I hadn't posted in 4 years or so and was thinking about this project because I needed inspiration! Hey @Marshal Banana we need some answers and some tutorials and some closure--and a release date!
In all due respect, I hope you're out there enjoying your life and continuing to make awesome art.
For anyone finding this thread recently...start at page 1.
I HAVE BEEN SUMMONED! Someone commented on one of my Youtube videos saying that people were active in my thread again, to which I responded "No way!"
Suffice to say I'm just absolutely giddy!
Lemme get some stuff together, and I'll dump the progress I made between my last posts on Polycount and putting the project on hold (Sadly, but for smaller projects. Don't worry, I'll get back to it!)
So at some point I thought I'd rename the game so I could change up the plot details. It went from Key of Ethios to:
I did some really neat worldbuilding stuff:
That there's the World Tree skybox- it and four other Pillars are the backbone of the world, so to speak- all landmasses are suspended amidst their branches!
I felt that the story I was working with before was a little messy due to about 7 years of altering and tacking on stuff, so I decided I'd take our heroes and tell a different story- kinda wanting to go for a long-running thing (Which was part of the rebranding).
The first tale was going to be in a snowy land called Fujitake- a great winter mountain at its center. Specifically, a resort town called the PIllars of Valhagura, where some odd goings on were happening.
Did a little environment mood concept:
I'd modeled up a new character, Fellblade Aradia:
Story-wise, she's intended to be a foil to our girl Ellie, which is why she looks kinda similar.
Hey @Marshal Banana great to see you around again! Also glad to see the project is still around, thanks for the updates
"Key of Ethios" / "Ethios: Valiant Plume Saga" always seemed crazy ambitious to me for a single indie dev, so I'm not surprised you might want to take a break from it. You said you're working on some smaller projects, anything from those you're willing/able to show?
It was definitely an insane undertaking, but damn if it didn't help build my skillset through application! So even if it never sees the light of day (Knock on wood), it wouldn't have been for naught.
But yeah, I'll pick it up again and write a much smaller-scale story- I really want to explore the world I've been creating for the past 10 years!
As for the other projects, one is the redo of my old Umber Throne project, with metroidvania elements and a free-aim combat system. The other is the one I'm currently working on- it's reminiscent of Castlevania or Shovel Knight, but with Smash Bros-esque controls.
I'll probably make a new thread to show those in detail to avoid cluttering this one (Though here's a peek at the current project's main character)
*Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec!!* intensifies. Couldn't resist PS: great work! however, don't you think those speed lines are a bit overwhelming ? you could reduce their alpha to be more user friendly.
We've had one comeback, yes- but what about Second Comeback?
Starting fresh with a new concept in mind- planning out the entire story from the broad strokes of themes and junk, and then moving to the fine details.
Pushing the designs in a new direction, unchained by the previous conventions that I locked myself into from the concept's inception.
Ellie already kind of had hers- I went from the more casual clothing and leaned back into the armor, but not quite enough. She needs to immediately scream DEFENSE. Stalwart, Fortified, etc.
Others are only rough sketches for now, but I'm kinda keeping them under wraps until the time comes.
Ideally, once I get the entire story plotted out, I can divvy out smaller, episodic releases while working through the story. I'm taking a lot of inspiration from One Piece in regards to structuring and writing a long-term story (It's a *really* good reference).
I think I'll actually throw the idea of the new story right out there.
One big issue with my world was the idea of a major, omnipresent peacekeeping force. Apparently it was stifling the story possibilities because as soon as I got rid of it, many doors opened.
The new conceit is that there is that major peacekeeping force (The Shieldbearers), and its all good. But the story begins with its leadership suddenly disappearing, resulting in the Shieldbearers falling apart and leaving a great power vacuum in its place as law and order breaks down. What new powers will rise in their absence? What disarray will come from this?
Ellie's gone full gremlin- she's, like, four feet tall but is built like a bunker- this helps her quite a bit with her defensive capabilities.
