Hello everyone!

It’s been a little over… uh… 6 months. Sorry about that.

I do have an explanation though, so if you want to find out why this hiatus happened and what direction Wicked Night is taking, please do read through this Game Development Update!

What took so long?

That’s a valid question. Thanks for asking!

I took some drawing lessons so I could have a more hands-on approach on the project’s aesthetics, but even after the classes, I didn’t feel entirely confident to pull this off, so I took a few more months to practice by doing all kinds of fan art, figure drawings and the likes.

A few things I drew during my time away from game development

Until one day I decided to draw some fan art… of my own game? Which turned into the following portrait that will be colored and polished to become Maera’s in-game portrait.

Maera, a playable Fighter in Wicked Night

That said, the artist who drew the previous portraits is still a part of the team. They’ll still contribute with character concepts and other assets, but their tighter schedule made it pretty hard to work around for the final portraits, so this seems to be the art direction Wicked Night is taking.

Also, since I’ve only been drawing for around 8-10 months, any feedback is appreciated when it comes to the visuals.

So, the art is changing… What else is changing?

After working on this project for a few years now with no clear end in sight, I’m finally going to cut some superficial features to make for a more realistic goal.

Visually, I’m probably going to cut most of the 3d aspect of the game, aiming for a flatter look that’s easier to create and polish. Battle animations are probably going to take a hit as well as I’ll aim for a more simplistic approach akin to Fire Emblem with the animations toggled off.

Otherwise, the project will remain untouched. We’re still talking about a tactical RPG with 3 tiers of promotion, personal skills, two routes and 60+ playable characters interacting in a rich world.

What about Alia’s revamp? You said she’d be in the next Game Dev Update back in May.

Thanks for reminding me!

Here is Alia’s current concept art, both as an NPC and when she’ll be joining the playable cast as a bow-wielding unit.

Alia, one of the three main protagonists of Wicked Night

I sure hope you’re as excited as I am for this project’s future.

Cheers!

Coco