Hey everyone, welcome to November's Developer Update!
This is one of our biggest developer updates ever. It includes progress on the worlds of Orterra, progress on our Combat system, and much more.
Buckle up, this is gonna be one hell of an adventure!
The Combat System
The most important aspect in Blades of Orterra is the combat, and that's exactly what we've been working on this month:
The combat in Blades of Orterra is inspired by Dark Souls, Mordhau, and a few other games and mods. As we develop the combat system we’re experimenting with different mechanics and ideas in order to make it as fun as possible.
Basic attacks can be comboed with other basic attacks for fast, repeated strikes- when basic attacks are chained together they are called Combo Attacks. A player that has a maximum of 2 Combo Attacks can perform a chain of 2 consecutive attacks. Players can also perform a basic attack and then quickly initiate a Sword Ability for higher damage. Sword Abilities count as Combo Attacks for chaining purposes.
STANCES
Players can switch between 3 Stances at any time by pressing Q (keybinds can be changed in the Settings). Each stance has unique traits, but all weapons can be used with any of the 3 Stances.
The Stances and their traits are listed below:
Fast
- Able to perform 2 or more Combo Attacks, smaller weapons have more attacks
- Will be able to move around while attacking
- Has the lowest stamina consumption, however also has the lowest initial damage output and lowest knockback of the stances
Hybrid
- A middle-ground between the Strong and Fast stances
- Able to perform 1 or more Combo Attacks depending on the weapon
- Can move around during the first attack in a combo, but the second attack will restrict movement (where the player can't move freely during the attack and the character will move according to the attack's animation). However, the direction of the attack may be able to be influenced depending on the attack
- More damage, stamina usage, and knockback than Fast stance
- Slower weapon swing speed than Fast stance
Strong
- Able to perform only 1 Combo Attack- can't execute combos of basic attacks
- Allows charging-up of attacks for stronger hits by holding the attack key, charging can be cancelled at any time
- Highest attack rating, any enemies hit are staggered and their attacks are cancelled
- Uses the most stamina out of all 3 stances
DEFENDING AGAINST ATTACKS
There are three ways to defend against attacks. Each uses up stamina and has different effects:
- Dodging
- Blocking
- Parrying
Dodging grants a split-second of invincibility and moves your character, which can allow you to find a better strategic position. Blocking stops stamina regeneration, uses up stamina each time you're hit, and decreases your movement speed, but will completely defend against attacks. Parrying is trickier; it requires that you parry at the exact time that you're about to be hit. An unsuccessful parry will leave you unable to do anything for about a second, but a well-timed parry will immediately stagger the enemy, giving you time to make a counter attack or create some breathing room.
The First Kingdom
We've made some progress on the First Kingdom of Orterra. While we can't show the progress just yet, here's two small sneak-peeks of Concept Art from which our Kingdom is being built from:
Loadout Selection
The Combat Module has a Loadout Selection screen that appears at the start of every round.
The player can choose from:
- 3 Armour Types
- 18 Different Weapons
- 24 Sword Abilities
WORK IN PROGRESS: Godsend Stones
Jacob Parise is another new artist on our team. He's on board helping out with the 3D side of the game. His work will be this month's WIP show-off, the Godsend Stones:
The godsend system refers to a set of stones that grant the player a small passive bonus when activated. Only one of these stones can be activated at a time, and the buff received from activating these stones cannot be removed unless swapped with another stone’s bonus. Each Kingdom has a single stone that provides a unique benefit to the player. These stones are difficult to locate, but are typically discovered in a very scenic location.
Indie of the Year
Indie of the Year is finally here, if you enjoyed this devblog and enjoy watching the development of the game, feel free to vote for us, it only takes one click!
Thanks for reading this month's developer update, see you in the next one!
