Hey everyone! We're very [b]close to the release of[/b] [i][b]Bloodless[/b][/i] [b]on August 29th[/b]. As we approach the launch of our first game as a studio at [b][url=https://twitter.com/pointnsheep]Point N Sheep[/url][/b], we think it's a great time to look back on the development journey that brought us here! [h1]Origins[/h1] Eep! It's wild to think that this project started 5 years ago! Back then, we were just a bunch of youngsters here in the sunny [b]Brazilian city of Recife[/b] getting together for a weekend to make a small game, have some good laughs, and share some drinks. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/de23b77c6d17584c18fc216e2fe07d4a7dbbb4d6.png[/img] You can still play the [b][url=https://pointnsheep.itch.io/bloodless]original Bloodless 2019 version[/url][/b] on its itch.io page! :) Over the course of that weekend, the first version of [i][b]Bloodless[/b][/i] was born. In it, you played as a samurai with no sword, parrying your way into the Shogun’s castle to show them that you don’t need violence to get your message across… Or something like that. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/22b9b13e1048b2f815f83ea71505094fb46c0eab.png[/img] The narrative was simple, but the gameplay was really fun and people seemed to be having a good time with it. We were really proud of what we had created, and the positive feedback was the fuel we needed to expand upon that small prototype. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/daa2c8e00e3bc09374bee476e7d91240e35ccc22.gif[/img] [h1]Pre-Production[/h1] Now that we wanted to turn this into a full game, many questions came flooding in. What games do we use as a reference? What are our protagonist's motivations? Does it have to be a man? Maybe we don't want an exact historical portrayal of feudal Japanese society so we can make our own land of Bakugawa, where women samurai are just as common as men. Maybe that means we need to develop Bakugawa's history and come up with characters, art, music, game mechanics, and... Oh dear, be careful what you wish for! The early stages of pre-production were intense and long, but we had a lot of fun. [h2]The World[/h2] We decided very early on to split Bakugawa into four urban districts. This enabled us to explore the different layers of society and how they were struggling with the oppressive Samurai. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/c2a534e2978906ad8aa5761a499e56aa914062a3.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/100aee469664d978fe2ae9e3312f9257a300837e.png[/img] These locations had to [b]balance many functions of both narrative and gameplay[/b], pushing the story forward and giving players your typical adventure game suite of side quests and shops. Getting the geography right took time, and we kept updating the map as the game grew into something bigger. Even though Bloodless was set in a fictional place, it still had [b]feudal Japan as its main reference[/b], so we researched a lot of history to fully develop all the details of Bakugawa's mythology, religion, history, and culture. Having all of this developed gave us a strong foundation to build upon, which is very important because a lot can change—by necessity or choice (or both)—during development. [h1]Developing the Game[/h1] [h2]Characters[/h2] Early on, we focused a lot on deciding the character design and backstory of our protagonist, and so the nameless samurai quickly evolved into the Tomoe we see today in the game. Other main characters like the antagonists Akechi (the Shogun) and Tokichiro (General and Tomoe’s nephew) were also planned early on, but their character designs only came later, along with secondary characters and enemies. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/24fcb47e08353cbc7e909351d72512b75f548300.png[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/5609b09413c70a77b545dfe11ac31b9ea68c1496.png[/img] [h2]Combat[/h2] The Game Jam version of the game had extremely minimalist combat. You could only walk and dash, and you [b]parried attacks with the dash[/b]. We really liked this core mechanic and were very reluctant to add more actions for the player. However, we found that giving the player a purely reactive skillset led to a lot of waiting around, which was taking some fun out of the combat. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/c56801a7cb719335b4a6d5e966e7f691c95bc8ee.gif[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/8a47a7f48fe6562defa8b8f2b134322c9abfaa04.gif[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/61855b264d408b93acb24576026f2133fa527667.gif[/img] After much deliberation, we gave the player some "attacks". Of course, we wouldn't have Tomoe killing anyone, but [b]we added Ki Attacks and Secret Techniques[/b] that can deplete the enemies' stamina and set them up for a disarm finisher. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/bef938efadaef32dedb821eb5d9d009b3b5554a6.gif[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/acb3277e3aa0065be12d83deeab0b87d4f089217.gif[/img] This made our [b]combat closer to a game like Sekiro[/b] where you can defeat enemies with both proactive attacks and well-timed reactions, and players can alternate between the two depending on their build or the situation. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/90b8aa2acbe64d9cf8fa1924b51ecdc4be701aaa.gif[/img] Equippable crests, a skill tree, and the tea infusion mechanics helped us [b]connect the progression of the combat with exploration and story[/b], with players getting rewards for helping citizens and exploring the land for some goodies to customize their builds with expanded movesets and combat modifiers. [h2]Art Style[/h2] The evolution of the game's art style peculiarly mirrored that of the gameplay. Just like how we were reluctant to give Tomoe any attacks, we thought the game's 2-bit palette of red, white, and black was important to its aesthetic. We started exploring a [b]dithered lighting style[/b] that could add visual variety with as few colors as possible. Getting the specifics just right was very challenging, but it really paid off once we put all the pieces together. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/a2bd48d673671d8ddc5138e778bfbe2954d119f6.gif[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/40f581261044040378dee4fcf3b8666e46a05fe0.gif[/img] The art style we settled on has palettes of seven color tones for shaded objects, but the big twist is that those palettes can be switched to match the moods of different environments or story moments, like how in [i][b]Pokémon Yellow[/b][/i] each city would have a different color scheme! We built a lot on top of this new art style, adding lighting effects, water objects with cool pixelated reflections, as well as more detailed vegetation and wildlife animals. At some point we were pleasantly surprised with how much of a real place Bakugawa had become. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/fb086afc50fea7b8c8fac9b738d18ba9adf00290.gif[/img] [h1]Labor of Love[/h1] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40317729/aae20b4a5c39422c7697e732f4e65639f7266f0b.png[/img] With all of this work we put in, and after iterating a lot on incorporating feedback we got from showcasing the game in festivals and reaching out to potential partners, the project evolved into something more suitable to the international indie market. We had built upon our references of [i][b]Sekiro[/b][/i] and [i][b]Zelda[/b][/i], as well as other indies like [i][b]Hollow Knight[/b][/i], to make something truly our own. Seeing the game now complete makes us [b]immensely happy and proud[/b]. We feel we never had to settle for something just because, rather, we always followed our design principles of iteration and focus on player experience. Like with all projects, we had to throw some ideas out and change our perception of what the game even was a few times along the way, but all that was needed for Bloodless to become what it is now: [b]a mix of everything we love about video games, storytelling, and art[/b] that we hope will bring as much joy to those who play it as brought to those who made it. [h1]Wishlist and Play the Demo[/h1] Bloodless launches on Steam on[b] August 29, 2024[/b]. Remember to wishlist (it helps us a lot)! We can’t wait to hear what you think! PS: you can [b]play the demo today[/b] too! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1592490/Bloodless/