Life!

It's been, what.. almost three years since I've posted anything here? It has also been about that long since I've even logged on to look at anything. I didn't expect that this would still be here, even!

Anyways, I have two kids now; one born around the time I quit coming on here (which would explain my disappearance) as well as a child born within the last few months. Pepper in the occasional health struggles, and it has been a fun, exciting, yet challenging past few years.

A desire to exercise my creative muscle drove me to log onto here, as I'm thinking of ways to do that now that I'm finally getting a bit more time to myself again. Perhaps I'll look over all my old design and story documents I wrote over the years to see what's there and see if anything inspires me.

Weekly Summary

This week, while slower than last, has seen some important steps taken. First, extensive work has been done on designing the world map based on the scenario outline. Plenty of room has been given so that most corners of the world map have some manner of optional thing to interact with, be it a dungeon or something else. Not all of these locations will be used, but it's nice to have them in the event they are needed.

The first town/city has been designed and drawn out, though it currently lacks events and NPCs to interact with. Adding those is on the agenda for the coming week. Also, a rather simple event in the castle I dreaded doing and continued to put off finally got done!

Overworld Development:

City Planning:

Heroes of Baryl - Weekly Summary

Happy Friday, everyone!

This week has been spent finishing up the starting dungeon, battle system specifics, animations, and the areas accessible right after the opening sequence and first dungeon.

The startup is always slow, I find, and especially in this case; the opening dungeon is somewhat large compared to others I've done, and the opening areas in general are of larger scale than previous projects I've done. This is nice in the way that I can go ahead and get one of the larger cities/castle areas out of the way from a design standpoint early on. In fact, the Phasala Castle, which is where the game begins, is mostly complete.

My mapping skills aren't my strong point, though no doubt I've gotten better over the years. Heroes of Baryl shows this. I feel the maps are a step better, but the castle area, for instance, is far from awe inspiring. It's something I may revisit in a later revision, but I don't think it's bad; it's just functional while still looking nice.

Heroes of Baryl - Status Update

By the midpoint of the week, the first dungeon is finished as well as parts of the areas to be explored immediately afterwards. The battle system won't be "done" for a long time, but it's fully functional in what it needs to do at the moment; thus, it will see continued evolution without hampering any gradual releases.

Speaking of gradual releases, I fully plan on releasing v0.1 of Heroes of Baryl on October 31st with steady releases afterwards. Momentum is going as strong as it did during the peak development stages of Vo'Stora and Llunia; so I'm feeling confident! Thus far, about one hour of playtime is present. I expect there to be approximately 2-3 total in the initial release.

Heroes of Baryl - The Soldiers of Phasala

The soldiers that make up Phasala's army are respected the world over as the world's greatest, largest army. Even though Phasala could easily take over the world with its military might many times over, their desire to sustain growth and focus on internal affairs is their primary concern. As such, being The King of Phasala is a relatively low stress job. At least, it used to be.

With the increasing number of beastmen forces gaining a sense of identity and unity towards a common goal, things aren't as simple as they used to be. Their tactics are cunning and ruthless, leaving countless dead in the wake of invasions. Every day another report comes in of a lost settlement. The King knew it was time to do something or face unrest as civilians found out the truth.

Thus, a small task force was selected; three individuals from the rookie group, known for their empathy, their talent with arms as well as scholarly talent. The selection process included one of each weapon discipline... a swordsman, a spearman, and an axe wielder. Each sought different paths. Training in the sword leads to the path of the Knight; a great defender. The Lancer, who trains with the spear, becomes a master of one on one combat and party support skills. Lastly, the Berserker, with his two handed axe, is efficient in mowing down groups of opponents and weakening them.

This task force first has to pass a test. Survival is not guaranteed, as the Phasala Prison of old times is riddled with danger. If they manage to complete the trial and come out in one piece, they will earn the privilege to take on The King's Order, with the privilege of meeting His Royal Majesty face to face.

Heroes of Baryl - Weekly Summary

This week has seen a pretty miraculous jump start to development. While still unpolished, the opening is complete along with a good portion of the opening dungeon. Things are moving along nicely to where, at this rate, something playable should be available by the end of October.

For this to happen, I'll need to accomplish the following over the next weeks:

• Finish the Battle System
• Finish the first dungeon
• Design/Implement Town 1
• Design/Implement first overworld region
• Polish!

There won't be a lot in the first release, but there will be enough for one to get an idea of what's ahead and at least an hour of exploration/story.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Heroes of Baryl - Screenshots