Weekly Progress Update (May 2nd, 2013) Cymbil Spellcraft Update and $500 Art Contest
This week we introduce combat with objects, very typical of Zelda top-down adventures. We’re also using some light spells to explore a cavern, fight some mini-toadies in a dungeon, and play with the lighting effects Karate-Kid style on a bridge.
In addition to all this, we’re launching a $500 dollar art contest (with other perks in game as well) on deviantArt. If you’re interested, visit http://cymbilartcontest.deviantart.com/ and sign up for the group; details will come in May 10th.
As always, feedback heavily appreciated.
Description
Cymbil Spellcraft is a three player, purely cooperative role playing adventure proposed for release on Xbox Live and PC (long-term), and as a single player port for Mobile in 2014. This project is an obvious homage to 16 bit era games like Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger, with heavy focus on a rewarding combat system, teamwork, like-able player characters with unique play-styles.
In addition, we will be using our film production backgrounds in all aspects of cinematography, such as lighting, color choices, composition - as well as a professionally written screenplay to provide entertaining dialogue and immersion devoid of inflected imagery and neurotic exposition.
Finally, short of making our engine open-source, we will provide every possible avenue to allow modders of any skill level to modify nearly every aspect of Cymbil Spellcraft such as adding maps, monsters, items, player characters, etc. etc. by simply dropping them into a folder.
Gameplay
There are three playable characters; Cymbil the Wight, Roshor the Titan, and Leon the branded. Each has a unique leveling system, list of special moves, and playstyle. Cymbil is a supportive, consistent spellcaster; Leon is a fast-paced, risk for reward assasin; and Roshor is a counter-based tanky fighter.
There will be five weapon ‘styles’. Each character has access to all five styles, and can equip any two for a mission. Weapon styles determine the special moves the characters bring to the field, and the combos that can be performed by teammates.
Combos and finishers are important, and reward players with buffs, additional experience, and high damage output. For example, Cymbil can open with her aerial kick, using her air magic to suspend an enemy momentarily; followed by Leon’s charge, knocking the opponent into Roshor’s Ice Wall - shattering it for massive damage.
Most Important: ONE DIFFICULTY. The difficulty is based on the player’s progression in the game. Defeating the final boss will be a tough endeavor, that only a player who has mastered their character over the course of the adventure can complete. That means that difficulty isn’t just based on ever-escalating numbers. Encounters grow more complex and action packed, not just bigger numbers that demands grinding for randomly-better numbers on gear.
Story
Cymbil Spellcraft is the reimagined state of the world given the existence of magic. Technology is primitive, delayed by a lack of neccesity. The world praises a gift from the stars as the source of their newfound powers.
Cymbil, Leon, and Roshor are forced to join forces against an unseen threat sought to destroy their peoples. Each playable character heralds a different faction, with deep roots of hate for one another.
Release
We’re hoping to have a special demo version by April 2013. This version will consist of one level and one playable character, and probably only take 10-15 minutes to complete. The final release would happen late 2014, and consist of roughly 12 hours of continuous game-play for one play-through.
Weekly Progress Update (March 4th, 2013) Cymbil Spellcraft Forest Gameplay Pre-Alpha 0.1
Yikes! It has been a while since we made an update; well this one is huge. Check the vid then read on!
As you can see, we’ve added a ton of combat mechanics and made good use of unity assets. From here, we just keep rinsing and repeating, adding new animations and tweaking the ones we have. We’re hoping to have a solid demo out for the LP series guys by May. I know I am only featuring the single player here, but the multiplayer is still working great despite all the updates (this is why you always do the multiplayer from the start, not make it a kickstarter stretch goal and doom yourself later)
Unity Specific: I’m using a number of asset packs as filler; we’ve even used some nature assets as a base to be repainted. Once we have finished repainting and replacing the filler, we’ll be ready to showcase the jungle biome: the setting for our demo.
Feedback Requested: None this week; I’m so behind on just about everything, I couldn’t even begin to list the endless set of questions I have accumulated. Despite my laziness, I’d love critiques and feedback wherever and whenever constructive: thanks in advance!
