Cutscenes are hard :D
https://youtu.be/zp1jxxlKvtE
Wellspring: Altar of Roots
Coming soon- Planned release
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Updates & announcements
- Developer postOriginal post
- Developer post
Opening Cutscene, Take 1
After 3 years of development, we're ready to start making the actual game (kinda kidding, but kinda not) For #screenshotsaturday, here's a part of the very first cut-scene players will be greeted with, sans a few other opening shots. Work on the opening cutscene is about a third
Original posthttps://youtu.be/XysEKoo8Dzs
After 3 years of development, we're ready to start making the actual game (kinda kidding, but kinda not) For #screenshotsaturday, here's a part of the very first cut-scene players will be greeted with, sans a few other opening shots.Work on the opening cutscene is about a third of the way done, barring major revisions--while a lot of RPGs are exposition-heavy early on, we wanted to throw the player into combat and eventually character control as quickly as possible.
With that in mind, here's what we've got so far--still a work in progress, and very much open to critique or suggestions!
- Developer post
The Anatomy of a Bug
Hi all! We recently put together an imgur post detailing a very strange bug we encountered, and how we eventually squashed it. Eventually. Come check it out and make sure to upvote it so we can hit that sweet front page! imgur.com/a/LevXcN0
Original postHi all! We recently put together an imgur post detailing a very strange bug we encountered, and how we eventually squashed it. Eventually. Come check it out and make sure to upvote it so we can hit that sweet front page!
imgur.com/a/LevXcN0
- Developer post
Our Discord server is open!
We've recently opened up our Discord channel for anyone who'd like to drop by and talk about the game and its development--you'll be able to give feedback and even glimpse at upcoming features before anyone else! Come hang out!
Original post
We've recently opened up our Discord channel for anyone who'd like to drop by and talk about the game and its development--you'll be able to give feedback and even glimpse at upcoming features before anyone else! Come hang out!
https://t.co/P76kJcWWGo
- Developer post
New boss model/animation!
Hi all! We're extremely excited to show off a quick video of our new Kelvari model and walk cycle! While the environment is still a work-in-progress, we're pretty happy with it so far and will improve upon it further, introducing new sound effects, creatures, and environmental ef
Original posthttps://youtu.be/8HCOW4GFb5k
Hi all! We're extremely excited to show off a quick video of our new Kelvari model and walk cycle! While the environment is still a work-in-progress, we're pretty happy with it so far and will improve upon it further, introducing new sound effects, creatures, and environmental effects.This particular creature is known to the Auvanians as "Berithane" and has been engaged and fought countless times over the centuries. While no one expected the Kelvari to breach the Auvanian forticiations, the Roots found another way instead and the town of Molsha was quickly engulfed, Berithane leading the charge.
As we add more animations and effects, you can be the first to see these and other updates by signing up for our newsletter here: http://www.eepurl.com/b_SewT
- Developer post
Dev Streams!
Hi all! Here lately, we’ve been seriously entertaining the idea of doing a weekly (or even bi-weekly) dev stream where we take some time to talk about Wellspring development. We wanted to take a more ‘tutorial’-oriented approach to these streams—we most likely wouldn’t be coding
Original post
Hi all! Here lately, we’ve been seriously entertaining the idea of doing a weekly (or even bi-weekly) dev stream where we take some time to talk about Wellspring development.
We wanted to take a more ‘tutorial’-oriented approach to these streams—we most likely wouldn’t be coding or programming new features necessarily, but would be talking about some of the systems we’ve already developed and diving more deeply into the intricacies of Unity and game development in general.
My question then, is which of the following topics would you be most interested in learning more about? And if it’s something that isn’t on the list, feel free to let us know in the comments section! Thanks!
- Combat system internals
- Artificial intelligence
- Skill system implementation
- Item/equipment systems
- Cutscene/dialogue creation
- Something else? Let us know!
