Hello again, friends; we’re back with another update to close out week two of our campaign! Let’s check in on some of our goals…
Stretch Goals
Next goal & unlock: English Voice Acting - €148.5k/150k
We are only €1.5k from our next stretch goal! We are so close, and with your help, we can give voice to the incredible characters our team has been working on.
Social Goals
Next goal & unlock: Animated Discord Stickers - 6/7 Goals
We're also so close to our next social goal! With only a handful of followers on some platforms and a few messages on our Discord goals to go, we are also close to our next reward: demo access for almost all backer tiers (minus the "Keep Me Posted" tier).
We'll also be starting our TikTok content very soon, and I'll be doing some fun and silly stuff, so come join me there!
Facebook | Instagram | X | TikTok | Discord
Colin’s Joke Corner
I almost left out my jokes last update, so let’s dive right in! (That was an unintended water pun, but I’ll take it!)
Q: Where does Nakheel like to stay on vacation?
A: Moat-els!
Q: What does Nakheel say to try and stop a fight?
A: “Hey, everyone needs to swimmer down!”
Q: As a boat owner, what vegetable does Nakheel avoid the most?
A: Leeks!
Combat Deep Dive
Earlier this week, we took a closer look at Kayla & Adil, two of our main heroes and party companions. Today, we’re going to look at what these heroes do when they get into trouble. Let’s talk about combat! (Also, if you’re looking for some music to listen to while you read along…)
Combat in JRPGs is one of the main foundational ways players interact with the world and the story. We have remixed some familiar elements from past titles that inspired us with a new approach that will reward player ingenuity while also allowing those less experienced with the genre to find their footing in combat.
Combat UI Breakdown
After entering a random battle, you’ll see the enemies on one side and our heroes on the other! So far, pretty familiar, right? You’ve played JRPGs, and the layout above won’t be too out of left field. What we do with these elements, though (pun intended), is how we make our approach to combat unique!
Elements
Our four core characters each wield a unique element! Kayla has fire 🔥, Adil wields air 🍃, Hugust commands earth ⛰, and Nakheel can control water 🌊. Every enemy also has one or more elements associated with them, which allows the players to use elements to their advantage for damage bonuses.
However, thanks to our swap system, players can combine their elements and unlock even more options to unleash in combat. By combining fire and air, for example, our heroes can summon the power of thunder! ⚡ These new elements can grant an edge in battle! The plant element 🌱 is made up of earth and water, which, because of their inherent weaknesses in fire and air, means thunder will deal 4x the amount of damage!
By successfully mastering our element system, players will be able to defeat even the strongest foes. (Though watch out when they have type advantage on you!) Players will also discover new spells and other new ways to engage with their opponents by combining elements.
Swap System
In ALZARA Radiant Echoes, our heroes engage in combat in two rows: a front and a back. While heroes are in the front row, they focus on offence, take most of the hits enemies deal out, and do not regenerate their EP (Echo Points).
While in the back row, heroes will focus on support (like healing or buffs), will avoid most direct damage, and will regenerate their EP over time, which will allow them to continue to cast spells. Players must use the swap system in battle to protect their vulnerable members while empowering them to unleash their combined elemental powers against foes.
Early concept for the swap system
While in the back row, heroes can also use powerful spells known as Offerings. Each element has a specific offering associated with it, and they can only be cast once by a hero until they swap to the front and return to the back again. These spells will cause the hero to take a temporary (until the offering is used) stat penalty, but this sacrifice allows for Summons: powerful elemental beings who can turn the tide of battle. You’ll need to make an offering to summon, but each offering (up to four!) will further empower the summon’s strength.
Our goal with the swap system is to help make combat feel more dynamic and allow for every party member to shine! ✨
Turn Order
To help players plan their moves and see what comes next, we have our combat turn order at the top of every battle! The heroes’ and enemies’ speed stat will determine their initial placement, but players will be able to manipulate the order during combat to get that last-minute heal spell on an injured companion.
Watch out, though, as some enemies might have a trick or two up their sleeve to move around turn order as well…
Hero Progression
In combat, players will have numerous tactical choices at their disposal! Offensive spells, items found along the way, buffs to help your party, summons that turn the tide of battle, and even hitting an enemy with your good ole’ weapon are all great options for the player.
To help empower these options, heroes will level up and advance through a skill tree that will unlock new active abilities and passive bonuses. We’ll go into more detail about our progression systems at a later date as we’re still developing them now!
Random Encounters & Difficulty
While we’re still early in our development, we wanted to touch on a very important topic for JRPGs: random battles and game difficulty. We want to allow players to be able to customize their experience at any time during their playthrough, but we’ll have more details on this soon in another campaign update!
We’ll share more combat and our other game mechanics later as we progress in development, but if you have any questions for the team, be sure to join our Discord!
Food Devils
Have you ever wanted to run a restaurant in a post-apocalyptic world where you power up devils with your food to then conquer your enemies? Well, that is a very specific request, but luckily, there is a perfect game for that!
The folks over at Studio Daimon are running a Kickstarter campaign right now to find support for their upcoming roguelike/strategy RPG/restaurant sim, Food Devils! With flexible difficulty, multiple devils to meet (and maybe kiss???), and a ton of player choice, this is one to keep an eye on! We’re happy to lend them our support, and we hope folks take a look.
That’s it for us this week, but we’ll be back next week with a closer look at our other two heroes: Nakheel & Hugust. We’ll also share more lore and have a surprise or two for our community as well! Let’s keep up our momentum as we head into week three!
Until next time!
💛 Colin & the team at Studio Camelia