Development Update 10: April
Boy, do we have a lot of content for you this month! It is fitting then that it's a round Tenth Development Update for our game. Fasten your seatbelts, people, and enjoy the ride!
BETA TIME!
Backer Beta Release Date Announcement
That's right! We can finally announce that the Backer Beta will launch on June 1st, 2016 (Wednesday). A nice little gift for you all on Children's Day. :) For your comfort, the build will be distributed through Steam. All qualifying backers will receive their Steam Keys via e-mail on the day of the launch. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THE BACKER BETA IS AVAILABLE TO 35$+ BACKERS ONLY.
More information about the delivery of the Beta, along with the FAQ and feedback forums will be available in the beta release Kickstarter update, which should also land on June 1st.
What's in the Beta?
Our Beta features quite a lot of content, so here's a list. Lots of numbers ahead!
- 2 playable chapters of the game - Tutorial and Chapter 1
- 5 playable party members - Kay, Griffith, Signy, Aliss, Levant
- 6 recruitable villagers - Baz and Lilka the Innkeepers, Gunther the Blacksmith, Miri the Pathfinder, Haksun the Merchant and Shichiroji the Hobo
- 9 Social Links for both party members and villagers, pursuable up to Level 2 (out of 5).
- 2 full regions to explore - The Heartlands and The Biting Sea
- 24 battle encounters - complete with the new Objective and Challenge Systems (more on that below) and hidden mini-bosses
- 18 unique text adventures
- 1 minigame - gather resources all over the world
- Full Orchestral Soundtrack
- Professional English voice acting
- ...and more to discover!
Here are some sweet, sweet gifs from various beta encounters:
....aaand some screenshots:
What's NOT in the Beta?
POLISH! Seriously, the Beta is a very different beast from the Combat Preview, which was a very small, self-contained piece of code. There will be bugs and there will be many rough, unpolished spots in it. Animations, User Interface, World Map and general Player Feedback all need major polish passes before the release.
Please have this in mind as you play! As before, we will have feedback forums and we will be paying diligent attention to your suggestions. Nothing is set in stone - there's always room for improvements!
NEW COMBAT FEATURES
Major Combat Improvements
What's the silent killer of most tactical RPGs? We would say it's tedium. What's one of the major causes of tedium in games like ours? We would say it's lack of variety. This is also something that we have discussed in our Backer Teamspeak Meetings.
We are happy to announce three new, major systems that were added to the game and will be available in the Beta - Objectives, Challenges and Combat Modifiers.
Objectives are what you, as a player, need to achieve in order to win in a battle. If you were worried about all battles being simply about smashing your enemies in their stupid faces, then worry not anymore! We have prepared 6 distinct types for you in the Beta:
Challenges are completely optional mini-objectives that ask you to win fights in a specific way. Remember Judges from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance? This is something similar but without penalizing the player for not complying with the system. Each challenge is worth additional experience and possibly new loot. They have various level of difficulty - some might be very difficult to achieve indeed! Examples of challenges include:
- win without using specific skills
- win using only specific skills
- win in X turns
- win without missing a skill
- win without moving at all (!)
- win with a single deployed character... the list keeps going on!
Combat Modifiers work in tandem with Objectives and Challenges to crank up that encounter variety even higher. Instead of presenting you with a specific task, they modify the battle even further, introducing wacky rules or setups. This ensures that two Annihilation encounters will play differently, despite having the same objective. Here are some examples of modifiers you will see in beta:
- unusual deployment pattern - what if you had found yourself lost in the swamps with your characters scattered around the map and monsters circling around them?
- reanimation aura - what if there was a dark presence on the battlefield that summons new undead monsters on every turn?
- odd wind - what if there was a strange, magical wind blowing that moves combatants around the battlefield randomly every turn?
- spawning pools - what if there were destroyable objects on the battlefield that spawn additional enemies on every turn?
BETA'S VOICE CAST REVEALED
As you probably already know, Regalia will feature a very hefty dose of professional English voice acting thanks to our cooperation with Sound Cadence Studios. For Beta alone we have over 1400 lines recorded for 22 characters.
Today we have the pleasure of revealing the full cast of voice actors for the Backer Beta. We have attached a sample voiced line for each below.
- Kay - Nicholas Andrew Louie
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Elaine - Amanda Julina
- Gwendolyn - Amber Lee Connors
-
Griffith - Steven Kelly
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Desideratus - River Kanoff
- Aliss - Melissa Sternenberg
- Levant - Jason Marnocha
- Signy - Michele Knotz
- Addie - Sarah Williams
- Miri - Kira Buckland
- Crucey - Daman Mills
- Shichiroji - Edwyn Tiong
- Haksun - Kamran Nikhad
- Gunther - Lucas Schulman
NEW CONTENT
Emotions on character portraits
One of the recurring suggestions we were getting from our backers was to add emotions to characters' portraits during cutscenes. Well, we're happy to announce that this is currently in production and will be available in the Backer Beta. Here are some examples:
New location
Oooh, would you look at that - a new location has appeared!
New interiors
You won't see these in the Beta, but still - here's two new house interiors for Winter the Prospector and Riehl the Alchemist.
New Enemy type
A completely new type of an enemy will appear in the Beta - Bandits! They appear in various flavours - Muggers, Brutes and even Bosses. A JRPG without a "Steal" ability wouldn't be a JRPG, right? :D
New World Map
Our very own Runshin has been working diligently for the past month, painstakingly creating the new Overworld map that will be used in game to travel around various regions of the Rashytil Expanse. It's definitely one of the most colourful artworks we have!
CHECK THESE OUT!
