[Unity3D] Wicked Night - Holy Knight (PC/Mac T-RPG)

[BlindCoco]

Hello everyone,

In the last couple of months, I've been posting updates on my current project on Reddit. it's starting to get to the crunchy part since I just finished coding most of the core systems, so I figured it was about time to post it on SerenesForest to get even more feedback along the way as I start designing maps and balancing characters.

If you want to see the entire history behind the project, you can go check out my official website where I wrote my game development updates.

Here is a more traditional presentation :

Story :

The story is divided in multiple parts with branching paths during Part 2 where you select the main protagonist between Alia and Randolph.

It begins with a group of mercenaries who end up in the middle of a war led by a Mad King, after which the player decides which is the main protagonist who will struggle to restore the balance in the new post-war world which is still filled with conflict and political turmoil.

The rest shall be unveiled as you play...

System :

• 3 tier class system with branched promotions (here is the latest version)
• Auto promotion at level 21
• Branching paths from Part 2
• Full 3D models for map and fight animations
• Barracks with Event Triggered Conversations and Support Conversations
• Personal Skills and Class Skills
• Equippable items to grant stats, growths bonus or skills
• Bonus Experience between chapters

Screenshots :

Characters :

The cast will feature 62 playable characters, which will all have a distinct personality, backstory and a role to play in the story.

Here is a teaser with 10 characters :

Music :

The OST is currently being composed by Mklachu. Here are a few links to her work if you're interested. I'm confident the final result will not disappoint!

Bravely Default Medley

Skyward Sword - Skyloft

Ys I&II Chronicles - To Make The End of Battle

Testing (Currently v.0.7)

1. Download the latest version (PC, Mac);
2. Open the application;
3. Use the arrow keys and X (accept) and C (cancel) to control the cursor;
4. Select Continue, then the first file;
5. Use the arrow keys and Z (more info), X (accept) and C (cancel) to control the cursor;
6. Send your feedback via Facebook or Reddit;

EDIT : This version is outdated. A new version will be available soon!

I'll be posting updates here as well from now on!

-Coco

P.S. If you have any question or if anything is missing, let me know!

Edited May 22, 2016 by BlindCoco

[Alex95]

This looks pretty good! I myself never got too far into using the Unity engine as it proved too difficult for me, but I like seeing projects that use it.

It looks like a different take on the FE formula, more specifically, Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, which I'm sure will get a number of the players on this site to play it. The character art (though I know it's just concepts) looks great and you seem to have spent a lot of time working on them. And you picked a good group to do the music, they sound great!

You look like you have a lot of work left to do. As a fellow game designer, I wish you the best of luck.

[BlindCoco]

PoR and RD were a big influence on my project, mostly on the visual side of things.

Characters are being developed in 2D by a friend of mine and just started off in 3D with a new team member.

There is much that needs to be done, but I'm ready for it!

Thanks a lot :)

[Agro]

I am seriously looking forward to seeing where this goes. Very ambitious of you, but I'm sure you'll be able to make it work. Question: how's your AI dev going? I remember BwdYeti of FEXNA saying that that was one of the biggest things he had to work on, as replicating the FE AI was quite difficult.

(That being said, we actually did figure out FE7's AI quite comprehensively on FEU so if you need some pointers...)

[BlindCoco]

AI is currently being reworked entirely. Before it was basically : Rush to your death or stand still. I'm currently adding all the supporty stuff (heal, steal, open doors, chests, etc.)

If you can share anything about the current AI, I'd be happy to listen :)

Of course, I want my AI to work somewhat differently from FE's, but learning is never a bad thing!

[Agro]

http://feuniverse.us/t/fe7-the-official-ai-documentation-thread/348

Worth a read through here, at least!

[blazingorange]

Nice to see another indie game developer here that uses unity. If you need any help, I don't mind sharing my knowledge.

[BlindCoco]

@Agro : I looked it up and it really seems interesting! I'm clearly going to look deeper into this since my system was pretty close to this. I'll keep on building my system, but I'll inspire myself from parts of this for sure.

@blazingorange : Likewise! I've built smaller projects, but nothing of this scale. It will be interesting to work on that! Please do give your feedback along the way :)

[BlindCoco]

Here is also a bit of progress when it comes to the 3D characters.

This is the base for the mercenary. Lots of details are going to be added, but the core is there, so we'll be able to animate some stuff pretty soon in-game!

Here is also a character teaser for a Myrmidon-like unit.

[BlindCoco]

I posted an update on my blog where you can download a test chapter and see how things are progressing!

Here is how to try it out :

1. Download the correct version (PC, Mac);
2. Open the application;
3. Use the arrow keys and X (accept) and C (cancel) to control the cursor;
4. Select Continue, then the first file;
5. Use the arrow keys and Z (more info), X (accept) and C (cancel) to control the cursor;
6. Send your feedback via Facebook or Reddit;

[ghast]

so is there a control menu or something... how do i select options ahaha i can't select anything from the menu

[BlindCoco]

The default control scheme (which will be editable later on) is :

Z : More info

X : Accept

C : Cancel

And the arrow keys.

It works with an Xbox controller too if you have one (although cursor movement only works with the joystick at the moment)

In the main menu, you can only select Continue and the first file though since it's not the first chapter in-game that I'm building!

