Welcome to devlog #8! As we're approaching the Arc 2 Alpha/Beta, we'd like to unveil a couple new characters, show off some new features, and more!
Character Reveal: Remy Duster
Guess who won the last character poll by just a hair! Remy Duster is here, ready to get the job done perfectly!
Remy is another draftee met early on in the story. Currently fighting for sport, Remy views combat surgically and intensely. She's rather aloof and prickly, not being one to waste time with small talk or really anything that doesn't progress her towards cultivating her skills.
In combat, Remy exercises a balanced stat line, though she leans into being an aggressive physical attacker. Remy's skills tend to be strong, but come with some sort of downside. A notable skill is the Adrenaline Passive, which boosts her avoidance when she's been damaged, but reduces avoidance when she's completely healthy. Other skills trade penalties like status ailments or self-damage for boons like defense, critical damage, and Style Advantage. Fielding Remy entails dancing on a blade's edge, where the goal is for her to cut down the enemies before she cuts down herself.
Pro Mercenary Reveal: Mica
Another Pro Merc created by one of our backers, Mica is here to hold down the front lines!
Mica excels in aiding a decisive push by using her Command to weaken multiple enemies at once! On top of that, her Passive allows nearby allies to conserve more Stamina, allowing Mica to turn the tables in her favor. Consider pairing her with a defensive unit in order to make the most of her Block assist.
There are still quite a few Pro Mercs to unveil—look forward to more in the future!
FEE3 2025 Interview!
We were fortunate enough to get another showing at this year's FEE3! This time, I was interviewed by Oliva on the FEE3 team! For a small look into the team's process and inspirations, check out the QnA below!
Casting Call, Round 2!
We've opened up another casting call to find the best of the best to fill out our voice cast! As of now, we've already received 2500+ auditions! Look forward to seeing the whole roster professionally voiced in the future!
Battle Saves and Color Palettes!
As we're going into Arc 2, we're finalizing some of the features that the game needed, hoping to have most, if not all, functional for testing. One very important feature is the ability to save during the map!
Currently, the first save slot is devoted to battle saves. You can have just one battle save, but you can reload it indefinitely. The battle save is intended to bookmark progress, not really to prevent resets or optimize strategies. Our vision is for the player to be able to get through the game without running into roadblocks, even if some missions get a little rocky.
One other feature that we're pushing for the Arc 2 alpha is the Color palette menu! Currently, only Howden, Carina, Anyta, and Grayson have palettes, but the menu is fully functional. After we're able to fully test the feature, we'll be able to add other characters in the mix!
Color palettes are saved globally, not per save file. You can change them from the title screen!
We're still working on some other features like custom campaigns, but the next published build will have the majority of features intact! From there, we'll be adding more of the game's chapters, cutscenes, and the rest of the content!
What's Next?
Progress on Arc 2 is still going strong! We're able to focus more on adding unique maps and characters after the Arc 1 builds allowed us to fully form the game's structure.
As of posting, we're about 50% of the way through development! Fortunately, we're still on schedule for our eventual release! As always, we're grateful for all of the support from the backers—that's exactly what's allowed us to get this far!
Thank you for your time,
-Smithy, Hybrid Fiction Games