[WIP] Vaults of Ashen
Hi all! First off, I'd like to apologize for my unannounced leave of absence. I took a break from hardcore gamedev at the start of December and while I did get back into it earlier this year, I never got back in full swing with regards to my online presence. But I'm back.
I've been working on a Bullet Hell/RPG that goes by the name of 'Vaults of Ashen' that draws inspiration from 'Path of Exile', 'Diablo 2+3' and 'Realm of the Mad God'. Originally, what got me going in this direction was the fact that I very much enjoyed playing RotMG by was put off by the forced multplayer experience. I also thought that it lacked many RPG aspects I would have loved to see in the game. This wasn't the only driving force behind starting VoA, but let's skip over the boring bits.
So a year or so ago, I started working on the first prototype using my first JavaScript Engine. I rewrote the prototype a few months later in my new JS engine, again two months later in Unity 3D (hacking in 2D features) and now, finally, in Unity 2D which I love with all my heart and I hope it never abandons me.
So, what is VoA? Let me try to summarize what I feel is at the core of the gameplay.
VoA is a top-down shooter. You control a little wizard, dodging enemy spells, flinging your own spells at the hordes of enemies around you and loot for dear life. Action; a large part of the game is about intense action. The other, equally important part of VoA, is gear. Like PoE and D2+3, items are randomly generated. higher rarity items have more stats and you sift through your treasures after a fight and decide what you want to wear, balancing damage and effective health as you go along.
I'd like to go into a lot more detail, specifically what I'm doing to give the player a goal-oriented experience but for the time being, I'll just leave you with a few screenshots I've taken throughout the development process. (Please try to ignore the terrible HUD)
The latest screenshot, I did some work on particle effects and the general polishedness of the experience.
Fighting a ghost boss in a cave. This is a very new biome that still needs a lot of work. This boss summons totems that shoot out spikes, does lots of AOE and casts those big balls that push you back if they hit you.
Battling it out with some bandits and a Swamp Creature in the forest.
The Inferno Biome and an eyeball boss that most of my twitter community feel looks more like a cyclops cat.
There are dozens of unique items. Wear a whole set and gain a bonus. Here, I was testing Unique Item stat rolls.
You can buy a portal to a random dungeon while in town. This functions sort of like PoE's map system.
Wearing a full Inferno set which grants you an aura that deals fire damage to nearby enemies.
The first room of the tutorial level where players start out.
If you're very rich, one of the things you could do is buy a boat. Out on the open sea, you'll fight sea creatures that drop scarce resources much more frequently.
Larger versions of all the images:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BghJ3RnCcAEVy1U.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bgp2lMHCAAAn4UI.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bf8lvJsCQAANcRk.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfxMOsAIQAA_6Hj.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfDIEMKCAAAVM7w.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BgBEii0CMAIkP36.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BezxmgCCcAAedTi.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bfm7veqCQAAlag9.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BgRaAsxCIAEPHRl.png:large
I've been working on a Bullet Hell/RPG that goes by the name of 'Vaults of Ashen' that draws inspiration from 'Path of Exile', 'Diablo 2+3' and 'Realm of the Mad God'. Originally, what got me going in this direction was the fact that I very much enjoyed playing RotMG by was put off by the forced multplayer experience. I also thought that it lacked many RPG aspects I would have loved to see in the game. This wasn't the only driving force behind starting VoA, but let's skip over the boring bits.
So a year or so ago, I started working on the first prototype using my first JavaScript Engine. I rewrote the prototype a few months later in my new JS engine, again two months later in Unity 3D (hacking in 2D features) and now, finally, in Unity 2D which I love with all my heart and I hope it never abandons me.
So, what is VoA? Let me try to summarize what I feel is at the core of the gameplay.
VoA is a top-down shooter. You control a little wizard, dodging enemy spells, flinging your own spells at the hordes of enemies around you and loot for dear life. Action; a large part of the game is about intense action. The other, equally important part of VoA, is gear. Like PoE and D2+3, items are randomly generated. higher rarity items have more stats and you sift through your treasures after a fight and decide what you want to wear, balancing damage and effective health as you go along.
I'd like to go into a lot more detail, specifically what I'm doing to give the player a goal-oriented experience but for the time being, I'll just leave you with a few screenshots I've taken throughout the development process. (Please try to ignore the terrible HUD)
The latest screenshot, I did some work on particle effects and the general polishedness of the experience.
