Hello Valcartians!
Welcome to the first developer blog in quite some time! We have some great news for you all! Valcarta II is back in production! However, there have been some major changes to the layout of the game. As many of you may know, Valcarta I: Rise of the Demon had 2 distinct paths you could play through. Valcarta II does it a bit differently. With the differences in the Light and the Dark paths at the end of the first game we thought it was in the best interest of the series to split them and make them separate individual games, not to mention the file size of the game was getting quite large! With that set, we would like to introduce to you, Valcarta II as 3 separate games, all aimed to be around the 30 hours of developer play time (Valcarta I was 40 hours of developer play time with both paths combined). Since there are 3 separate games, each of them needs it's own title! Our current working thoughts:
Valcarta II: Domination for the Dark Path
Valcarta II: Awakening for the Light Path
Valcarta II: Deliverance for the new Path
We hope that this new model allows for fans of individual paths to not feel obligated to play a path they have no interest in. For example, Talon's dad. He normally doesn't play anything presumed as "Evil" or "Dark" meaning that the Dark Path wouldn't interest him at all. Playing Valcarta I, it's likely you needed to play both the Light and the Dark Paths to get the full picture. We wanted to move away from that. Now, some of you may be wondering about the new pricing schemes that will be used with the division of the games. With Valcarta I, we set the game out at $15 for 40+ hours of game play. Since we are now aiming for 3 games of 30+ hours of game play, that will need to be changed. Our current estimate for the cost of the games will be about $10. Of course, this is all still up in the air :)
Currently we are working on the Valcarta II: Domination which follows the events and the characters from the Dark Path of Valcarta I. While we are working hard and are about 70% done, our estimated release date is Mid-January. Talon and I have just received different jobs so this date will likely need to be adjusted.
Keep track of our progress and keep your eyes peeled for BETA invites and information! https://www.facebook.com/riseofthedemon.
Until Next Time~
Mikheli
Art and Lorecat
Blacksword Games
Friday, November 15, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Hello Valcartians!
Much like above, different monsters
have different movement patterns when walking on the map. Some will
actively seek you out, others will move randomly through the zone.
Enemies will also be moving at different speeds, sometimes even able
to swarm you for up to 2-3 fights in close succession followed by a
nice break. Keep in mind, that fighting at this point has become more
optional, but no less challenging.
We have also changed combat a bit from
the Early video we showed off where combat was shown with 4 battle
members at a time. This will not be the case anymore. After putting a
lot of hours into playing the game, we determined that 4 members was
making our combat too easy, and we needed to do something about it.
We could either: A. Reduce the number of Combat members or B.
Increase the number of enemies in a single encounter. Well, as it
turns out, option a was our course of action. Option B faded out of
our minds really quick when we realized that attacks that effect all
enemies would still clear out an encounter quickly. Thus solidifying
our route towards Option A, removing the 4 battle member.
Despite only have 3 battle members in
combat, there are more characters that you can chose to fight with at
a given time. We have added a feature that will allow players to
switch which combat members were available in the heat of battle. At
the start of each round you will be able to sub in or out any member
of the party (dead or alive). This feature comes in more handy when
dealing with Boss monsters, Fay-Charged Monsters (FCMs) or even just
random encounters.
Lastly I wanted to touch on the newest
changed we have made to combat as we have been messing with this a
lot the last couple of weeks. With the combat party swapping
mechanics, we decided to customize each character into their own
role, making each one viable in different situations.
For example: Dark Path Valak will
specialize in dealing damage to foes with higher defense. As the
enemy gains more and more defense per level, Valak's damage gets
higher and higher.
Where as another character, say Maria,
specializes in taking out Fay related creatures such as slimes,
elementals, spirits or Fay Beings!
Overall, we want to create a fun and
interesting battle flow for players to involve themselves in, whilst
keeping the personality of each character predominate through every
section of the game.
That's all for tonight's post folks,
stayed tuned for more this week! In part too we will discuss the
games progression, how the split-path will work in V-2, and more!
Thanks,
Taylor Cox (Talon)
Blacksword Games CEO and Lead Developer
of Valcarta
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Valcarta Art Blog for Mother's Day
Happy Mother's Day Valcartians!
Today we have a special art blog. As per request today I'll be showing our newest piece of character art. A fairy named Yiako!
Next we have Mystic Smiths:
Mystic Smith's will teach you about crafting and sell crafting materials unable to be found anywhere else.
Next we have our shopkeepers:
You'll find her anytime you need potions, teleport stones, or stimulants!
LASTLY! We have someone incredible special that no information will be released about! So make sure you post your speculations in the comment box below.
