Hey there! History repeats itself, and again I take a break from Key of Ethios to work on Umber Throne, which is far, far smaller in scope.
~The Empyrean Expanse~
This game takes place in an endless void known as the Empyrean Expanse. Within this space-like realm lies chunks of land upon which sit unique Kingdoms. Each Kingdom has a ruler, who has a sort of symbiotic link with their Kingdom.
The various Kingdoms are connected via highways of light dubbed Aether Streams, which can be traversed utilizing Aether Galleons.
(A really old concept for the world)
~The Story~
So there's been an issue that the denizens of the Expanse have been experiencing; various Kingdoms have been vanishing out of the void.
The reason? The Umber Throne.
Nobody knows its true nature, but those who have witnessed these vanishings have told tales... Tales of a giant, formless cloud of mist... of a great, yawning maw... of Kingdoms devoured whole.
There have been, of course, bands of warriors thinking to challenge this monstrous thing, or those who tnink to solve its mysteries. They search for the thing, hunt it down, and are never seen again.
You are not one of these foolhardy seekers. You are Ser Abelard, Myrmidon of your Lord and Liege, King Atlas. You have more important things to do than seek out some otherworldy, world-eating cloud- You have a Kingdom to defend, after all.
Unfortunately for you, just because you do not seek out this danger does not mean that you'll never encounter it...
A normal day, it seemed. And then in an instant, it happened. All you remember was a formless cloud of mist... and a great, yawning maw.
~Gameplay~
So you play as the aforementioned Abelard:
Seems to me that the main crux of the challenge in Castlevania games is your limit in angles of attack. More so than any of the enemies, it's just a matter of getting into the correct position.
I wanted to work around this feature, and instead decided to implement a free-aiming combat system. This'll let me put the challenge in the enemies and their abilities, rather than your lack of combat options.
So you can spear in the cardinal directions:
But you can also spear in any damn direction you wanna:
While moving, too:
Same deal with blocking:
This will be the case with most mechanics in the game, like the various, obligatory upgrades, and even stuff like levers:
(Instead of being a binary "use>Activated, use>Deactivated" thing, the levers will have patterns that you'll follow using the aiming controls.
I think it'll turn out pretty cool.
Community
