20210704 A Word From our Producer / 製作人的話 (Patreon)

Hello, everyone! Another big fat letter coming right up, so I'll just use a teeny tiny bit of your time.
If you haven't noticed yet, the v0.42d, our next major update featuring Chapter 3 is out right now!
👉Click here for more details!👈
If you are one of the early birds, we've already fixed some bugs so it's better for you to redownload to avoid those issues.

Also, some part of the following letter contain GRADUAL SPOILERS for the story so far and beyond.
I'll give you a warning when it's happening so you can close your eyes and scroll down if you want to.

That's all from me! As always, thank you so much for your support, and we hope to bring you more exciting content in the future development.
WIthout further ado, here's that long paragraph from our producer. Have fun!

大家好！感謝大家對Ason的支持！
製作人有很多話壓在這裡，所以我不佔用太多大家的時間
簡單提醒一下，最新的大型更新 v0.42d 已經推出囉！可以進入第三階段了！
👉詳情請點這裡！👈
我們在這幾天有修復了一些BUG，所以建議已經下載的玩家確認版本並重新下載已迴避遇到問題。

另外以下部分內容將陸續包含目前遊戲內容還有未來預定內容的劇透！
即將接觸劇透內容時會另行提醒，請安心閱讀。

再次感謝大家的支持，我們會繼續努力用心做出刺激好玩的遊戲給大家享受。
中文版內容請往下持續捲動，敬請見諒。
那麼我們下次再見～

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Hi everyone. Today I would like to talk about what happened during this update interval, what issues we have encountered, and about the concept about our working title.

First of all, I want to apologize once more for postponing again and again.
I understand that a lot of people want to experience the whole game. Even I myself want to see the end of the tunnel as well.
Spending too much time in one single project is extremely exhausting, and for a 3-person non-professional team, it's really difficult to create an above-average RPG, both visually and battle-wise.
While we have our ups and downs during the development, the hardest part for us has always been keeping our beloved fans holding their fingers and waiting, maybe even feeling dissappointed.

Although Ason, in paper, is a 5-person team, everyone has their own specialty and workload. For Cursed Blacksmith, I'm the producer and programmer, and I have an animator who now has to work on stage design and vfxs as well.
We kept saying about having enough donations shall let us work full-time on game developing, but truth is, both of us have already been working on this title for almost 1 year.
Our animator has had a back problem a long time ago, and myself too these months. I guess that's what happens when you sit in front of a computer desk 10+ hours a day.
That being said, this doesn't help much to our productivity. As long as I insist on the quality for Cursed Blacksmith, it will be harder to speed up our development for the number of people working right now.
We have been searching for more members, such as someone exclusively responsible for stage designs, but due to the complexity for this project, it will take time to get them used to our codes and ideas.

I once thought to myself. "Why not make the game easier and just ship it?"
Why not spend more resources on animations and make it a visual cash grab? Being stuck in game designs, stories etc. is just inefficient and possibly inprofitable.
And that is where all you generous supporters came in.
Even though Cage of Succubus, my previous work, was even more low-budget and kind of lack of NSFW content, seeing a lot of players praising the details in the story rather than a simple meet and F game makes my day everyday.

I admire many game creators on DLSite. They make "useful" illustrations, sure, but they also pour their passion onto story and gameplay, which is what I want to achieve as well.
And so, I am truly grateful for all of you who are liking Cursed Blacksmith so far. It is a great confidence boost to me and my team.
I don't know if I'll continue making such complicated games. Maybe I'll make some simple games as a break after this project is done. RPG Maker was how I get into developing games and I am eternally in debt to it, but good GOD is this tool so inconvenient for our current project.
Nevertheless, it is my life goal to make one game I will never regret putting my heart into, and I will keep working toward this goal.

Okay, enough of myself. Let's talk about the development so far and beyond.
(SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 1 AHEAD)

Last year, when we completed with the development of Chapter 1, we knew that most players aren't familiar with the "Mystery Dungeon" genre.
Although some of you are experienced explorers,  a tutorial revamp is totally needed for the uninitiated.
After that, we made a free trial on Steam and DLSite in order to get more feedbacks from first-time players. This is really time-consuming, even development-hindering I must say, but it's necessary for a rather complicate game like Cursed Blacksmith to explain the system step by step.
By the way, thank you all so much for the comments. We are constantly reading them one by one!