Weekly Progress Update (January 28th, 2013) Re-Modeling Cymbil Continues
We’re working our butts off, trying to get a multiplayer gameplay video together for the weekend to showcase Piecemaker, uSequencer, and HUDText. For now, the quest to remodel Cymbil with the appropriate proportions for an action RPG continues.
Weekly Progress Update (January 21st, 2013) Combat Casting Screenshot
I have been neglecting my VLOG duties these last couple weeks; primarily because the majority of the enhancements aren’t something you can get excited about in a video log. However, I have made a ridiculous amount of progress in combat, networking, and HUD development. If you look closely at the screenshot, you’ll see a particle system, spellcasting, the new HUD, improved hit detection, and…well that’s about it. I’ll probably hold off until I have Cymbil’s mesh finished or a new level design before I make another video entry.
Unity Specific: I’d like to list a number of resources I’ve found useful thus far: NGUI for combat HUD text; MeleeWeaponTrail package; Blade Girl 1.5 for filler art in an action RPG; For now, that’s all I wanna list although I have purchased uSequencer and Piecemaker. On a SADDER note: I can’t get Unity to upgrade to 4.0 correctly; the framerate drops like a rock and Controller.Move is unresponsive. I have posted about this for a week now on Unity Answers and support with no such luck at fixing the error. So for now, I’ll continue using Unity 3.5.6 and staring at the 4.0 animation system with lustful eyes and wishful thinking.
Weekly Progress Update (January 8th, 2013) VLog Update #6
BORING MULTI-PLAYER Update, I know; it was on the fly! This week: we synchronized the animations, AI, and network instantiations for all clients.
Unity Specific: Running into an issue with memory leaks: probably called by numerous unresolved co-routines; it only seems to bog down the server though…I only discovered the problem in the middle of this video, so I’m not sure how to resolve it yet! I will be utilizing the ‘leakedobjects’ script to try and solve the problem; I’ll illustrate my process for fixing the memory leak in the next update.
Weekly Progress Update (December 30th, 2012) VLog Update #5
This week, I show off our new website livestream, and gameplay. Networking is getting more advanced and now you can even do combat with your enemies! See the new GUI, animations, Jungle level preview, and more!
Unity Specific: I talk about my experience with the Lidgren library asset, my favoritism toward the BurgZerg arcade tutorials, and offer my assistance to anyone with questions via my stream.
Weekly Progress Update (December 17th, 2012) Man I hope the world doesn’t end or I’ll never finish this
Overall: It’s a game…well sorta. All the controls are there, and combat even works (albeit very rudimentary). From here, it’s just a matter of waiting for my art department to catch up and getting all the special moves in place. AI is very basic as well. I’m also still using a lot of elements from assets stores and the good guys over at BurgZerg arcade (check out their tutorial series; it’s awesome), but a lot of the fundamentals implemented by these products will remain, with aesthetic changes to claim them with my own style.
Networking: It works! I can get any number of players in the game and prediction/interpolation is working great. At this point, any networking updates are simply a result of adding enhancement in another part of the engine. I’ve tested this internationally, locally, with virutal-LAN, and on LAN. Connections are smooth and sweet. Unity is fantastic at making networking easy.
GUI Graphics: I’m using an asset store pack for now. We have some concepts in mind, one for each of the characters. Cymbil would have a nature looking GUI, Roshor a rock-solid GUI, and Leon a metallic GUI.
Environment: Using the Jungle and Cartoon Nature pack for now. I’ll probably use them as a basis to build on.
3D Modeling: Still doing concept art. The ‘Chrono’ model in the demo has the proper dimension, although the weight is all screwed up by the clothing (unity thing). After concept art is done, we’ll build Cymbil.
Development Links
Livestream: http://www.own3d.tv/Eyeshock (K-Billy’s Super Sounds of the 70s)
M-W-Th 4pm - 8pm CST
Project Website: http://www.cymbilspellcraft.com
YouTube vJournal Entries: http://www.youtube.com/user/CymbilSpellcraft?feature=mhee
Deviant Art Concept Gallery: http://eyeshock.deviantart.com/gallery/39424586
Facebook Stream: Redirecting...
Developers Personal Websites: http://www.erikthacker.com (Erik Thacker, Programmer), http://www.maripuente.com (Artist/Modeler)
Producer Website: http://www.eyeshock.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