Edited February 11, 2016 by BlindCoco

[BlindCoco]

Update - April 5th 2016

Wicked Night celebrated its first year of development this weekend. A birthday sketch can be found on our Facebook Page and the full update can be found in our latest blog post.

The biggest new feature of the update is the Battle Preparations Screen which can be found below.

As you can see, for the most part, it's a classical Select screen, but some info has been shown on the rightmost side.

Supports

Under the weapon ranks, I added the "supported by" list, which will show the three units that supports the current unit.

What that means is that supports do not have to be reciprocal and are technically unlimited. However, during battle preparations, you will select who will support who in battle in order to match your strategies.

This was made in order to have no limitations on support building and character development while still featuring relevant and meaningful battle bonuses for supported units by limiting their use in-game.

I'll explain this feature in further details with examples once I get to actually implementing it.

Growth Rates

I always wondered why they were hidden and only found online in Fire Emblem. They are now visible to give an idea to the player about what they have to expect from certain characters and what their return on investment will look like.

These will change depending on promotion choices (Ex: Armor Knight will lower speed growth and buff defense while Soldier will boost speed slightly)

Battle data

I love to see those stats when I play other RPGs. I felt like they'd have a cool place on the overview screen.

I feel like those data would be interesting to gather if the player accepts to share his data after his playthrough to make graphs and stats about character usage and such.

Character Teaser

The full black and white teaser can be found on the bottom of the blog post itself, but I also have a small mugshot of his face in color right here, exclusively on SerenesForest!

Here is Dogo, the Brigand.

[ghast]

Dogoooo

[Alex95]

Dogo looks like he's seen his fair share of battles.

The game is looking great! Can't wait to see the finished project!

[BlindCoco]

Update May 2nd 2016

A big feature was added to the project : Split Promotion.

They are fully functional within the game engine. More info below the screenshot.

Here is a quick summary of how promotions are handled in Wicked Night – Holy Knights :

• Units promote automatically at level 21 (There will be a challenge mode that caps exp gains at lvl 20 for the players seeking a further challenge)
• Items will allow any unit to promote at level 10 and up, but the promoted unit will still be considered as a lvl 21 unit in terms of exp gains or with level-related skills.
• WExp gains will be thresholds, not direct bonuses, which means that a Pegasus Rider who had E in Lances will have D Rank on promotion, but a Pegasus Rider who had D in Lances will remain at D Rank. The threshold will change from class to class during balance changes. However, every class can achieve a single S rank in any of the available weapon type.
• The 3D model of the unit in said class will be shown in the top-right corner of the promotion screen.

Some changes were also made to the class tree (Fighter/Flyer/Magical trees are still being reworked). You can also read the complete update on the official blog post.

Here is the complete portrait of Dogo, followed by Maltroth, this update's character teaser.

[ghast]

i really fucking dig this artwork man. keep it up

[BlindCoco]

Thanks Ghast! I'm really liking how the shading and coloring is turning out!

Can't wait to reveal more characters as the game is progressing!

[Loopulk]

I played the sample/demo level and one of the characters went in between tiles (visually in between)... He couldn't attack and it was glitchy because sometimes he would be on one of the tiles (game wise) but other times he would be on the other.

This looks very promising! :)

Edited May 9, 2016 by Loopulk

[BlindCoco]

I fixed a lot of issues since that demo, both visually and mechanically, but if this happens again in the next build, let me know!

I have another feature I want to add before I go back to polishing stuff for a demo, but thanks for the kind words. :)

[BlindCoco]

Update May 21st

Bonus Experience is currently being implemented in the game. You can see the two biggest screens of the feature. I'm also implementing Mind and Fortitude as stats. You can see what they do and the reasoning behind them down below.

New Stats : Mind and Fortitude

Mind
What does it do?
The Mind stat will be used mostly by healers as it will replace the Magic stat used in most tactical RPGs. This stat will also be used (alongside with Skill) in the hit rate of Status Staves. Finally, this stat will also be used instead of Magic for some skills, such as Respite (which healed every turn for a portion of the Magic stat).

Why?
There are two main reasons that drove me to add the Mind stat.
First of all, I always found it weird that most frail healers, who usually have a high magic stat totally flip when they reach promotion. They go from the weak healer to an insane glass canon fast.
Secondly, I wanted to create a niche for prepromoted mages who have a higher focus on healing instead of fighting, which could be bypassed by trading a tome with the earlier system.

How does that translate to Gameplay?
For the most part, it should feel natural once the players get used to the new system. Some healers will still have a high magic stat, but others won’t. All in favor of a deeper system that allows for better unit balance when it comes to fine tuning.

Fortitude
What does it do?
The Fortitude stat will be used as a way to resist statuses, both incoming from status staves and from some weapons. Some skills will also interact with the Fortitude stat. This stat might also be used to trigger some of the more defensive active skills, such as Great Shield and Great Aegis.

Why?
After confirming that I wanted to add in status staves, I wanted to be sure that it wouldn’t completely destroy entire classes. In some games, Berserkers and Generals are completely countered by status staves as a result from low Resistance.

How does that translate to Gameplay?
Some units will naturally have low Fortitude, but it also allows for some Axemen and Armored units to have some means of protection against statuses. Just like the Mind stat, this further allows me to have some better control on unit balance overall. This also allows for some easier weapon variety as some Safeguard-like weapons can be created that boost Fortitude when equipped to allow for a counter to status staves.

As always, you can check out the full update on BlindCoco where I also added the next playable character teaser.