Tag Archives: Gameplay

DevBlog 49 / Here comes a new challenger!

Hi everyone!

This week a lot of small tweaks, balancing and gameplay polishing was done: the stamina behavior was improved (now it takes a while before the stamina is regained after it was completely drained), the parry detection is more efficient, as well as the hit detection on enemies. Changing targets when locked is now more intuitive and the player can choose easily what target they want to attack.

Since it was clear that being immediately expelled from the Elk’s back while near enemies was frustrating for the players, a small change was made in the Elk’s stress behavior so that now the stress simply increases much faster instead, making the experience of riding more manageable.

Direct swap items on the Elk’s inventory is now possible, so there’s no need for the poor design decision of dropping the item and then picking it up again.

In the art department, the work on the new enemy is advancing smoothly. Here is HighPoly model:

Cursed soldier Highpoly.

We are also coming up with a new foe for the Girl to fight with, a big armored Ancestor that will require careful planning in order to be brought down.

Ancestor Soldier.

Meanwhile, we also continue to replace old animations with fresh ones, such as this:

Pushing unlocked doors.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

DevBlog 43 / Animation improvements

Hi everyone!

This week various changes were made in the AI department, from simple enemies to mini bosses, and their behaviors have been polished. Also, some bugs that still persisted since our last showcase at Comic Con were finally fixed. Plus, we’ve added a simple stress meter that shows up while riding so players can tell for how much longer they can mount the Elk before needing to feed it some berries.

Our animator did a lot of new animations for our enemy models and gave them the appropriate mood and feeling. He’s constantly working on custom ones to replace the old placeholder animations that we still have in the project. Additionally, different weights are now assigned to each foe as they are instantiated, so that every enemy acquires a stronger sense of individuality. Here are the various forms of transformation of this type of enemies.

Hey! I’m walking here!

We’ve also been working on an important event that takes place in the final area of Chapter One – the meeting with the Kid. The player will be able to help him escape from the cage he is trapped in, eventually learning more about his origin as the journey continues.

Please save me.

Can I axe you a question?

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

DevBlog 42 / Opening new paths

Hi there!

Since the beginning, one of our goals has been to intuitively make the player realize it is best to keep his four-legged companion by his side, without leaving it behind. In that sense, opening paths to make sure both the Girl and the Elk can travel together on this long journey is always an achievement!
Development wise, we are approaching the end of Chapter One (the first Act has two Chapters) and a big battle draws near, as well as some story reveals.

Lowering the bridge.

We have been working hard in this final zone, even though we haven’t shown much of it yet. We wouldn’t want to spoil all the fun. Nevertheless, here is a sneak peak of a very special weapon that foreshadows an epic encounter the player will have.

A strange sword.

The end of the first Chapter will conclude the “wood theme”, which has been predominant up to this point. The following Chapter will be very different, with a more “medieval-esque” feeling. Stay tuned for the next devblogs!

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

DevBlog 41 / I can see my house from here!

Hi everyone!

Once again, part of the team was working on the first Prince’s boss battle, polishing moves, balancing and adding more animations so the battle feels epic.
Although magic and elemental effects were only supposed to be introduced at a later stage of the game (once the player learns the appropriate skills from an NPC) one of the attacks of this boss required the implementation of the “paralyze” stat. We opted to use this nomenclature because it can be used in every situation in which the player temporarily loses control of the character (such as “petrify”, “woodify”, etc).
Similarly, a placeholder radial bar (around the weapon icon), indicating the current equipped weapon’s durability was added. Before, this very important info was buried in the inventory stat tab.

Paralyze and Durability bar.

That’s a big fall.

We really wanted the Rift Windmills’ area to have its own particular mood and identity, and in that regard the skybox plays a big role. With this in mind, we came up with a brand new sky with some dramatic clouds, as well as silhouetted mountains in the distance. Now the scene looks a lot more unique and consistent.

The swamp castle view from the rift windmills.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

DevBlog 39 / Improved companion controls

Hi everyone!

This week we were working on the intro scene of the game, where we explain how the Girl and the Elk start their journey. It’s a small new area with short cutscenes and playable zones where the player and the companion meet for the first time.

Some AI balancing and behavior was also done, and the Elk now has two types of control (changeable in options). One is the first version, heavily inspired by the Shadow of the Colossus’ control scheme, and the other is more similar to how The Witcher or Dragon Age handle mounting and steering. We feel that adding gameplay options like this turns out to be appealing for various types of players.

Running from the swamp slugs.

The art team is making progress in the new Canyon-esque area, populating the scene with a few new stone and vegetation props. Developing the surrounding landscape is the current challenge we’re facing, blending 3d elements with 2d planes in order to produce a convincing and immersive atmosphere.

In-game view of the Canyon area, still work in progress.

The boss battle and arena is on the works too.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

DevBlog 36 / Darkness creeps in

Hi everyone!

