ManuScythe







Level 1 DuelCide --- A bit of Lighting « on: July 07, 2016, 12:04:00 PM » Latest work:

Current ingame Art style



(This is what an UltraGreatSword can do to a distracted Cloth armor user)



Old sneak peak of the Wolf Knight combat right now:(This is what an UltraGreatSword can do to a distracted Cloth armor user)



Hello ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my ¿little? project:

Duelcide



The World of Duelcide



















Key Features

Duelcide is a Dark Fantasy Medieval Action RPG where a mysterious covenant is congregating legions of seekers in duels to death:

· Explore the Moonlight Castle: A death trap filled with ruthless duelists ready to kill you to ascend.

· Build your own combat style: Combine your stats with dozens of weapons in a Souls-like combat.

· Befriend other seekers and discover the dark truth behind the promise of the Duelcide.







Music: Waiting room OST theme





>> https://soundcloud.com/manu-saiz-1/duelcide-ost-pre-alpha-hub-theme <<









Wolf Knight no weapon 2D Concept art





Blade Dancer Master Pacheco Carranza







Concept Art



Great Corridor v0.1





Ball room v0.2





Waiting room v0.1





Stained glass with Wolf Knights









Collaborators



Jaime Jurado . Jaime is working on the first official scenarios. Praise the goat!



Ahruon . Ahruon made the pixel characters. Thanks man!



Carlos Viola is working on the OST for the game. We are now trying some tear dropping, heart ripping ideas.



Pablo Deiver . Pablo is working on Super Awesome Character Concept Illustrations, black and white thumbnails are also part of his amazing work.



Emilio Dominguez . Emilio ad created the 3D model amd textures for the Pachecho Carranza character.



Juanmi López . Juanmi dif the awesome level concept art! I suspect he installed some kind of arcane device in my head because he's drawing like he could read my mind, only way more beautiful!



Lucas González.

Lucas created the animations for the main actions and Blade dancer master's estoc animations.

Also thanks to Isabel who made the blocking version of the animations that we used to tune the character animator for the project.



DUELCIDE



Roadmap



On January 2017 I decided to focus on the PC version and let the mobile wait ( the pvp component would need an actual comunity which currently doesn't exist and maybe never does, so doesn't make much sense trying to build an online pvp game that no one will play ^^ ). I keep working on improving the project code to take advantage of the gamepad's full potential and allow for the deepest, most interesting adaptations of 2D souls-like combat.



# 2019 Aug. Finish off a vertical slice and start looking for funding.

# 2019 Jul. Create the "final" User Interface and character level up, our unique "Bonfire" mechanic.

# 2019 Jun. Animator: Finish interconecting our system so we can manage all the weapons /characters with 1 animator.

# 2019 May. Finish GreatSword animations + polish Rapier ones so each weapon performs Horizontal & Vertical attacks.

# 2019 May. Create a Boss patern design tool in order enhance our AI.

# 2019 Apr. Conect Stamina and HP systems into the character sheet to allow staggering based on armor.

# 2019 Mar. Start with Greatsword and Shield animations (Light/Backstab/Riposte/RollAttack/BackstepAttack, Heavy-Charged, Defense, Weapon Art.

# 2019 Mar. Basic progression + Narrative System.

# 2019 Feb. We have a basic Wolf Knight model.

# 2018 Jan. Complete all the animations for the Blade dancer master

+ Create the 3D art for the level design.

+ Create a basic AI for the Blade dancer master.

