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Vapourware "Yasumi Matsuno may or may not be surprised his new game is being released" Unsung Story thread

Zombra

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Make the Codex Great Again! RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
I chuckled just reading the headline.

Update #70

Feb 1 2018

Massive February Update
Dear backers,

It's the first of the month, which means it's Unsung Story update time!

If you've been following us on Twitter or Facebook, you may have seen a little teaser pic that I put up. You can see it here:

https://twitter.com/UnsungStory/status/953043465176150016

Since I didn't give a lot of detail, I made sure to include one very identifiable hint in the background - the Tokyo Tower. So this month's update is going to be framed around my trip to Tokyo where I got to work with some of the main talent behind Unsung Story.

Before I start, I wanted to share something that has come up on a couple occasions. For a variety of reasons, sometimes we have to remain quiet about a specific aspect of the game. Taking on Unsung Story involved untangling a legal mess of broken contracts and unpaid partners which has required quite a bit of effort to resolve, and in many of these cases leaves us with no choice but to remain silent.

Please know that we will always try to let the backers know as much as we can, but sometimes it's not possible to do that without violating NDAs or jeopardizing the project.

With that said, here are the highlights of my trip to Tokyo.

Day #1 - Soundtrack & Dinner with Mr Sakimoto

On my first day, I spent a lovely evening with Hitoshi Sakimoto and another up and coming composer from his company Basiscape. We ate at a fantastic underground Izakaya restaurant in the Shinjuku part of Tokyo. When I arrived, I was escorted back to a small private room to eat and discuss Unsung Story.

I am very excited to announce that Mr Sakimoto and his company Basiscape will be composing and producing 1 hour of original music for the project.


Dinner with Mr Sakimoto


We spent much of the evening discussing the story, the world, each school, the characters, and the emotional themes for the game. Afterward I sent over a metric ton of design and story for him to use as inspiration. He's going to be starting with the main theme and then working through the other tracks from there.

Day #2 - Art & Dinner with Cygames

The following evening I got to see Shibuya, another iconic district in Tokyo. Mr Yoshida couldn't attend the meeting, but I was hosted by several members of Cygames at a local Shabu-shabu restaurant. Dinner was fun, and we hope to work with Yoshida and Cygames in the future.


Shibuya


However at this time, due to a number of reasons beyond anyone's control, Mr Yoshida cannot be involved on Unsung Story. We had already started moving forward in the art design, but I wanted to give the backers a definitive answer. We still plan to produce the Unsung Story art book, and we have a couple other ideas to help make up for this change.

Day #3 - Design & Lunch with Mr Matsuno

There was a lot to cover in this meeting, so we decided it would be best to meet at the Westin Tokyo, the hotel where I stayed during my trip. Just prior to flying out I sent over 28 pages of story and design notes along with a Powerpoint presentation walking through our progress in various parts of the project - all fully translated into Japanese. We spent quite a bit of time going through everything using a translator, and he gave excellent feedback. The goal of this meeting was to review our completed story to make sure our American writer had successfully captured all his notes and ideas alongside our other narrative requirements. We also covered aspects of the game design and other elements of the game. The story feedback was great, and much of the meeting was very positive, but he did give one major gameplay note that he wants to see explored. I have already met with the development team, and we're hard at work determining the best way to address it.


Lunch at the Westin Tokyo


I have to admit, I had a bit of a fanboy moment at the end of the meeting. Final Fantasy Tactics was instrumental in shaping my future in video games, so meeting Mr Matsuno was an honor. And when it came time to leave, I totally forgot to take a picture with him.

End of January Milestones

Pre-production is scheduled to end in March, so that means we only have 2 more months of milestones before actual production on the game begins. Accordingly January was very busy.

Here is a brief look at some of what the team worked on.

  • Class Design v0.20 - We have a second pass on the name and major gameplay mechanics for each class. Version v0.10 was submitted back in December after my trip to Melbourne, and it was solid, but I am even more pleased with this version. The roles between units feel much more defined, while the thematics for each class feel much more unique to our world. You have no idea how much restraint it takes to hold back from sharing some of the class names.
  • Character Art Style Guide v0.10 - This was a fantastic deliverable that took the last couple months of character art concept and modeling and broke the style down so we could apply it to a broader set of characters while keeping consistency in the look. Moving forward without Mr Yoshida means we needed to create our own look and feel that honored the original tactics style without copying it. We've shown a couple concepts, but I like how the style is continuing to evolve.
  • Game Design Document v0.20 - Last month I mentioned the Design Direction document, and this month I got my first look at the GDD. The documents haven't been combined yet, so it's still very incomplete, but it already has all kinds of juicy details on the game flow and combat systems - specifically how damage is calculated and a first pass on all the game stats.
  • World Design v0.10 - This was a new document that we are using to flesh out the world and environments of Unsung Story. Each chapter takes place in a new location, and each location contains a unique school of magic that has influenced that part of the map. Lots of good raw ideas here for clothing, architecture, and other visual aesthetics. We'll be workshopping this document in February, and then making another pass through the story to keep things consistent.
  • Story Design v1.0 - I alluded to this document earlier in this update during my recap of the lunch with Matsuno. I'm excited to say that we're done with the complete first pass! All 5 chapters of the game have a solid narrative that combines Matsuno's original story and characters with some of our new collaborative ideas and filtered through the game's mechanics. It also identifies key mission objectives and encounters.
  • Prototype Build v0.10 - This was an unexpected treat, and all of the work on the GDD made sense when I got this month's playable build with some very rough RPG mechanics. When I say rough, I mean rough. The level is randomly generated with various square bits of geometry - rock, dirt, grass. The scenario contained 5 enemy units and 5 party units with varying levels of health and energy. We're using placeholder robot models for all the units, but they do animate and move. Grid selection, round timing and attack order all worked, and I was able to use a couple basic items to heal units. Right off the bat several enemies grouped up on one of my units who had spawned away from the rest, and they killed him in a quick series of rounds. My other units fared better, as I regrouped and eventually won the battle with 3 units left alive!
  • 3d Mana Attacker test - Lastly, this is one of the super rough 3D tests we did to explore characters in the game. At this point I don't think this actual model will be used, but I feel like we're getting closer.