- Developer post
When you're scarier than your opponent
May have made a slight mistake here... (AKA what happens when you bind your running animation to the wrong avatar) Wellspring: Altar of Roots is a dark and plot-heavy tactical RPG that merges old-school, turn-based strategy with modern, fast-paced combat. Featuring gridless battl
Original posthttps://youtu.be/CZLtNMOaimQ
May have made a slight mistake here... (AKA what happens when you bind your running animation to the wrong avatar)Wellspring: Altar of Roots is a dark and plot-heavy tactical RPG that merges old-school, turn-based strategy with modern, fast-paced combat. Featuring gridless battles, roaming enemy encounters, complex character customization and a vast and open world map, Wellspring offers a fresh look at a time-honored genre.
- Developer post
If you can't beat 'em, be 'em!
When we first started developing Wellspring, there were several features that we knew would be incredibly difficult to figure out--for me, in particular, I imagined that the enemy AI system would be the biggest pain in the ass to implement. (spoiler: it actually wasn't) So like t
Original posthttps://youtu.be/_Gyy1-H3GjI
When we first started developing Wellspring, there were several features that we knew would be incredibly difficult to figure out--for me, in particular, I imagined that the enemy AI system would be the biggest pain in the ass to implement. (spoiler: it actually wasn't)So like the good little programmer I am, I decided to put it off for a really long time and focus on other aspects of the game--in the meantime, however, we needed a way to have the enemies do something, anything at all--so we ended up adding the ability for the player to control the enemies directly.
While incredibly entertaining (and somewhat unfair), this does serve a more practical purpose, allowing us to quickly test and balance enemies and their skills. It also allows us to turn on/off an enemy in the middle of battle--so if we need an enemy to do a specific thing (IE, for many of our combat-related videos/demonstrations), it's only a keypress away.
In theory, (I use the phrase 'in theory' when there's almost a 0% chance of it working) it should be pretty easy to go the other way, IE, have the AI control an ally. Even though this sounds pretty much pointless, this would have some benefit, say if we ever wanted to implement a "Confusion"-style status effect. Similarly, our upcoming playable character Elvali will be able to directly control or manipulate certain enemies on the battlefield, which is pretty much exactly what's being done here.
Plus, this has led to some really epic PvP fights where one person controls the allied side and another person controls the enemy side, usually the result of semi-introxicated bravado, inevitably flaring up into a "1v1 me, bro."
- Developer post
Into Battle!
I know it's been a long time since we've posted anything, but we're still at it! Lately I've found myself playtesting a lot using Game/Scene views and managed to catch our battle sequence--the left side is what the player 'sees' and the right side is what actually happens in the
Original posthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wn0JIymbMM
I know it's been a long time since we've posted anything, but we're still at it! Lately I've found myself playtesting a lot using Game/Scene views and managed to catch our battle sequence--the left side is what the player 'sees' and the right side is what actually happens in the scene without any other 'effects.'In game development, and most things really, there's a lot of trickery involved. More often than not, a simple screen fade is almost all that's needed to get the job done.
- Developer post
Battle Skill: Substitute
We've recently implemented new skills for our characters and I wanted to share one of the more interesting ones that we've come up with! In our tactical, turn-based RPG Wellspring: Altar of Roots, Apolith fulfills the 'tank' role and as such, his job is basically... well, to get
Original posthttps://youtu.be/Cz866GTEhpk
We've recently implemented new skills for our characters and I wanted to share one of the more interesting ones that we've come up with!In our tactical, turn-based RPG Wellspring: Altar of Roots, Apolith fulfills the 'tank' role and as such, his job is basically... well, to get the hell beat out of him. He has a number of ways to go about doing this, from taunting enemies to reducing damage inflicted, to charging right into the fray. I wanted to play around with the more 'positional' aspects of Wellspring's combat, so we came up with the Substitute skill.
Essentially, this allows Apolith to swap locations with a targeted ally, thus removing them from the heat of combat. More interestingly, however, Apolith makes himself the target of any skills, damaging or otherwise, that were previously targeted to the ally he's substituting himself with.
In this video, you can see that this nice little lizard is about to put a hurtin' on Bodom, who really has no business being where he is anyhow. Nevertheless, with the Substitute skill, Apolith is able to 'save' Bodom and therefore absorb the blow that otherwise would've given Bodom, at the very least, a noticeable bruise.
