21/06/2023

Cacildes Adventure - Full game release!

 

Hello everyone. I am pleased to announce the full game is now available for download!
After a year and a half of development (it started in January 2022), I am very happy to see this project concluding in what I believe is a high-note. I want to thank my girlfriend, Cátia, which was crucial to get me going during the highs and lows of developing this. A special thanks to Synty Studios, which assets I have been buying for many years and finally got the chance to put to good use! 
And thanks Unity for a game engine which has allowed me to fullfill my life's dream: to create my own RPG!
Please report any bugs that you find in the discussion board. I am available to help if you get stuck during your playthrough. :-)
I hope you have a delightful experience playing with Cacildes and his companions!




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(Game gone gold obligatory picture)





 

04/05/2023

UNITY PERFORMANCE: FindObjectOfType => outside of start() or awake() is problematic






 Just a heads up on something I was unaware. As I added many climbable ladders to my city, I started noticing the frames dropping and while using Profiler, I noticed it was due to the Update loop. There was a reference in the Update loop to the FindObjectOfType call, which I thought was done only once during the gameobject initialization.

I put the FindObjectOfType references in the Awake() method instead, and my framerate doubled, from 60 to 120. So, heads up! :-P


BEFORE:


AFTER:




02/05/2023

Cacildes Adventure - The (Planned) Story


This is the planned story for my game, Cacildes Adventure, which I'm currently developing. The story is a coming of age tale, with a heavy focus on the journey to find a place to belong.

There are three main characters in the story:

Cacildes, the protagonist, a young boy wishing to join the King's Army;
Alcino, a banished prince of hell who has been living peacefully with the humans and is the general of the army;
Balbino, an half-orc half-elf and the antagonist who moves the plot forward in his personal quest to find a stone that turns orcs into elves, so he can become accepted by elves (as he is not by his orc's counterpart)

I envisioned these three characters way back in 2012, when I developed a story about a young boy leaving his home to join the king's army and finding odd characters in his journey.


The story had Cacildes killing a bear that was stealing his mother's chickens, then leaving home and meeting an old philosopher in another town, called Sidónio, who was also heading to the Capital to give a philosphy lesson. Upon arriving at the town, Cacildes would stop some bandits from assaulting a carriage, with one of the bandits cursing him with an evil curse.

   Here's some screenshots of the 2012 game:


(You could craft weapons and armor, and they would change your sprite's appearance)




(Elven dungeon)




(Elven town on the way to the Capital)



( The Capital )


What followed was a series of tragic events that led to Cacildes being imprisioned in the Capital, only to escape with Sidónio and find a witch that could brew him a potion to cure his curse. He would then journey the world to find these ingredients, meeting Alcino and Balbino along the way!


( The original cover artwork )




(Original 2012 drawing for Balbino)



That was the general idea for the game at the time, and I drew the characters years later, in 2016:


(From left to right: Cacildes, Alcino, Sidónio and Balbino)


(A draft of Cacildes)

Now, in 2023, I've rewritten everything and recycled these ideas into a story that I think is well-scoped, well-rounded and has a much more interesting overarching narrative (and themes):

 STORY POINTS:

  • Cacildes is a young boy who yearns to enlist in the King’s Army

  • After completing a series of tasks from his mother, he embarks on his journey to Cecily Town, where the king lives

  • There he finds the town in crisis due to the west bridge being blocked by orcs - this bridge is important for receiving shipments from other cities, and its blockage means prices are rising and the townsfolk are going through hard times

  • The king directs Cacildes to Alcino, the Army general, who will decide if Cacildes is a fit for the army. Alcino is a banished demon lord who was banished from hell because of his refusal to punish the damned souls, and for his expressed love for humanity. He has been living with humans for centuries, and has employed his dark powers at the king’s service in exchange for the finest harvest of grapes for his wine-production purposes.

  • Alcino tells Cacildes to investigate the library at night, as townsfolk have reported a stranger entering and exiting the building

  • That stranger is Balbino, an half-orc, half-elf who is part of the orcs guild that is blocking the bridge. He has been investigating the library for information on a stone that has turned orcs into elves in the past. This stone was discovered by Concordia, a traveler born in Cecily Town centuries ago, and who found this stone in the ocean on a elven shipwreck. She brought the stone back to Cecily Town, and a settlement nearby that was once hidden and filled with orcs was now blooming with flowers, wit the orcs turned to beautiful elves.

