Story summary
Many of the lesser races of the forest have been enslaved by the Skrekkan's and Olekk's (the wolves and owls of this world). In their quest for absolute domination, these antagonists have begun experimenting with a rare element called Voxerite, which, when harnessed in certain ways, allows for what can only be described as fearsome black magic.
Zi is a young fox who lost her entire family to the tyrants under the darkest of circumstances. Ever since this tragic event, Zi has been under the protection of the forces of the Glade. But as Zi grows up safely in the Glade, the magical spirit known only as the Heart of the Forest begins to sense that there's something special about Zi. One day, Zi is summoned by the Heart of the Forest, who's ready to share its plans on how to free the world from the tyranny of the rulers.
Gameplay summary
This game is an exploration platformer, heavily inspired by a wide range of different games, but most notably; Super Mario, The Lost Vikings and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
You will be able to control three different characters; the fox Zi, the hedgehog Bim and the bear cub Ai:
Zi is the games main protagonist and also the initial character. Zi is all about movement and speed. She has the highest movement speed of the three characters and she has plenty of movement related abilities at her disposal.
Bim is a bit of a specialist who can traverse smaller pathways which might lead to new and secret areas. Thanks to his very sharp spines, Bim can defend himself as well as attack. Bim can also gather and eat food to restore health for the party.
Ai is a fighter who uses his claws to attack both enemies and obstacles. Ai can also utilize tribal spells to empower his attacks, making them even stronger. Ai's thick fur makes him more resistant to certain types of hazards and harsh environments, such as small thorns and freezing temperatures.
As the companions are traveling the world, they will be able to help many different animals who are struggling with their daily lives. Some animals will be of great help and teach the companions new skills or lending them some of their powers. Some of these skills will allow the party to progress to new places in the world.
There's plenty of upgrades for the companions, but while some upgrades are necessary, most will be optional and their only purpose is to make the quest more enjoyable.
The companions will be able to unlock new areas and levels by exploring the world and finding the entrances to these places. After a new area is found, that area will also be added to the party's map. In the early stages of the game, the companions will have to travel from area to area, but as they continue to explore and grow, they will discover different ways of fast traveling.
The Placid Dream The Dark Clearing The Glade The Whispering Bog The Snowy Peaks The Dreadworm's Den
Engine
Before I started working on this game, I had been working on another project called "Super Mario Bros. Fusion" for many years. I learned a lot from working on that fangame, and applied what worked well to this game and removed what didn't. As a result, the engine is stable enough to handle everything I've thrown at it so far.
Most of the important things are already done. But there are still a lot of improvements, bug fixes and optimizations to be done before the engine is considered "done".
Graphics
This is the main focus of the game development at the moment. Graphics are being added all the time, but this process takes a lot of time.
The native resolution of the game is 426x240.
Sound
I use Fruity Loops with NES VST to create sound effects. Creating sound effects is a fairly quick process that takes up very little of the total development time.
New music will be added as soon as a level is considered "as good as done".
Story
The main story will be told mostly through cutscenes at the beginning of the game. Some parts of the story will also be told through dialogue and in-game cutscenes.
Here's a sneak peek at one of the things I'm currently working on. This is a certain part of the game's intro where the player controls a younger version of Zi.
This is pretty old news since I haven't updated this devlog in a while, but as can be seen from the screenshots in the description of the game, I've updated the graphics of all the games parallax backgrounds.
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