We feel that this adds a lot more utility to Apolith, and is pretty unique as far as skills go, in general. Implementation-wise, this skill was pretty simple--we use Unity's navmesh for all of our placement/movement, so having the characters swap positions was a breeze. Changing targets, likewise, was simple, with only a tiny tricky part in that since Apolith is targeting Bodom himself, we don't want to switch Apolith's target to... uh.. himself. Because that would be weird.
Another nice thing about this skill is that it currently doesn't use any sound or particle effects, although I'd be open to adding them if anyone had any suggestions.
Also, for whatever reason, that yellow bush near Apolith decided to start wiggling. Don't look at that.
- Developer post
Inspection Mode
So this probably isn't the most glamorous feature ever, but we've recently fine-tuned our combat "Inspection Mode!" This is essentially a way to 'pause' combat and cycle through all of the combatants to view detailed information such as movement range, the currently-queued up ski
Original posthttps://youtu.be/8HxCWfocMIw
So this probably isn't the most glamorous feature ever, but we've recently fine-tuned our combat "Inspection Mode!" This is essentially a way to 'pause' combat and cycle through all of the combatants to view detailed information such as movement range, the currently-queued up skill and its targets, as well as any active buffs or debuffs.. and probably some other junk too when I get around to adding it.This mode has existed since the early days of Wellspring, but we noticed that players would sometimes enter this mode and not realize it--this update serves to make it a little more obvious that the player is 'inspecting' the characters and that the normal flow of combat is 'paused.'
Implementation-wise, we threw in another post-processing volume (gotta love these things) as well as the flashing "Inspection Mode" text controlled by a simple Tween. We also 'froze' all of the combatant animations, which was a little trickier than I thought. Enabling/disabling the animator component doesn't quite work, since certain values get reset, so I ended up just setting the animation speed to zero and reverting it afterwards. Not too shabby for an afternoon's worth of work!
Like always, we'd love to hear your thoughts about it and/or ways that we can improve it. Haikus are also welcome.
- Developer post
Teleport Strike
Finished up most of the Teleport Strike skill for our turn-based, tactical RPG Wellspring : Altar of Roots! This is our first 'free-targeted' skill, meaning that you can position it anywhere within its attack range. If there isn't a nearby target, the skill simply moves the user
Original posthttps://youtu.be/billYSlAfpc
Finished up most of the Teleport Strike skill for our turn-based, tactical RPG Wellspring : Altar of Roots! This is our first 'free-targeted' skill, meaning that you can position it anywhere within its attack range. If there isn't a nearby target, the skill simply moves the user to its targeted destination, but if there is an enemy (or enemies) in range, it will deal damage to the nearest one.The most challenging parts were setting up the animation/particle effect timing and working out the logic for whether damage is dealt or not--our skill system is pretty robust, so it wasn't too terribly hard to get it up and running.
Pretty satisfied with how it turned out, but there are a few small issues (like the sound effects and particle effects disappearing abruptly) that'll be cleaned up soon enough! We feel that this adds a lot more variety to Bodom's overall strategy and play style--feel free to let us know what you think! :)
- Developer post
Free Targeting
Hi all! Here's a more 'behind the scenes' look at something that I've recently been working on! In Wellspring, up until this point, all skills have required an actual target before they can be selected and queued up. We always wanted to have certain skills allow the player to man
Original posthttps://youtu.be/-uTqFQlqVig
Hi all! Here's a more 'behind the scenes' look at something that I've recently been working on! In Wellspring, up until this point, all skills have required an actual target before they can be selected and queued up. We always wanted to have certain skills allow the player to manually position them and therefore, not require a specific target. Unfortunately, we didn't build out our skill system with this in mind initially, so there was a little bit of uh.. 'messiness' involved with implementing this basic first step.For Bodom's skill Teleport Strike, we want the player to be able to position it anywhere within a certain radius, and potentially do damage if it's close to an enemy--but it can also be used as an escape route or gap closer. There were a few tricky parts to implementing this: the first issue isn't super difficult, but requires the skill to be confined to the movement radius. The other, more difficult part, is the restriction that you can't teleport on top of something else (this ain't no Philadelphia experiment)
Since the targeting area moves relative to your character and you can still move at the same time as the target area, these two issues combine to cause what I thought would be a nastier problem, where the target area gets 'pushed' by the movement radius and accidentally overlaps with a character or it gets pushed from a character and accidentally ends up outside the movement radius.