Once again, this week André was improving and fixing some stuff following the feedback we got from Lisbon Games Week. Some UI changes and rearrangement were done for a more readable inventory, for example. Two handed swords will also start to behave like one handed ones, since various testers sheathed the weapon by mistake in the middle of the combat. Also the Elk control and camera were improved, and probably a change in the controls will be made at a later stage. Since the prototype that the inspiration for the Elk control was Shadow of the Colossus, but maybe it is time to test a new control system, more similar to the Girl control. We will have the chance to test these changes at Comic Con Portugal.

We also revamped the area with the cave tunnels in order to achieve a more immersive ambiance.

Close encounters of the slime kind.

One last thing, we are having a lot of fun doing some promotion captures with the cinematic camera 😛

Wandering in the swamp.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

DevBlog 31 / The Wanderer and Elk treat mechanic

Hi everyone!

This week Pichel finished the first version of the Wanderer, the next version will include a cape and additional details. This is a very important NPC that will appear several times through your journey and will keep you informed about lore if you talk to him. He is also currently working on new enemy variations.

The Wanderer model next to you for scale.

André and Iuri continued their work on the treat mechanic. In order to mount the elk, players will have to gain its trust by feeding it a particular type of berries. The player can then mount it for some time, provided that there are no enemies around. The elk is not meant to be a simple mount, but more of a journey companion. Tomé did a berries prop plant that will be available in some zones (larger zones). You can pick them up and feed them to the elk at any time in order to mount it and travel through the world faster. Be very careful when approaching enemies, the elk will likely force a dismount and run away!

Revisiting a calm zone.

Raw run animation clip.

Berries Plant prop.

André also did a complete rewrite of the elk mount control code, it had a lot of prototype junk, a total revamp was due. This piece of gameplay is heavily inspired by Shadow of the Colossus control and feel. He improved the elk turn control, the object avoidance and the enemy reaction threshold system.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

DevBlog 30 / The cave of NOPE!

Hi there!

This week André was working with Iuri on the treat mechanic. This is a mechanic where the player needs to gain the confidence of the Elk by feeding it. Then the player can mount it for some time if no enemy is near. Since the beginning, the Elk is not meant to be a simple mount, but more of a journey companion. André also improved the deferred decals and started polishing/fixing the action of riding the Elk and its control logic with the new animations.

On the environment art side of things, we’ve been experimenting with the mood of the sprawling underground tunnels below the swamp area. They are meant to be pretty dark, filled with stalactites and stalagmites that create interesting shadows when adventuring with a torch in hand.

In some places a torch is mandatory.

Pichel has already finished the high poly model of the Wanderer (we’ve shown the concept in the previous blog entry) and is almost done with the low poly version. Similarly, TomĂ© wrapped up the high poly model for the Wanderer’s guitar. We’ve decided to change its design a bit so it would be reminiscent of the traditional portuguese guitar, with a fantasy touch. You can check both the character and his musical instrument below.

The Wanderer high poly.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

DevBlog 24 / Working on new areas

Hi there!

Today we are showing you a new area of the game featuring a very different mood from the previous ones. We want the player to experience very diverse atmospheres along the journey, so we are crafting locations with varied terrain topology, distinct architecture and enemies with a different feel.

In this next area the player will be able to explore a sprawling swamp. Mysterious ancient ruins, half sunken into the earth, hide rewarding secrets but also great peril. You can check the screenshots below to see how the work on this location is progressing. Keep aware that they are very WIP with no final lighting nor final textures.

WIP temporary lighting and textures.

WIP temporary lighting and textures.

Pichel is working on new characters that will be shown later. André had the tedious task of preparing the UI and other text for localization and also implemented a volumetric light effect.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

DevBlog 19 / Fired Up

Hi everyone!

This week André returned from vacation and is back in action, so we got some cool things to show besides new art and props!
He made some changes in how healthbars behave on screen (something he wanted to do for some time), they are now screen dependent instead of world dependent. Also, he improved the idle combat animations and behavior when the player has no weapons equipped. Only kicks and punches can save you in this situation.
Working alongside Iuri, they gave more life to the Elk. With some spine IKs system, ground adaptation makes the animal feel more real.
It’s still in WIP state (still doesn’t have the new Fur), we need more animations to make it like we want, but for now we are really liking the feel.

Old view on the left, current view on the right

Some Elk action over here

Ricardo lent us a hand and did some awesome shader work to “fire up” the look of the wooden enemies we’ve shown in previous posts.

How'd It Get Burned?!

How’d it get burned?!

Instead of baking the burnt effect directly into textures, the shader allows for countless dynamic and randomized burnt variations. It’s a great way to empower artist and reduce production times.

Burnt variations.

Burnt variations.

Picking up where he left off last week, TomĂ© worked on visually improving a huge temple ruin that players will get to explore in the first area of the game. Here’s how it’s currently looking:

Old view on the left, current view on the right

The Temple revamped

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail