Itorah News

Regardless of their backstory, powers, abilities, or stature, heroes are vital to both real and fictional worlds.

Let’s celebrate Heroes of all kinds with the Heroic Sale here on Steam by Twin Sails Interactive!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1132910/ITORAH/?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=HeroicSale


[h3]Discover 30+ publishers and 125 games, including some very well-known franchises.[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/developer/twinsailsinteractive/sale/heroicsale

ITORAH is a 2D side scrolling metroidvania, deeply ingrained in Mesoamerican style and themes.
You take control of the titular Itorah, the only human in the strange & unexplored lands of Nahucan. While it may be an unfamiliar environment, the beautiful hand-drawn visuals provide a welcoming presence along with a sense of visual wonder. But alas, not everything has the same appreciation for beauty as yourself. A deadly plague is sweeping across the land, so it is up to you to take up arms to defend this new world, and uncover its secrets.

[h3]Watch the consoles release trailer for ITORAH now[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]Get ITORAH now, with a limited 25% launch-discount in your respective digital store, of your preferred console![/h2]

Great News Nahus!
Today, we are happy to release a new update, including many improvements, changes, and fixes, also based on the overwhelming feedback we have received from you, the great Community of Nahucan!
But, without further ado, let's dive into all the new things, coming with version 1.1.0.0!

[h3]Quality of Life improvements[/h3]

• We have added two new languages: Italian and French.
  
• Controller vibration can now be toggled on/off in the input menu.
  
• Input plugin has been updated: Enables better support for recent gamepads like the Playstation 5 controller.
  
• Shards now have visual differences based on their value.
  
• Added new tutorial hints for sliding and attacking upwards.
  
• Chests and levers beyond Aracan do not show tutorial messages anymore.

[h3]Itorah[/h3]

• Itorah now has idlebreaker animations if no input is recognized for a certain amount of time.
  
• Adjusted Itorah's ledge hang pose, so her hands are closer to the ledge.
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to climb walls by abusing wall jump input tolerances.
  
• Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented a bounce when destroying blocks with stomp.

[h3]UI:[/h3]

• The Elemental Echoes received from the guardians now show up in the inventory, complete with localized item descriptions.
  
• Fixed some texts in the menu that referenced wrong localizations.
  
• Interaction UI for Ahui after the Storm Archives intro cutscene is now positioned above her, for consistency.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the particles on the title screen to freeze when returning to it from gameplay.
  
• Map icon sizes reduced, for better readability while zoomed out.
  
• Icons in upgrade menus now have a thicker outline.
  
• Other visual adjustments in the UI.

[h3]Areas:[/h3]

• Entrances of the Forbidden Ruins, Cradle of the World Tree, Tlalocan, and Storm Archives are now blocked from the moment the player learns the ability in those areas, until the boss is defeated.
  
• Fixed some flickering lights in Aracan.
  
• First Aracan key cannot be carried back to the campfire room anymore. The door in the boss room cannot be interacted with anymore.
  
• The ability room in Forbidden Ruins now requires learning the Walljump ability to proceed, preventing softlocks.
  
• Fixed a bug where players could ledge grab falling water drops in Icy Caverns.
  
• Adjusted the camera during the arena in Icy Caverns, so the player can see the flying enemy better.
  
• Moved the lever at the bottom of Icy Caverns further away, to avoid activation without having the required Throw ability.
  
• Previously, the lever in the ability room in Tlalocan was placed outside the camera. The camera now zooms out, so the lever can be easily spotted.
  
• Ember Bastion elevator received a visual rework and is more simple to control.
  
• Removed a door in Ember Bastion where players could lock themselves in.
  
• All destructible blocks in Violet Temple can now be destroyed with both stomp and charge attacks, for consistency.
  
• Fixed some respawn points at certain pits, which previously resulted in Itorah respawning inside geometry or in wrong places altogether.
  
• Fixed some misplaced colliders in several areas.
  
• Improved spacing of rings in several areas.

[h3]Enemies:[/h3]

• Improved enemy placement in several areas.
  
• Rebalanced the damage and health values of some enemies and hazards.
  
• Fixed animation bug in spore bomb that occurred if the player was already in proximity when the bomb landed.
  
• Spore bomb damage timing on explosion adjusted, so it matches the visuals.
  
• Forge Sprite smoke bomb effect now finishes properly instead of despawning along with the enemy.
  
• Added larger death effects for certain big enemy types, to cover them completely.

[h3]Bosses:[/h3]

• Tocanantli cannot accidentally leave her boss room anymore.
  
• Tocanantli now correctly triggers her scream during her intro. Claw impact effects are no longer displaced.
  
• Boss room of Quetzalcoatl's head phase is now framed better to prevent the player from accidentally escaping camera boundaries and seeing the end of Quetzalcoatl's neck.
  
• Added screenshake on Quetzacotl's bite attack.
  
• Quetzalcoatl now has a response to being stomped on.
  
• Quetzalcoatl's head now reacts properly (visual/sound) to damage from throw attacks.
  
• Quetzalcoatl's beam attacks are now rendered on top of his spike clusters.
  
• Quetzalcoatl's head now deals proper contact damage.
  
• Chantico's ground detection has been adjusted, so she does not get stuck in a jumping pose anymore.
  
• Toned down volume of thunder fire combination attack sound in the violet witch boss fight.
  
