Hard mode!
almost 3 years ago – Sun, May 23, 2021 at 11:02:25 PM

Hi all,

We have just finished the next stretch goal of animated cutscenes! Mikel will pick up his digital brush and show parts of the story in the full game with the animated cinematics you know from the Prologue.

The Next Stretch Goal

For the next stretch goal, we would like to add 3 difficulty settings - Easy, Medium, Hard.

Difficulty Modes Explained

The difficulty setting can be chosen from the start and can be changed anytime you like. Story-wise the game will not change by selecting a different game mode, but we might implement a few secrets for the hard mode difficulty. 

Hard mode will increase the combat difficulty by giving enemies a higher attack power and faster attack animations. Another idea that we want to test is to disable the automated mana recharge and refill only when the player does damage to enemies. Additionally, savepoints will also restock your mana. 

This change would encourage the player to be a bit more considerate with how and when they use their magic. If our tests prove that this is a fun alteration, we will include it in the game.

Easy Mode is meant for players that are new to the genre or prefer playing the game for the story and visuals, rather than the combat and the platforming.

 Shoutout to Oddventure

Another currently ongoing crowdfunding to look out for is Oddventure. The game is a crazy turn-based RPG about the misadventures of Charlie, a girl trapped in a cursed fairy-tale world. The game has a demo, which reminded us about Undertale, but with its own style. 

 We definitely recommend you to try their demo and consider backing their campaign!

So much for this update, as we're currently in the final 48 hours. Please consider backing, and know that you can also help by spreading the word of our campaign. For example, you can retweet our messages or post in a community you're part of. Together, let's crush those last stretch goals!

Cheers,

Mikel & Ramon

About that "story-driven" bit...
almost 3 years ago – Mon, May 17, 2021 at 11:47:08 AM

Hi!

Alex here. I'm a story consultant for Unsung Warriors. What does a story consultant do you ask? I help write quests, character backgrounds, dialogue and lore for the game.

Sticky note sessions

Firstly on how we do this. One of my tools to give structure to the story is through so-called sticky note sessions. During those, we write arcs of the story and motivation/traits of characters on sticky notes and place them on a wall. 

We then check if the relations are logical, and openly discuss which arcs and motivations should be added, removed or changed. It’s a really helpful way to shape the story because it stimulates a discussion between the three of us, while forcing us to look at the same structure (as opposed to everyone having a different structure in mind).

About the story

I also want to talk about how we made the story and what to expect from it, without giving too many spoilers of course.

First, there's a silent protagonist, very much like Link in Zelda. This means we rely on characters you meet to tell the story and have most of the emotional moments in the game. However, don't expect long monologues or sprawling dialogue choices. Instead, the gameplay actions you take have an effect on the outcome of the story. Dialogues are short and optional whenever possible so you can choose whether to engage with the deeper story or not. Level design and gameplay are also used to give the player hints of the story and lore without blocking them.

Even though he's silent, the protagonist still has an important story to tell. Einar is cursed at some point in the game, slowly corrupting him. This gives us a ticking clock to push the story forward as Einar searches for a solution.

But there's more going on than just Einar's personal story. The necromancer, our bbeg (big bad evil guy) has bigger plans. Sitting down to write the story together, we wanted to create a bbeg with a real motivation. He's not just pure evil, even though it may look like that initially. Many people in the world support his goal and we think you'll eventually understand why. His motivations dates back to the creation of the world and the start of all life, which lore-hunting players can eventually reconstruct when they finish the game.

Sneak preview

I probably need to stop now before I start giving actual spoilers. Ok, perhaps a small sneak preview. These two characters are both part of the same quest:

If you have a theory about what is going to happen, we'd love to hear it in the comments.

Shoutout to Astral Ascent

Another campaign that may be right up your alley is Astral Ascent, a 2D platformer rogue-lite on PC and consoles with four worlds to escape, if you can beat the Zodiacs, 12 mighty bosses! The game has a gorgeous pixel art-style, engaging combat and comes with a playable demo! We definitely recommend you to check out their demo and consider supporting their campaign.

 That's it for now. Please keep spreading the word, and if you have any feedback, don't hesitate to reach out!

Cheers,

Alex, Mikel & Ramon

Stretch Goal #2 Unlocked! + Stretch Goal #3 Reveal!
almost 3 years ago – Mon, May 17, 2021 at 11:47:00 AM

Hi all,

We're about two weeks into our campaign and we are still loving every minute of it. Every comment we read, every backer we welcome and every bit of coverage we get: it all helps us in trying to make Unsung Warriors even better! In this update, we'll be telling a bit more about certain stretch goals.

About our stretch goals

Already two of our Stretch goals are funded! Firstly there's Arena Mode, and secondly there's an Extra Playable Character.

The Extra Playable Characters (for player 1 and player 2) are female warriors.  So each player can now choose to play as either male or female. The characters will play exactly the same, just like Einar and Egil do.  Also, there will be no story consequences related to this. The female characters will be silent protagonists as well, but in the Prologue you can actually talk to the first female character, to get a brief glimpse of her personality.

The new stretch goal is (drumroll)... Animated Cutscenes! Like the prologue's intro, these cutscenes can establish gameplay and story scenarios efficiently.  They can be used to introduce new characters, emphasize certain plot points, or be shown as a reward for the player(s). They won't show at the beginning of the full game though, as we have something different for that in mind (sinister laugh)...

Our intention is to interrupt gameplay as little as possible. We'll only use them at key moments in the game.