Today we have a special art blog. As per request today I'll be showing our newest piece of character art. A fairy named Yiako!
More information about Yiako will be released later! You'll find him on the Fayvale path!
Next we have Mystic Smiths:
Mystic Smith's will teach you about crafting and sell crafting materials unable to be found anywhere else.
Next we have our shopkeepers:
You'll find her anytime you need potions, teleport stones, or stimulants!
LASTLY! We have someone incredible special that no information will be released about! So make sure you post your speculations in the comment box below.
Until Next Time~
Mikheli
Art and Lorecat
Blacksword Games
Mikheli
Art and Lorecat
Blacksword Games
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Valcarta II: Awakening 4-25-13
Welcome to another blog, it has been quite some time since we last wrote to you!
We've been busy making the Dark Path of Valcarta II: Awakening, hopefully you are at the edge of your seat awaiting it's arrival.
Talon has been busy making maps and events for each scene. Our goal in mind is to show how Drachell and Valcarta as a whole have changed since the end of Rise of the Demon. As you can see below the Fairy Forest has changed quite a bit.
Mikheli on the other hand has been busy making a vast majority of the art in the game (pretty much everything but the tilesets and sprites! hahahaha), from characters talking in scenes, to the battle art! I am pleased to show you all my efforts and hope you all enjoy them as much as I do when I make them!
Until Next Time!
Mikheli (Art and Lorecat)
Amanda Smith
Blacksword Games
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Greetings Valcartians!
Seldom do I write to you, but Mikheli is currently swamped with work, as she has taken on the task of drawing up our Character Art. It's been quite a while since we have written and there is much we can relay to you all! Let's get to it shall we?
Valcarta I:
I'd like to start by outlining the recent success of Valcarta I, as it has gotten onto 2 of the biggest RPG Maker game sites that we know of (Aldorlea Games and Amaranthia Games) This as not only got us great exposure, but also a large boost in sales, which directly help the development of the Valcarta series! Remember, if you haven't picked up Valcarta I yet, you can find it on our website www.blackswordgames.com
Valcarta II:
Now for the good stuff, the reason why you're all here! You wanna hear the juicy news we have in store for you for Valcarta II. Well, where to begin? Oh yes, that should do! Monday has officially marked the start of Valcarta II: Awakening's Production phase, meaning that all the planning and ground work for the game has been completed and we can get into the bulk of the work. Mikheli and I are both very excited about this project and we hope we can meet the standards we have set for ourselves. Our production schedule, as of right now, sets us to complete the game and enter testing phases by the end of May. We hope that we will be able to bring you a vast, exciting and engaging RPG within that time frame. I hope that the fans of the game will be signing up for the BETA test (TBA) as we will have 10 spots open for testers.
First on the board for production: Music
We have compiled a list of over 70 tracks to add to the game. These tracks make up all game songs (World Map, Dungeon, Character Themes, etc.). We feel that, in terms of music, Valcarta I fell short a bit so we hope to bring music into Valcarta II to bring it much more life. The songs have been obtained through many different resource packs, offered by the RPG Maker developers in hopes of widening the range of what music will accomplish in the game since we know it has such a great influence.
Second off: Dungeon Demo
So I'm sure most of you have heard, but there is a Dungeon Demo being released sometime within the next week (or so). This will allow users to play a side-dungeon within game for the first 10 floors. You will have access to 4 characters (Dark Valak, Maria, Mikheli and.... Luci!). You will travel through the vast labyrinth that is aptly named "The Labyrinth of the Forgotten". This dungeon was created by the Dwarves of Lorham to hold and protect the treasures of the Knightblades. The Labyrinth is ever changing, meaning that no one will ever walk the same path through it. Each doorway and each staircase found within the dungeon will bring you to a new, randomly selected area. There are a total of 60 different areas in which you can enter, 30 of which have puzzles and a staircase down to the next floor, the other 30 are filled with monsters and will take you to a new room. The objective of this dungeon is to make it to the bottom, where you will be able to fight against and Ancient Guardian of the Knightblades. This guardian will give you a rare crafting item as well as unique accessory to bolster your arsenal going into the tough battles within the game. Every 10 floors with the Labyrinth puts the characters against a boss, that will be set a specific minimum difficulty and must be beaten before you are allowed to proceed any further. The possibilities within this dungeon are seemingly limitless, allowing you to fully level your characters if you spent long enough in here.
Next bit of information: Crafting, Enemies and Character Growth!
