Descent Of Lunaris News

[p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Let us know what else you'd like to learn about Descent of Lunaris and how we are bringing it to life.[/p][p]Don't forget to request access for our playtest on the Descent of Lunaris Steam page and join our discord. We talk about Descent of Lunaris, but also about a ton of current and retro video games. And no surprise its a lot of RPGs and JRPGs. We hope to see you there.[/p]

[p]Hi there! I'm here sharing some game design knowledge from Chris, our gameplay designer on Descent of Lunaris, on how combat evolved for us on this project.[/p][p][/p][p]Check it out below. (and Chris asks some questions at the bottom and we'd love to hear from you)[/p][p]🡻[/p][p] [/p][p]“What’s the deal with Combat, is this grid-based or not?”[/p][p][/p][p]This is perhaps the most frequently asked question, and for good reason! Our trailer shows footage of both a classic 1st person combat system and a top-down grid based battler… so which is it? The answer is both! Both systems are used throughout (at different times) to deliver different experiences and add depth + variety to our gameplay loop! [/p][p]Initially, a 1st person combat system (now dubbed “Formation Battle”) was all that we had planned for Lunaris.[/p][p][/p][p](Initial combat mock-up, in this version up to 10 enemies could be onscreen at once)[/p][p][/p][p]Formation Battles worked great for random encounters and early boss battles, but the game was lacking strategy and spectacle. As luck would have it, our brilliant gameplay engineer had built Lunaris’ combat system out of his own turn-based tile toolkit, and within a week we had a prototype of what a tactical top down combat would look like (now dubbed “Tactical Battle”)[/p][p] We tested out various forms of tactical battles. First, we made the entire game tactical battles, which made our gameplay loop very slow and tedious. Then we tried making tactical battles generate out of the dungeon map (I.E. The fight takes place in a recreation of the rooms/hallways around you) which was… confusing and tedious! Finally, we re-introduced a slightly simplified formation combat and settled on a mixture of both formation and tactical combats.[/p][p][/p][p](An early combat prototype, showing how grid-based combat would later be abstracted into first-person combat)[/p][p][/p][p]This mixture (~75% Formation, ~25% Tactical) proved to be stronger than either system in isolation. Random encounters became quick formation battles with simplified targeting to serve as an onboarding experience for new monsters (or to just grind out XP and rewards). While Tactical Fights functioned as a strategy “set-piece” moment, keeping the players on their toes with higher enemy counts and an extra layer of challenge by adding movement + range into the mix. [/p][p][/p][p]Hope this clears up why and what we are doing with our hybrid combat system! As we approach our demo I’d love to hear from you guys. What are some of your favorite RPG battle systems? What RPGs got combat wrong? Are there any older RPGs that have stuck with you throughout the years?[/p]

[p]Hi all - this will be a roughly weekly blog going into detail and pulling back the curtain a bit on our process for building Descent of Lunaris (DoL). As a founder and production manager on the game I've had the opportunity to see the evolution of the team's creative process over the course of development and watch the ideas of all our talented members combine into something greater than the sum of its parts.[/p][p]An interesting part of our dev cycle is driven by our art style which combines 3D and 2D assets into a highly unique aesthetic. We're big believers in finding our favorite talent for any given area of the game, and giving them a ton of latitude to express themselves. We find this allows people to bring their best efforts and engagement, and the game is really greater for it when things click.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Francine Bridge is our artist for all the enemies in DoL - and wow are there a lot of them. She has made other video games, but is also an accomplished artist for other types of projects. What we fell in love with in her work was the extremely original scifi/fantasy/horror designs we've seen her do elsewhere and the shared influences we have across the RPG landscape.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Alex Preuss is our artist for our environments (among other things) and is an expert in building in-engine for Unreal projects. He handles everything from concept art to implementation from our level design pipeline. Alex has worked on a ton of games (and book covers and many other things) and has a wonderful sensibility and ability to execute that we leverage all through DoL.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Over the course of the project, I've seen their collaboration evolve into a level of almost intuitive connection on what an area of the game should be, and how the environments and monsters seem to converge even during the concepting stage where they are working separately. Seeing the more hard sci-fi influences of Alex's part work converge with Francine's almost punk-ish sense of unapologetic creativity has given the project a visual identity that we're all extremely proud of.[/p][p]Now that we've gotten to the point where the UI and combat effects are all working together to give the player a strong sense of feedback in both 1st person "formation" and 3rd person "tactical" combat styles, we think we're really able offer a journey into a world that feels truly alien. As we're nearly to our public playtest and have a ton of levels in the game we've had tons of opportunity to leverage these assets, along with our huge OST and sound effects to create a truly immersive experience for the player.[/p][p]We hope you look forward to solving the mystery of what lies in wait within Lunaris![/p]

[p]We’re getting ready to launch a playtest for our dungeon-crawling RPG! You’ll be among the first to try early content, test combat, explore the first dungeon areas, and send us feedback before we move to the next development stages. Full details on timing, participation, and feedback channels will be shared soon.[/p][p]How can you help?[/p]

• [p]A request-access button is live on the Steam page[/p]
• [p]Join our discord and fill out the playtest recruitment form for extra questions[/p]
• [p]Provide bug reports through our bug report channel on discord[/p]
• [p]Chat with devs and share your experience[/p]
• [p]Investigate a signal emanating from deep within the moon[/p]

[p]If you’re excited to delve into dangerous dungeons, help us identify opportunities to improve, and break things (in a good way!), we’d love to have you.[/p][p]Stay tuned—and thank you for joining us.[/p][p][/p][p][/p]