Hello everyone, this post has been delayed for far too long and it has also been a long time coming. We would like to apologize for the lack of updates but our team is very, very small had been hard at work trying to make the best game possible.
Art Updates:
The last time our team made an update post, we were showing off the toon shader and some of the grass we were working on. This time, however, we would like to show you part of an entire level we have constructed.
This is the outskirts or countryside portion of the new demo level, some of the areas of the outskirts are still a work in progress. We wanted to contrast some of the more industrial bits of our world and level design with more of a rural feel. Below you will see progress on the factory portion of the level and the contrast compared to our countryside.
Concept Art and Design Language Updates
While we were working hard on the game itself, we also had time to do some concept art updates to our lovely characters as well as some exploration sketches for flesh out the world of Iron Valiant! WE can't show everything in this update because there would be too much 2D art, but stick around and give us a follow so that you can see what the future has in store.
Our main characters Emilia and Reinhardt were able to get a much needed redesign and nicer, more consistent rendering.
These two are some early exploration concepts for the different cultures players can expect to encounter in Iron Valiant (The Hahnor of the Mountains of Orn and the Cenwhalens) , they were concepted directly in collaboration with our very talented writer.
Mechs! Some of our mech designs were given an overhaul and we have also designed new armor types for the players and their enemies.
The base level of Gundrian Sarrissa has been updated and has also received a "Heavy Breakthrough - Air Assault" variation.
Lothair has also been upgraded, the armor set players used from our first demo is now designated as "Lothair Trainer" and his new "Tiger King" armor is shown bellow. This armor set will have its own statistics and will begin the modeling process very soon.
We have also introduced a universal skeleton system which allows up to mix and match components for any mech parts we design. Players will be able to swap weapons and parts out to whatever awesome configuration they desire!
Animation Updates
Animations have also received another pass to make them more readable and better looking. Here are some brand new attack animations we have been working on for Lothair's Axe.
Weapon equip animations were also improved and implemented. Weapons now have their own readying animations.
We are also working on two new melee weapon move sets and types. Here is the block out for the One-handed sword move set.
Programming Update
Counter-measure implementation! Two types of counter-measures have finally made it into the game, the first one is the chaff-flare and the second is the smoke dispenser. Chaff-flares will automatically deploy if a charge is active and when fired, they will redirect homing missiles to chase the flare instead of the player. Smokes will obscure both the player and the AI, hindering weapon accuracy and also disrupting missile lock on. Below is an example of the flare prototype in action, this is not final implementation.
Melee combos and tracking
Melee tracking received a big upgrade, motion warp range on melee attacks has been extended, tracking has been improved, and the combo inputs are substantially more responsive. Using the melee attacks used to feel clunky and the range was difficult for many to gauge so we moved to a more character action style system to help solve this problem.
We hope this update will excite everyone for what is to come. Our team is planning on having the new demo with our updated graphics, gameplay, destruction, equip-able items, and much more as soon as possible! We wanted to show more but since we have been quietly working for so long there was too much to just have everything in one post. Thank you for viewing our update and we hope to see you on the battlefield!