As you may have noticed from Valcarta I, there was a lot of junk that dropped from enemies. This junk can now be used for something other than just selling for GP. Junk can now be used to craft or enhance gear into strong pieces and is currently Mikheli's Pride and Joy as she has worked vigorously on this all month (sadly, she's still not done...) Look forward to playing with the large amount of gear options for each character to build up your ideal team!
We've also changed how enemies and Player Characters will grow and develop. We have talked a bit about the Class changing system, giving the player the ability to change between 3 different classes when they want, allowing them to learn different skills and alter the rate in which certain stats grow. The stat curves are very step, so players will see a lot of gain early on, and will need to relay more on strategic game play later on.
That being said, we've changed the way enemies work, where-in they will level up with the character providing a tough challenge at any point in the game. Naturally, there will get strong and weaker enemies types depending on where you go. We hope that this layer of the game will bring a new and exciting challenge to Valcarta fans!
Lastly: World Travel
We've written the main story scripts for each of the Paths within the game: Dark Path, Light Path and the Fayvale Special Ops. Each of these groups of heroes take a different path through the world, bringing them to different areas at different times within the story. We have decided to go with a more non-traditional route and use a strict Fast Travel system that allows the player to select a destination which will be available to him/her based on which Chapter of the story the are currently in. Since the group of heroes has an objective to meet, free roaming throughout the 3 open provinces is really something we wanted to offer, thus limiting you to where you can go. That also being said, this will provide us with some cool tricks we can throw into some areas that will make the player want to explore everywhere before progressing the story further. I have developed 3 World Maps (Top Left: Illymader, Bottom Left: Fayvale and Right: Neo-Drachell) each of these maps will not be used in game, but are being used by our map artist, Kuma, to create a nice, hand-drawn adaptation of this so that the players see a clean version of this every time they select a destination. We hope that this new system will bring in some excitement.
Along with this system, I would just like to say, that this will not take away from zone discovery/exploration. By exiting an area to the world map, you are able to select are area which removed the need to walk around on an Overworld setting like in Valcarta I. By selecting this area, you will enter that area, and are free to explore and seek out your object. It's still very open ended!
I hope you enjoyed this weeks Developer Blog, and I hope we can keep you
all interested with our Dungeon Demo coming out later this week.
This is Talon, Blacksword Games - Supreme Overlord signing off!
Good Night everyone, and Stay Frosty!
Seldom do I write to you, but Mikheli is currently swamped with work, as she has taken on the task of drawing up our Character Art. It's been quite a while since we have written and there is much we can relay to you all! Let's get to it shall we?
Valcarta I:
I'd like to start by outlining the recent success of Valcarta I, as it has gotten onto 2 of the biggest RPG Maker game sites that we know of (Aldorlea Games and Amaranthia Games) This as not only got us great exposure, but also a large boost in sales, which directly help the development of the Valcarta series! Remember, if you haven't picked up Valcarta I yet, you can find it on our website www.blackswordgames.com
Valcarta II:
Now for the good stuff, the reason why you're all here! You wanna hear the juicy news we have in store for you for Valcarta II. Well, where to begin? Oh yes, that should do! Monday has officially marked the start of Valcarta II: Awakening's Production phase, meaning that all the planning and ground work for the game has been completed and we can get into the bulk of the work. Mikheli and I are both very excited about this project and we hope we can meet the standards we have set for ourselves. Our production schedule, as of right now, sets us to complete the game and enter testing phases by the end of May. We hope that we will be able to bring you a vast, exciting and engaging RPG within that time frame. I hope that the fans of the game will be signing up for the BETA test (TBA) as we will have 10 spots open for testers.
First on the board for production: Music
We have compiled a list of over 70 tracks to add to the game. These tracks make up all game songs (World Map, Dungeon, Character Themes, etc.). We feel that, in terms of music, Valcarta I fell short a bit so we hope to bring music into Valcarta II to bring it much more life. The songs have been obtained through many different resource packs, offered by the RPG Maker developers in hopes of widening the range of what music will accomplish in the game since we know it has such a great influence.
Second off: Dungeon Demo
So I'm sure most of you have heard, but there is a Dungeon Demo being released sometime within the next week (or so). This will allow users to play a side-dungeon within game for the first 10 floors. You will have access to 4 characters (Dark Valak, Maria, Mikheli and.... Luci!). You will travel through the vast labyrinth that is aptly named "The Labyrinth of the Forgotten". This dungeon was created by the Dwarves of Lorham to hold and protect the treasures of the Knightblades. The Labyrinth is ever changing, meaning that no one will ever walk the same path through it. Each doorway and each staircase found within the dungeon will bring you to a new, randomly selected area. There are a total of 60 different areas in which you can enter, 30 of which have puzzles and a staircase down to the next floor, the other 30 are filled with monsters and will take you to a new room. The objective of this dungeon is to make it to the bottom, where you will be able to fight against and Ancient Guardian of the Knightblades. This guardian will give you a rare crafting item as well as unique accessory to bolster your arsenal going into the tough battles within the game. Every 10 floors with the Labyrinth puts the characters against a boss, that will be set a specific minimum difficulty and must be beaten before you are allowed to proceed any further. The possibilities within this dungeon are seemingly limitless, allowing you to fully level your characters if you spent long enough in here.