She's gotten a major alteration to her hair, as well- I think the simple spiral bangs work a lot better and are much more fun.
Van is now super thin and kind of lanky to convey his Mobility. But he's also got some mass from his clothes to show his fighting power.
Gil's not been done yet, but he'd be around two heads taller than Van- an absolute unit. I figure I may as well go kinda crazy with the proportions and size differences.
Here's an important character for the story setup:
The Errant Hero, Adelaide. She was one of the highest-ranking knights in the Shieldbearers, and one of the main ones that vanished.
Adelaide is actually Ellie's idol- when she was a young girl, Adelaide saved her from a monster, but also hung around for a time and taught her some stuff.
She inspired Ellie to wield a sword and shield, but Ellie fixated on the meaning of the shield and made that her main power.
As his role is Offense, his redesign has very little armor. The outfit and the proportions serve to exaggerate his physique and make him look quite powerful.
His giant cape has been replaced by a smaller shoulder cape, as I felt the original one hid too much of his body from behind in-game, so you couldn't see his animations as well.
Here's Celeste now. Not much to say in regards to practical design change- there's not much I could think of to convey Utility, aside from a bunch of extraneous containers or something (Which doesn't work in the lore)
I did, however, make her more dragon-y and now her clothes are poofy!
Putting everyone in a lineup actually showed that GIl was underdetailed compared to everyone else- he lacked small-scale detail.
Here's a fix in the lineup. Now he's a stud muffin
The way Gil's shirt/tabard thing was constructed didn't make much sense, so this is a lot better. I've also taken the sky pattern from his cape and applied it here, too, on top of making the shape of the hem more interesting.
The shape of Ellie's legs and sidelocks were bothering me, so I made some adjustments. Her eyes also felt too close to the shape of Celeste's, so I redid those as well.
Replies
In all due respect, I hope you're out there enjoying your life and continuing to make awesome art.
For anyone finding this thread recently...start at page 1.
Suffice to say I'm just absolutely giddy!
Lemme get some stuff together, and I'll dump the progress I made between my last posts on Polycount and putting the project on hold (Sadly, but for smaller projects. Don't worry, I'll get back to it!)
I did some really neat worldbuilding stuff:
That there's the World Tree skybox- it and four other Pillars are the backbone of the world, so to speak- all landmasses are suspended amidst their branches!
The first tale was going to be in a snowy land called Fujitake- a great winter mountain at its center. Specifically, a resort town called the PIllars of Valhagura, where some odd goings on were happening.
Did a little environment mood concept:
I'd modeled up a new character, Fellblade Aradia:
Story-wise, she's intended to be a foil to our girl Ellie, which is why she looks kinda similar.
Van and Celeste (The last two characters) had their races switched up due to gameplay considerations.
I gave all four members a solid role: Defense (Ellie), Offense (Gil), Mobility (Van), and Utility (Celeste)
So since Van's Mobility, it makes more sense for him to have all of the double jumps and gliding and stuff.
Some characters
Our heroes' personal Melkytes (Can you guess who each one belongs to?)
And I had an idea for an aquatic race:
You can grab the build in the video here:
https://www.indiedb.com/games/ethios-game/downloads/ethios-flight-prototype
And a sky area concept, too:
"Key of Ethios" / "Ethios: Valiant Plume Saga" always seemed crazy ambitious to me for a single indie dev, so I'm not surprised you might want to take a break from it. You said you're working on some smaller projects, anything from those you're willing/able to show?
It was definitely an insane undertaking, but damn if it didn't help build my skillset through application! So even if it never sees the light of day (Knock on wood), it wouldn't have been for naught.
But yeah, I'll pick it up again and write a much smaller-scale story- I really want to explore the world I've been creating for the past 10 years!
As for the other projects, one is the redo of my old Umber Throne project, with metroidvania elements and a free-aim combat system. The other is the one I'm currently working on- it's reminiscent of Castlevania or Shovel Knight, but with Smash Bros-esque controls.
