Monday, June 24, 2013

Whim Independent Studios - Development Log #15

Hey guys, back with the fifteenth development log!

Selatria:

Updated Graphics and Voices:

The biggest feedback that we've gotten from players and backers was in regards to the art and the voices. We've re-recorded a lot of the voices from Chapter 1 especially in regards to the main character, Mage. We're also shifting the art of the faces, monsters, and sprites to an all-around encompassing consistent style by Jennifer Gilliland.

Here's an example of the updated menu. Ack! I need to update the icons to the new art!


Unfortunately, it means taking a few steps back on all of us in order to take a giant leap forward. We're also making sure the effort spent on the project thus far will not be going to waste. A lot of the original concept art will be available in-game in some fashion.

Take a look at a sample of Chapter 1-1 with some of the updated visuals!

Voice of Mage: Jabari Smith, Voice of Melanie - Vikki Ceballos

We're currently putting together new equipment in the studio, and we should be back up and running to start taking in auditions for more characters later this week.


Selatria's Boss Battle Theme is up on SoundCloud!

Composer - Luke Simpson

This music plays when the boss is healthy and is above critical health. Take a listen! It's also in the demo as well.



Change in Magic System:

For those who have been playing Selatria, you'll notice that Magic spells cast give an additional "damage over time" effect [DoT]. For example, a 'Fire' spell may give a 'Burn' effect that lingers for a turn or two that deals a small percentage of the total HP of the target it was cast on.

Tentatively speaking, Magician won't change too much from how you've played it in the demo. Casting any tier spell will do damage and do the example I said above. However, Elementalist and Paramedic will now play a bit differently than the demo has exhibited.

In enhancing the three forms that Mage can change to and from (Magician, Paramedic, and Elementalist), I wanted to differentiate them a little more by making these lingering effects on the spells act a little differently when changing to a different form. Also, there will be a discount for casting a spell on its specialized class. Elemental spells like "Fire" and "Ice" will be cheaper to cast on Elementalist, whereas Healing spells like "Heal" and "Poispur" will be cheaper to cast on Paramedic.

Here's a small breakdown:

Magician AP Cost -> Specialized Class AP Cost
Tier 1: 6 -> 4
Tier 2: 24 -> 20
Tier 3: 72 -> 60
Tier 4: N/A -> 128

On Elementalist, for example, you will now be able to cast higher level spells that linger with a more dramatic effect. For example, casting "Fire 4" will now have a "Burn IV" effect that lasts for a good amount of turns. To make use of the preceding elements in the tier, you could also stack a "Fire 3" to give the opponent two stacks of Burn. Burn III, and Burn IV. The tier indicating how many successive turns it will last for.

A good spell rotation would then be: Fire 4 > Fire 3 > Fire 2 > Fire in that case in order to efficiently stack four types of Burn on the enemy before the tier 4 burn wears off. Also, the opposing element will play a stronger role in order to prevent abuse.

The power of Elements follows the Fire (Burn) > Ice (Frost) > Wind (Dizzy) > Nature (Added Damage) > Bolt (Shock) > Water (Drown) formula.

So now, casting a Nature-based spell will cancel out any Shock effects that the enemy has. Fire cancels out Frost effects, etc. But you can have an enemy with several burn stacks and dizzy at the same time. Or several stacks of Frost, and Shock. A certain NPC in-game will remind the player and they can access the importance of the game's elements in the journal. The stacks and what you should cast should come naturally given the opponent's innate elemental strengths and weaknesses. An Ice Golem monster would facilitate the use of Burn and Shock/Drown stacks as opposed to Frost or Dizzy. 

Fire Spell on the class "Magician". I'm torn on whether the linger effects should stay as is, however it is limited to one stack of "Burn" no matter how many times it is casted. 

 Elementalist Bonus - May inflict a stack of Burn. Notice the reduced AP cost for casting on a specialized class.

Elementalist bonus for casting Fire 3, has a specialized Burn that will stack with the other Fire spells adding more DoT in the process.



Likewise on Paramedic, casting a healing spell will be able to give a small regeneration effect that lasts for a corresponding amount of successive turns. A Heal 4 spell would give a regeneration effect that lasts for four turns, and the percentage will stack if other tier spells are cast alongside it.



ANTics: 

We're currently meeting every Tuesday to get more of the game done. Unfortunately, there's not much to show at the moment while the game is being developed. However! Next time there will be a logo to show. I think you guys will like it. It's very cute and representative of the game concept.

Jennifer Gilliland is also doing the art for the title of that game project. We're in the middle stages of choosing from a few different designs of what we want, and are going from there.

Levels 1-4 are mostly completed, and we're aiming (and hopefully meeting) that summer release! The swarm is coming!


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That's about it for now. Until next time!




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