Of course, this is all just a beginning.
Cursed Blacksmith works around smithing your own weapons, which is a system filled with random generations. It can be full of surprise, as well as uncertain.
At first, I hoped players can find it fun to play with different weapons and skills, and through the process find a way to beat the boss.

The first boss of the game, Cursed Armor, might not be that difficult to overcome with skills.
You can just smash its body repeatedly with some high-attack weapons, or even mash D and let your Cursed Sword do all the work.

However, we always think of the Cursed Sword as a last resort.
We hope players can take advantage of whatever skills they have and get the upper hand.
Cursed Blacksmith is more of a "Strategic" game, so having only one tactic usually won't get you too far.
With more than 100 skills planning ahead, we can't have the enemies be easily beaten with just normal attacks. Otherwise we might just remove the whole feature.

(SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 2 AHEAD)

That's why our boss for Chapter 2, Oopart, is all about understanding and discovering weapon skills, as well as challenging players with their positioning, ranged attacks, item throwing and so on.
We admit it is quite hard, and we're happy to already hear some success attempts.
However, most of the feedbacks state that this is way too hard. Some doped over 10 bottles of Soul Drop to finally make it.
This is certainly not what we want to see, as players might experience pain rather than improvement throughout the failed attempts.
We are responsible for not providing enough explanation in time, such as more entries on the Forging Journal.
Please allow me to give you some ways you can battle through Oopart.

A certain hammer can keep its head burning. Isn't that satisfying just to see all the numbers flying all the time?

With skills like Flame Arrow, you can break one of its leg within short turns. Combining this with your forest wildfire, defeating Oopart should be relatively easier.

Every turn counts, so positioning skills that move you 2 to 4 tiles ahead in one turn are very crucial to this kind of situation, not only to the boss, but also to your ordinary dungeon crawling, helping you getting out of the mess.

We mentioned item throwing just above, but there's more than throwing potions.
Materials with higher attributes or weight, near-broken weapons... Everything can be your projectile.
Also, if you manage to survive through the first phase, do look for the Horizon Light for assistance.
All of the above methods don't include special skills like Maid's Uchigatana's Instant Strike. We have prepared several ways for players to conquer the boss without having to farm for rare weapons.

Remember when we promised to create a challenging while variety-rich game? This is why we have to make it necessary to utilize all your abilities to barely survive.
No triumph in this game should be easy, and our protagonist should be heavily injured after every obstacle overcame. You can say it's our theme.
In the future, we will implement an easy mode for players who find themselves less comfortable with the combat. But if you don't explore more about the mechanics and bosses' patterns, going through the stages will naturally be frustrating.
We believe through numerous testing that after understanding the meaning behind the mechanics, players will have a rather fun time learning.

With all that being said, it is never the players to be blamed.
We intentionally exclude some of the instructions fearing giving out too much will break the immersion, which is a pretty difficult part in game design.
We decided to leave some of the hints inside the Forging Journal and, after this update, some of the memories you can get throughout your adventure, as well as some of the stage designs.
Still, unlike action games, players can't make up for their lack of preparation with their actual skills or reaction time.
Whatever the case, in the next updates we will try to make this boss more managable while not nerfing it too much, such as making it more possible to obtain certain skills or hinting certain attack methods.

On a completely unrelated note, this big guy took me a ton of time to make.
I don't even want to talk about how much pain it took me to make players viewable behind its legs.

We mentioned in the update log about the buffs on scraps. Now you won't need to keep farming heavy materials in order to make weapons. Furthermore, scraps can now inherit better skills than before.
I hope this gameplay tweak can keep you curious in this creation loop where you can make stronger and stronger weapons and accessories.

Oh yeah, this boomerang is a new weapon, and it's so cool and so hard to make as well. It's both useful in damage and utility. I wonder if anyone made one of these?

Another reason why this update took this long is due to the background element we want to implement in order to achieve better storytelling.
This one has been in my mind since the start, but I didn't know it was this hard to execute.
Even though we have the knowledge and technology to create H-scenes, the other parts in the scenario require new assets from the ground. Not to mention the ability to destroy said scenery. The whole code in RPG Maker needed to be rewritten.

I'm not going to say this is some epic AAA map, but I'm very proud that we can pull it off, considering our manpower.
These 10K-tile maps were literally killing me.

I know that breaking the environment isn't everyone's thing, but for this mechanic to work without serious hiccups, I tried dozens of times programming differently.
Now I'm just happy that this turned out fine. After this we should just be worrying about map designs.

When I say "serious hiccups," I say it knowing that there are some visually weird parts.
This is yet another programming issue to overcome, and I might need to add something more to fit the battle system to these maps... But that's going to be another story.