Next bit of information: Crafting, Enemies and Character Growth!
As you may have noticed from Valcarta I, there was a lot of junk that dropped from enemies. This junk can now be used for something other than just selling for GP. Junk can now be used to craft or enhance gear into strong pieces and is currently Mikheli's Pride and Joy as she has worked vigorously on this all month (sadly, she's still not done...) Look forward to playing with the large amount of gear options for each character to build up your ideal team!
We've also changed how enemies and Player Characters will grow and develop. We have talked a bit about the Class changing system, giving the player the ability to change between 3 different classes when they want, allowing them to learn different skills and alter the rate in which certain stats grow. The stat curves are very step, so players will see a lot of gain early on, and will need to relay more on strategic game play later on.
That being said, we've changed the way enemies work, where-in they will level up with the character providing a tough challenge at any point in the game. Naturally, there will get strong and weaker enemies types depending on where you go. We hope that this layer of the game will bring a new and exciting challenge to Valcarta fans!
Lastly: World Travel
We've written the main story scripts for each of the Paths within the game: Dark Path, Light Path and the Fayvale Special Ops. Each of these groups of heroes take a different path through the world, bringing them to different areas at different times within the story. We have decided to go with a more non-traditional route and use a strict Fast Travel system that allows the player to select a destination which will be available to him/her based on which Chapter of the story the are currently in. Since the group of heroes has an objective to meet, free roaming throughout the 3 open provinces is really something we wanted to offer, thus limiting you to where you can go. That also being said, this will provide us with some cool tricks we can throw into some areas that will make the player want to explore everywhere before progressing the story further. I have developed 3 World Maps (Top Left: Illymader, Bottom Left: Fayvale and Right: Neo-Drachell) each of these maps will not be used in game, but are being used by our map artist, Kuma, to create a nice, hand-drawn adaptation of this so that the players see a clean version of this every time they select a destination. We hope that this new system will bring in some excitement.
Along with this system, I would just like to say, that this will not take away from zone discovery/exploration. By exiting an area to the world map, you are able to select are area which removed the need to walk around on an Overworld setting like in Valcarta I. By selecting this area, you will enter that area, and are free to explore and seek out your object. It's still very open ended!
 | |
| Valcarta II - RPG Maker Tiled Map (Drawn version coming soon) |
This is Talon, Blacksword Games - Supreme Overlord signing off!
Good Night everyone, and Stay Frosty!
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Valcarta II: Awakening Video Blog 1 - Dungeon Demo
Mikheli shares with us a nice dungeon demo! Sorry for the delay and enjoy!
The sound occasionally bugs out due to a upload quality error. We will make sure it's fixed next time!
Until Next Time,
Taylor Cox (Talon)
CEO and Boss Cat @ Blacksword Games
and
Amanda Smith (Mikheli)
Official Lorecat @ Blacksword Games
The sound occasionally bugs out due to a upload quality error. We will make sure it's fixed next time!
Until Next Time,
Taylor Cox (Talon)
CEO and Boss Cat @ Blacksword Games
and
Amanda Smith (Mikheli)
Official Lorecat @ Blacksword Games
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Valcarta II: Awakening Preproduction update 3!
Greetings Valcartians ~
This week was a crazy one!
During the input of all our 1500ish skills, we ran into a small issue of a system limit of 999. Alas through vigorous research and Mikheli's super detective skills, we found a way to bypass that issue!
After, couldn't have been more than a hour, Mikheli got into a car accident! She is alright, although she has a few bruises and a bad knee now. She is most definitely feeling the injuries this afternoon.
Good news on the crafting system phase 1 has been complete and now Mikheli has begun inputting recipes!
Talon has been making exceptional progress inputting skills, finishing 4 character + a day (each character has 75ish skills).
Sorry for the short post~
Also! The Dev Blog will now be updated every other week!
Make sure you like our Facebook, follow our Twitter, and join us on Steam!
This week was a crazy one!
During the input of all our 1500ish skills, we ran into a small issue of a system limit of 999. Alas through vigorous research and Mikheli's super detective skills, we found a way to bypass that issue!