The quick and dirty solution, funny enough, is to just treat the skill as if it's an actual character. Since combatants automatically have these restrictions 'built in' (they can't move outside of their movement radius and can't move through other units), we just slap a Character component on the actual skill and give it an alternate method of control, IE, use the arrow keys/D-Pad to move the target area as opposed to WASD/analog stick movement for the actual characters.
There were a few other little issues to sort out, such as UI changes, backend targeting code (prior to this, skills couldn't execute at all without a target) and camera/character control (the target area needs to move relative to the camera, but skills are 'awakened' outside of combat, which uses a different camera), but I'm pretty happy with where it's at. I still haven't implemented the actual skill, but that'll be next on the list!
- Developer post
Chain Effects
Wellspring's gridless combat system introduces the concept of 'chains', which allows allies (and enemies!) to queue up skills to deal extra damage and other effects. We wanted to make the presence of a chain more obvious, while also adding more gratifying visual feedback for the
Original posthttps://youtu.be/xBSxjIQH_F0
Wellspring's gridless combat system introduces the concept of 'chains', which allows allies (and enemies!) to queue up skills to deal extra damage and other effects. We wanted to make the presence of a chain more obvious, while also adding more gratifying visual feedback for the player.To help draw attention to chains, we've used Unity's Post Processing Stack (v2), and added three effects: vignette, chromatic aberration and color grading/tinting. Thanks to the flexibility of Unity's volume system, we can make the effect stronger overall just by changing a single value, and the more skills that are involved in the chain, the more pronounced the effect is. We also change the damage font as well, just to let the player know how 'large' the chain is.
We're pretty satisfied with the effect, but we're wondering if it's too strong, or maybe not pronounced enough, so naturally, we're looking for feedback! We'll also have the ability to disable the effect altogether if the player flat-out doesn't want it.
- Developer post
Wellspring Pre-Alpha Demo 1.3.2 is LIVE!
Hi everyone! We've been working hard to update, optimize and fix some of the issues reported in our most recent pre-alpha demo and we have a new build available! We're looking for any and all feedback, so if you're feeling up to the challenge, dive right in: there's over three ho
Original postHi everyone! We've been working hard to update, optimize and fix some of the issues reported in our most recent pre-alpha demo and we have a new build available! We're looking for any and all feedback, so if you're feeling up to the challenge, dive right in: there's over three hours of content, loads of skills, items and equipment, and plenty of challenging encounters! You can download it from our store page here!
Since we've changed our name from Bevontule to Wellspring, if you want to keep your old save files and configuration settings, you'll need to do a few things, as the application data folder has a different name:
- Find the AppData folder for Bevontule--this is usually found at C:\Users\\AppData\LocalLow\Multithreaded Games\
- Run "Wellspring_Demo.exe" and close it before choosing configuration options from the built-in Unity dialog.
- There should be a "Wellspring" directory in the same directory as the previously-mentioned Bevontule folder.
- Open the Bevontule folder and copy all of its contents into the Wellspring folder--make sure to overwrite anything if prompted.
- Run the game as normal!
Here's a full list of all the changes:
Improvements
- Removed references to "Bevontule"--new title is "Wellspring: Altar of Roots"!