# 2018 Jun. Active weapon system to allow characters to swap weapons .

# 2018 May. Wip

# 2018 Apr. Wip

# 2018 Mar. Finish Turn (No animation, insta turn).

# 2018 Feb. Start Weapon combat.

# 2017 Jan. Include slopes and ladders. Start Level design in 2.5D.

# 2017 Dec. Polished movement. Started reworking turn to allow retargeting weapons in mid animation.

# 2017 Nov. Designed Progression systems based on myth and bunch of crazy stuff. Pending prototype.

# 2017 Oct. Produced Movement animations. Included an actual programmer. Focused on Design.

# 2017 Sep. First OST theme. Refactored game's Data Structure to fit GamePads. Added a 2nd Gamepad.

# 2017 Aug. 1st iterations of level design graybox, combat prototype, elevators & Musketeer Model.

# 2017 Mar-Jul. Create the Aesthetics of the game: Illustrations, Pixel Mockup, OST, Backstory...

# 2017 Feb. Refactor Data Structure to allow Character sheets to function.

# 2017 Jan. Polish the Range system by allowing independent collisions among weapon and body.

# 2016 Dec. Create the Stamina System + New move: Backstab.

# 2016 Aug. Mobile prototype featuring two knights fighting each other in a dark 2D room.





# 2015 Jan. Duelcide was born as a vague concept for a Diablo and Dark Souls inspired mobile one-on-one PVP RPG.









Join The Duelcide



Visit www.DuelCide.com and become one of the seekers by following us, we want to offer exclusive content for the ones that help us build a comunity of seekers ready to duel!







JOIN

THE

DUELCIDE









Duelcide Stories. Part I: The first ascended.



"I stand at the gates of the castle. The light of the torches is low but I discern a group of people of all social classes queueing together that murmur intrigued. The one heading the queue is a knight in a shiny metal armor. The piece seemed to have been restored because the crimson ribbons that adorned it showed cuts and tears, possibly the armor had protected him from the knives of the bandits. No doubt it was a handmade piece of great value, since even though it was unfamiliar I appreciated the relief rivet of the shoulder pads, which showed a silver wolf head holding a sword in its jaws.



A human sized cage descends, hanging from huge chains, and standing right in front of the portentous knight. Before stepping on, he looks at the suspicious hole, as they all did before him, and claims to see the same as everyone else:

- I can see an endless tunnel of darkness but also a warm light at the end.



When he finally decides to enter, he puts his feet inside and the door closes only with a dismal squeak. The man, who barely fits inside the cage, grabs the cage bars with one hand and leaves goodbye the group with the other one as the cage begins to ascend into the unknown of darkness. In response, a group of shabby people in rags begins to strike the brick wall with grotesque sticks in a bellicose attitude, making the room rumble:

"Blood!" They shouted. "Rip his head off!" Yes, prove yourself, tin man! - ...

Suddenly, from the other side of the crowd, a figure dressed in a white robe and an ecclesiastical hat aproaches the cage:

- Prove thee worth, Knight of the wolf. But remember that only true warrior would only guide his steps with compassion, mercy and a will for forgiveness.-



After those words, some of the most well dressed people waved their head, some of the shaggy men laughed, some spit. And others kept with their conversations or their reads.



But never of this trully matters, as none of us ever knew which of the advices the knight would follow when he disappeared from our sight, nor when the trace of his whereabouts disappeared with the tinkling of chains striding away in the darkness."







Intro post (Jul 2016)



Hey guys, welcome to my devlog! I'm @ManuScythe

a game designer from Santander -Spain-, who just moved from Barcelona to sunny Sevilla.



During 2016 and most of 2017 I will be working full time as game/level designer for a professional game, so I am working on this project on my free time, mostly at nights and weekends, splitting time among the project, my girlfriend and my new coleagues here in Sevilla.



This project is born from my eternal love of games like Castlevania (Specially Symphony of the Night) and the Dark souls franchise, ever since I started making games 5 years ago, I wanted to make a game heavily based on combat and character building.



I have been daydreaming about it and working around a job system based on character atributes for over 2 years now, but it wasn't until this year (2016) that I started making an actual prototype in Unity then another one in Game maker, and again in Unity.



I am putting my efforts on what I consider to be the three main pillars of the game:



Pillar 1 --> The actual action: timing and flow in combat(Duels):

- Like in a Dark souls 1on1s, you will face an enemy and lure his attacks for a deadly counterattack, risk with a heavy blow, or risk even more trying to hit an awesome parry to finish off with a massive critical riposte.

- For this purpose, I am working on several moves that benefit from different stats: "Quick attack" and "Dodge" benefit from my dexterity stat, while "Heavy attack" and "Stability" benefit from my strength stat.



Pillar 2 --> The pen and paper character building (RPG).

- My stats will directly affect the speed of my attacks and dodging, or my ability to stun the enemy with enormous weapons.

- This way I can fully customize my own playstile with different kinds of character based on different stats: the a heavy berserker, the swift blade, the balanced warrior, the arcane fencer, the monk... this way, a lot of arquetypes can come from four basic stats, and all feeling totally different to play!

Pillar 3 --> The Role is Real!