After, couldn't have been more than a hour, Mikheli got into a car accident! She is alright, although she has a few bruises and a bad knee now. She is most definitely feeling the injuries this afternoon.
Good news on the crafting system phase 1 has been complete and now Mikheli has begun inputting recipes!
Talon has been making exceptional progress inputting skills, finishing 4 character + a day (each character has 75ish skills).
Sorry for the short post~
Also! The Dev Blog will now be updated every other week!
Make sure you like our Facebook, follow our Twitter, and join us on Steam!
Until Next Time,
Amanda Smith (Mikheli)
Official Lorecat @ Blacksword Games
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Valcarta II: Awakening Preproduction Update 2!
Greetings Valcartians~
With preproduction well under way, we have completed several preproduction goals and have very few left to do! We are almost out of preproduction and well on our way into production!
Talon has finished making all the 19 character skills (Mikheli made Mikheli and Yiako!). He is currently inputting each skill into the system. (About 1,500 skills to input!) He's also finished making all the enemy skills and items!
Talon has also made some dungeon puzzles, including:
Switch Puzzles -
Moving Lights -
Created by the Illymader half-breeds, the Moving Death defense system is a complex system of spikes and other various instruments of impaling, slicing and overall just spilling blood. It is said a small ball of Fay light will be able to guide you through the proper path. The you will need to memorize the movement of this Orb if you wish to pass unharmed.
Dwarven Lock (Mikheli's favorite)
Created by the mining men of Lorham, the Dwarven Lock defense system is a more advanced maze then the typical Abardean Labyrinth. The Dwarven Lock is designed to keep everything that doesn't bleed metal, out. A maze that changes it's lay out constantly, and is never quite the same. Many dangers lurk within the walls and the roof of these mazes, attempting to pluck off unwary travelers who may stumble in and get stuck.
And a few other types (Don't want to spoil everything now!)
The World map for Valcarta II Awakening has been thoroughly planned out, now our artist Kuma is taking the map and rendering it for our fancy new map travel system! (More on that later!)
With preproduction well under way, we have completed several preproduction goals and have very few left to do! We are almost out of preproduction and well on our way into production!
Talon has finished making all the 19 character skills (Mikheli made Mikheli and Yiako!). He is currently inputting each skill into the system. (About 1,500 skills to input!) He's also finished making all the enemy skills and items!
Talon has also made some dungeon puzzles, including:
Switch Puzzles -
A simple device system used by
many humanoid run systems to keep unintelligent life forms away.
Switch Puzzles use a network of switches to change or alter the
position of a room or object in means of opening up a path.
Labyrinth Defense -
First used by the Yeti-Men of Abardean, the Labyrinth Defense system
has made it's way into many different dungeons and caves to protect
their good from robbers. Although not overly tricky, the Labyrinth is
normally full of dangerous monsters and will take a lot of patience
and self-awareness to get through. Travelers beware, as your map, nor
any tool will save you from this kind of puzzle.
Created by the Illymader half-breeds, the Moving Death defense system is a complex system of spikes and other various instruments of impaling, slicing and overall just spilling blood. It is said a small ball of Fay light will be able to guide you through the proper path. The you will need to memorize the movement of this Orb if you wish to pass unharmed.
 |
| Moving Lights Trap in Progress |
Created by the mining men of Lorham, the Dwarven Lock defense system is a more advanced maze then the typical Abardean Labyrinth. The Dwarven Lock is designed to keep everything that doesn't bleed metal, out. A maze that changes it's lay out constantly, and is never quite the same. Many dangers lurk within the walls and the roof of these mazes, attempting to pluck off unwary travelers who may stumble in and get stuck.
And a few other types (Don't want to spoil everything now!)
The World map for Valcarta II Awakening has been thoroughly planned out, now our artist Kuma is taking the map and rendering it for our fancy new map travel system! (More on that later!)
 |
| The sprite version of Valcarta II! |
Mikheli has finished making the character sheet, and may share with you a bit about the new characters in future blogs! She is now working on making every animation for the skills and making the synthesis system's recipes!
Also special sneak peek for you! We may have an artist to do the character images in Valcarta II! I heard a rumor in the winds that a interview with him is being planned for a blog in the near future!
We have now sold 17 copies of Valcarta I since launch! We are hoping for even more, so keep telling people about us! If you are curious and haven't obtained your copy yet head to Blacksword Games and prepare yourself for a adventure and story like no other! Also with Valcarta I, you'll recieve a Lorebook with history and extra tidbits about the world, (includes maps of all the dungeons!) and a Audio Lorebook!