  • Balbino is researching about the stone because the orcs want the stone destroyed - hence why they are blocking the bridge and attacking Cecily Town. However, secretly, Balbino wants to use the stone to turn himself into an elf, because his half-blood orc means he is not accepted fully within his orc’s peer.

  • After Cacildes encounters Balbino in the library, he flees the scene. Although they don’t speak with each other, Cacildes waits for the next day to talk with the librarian about which book Balbino stole. After knowing the name of the book, Cacildes returns to Alcino, which tells Cacildes he has done a good work and will need time to investigate it further. In the meantime, he tells Cacildes to deliver a message to one of the soldiers posted in the bridge. This begins Act 1

  • Upon arriving at the bridge, Cacildes finds that the soldier that was meant to receive Alcino’s orders has gone into a secret mine nearby, where he is sure the orcs have their settlement. Cacildes goes searching for this soldier in this mine, arriving at the secret settlement, where he finds the soldier dead. Here begins the boss battle against a giant Orc and Balbino. Upon defeating the pair, Balbino flees the scene again. The orc leader is seen sailing away has the king’s army arrives at the settlement. This seems to end this plot thread.

  • Upon arriving at Cecily Town, Alcino tells Cacildes that the stone has disappeared from the Elven village, threatening the elves into becoming orcs once again. Cacildes must travel to the elven village next.

  • Act 2 begins with Cacildes arriving at the elven village. Balbino has stolen the stone and hidden himself in Arun’s Resting Place, a temple full of dangerous enemies. In the temple, Cacildes faces Balbino again in a boss battle, with Balbino losing once again, admitting to Cacildes he wants the stone for himself in order to turn into an elf

  • The elven master arrives at the scene, and tells Balbino that without the stone, they will all turn into orcs. Balbino asks if he can coexist with the elves being an half-elf, but the elven master asks for the stone first, prompting Balbino to accept that he will never be accepted anywhere. Cacildes asks him to join him in his journey, telling him about how Alcino lives among humans and he himself is a demon prince. Balbino is convinced that humans may be less prejudiced than orcs or elfs, and accepts.

  • Upon arriving at Cecily Town, the pair is surprised to see the town engulfed in flames. Alcino tells Cacildes that the King’s daughter has been kidnapped, with the orcs demanding the stone. In the future, there will be two ways to complete the final act: either stealing the stone again from the elves; or chasing the orcs by boat on the final island, where the Orc general can be found and defeated, and the princess rescued (she will be in a tower, as a cliche node to old RPG games). This is the good ending, with the orc threat finally gone and Cacildes joining the army alongside Balbino (?).


Hopefully that story doesn't change too much, as I think I really have something here that I can translate into the game with the existing mechanics already present.

So anyway, that is the story so far. Be sure to follow the game's development here:
https://andrefcasimiro.itch.io/cacildes-adventure

And thank you for reading!

16/03/2023

Cacildes Adventure - versão 0.5 vai conter o melhor fix!

Algo que me chateou bastante durante a versão 0.4 do Cacildes Adventure foi este bug em que os inimigos se esquivam para dentro de paredes e depois ficam presos, porque durante o momento do dodge, o código troca a lomocação do NavMeshAgent para a do root motion. Este híbrido de Root motion para alguns estados de animações e navmesh para outros é bastante útil. Mas pode gerar bugs como na primeira parte do vídeo.

A solução foi bastante engraçada, na verdade. Em cada frame do StateUpdate do EnableRootMotion, vamos checar se a nossa posição atual está dentro da walkable area do navmesh do environment. Se estiver, tudo bem, continuemos com o root motion. Se não estiver, ora toca de ativar o navmesh, pois assim vai haver um reposicionamento automático da personagem!








07/10/2022

Multiple save files, lock on system, negative status effects like Dark Souls

 Hey everyone,

It's been a while since I've posted updates so here are some new things to showcase in the video below:

Lock on system - just like in Dark Souls, you can lock on to enemies to facilitate combat direction. Also, attack animations have a initial time where you can rotate the character before it commits to the attack, blocking your rotation. This feels really good and it's the way it's done in the souls series;

Multiple Save Files - wanted to do this for a while! You can now have multiple save files, and they will have a screenshot of your character and also the total game time!