- Not only my stats will affect gameplay, also CHOICES will. Through the development of the Duelcide, the contendants can chose to spare their oponents or harvest them to gain power. The catch? If you kill an oponents, they will fade forever from the game. It doesn't matter if it was a merchant, or a quest holder, those will be lost.



I am working on a vertical slice with the help of five colleagues. My goal is to achieve an astonishing demo that we can hopefully turn into a full dev and work full on it through aproximately one year and a half.

Hey guys, welcome to my devlog! I'm @ManuScythe @ManuScythe a game designer from Santander -Spain-, who just moved from Barcelona to sunny Sevilla.During 2016 and most of 2017 I will be working full time as game/level designer for a professional game, so I am working on this project on my free time, mostly at nights and weekends, splitting time among the project, my girlfriend and my new coleagues here in Sevilla.This project is born from my eternal love of games like Castlevania (Specially Symphony of the Night) and the Dark souls franchise, ever since I started making games 5 years ago, I wanted to make a game heavily based on combat and character building.I have been daydreaming about it and working around a job system based on character atributes for over 2 years now, but it wasn't until this year (2016) that I started making an actual prototype in Unity then another one in Game maker, and again in Unity.I am putting my efforts on what I consider to be the three main pillars of the game:Pillar 1 --> The actual action: timing and flow in combat(Duels):- Like in a Dark souls 1on1s, you will face an enemy and lure his attacks for a deadly counterattack, risk with a heavy blow, or risk even more trying to hit an awesome parry to finish off with a massive critical riposte.- For this purpose, I am working on several moves that benefit from different stats: "Quick attack" and "Dodge" benefit from my dexterity stat, while "Heavy attack" and "Stability" benefit from my strength stat.Pillar 2 --> The pen and paper character building (RPG).- My stats will directly affect the speed of my attacks and dodging, or my ability to stun the enemy with enormous weapons.- This way I can fully customize my own playstile with different kinds of character based on different stats: the a heavy berserker, the swift blade, the balanced warrior, the arcane fencer, the monk... this way, a lot of arquetypes can come from four basic stats, and all feeling totally different to play!Pillar 3 --> The Role is Real!- Not only my stats will affect gameplay, also CHOICES will. Through the development of the Duelcide, the contendants can chose to spare their oponents or harvest them to gain power. The catch? If you kill an oponents, they will fade forever from the game. It doesn't matter if it was a merchant, or a quest holder, those will be lost.I am working on a vertical slice with the help of five colleagues. My goal is to achieve an astonishing demo that we can hopefully turn into a full dev and work full on it through aproximately one year and a half. « Last Edit: May 27, 2019, 12:18:24 PM by ManuScythe » Logged



DuelCide A Dark ARPG about dueling, taking lives & dealing with consequences.

ManuScythe







Level 1 Re: RPG Duels - 2D Action inspired by Dark Souls and Diablo II « Reply #1 on: July 15, 2016, 10:42:54 AM »



This week has been tough at work (worked over 14 hours on wednesday) so I didn't have much time to work on the user interface... but!



I've made some progress with the basic stats and I have a basic first version of the wireframing so far. Here I am doing a mix of my favourite features from Dark Souls and Diablo II user interfaces. If there's another character sheet lover like me please share your thoughts!











**Place stats! Place Stats! To the best build ever**



Hey guys!This week has been tough at work (worked over 14 hours on wednesday) so I didn't have much time to work on the user interface... but!I've made some progress with the basic stats and I have a basic first version of the wireframing so far. Here I am doing a mix of my favourite features from Dark Souls and Diablo II user interfaces. If there's another character sheet lover like me please share your thoughts!**Place stats! Place Stats! To the best build ever** Logged



DuelCide A Dark ARPG about dueling, taking lives & dealing with consequences.

ManuScythe







Level 1 Re: RPG Duels - 2D Action inspired by Dark Souls and Diablo II « Reply #4 on: July 23, 2016, 12:05:46 PM » First things first: thank you guys for your feedback!





#bdsowers:



Quote I'd love to see a more fully developed combat playthrough. It looks like there's a lot of room for back & forth, parries and counters and such, but I don't get that feel from the individual GIFs you've posted. I have been working on setting up an itch.io development build so you guys can play the game as it evolves, I also recorded a combat playing against my gf, hope it helps you getting the feel and leads to further feedback







So this is me recording some back and forth and getting my ass kicked by my gf







And here is a link to the last build of the game:





#SrGrafo:



Quote this looks neat, (sent you an email if you are looking for an artist) It'd be awesome to see your interpretation on these animations!





