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[GrayTree]

Hey everyone!

A small in-game UI animation for this week's #screenshotsaturday!



To keep updated, follow us on on our social medias: Twitter / Facebook.

[GrayTree]

Devlog 10 - Resource Management

Hello everyone!

On today’s devlog we’ll be explaining our health and stamina system, with a final note about the overall development of the game.



Our Health system is inspired by both Diablo-like games and other more unforgiving Souls-like ones. The glass globe represents 25% of the player’s total health, with this same portion being the only percentage of health that can be regened outside of the use of checkpoints, brief stops that will be distributed around the world (more on those in future devlogs).

As seen in the Gif, when our zealot takes more damage than the orb’s maximum capacity, the orb shatters semi-permanently, only regening after a long period of not being hit or when the player exits a combat encounter. After the shattering, any damage taken will be chipped away from what we call the permanent health bar, a consistent 75% chunk that won’t be refilled commonly. We plan to use this system to avoid messing around with health items too much while also rewarding skilled players by … not dying.

The stamina system is our main way to control usage of everything outside of basic attack combos and charge attacks, which means that rolling and relic usage are the main drains for this resource. Rolling will always take a flat amount of stamina to perform, but different relics will have different resource costs depending on their usability and overall power.



Above is an image of the evolution of our health bar throughout the development so far, with the main concern being how we could fit Relic/Prayer Sheet icons and an easily understood stamina bar while keeping the in-game UI as minimalist as possible.

As a final note, we are currently eradicating all the nasty bugs and polishing up our first private vertical slice, which means that we are close to once more create new stuff to show you guys, so be on the lookout for that!

To keep updated, follow us on on our social medias: Twitter / Facebook.

[GrayTree]

Hello everyone!

A different angle view showcasing some new decorations for our cathedral area in this week's #screenshotsaturday!



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[GrayTree]

Hello everyone!

A late #screenshotsaturday, showcasing a camp-like area!



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[neko.works]

Interesting art-style! This reminds me of some PS1 era graphics - Xenogears and Breath of Fire 3/4 vibes!

Following

[xerohuang]

love this

[Superb Joe]

insanely sick

[GrayTree]

Devlog 11 - The Sound of Zealot

Hey everyone!

Hope everyone’s been having a great week! We’re back and excited to say that we’re finally going to be addressing the sound and music of Zealot, as well as announcing the composer/sound designer that has been working with us recently to help us shape the soundtrack into something great.

As far as inspirations go, the theme of Orthodox Christianity vs Slavic Paganism was a good base to start, both religions have very distinct and unique musical traditions, and we wanted to showcase both of them in the soundtrack, sometimes on their own, sometimes doing a mix of both.

Early on we were lucky enough to partner with BENI.MARU, who came to us with great ideas of what he envisioned the soundtrack to sound like. We asked him to write a bit about himself:

“At heart, BENI.MARU is a traveler.  He explores worlds - Sanctuary, Lordaeron, Ivalice, and the likes – in a never-ending search for the perfect sound.  His recent ventures have brought him to The Land of ZEALOT, where he would draw from the very roots of Paganism to conjure the sounds and music needed keep the Orthodox encroachment at bay.”

Since then we’ve been working closely in creating the soundscape for Zealot and the results are nothing short of fantastic, BENI.MARU has been doing a great job of accompanying the visuals and themes of the game with music and sounds that really emphasize the action and setting, and we're thrilled to see everyone’s reaction to the soundtrack.

With this, allow us to show a sample track from the first boss fight we’re working on implementing, take a listen.





If you’re interested in hearing more of BENI.MARU’s work, here’s a link to his Soundcloud, where you can hear more great tracks such as this one.

That pretty much covers it for this week’s update. As usual we are hard at work at finalizing our first internal build, so more updates about that soon! Thanks for reading!

To keep updated, follow us on on our social medias: Twitter / Facebook.

[nenad]

The game is looking... exquisite.

[GrayTree]

Hello everyone!

Another late #screenshotsaturday, with a teaser of our cemetery-like area!



To keep updated, follow us on on our social medias: Twitter / Facebook.

[GrayTree]

Hey everyone!

For this week's #screenshotsaturday we added some new and improved blood effects, check them out!



To keep updated, follow us on on our social medias: Twitter / Facebook.

[WaywardEmcee]

So is your environment just low-poly 3D models with a pixel-art painted texture? I'm curious about what your process there is.

[GrayTree]

So is your environment just low-poly 3D models with a pixel-art painted texture? I'm curious about what your process there is.

Exactly right, our environments are 3D painted with pixel art, while our characters are billboarding sprites!

