Arbiter - Monthly Recap - October 2020 (Patreon)

Ahoy!

Hope everyone's doing well and had a fun, safe Halloween. We just ended up staying in and watching Elm Street and Halloweentown, so alas, no candy for me. That said, I've got plenty of treats to share with you, the reader! Follow me!

Ashe's third transformation is the Berserker's Rage. In this form, he takes on his most monstrous appearance, reflecting the in-game boss, Omen. Like I mentioned last month, this form will be all about swinging around a huge whip-sword while doing lots of flips and slamming it into the ground. To quote last month's update: "it's like a weird combination of Artorias, Impa (Hyrule Warriors), and Byleth."

Each transformation represents the soul of the boss Ashe sealed trying to take over his body. Usually, he's trying to keep them suppressed so they don't completely overtake him, but with the forms, he's allowing them a bit of leeway in exchange for using their powers. 

Throughout the game, you'll be able to communicate with these bosses and improve your standing with them. If you're familiar with how Naruto communicates with his tailed beast, it's a lot like that. The form's appearance won't change much, but you'll be allowed access to more of their powers as a result.

The sword is its own beast, with its split blade being held together by pure energy. For those in the know, it's actually a corrupted version of another sword in the game... What could it mean?!

There's one more form you'll get after Omen's, which I just finished last week. It's a very plot relevant form, so I think it'd be best to let you guys experience its reveal for yourselves, in-game. Suffice it to say though, it's definitely my current favourite design-wise, so I can't wait for you all to see it!

With that, all of the forms are done! Eventually I'll get to rigging and animating them, but for now I'm taking a short break to do some R&D for level design. It's definitely my weakest skill right now, so I'm trying to study up on best practices and modern workflows so that I can pump out some good looking levels as fast as possible. For now, however, I'm just focused on making a new test/demo level.

Speaking of level design, I've also commissioned an environmental artist! They're an extraordinarily skilled person with a focus on fantasy environments, and someone I've wanted to work with for quite some time. They'll be working with me to design each level's aesthetic and mood, as well as various props, areas, etc. We've already started on the first level and hoo boy, I can't wait to start making this stuff in-game. My goal over the next couple of weeks will be ironing out my level design skills so that I can bring these concepts to life, so suffice it to say I've got a bit of a training arc on my hands! 

Lastly, I've been streaming some games and light game dev on my Twitch channel. I'm working out a list of side-work I can do on stream (fun, non-spoilery stuff), but I've also just been playing some games to destress. In particular, I've just recently started playing through Ocarina of Time for the first time. 

Zelda's always been a huge inspiration for me but surprisingly, I've never actually played through most of the games. I've finished Wind Waker and Breath of the Wild and... that's about it, so I guess I have a thing for cel-shading, hah. Nevertheless, there's a lot of good lessons I think are worth learning in the series, from level design to puzzle design to storytelling and cutscenes, so I'm doubly using it as another way to study. If you're down to hang and talk some game dev while we're at it, check it out sometime! Fair warning though: I suck at puzzles.

That wraps up this update! Bit of a longer one but things will probably cool down a bit as I move onto level design.  Anyways, thank you so much for the support! Stay safe and stay tuned.

Jordy