Raiders & Beasts!
Today's newsletter is going to be a special one. It's Halloween time – the night of pumpkins and glowing eyes, of bats and spooky stories! It's time to tell you more about the Vampire – our new Beast in the game!
It's important to mention that the Vampire is still in development. Do not expect this Beast to be added in the next public Alpha-test. Nevertheless, we've already put so much work into this character, so we've got A LOT to share with you!
Where did it all begin?
it’s necessary to start from the beginning. The original idea of Beast Hour could be described like: "knights run away from werewolves in a gothic castle". As one of our very first gameplay prototype testers noticed back then: "the game is like Super Mario with multiplayer & Werewolves – all you can do is run, jump and collect coins".
Game rules were very simple – in the beginning of the match two random players out of ten became Werewolves. The remaining human players (it was before we came up with the name "Raiders") had to find, collect and bring spheres to activate portals. Once a player collected enough, he/she would be able to escape & win the game. Werewolves had to hunt down Raiders to turn them into monsters! With each minute the number of Raiders was decreasing and the number of Beasts – increasing! As a Raider you didn't have a chance to slack off because even the most skilled player couldn't stand against a pack of Werewolves.
Initially, we were not going to make each Raider unique. On the contrary, the plan was to have a blank slate to customize as much as possible. Only selected few pieces of armour could impact the hero's abilities. Yet, the following series of tests proved that our audience was not interested in this approach, and, truth be told, neither were we.
We decided to go with individual personalities and gameplay styles. Many players enjoyed playing as Werewolves – not many games bring them to the fore – we also realized that we needed more Beasts diversity too.
Why the Vampire?
We asked a bunch of people: "What other Beasts would you like to see in Beast Hour?" The answers varied, but the most common one was evident – Vampires! That's really not surprising, as vampires are very popular in modern games and movies. Plus, they are ideal for our game's setting! On top of that, we wanted to make something completely different from Werewolf gameplay – we wanted to make a flying Beast!
It was obvious that our Vampire should not only be easily recognizable, but also unique and memorable. We intentionally did not use the image of a "vampire aristocrat" – it would have gone against our vision. The character should be "the terror that flaps in the night".
We started to work on first sketches (yes, they were made on copy papers with a pencil):
Our sources of inspiration came from games and movies first of all. We were especially interested in characters from the "Van Helsing", "Underworld" and "Batman" movies. Talking about games, the greatest influence came from "Nosgoth", “Castlevania” and “Order 1886”. That's how we made reference boards like this one:
Typically, Vampires are portrayed like dark angels with human hands and webbed wings behind their back. But notice the fact that bat's wings are also their hands, which is a very unusual concept for Vampires in pop culture. So, this was the approach we used for our character.
How do you play it?
During the creation process an obvious question appeared: "What's it like to play as a Vampire?" To answer this we played many games with somewhat similar gameplay we wanted to deliver in Beast Hour. First of all, let's mention Nosgoth. Our team loves this title and thanks to a still very active and supportive community on Discord we managed to get a lot of useful info about the game mechanics and its heroes.
Sentinel from Nosgoth became a reference character for a number of Vampire abilities in Beast Hour. For example, we implemented our variation of Wing Flap skill. In Beast Hour it comes in handy considering we've got a very vertical oriented gameplay where you can throw enemies off the rooftops.
Also, Takeoff ability from Nosgoth seemed fitting to Beast Hour gameplay. This skill allows you to very rapidly gain altitude from any open area on the map.
Sentinel's flight had almost no limits – you could fly all over the map as you please, but for Beast Hour we decided that it would be a wrong decision to copy that. We call our game "parkour horror" for a reason – all Beasts should also explore the streets, use walls and look for prey in underground pathways. That's why we chose to use gliding.
For this mechanic we took inspiration from Batman Arkham Knight. In this game you could glide and do a cool move called Dive Bomb. It's a special attack you can make while gliding – your character starts to fall down to a point on the ground you picked and deals damage to enemies around the landing spot. By the way, if you haven't yet played this phenomenal game by Rocksteady Studios – go ahead and do it asap!
Is the Vampire ready?
No. We want to stress once again that this Beast is not yet ready. Or, as we call it, ready in "grey form".
That's how we make characters for Beast Hour: it starts with a concept art. Then we create a draft 3D-model in A-pose and see how it looks like in the engine (we use Unity). After some adjustments implemented (to make sure the size and body proportions of the character work fine in an actual game environment) the draft model is used to create rigs and animations. At this point we also make VFX. Once satisfied with the results – we build a high poly model, create and add textures, fix bugs.
Right now we are in the very final phase. Thus, to give you the Vampire to play with, we first need to finish its visuals and resolve bugs. The thing is that the Vampire has three types of movement – running, parkouring and flying. The transition mechanics between these states are the most challenging to fix, yet we've almost finished that process!
Do Vampires have any lore?
For every character, faction and location in the game we come up with lore. It's much easier to create visuals and build a gameplay style if you are aware of the hero's background. Now we are ready to share the most vital facts about these creatures, but be ready to find out much more in the game itself!
So, Vampires in the Beast Hour universe are united under the Eternal Ones clan banner. They got their name due to the almost eternal lifespan every Vampire is blessed with. Some of the clan members remember how the world looked like more than 3,000 years ago!
Eternal Ones have a single leader and are divided into two generations:
1) Aztli Talla ("Blood Mistress") – the Empress of the fallen empire and the head of the Vampires. She possesses an unprecedented power when in her Beast form, but she also can turn into a human.
2) The First Generation – the higher nobility and the circle of Aztli Talla's closest servants. As a result of their long hibernation they have lost the ability to return to human form. Their power is inferior to Blood Mistress.
3) The Second Generation – the youngest (not older than 550 years) and the most numerous generation. They still can turn into humans, but their power is significantly inferior as compared to the First Generation.
Eternal Ones believe that the end of the world – Beast Hour – shall soon come. In their interpretation of the prophecy the Blood God will return and plunge the whole world into darkness, thus making Vampires no longer afraid of the sunlight. In this new age the Eternal Hunt shall start – an endless battle between Werewolves, Vampires and other clans will rage across the continents. Only the strongest and most worthy will prevail in this battle to rule over the new eternity.
To sum it up
Our whole team behind Beast Hour development can't wait for you to get your hands on the Vampire! If you have any questions – go ahead and ask, we'll do our best to answer. Have no doubt – we're making Beast Hour for you!
Please, make sure to check out our livestreams we regularly have at our Youtube and Twitch channels for almost an entire year by now. The next stream will take place in the middle of November, and the latest one you can found on Youtube.
Wishlist Beast Hour on Steam, follow us on social media channels and support on Patreon – it does help our small indie team to bring Beast Hour to a next level!
By the way, Beast Hour needs your help to prepare German, Italian, Portuguese and Korean translations! And if you know French, Spanish, Polish, Chinese, Arabic or Japanese – we have a bunch of texts awaiting your proofreading! You can contact us via email: [email protected]
And if you want to take a deep dive in development or discuss other forms of cooperation, use this: [email protected]
The Beast will come!