Arcadian Atlas
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1266693296/arcadian-atlas-tactical-rpg-inspired-by-classics
Welp, this is probably any FFT/Tactics Ogre fan's dream Kickstarter project. Turn-based strategy JRPG with a job system and wonderful 2D graphics. It channels the "Masuno/Yoshida" vibe very strongly. Plus, the soundtrack kicks major butt. Recommended!
Chronicle of Ruin
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/954260789/chronicle-of-ruin
Another little gem inspired by FFT and Tactics Ogre. We really like how innovative this project is - blending different genres, including real time and turn-based elements in the battle system. Plus, it features the most amazing pixel animation we've seen on a Kickstarter in a long time. Definitely keep an eye on it!
Dunan on May 21, 2016
Very nice preview. I have to admit that I didn't really like Signy's voice either, sounds a little bit like Nelson from the Simpsons.
Joel Fox on May 6, 2016
Ooh, thanks. Those look really nice.
Pixelated Milk Creator on May 5, 2016
@Joel
Here you go, just for you :D
http://imgur.com/a/8NeJc
josh-thomas-san on May 5, 2016
Omg all the combat features sound awesome.
The character portraits are so well done. *tear*
Joel Fox on May 4, 2016
I look forward to it. I gotta say, this game seems to be shaping up very nicely. It'd be great if you could share some full-ish resolution screens sometime. The ones in the update are really nice (great animation!) and really make me want to see how well the game'll look at 1080p.
Pixelated Milk Creator on May 3, 2016
@Ryan
Absolutely fine with streaming! We encourage it since it helps us a little bit with the coverage as well :)
@Joel
We currently plan for a short and sweet beta trailer and some additional, more extensive videocontent. One of the recognizable YouTube LP guys will make a "hands on" video of the beta and we're looking into having our own walkthrough as well. The latter is a bit difficult since we lack English speakers with good pronunciation in-house :p
As for the "hobo" term, I'll bring it up with our writer and get back to you.
@Mihri-Pirate
We've focused on the combatants so far to be honest. The grids in the game are on the smaller size so it's really easy to clutter them too much.
We do however have breakable blockades (you can see them in the screenshot from last month with zombie general) and unbreakable blockades (which can both block or allow line of sight). Furthermore in the final boss fight of the beta there is a mechanic that's tied to the grid. The boss is immune to all damage. There is however "a place of power" on the map that strips the shield of the boss, when it's occupied by the player. To make things a little more interesting, the "place of power" continuously damages it's occupant, which requires you to rotate the party members inside of it.
Mihir-Pirate King of the Obsidian Order on May 2, 2016
So Objectives, Challenges and Combat Modifiers are great and absolutely important in making the game more interesting, but have you guys given some thought to level design and mechanics?
Having certain tiles give you buffs, debuffs or be traps, pulls or pushbacks would be interesting. Having the environment have things like unbreakable walls, breakable blockades, choppable trees and elements like snow, which slows movement, ice which forces an extra step in teh direction you choose, grass that is highly inflammable etc would be equally important in giving a certain nuance, skill and bring a new level of tactics and strategy to your game.
What are your thoughts on this?
Stabbey on May 2, 2016
Oh wow this looks really great. I'm getting excited.
Joel Fox on May 2, 2016
Sounds fantastic! Will you be doing a stream or YouTube video or anything like that with the beta, to show off some general features to the public, too, or is that kind of marketing best held out on until closer to release?
Anyway,I do have one tiny suggestion: you may want to reconsider Shichiroji the Hobo's name.
"Hobo" is a *very* American term that originated fairly recently (about a century ago) in the United States. As such it doesn't feel very natural (to me at least) for Regalia's setting, and pairing it with the Japanese-inspired "Shichiroji" makes it feel even more out of place.
Something more universal like "vagrant" might be a better fit.
Ryan Gleason on May 2, 2016
I don't remember if you've said anything about this, but are you fine with any streaming/videos of the beta?
D-Boy
Superbacker
on May 2, 2016
A wonderful update full of amazing new content. I am now very jealous that I didn't back at a beta level. Still, I'm excited to see how we'll things are progressing. Keep up the incredible work, Pixelated Milk!
Mr.Monttu
Superbacker
on May 2, 2016
Oh my....wonderful! Digging pretty much all you threw at me...once again. GJ! ^^
Michael N. Mitchell on May 2, 2016
You guys got Sarah Williams and Kira Buckland? Those two are awesome.
Pixelated Milk Creator on May 2, 2016
Oh and about Signy, she's probably going to be a little bit divisive in terms of her voice over but we think you'll like her in the end. Signy in general has a very unusual personality that, like Levant, is at odds with most of the cast. You'll see in the beta :)
Pixelated Milk Creator on May 2, 2016
@Ignatius
You're absolutely right! We're actually planning a soft relaunch for the website to accompany the Backer Beta that will be more like a proper game site - with information about the game, media and so on. Hopefully your friends will be convinced then! :)
As usual it seems that unified communication is our Achilles' Heel but I promise you, we're working on that!
Ignatius on May 2, 2016
I was talking to a friend about what upcoming games I was excited for, and I mentioned Regalia. My friend looked up your info and told me, "Uhhh, man? They haven't updated their website in seven months. Are you sure it's not a scam?" I told him about all the Kickstarter updates so he understood it wasn't, but not everyone is friends with me. Please consider updating your website!
Other than that, it all sounds and looks wonderful! I'm really happy to hear you're adding optional objectives--that'll definitely spice up second playthroughs. The voices are all great too! Except Signy's. I guess the actress is going for husky? But she sounds villainous and deceptive rather than husky.
WiredRM on May 2, 2016
Both still and in-motion, the game is looking great!