As always, we wish to thank you for your continued support of Valcarta and Blacksword Games. It's a pleasure and honor to have you as fans!
Until Next Time,
Amanda Smith (Mikheli)
Official Lorecat @ Blacksword Games
Monday, January 21, 2013
The Three Heros of Valcarta II: Awakening
Greetings fellow Valcartians! (That's right Trekies now have competition.)
I bet you all are interested in what we have been doing as of late! Well, as you may have heard we are introducing a third path, Fayvale Special Ops, for Valcarta II: Awakening, while having the two previous paths of Light and Dark Valak continue.
I'd like to take a moment to share with you the main characters of each path. (SPOILERS ABOUND!)
Valak -
Dark Path -
Valak chose the darkness not knowing what could go wrong. Upon his choice a mysterious figure appeared and granted Valak the power of Darkness, "asking" him to join the Brotherhood and to stop the Empire. After completing his first mission, Valak arrived in Sleemonburg and met Astrid, Astrid asked Valak if he could help her stop the Empire from purging all the non-human races of the world. Valak agreed and set off to find the eight crystals of the Elemental Lords so that their powers could aid them in saving the world. Valak who was soon asked by Astrid (who we find out is really Synkale) if he'd join her and become her champion. Valak accepted and began feeling changes, having the Elemental Lord of Darkness residing within his soul, had brought forth great power. After finding the Summoner's Staff Valak, Synkale and the rest of his team continued onward in search for more crystals. At last when all the crystals had been acquired Valak and Synkale headed towards the Ritual Shrine, hoping that summoning the elemental lords would save Drachell from being purged. But as fate would have it, Valak and his team were tricked by Synkale, and ended up releasing Ragnarok upon the world.
Which now leads us to the start of Valcarta II: Awakening... Valak and Synkale have been missing for nearly three months, Ragnarok's power is began to show throughout the land. The story starts upon Valak and Synkale's return...
Light Path -
Valak chose Light instead of the Darkness. Upon his choice a mysterious figure emerged and stole the "darkness" from his heart making him a pure and true man. Secretly leaving the essence of Hyperion inside the unknowingly young Valak. Upon going home and talking with his town's mayor he learned many distressing things. With the urge to help rid the land of evil, he meets with the king who tells them that the Brotherhood is up to no good and are beginning to collect the crystals to "sabotage" the cleansing ritual that holds Ragnarok at bay. Upon bringing the first crystal to a hidden armory, the main researcher there notices that Valak has a strange presence within him. Putting Valak asleep he awakens this presence and alerts Valak that Hyperion lies within him. Hyperion and Valak learn that the seals keeping Ragnarok at bay are failing, but there is hope as a method has been found to keep him sealed. Hyperion, wanting nothing more than to stop Synkale and help with the start of a new cleansing ritual asks Valak to become his champion. Valak agrees with honor becoming a champion of light, and was given the power to heal and save. Valak, Hyperion, and his team go off to gather the elemental lords. After retrieving a vast amount of crystals, Valak and Hyperion fight Dark Talon and Synkale. Hyperion exorcises Talon, removing Synkale, putting her back in her Crystal. Valak and group then return to the Hidden Armory and being production on the Omni-Champion gems. At the end of production, they attempt to make one more and Synkale springs from her crystal to destroy the fragile orb, releasing Ragnarok from his binds.
In the beginning of Valcarta II: Awakening, Valak has made his way to Illymader, working with Emperor Sleemon, he is trying to figure a way how to stop Ragnarok. And to save Sleemonburg from the threat of the Faywielding elves.
Fayvale Special Ops - Mission: To stop Ragnarok and bring piece to Fayvale and the Fayweilders.
Aleciair
A product of the military. Aleciair was only 14 when he entered the military. Under strict training from the Airwielders. When he was the only one to return from his last mission, he was promoted to the Fayvale Special Ops leader. At the beginning of Valcarta II Aleciair is choosen to unite a team containing many of Fayvale's races to halt the war and stop Ragnarok.
Hopefully this is enough to fulfill your Valcarta II cravings for the day!
I bet you all are interested in what we have been doing as of late! Well, as you may have heard we are introducing a third path, Fayvale Special Ops, for Valcarta II: Awakening, while having the two previous paths of Light and Dark Valak continue.
I'd like to take a moment to share with you the main characters of each path. (SPOILERS ABOUND!)
 |
| Valak at the beginning of Valcarta I |
A
quiet young man from the village of Orm who once lived in Sleemonburg,
where he was raised by an old couple who found him on their
doorstep late one night. On a trip to Orm on Valak's 14th
year, both of his
caretakers were killed... Left in front of the small village, Orm,
Valak ran
for his life to escape the cloaked killer. As the sun broke through
the horizon,
the killer disappeared. Valak, in terrible shock fainted in the gateway
to Orm, and was found by the old Innkeeper and taken in. From that
point on, Valak swore to avenge his old guardians, and took up a sword
to learn how to defend himself from the world's dangers.