• Final boss now has a response to being stomped on.
  
• Added new particle effects to the final boss.

[h3]Other:[/h3]

• Previously, some characters and objects did not appear/disappear correctly when the story progressed. This has been fixed.
  
• Various visual fixes in several areas.
  
• Small visual fixes in some cutscenes.

ITORAH has been released. But Grimbart has still a lot more to tell and share with you!
This time, he will give you insights into the animation of ITORAH's beautiful creatures and characters of Nahucan.

Therefore, grab a cup of coffee, or tea, lean back, and enjoy the many things, Grimbart will tell and show you:



Let's talk animation! The way our characters are designed presented a special challenge for animation, due to their many small details and complex shading. In the end we decided to go with 2D rigs, sometimes referred to as cutout or paperdoll animation, to keep the workload manageable.

[h3]Animating Itorah[/h3]


In a game with monstrous spiders, serpents and other gigantic creatures, Itorah still remains the most complex character rig, simply due to the staggering amount of animations she required.
To up the quality of her keyframes and poses, Itorah has a huge library of different hands, feet and heads for Koda that can be switched out if necessary. This mostly benefited her combat animations since it enabled us to use large smears for her various attacks, but it also helped with acting during cutscenes.



[h3]Animating Enemies[/h3]


While some characters like Chantico required a similar treatment with exchangeable body parts, most of our basic enemies are a bit more simple. Since their rigs don't need to be as flexible, they could lean more into shifting perspectives of existing parts, as seen in the example below.



The last step of any animation always involved some manual tweaking of the meshes to create lesser smear frames, or to push Itorahs clothing into certain perspectives.



[h3]Conclusion[/h3]
All in all we strove for an animation style that is both easy to produce for a small indie studio and emulates traditional animation as close as possible.
Other benefits of using 2D character rigs that do not directly relate to animation are the ability for our programmers to attach colliders, hitboxes and effects to certain bones, like you would with 3D characters.
We hope this little window into our animation system provided you with some insight into how Itorah works under the hood!




[h2]You have missed Devlog #1 and Devlog #2 and wondering who this Grimbart is?[/h2]
No worries, nothing easier than that:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1132910/announcements/detail/3087782926776071030

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1132910/announcements/detail/3094540227834393650

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1132910/ITORAH/

Together with developer Grimbart Tales, we are excited to reveal that hand-painted beauty ITORAH is out now on Steam!

ITORAH's 2.5D action-platformer gameplay style utilizes a remarkable hand-painted art style rich in earthy, colorful hues. Blending the genres of platforming and action-adventure, this streamlined Metroidvania experience employs crisp controls, a mature story told through compelling cutscenes, and epic world-building within a unique setting sure to invoke a sense of fernweh.
Contrary to ITORAH’s cute and wholesome art style, the game tells a tragic tale about sacrifice, loss, and the journey to redemption. Get a glimpse of the story in the Release Trailer or read the Devlog #2 about the inhabitants of Nahucan on Steam.


[h3]Check out ITORAH's Release Trailer here:[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

ITORAH is also selected in this week's MIX 10th Anniversary Showcase and Future Games Show!


[h3]About ITORAH[/h3]

YOU ARE THE ONLY HUMAN LEFT IN A WORLD FULL OF MASKS
Guide Itorah through a fantastic world inhabited by strange, masked beings.
Mankind has vanished and Itorah seems to be the last of her kind! To uncover her past she will have to pick up her loud-mouthed axe and fight her way through lush forests, dangerous temples, stormy cliffs, and more hand-painted biomes.
Their innocent quest for knowledge quickly turns into a mission to save this strange new world from its biggest threat: A mysterious plague that threatens to consume everything.

[h3]ITORAH's Features:[/h3]

• Hand-Crafted Quality: Explore a beautifully realized world inspired by South and Central American landscapes, each lovingly hand-painted by the development team to breathe life into the world of Nahucan
  
• Fluid controls: Enjoy a staggering amount of animations that truly bring Itorah and her amazing range of abilities to life in the hands of players
  
• Good ol’ Fashioned Platforming: When she isn’t hacking and slashing her way across the landscape, Itorah will need to keep her jumping and dodging skills as sharp as her axe as she conquers progressively more difficult puzzles and platforming challenges
  
• Challenging bossfights: Face Nahucan's voracious fauna and imposing boss fights
  
• Unravel the Mystery: Is Itorah the only human left, and if so, what happened to everyone else? Get to the bottom of the mystery with plenty of exciting twists and turns along the way as the brave young warrior battles her way through lush forests, ancient temples, and more on her quest to save Nahucan
  
• Make Friends Along the Way: As the old saying goes, the “real treasure is the friends we make along the way”. Meet a bunch of odd, quirky characters who may or may not help Itorah on her quest
  
• Captivating sound design: ITORAHs lovingly crafted, dynamic soundtrack invites to lose yourself in the beauty of Nahucan.

The “Save The World” edition contains ITORAH as well as the official Soundtrack and the visually stunning Artbook and is a great way to show appreciation for the developers, while simultaneously supporting a good cause.
Assemble Entertainment will donate 10% of the proceeds for every sold “Save The World” edition to Survival International in support of indigenous people around the globe.



[h3]Additionally, Assemble has just started their Publisher Sale on Steam today with up to 90% off! [/h3]


Check out the Trailer here:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]