I can't wait to show you what all of these maps represent in the story. Let's just hope everything can go smoothly from here on out.

OK, time for another sneak peek!
(SPOILERS FOR FUTURE UPDATE AHEAD)

Now who's this babe coming next to the Safehouse? Man she's huge.
We understand the deadline is crawling closer and closer, and we've spent too much time learning and troubleshooting.
We will still proceed to complete the game without sacrificing our original concept. The game might eventually be delayed; people might blame us, but I'll be more relieved with this way than sending out something I wouldn't like.
With that said, I want to stress again that if you have financial issues or think we are taking it too damn long, please do not feel obliged to donate at all.
We fully understand your reasons, and we sincerely thank you for all your support, donations or not.
I just want to say that I have been pouring my life on Cursed Blacksmith, and it's all because of your generous support that I can still make this game while having a decent meal.
Maybe one day I can feed all of my members, who knows.

After a small break, we will soon resume our development, including some small updates filling up settings and hints, as well as more Monster Girls to come!
Until then, please stay safe and healthy, and we will see you next time!

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大家好，今天想來說明這段時間的種種，以及關於遊戲製作時遇到的問題與心情，並解釋關於這款遊戲的製作理念。

首先，請容許我表達自己的愧疚之心，我知道不少人希望能早日玩到完成版，事實上我自己也非常希望能趕快結束它。
長期在某一個專案待太久非常消耗精神力，但是對人力少的團隊來說，要做好一部有相對不差的演出細節，有生動又具有變化的戰鬥，以及豐富要素的RPG，本身不是一個容易的事情，更不用說我們確實也不是個專業的團隊，一切都還在摸索。
在摸索的過程之中有數不完的痛苦，當然也有突破障礙後的喜悅，但最嚴重的仍然是我深怕粉絲們會等得不耐煩，甚至對我們失望。

嚴格上來說，Ason團隊實際的製作人力只能算得上3個人。（對，你沒看錯，這其實就是Ason團隊目前的總戰力）
即使我們名義上有5個人，但每個人會做的部份以及可執行的工作量都不同，而大部分的遊戲製作能源是身為製作人（兼程式）的我，以及動畫師（兼目前的場景設計&特效設計），即使贊助量並未達到當時預設可以離職的門檻，但其實我們兩個早已開始全職工作，算是專職在家裡開發遊戲，然而動畫師的腰從去年就已經不太好，我則是前幾個月也開始有腰痛的問題，我才知道每天坐幾十個小時，是真的會把身體坐壞的。
然而這樣的製作產能其實應付不了這個企劃的需求，只要我還堅持著品質以及遊戲性，那麼以目前規模來說速度就快不起來，我們途中也試圖在找更多適合的人手加入團隊或協助製作（像最近是需要一個場景設計，好分擔我自己以及動畫師的工作量），不過因為我們專案需求過於複雜，即使找到人手也需要一定時間磨合與培養才能動工。

我曾經心裡掙扎過，其實這款遊戲我可以弄得很簡單，甚至很快將它推出去賣錢，因為要將「遊戲玩法」更全面的讓大家都能夠認同並且能順利上手，又要兼顧變化與挑戰，以賺錢效率的速度來說，根本是吃力不討好。
是的，我為何不將更多的時間跟金錢，直接請人弄出更出色的「動畫」，反而要堅持這些遊戲設計，以及其他氣氛或故事性的元素？我也明白真的要很快的賺錢，甚至所謂撈錢擠奶水的話，只要專心出更多好看好用的圖就好了，根本不需要做什麼「遊戲」。
但是啊，我真的很感謝我以前舊作的粉絲，讓我相信並且堅持做「遊戲」，而不純粹只是擼管用的CG集，魅魔之籠因應資源短缺的關係本身就不是一個優良的Hgame，但得知有不少人喜歡它的原因是裡面我做的劇情細節，這讓我很感動。

我喜歡不少DLsite上作者的遊戲，他們有些除了有好用的CG以外，對遊戲故事的襯托與對玩法上的嘗試有著熱情，而我也希望像他們一樣做出有想法的東西。
對於現在也喜歡這部新作品的粉絲，我也真的非常感謝你們讓我有信心，即使我不知道未來會不會繼續做這麼麻煩的遊戲類型，不過真正幹出一款獨特且不後悔的遊戲，是我的人生志向。