- Improved cloth performance by up to 80%
- Increased Bodom's field movement speed by around 10%
- Reduced enemy AI calculation time up to 10x in some cases (most noticeable with the Drone enemy)
- General graphical optimizations
- Optimizations related to character/enemy movement on the field
- Updated some resource/item spawns
- Tweaked a few enemy battle formations so that they were closer to allies
- Rebalanced certain enemy attributes, skills and drop rates
- Reduced 'ghosting' (motion trails) on characters when moving
- Significantly reduced the chances that an enemy might move slightly out of its movement radius in combat
- Removed Kickstarter references and replaced with newsletter signup
Bugfixes
- Fixed issue where Voltaic Whelp could fail to land on the ground
- Fixed rare issue where Voltaic Whelp battle could lock up the game
- Fixed issue where highlighted collectibles could become 'frozen' when entering combat
- Fixed issue where scene fade-ins could trigger twice in a row or not trigger at all
- Fixed audio volume issues
- Fixed excessive sliding for skills that cause targets to be knocked back
- Fixed issue where minimap wouldn't appear after first cutscene if the pause menu was opened
- Fixed issue where minimap could sometimes be opened during cutscenes and battle
- Fixed issue where Klyph would require 20 more iron to see the 'black market' if the player exited the current scene and returned
- Fixed UI issue where right-clicking to cancel, when hovering over a character panel, would fail to work
- Fixed UI issue where EP/AP costs would sometimes disappear in the Skills menu
- Fixed issue where Blightculler could not be used to attack in certain circumstances
- Fixed issue where Bodom's passive skill Risk and Reward was applied to items as well
- Fixed issue where Moroch's passive skill Tourniquet applied to items as well
- Fixed issue where characters could sometimes be revived in battle to full HP instead of just 50
- Fixed issue where revived characters would not be placed on the ground until moving
- Fixed issue where area projection for line-based skills was displayed incorrectly
- Fixed issue where certain characters would orient themselves improperly when using skills
- Developer post
Wellspring Pre-Alpha Demo 1.3.2 is LIVE!
Hi everyone! We've been working hard to update, optimize and fix some of the issues reported in our most recent pre-alpha demo and we have a new build available! We're looking for any and all feedback, so if you're feeling up to the challenge, dive right in: there's over three ho
Original postHi everyone! We've been working hard to update, optimize and fix some of the issues reported in our most recent pre-alpha demo and we have a new build available! We're looking for any and all feedback, so if you're feeling up to the challenge, dive right in: there's over three hours of content, loads of skills, items and equipment, and plenty of challenging encounters! You can download it from our store page here!
Since we've changed our name from Bevontule to Wellspring, if you want to keep your old save files and configuration settings, you'll need to do a few things, as the application data folder has a different name:
- Find the AppData folder for Bevontule--this is usually found at C:\Users\\AppData\LocalLow\Multithreaded Games\
- Run "Wellspring_Demo.exe" and close it before choosing configuration options from the built-in Unity dialog.
- There should be a "Wellspring" directory in the same directory as the previously-mentioned Bevontule folder.
- Open the Bevontule folder and copy all of its contents into the Wellspring folder--make sure to overwrite anything if prompted.
- Run the game as normal!
Here's a full list of all the changes:
Improvements
- Removed references to "Bevontule"--new title is "Wellspring: Altar of Roots"!
- Improved cloth performance by up to 80%
- Increased Bodom's field movement speed by around 10%
- Reduced enemy AI calculation time up to 10x in some cases (most noticeable with the Drone enemy)
- General graphical optimizations
- Optimizations related to character/enemy movement on the field
- Updated some resource/item spawns
- Tweaked a few enemy battle formations so that they were closer to allies
- Rebalanced certain enemy attributes, skills and drop rates
- Reduced 'ghosting' (motion trails) on characters when moving
- Significantly reduced the chances that an enemy might move slightly out of its movement radius in combat
- Removed Kickstarter references and replaced with newsletter signup
Bugfixes
- Fixed issue where Voltaic Whelp could fail to land on the ground
- Fixed rare issue where Voltaic Whelp battle could lock up the game
- Fixed issue where highlighted collectibles could become 'frozen' when entering combat
- Fixed issue where scene fade-ins could trigger twice in a row or not trigger at all
- Fixed audio volume issues
- Fixed excessive sliding for skills that cause targets to be knocked back
- Fixed issue where minimap wouldn't appear after first cutscene if the pause menu was opened
- Fixed issue where minimap could sometimes be opened during cutscenes and battle
- Fixed issue where Klyph would require 20 more iron to see the 'black market' if the player exited the current scene and returned
- Fixed UI issue where right-clicking to cancel, when hovering over a character panel, would fail to work
- Fixed UI issue where EP/AP costs would sometimes disappear in the Skills menu
- Fixed issue where Blightculler could not be used to attack in certain circumstances
- Fixed issue where Bodom's passive skill Risk and Reward was applied to items as well
- Fixed issue where Moroch's passive skill Tourniquet applied to items as well
- Fixed issue where characters could sometimes be revived in battle to full HP instead of just 50
- Fixed issue where revived characters would not be placed on the ground until moving
- Fixed issue where area projection for line-based skills was displayed incorrectly
- Fixed issue where certain characters would orient themselves improperly when using skills
- Developer post
What's in a name?