Mana Attacker 3d Test


Stay tuned! Lots more in the works. In mid February, we're hoping to starting our Developer Diaries spearheaded by Ash, our lead producer. If we can hold that schedule, then you'll be getting two major updates a month.

Thank you for your continued patience and support.

Sincerely, Matthew Scott
 

Shinji

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8814f82569fdd45b4ad8db8c37416bae_original.png


I guess this is why 2D usually ages better -- it is so much easier (for the artist) to make things look good.

In 3D usually artists have to leave details for the computer to calculate (e.g. light, shadows), and since each generation gets more realistic results/approximations, older 3D games can end up looking uglier.
 

Cross

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I guess this is why 2D usually ages better -- it is so much easier (for the artist) to make things look good.
You would have a point in general, but in this case, the 2D concept art already looks quite awful and arguably more off-putting than the 3D render. The problem here lies more with the underlying art direction than its execution.

Though even if the art direction had been competent, I don't see how this game will turn out to be anything other than a disappointment. The developer doesn't exactly seem to have any prior experience designing RPG's, having instead been responsible for such hits as Barbie & Her Sisters: Puppy Rescue (http://www.mobygames.com/company/little-orbit-llc). Notice how every single thing they say about the game's design is framed entirely in the context of how similar or not similar it is to Final Fantasy Tactics/Tactics Ogre rather than any actual knowledge of RPG design.
 
Self-Ejected

aweigh

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Location
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a 1:1 clone of FFT/TO made by people who don't know anything about the genre thus copy everything from those games, both good and bad elements, and don't bother innovating absolutely anything at all and instead focus all of their energies on making sure their game plays exactly the same as FFT/TO ?






sounds fucking great to me!
 

Tigranes

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Messages
10,350
"Dear Diary,

Today, I went to Tokyo!!!! Here is a photograph showing ME with the guess what TOKYO TOWER in the background!!!!!

I had dinner with this guy and talked about stuff, it was REALLY GREAT!

The next day I had dinner iwth some other guys!!!

And then OMG OMG I MET MATSUNO-SAMA and he registered my existence OMG!!!

xoxo,

Whoever the fuck he is"
 

Kaivokz

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Messages
1,499
Sakimoto is the man

I have little hope for this project

Bless Sakimoto
 

Abu Antar

Turn-based Poster
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Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Update #72

Mar 1 2018

March Update - First Prototype Screenshots

Dear backers,

This month is going to be a little different. I've got a number of different things to talk about, so I'm going to break those posts up over a series of days:

  • Today I'm going to tackle the biggest topic.
  • Tomorrow I'll be posting a special opportunity. It's not a sales pitch - it's complete free - just a little something we want to do for Unsung Story backers.
  • Over the weekend I'll be back with more updates.
I'll start this topic with a broad philosophical statement meant to make me sound intelligent and deep thinking, but that’s really just to soften the blow before I make a more personal admission.

None of us are perfect, and game development is no exception. Sometimes we make choices that are perfectly reasoned, well thought out. Safe. For a project like Unsung Story that has been delayed so long, many times those will be the right choices. But sometimes our protective instincts get in the way of pushing frontiers. Sometimes knowing exactly where the road leads, keeps us from wandering into a hidden alcove full of wonder and imagination.

To put it more bluntly, I was wrong about changing to the Square Grid.

As I said in a previous post on Kickstarter, the Triangle Grid was definitely one of the core elements that drew me into Unsung Story. I had never seen anything like it, but when it came time to crack that system open, we spent weeks staring at the PlayDek mockups and trying to make heads or tails of them.

Eventually I made the call. It’s what a publisher does. You can hear the clock ticking, and you have to keep things on track. At the time it felt like the system added needless complexity for no real gain and a lot of very awkward gameplay limitations.

It all made perfect sense...

..Until I went to Tokyo and met with Mr. Matsuno.

I shared a little bit about the meeting on the 1st of February. Overall it was fantastic. I got to show off all the latest work, and meet a designer that I've idolized for much of my career. But I also hinted that he had one piece of negative feedback, and that's what this post is about.

Midway through our meeting, he stopped, waved at the stacks of paper, and asked a very direct question: This is all very cool, but where is the innovation?

My translator had barely uttered the words before I was jumping in. My excitement got the best of me. I talked about the out-of-order narrative which he himself had created. I talked about the sound-based magic system and some of the impact to our combat design. And I talked about handling verticality in the levels. He nodded a little, but then shook his head and said "window dressing". Pretty. But just thematic. Not true innovation.

At that point he stressed that he tries never to repeat the same game twice, and that we shouldn't settle for copying a game that is more than 20 years old. At this point, I was sure I had missed something in the conversation. It had all been going so well. I must have been quiet, because eventually he leaned in and finally asked: “Why did you remove the Triangle Grid?”

It took me a little off guard, but then I spent a couple minutes trying to explain why the grid didn't work. I talked about flat-top hex movement vs pointy top hex movement. The limitations in vertical vs. horizontal movement. I went on to doodle sketches of PlayDek's renderings to explain how they had drawn all the best-case scenarios but none of the worst-case. He mostly sat there and didn't say much. Eventually he held his hands up in surrender, and we moved on to other topics. Towards the end of the conversation, I felt we had gotten back on better footing.

But as we were wrapping up, he stopped me thoughtfully and said. "If you don't do the Triangle Grid, then I will." It wasn't a threat. He was making sure that I understood that not only was the Triangle Grid feasible – it was important.

And with that he left.

Matsuno was my final meeting in Tokyo, and I flew back that same day. But I was left with more questions than I arrived with. I spent a week diving back in. Discussions with designers. I was more than a fortnight before the breakthru. I had spent hours on the whiteboard already that day, and needed to take a break for dinner. Eating alone that night provided me with an opportunity to go back and start from the beginning. Flipping through my notes I saw the problem in the perspective of PlayDek's mockups. I came back and spent hours building several schematics to help illustrate my findings, which I sent to the team the following day.