I'll probably make a new thread to show those in detail to avoid cluttering this one (Though here's a peek at the current project's main character)
Couldn't resist
PS: great work! however, don't you think those speed lines are a bit overwhelming ? you could reduce their alpha to be more user friendly.
I certainly could- you're probably right.
Starting fresh with a new concept in mind- planning out the entire story from the broad strokes of themes and junk, and then moving to the fine details.
Pushing the designs in a new direction, unchained by the previous conventions that I locked myself into from the concept's inception.
Ellie already kind of had hers- I went from the more casual clothing and leaned back into the armor, but not quite enough. She needs to immediately scream DEFENSE. Stalwart, Fortified, etc.
Others are only rough sketches for now, but I'm kinda keeping them under wraps until the time comes.
Ideally, once I get the entire story plotted out, I can divvy out smaller, episodic releases while working through the story. I'm taking a lot of inspiration from One Piece in regards to structuring and writing a long-term story (It's a *really* good reference).
Look forward to it!
One big issue with my world was the idea of a major, omnipresent peacekeeping force. Apparently it was stifling the story possibilities because as soon as I got rid of it, many doors opened.
The new conceit is that there is that major peacekeeping force (The Shieldbearers), and its all good. But the story begins with its leadership suddenly disappearing, resulting in the Shieldbearers falling apart and leaving a great power vacuum in its place as law and order breaks down. What new powers will rise in their absence? What disarray will come from this?
Ellie's gone full gremlin- she's, like, four feet tall but is built like a bunker- this helps her quite a bit with her defensive capabilities.
She's gotten a major alteration to her hair, as well- I think the simple spiral bangs work a lot better and are much more fun.
Van is now super thin and kind of lanky to convey his Mobility. But he's also got some mass from his clothes to show his fighting power.
Gil's not been done yet, but he'd be around two heads taller than Van- an absolute unit. I figure I may as well go kinda crazy with the proportions and size differences.
Here's an important character for the story setup:
The Errant Hero, Adelaide. She was one of the highest-ranking knights in the Shieldbearers, and one of the main ones that vanished.
Adelaide is actually Ellie's idol- when she was a young girl, Adelaide saved her from a monster, but also hung around for a time and taught her some stuff.
She inspired Ellie to wield a sword and shield, but Ellie fixated on the meaning of the shield and made that her main power.
As his role is Offense, his redesign has very little armor. The outfit and the proportions serve to exaggerate his physique and make him look quite powerful.
His giant cape has been replaced by a smaller shoulder cape, as I felt the original one hid too much of his body from behind in-game, so you couldn't see his animations as well.
Also, he's not quite as big as I thought:
Here's Celeste now. Not much to say in regards to practical design change- there's not much I could think of to convey Utility, aside from a bunch of extraneous containers or something (Which doesn't work in the lore)
I did, however, make her more dragon-y and now her clothes are poofy!
Putting everyone in a lineup actually showed that GIl was underdetailed compared to everyone else- he lacked small-scale detail.
Here's a fix in the lineup. Now he's a stud muffin
* * *
Further GIl refinement:
-A dynamic gradient 'shadows' forms that are facing downward. I set it to be segmented in the case of metal, or smooth in the case of everything else
-An overlay on the metal to push the metallic look
-Specifically-shaped linework rendered out either dynamically or with some fancy modeling voodoo a la Arc System Works
-The lines interact with the gradient, becoming slightly darker if under it.
-Basic smooth lighting
The way Gil's shirt/tabard thing was constructed didn't make much sense, so this is a lot better. I've also taken the sky pattern from his cape and applied it here, too, on top of making the shape of the hem more interesting.
The shape of Ellie's legs and sidelocks were bothering me, so I made some adjustments. Her eyes also felt too close to the shape of Celeste's, so I redid those as well.