ( I just googled it and I might be wrong ) "Stained Glass". So I am looking to create somewhat of a descriptive illustration that shows the different wings of the castle and the people that used to live there. But this is just words, I'll show you guys when we have something you can actually gaze on. 



GAME DESIGN

I identified some weaknesses on the basic flow of the game so I decided to roll my sleves up and sketch an actual plan.   

   - Detail Duelcide Game Pillars.
   - Detail Aesthetics of play.
   - I made a list of systems that will create those aesthetics.
   - And a list of the mechanics in these systems.
   - And then I started working on the weaknesses in the systems[/b], and this is where it gets interesting...



 I've been working on spotting and isolating this issues and finding different solutions for them.
 If I only get to create a certain number of NPC 3D models( Let's say 20 ) many things get limited:
      1. You can't farm.
         I want to adjust difficulty by letting players farm for a currency that can allow levelling up, buying,
         etcetera but I want every NPC to be killable, and I don't want to include "mobs" on the way.
         So: If NPC's are limited you can't kill them but once, so you can't farm them.
         Solutions? I started thinking on solutions and I came with a few possible ones:
            1.1 You can travel across different planes ( like in Soul Reaver )
            1.2 I introduce the "mobs" so you can farm them.
            1.3 Keep brainstorming...


      2. Vertical Traveling is limited:
         The elevators go up or down fueled by an inconcious NPC or a corpse.
         So no more models = No more NPCs = No more traveling around the castle).
         Solutions? Again work in progress...
            2.1 Allow for a transversal elevator to go from your floor to any other floor you already visited.
            2.2 Not allow backtracking at all.
            2.3 Keep brainstorming...
     
      3. Death feels either pointless or too punishing:
            Death worked for some games when offering an interesting punishment:
            Diablo: lose XP and run naked to your corpse with the risk of dying again and losing more XP.
            World of Warcraft: Lose armor durability and travel in invulnerable form ( so you can scout )
                               Respawn & escape. Dying on the same spot makes you lose armor durability again).               
            Dark Souls: Lose your souls and drop a mark on the floor, respawn and try to get them back.
                        Die a second time the mark dissappears and you lose that many souls forever.
                         ( This is intersting in several ways but don't wanna enter in that much detail now ) .
         
         Solutions? (+WIP)
            3.1 Dying deactivates part of your power untill you get a new power again.
            3.2 Permadeath. Fuck the world.
            3.3 Bend the knee to the "mobs" based level design and assume dark souls system is better than these.
            3.4 Keep brainstorming...


So that has been september for us Duelcide basically. I hope to be able to put together some more audiovisual content and in the mean time this is the road map for the month:


MINI ROAD MAP

Musketeer:
- Low Poly 3D model.
- Basic movement animations.
- Maybe some attack animations ( will start with bare hands animations ).

Stained Glass:
- Castle Factions

Game Design:
- Fix the above mentioned issues on Progression, Death etc...

[io3 creations]

So, will the game only support XBOX Gamepads?  Have you considered using an asset for handling input (e.g. ReWired or InControl)?  as well as easier to handle more controllers.

[ManuScythe]

So, will the game only support XBOX Gamepads?  Have you considered using an asset for handling input (e.g. ReWired or InControl)?  as well as easier to handle more controllers.

We will definetly support diverse kinds of gamepads, and other controllers. We're just focusing on the experience more than the hardware at the moment.

We'll have a look to those 2 just in case.

[ManuScythe]

Hey guys

So we've been working last month:

Game Design
I've been working on a new concept to solve the issues I identified on farming, death, level up & progression.
I came up with what I think is a very promising concept, so I will test it internally once the Combat vertical slice prototype is ready. And if I like how it works, I will prepare a whole beta version including it so I can get some feedback and see if it actually works with real people or what.

Animation
We've been working on the basic move animations
- Idle
- Turn
- Walk
- Run
- Roll
- Backstep
And we want to include a couple more
- Stop ( Slide that comes from running to idle ).
- Fall
- Land

Code
We have reimplemented some in the animator and adapting inputs to fit the changes. We got rid of root motion.
Today we'll be working a couple hours to try and get some more in, and we plan to include more this weakend, when I hope to tweak it all and post some content here.

3D Art
We have the low poly version almost ready. At least the riggin works so far. We hope to be able to speed up the process once we have the first character.
The scenary is yet on hold until we finish the first two characters and we make sure they properly adapt to animations.

2D Art
Pablo has advanced a lot with the Wolf Knight concept art. I like how these guys do their rounds in packs, like wolves, and how they are the lone protectors of the Castle Gates, like cerberus.
Here's what we've got so far. Probably Emilio might want to introduce some changes once modeled in 3D.



Peace, and see you soon 

[ManuScythe]

So we've been working last month, I was planing to show the horizontal movement today but it's yet buggy so I'll feed you some of the last Art pieces and some disastrous narrative aproach as compensation.

Animation
We've been working on new animations
- Brake (from run to idle)
- Jump
- Land: steady
- Land: roll

Code
Horizontal Movement Prototype: We've been having issues implementing last animations as the programmer has been sick for a couple weeks, but we managed to pull a pretty solid version of the horizontal movement animator/input prototype.