Ok guys!



So this week I had more time to work on the project and I started playing around with the character Swiftness and Dexterity -with some interesting results. I also uploaded a playable demo to itch.io and debugged and cleaned up the project a bit.



Current Progress:

- Included a simple HUD system to show character information such as HP and stats.

- Character Swiftness is now affected by character dexterity.

- Character Dex can now be manually increased.

- Game can be now played at itch.io through the secret link.



So now for the real deal, our Dexterity does now increase character's speed, how great is that? Well before leading to conclusions, I will show you how fast it feels to play with 10, 150 and 300 Dex.





Attack speed (AS) at 10, 150 and 300 dex:





You can play the build yourself at itch.io. Tweak your Dexterity by pressing "alt"(+10) and "ctrl" (-10). . Tweak your Dexterity by pressing "alt"(+10) and "ctrl" (-10).



What's next?

After testing this myself I have reallyzed that as cool as it is to increase your dex to 5000 and have your character fly through the content, it is not actually what I am looking for. So I came up with an alternative way to approach this mechanic:



The Weapon Attack Speed Caps

Having weapons feature different swiftness caps that allow the character to unleash the full attack speed potential of the waepons based on their dexterity.



This way, a Common Dagger would feature:

- A Soft Dex cap of 12 dex and 1 attack every 0.50 seconds



while an Epic Dagger would feature:

- A Soft cap of 12 dex and 1 attack every 0.50 seconds

- A Hardcap of 100 dex and 1 attack every 0.35 seconds

- A Expert cap of 200 dex and 1 attack every 0.25 seconds.



This way you can always feel the thrill of handling a new weapon again by fitting the stats for the Hard and Expert caps!





I have been working on setting up an itch.io development build so you guys can play the game as it evolves, I also recorded a combat playing against my gf, hope it helps you getting the feel and leads to further feedbackThanks for your interest in the project man!It'd be awesome to see your interpretation on these animations!Ok guys!SoI had more time to work on the project and I started playing around with the character Swiftness and Dexterity -with some interesting results. I also uploaded a playable demo to itch.io and debugged and cleaned up the project a bit.Current Progress:- Included a simple HUD system to show character information such as HP and stats.- Character Swiftness is now affected by character dexterity.- Character Dex can now be manually increased.- Game can be now played at itch.io through the secret link.So now for the real deal, our Dexterity does now increase character's speed, how great is that? Well before leading to conclusions, I will show you how fast it feels to play with 10, 150 and 300 Dex.After testing this myself I have reallyzed that as cool as it is to increase your dex to 5000 and have your character fly through the content, it is not actually what I am looking for. So I came up with an alternative way to approach this mechanic:Having weapons feature different swiftness caps that allow the character to unleash the full attack speed potential of the waepons based on their dexterity.This way, a Common Dagger would feature:- A Soft Dex cap of 12 dex and 1 attack every 0.50 secondswhile an Epic Dagger would feature:- Acap of 12 dex and 1 attack everyeconds- Acap of 100 dex and 1 attack everyeconds- Acap of 200 dex and 1 attack everyeconds.This way you can always feel the thrill of handling a new weapon again by fitting the stats for the Hard and Expert caps! « Last Edit: July 23, 2016, 05:21:53 PM by TheScythe » Logged



DuelCide A Dark ARPG about dueling, taking lives & dealing with consequences.

ManuScythe







Level 1 Re: RPG Duels - 2D Action inspired by Dark Souls and Diablo II « Reply #5 on: July 31, 2016, 09:34:49 PM »



Sevilla was hot last week, ranging from 32º to 40º at its peaks, so it was specially cool to have the air aconditioner - and also specially spooky to think about the bill.



In spite of the flames, I could find a couple hours a day to chill and include some more content. I found that the prototype code was a bit messy and decided to roll up the sleves and refactor the existing code, which was unspectedly enjoyable.



1.-Defense skill: I included a basic version of the defense skill: Rising and Lowering the shield makes us vulnerable, while holding it blocks all incoming damage.

What went well:

- Having defense is cool and offers time to analize the enemy.

What went wrong:

- Right now rising the shield offers infinite protection and makes the combat boring. It is necessary to include a stamina bar that gets drained with every enemy attack. The heavier the attack, the more stamina drained.