Growing
up in Drachell wasn't easy for Valak. He was always a bit different
compared to everyone else. Never said much, normally kept to himself.
His red colored eyes often scared away people. His long White Hair made
the boys tease him about his gender as well... Many people grew suspicious
of Valak, since he clearly was not a normal Human. How did he get
here, through the magic? What was he? Valak
has grow up to become Orm village's protector. Helping travelers get
from Orm to Renkar, or Malvern without fear of anything on the
streets. Due
to the magics of the Cleansing Ritual being in place, Valak has had
to deal
with much of anything aside from the occasional bandits, until now...
After entering a mysterious house Valak was thrown into a decision no man could be ready for. Would he follow the path of light or darkness?
After entering a mysterious house Valak was thrown into a decision no man could be ready for. Would he follow the path of light or darkness?
Dark Path -
 |
| Dark Valak at the end of Valcarta I |
Valak chose the darkness not knowing what could go wrong. Upon his choice a mysterious figure appeared and granted Valak the power of Darkness, "asking" him to join the Brotherhood and to stop the Empire. After completing his first mission, Valak arrived in Sleemonburg and met Astrid, Astrid asked Valak if he could help her stop the Empire from purging all the non-human races of the world. Valak agreed and set off to find the eight crystals of the Elemental Lords so that their powers could aid them in saving the world. Valak who was soon asked by Astrid (who we find out is really Synkale) if he'd join her and become her champion. Valak accepted and began feeling changes, having the Elemental Lord of Darkness residing within his soul, had brought forth great power. After finding the Summoner's Staff Valak, Synkale and the rest of his team continued onward in search for more crystals. At last when all the crystals had been acquired Valak and Synkale headed towards the Ritual Shrine, hoping that summoning the elemental lords would save Drachell from being purged. But as fate would have it, Valak and his team were tricked by Synkale, and ended up releasing Ragnarok upon the world.
 |
| Dark Valak at the beginning of Valcarta II (Sample art - Subject to change) |
Light Path -
 |
| Light Valak at the end of Valcarta I |
 |
| Light Valak at the beginning of Valcarta II (Sample art - Subject to change) |
Aleciair
Aleciair
(Sample art - Subject to change)
(Sample art - Subject to change)
A product of the military. Aleciair was only 14 when he entered the military. Under strict training from the Airwielders. When he was the only one to return from his last mission, he was promoted to the Fayvale Special Ops leader. At the beginning of Valcarta II Aleciair is choosen to unite a team containing many of Fayvale's races to halt the war and stop Ragnarok.
Until Next Time,
Amanda Smith (Mikheli)
Official Lorecat @ Blacksword Games
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Valcarta II: Awakening Preproduction Synthesis System!
Today, we are going to show off our new synthesis system!
During the pre-production discussions between Talon and I, we decided to take junk items that are dropped by the monsters of Valcarta I and incorporate it into a synthesis system. Incorporating this new system should give the player the much needed customization feel that Valcarta I seemed to lack.
The synthesis, weapon, and armour systems of Valcarta II will have multiple tiers of base materials; Iron, Steel, Fay Glass, Fay Root, etc. Within each tier there will be multiple weapon and armor types, Cesti, Swords, Eye Patches, Sollerets, etc. In this system, one would be able to take a base item such as a Iron Sword and a piece of junk, acquired from defeating monsters, questing, or even buying from a shop and combine them together to form a new item. Based on what was used within the synthesis, different effects will occur. For example: Iron Longsword + Angel Tear = Iron Longsword of Demonsbane.
Sounds simple enough, right? Well it's actually more complicated then I let on.
You see, I could have Iron Cesti and that same Angel Tear from before, and attempt to combine them, forming a "Holy Cesti" giving me additional Light damage on hit. Different base weapons provide different results, even when the same junk is thrown into the mix, same goes for armor!
With this type of system, we are planning to make certain types of weapons or armour exclusive to certain effects, such as: Only swords can have a "of Dragon Slaying" effect, meaning that regardless of the materials used, weapon and armor bases have their own specific range of additional effects that they can handle. As mentioned above, Swords are the only thing capable of supporting the Dragon Slaying effect, thus making Spears or Axes unable to house this effect through synthesis.
