War of Velana is a project we first talked about back in October. Since then there have been some exciting updates, including a demo release!
There are new NPC’s, new maps, and new Chapters in development. Here’s a peek at some of the updated sprite artwork:
Speaking of those animations, with the new character art, there are a lot of sprite design changes that are taking place to have the characters look a lot closer to their official designs. Here are some before and after comparisons of the main cast.
The maps are also looking great:
If you want to keep up with development, updates are posted on the War of Velana Devblog.
But enough talk, go grab the demo and leave some feedback!
Instead of boring words about half-finished code I’m working on, have some screenshots of half-working features!
Click to view the animated “GIVE” process.
Tooltips have been tidied up since that gif was created:
Who doesn’t love a good drop shadow?
And finally, here’s a look at a Cody targeting some enemies in a test battle
I really need to fix the gaps created by my dodgy window rendering code.
Battle mode is coming along nicely. Characters can be spawned in specific areas, so it’s possible to have the team split into multiple sections. Enemies can be targeted, and land effects and movement are working.
The next step is getting attack animations working, and then there might actually be something approaching a playable battle. Finally!
The above screenshot is from the very first town in the next Shining Online demo. Like other Shining Force games, you start alone and have to recruit a team before you can venture into the wide open world.
All of the above is handled by a little bit of lispy-script:
There are a lot of TODO entries in the source code
Shining Online uses a custom lisp engine for scripting, and has an entity + component system for managing in-game objects. Entities can be anything from characters walking around to hidden triggers or spawn zones.
So far this setup is working really well. Entities can have scripts attached to them, and it’s possible to add components to entities via script. I’m not 100% happy with how inspecting works; it’s far too complicated for what it is, but it works so I’m trying to leave it alone.
In development
I’m currently working through milestone 3 – items. At this point it’s mostly UI work that is left. It’s not one of my strong points, but it’s slowly getting there. My aim is to have it all complete by the end of the month so that I can start on shops and the priest.
The main screen for managing items looks like this
Apologies for the placeholder portrait
I’m not totally happy with the tooltip yet, but it’s pretty close to what I’m aiming for. Giving items to other characters works, but the table needs updating with stat changes. Equipping items and armor is getting a slight revamp, but should be working by the time March rolls around.
I’m looking forward to working on something a little more fun.
Aura4 got in touch to let me know about the release of his new Shining Force fan game, Mega Force 2!
Mega Force 2 is the sequel to Mega Force, which was released back in 2016. Just like its predecessor, Mega Force 2 features a complete cast of playable characters and a tonne of battles.
You start with a single character, but as the game progresses you’ll pick up some useful allies.
Not all of these characters are popular with the dungeon’s inhabitants though…
If you’re a fan of Shining-style battles this is definitely worth a play. Be sure to use your spells in the early battles as they can be very tough, and don’t be afraid to use egress if needed. Some of the later fights require a little bit of planning to make sure enemies are lured into range, which adds an extra layer of challenge to the experience.
War of Velana is a new 16-bit RPG in development. From the homepage:
In many ways, War of Velana is a spiritual successor to the Shining Force series on the Sega Genesis. Elements of those games are the core, and combine with some design ideas from Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics to create a new tactical experience. In War of Velana, your characters have static classes and gain a variety of skills and equipment upgrades as you progress through the game. In between combat, you’ll be able to explore and interact with the world around you.
The game has been in development for four years and has a great look to it:
There are more screenshots in the latest devblog, including some really impressive atmospheric animations. Check it out!