2.-Boss Battle: I Started working on a very simple AI so you will soon be able to play the prototype in single player mode.

What went well:

- The Boss does respond with near to no scripting, and it is super fun to work on its AI.

What went wrong:

- The Boss is as stupid as a brick -obviously- so lots of AI coding awaits me in incoming weeks.









3.-General Code Refactoring: I started Refactoring combat logic to ease the inclusion of new moves and ease boss AI.





Whats Next?

- Improve Boss AI

- Include a stamina bar that replenishes on idle, and gets drained by or performing moves and blocking .



My actual job next week is going to be specially corporative, so I might not be able to work on the project as much as I'd like.

Hey Guys!Sevilla was hot last week, ranging from 32º to 40º at its peaks,so it was specially cool to have the air aconditioner - and also specially spooky to think about the bill.In spite of the flames, I could find a couple hours a day to chill and include some more content. I found that the prototype code was a bit messy and decided to roll up the sleves and refactor the existing code, which was unspectedly enjoyable.I included a basic version of the defense skill: Rising and Lowering the shield makes us vulnerable, while holding it blocks all incoming damage.What went well:- Having defense is cool and offers time to analize the enemy.What went wrong:- Right now rising the shield offers infinite protection and makes the combat boring. It is necessary to include a stamina bar that gets drained with every enemy attack. The heavier the attack, the more stamina drained.I Started working on a very simple AI so you will soon be able to play the prototype in single player mode.What went well:- The Boss does respond with near to no scripting, and it is super fun to work on its AI.What went wrong:- The Boss is as stupid as a brick -obviously- so lots of AI coding awaits me in incoming weeks.I started Refactoring combat logic to ease the inclusion of new moves and ease boss AI.- Improve Boss AI- Include a stamina bar that replenishes on idle, and gets drained by or performing moves and blocking .My actual job next week is going to be specially corporative, so I might not be able to work on the project as much as I'd like. Logged



DuelCide A Dark ARPG about dueling, taking lives & dealing with consequences.

ManuScythe







Level 1 Re: 2D ARPG Duels - Inspired by Dark Souls and Diablo II - New: Defense + Boss AI. « Reply #7 on: August 17, 2016, 11:01:17 AM » I'm back from a couple hard weeks at my full time job.



Refactoring: ...so I slowly started refactoring the code of the game for the last two weeks and even though I'm not showing you guys a gif -which would be totally awesome-, the refactoring has proven extremely helpful while handling the code .



- Please, show us the gif!



Ok, ok! Here is the GIF of me moving the mouse over my precious new scripts...







New Dodge: I divided the "Rolling" animation into 3 different states:

1. Anticipation

2. Rolling (with iFrames)

3. Landing

Also updated the placeholder rolling with a Dash instead the old jump, for a fresher placeholding.





Platforms / Controls:

Some of you asked me about target platforms. Well we can discuss about that later in the comments section, but for now I can tell you that on the weekend I included the controls for Game Pad, and started working on swipe controls for mobile devices.





What went well:

State machine is way easier handled now.

State machine code is generic for both players.

Keyboard and Gamepad work wonders for all the actions:

- Quick Attack

- Heavy attack

- Parry

- Roll Forward

- Backstep

- Rise Defense

- Hold Defense

- Lower Defense

Swipe controls work almost well.



What went wrong: Swipe controls are not working yet, but at least tap and hold are.

For those interesting in helping me debug the swipe controls I posted a question on reddit:



https://www.reddit.com/r/gamemaker/comments/4xv9se/what_should_i_change_in_my_code_for_my_custom/





And now for the comments section!



Quote from: madwizardking on August 01, 2016, 06:11:43 PM This looks interesting. What's the target platform?

I could see me and friends/family playing on the couch on xbox,PS, etc.



Thanks madwizardking, I'm happy you find it interesting!



The original target platform was actually mobile! I am still experimenting with the controls, in fact I've been working on them this week:



Currently the game supports Keyboard and Gamepad, and I am still working on a custom swipe control system for Android & iOS. It will definetly be compatible with both gamepad and mobile.