From there, we all agreed to give the Triangle Grid one more chance. A two week development cycle to explore a new approach. I woke up the following morning to an amazing email from the engineering team with all sorts of researched math and algorithms. In mid Februay, we finished our milestone, and I got to play through the results.

Things are still very very early. Everything is placeholder art, but I could immediately sense the difference from playing our Square Grid prototypes. I started thinking about movement and attacking differently. Distance and angles. And I was having fun. So I’ve reversed my previous decision and everyone has agreed to move forward with the Triangle Grid.

I am very pleased to show off a little bit of our development progress, but I’m also a little terrified.

While there are other games that we can look at, there is no direct roadmap for this aspect of the game. I'm taking a risk in one of the biggest gameplay systems in Unsung Story - a risk that introduces a million new ways to fail. Hopefully it will be worth it. Hopefully the results will be much more... innovative.

6e49a7ff61f6b99ee28f231f01737158_original.png

Triangle Grid 01
2161e3c4a136e39836445274ead95a29_original.png

Triangle Grid 02
035292e7b2ce6495ca34ac786113c195_original.png

Triangle Grid 03
NOTE: These shots are now more than 2 weeks old, and we've already started making adjustments and improvements to the mechanics. I'm hoping to show some video soon of how this plays in-game.

Thank you for your continued patience and support.

Sincerely, Matthew Scott
 

Perkel

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Well at least they look like they can switch on Unity and put some assets on it.
 

Cross

Arcane
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Messages
2,983
But as we were wrapping up, he stopped me thoughtfully and said. "If you don't do the Triangle Grid, then I will." It wasn't a threat. He was making sure that I understood that not only was the Triangle Grid feasible – it was important.
it-is-not-a-threat-it-is-a-request-you-should-take-under-consideration.jpg
 

Zombra

An iron rock in the river of blood and evil
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Make the Codex Great Again! RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
They really weren't kidding about this monthly update thing. I'm impressed.

Update #74

Apr 1 2018

April Update - No Foolin Around

Dear backers,

I want to start by apologizing for last month. I had a couple updates planned after the 1st of March, but our Shards the Deckbuilder announcement went over so poorly that I felt it was best not to spam anyone for a bit.

For Kickstarter updates going forward, we'll stick to just things related to Unsung Story. Also these updates are going to be getting a little dense. I'm exploring ways to balance the information so that backers who want this information can get it, and backers who only want to play the game wont get flooded with too many messages.

April marks an important milestone for us - the end of Pre-Production (mostly).

I'm proud of the team and the hard work they've been putting in. With the exception of Art, we have everything else fairly well mapped out. Art is going a bit more slowly due to some minor changes in direction. We've tried a couple things that didn't work. My goal is to keep working on concepts till I'm happy.

We are going to be planning a Twitch stream of the current build later this month. We will be sending out more details over Facebook, Twitter, and email to the folks who registered on LittleOrbit.com.

We also have our first developer blog going up in mid April. So look for that in the Unsung Story forums on LittleOrbit.com.

This month I've included shots from our latest prototype all through out the update.

The usual caveats apply. This is all work in progress so you're seeing very very rough temp art with an unpolished grid system and temp UIs. To help clarify some of the screenshots, I'm also sharing lots of design elements. Some of this will shift and change as we get further down the road, but here is a quick rundown of where we are at.

PROTOTYPE PROGRESS:
Lots and lots of work here. We've been able to further refine the triangle grid mechanics, assess the best size of levels, work with verticality, and try different combinations of players vs. enemies.

This first shot is from our test level based on a map in Mission 7 near a small fortress where the player's objective is to capture an enemy unit. It illustrates that we have reduced the overall size of the level from previous screenshots. The red areas are placeholder "ladders" which allow you to travel up to higher areas. Elevation in the map gives specific advantages and disadvantages.

c762870794b2cc003e4acf9af5ff1f7b_original.png

Test Map Mission 7
GAME DESIGN:
We're on the 2nd complete draft of the design. It's currently well over 100 pages. All 20 classes have been created, named, and assigned skills to give them a unique role in any party. We've tried to simplify what worked in Final Fantasy Tactics without sacrificing any depth. We also have in initial class tree and progression mapped. Remember these classes are split up across the 4 schools that we've announced: Technology, Mana, Divine, and Nature.

This feels a bit unceremonious, but you'll see plenty of references in the screenshots this month, so I figured it was fine to spoil them all now anyway. I'll let you guys try to figure out which ones go to each school.

Here is the complete list of classes:

