Devlog #4 - Skill Trees

Dear Elyndrans!

We’ve been working hard on the game for quite a while now, and we’ve realised there is a need for a huge change. More on that in the near future. Let’s talk about something that hasn’t been mentioned too much. Namely, some of the RPG progression systems we have in the game.

How will the progression work?

If you have played the demo, you have probably seen “mining levelled up!” pop-ups and the likes. Plenty of them, too. Fighting, harvesting, mining… They can be levelled up. How? We wanted to keep that system simple, so you simply have to fulfil these actions to gain experience and then level up. A bit like in Skyrim!

We decided to go in this direction because it seemed the most sensible and seamless. We hold our inspirations, like old JRPGs, dear to our hearts. Still, we know the industry and standards have progressed in gaming over the years. Allocating stat points doesn’t feel right in a game that’s in huge part an action game. Allocating stat points would be great in slower, turn-based games. Instead of going with Final Fantasy, though, we opted for a system similar to Skyrim’s.

Skill trees

Call of Elyndra will be in huge part about expressing your playstyle. If you prioritise close-quarters combat, you’ll obviously want to level that part of your character’s skills up. However, making numbers higher doesn’t feel like it’s quite enough. This is why we will have skill trees. You will be able to unlock new abilities and perks that will make your character better at this particular activity. Simple as!

Rare earth minerals and all that

The game will be filled with resources. Using the rarer ones will be, for the most part, optional. However, some will require better tools to source and harvest. How to come across those better tools? You’ll either need to:

• Craft them.

• Find them in dungeons and the overworld.

• Buy them from the village.

Of course, the game will put you in many different biomes, so you’ll get to explore areas that are going to be filled with rarer resources. Even if you decide just to focus on farming, you will always be able to go to other places and get your resources for crafting there. Kind of like how some people who live in cities go to forests and forage mushrooms. Aside from the fact that you'll need to actively fight or avoid wildlife.

What are the big changes about?

We’ve been talking about those big changes coming to the project. And believe us - we’d really love to share with you already what they are going to be… But we can’t yet. What we will say, though, is that the game is shaping up beautifully. It will certainly be better on all fronts than we first expected and there’s a lot to wait for. We also have a decent idea of when the game will be released and how to proceed with the development. It’s all good, even though extremely intensive. Keep your fingers crossed for us and eyes peeled!

Ah, one more thing. Those are the animation frames of the roll dash of the female MC. It's a cool little piece that demanded a lot of work!