I need to make some small tweaks to the transitions but it is all looking pretty near the goal.
What has been fixed:
- Walk has x2 different speeds and walk animations based on the joystick.
- Walk properly blends into run.
- Run now stops with a break animation.
- Turn to walk now works fluent without pauses.
What's broken:
- Idle to walk takes ages to start, we need to drastically reduce this animation's duration.
- Jump is yet pending implementation and it's gonna require some refactor.


Jump input is work in progress and probably needs a preventive refactor.

3D Art
Environment: I've started looking for an environment 3D artist in order to execute Juanmi's concept arts for the 3 rooms. I'll be meeting with a candidate soon.
Characters: Finally "Pacheco Carranza" low poly model is ready!
New textures have been applied and it is looking awesome. Great job Emilio!



2D Art
Mr Deiver added some color and detail to the wolf knight and it is ready to be executed in 3D.



Pablo Ramos, in exchange for some game design advice, has become a new collaborator executing this wonderfull stained glass depicting the main houses of the Moonlight Castle:



Top to Bottom and Left to Right:
The Truth Keepers, The Truth Seekers, The Gate Keepers and The Ball Masters. Some motives are added to represent the peasants, and the secrets of the stars(...)
*Names are temporary.

Narrative:
Sorry for my poor english writing beforehand, I trust your wonderful imagination will fix the holes.

A messy brawl among two drunk humble workers soon ends as The wolf knights approach. Once the two muddy gorillas find their own ways, the wolves go back to their spots under the gates.
With the streets having been wiped of the filth and scum of the poor, the paladins wave their golden banners and offer their holly truth in the form of flasked stardust to the peasants crowding the plaza.
Meanwhile the wind brings a melody from the tower as the artsy ones are celebrates a Baile. The dance masters spent last months studying the coreography to shine tonight and thus they delight the nobility with they gracile moveset.
Not unaware to the "noise" of beautiful violins playing, the erudits tune their telescope in seek of a new constelation anomaly for their arcane studies.

[ManuScythe]

So I bought this crazy amount of black and white box shaped pillows I filled my appartment with them and I am now making a fort with them and forgetting about game dev while I drink hot coccoa and read a classic novel under a blanket.



No I'm serious

Ok I made the first of a series of two or three grayboxes for the level design based on our 2D concept art pieces.
But I'll get into that lower in the post.... First things first:

THE BATTLE FOR GOOD FEEL.
  IN INPUT. AND TRANSITIONS. AND CHARACTER SPEED.

And it involves Dev, Animation and a bit of level design.
(Or at least the part of level design regarding character movement affecting the distance covered during animations anyway).

Dev
So we have an almost solid version of the horizontal movement prototype, but we yet need to get some expertise with the blendings and transitions.

What has been fixed:

- First, we refactored the input in seek of a simplified system.

- Jump is now working (in horizontal, falls are pending).



- Started allowing more interruptions and Roll is now more comfortable to use ( Animation needs tweaking tho )



- We refined pretty much every transition and identified lacks of transitions between some states.


What's broken:

- Some states lack transitions because these are disfunctional. Particularly Turn to any animation has this flipping issue.

- There are some transitions that need to allow interruption,maybe this requires rearranging the animator, so may need work.

- We also have this acceleration BUG with our movespeed scripts, causing character to speed up during animation transitions.




Animation
We are having a turbo-meeting tomorrow in order to review the current state of the animations and decide if we need some extra animations for some transitions such as: Break to Run/Walk/Turn,  Turn to Walk,   Walk to Roll, and    Roll to (pretty much everything)

A definitive list will probably look bigger tomorrow as I want to work on the graybox and the weapons design for the rest of the day.



3D Art
Environment: I met with a fellow 3D artist, I pitched the project to him and shown our current concept arts and he loved it! so we agreed that I will hand him a couple grayboxes of the levels and he will start making it a reality, I'm so excited!!  

Level Design
This would be a first iteration of the Ball room, as you can see there's plenty of space behind the character but the layers of the concept are collapsed and I need to separate them to start centering stuff, adding tables, the far balconies etcetera. Oh and you can also have a look to current progress on the rough iteration of the animations.





   

DICLAIMER: Be careful as the texture I made is shit and it is probably pretty hazardous to the eye

   







Ball room Graybox 0.1









2D Art

Mr. Ramos made a small tweak on the stained glass concept based on Deiver's Wolf Knight concept art.
 



And that's pretty much for the moment.

Next steps are

- Finish horizontal movement animations and Input.
- Finish redoing character Rig.
- Create the "final" animations for these.
- Create the x3 graybox scenarios for the x3 concept art pieces for the levels.
- Model a 3D sample of one of these secenarios.
- Design the weapons for both the Wolf Knight and the Ball Master.
- Execute the actual Concept art for the Weapons.


So now please Seekers of the Truth  
Grant us eyes to foresight bugs to be  
and save dev time to start working on combat and progression prototypes.  

Create, share, and be happy