  • Sellsword: Mercenaries unbound by specialty, Sellswords are useful in several areas, but are masters of none. This is one of two beginning classes, along with the Physician. The Sellsword is used to teach players a few basic mechanics for melee combat, but also touches on some more metagame functionality such as boosts. They use Short Swords & Shields.
  • Physician: The player begins the game with the Physician unlocked, but it serves to teach them more advanced mechanics, such as ranged attacks, the use of items and cross-class abilities. Even though they start off weak, Physicians are capable of combining their items to create new effects. This becomes especially important in the late-game, where advanced items can only be created by combining two lesser items. They use Slings.
  • Guardian: Guardians stay at the front of combat, defending key choke points and fortifying their allies from harm. Stalwart warriors that protect those they deem worth protecting (which, incidentally, can include themselves). They use Long Swords and Shields .
  • Archer: Archers are a simple but effective long-range attacker, capable of striking distant foes with ease. The backbone of any successful army. Archers are able to fire further from high ground, which allows them to out-range opposing Archers. This means the ideal situation for a Archer is to be on high ground, with friendly units fortifying them from melee enemies. They use Longbows.
  • Plague Weaver: These guys represent a power that humans would sooner choose to forget—rot, disease and decay. They are all about debuffing the opponent’s entire team from anywhere on the map. These debuffs are typically less likely to hit than one that’s focus-cast on a single target, but the added benefit of affecting multiple enemies at once can alleviate the risk.
  • Elementalist: Elementalists focus on magical power in its most pure and destructive form. They deal lots of damage to single-targets. They use Staves.
  • Sharpshooter: The Sharpshooter sports a unique tool—known as the Infusion Rifle. They use nearby tiles to infuse their rifle and fire bullets with specific effects.
  • Necromancer: Necromancers are masters of death, of others and of themselves. They utilize corpses and debuffs. Necromancers can regain Health and Focus from enemy corpses, make them explode and even raise them as minions. They use Scythes.
  • Spellbreaker: Spellbreakers are powerful anti-magic tanks, capable of absorbing magical damage. They should be paired up to protect allies that are vulnerable to magic attacks, or used to hunt down enemy magic users to end them quickly. They use Two-Handed Maces.
  • Cavalier: The Cavalier is a "civilized" tank class who focuses on avoiding damage. The rapiers they wield have naturally high weapon evasion stats, allowing them to easily parry incoming blows. They also have some options for moving other units around the battlefield. They use Rapiers.
  • Scout: The Scout infiltrates enemy lines, sneaking up on a vulnerable backline enemy and finishing them off before the enemy team can react. They’re also capable of stealing equipment, which makes them essential versus powerful units, such as some bosses. Stealing isn’t easy, but results in not only disarming the opponent, but giving the stolen equipment to the player’s party. They use Daggers.
  • Priest: Priests are zealous wielders of healing magic, able to appreciate the value of life and taking measures to ensure it is preserved. They are backline support casters, keeping their allies healed through combat. They use Rods.
  • Berserker: Powerful—and possibly insane—the Berserker is a powerhouse in melee combat. They lose their wits as readily as they take lives, so must be guided with a cautious hand. They like to get up close and personal, taking heavy hits and dealing them in return. The Berserker focuses on buffing himself, then using special abilities that benefit from those buffs to deal damage, debilitate foes and keep himself alive. They use One-Handed Axes.
  • Wildlord: Wildlords are capable of learning the abilities of monsters they encounter and wielding these strange powers to great effect. They focuse on using Monster Skills, which means they have a great variety of skills to use in combat. However, they lack a specific tactical focus, instead serving to fill in holes in the team. They use Glaives.
  • Saboteur: These guys should rush ahead of their team, place as many traps as possible and then retreating to safety. Once behind allied lines, they can pelt the enemy team with bombs, dealing decent ranged damage in an area. They use Hand Bombs.
  • Shadow: Shadows are the unspoken and unseen hand of fate. They operate by inflicting themselves with status effects, then passing them on to foes and finishing them off with Killing Blow. They use a Sickle and Chain.
  • Disciple: A Disciple is able to fight at close range, keeping his allies alive while dealing respectable damage. They have unusual ranges for all of their abilities, and are able to attack two squares away. They use Bo Staves.
  • Echo Knight: Echo Knights wield an unusual and incongruous power, warping the very fabric of space around themselves and their foes. They are able to move around the battlefield quickly and easily, ensuring they reach the best possible position to hold the enemy back. They use Two-Handed Swords.
  • Sword Speaker: These guys unite the arts of swordplay and spellcraft. Sword Speakers practice with all swords and have the ability to summon a magic version of any blade they have previously mastered.
  • Librarian: The Librarian focuses on speeding up the player team and slowing down the enemy team, allowing players to perform devastating attacks with much less risk of missing. If you've been following our forum updates, then you'll know Librarians are part of the lore and are part of the core storyline. They use Tomes.
Here are some shots of several skills we're playing with:

007e9af091d2fee96da110ab9a680021_original.png

Necromancer Skills
54d8b56366e2c1ccca1d4c304742a9e4_original.png

Priest Skills
STATS & CALCULATIONS:
We've done more work on how stats are calculated behind the scenes and how raising a unit’s level increases these stats. While the numbers are prone to change throughout development, the equations should remain the same from here on. We are also starting to work through how to share this information with the player including the Stats/profile inspector, Turn queue, Character selection and other things like how items display info on the shop depending on what characters you currently have.

Here are the key character stats that we have decided on:

  • Strength: determines physical damage with most weapons.
  • Intelligence: determines the power of most abilities and some weapons.
  • Speed: determines how frequently a unit acts.
  • Agility: partially determines evasion rates and partially determines the damage of Agility Weapons.
  • Health: determines how much damage a character can take before they’re killed.
  • Focus: determines how many spells a character can cast before needing to restore their Focus (our version of magic power).
  • Natural Strength: a character’s starting strength based on several factors.
  • Natural Intelligence: a character’s starting intelligence based on several factors.
d0cd0114f62ba503aa82068eeccf1721_original.png

Sellsword Attack
ITEMIZATION & EQUIPMENT:
We've got a solid Weapons List. It isn’t finalized, but its a good first-pass. There are a few major things we are still working out. The biggest are the special effects of some weapons and how to limit their power. There's a scythe on the list that I'm rather partial towards. It helps you regenerate Focus every time a unit on the battlefield dies. We've also spent some time working through the consumable items. This is useful for the engineering team to start on implementation of the Physician, who can make consumables.

708cdb975e90315f10d7f5355078c53f_original.png

Necromancer putting out a weak cadaver
SCREEN FLOW & WORLD MAP:
Lots of work nailing down each screen in the game and the flow between them. This flow helps us visualize where the player will be spending the majority of their time in game.

We'll be revealing a couple special things about the World Map in updates to come.

SHOPS & RECRUITING:
Again not quite final, but it’s getting close. We are working out where and when its okay to access the shops, some more information on armor/accessories and the cost of items. We've spent quite a bit of time working through recruiting new units. We are currently designing for permadeath with any non-Story character units. This means that when they die, you'll need to replace them.

Additionally each potential unit that you can recruit will look different. Their appearance is randomly generated to provide a lot of fun visual diversity - something that Final Fantasy Tactics couldn't do with their units due to the 2D sprite implementation.