Greetings, everyone! While we’ve received a lot of amazing feedback during our Kickstarter, one of the bigger pieces of advice that’s stuck out is that we should probably consider renaming the game—obviously not the ideal situation, but I can definitely see it and it’s better to
Original postGreetings, everyone! While we’ve received a lot of amazing feedback during our Kickstarter, one of the bigger pieces of advice that’s stuck out is that we should probably consider renaming the game—obviously not the ideal situation, but I can definitely see it and it’s better to do it now rather than later.
Bevontule’s a cool word and all, but it has very little recognition, people tend to not remember it and people tend to not be able to pronounce it. So we wanted to pick something that’s more… ‘normal.’ Lately we’ve been focused on the name "Wellspring"— and this has a special significance, as ‘wellsprings’ are the latent energy ‘pools’ found throughout the continent of Onich.
Without further ado—let us know what you think!
- Wellspring : Altar of Roots
- Wellspring Story : Altar of Roots
- Wellspring Saga : Altar of Roots
- Kelvari Chronicles : Altar of Roots
- Keep "Bevontule : Altar of Roots", ya pansy!
- Something different? (please elaborate)
Thanks!
- Developer post
What's in a name?
Greetings, everyone! While we’ve received a lot of amazing feedback during our Kickstarter, one of the bigger pieces of advice that’s stuck out is that we should probably consider renaming the game—obviously not the ideal situation, but I can definitely see it and it’s better to
Original postGreetings, everyone! While we’ve received a lot of amazing feedback during our Kickstarter, one of the bigger pieces of advice that’s stuck out is that we should probably consider renaming the game—obviously not the ideal situation, but I can definitely see it and it’s better to do it now rather than later.
Bevontule’s a cool word and all, but it has very little recognition, people tend to not remember it and people tend to not be able to pronounce it. So we wanted to pick something that’s more… ‘normal.’ Lately we’ve been focused on the name "Wellspring"— and this has a special significance, as ‘wellsprings’ are the latent energy ‘pools’ found throughout the continent of Onich.
Without further ado—let us know what you think!
- Wellspring : Altar of Roots
- Wellspring Story : Altar of Roots
- Wellspring Saga : Altar of Roots
- Kelvari Chronicles : Altar of Roots
- Keep "Bevontule : Altar of Roots", ya pansy!
- Something different? (please elaborate)
Thanks!
- Developer post
Bevontule Kickstarter Update #13 : Farewell... for now!
Hi all! While we didn’t hit our Kickstarter goal this time around, we’re not giving up! Check out our latest update for more information on the future of Bevontule: Altar of Roots ! Until next time, Derek
Original postHi all! While we didn’t hit our Kickstarter goal this time around, we’re not giving up! Check out our latest update for more information on the future of Bevontule: Altar of Roots!
Until next time,
Derek - Developer post
Bevontule Kickstarter Update #13 : Farewell... for now!
Hi all! While we didn’t hit our Kickstarter goal this time around, we’re not giving up! Check out our latest update for more information on the future of Bevontule: Altar of Roots ! Until next time, Derek
Original postHi all! While we didn’t hit our Kickstarter goal this time around, we’re not giving up! Check out our latest update for more information on the future of Bevontule: Altar of Roots!
Until next time,
Derek