Hi guys!I'm back from a couple hard weeks at my full time job....so I slowly started refactoring the code of the game for the last two weeks and even though I'm not showing you guys a gif -which would be totally awesome-, the refactoring has proven extremely helpful while handling the codeOk, ok! Here is the GIF of me moving the mouse over my precious new scripts...I divided the "Rolling" animation into 3 different states:1. Anticipation2. Rolling (with iFrames)3. LandingAlso updated the placeholder rolling with a Dash instead the old jump, for a fresher placeholding.Some of you asked me about target platforms. Well we can discuss about that later in the comments section, but for now I can tell you that on the weekend I included the controls for Game Pad, and started working on swipe controls for mobile devices.What went well:State machine is way easier handled now.State machine code is generic for both players.Keyboard and Gamepad work wonders for all the actions:- Quick Attack- Heavy attack- Parry- Roll Forward- Backstep- Rise Defense- Hold Defense- Lower DefenseSwipe controls work almost well.What went wrong: Swipe controls are not working yet, but at least tap and hold are.For those interesting in helping me debug the swipe controls I posted a question on reddit:And now for the comments section!Thanks madwizardking, I'm happy you find it interesting!The original target platform was actually mobile! I am still experimenting with the controls, in fact I've been working on them this week:Currently the game supports Keyboard and Gamepad, and I am still working on a custom swipe control system for Android & iOS. It will definetly be compatible with both gamepad and mobile. Logged



DuelCide A Dark ARPG about dueling, taking lives & dealing with consequences.

ManuScythe







Level 1 Re: 2D DarkSoulish PvP "RPG Duels" NEW: AndroidControls +Looking4 ArtistAnimator « Reply #8 on: August 23, 2016, 12:21:10 PM »



My original idea was to develop for mobile with the focus on providing an enjoyable deep hardcore 2D DarkSoulish pvp experience for the mobile market while offering an enjoyable alternative to the -infamous- virtual joystic.



I haven't been promoting this focus tu much yet as I am suposedly not allowed to publish mobile games because of contract reasons with my bosses/company at my daytime job, and I had to widen my focus to allow myself to start targeting PC at least for the duration of my current contract. Anyway my focus is mobile, I am going to experiment on developing with an eye on PC just in case I feel forced to remain unpublished so at least the game sees the light.



I've been working on debugging Android controls and including a simple combo system for the input to make it more fluent and natural (Still needs lots of work before I'm perfectly happy with it, but it answered some critical questions that could have restricted the product to PC).





Debugging: The controls for the Android build works wonders right now, so the basic version of the gameplay is fully compatible with Gamepad, Keyboard and Android.



Input 1-2 Combos: We can now queue actions instead of having to wait for the recovery animation to end. Note that while the input will be way more comfortable, the actual recovery animation needs to finish before starting next action. (Available for Android atm)







What's on the roadmap?

My next goal here is to evaluate the potential of the basic playability regarding back and forth, meaning testing the different combinations of weapon ranges and horizontal moving capabilities of the characters (Roll/dash). If rolling only works without the need of walk/run, I will then start evaluating the possibility of including different attack heights such as Low and High attacks/possitions.





Dark Souls 3 Lancers can hit you from a distance.





REFERENCE IMAGE PROPERTY OF ITS RESPECTIVE OWNER - NAMCO BANDAI- REFERENCE IMAGE PROPERTY OF ITS RESPECTIVE OWNER - NAMCO BANDAI-





Refine and implement several systems:

- Weapon ranges: Different weapons can hit from different ranges.

- Roll length: As our only horizontal move, it must allow for interesting positioning choices.

- Crouch positions: Stablish different heights for hitboxes (Aerial =Immune to low attacks, Crouch =Immune to High)

- Guard break (Stamina bar + Guard Break state): Needed to make the shielding more interesting and risky.



After those 3 work:

- Define aesthetic style of the game.

· Do some pixel art /and animation tests.

· Do some illustration tests /and try to animate with Spine.

- Juicyness: Include Slow Motion + Screen Shake + Blood/Spark particles.

- Also adapt Combo system to keyboard and gamepad.





Once I am happy with all these I will close the core

and

start working on the actual vertical slice Demo with 'final art'.





Here is a sketch of a Lancer my friend Daniel Mallada made me while I was starting with the design of the game:





He was working on his concept art portfolio and he offered to make some concepts inspired on my design:







If any of you guys is interested in participating creating the aesthetics

or

knows someone who would love to do the art or animation for the game I am more than open to meet.