也許這次過後不論成敗，大概會做些比較簡單的遊戲當作調養吧，同時我也有點受夠Rpg Maker編輯器的一些不方便了，畢竟他並不是個適合做這種專案的工具，不過我仍然感謝Rpg Maker，因為它讓我學會做遊戲。
接下來讓我們來聊聊這段時間以及未來的問題吧：
（以下含第一階段劇透）

首先在去年完成第一關Boss時，我們深知大部份的玩家其實並不熟這種遊戲類型，並花時間重製了個教學關卡，或許對不可思議迷宮的老玩家來說，這根本沒有必要，但大部分的新手玩家都需要他，於是我們花時間重製。
完成後先是放到了steam與DLsite上做了一份試玩版，收集更多初次嘗試的玩家的反饋，即使這個過程很花時間，甚至也是拖慢了製作進度的一個原因，不過它卻是一個遊戲必要的東西，特別是這種設定複雜的遊戲，至少能讓多數玩家因為教學關卡而懂得怎麼玩，也很高興有不少人喜歡這個作品。

但是事情肯定還沒完，因為遊戲圍繞著一個充滿隨機性質的元素「鍛造」，它或許充滿了驚奇，但也充滿了不確定性，起初我希望玩家能在這樣的系統裡，從不同武器的技能上找到樂趣，並組合出適合對抗Boss的玩法。

是的，也許第一關的Boss魔盔甲，或許還不用到一定得使用技能才能過關，素質夠高的話硬敲就能敲死，甚至能多使用幾瓶靈魂之滴來過關。

但事實上我們並不鼓勵一直使用「魔劍」來當作破關的關鍵，它只能當作救援的手段，或是在特定情況下換取優勢，我期望看到的更多是玩家能學會活用技能來贏取戰鬥的優勢，是的，嚴格來說「蒼色之光與魔劍鍛造師」是一款「策略」遊戲，大半情況下只依靠一種作戰方式是不能夠解決所有問題的。
同時，我們也預計將擁有100種以上的技能，以這個製作前提下，玩家不可能只靠「普通攻擊」來解決一切問題，若要是這樣的話，那或許我們可以不用堅持這種製作方向了，所有的敵人也可以做得隨便都能殺死，這樣將會毫無難度與樂趣可言。

（以下內容含第二階段劇透）

這次Boss2的歐茲帕，將考驗的是玩家對於其他技能的發掘與理解，也考驗玩家對於「位移」、「遠距離攻擊」、「投擲」等等概念的重要性

這次更新的第二關Boss，我們承認它是有難度的，也很高興有不少玩家能成功挑戰他。
不過這幾天下來也有不少反饋認為「遊戲過難」，甚至有需要花費10幾瓶靈魂之滴才能過關的情況，當然，這不是我們樂見的，玩家們也可能因為失敗而痛苦著，或許這一切都仍要歸咎於我們對「遊戲的解釋」做得不夠充分。（比如像鍛造手扎必須要再解釋更多事物，但我們這次更新沒能做好所有準備）
容我這邊解釋幾種戰鬥時能夠有的手段吧

不知道有沒有人這樣試過，這把神奇的小鎚，就這樣燒啊燒的Boss的頭，真的是很舒服的一件事。

並且配上「烈焰箭」，只要火屬性傷害足夠高，可以兩回合射掉一隻腿，那將會大大的降低攻略的難度。

位移技能可以倍率性的縮短移動時間，每回合都很珍貴，若一次能移動2格3格甚至4格遠，那將是非常划算的一件事情，這些應用甚至不只在Boss戰鬥之中能夠用，在迷宮裡也可以用這類似的方式來站到對自己有利的位置，避免圍毆與減少受到的傷害。

投擲不只有丟丟藥水這種用途，拿素質越高或是越重的材料丟腳，甚至是已經要壞掉的武器，都可以有不錯的效果，同時跟魔盔甲一樣，請留意後半段「蒼光」所給的指引。
其中關於女僕打刀這種極其特殊的武器就不提了，而如上述舉例的狀況，玩家並非一定得擁有它才能對抗Boss，其中我們也預想有更多玩法能夠協助玩家打贏這場戰鬥。

還記得嗎？我們起初承諾過的，就是做一款「設定豐富多樣」且「有難度」的遊戲，所以最終的玩法走向一定得「依靠各種操作」來取得勝利，甚至我們的主角「激戰過後理當都要傷痕累累」的回到營地，「沒有一場真正的戰鬥是容易完成的」。（我們甚至得說，這麼做也將與劇情有所關聯）
即使未來我們會出「Easy模式」來當作不擅長遊戲的人的手段，但在一般遊戲下若不多加摸索出系統其他設定的意義性，並觀察出Boss的對付方式，那遊戲很自然是進行不下去的，但我們相信只要理解到每場戰鬥的戰鬥方式，一切都會變得相對容易。（畢竟我們實測過不少遍了）