[GrayTree]

Devlog 12 - Vertical Slice

Hey guys and gals!

Back with another devlog, this time about the demo scene we've been finishing up this last month. The purpose of the demo itself is to showcase the look-and-feel of Zealot, and will be mostly played by media and publisher types. It will also serve as an early form of a feedback build, allowing us to get criticism more easily and transform Zealot into the best game it can become.

While most of you guys won't get a chance to play it right now, we felt like it is only fair to at least talk about what the vertical slice currently entails. For everyone who hasn't been following our #screenshotsaturday Gifs, all we have shown so far is included in the build, so check them out over on our Twitter, Facebook or here on our TIGForum thread!



The vertical slice level is a more slimmed down and streamlined version of the tutorial zone we’ve talked about in a previous devlog, starting off with the big Orthodox cathedral, where the forgotten altar resides. Following that, there is a woodland type area littered with crosses, remnants of the Orthodox religion thrown together when the settlement was sealed by the Pagans.



The next zone is themed around a village setting, filled with props and ruined houses, where the orthodox settlers first settled. The final setting is a graveyard-like area, filled with tombstones and a grim testament to the orthodox oppression in the land of Zealot.



Gameplay-wise, we have three different enemy types, two different prayer sheets to pray at the altar, one unique relic (the cross) and one weapon type (the mace). We’ve also implemented sound effects for the first time, with BENI.MARU doing the final mastering right about now.

At the end of the demo, for those who can get there, there is a surprise that we will leave undisclosed for now.

That’s pretty much it, as we've said it's a pretty streamlined version of what we want Zealot to be, but we feel like it showcases both the combat and aesthetic of the game in a very satisfactory way. See you guys next time!

To keep updated, follow us on on our social medias: Twitter / Facebook.

[GrayTree]

Devlog 13 - Shortcuts

Hey everyone!

A thin one for this past couple of weeks, we’ve been polishing up the vertical slice featured in the last devlog. A lot of bug fixing going on, but we did implement a couple of new quality of life features, as well as some sound effect improvements.



The shortcut system is now implemented, allowing a player who dies before reaching a checkpoint to bypass a section of the map, rewarding map exploration. For our first area, these shortcuts are represented by a heavy door in a wall that can only be opened from one side, indicated by a large cross statue on top of it. We’ve also added a shader to sort out player transparency when a wall or tree is blocking the camera, let us know what you think of it.



BENI.MARU has also been hard at work figuring out SFX timing, either by tweaking animation speed on our side, or by changing the sounds himself. We’ve also added some cool new sounds for the Prayer menu navigation, as well as some rustling for the priest kneeling.

Sam and Vasco have mostly finished up art-wise in regards to the demo, and are now concepting new areas, enemies and bosses. We’re also starting work on the Relic menu and in-game representation of both the forge and reliquary. Expect a more detailed devlog expanding upon those features in the future.

To keep updated, follow us on on our social medias: Twitter / Facebook.

[GrayTree]

Hello everyone!

For this week's #screenshotsaturday, a gif showcasing both of the new systems we talked about in the latest devlog!



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[GrayTree]

Hello everyone!

A brand new camera transition for a "locked-in" event in this week's #screenshotsaturday!



To keep updated, follow us on on our social medias: Twitter / Facebook.

[chariospirale]

look so good !

[GrayTree]

Devlog 14 - Post-Demo Concepting

Hello again!

This week’s devlog will be a short one, as we don’t have much to discuss during these final stages of the vertical slice development. At this point we are playtesting the build internally and with close friends to fine-tune everything from controls to audio levels, and all I can say for now is that we’re very satisfied with the progress we’ve made and that the experience we’ve created is very close to what we envisioned Zealot to feel and play like, and suffice to say we are very excited to get it out there. For more info about what the vertical slice build entails, please go check out this previous devlog!

While João and Eric are still busy chipping away at squashing bugs and improving mechanics for the demo, Vasco and Sam have been brainstorming ideas and concepts for the remaining areas of the game, which go past the scope of the vertical slice, in order for us to have a strong and clear guide as we move forward towards producing the rest of the game’s environments and characters. And while it’s still too early to show you any of that stuff yet, please enjoy this piece of concept art hinting at one of our future updates!



What purpose could this mechanism possibly serve? Stay tuned to our future updates and devlogs to find out! Have a great week.

To keep updated, follow us on on our social medias: Twitter / Facebook.

[GrayTree]

Hey everyone!

In this week's #screenshotsaturday, a camera transition for the start of our vertical slice!



To keep updated, follow us on on our social medias: Twitter / Facebook.