Going even further, we want to make it so that certain base materials can't yield certain effects either! Such as these two weapons, Iron Sword and Adamantine Sword, while the Iron Sword and a few other base types of swords could produce a "of Dragon-slaying" end result, the Adamantine Sword would be unable to merge with the Dragon's Talon due to it's nature to reflect items of intense Fay power. Instead, the Adamantine Sword would yield a different effect, while using the same materials.
Hopefully, we will create a system that is not only fun to play with, but makes you plan ahead before you make a new weapon or armour!
During the pre-production discussions between Talon and I, we decided to take junk items that are dropped by the monsters of Valcarta I and incorporate it into a synthesis system. Incorporating this new system should give the player the much needed customization feel that Valcarta I seemed to lack.
The synthesis, weapon, and armour systems of Valcarta II will have multiple tiers of base materials; Iron, Steel, Fay Glass, Fay Root, etc. Within each tier there will be multiple weapon and armor types, Cesti, Swords, Eye Patches, Sollerets, etc. In this system, one would be able to take a base item such as a Iron Sword and a piece of junk, acquired from defeating monsters, questing, or even buying from a shop and combine them together to form a new item. Based on what was used within the synthesis, different effects will occur. For example: Iron Longsword + Angel Tear = Iron Longsword of Demonsbane.
Sounds simple enough, right? Well it's actually more complicated then I let on.
You see, I could have Iron Cesti and that same Angel Tear from before, and attempt to combine them, forming a "Holy Cesti" giving me additional Light damage on hit. Different base weapons provide different results, even when the same junk is thrown into the mix, same goes for armor!
 |
| Example of two items that have been merged with a base. |
Going even further, we want to make it so that certain base materials can't yield certain effects either! Such as these two weapons, Iron Sword and Adamantine Sword, while the Iron Sword and a few other base types of swords could produce a "of Dragon-slaying" end result, the Adamantine Sword would be unable to merge with the Dragon's Talon due to it's nature to reflect items of intense Fay power. Instead, the Adamantine Sword would yield a different effect, while using the same materials.
Hopefully, we will create a system that is not only fun to play with, but makes you plan ahead before you make a new weapon or armour!
Until Next Time,
Amanda Smith (Mikheli)
Official Lorecat @ Blacksword Games
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Valcarta II: Awakening Preproduction and Our CEO's Birthday!
Talon has begun to make the each of the 19 characters skills and develop their leveling paths. Around a total of 1,425 skills have been made. (Even though Talon's made 18 characters Mikheli made Mikheli!) We hope you look forward to the new class system Valcarta II will have to offer! (Gonna keep it under secret for now stay tuned for more!)
Mikheli has been working on character profiles giving each character a distinct personality and feel. Maria, Dark path Valak, Mikheli, and Seraphim all have been updated for the ending of V1 (Valcarta I: Rise of the Demon). Hope you are excited for the changes they may or may not have undergone! Mikheli will be working on the rest of these profiles today and finishing them up tomorrow! (Maybe she'll be inclined to share a bit about one of the new characters that we'll meet in Valcarta II.)
A sample of the sprite: Guess which character this is!
 |
| It's Mikheli! |
We have begun to make the new world map, making basic ideas of the provinces. Valcarta II will feature 2 new provinces and the updated province of Drachell that was featured in Valcarta I. The map you see below won't be used in game at all.
 |
| One of the two newest provinces: Illymader |
We have Kuma (poster artist from Valcarta I) making us a rendered map! We have more secrets and news about the world map that'll be released later on so stay tuned!
We have had a lot of progress this week!
We are also speculating starting a kick starter next month to help with things! With this kick starter we are hoping to find a Ruby Scripter (with RGSS3 experience preferably) and a Artist (spriter experience is a plus!) We hope to be able to hire some for these roles to make Valcarta II the best we can for our fans, but as of right now we have no money, nor much to offer... except portfolio experience and the hope of breaking into the gaming industry. But if our kick starter goes well we might be able to offer some sort of payment for the work.
If you are interested in working with us please hit us up with a email: taylorcoxdesigns@gmail.com.
If you haven't gotten your copy yet head to: Blacksword Games and prepare your self for a adventure like no other!
One of the cool things that happened this week was we got featured on Buy Some Indie Games: Check it out here!
As we bring today's dev blog to a close, I (Mikheli), would like to say Happy Birthday to Talon (Taylor Cox - Lead Developer, Producer, Designer of Valcarta, and CEO of Blacksword Games). We have deemed today a Blacksword Games wide holiday and as such I apparently have a free day (but we all know we'll be working anyways!)
Until Next Time,
Amanda Smith (Mikheli)
Official Lorecat @ Blacksword Games
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)