Bladesong News
The Cutting Edge | DevLog #4/2024
Greetings, swordsmiths! It’s time for an insight into what the Bladesong team has been working on in the shadows. Read on below and say hello on Discord!
Bet you didn’t see this one coming… Blade wizard and highly-decorated community champion Resuru has joined our team! Res is a creative powerhouse and we’re stoked that he’s helping us make this game a reality!
Previous playtest feedback has clearly shown that we’ve been criminally neglecting fantasy parts so far, so Res has been sketching like a maniac and has come up with a host of creative concepts for the future.
But fret not, we’ll of course not forget our history either! E.g. here’s a lion head pommel from the Von Schwerzenbach collection and Resuru’s heavily inspired 3D mesh you will see in Bladesong one day:
Bladesong is a creative swordmaking game, but our vision goes further. Two weeks ago, we’ve posted a job ad for a Narrative Designer who will help us take you on a journey to Eren Keep and make sure it’s a visit you won’t forget.
This is the first time I’ve officially posted a job anywhere, and honestly, I wasn’t quite prepared for it. We’ve received hundreds of applications and while we’re of course glad to hear from so many great people, there’s a bitter taste to this. You’ll likely have heard the news of the layoffs that have happened all across the games industry since 2023, and we’ve spotted the many closed or “restructured” studios again and again in candidates’ résumés. The industry is in bad shape, and I can only hope that it will recover from this soon, both for the sake of the developers whose livelihood depend on this, and players who would like to see passion and wit be the driving factors behind the games they play.
In Bladesong, you forge swords for your customers, meeting physical and stylistic requirements through the blade and through hilt parts, which you acquire from vendors or craft yourself – if you can. We have built a prototype for all of this months ago, but for a simple first shot, everything was very scripted. Commissions, vendor inventories, it all was set up by hand to illustrate the idea. We are now rebuilding these core systems to be more dynamic: vendors will have certain part types and materials to work with and refill their stock as required, commissions will be generated in a meaningful way so that you can actually solve them, and last but not least, the game will offer various ways for you to progress by learning new sword parts, unlocking new techniques and more.
Over the last few months, we’ve been showing our prototype (the scripted one) around, talked to publishers, investors, funds and collectives who support self-publishing, in search of the best way forward for Bladesong. We’re happy to report that this search has now come to an end. Stay tuned for an official announcement 🔥
Thank you for your continued support!
– David and the Bladesong team ⚔️
3D Art
Bet you didn’t see this one coming… Blade wizard and highly-decorated community champion Resuru has joined our team! Res is a creative powerhouse and we’re stoked that he’s helping us make this game a reality!
Previous playtest feedback has clearly shown that we’ve been criminally neglecting fantasy parts so far, so Res has been sketching like a maniac and has come up with a host of creative concepts for the future.
But fret not, we’ll of course not forget our history either! E.g. here’s a lion head pommel from the Von Schwerzenbach collection and Resuru’s heavily inspired 3D mesh you will see in Bladesong one day:
Narrative
Bladesong is a creative swordmaking game, but our vision goes further. Two weeks ago, we’ve posted a job ad for a Narrative Designer who will help us take you on a journey to Eren Keep and make sure it’s a visit you won’t forget.
This is the first time I’ve officially posted a job anywhere, and honestly, I wasn’t quite prepared for it. We’ve received hundreds of applications and while we’re of course glad to hear from so many great people, there’s a bitter taste to this. You’ll likely have heard the news of the layoffs that have happened all across the games industry since 2023, and we’ve spotted the many closed or “restructured” studios again and again in candidates’ résumés. The industry is in bad shape, and I can only hope that it will recover from this soon, both for the sake of the developers whose livelihood depend on this, and players who would like to see passion and wit be the driving factors behind the games they play.
Gameplay
In Bladesong, you forge swords for your customers, meeting physical and stylistic requirements through the blade and through hilt parts, which you acquire from vendors or craft yourself – if you can. We have built a prototype for all of this months ago, but for a simple first shot, everything was very scripted. Commissions, vendor inventories, it all was set up by hand to illustrate the idea. We are now rebuilding these core systems to be more dynamic: vendors will have certain part types and materials to work with and refill their stock as required, commissions will be generated in a meaningful way so that you can actually solve them, and last but not least, the game will offer various ways for you to progress by learning new sword parts, unlocking new techniques and more.
The Road To Release
Over the last few months, we’ve been showing our prototype (the scripted one) around, talked to publishers, investors, funds and collectives who support self-publishing, in search of the best way forward for Bladesong. We’re happy to report that this search has now come to an end. Stay tuned for an official announcement 🔥
Thank you for your continued support!
– David and the Bladesong team ⚔️
Thank you for joining the Bladesong Playtest!
The Third Bladesong Playtest is over! Thank you so much for joining the fun. We will take a minute to catch our breath and will then be back with an outlook on what's next for Bladesong.
– David and the Bladesong team ⚔️
– David and the Bladesong team ⚔️
The PUBLIC PLAYTEST is live! 🔥
Swordsmiths! You can now play the development preview of Bladesong until June 30! Simply hit Request Access on our Steam page and you're in, the request will be auto-approved.
Join us on Discord to share your creations and participate in community challenges!
– David and the Bladesong team ⚔️
Join the PUBLIC PLAYTEST! Request Access now! ⚔️
[h2]June 17–30. The Age of the Third Playtest is nigh.[/h2]
Request Access on Steam now! If you took part in a previous playtest, there's nothing you need to do, it's is still in your Steam library and will be unlocked on the 17th.
We're crazy excited for this! Watch the video below and keep your eyes open over the next two weeks for updates on what to expect.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
– David and the Bladesong team 🔥