Category Archives: Gameplay

DevBlog 09 / The Journey Companion

Hi everyone!

A very important character in this game is the player’s companion, previously mentioned in the game description. Your companion can help in some puzzles, serve as a fast travel option and can store additional weapons, armor and potions that you can’t carry with you. But it can’t follow you everywhere! Some places can only be accessed with the player alone, for example: when you need to climb something, your companion will wait for you below; in this type of situation you need to manage what you bring with you and what stays with your companion, since your inventory is limited and your companion can carry many more items.

Old view on the left, current view on the right

Early concept by Jeffrey Ferreira.

This was the very first model of the game (Modeled, rigged and animated by our programmer André), and it is still the model used for AI logic tests and behavior like in the gif below. All the mechanics and logic mentioned above are already implemented.

Here we can see some automatic object avoidance, the Elk automaticly avoids major falls and objects like trees even if the player forces it.

We are trying to make the Elk’s movements the most organic possible, like previously mentioned, in situations like avoiding falls and trees, and by reacting to enemies close by. If the player is adventuring around and exploring, your companion won’t stay in the same place waiting. Our idea is to have a character with personality that you can mount and interact with, not a soulless prop.

Some details like foot IK and body position relative to ground or slope will be implemented to enhance the organic feel. This behavior is highly influenced by Shadow Of The Colossus Agro’s behavior (the companion horse).

WIP, for tests only, not the final model.

We are still exploring the Elk’s design, and that is currently one of our top priorities. Next week Tomé will make the final concept of the Elk for Pichel to model. Next step is new animations.

In this week of work André did some bug fixing and gameplay polish while Tomé and Pichel finished the ruins asset modules.

DevBlog 08 / Interior Illumination and deferred decals

DevBlog 06 / Interactable Objects

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Hi there!

While Pichel and Tomé are finishing the ancient ruins modules and the wooden assets, André is taking up the ones already finished and preparing them for in-game interaction. For example, we now have a breakable wooden fence and a crane!

You can break planks of wood to reach some hidden zones.

WIP model of the wood crane, that can be used to lift up or down objects.

Now, talking about the overall state of the game, all the mechanics logic are done (although we’re mostly still using placeholder objects) and we already did balancing tests with enemies and bosses. The level design of various areas are also done, ready to be populated with the new props. We are working hard to replace the placeholder props and characters, fix bugs and polish the visuals. With more playthroughs we will keep tweaking the gameplay and balance of the game.