It's been a fantastic couple of weeks. We finally managed to implement animations into the game, which in turn has started turning the cogs of combat for us. Last week was spent creating the basic combat and adding enemies to the game (human for now, while the Dracorians are being animated too), and we've also increased the size of Ellental's Fortress (much like we had for Aria a few weeks ago). We realised that the dragon we had created was perfectly sized in relation to the player, but the Fortress itself was tiny in comparison, so we've rectified that.
We're gearing up for a release in January 2014, though exact dates are yet to be confirmed. As we've stated in previous news, the alpha will be free of charge to play and we'll be open to bug fixes and the like, updating the game throughout 2014 up until Easter when the beta will be released. More news on that in the future, however!
And now onto the competition!
We have a great opportunity for you – hopefully the first of many! We’re in the process of creating a huge number of weapons that’ll have different traits, names and reasons to be used, and we want YOU to help us along. We’re giving all of you reading the chance to design your own weapon, for us to put into the game (either in Beta or the final release). We’ll be picking the best three designs to be modelled, rigged and usable by the characters proficient with your weapon type.
We need you to choose your selected type, a name for your weapon (nothing insulting or offensive, please), where it was forged (different locations will give your weapon a different trait) and finally, if you have a design for it, what it looks like. Don’t worry if you don’t – descriptions will work fine, and we’ll try to model it as fitting to your ideas as possible! Below is a list of everything you’ll need to know about the types and where the weapon can come from – the competition will run until the 27th December 2013, so you have close to a full month to send in your ideas; we’ll pick the three winners then. Don’t forget to leave an email address for us to contact you by, with your name, and leave your entries either in the comments below, the Facebook page (in the comments section of the competition status) or to us via Twitter, or alternatively email them to us at justlabyrinthinteractive@gmail.com. Best of luck!
Weapon types:
- Staff
- Sword
- Shield
- Hammer/Mace
- Bow
- Daggers
- Gauntlets
Origin
- Elven: Armour Piercing
Forged before the Dracorian invasion, elven weapons are now a rarity in Arthos. Being a militaristic race, the old elves created their weapons to take down even the most heavily armoured opponent, rendering even plate mail useless. They are capable of cutting down Dracorian scales with little effort, but unfortunately the elves were silenced in their defence by the appearance of the dragons, where fire and dragonbone were the blades’ undoing.
Sylvan: Bleed
The last remaining city of the elves, Sylva has become the final stand against the enemy that have driven them close to extinction. To combat this horrifying threat, the Sylvan elves have taken to crafting their weapons with serrated edges, a far cry from their ancestry. These weapons become the fury of a dying race, sending a message to all that the elves are not going down without a fight.
- Amentian: Increased Attack Speed
Forged in the capital city of Arthos, Amentian weapons are the finest in the entire country. Light, agile and perfectly balanced, the fairness of the weapons mirror the cleanliness and disposition of the city’s inhabitants, as well as the arrogance that comes with them. Arthosian knights are renowned for using these blades, able to cut through a number of enemies with a single swing without breaking a sweat.
- Northern: Increased Base Damage
Northern weapons are brutish, heavy, and terrifying to see in battle. The men of Ellental spend years honing their skills, learning to use their own weight with the force of the weapon to cause massive damage with a single swing. Hammers are the preferred weapon of the northern warriors, but of late they have become accustomed to crafting others, to help in the ongoing battle against the dragon tamers.
- Dwarfen: Knockback/Stun Effects
Beyond the Maelstrom Belt, far to the south, come the dwarfs. Technologically superior to Arthosians, the dwarfs have begun sharing their knowledge to better the lives of the Arthosian people, and managed to turn Corsair’s Landing from a run-down pirates town into the biggest trading port in the country. Their weapons are designed to render an opponent unable to fight, to quickly stop any uprising or bloodshed from occurring.
If you have any questions, or just want to talk to us, feel free! We've been updating the website like mad with the new content, so check it out here and find out what you might have missed!