STORY & LEVELS:
We have completed bubble maps for nearly all of the levels in all of the chapters. The designers have gone through each one and identified the location, story character requirements, and primary objectives. I'm starting to see "gray box" layouts for various maps which gives us an opportunity to get them up and running in the prototype as quickly as possible.

Gray box layouts are a bit more detailed than what you're seeing in our prototype shots. These are much less blocky and have actual level geometry.

b6c03c671f73e40e632ffa160d19be39_original.png

Elementalist taking advantage of height

a1352146e47a32599626ecbef979e02b_original.png

Archer moving his way up
That's it for now! Hope everyone enjoys their time off.

Thank you for your continued patience and support.

Sincerely, Matthew Scott
 

Zombra

An iron rock in the river of blood and evil
Patron
Joined
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Messages
11,538
Location
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Make the Codex Great Again! RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Some interesting (?) design process stuff.

Update #75

Apr 22 2018

Developer Blog #1 - Level Design Process

Hi backers,

This is Matt, and I want to let everyone know we're still working on a Twitch stream, but we've had a couple issues come up getting our Little Orbit Twitch page setup. That's still in the works, but I don't think we'll make it this month. Stay tuned.

But now I want to post our first developer blog.

This was written back in March, and we didn't get around to posting it. I still think it's great behind-the-scenes info into our process, so I'm posting it this month, and I hope to get another one of these up for May.

Thanks,
Matt

03/15/2018

Dear backers,

Hello! This is Rowan Ryder from Torus, and I’m the game designer on Unsung Story. With me are Finn Teague-Moore and Andrew Hill, who are Unsung Story’s level designers. Today, we want to talk a bit about our level design process, and a little on what we’ve been working on for the past few weeks.

For this post, we want to talk a bit about our level design process, and a little on what we’ve been working on for the past few weeks.

Please note that none of the art in the following post is final. We’re still in an extremely early state of development.

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We’re currently investigating how linear levels should be, as opposed to the arena-like maps of other tactics games.
Our Game Plan

We’re still dong some pre-production, which means the team is engaging in a whole lot of planning and documentation that will let us work more quickly and efficiently as we move forward. This can be a little bit frustrating for both fans and developers, as neither of us get to see the game come together as soon as we’d like, but it always makes for a better game in the long run.

Quite some time has been spent on working out the ideal size that our levels should be. Successful turn-based tactics games tend to keep their maps on the small side, as bigger levels often have a lot of unused space. In early testing we also found this to be the case, and have been slowly reducing our level size until it feels right. Of course, making the maps too small can be just as detrimental. It’s a tricky balance!

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Again, it’s important to note that the artwork is 100% placeholder. You can see how different the two example levels are.
The grid system has been a fun challenge to work with and we’ve had to take a notably different approach to designing levels on a triangle grid (as opposed to a square grid). Right-angles, for example, do not flow naturally on the grid system that we're using, but they're such a common aspect of human architecture and we have to allow for them. This requires us to think outside the box (pun intended) in regards to how we design our levels.

All Over the (Bubble) Map

To that end, the level design team has been working on what’s known as “Bubble Maps”. These are small diagrams that outline the basic layout and flow of a level before anything is built in 3D. These are useful to quickly show the rest of the team what’s planned, so we can make revisions and spot problems before too much time is spent on building the actual level. Think of it as the rough first sketch of a painting, long before any actual paint is applied.

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Once the Bubble Map has been given the go-ahead, the level designers get to work on building what’s known as a “greybox”. This is the level without any art; just blocks that make up the shape of the level, so we can test the gameplay and make even more revisions before committing time to making it look beautiful. This is when we focus entirely on how the level feels to play; does it take too long to reach important areas? Is this chokepoint too easy to defend? How does the balance feel in general?

To a Fine Art

Once we’re happy with how the map plays, we can move on to adding the art. The level art will also be iterative, as we know there are certain elements that will turn up throughout most levels. Nature, walls, fences, etc. Our art team has begun planning how to get the more common assets into the level design pipeline.

All of these steps are typical when developing a game. The important outcome of this process is discovering the unique aspects of this project; in our case, that largely comes down to the grid. Once we have a good handle on what we should try to avoid and what we should capitalize on, we can move ahead much more quickly.

There’s still a long way to go before we’re ready to show off a level that’s close to final, but we hope you enjoyed this small glimpse at what we’ve been up to in recent days. Thank you so much for your support, and we look forward to sharing more from behind-the-scenes as we move forward!

Until next time, thanks for being along on our journey.
 

Zombra

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Update #76

May 1 2018

May Update - Physical editions and Battle Map deep dive

Dear backers,

This month flew by. We did our first developer blog about the level design process, and many backers expressed how much they enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look so we're going to do another one of those again.

The Unsung Stream and AMA with Matthew Scott

We are still working through getting setup for the stream. I'm hoping that happens this month, because we have lots to show, and I'd like to spend some time answering questions from backers. Several backers have messaged and asked what the hold up is, so I'm going to have to come clean.

Embarrassingly, I announced the stream before checking with my social team, and it appears someone else on Twitch is squatting on the /littleorbit channel, the /littleorbitgames channel, and several other name variations we tried to come up with. None of these have a single stream or piece of content on them. I doubt this was malicious. Little Orbit was just super slow to actually need Twitch for anything. We started working with them last month to get this fixed, but it is taking quite a bit longer than I expected. We'll keep you posted.

Physical Editions

We've gotten a number of requests for physical console editions of the game. I want to confirm that we are going to do this, but it's a bit tricky in BackerKit. The problem is that many of you have already filled out your surveys, and the original shipping methods were not created correctly. So at this point, there is no way to properly insure that folks in tiers with only digital rewards will have shipping costs added, and folks in the tiers with physical rewards already wont get billed extra. We are working through a couple ideas to figure this out.

We haven't locked the pricing, but in general we're hoping to provide Physical Editions on any console version (PS4, XB1, or Switch) for a $10 upgrade fee to cover manufacturing costs.