Fighting a ghost boss in a cave. This is a very new biome that still needs a lot of work. This boss summons totems that shoot out spikes, does lots of AOE and casts those big balls that push you back if they hit you.
Battling it out with some bandits and a Swamp Creature in the forest.
The Inferno Biome and an eyeball boss that most of my twitter community feel looks more like a cyclops cat.
There are dozens of unique items. Wear a whole set and gain a bonus. Here, I was testing Unique Item stat rolls.
You can buy a portal to a random dungeon while in town. This functions sort of like PoE's map system.
Wearing a full Inferno set which grants you an aura that deals fire damage to nearby enemies.
The first room of the tutorial level where players start out.
If you're very rich, one of the things you could do is buy a boat. Out on the open sea, you'll fight sea creatures that drop scarce resources much more frequently.
Larger versions of all the images:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BghJ3RnCcAEVy1U.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bgp2lMHCAAAn4UI.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bf8lvJsCQAANcRk.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfxMOsAIQAA_6Hj.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfDIEMKCAAAVM7w.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BgBEii0CMAIkP36.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BezxmgCCcAAedTi.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bfm7veqCQAAlag9.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BgRaAsxCIAEPHRl.png:large
Comments
I have some stuff I'd really like to talk about with regards to the city but I'm making this post at work. Will make time to do a proper write-up this weekend.
Larger versions of the images.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bg5T6k-CYAA4cup.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bg5SJjbCcAE_e-h.png:large
http://gfycat.com/FarBronzeCockroach
http://gfycat.com/SentimentalSickFoal
http://gfycat.com/BlaringInnocentHorse
http://gfycat.com/AnnualLongGrouse
http://gfycat.com/HospitableFarflungArgusfish
http://gfycat.com/FaithfulCookedApe
I'd like to talk a bit more about my inspiration for VoA, specifically one I haven't mentioned before. That is, MUD.
I've mentioned before that I used to be quite into MUDs and I still play a bit from time to time. VoA will also feature some elements that, to me, contributed most to the MUD experience. That's what I'm working on at the moment; adding all these little things that contribute to the experience.
To explain what I mean by these elements, allow me to tell you a bit about one of the experiences that stood out for me while playing MUDs:
One day, while playing on my beloved KnightNET (old SA MUD that has long since been disbanded) I was exploring Rand's Tower, a place I hadn't been to often. There was a locked door that I couldn't find the key to anywhere. After hours of searching, I whispered one of the Gods I used to chat with (CircleMUD - the MUD architecture KnightNET was built on allowed players to become immortals after a certain point and then Demi Gods, etc...).
The God, said he couldn't find reference to the key in any of the zone files but said that he'd take me to the room beyond the door so I could explore it. Inside, I found an alchemist, killed said alchemist and received a strange rod. Identifying the rod didn't tell me what it did so, of course. I used it on myself.
The rod fizzled and died and I was left standing in a completely different location, in the dwarven kingdom (a place I often went to farm gold). Was the purpose of the staff to teleport people to the dwarven keep, or was it random? Fizzle, poof! Another random location, one I had never even seen before, at that! The feeling was exhilarating. Sure, the locations I was taken to were often known to me, or were too high levels for me to do anything there. But nonetheless, I had discovered something few people know about.
I won't divulge anything on what kind of surprises VoA will hold in for the player but suffice to say, it's something that makes me very excited.
tldr; Games should allow you to explore to your heart's content and always leave something for the player to wonder about, to try to achieve. Is this possible? Can I get in there? Maybe a monster in another zone will have the key to that gate?
I've also introduced three kinds of potions into the game: Detect Invis, Regen HP and Regen Mana. The latter two will grant you increased regeneration for a short period of time for those difficult boss battles.
http://gfycat.com/DirectGleamingKingfisher
And lastly, you can now scan the area (by pressing G) to see if there are any hidden entrances to zones close by.
http://gfycat.com/JovialEvilEland
Still hoping to be able to release on Friday but I'll keep everyone posted until then.
I've written a short piece about the demo and posted new screenshots over at my IndieDB page.
http://www.indiedb.com/games/vaults-of-ashen
I made a short presentation/teaser on the game if anyone is interested.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1HNgwOh_c6RwadcNQDAyydl6m_kNL0-dKXoddzoFv0xA/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000