Shoutout to Blu

Now that you're into the action platformer vibe, you might also want to try out Blu. It's a 2.5D ninja Metroidvania inspired by Dead Cells, Prince of Persia and other classics. We've played the demo and the gameplay, as well as the strong storytelling, made us yell "sacré Blu" from excitement! They're in the last days of their campaign, so don't miss out on this!

We definitely recommend you to check out their demo, and consider pledging if you like what you've played!

Your name on the wall

Know that you can help out our campaign greatly by spreading the word. In case you've backed us, you may have had your name engraved on the wall of our Prologue. We are totally endorsing people showing their engraved name to their audience, for example as done in the following video.

That's it for now. As always, don't hesitate to reach out with feedback and comments.

Cheers,

Mikel & Ramon

How Unsung Warriors is made - Environments
almost 3 years ago – Mon, May 17, 2021 at 11:46:52 AM

Hi all,

In this update, we would like to show you how the environments of Unsung Warriors are made. A peek behind the curtain, if you will...

How to start?

Before we start designing a new level, we ask ourselves a series of questions. What kind of an environment do we want to create? What kind of mood do we want to convey? Where does it fit within the story and what kind of a history does it have? The tricky part of this phase is to capture the image that you have in your head on paper, in the form of quick sketches/concept art. Most sketches end up in the garbage bin,  that is why these sketches need to be quick. The purpose is to explore multiple different ideas fast before it goes into production.

Below is the concept art of a small underground room.  The owner of the place hasn't even gone through the trouble of properly decorating the place and only left some basic living supplies behind.

I usually start with a grayscale image. The second image tells a bit more about the mood of the scene. A simple but cozy place, a refuge before stepping out into the sunlight.

The Break Down

Sketches like these never end up in the project, but they are very helpful to break down a scene into smaller art assets: mushrooms, table, barrel, ladder, cave wall, etc. Although it is possible to import a scene like this as one big image. Breaking it up into small pieces makes it easier to reuse those assets in other environments as well, it also provides flexibility to easily make changes to the layout of the scene by being able to move around objects. 

Level Editing

While traditional platform games usually use tilesets to create levels, we use a different way of editing the levels.  The platform below has a repeating grass image, the shape can be edited by editing these vector curves/points. Which is a more organic way of designing levels.

2D or 3D

Although we refer to Unsung Warriors as a 2D game. The engine we use is actually a 3D engine. The sprites are 2d textures placed on 3d geometry. A scene is divided into several layers. Below you can see an example of what would happen if the camera would be rotated along the y axis.

Shoutout to Piepacker

In this update we'd also like to draw your attention to Piepacker, a new multiplayer gaming platform to play retro games with friends on your web browser.

Their campaign page starts with a gif of people playing Worms, which immediately threw us back down memory lane immediately. And that was just the start of their page. So please consider checking out their page and pledging if you like what you see.

So much for this update. We're halfway our campaign and we're still appreciate all the support we get. Know that you can help out by spreading the word, for example by retweeting or streaming our Prologue. We really enjoyed telling a bit more about how we're making our game, so next week we'll be showing a little bit more about the animations and how we create them.

Kind regards,

Mikel & Ramon

Unsung Stickers
almost 3 years ago – Mon, May 17, 2021 at 11:46:06 AM

Hi,

In this update we would like to talk about a potential new physical reward that we're looking into, namely stickers. We're currently investigating the feasibility of adding that as a post-campaign add on. You could decorate your own hardware with it or share it with your children that may play our game as well.

Creating a sticker that can be applied to a regular PC/laptop surface is fairly easy, but we also wanted to give something to VCS owners. We may have found a way. More on that below.

Creating a VCS suitable sticker

The reason I (Ramon) started thinking about stickers happened last week. Mikel and myself are developing the game for the PC and the Atari VCS, the latter for which I have a devkit set up next to my TV. The other day I had my friend Maud over who is much into product design. The outstanding form of the VCS immediately appealed to her. She asked if we were considering creating any promo material like stickers for it, to which I replied no, because I could not think of any way to create a sticker that would stick to the rippled surface of the VCS. But Maud - as crafty as she is - saw a way.

So the process of making an Atari VCS suitable sticker entails three steps. First you print the sticker on a regular sticker foil. Next a dedicated machine remove the bits of the sticker we don't need. But because the sticker consists of multiple "lines", it would fall apart, so that's why an extra application layer is added which holds everything in place until it is pasted on the VCS. Maud was able to automate this production process using machinery she has at her disposal.

The result is a Sticker which perfectly aligns with the rippled design of the VCS. It can be pasted in one go on the surface and the result of the first iteration already looks rather appealing. But as the saying goes, proof is in the pudding:

Our next step is to improve the color quality of the sticker. If we're satisfied with the final result, we'll offer it for sale as an add on with the Backer Survey's (for both the VCS and regular surfaces). The advantage of stickers is that they can be distributed rather easily via mail. Anyway, let us know what you think!

 Shoutout to A new leaf: Memories 

A New Leaf: Memories is a 3D farming simulator inspired by classics like Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, and Stardew Valley. You wake up on the beach of a foreign island, unable to recall anything. Alone and equipped with only basic farming tools provided by the town residents, you aim to recover your memories. Complete quests and explore Omoide Island as you unfold your story.

We definitely recommend you to check out their Kickstarter page!

That's it for this update. We definitely hope you can keep spreading the word, and we'll see you guys soon!

Cheers,

Mikel & Ramon