Art Update

This remains the largest area of the game that is behind schedule. To address this issue, Little Orbit has brought on a dedicated Art Director. I hope to show off more progress here soon, but as I said last month, art is critical to the game, and we're not going to rush it.

Development Update

I am extremely happy with the development progress. Not only did we get our first console builds this month, but we also got to play initial versions of several different battle maps that included many new classes and abilities.

So that's what I'm going to talk about for the rest of this update.

But first, here is a quick review of what Unsung Story is all about for context. Back in August we started from scratch and rebuilt the story and design based around Yasumi Matsuno's original ideas.

Matsuno's goals in the design

  • Instead of a World Map, we have a Historical Map that allows the player to revisit various battles and moments in the War
  • Players will explore the game across 5 different chapters - each with their own main Story Character
  • Classes have pure gameplay mechanics (Warrior, Priest, Wizard, Pioneer)
  • Players can level up and unlock new classes to switch between
  • Player units can have a Primary and Secondary class which creates lots of variations and unique combinations
  • Environmental height and incline affect movement, speed, and attack
  • Simplify the presentation of stats to make them less complicated without sacrificing depth
  • Introduce the triangle grid for slightly different tactical choices
Basic story concepts

  • The game takes place in a medieval fantasy world filled with wild chaotic magic that is fueled by vibration and shaped by songs. This magic literally has the power to reshape reality around the caster.
  • Realizing that the world could not sustain life, the first inhabitants built the Opus of History - the first and oldest song that holds the world together. Since that time History has been sung and recorded in magical schools around the world.
  • The game opens at the end of a 77-Year War. Cities have been decimated, and the schools ravaged. A final, desperate war summit has been called - a plea to finally end the war because the Opus of History is starting to fail, and no one knows why. The world is coming apart at the seams.
  • A small band of aging heroes are given an impossible task. Armed with an experimental spell, they must brave the unknown by traveling into the Opus to find a way to repair the tears.
  • But something unexpected happens, the spell doesn't work as expected. Instead the squad is transported backwards in time and thrust into the middle of a recent major turning point.
  • From there the player will meet key figures on both sides of the war. They will fight each key battle working their way backwards and gaining a small new opportunity each time – methodically unraveling the intricacies of history in an effort to prevent the war in the first place.
So there you have it. A narrative told in reverse that allows the player to slowly learn about the past, then visit those battles, and even come back to play them again to experience alternative timelines. At its core, the game focuses on the war. Each map and encounter needs to capture that spirit in a different way.

Last month, I shared the entire class list because it wasn't going to be possible to share progress without discussing those in more detail. This month, we're going to deep dive a couple battle maps and discuss some of the class abilities. Again, the standard disclaimers apply. Some of this will change as we get further into iterating on the game.

Current Game Build

At start up of the game, we launch into a Chapter selection screen. There is no History Timeline screen yet. So a placeholder screen features the option to choose 3 maps from Chapter 4 and 1 map from Chapter 2. Once you make a selection, you jump into the battle with test units under your control. These are all real battle maps from the game, and each fight contains units with live stats and skills that affect their effectiveness in combat. We have recently added the turn order of the units, so you can make informed choices knowing which units will attack next. The turn order UI is still work in progress.

Each level is being created with a placeholder tileset that allows us to block in the basic features, elevation points, and obstacles. I won't spoil which chapters and regions these maps below to, but here are some brief highlights.

Map #1

This was my favorite layout which contains a series of bridges over water where you fight ranged enemies. My units included (1) Elementalist, (1) Necromancer, (1) Sellsword, (1) Archer, and (1) Physician. The enemy archers and casters are the obvious threat, because I have to cross the bridges to get close enough before they pick off my units.

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Bridge battle map
The Physician is new to this build, and he was central to winning this battle because you have to heal in small amounts as you go, or most of your units will get wiped out before the real battle has even begun. He's one of two classes that you get at the start of the game, but instead of being quickly discarded, Physicians have great long term value in the game because they can create some of the most powerful items when they get to higher levels.

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Physician abilities
Right now we're missing in-game descriptions for each abilities.

Our Elementalist and Archers have gained several new ones to round out their direct damage arsenal. The Necromancer has gained several debuffs and an ability called Devour, which sacrifices corpses to fuel focus and give him more power late in battles.

Map #2

This battle takes place in a canyon ravine. You'll notice more hex-shaped placeholders. We're definitely not going to use those shapes for the actual art.

I liked this encounter for how different it played from the bridge level. Lots of elevation that you need to work with. The main object is to capture an enemy unit which turned out to be a bit tricky.

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Ravine level
Map #3

This encounter takes place in front of a large fortress guarded by enemy units. This is my favorite for the gameplay. Mostly because it contained nearly all of the new classes for this build including the Shadow, Guardian, Wildlord Berserker, and Sword Speaker. These were such a big departure from the Archers and Sellswords from previous levels that I had to spend a bit of time figuring them out. Remember I'm seeing these units with all their abilities unlocked, so I haven't had the benefit of leveling them up and gradually learning their mechanics.

Here is a quick capture of gameplay. It's super rough, but it demonstrates some of what we're going for across a series of unit moves.

  • Frenzied Leap has a range of 3 and allows a Berserker to leap to a tile and knock nearby targets back.
  • Explosion targets an area and allows a Wildlord to deal heavy damage to all units within 1 range of that area.
  • Blade Dash allows a Sword Speaker to dash forward 3 tiles and deal damage to every unit that’s passed through.
  • Guard Ally allows a Guardian to absorb half the damage of a targeted ally for 3 turns.
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Zombra note: the above image is actually a video on the kickstarter page. It shows guys moving around and attacking each other and so forth. Not that interesting to sit down and watch, but it shows that the engine is authentically working.

Map #4


The last level starts with my units defending a large section of fortress from an enemy attack with large placeholder siege devices. It's almost the exact opposite of Map #3. Again lots of elevation tactics in this level, and I found I needed to move around quite a bit to avoid getting hit, while still meeting the objective.

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Defense level
That's it for this month.

