Soulblight

[abraksil]

Wohoo! Soulblight has been chosen as one of Digital Dragons: Indie Showcase finalist
If you happen to be at the Digital Dragons next week drop say hello and give our game a try

And here's the link if you'd like to know a bit more about the event: Digitla Dragons Conference

[abraksil]

This weeks post is a bit late as we've just wen't back from showcasing Soulblight at Digital Dragons It was one awesome event! And here you have few photos from our stand

Jurek - Soulblight Story designer on the right, and me - Kuba on the left

As you can we had an awesome view. Wawel - The castle around witch the city (Kraków) was build straight a head of us on the other side of the river

convention main hall looked quite impressive as well

And here's our trusty orange air-arm chair we take with us on every event

That's all for today folks
cya next week

[abraksil]

We've recently started designing NPCs you will be able to meet in Soulblight

[abraksil]

Last week I brought you some early NPC designs. Now I'd like to show you how they look like a bit further down the line. We're trying out a new way of shading to better differentiate them from the backgrounds.

[abraksil]

Haven't show any GIFs for couple of weeks so here comes a shield & axe attack animation. I'm pretty satisfied how we can present complex movement on our 2D character without frame by frame animations

[abraksil]

Today I have something special for you I was browsing through my hard drive and found some of the first screen I ever took from the Soulblight. Well actually back then it didn't even have a title yet. Heheehe thous were the days...



I referred to it as "The Hero Project" because defining the personality of the main character was something I was going for from the very start. And here's one of the new screens so you can see the difference



We've come a long way with our project since its beginning don't you think?

[Avagart]

All these images looks wonderful, but it's all what I can say. I'm waiting for more detailed infos, but you keep your posts, well, simple.

[abraksil]

heheeh wasn't sure anyone was reading my post . Well... What would you like to hear more about Avagart? Some combat mechanic details? More on survival elements? More on Taints?

[Avagart]

Just tell me about your game. What are your goals? What do you like most in Soulblight? What will make it good?

[abraksil]

Hi Avagart
Sorry for delay in answer was away for couple of days.

What are my goals? Well I want to create roguelike where you character will have a bit more personality then "I kill monsters". I want for the character to have traits like Greedy or Coward. I want for the player to be aware of them and take them into account when making the decisions. If your a coward you can't run into every fight without thinking. If your greed think twice if you get your money's worth before you purchasing something. Rogulikes evolved from table top games like D&D but thous games had an RPG elemnt that seems to be forgotten. it's more about grinding now. So with my game I want to create a character progression system that focuses on personality instead of XP. And this is also what I personally like the most about Soulblight.

There are a lot of other things I like/I'm proud of:

• I like how we ware able to build the feeling of space and convexity in top down perspective. When I started making the game every artist I meet told me not to do the top down view because the game will look flat
• I like that the combat requires tactical thinking. You have to take into account your stamina your position on the battlefield the weaknesses of your opponents. And the fact it's not turn based add a lot of tension to all of that
• I like that every boss in the game is different and you need to find a new way to win with each of them
• I like that if you want you can sneak around and take out the enemies form behind
• I like that you can get wounded in different ways. Sometimes your bleeding and need to stop it with the bandages. Othere time you need to sew the wound up with a stitching kit. Using low quality items may make the things worse but sometimes it might be wrath the risk

Well I like all thous things and more. This is my game - I made it the way I wanted it to be.
You ask me if it's good. Well... I like it but will you? I think the best way to find out would be to join the alpha test we're running and see.

[Avagart]

So... that post gave me better overview about Soulblight than all posted screenshots and photos. It sounds really interesting. If it's not secret, can you explain, how you'd *encouage* player to, for example, thinking twice before purchasing if character is greedy? Some kind morale penalty?

I didn't ask if it's good. I asked 'what makes it good'. But I got answer already.

To be honest, I don't like newsletters, but access to alpha / demo would be nice. How much are you flooding mailboxes with that newsletter?

[abraksil]

I didn't ask if it's good. I asked 'what makes it good'

Sorry must have miss read.

If it's not secret, can you explain, how you'd *encouage* player to, for example, thinking twice before purchasing if character is greedy?

No it's not a secret So the game doesn't have leveling mechanic Instead we have something we call synergy/integrity. This special state greatly increases your damage output and resistance. So the more you have the more chances to survive you have. Now at the beginning of every part of the dungeon you get to choose a personality trait we call taint. What it dose is unlocks a way of gaining synergy but only if you act in a certain way. It dose it in a form a special buffs. Here are few examples:

How much are you flooding mailboxes with that newsletter?

Try not too floood. I send out an e-mail once a month except at the beginning when i send 3 emails:
- Welcoming e-mail (after you sign up)
- Email explaining how to gain access to alpha tests (the day after you sign up)
- Email explaining in more detail the entire idea behind Soulblight and the taint mechanic (the week after you sign up)

The monthly e-mail usually consists of  news or explains in more details the design choices I took while creating the game. I'm writing the one for this month right now  - it's gone be about combat

[abraksil]

This week I would like to talk in more detail how we build Soulblight tactical combat around distance control So each character during the fight is surrounded by the circle which represent its position on the battlefield. By pressing the right button you can light up a frontal part of it and activate what we call the grip. When the grip touches another circle the characters become engaged to represent the clinch combat. This maneuver besides linking the characters together also forces them to use a secondary attack

Depending on the weapon this attack might be less or more powerful than the main one. The wielder of the more cumbersome weapon now will be forced to find a way to disengage. The easiest way to do it is by performing a special slam action. He need to be careful though this maneuver burns through a lot of stamina.

[abraksil]

By implementing certain level of inertia depending on how well armored your character is we’ve allowed the faster character to be able to outmaneuver the heavier foes. This way you can get on the back of the heavier opponents and gain a massive advantage by doing so. Though it isn’t easy it greatly increases the damage you deal as well as prevents the enemy from hitting you with his attacks.

[abraksil]

This week our first character started to have something more to say then "MISSING TEXT" If you wish to have a lovely little chat witch Cecil you can sign up for #Soulblight alpha tests at: www.mynextgames.com