Hi Guys, this week has been very important for the prototype as I have been testing the controls in mobile device.I haven't been promoting this focus tu much yet as I am suposedly not allowed to publish mobile games because of contract reasons with my bosses/company at my daytime job, and I had to widen my focus to allow myself to start targeting PC at least for the duration of my current contract. Anyway my focus is mobile, I am going to experiment on developing with an eye on PC just in case I feel forced to remain unpublished so at least the game sees the light.I've been working on debugging Android controls and including a simple combo system for the input to make it more fluent and natural (Still needs lots of work before I'm perfectly happy with it, but it answered some critical questions that could have restricted the product to PC).: The controls for the Android build works wonders right now,so the basic version of the gameplay is fully compatible with Gamepad, Keyboard and Android.: We can now queue actions instead of having to wait for the recovery animation to end. Note that while the input will be way more comfortable, the actual recovery animation needs to finish before starting next action. (Available for Android atm)My next goal here is to evaluate the potential of the basic playability regarding back and forth, meaning testing the different combinations of weapon ranges and horizontal moving capabilities of the characters (Roll/dash). If rolling only works without the need of walk/run, I will then start evaluating the possibility of including different attack heights such as Low and High attacks/possitions.: Different weapons can hit from different ranges.: As our only horizontal move, it must allow for interesting positioning choices.: Stablish different heights for hitboxes (Aerial =Immune to low attacks, Crouch =Immune to High)(Stamina bar + Guard Break state): Needed to make the shielding more interesting and risky.of the game.· Do some pixel art /and animation tests.· Do some illustration tests /and try to animate with Spine.- Juicyness: Include Slow Motion + Screen Shake + Blood/Spark particles.- Also adapt Combo system to keyboard and gamepad. Logged



DuelCide A Dark ARPG about dueling, taking lives & dealing with consequences.

ManuScythe







Level 1 Re: 2D DarkSoulish PvP "RPG Duels" NEW: AndroidControls +Looking4 ArtistAnimator « Reply #10 on: August 24, 2016, 07:10:29 AM »



So thank you for popping out with your good word! Well thanks for commenting then, I feel like there are many visitors who havent posted because they're waiting to see the art style, I am fully aware that aesthetics is what really catches the eye and I really apreciate to actually see that this is the case and people are looking forward to see it all well dressed and looking awesomeSo thank you for popping out with your good word! « Last Edit: August 24, 2016, 01:37:09 PM by TheScythe » Logged



DuelCide A Dark ARPG about dueling, taking lives & dealing with consequences.

ManuScythe







Level 1 Re: 2D DarkSoulish PvP "RPG Duels" NEW: AndroidControls +Looking4 ArtistAnimator « Reply #11 on: September 06, 2016, 11:03:02 AM » .



What I did last weeks:



Range:

I've been working on a first iteration of the "Dash Attack" itself:





Dash Attack first iteration







Combo queue:

I've been refactoring both the state machine, the input queue and the combo system. I want the whole system to be easy to use while allowing to perform special combo attacks such as the "Dash attack". I spect to finish this task this week.





What's next:

- Finish the states/input/combo pipeline.

- Continue experimenting with the range possibilities. Some ideas:

· Maybe rolling past the enemy to a backstab?

· Short swipe for walk + Long swipe for roll?





These last two weeks have been extremely crazy at my fulltime work and participating in the compo for Ludum Dare didn't help, I think I got to sleep 1 hour on tuesdayI've been working on a first iteration of the "Dash Attack" itself:I've been refactoring both the state machine, the input queue and the combo system. I want the whole system to be easy to use while allowing to perform special combo attacks such as the "Dash attack". I spect to finish this task this week.- Finish the states/input/combo pipeline.- Continue experimenting with the range possibilities. Some ideas:· Maybe rolling past the enemy to a backstab?· Short swipe for walk + Long swipe for roll? Logged



DuelCide A Dark ARPG about dueling, taking lives & dealing with consequences.

ManuScythe







Level 1 Re: 2D DarkSoulish PvP "RPG Duels" NEW: More Back and Forth « Reply #13 on: September 20, 2016, 12:49:46 PM »



This is what I've been up to during the last two weeks:



- Combo Queue: Finished refactoring the systems, so now I can include new moves independently of the input and vice versa.



- 2 new moves: Made a first iteration of the Walk forwards & Walk backwards.



- Controls: coded a new input to test out the walking animation. The "hold swipe / Release swipe".





Walk forwards & Walk backwards first iteration





- Backstep Attack: Created the new combo "Backstep + Dash attack".