As an overall measure of progress:

  • All of the battle maps have been designed on paper.
  • For June we hope to have 50% of them implemented with placeholder assets.
  • We have 50% of the classes in the build now.
  • We have 180 of the 300 abilities implemented as a first pass.
We barely missed getting in our first major round of animations for this update. The team spent a portion of April working through the Short Sword movements. Still lots of work to go, but coming along nicely.

We'll be back in June, as the team gears up for E3. Look for another developer blog between now and then.

Thank you for your continued patience and support.

Sincerely, Matthew Scott
 

Zombra

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June 1st, time for the monthly update. Once again they have quite a lot to show!

Update #78

Jun 1 2018

June Update - "Art" thou ready?

Dear backers,

It's E3 month! The Little Orbit team has been getting ready. We aren't talking about Unsung.. yet. But we're getting close to our first big public push so stay tuned in July and August.

We also did another developer blog about the UI design process. You can check it out here if you missed it.

This post is already loaded to the brim with content, so I'm only going give a brief general overview of where we're at.

General Update
  • New more polished visualization of the Triangle Grid system.
  • Added a Mission intro screen that contains mission details and briefings.
  • Stat calculations for the core systems are now fully implemented. This does not mean the game is balanced. Ability balance is ongoing, and balance gets worse the higher leveled units are.
  • We've settled on 242 total abilities in the game. That's 12 for most classes, and a couple with 13. Only 19 abilities remain to be implemented.
  • There are 31 Battle/Mission Maps implemented as White Box levels utilizing a placeholder tile set that designers can manipulate to build various scenarios. There are currently 51 maps in the design, but we are on our third Pace Map. This new version will affect some of the levels, but we're hoping this is our last round of story/narrative revisions. (I'm very pleased with the current version of the story)
New Logo!
In keeping with this month's theme, I felt it was time to put our own stamp on the project. So here is the new Unsung Story logo. We hope you like it :)

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New Unsung Story Logo
A Personal Note about the Art
I have been pretty open about holding this area back, because I wasn't happy with the direction. Before locking in, I wanted the team to be able to explore a lot of different space. We're done exploring, and I'm very pleased to show off how that process is going.

Before I jump in, I want to acknowledge that this is the one place in the project where we have significantly deviated from the original direction set out by PlayDek. We were able to work with Matsuno to finish the story and design. We were able to get Sakimoto aboard for the music, however in the end we couldn't get Yoshida back.

We tried a number of different styles that were reminiscent of FFT, but we just couldn't make them work. So what you're going to see today is different.

I own 100% of the responsibility for the look. I chose this style, and I'm a big fan of how it's coming out. For some, you may like what I'm about to show off. And I'm sure there will be others who will be massively disappointed. Trust me, there are plenty of great medieval settings and character styles in the game. It just happened to turn out I don't have a lot of that to show off today. So I'm going to ask for a little patience, while we dial this in and integrate everything together for the final look.

I do also need to take a moment and give massive thanks to my tireless Art Director, Tyler James, and the team of artists working under him.

Even though I get to have all the fun writing these updates and sharing everything, he really did all the heavy lifting on what you're going to see this month. We've spent plenty of late nights comparing notes throughout each stage, but he has spent many hours working with the artists, giving feedback, painting guides, and generally bringing this game to life.

Art Update
I thought it would be fun to actually share that visual development process by focusing on four specific classes in the game - the Berserker, the Wildlord, the Sharpshooter, and the Disciple. Bear in mind the game will feature Human characters along with two otherplayable races in male and female forms with skin color, head, and hair variations. I'm only going to show off specific designs of each class, but there is a lot of diversity in how these will look in the final game.

Step 1 - Design Variations

Unsung Story takes place at the end of the 77-Year War between the Saxtel Empire and the Alionne Kingdom, so we started by collecting a concise description of Aramor, the capital city of the Saxtel Emptire and also the home of the School of Nature. This region of the game is influenced by a blend of Celtic and African inspirations.

For the Berserker, we also created a written description based on his abilities and his Double Axes. Lastly, we thought this would be a fun place to start because it introduced the second major playable race - the Horned.

From there we did a series of rough sketches showing a bunch of design variations.

ad79084c805ad09391f523fd8f0c4ee3_original.jpg

Horned Male Berserker Design Sketches
Since we were both exploring a new race and the classes, we decided to design a female variation using the Wildlord class and her Glaive.

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Horned Female Wildlord Design Sketches
On the opposite side of the 77-Year War conflict is the Alionne Kingdom with its capital city of Branholme and the School of Technology. This region contains heavy deposits of an ore that can store and release sound waves and is influenced by England.

For the Sharpshooter, we wanted to explore a female Human using the Infusion Rifle.

0f2dd9cdcd682a3fc15619f8f96555c7_original.jpg

Human Female Sharpshooter Design Sketches
And lastly for the Disciple, we started with a written description of Lethanor, the city where the School of Mana is located. That region of the game has Asian and Indian influences. We wrote up a brief art description of the Disciple and his primary weapon, the Bo Staff.

4e2fc5e4e8104b3ff06b35d7ae94c0bb_original.jpg

Human Male Disciple Variations
We did a couple more classes in our initial rounds, so we could line them all up together in order to get an overall view of the look as it was coming together.

I'll admit we did a lot of revisions, and we ended up throwing away a fair amount of work. Tyler and I made the difficult call to cut an entire early attempt at the third race in the game. I might show that work in a later update, but ultimately we felt the tone was wrong and it was pulling the visual design away from what we wanted.

For these four class designs, we made notes, identified color schemes and assembled the look we wanted to proceed with.

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Sketch Feedback
You'll notice specifically that with the Disciple we added bells around his neck to be a source of sound for some of his moves.

Step 2 - Final Renders

From there the team worked on a series of final renders to get as close to what the 3D model in the game might look like.

For this part of the process, we have to take into account the angle of the camera. Players need to be able to look down on the field and easily recognize each unit. It means we need to be careful of embedding too much detail or using specific colors, because those will be lost or end up muddy. We saw this with PlayDek's early designs that looked amazing in the 2D stage, but then fell flat in their prototype scene.