不過我們深知這一切不是玩家的問題，是我們沒有將指引做好，當然這部份也是遊戲設計上極為困難的一件事，如同Dark souls這種遊戲也並沒有給玩家太多提示，以我們這種風格的遊戲來說，過於囉唆的提示會破壞氣氛，設計起來也相當花費精力。
我們只能將部份訊息留在額外的手扎與記憶的說明，以及極少的場地環境設計上。
但我們遊戲類型終究與動作遊戲的Dark souls不同，無法依靠反應力來彌補戰前準備的不足，在策略層面也不能只依靠玩家自行發覺。
無論如何關於歐帕茲的設計上，我們會以不過度削弱的角度去補強玩家應付Boss的可行性，例如更好取得特定的技能，以及增加引導玩家用特定方式攻擊敵人的設計。

（身為製作者的我得說，這隻大傢伙的呈現問題我可是處理了很久，像是站在這裡玩家必須要看得到自己，弄這半透明也折磨了我許久）

另外，由於更新時的說明有描述到碎片系統的改良，玩家已經不需要像以往一樣只重視重型素材，透過最後遺留的碎片都可以比以往更容易的在提昇武器性能時繼承更多的技能。
透過這種不斷重新鍛造，將遺留下的碎片再次利用於鍛造與附魔的循環之中，創造出更多更強力的飾品與武器，我希望這個概念將圍繞著這部作品。

這次新增的一些酷炫武器之中，我最喜歡的是這個迴力鏢，為了實現這種飛行的軌跡我也花了不少時間，功用非常特殊，也不要小看他的傷害哦，不知道有沒有人成功做出來過？

接著，這次大更新弄得很久的一個原因，而是由於我們想把這則故事最後能夠說得完善，有必要將「場景要素」呈現出來。
這個想法一開始就已經有了，不過在實行起來才發現沒有想像中的容易，我們雖然有能夠做「Hgame」的知識與技術，但要營造我們劇本中專用的場景，很多素材都必須自己創造，甚至為了讓地形「破壞」系統能夠在相應的場景設計上正常，也幾乎改變了Rpg maker本身的地圖code。

看看這些場景與街道……這個氣氛，或許它不能媲美3A遊戲，但以我們的能力來說，我真的很高興它能夠完成，這些將近有1萬格的手工大地圖，搞起來真的是會想殺人。

也許不是所有人都對破壞場景感興趣，但為了讓這個功能正常運作，起碼不會出現不合理或過於不舒服的圖案，這個code我是一改再改，但我很高興似乎告了一個段落，剩下就是往後地圖設計上的事了。

不過我仍然知道其中存在著一些顯示bug，這並不是地圖設置錯誤，而是必須要從code上改變一些顯示問題才能根除，我甚至能說，要符合這種地圖的戰鬥設計還得添加一些系統，哈哈……這也將是我之後的課題與抉擇。

（那麼，這個景象究竟代表著什麼呢，我自己是等不及想將故事呈現給各位，但只希望製作能夠越來越順利）

最後想讓大家看看，我們早已設計好的下一位主要角色的形象：
（以下內容包含後續更新內容劇透）

哇，又大又黑肉……究竟是誰呢？
避難所往後還有新的住戶，即使我們知道距離預設的完工日期已經越來近，我們花太多時間學習以及處理技術問題，但我們會將努力以不刪減原本構想為前提來完成遊戲，或許發售日期會延遲，或許有些人會罵我們，但總比遊戲虎頭蛇尾來得強。
若因為經濟狀況不允許，或是覺得我們拖太久而不太想再繼續支持我們的人，我們真的很抱歉，不過我們能夠理解，也請不要有壓力的中止贊助，你們沒有義務一直持續支援我們，但我只能說，為了這款遊戲我已經盡心盡力，也真心誠意的感謝大家的支持，讓我現在有時間專心設計它，期待有一天能讓所有成員都能轉為正職。

休息片刻後，我們將再次投入製作之中，中間將仍會抽空處理出小更新來補上當前理當要有的提示與設定，並且放出下個關卡的女怪資訊。
我們期待下個大更新與各位的相會！