Backstep Attack



- Repository: Set up a proper repository to keep project files safe.

- Bug fix: of the "Lower defense" inputs. Unfortunately, the new inputs created a new bunch of bugs.





Quote from: wizered67 on September 06, 2016, 02:33:09 PM This looks pretty neat. Could be a good mobile game for sure if the controls are good!

Thanks for the kind work, I'm and I'll be working hard to make these feel perfect



Next tasks will be debugging the new input and fine tunning + continue exploring the positioning possibilities of the walk command.





Hey guys, I Keep trying to figure out the best back and forth experience, this time I've been trying to make a new move that allowed continuous movement, in my seek of allowing a richer gameplay through relevant positioning during battles.This is what I've been up to during the last two weeks:: Finished refactoring the systems, so now I can include new moves independently of the input and vice versa.: Made a first iteration of the Walk forwards & Walk backwards.: coded a new input to test out the walking animation. The "hold swipe / Release swipe".: Created the new combo "Backstep + Dash attack".: Set up a proper repository to keep project files safe.: of the "Lower defense" inputs.Unfortunately, the new inputs created a new bunch of bugs.Thanks for the kind work, I'm and I'll be working hard to make these feel perfectNext tasks will be debugging the new input and fine tunning + continue exploring the positioning possibilities of the walk command. « Last Edit: September 20, 2016, 01:17:29 PM by TheScythe » Logged



DuelCide A Dark ARPG about dueling, taking lives & dealing with consequences.

ManuScythe







Level 1 Re: 2D DarkSoulish PvP "RPG Duels" NEW: Walk Controls +Looking4 ArtistAnimator « Reply #14 on: October 25, 2016, 11:03:23 PM »



Walk Controls:

I've been analyzing ways to improve Implemented a new control for walking after several input prototypes. Including:

# Tweaked response on walk/roll shared input. --> Didn't work.

# Long Swipe to roll / Short Swipe and Hold to walk. --> Seems to work

# Long Swipe on the right side of the screen to roll / Short Swipe and Hold on the left side to walk. --> Works better



I came with what looks like is going to turn into a decent input after some fine tunning and tweaking!







These would be the Mobile Controls for the Blue Guy on the left:







Art Tests:

I've also been doing some art tests with my illustrator friend, and oh guys do I have something... But....

Even though I am in a crush with his new concept art of two knights dueling in a gothic church (I even had it be my mobile's wallpaper) he asked me to wait for him to do some tweaking before publishing it. Sad face. Well it is work in progress so it looks like I will have to wait before sharing it with you guys.







Animation Tests

I've also been doing some animation tests with an animator friend, I was specting to have some of their work implemented but realjob milestones are hitting hard and we are still polishing things so that'l have to wait as well.







Awww I just can't wait to have this incredible art pieces implemented! Awww I just can't wait to have this incredible art pieces implemented!



But hey I hope I can provide you guys with some interesting feedback about art and maybe a decent gif using the new controls along the next couple of weeks. (Right now the walking animation responsiveness looks a little ugly) Hey all and sorry for this remarkable 1.5 month silence, no wonders i've been crunching hard at work lately, and I didn't get anything interesting until this very moment, (And it is probably not that interestingI've been analyzing ways to improve Implemented a new control for walking after several input prototypes. Including:# Tweaked response on walk/roll shared input. --> Didn't work.# Long Swipe to roll / Short Swipe and Hold to walk. --> Seems to work# Long Swipe on the right side of the screen to roll / Short Swipe and Hold on the left side to walk. --> Works betterI came with what looks like is going to turn into a decent input after some fine tunning and tweaking!I've also been doing some art tests with my illustrator friend, and oh guys do I have something...But....Even though I am in a crush with his(I even had it be my mobile's wallpaper) he asked me to wait for him to do some tweaking before publishing it.Sad face. Well it is work in progress so it looks like I will have to wait before sharing it with you guys.I've also been doing some animation tests with an animator friend, I was specting to have some of their work implemented butmilestones are hitting hard and we are still polishing things so that'l have to wait as well.But hey I hope I can provide you guys with some interesting feedback about art and maybe a decent gif using the new controls along the next couple of weeks. (Right now the walking animation responsiveness looks a little ugly) « Last Edit: October 27, 2016, 01:15:45 PM by TheScythe » Logged



DuelCide A Dark ARPG about dueling, taking lives & dealing with consequences.