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Horned Male Berserker Final Render
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Horned Female Wildlord Final Render
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Human Female Sharpshooter Final Render
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Human Male Disciple Final Render
Step 3 - 3D Model

Finally, we take the finished render and we make the 3D model. Here is how our Disciple came out.

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Human Male Disciple 3D Model
And here is a quick animation test with one of his abilities.

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Note: the actual update has an animation. It is very cartoony but looks cool. Stupid kickstarter videos. - Zombra
Early Mission Map Concept Art
Last month I showed white box progress on four different maps. This month I'm going to take one of those levels and show some early work on how that level is being conceptualized artistically.

Here it is in blocky white box form:

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Branholme Map White Box
And here is the initial conceptual paint over. Branholme utilizes the local ore to power a lot of the city, and while this gives it a Steampunk feel, we had fun exploring how magic might be generated from the sound of steam instead of an actual steam engine.

2dbb7e8e2355d34a3c0d1f2974721339_original.JPG

Branholme Map Rough Concept
That's all for now!

Thank you for your continued patience and support.

Sincerely, Matthew Scott
 

Tigranes

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'we have come up with this new art style after MUCH THOUGHT AND AGONY AND HARD WORK'

/retarded cartoon figures

'please applaud'
 

Zombra

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Getting super defensive about the art style!

Update #79

Jun 2 2018

Follow up to the June 1st Art Update

Dear backers,

Kickstarter is sometimes an imperfect medium to have a two-way conversation, but in this case I feel the need to at least follow up to the many comments on yesterday's post.

I want to start with a little extra context for how we arrived where we are with the style.

1. We cannot copy Yoshida's style

PlayDek engaged Yoshida, he did work, he was never paid for it, and there was a dispute. I have already spent months going back and forth with Cygames about bringing him back or even paying for the work he did, but we couldn't make that happen. So it's important to bear in mind that legally we need to stay clear of his style and anything he did previously for the project. I don't want to step into dicey territory that will jeopardize the project.

For the record, I absolutely love Yoshida's work. I wish this situation were different. As you saw in early updates, we tried playing with some hybrid styles. At best they were passable. At worst they felt like cheap Western knockoffs of Japanese art. So we abandoned that approach.

2. We are limited by what the studio can do

It is possible that PlayDek would have been able to deliver on the thousands of art assets it takes to make this game - all within the style they showed. But it's important for me to acknowledge what my studio can and can't do well. We are not a 2D pixel art studio. We aren't a Japanese-based art studio with lots of that style of talent.

In fact I saw mention of Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment in the comments, and I think that's a very good example. My studio (Hijinx/Game Machine) worked on Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment. It was our first tactics game, and being forced to deliver on that art was awful. Konami had their hearts (pun intended) in the right place, but they also pushed us into a box where we weren't going to be successful. I don't want to repeat that situation.

Side note: I wont take the bullet for the VH:FoJ cutscenes. Those were completed by another team that we had no control over.

3. We are already significantly behind

Many backers have graciously told us to take all the time we need - despite having already waited more than 4 years for the game they paid for. And in a perfect world, we could iterate forever. Sadly that is not the case. We are a small studio, we took on a lot of extra cost for the eventual Kickstarter rewards, and eventually we need to ship this game.

So where do we go from here?

First, it's okay not to like the art.

I said back at the beginning when we took over this project that we were going to be 100% transparent. We were going to show you the good, the bad, and the ugly. And I think that is especially important now more than ever.

By the same token, I want everyone to feel comfortable expressing their opinions too. That's okay. The minute we stop posting on a regular basis or you guys stop responding is when we've lost the true spirit of this Kickstarter.

Second, I have read each and every comment.

There are lots of very well thought out pieces of feedback that the team will be considering as we move forward - specifically female bust and waistlines, exaggerated "cartoony" proportions, and color saturation. I also acknowledge that we need to push to make sure this style stands out on its own. I can't promise that we are going to address each backer's specific concerns, but we will do our best.

Lastly, our enthusiasm for staying true to this project hasn't changed.

This was the comment that hurt the most to read yesterday, and it's probably the biggest reason I'm posting today.

We have worked very hard to stay true to what you guys backed. It goes without saying that changes and additions have been made. My lead writer may never get proper credit for the amazing work she has done alongside Matsuno's work. Hopefully most fans wont be able to tell where his work ends and hers begins. But it takes a lot of people to make a game like this, and the original core ideas have to translate successfully through a lot of hands before they become a finished product.

Art is no different. It needs to not only look aesthetically pleasing, but it needs to serve many functions for the game to work properly.

Please bear in mind that you've only seen the first couple pieces of what we have planned, and it's all out-of-context. We haven't shared any fully composited scenes with finished environment art and UIs. The studio needs to keep pushing forward, but we're listening, and things will continue to evolve.

I hope you'll continue reading, watching, and commenting. Most of all, please be patient just a little longer. You may find that as things progress they aren't as bad as you thought or maybe we incorporate a change that helps make the style work better. And if not, please know that we gave it our all.

Thank you for your continued patience and support.

Sincerely, Matthew Scott
 

80Maxwell08

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
1,154
Eh it didn't really sound defensive to me at all. They basically said they couldn't use any of the previous art or try to copy that style, didn't have the time or talent to do something better/unique and needed art assets they could make quickly. At least they acknowledged people don't like and explained themselves.
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
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14,980
Oh god that's some terrible artwork. I didn't even think the original stuff was good enough, this is just insulting.
 
Repressed Homosexual
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Mar 29, 2010
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Location
Ottawa, Can.
I don't get why people are so upset. They're really trying in their earnest to deliver on the project and to be as transparent as possible. This is not their specialty to do pixel art and they have to deliver a game.

If only every Kickstarter developer was like them. Their attitude was refreshing.

Vandal Hearts Flames of Judgment wasn't a super masterpiece, but as a game it was ok. It wasn't a turd by any means.
 

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