Hi, I’m Renato, Point n’ Sheep’s narrative designer, and today I’d like to talk a little bit about Bloodless’ story and the latest content we’re working on.
As we said in our previous Dev Diary, Bloodless began as a Game Jam project. The theme for this Jam was “You start with nothing”, so we thought about a swordless samurai who disarmed his enemies.
This concept was the basis for Bloodless’ gameplay mechanics and narrative as well. After all, we needed it to be cohesive. So, which stories can we tell with this in mind? In Bloodless’ case, it is a story about the use of violence to achieve peace.
Bakugawa, a japanese-inspired fictional land where the game takes place, has a history of war, invasion, insurrection and ongoing oppression. It's a setting which imbues ideals of violence to the characters living there.
One of Bakugawa’s key locations is the Fishing Village, deep into the Bamboo Forest, where the bridges close the gaps between the rivers and canals that cross the region, docks fill the coastline and the houses are made of wood and straw
Different from other regions, where taxes are paid by families, here the taxes are paid by the village as a whole, so that no single family struggles with the taxes.
The setting for the story is important but, as a long-time player of TTRPGs, I believe the best stories are character focused. So, in order to explore the theme of violence and peace, we came up with the character of Tomoe. Formerly a violent samurai, now a peaceful ronin, Tomoe returns to Bakugawa, her homeland, after decades of self-imposed exile. There she will meet old friends, family and allies with conflicting ideals.
The Elite Bandit is one of the many tough foes Tomoe will encounter, armed with a spear, and uses quick spinning attacks to connect long-range thrusts, swipes and slashes.
The predominant enemy faction Tomoe will fight is Akechi’s army of samurai, from low-rank to captains. Further into the story, higher-level enemies will come with stronger weapons and more challenging movesets.
It is up to you, as a player, to take control of Tomoe as she explores Bakugawa. There you will come to understand the problems plaguing the many factions of this land, like the samurai represented by her former ally, shogun Akechi, and her nephew Tokichiro, who is bound to repeat the same violent mistakes she did decades ago. Will Tomoe be able to rescue Tokichiro from this path? Will she be able to change Bakugawa and its people?
We at Point n’ Sheep are working hard to finish Bloodless’ story so we can share it with you.
Thanks!