Better UI - my girlfriend complained that the weapons stats and equipment was very confusing so I tried to improve it and give some explanation fo how attack and defense works (it's like in Dark Souls, if you've played it). You have your base physical attack / defense, and for weapons, they will scale with your strength or dexterity, with their Scaling Bonus ranging from E to S (worse - better);

Negative Status Effects - it was already available in Episode 1 v0.1, but I've improved it UI-wise;

Better Dialogue UI - It's just that! A better Dialogue UI :-) You can now leave conversations in the middle as well, just like, you guessed it, Dark Souls;

And much more!

What is up next?

Alchemy crafting system (yes, the game needs one. Crafting potions is so cool, and I have some neat ideas for potions that influence gameplay);

Day / Night system, with NPCs showing up at certain times of day, or plants growing once per day if you pick them up, or harder enemies at night. It will be done!

Parry System like Sekiro where enemies have posture and if you break it, you'll receive a chance to punish the enemy with a critical attack;

That is what's on the roadmap before Episode 2 gets started. I'm in the prototype phase still, but I'm feeling confident. In just two weeks it felt like I really grinded to a good place. Let's see what happens next!

21/09/2022

Cacildes Adventure - Revival - Episode 1 is out!

 


It's been a good while since I've updated the blog!

After 9 months hidden away, I bring to you all the revival of one of my dearest game characters: Cacildes.

This is a remake of an old RPG Maker project I had, and I plan to release many more games in an episodic format. For now, here's the first one in the series:

TWITTER | GITHUB (Source Code)

A coming of age Action RPG about a lazy boy who gets kicked out of his home and forced to join the king's army.

In this first episode, Cacildes is tasked with finding a bear that might be involved in the disappearance of his mother's chickens.

Developed over a period of 9 months by one developer, the game was built with many Dark Souls mechanics in mind: there are boss fights, weapons that scale, bonfires and, of course, poisonous swamps!



KEY FEATURES:

  • Heavy focus on melee combat, with emphasis on stamina management and spacing;
  • Dialogue with multiple choices;
  • Reputation system tied to your choices;
  • Two boss fights available, one of them a secret!
  • Enemies can throw projectiles and some have environmental attacks;
  • Poison and fatigue status can affect your character - more status planned for future episodes;
  • Bonfires allow you to level up;
  • Weapons scale with your attributes;
  • Hotkey system to favorite items and use them in combat;
  • Lighthearted story and atmosphere;
  • New Game +, keep your weapons and armor from previous playthroughs!
  • And more...


Download it now on itch.io:


Thank you for playing!

24/01/2021

The Bard & The Mead - Book system

This week's update included a book system similar to the one we see in Skyrim. Advancements have also been made regarding the first main quest, and soon enough we will be exploring the outside world and many adventures! 


“Art of parrying”, by Sir Tiebaut

Mial was down to his last health potion. His eyes were weary, giving in to the darkness of the foggy cavern. He knew he had two more deadly cavemen to face, and after many failed attempts at dodging their pickaxes, he had come to terms with his inability in rolling in heavy armor.

“A true adventurer”, he thought, “would have kept an eye on these cavemen attacks and memorized their patterns, and then he would parry them and break their guard”. And after carefully planning, Mial had made a decision.

“I’ll parry you, dwellers of dark” and so he did so beautifully. One perfect parry from his sword against the caveman's pickaxe, and he had an opening at last. With time slowed down to half, Mial struck his enemy with stunning slashes, making quick work of what would have been his demise otherwise.

Now, Mial had discovered the power of parrying an opponent, and how it saved his life. “I don’t even take any damage for parrying perfectly”, he concluded.

Silly ideas of abandoning his armor and running around naked throughout the kingdom’s perilous lands soon ran through his feeble mind.

Indeed, Mial the now naked adventurer would meet his end shortly after leaving the cave, when he tried to parry a nearby bandit, only to miss his parry timing against a foe he had not studied carefully beforehand.

As a conclusion to this cautionary tale, one cannot parry a foe he knows not. So study your enemy’s attacks, all of them if possible. Only then would you know the exact time to parry, or to run. And please, always use armor, of any kind!