Kalasag - Shield of Faith

05/03/2023

I've been doing a lot of updates since I paused development a few months ago. I'm flushing out the plot, story, and characters more, hopefully making it more compelling for players to get invested and move forward with the story.

Let me know any comments or constructive feedback in the comments below.

ABOUT THE GAME
Kalasag - Shield of Faith is a solo indie game developed by KickOff Creative using Unreal Engine 4. The goal is to showcase the rich pre-colonial Philippine Mythology while entertaining players via a third-person semi-linear story-driven action-adventure role-playing game.

Feel free to leave your comments or suggestions for improvements!

I've been doing a lot of updates since I paused development a few months ago. I'm flushing out the plot, story, and characters more, hopefully making it more...

18/02/2023

https://youtu.be/fwaX80uGa0I

I've finally found some time to work on the game again. This time, I'm updating it with some feedback from family and friends who have playtested the game over the Christmas break.

Here are some of the updates:

1. Improved user interface and menu - I updated the interact message and placed it on the lower left of the screen for better visibility

2. Collision boxes that trigger voice reactions from the character - this is to help establish the story and the world that the character is living in

3. Skippable dialogue with NPCs (allies and enemies) - this also establishes the plot better, who is Amaya, why is she in that situation, etc.

I'll continue working on some more scripts, dialogue lines and cutscenes and share it here ones they're ready.

17/02/2023

https://youtu.be/PuUvFe_GHxE

Here's the first Air Element level, a puzzle platformer level.

By looking around, understanding the surroundings, and identifying interactable objects, the player has to understand the scenario and identify what needs to be done to move through the level.

This is just the initial design and playtesting will be improved with feedback from players.

Once this level is completed, the next level type will be combat focused. This gives the player alternating intensity of gameplay and gives the game a pacing between high-intensity fights and slower, more mental challenges.

Here's the first Air Element level, a puzzle platformer level. By looking around, understanding the surroundings, and identifying interactable objects, the p...

16/05/2021

I would like to share an update I recently made for all the game levels I have so far. I'm utilizing this awesome Post processing volume in Unreal Engine. I hope to make the levels more visually appealing, with different levels having different color pallets which in turn would make them more interesting and differentiated from each other.

We will have four different level elements, specifically Earth, Fire, Wind and Water levels. Each levels would either be combat focused or puzzle platformer focused and as you move from one level to another, you would alternate between them.

For example, an Earth level would have its earth element characteristics and can either be combat focused where you would have to defeat a levels mini boss to progress. But an earth levels can also be puzzle platformer focused (with minimal combat elements) wherein you would have to solve the puzzle to progress.

Hope you like it and please don't forget to like and subscribe here and in our youtube channel.

Thank you!

I would like to share with you an update I recently made for all the game levels I have so far. I'm utilizing this awesome Post processing volume in Unreal E...

09/04/2021

I've been wanting to add background music to the game for awhile now. I know from experience how music enhances the game for the player and what best way to showcase the Philippine culture than music!

Here's a clip showcasing our first try at composing an original background music created in Band Lab. At least for this first batch, most are short looped music inspired by beats from the Bagobo Tribe of Mindanao:

1. Main Menu Background Music:
(https://www.bandlab.com/user7534987512518860/bagobo-music-menu-v1-f854f13e)

2. Tutorial Level Default Music
(https://www.bandlab.com/user7534987512518860/bagobo-light-loop-b5329d72?revId=5e67f9aa-ac98-eb11-85aa-0050f28a50ba)

3. Tutorial Level Combat Music: triggers when approaching a wave of enemies.
(https://www.bandlab.com/user7534987512518860/bagobobeat-default-345a6511?revId=f5e947c6-b098-eb11-85aa-0050f28a50ba)

I've made it so different levels can use different default background and combat music. Depending on available time and resources, I would love to create different Philippine tribal beats for each level.

ABOUT THE GAME
Kalasag - Shield of Faith is a solo indie game developed by KickOff Creative using Unreal Engine 4. The goal is to showcase the rich pre-colonial Philippine Mythology while entertaining players via a third-person semi-linear story-driven action adventure role-playing game.

Feel free to leave your comments or suggestions for improvements!

I've been wanting to add background music to the game for awhile now. I know from experience how music enhances the gaming experience of the player and what ...

06/04/2021

Here's a sneak peak at the Puzzle Mechanics and the first Magic Ability - the Earth Trap.

Some parts of the game would require you to have specific magical keys to move forward. A magical key can be obtain by either fighting your way through an area, solving a puzzle or both.

You can also have different Magic Abilities throughout the game. Magic uses mana (requires mana potion to replenish) while Range/Archery requires a good supply of arrows. You get to choose which gameplay you want to do.

ABOUT THE GAME
Kalasag - Shield of Faith is a solo indie game developed by KickOff Creative using Unreal Engine 4. The goal is to showcase the rich pre-colonial Philippine Mythology while entertaining players via a third-person semi-linear story-driven action adventure role-playing game.

Feel free to leave your comments or suggestions for improvements!

Here's a sneak peak at the Puzzle Mechanics and the first Magic Ability - the Earth Trap.Some parts of the game would require you to have specific magical ke...

24/03/2021

One mechanic I'm excited about with this new build is the implementation of Archery. Still part of the tutorial level, this part of the game enables the player to find a wooden bow and introduces the Archery mechanics.

Arrows, while may be found in some levels, can also be crafted in a Tambara as long as the player has the raw materials required to make it.

ABOUT THE GAME
Kalasag - Shield of Faith is a solo indie game developed by KickOff Creative using Unreal Engine 4. The goal is to showcase the rich pre-colonial Philippine Mythology while entertaining players via a third-person semi-linear story-driven action adventure role-playing game.

Feel free to leave your comments or suggestions for improvements!

22/03/2021

Hello everyone,

The past few months have been hectic with big changes to the development of the game. In order to move forward more efficiently (and considering my limited resources), I've decided to change the game from a semi-open world gameplay to a semi-linear gameplay.

Redoing the game this way allows me to focus more on the levels instead of filling-up an open world. It also enabled me to break the game into different levels I can work on and complete one at a time, each with characteristics and challenges.

After some feedback from my previous gameplay previews, I also decided to focus more on the gameplay mechanics and level design instead of the story animations and cinematics (at least for now).

Here's a preview of the first level of the game which serves as a tutorial level. This allows the player to learn the basic controls of the game as well as an introduction to its mechanics.

ABOUT THE GAME
Kalasag - Shield of Faith is a solo indie game developed by KickOff Creative using Unreal Engine 4. The goal is to showcase the rich pre-colonial Philippine Mythology while entertaining players via a third-person semi-linear story-driven action adventure role-playing game.

Feel free to leave your comments or suggestions for improvements!

The past few months have been hectic with big changes to the development of the game. I've decided, in order to move forward more efficiently (and considerin...

08/11/2020

Just sharing a small part of the Magic Combat System of the game.

There are multiple magical abilities that Amaya can learn throughout the game. All can be classified under four elements (Air, Water, Earth, Fire) or combinations of two elements.

Different creatures/opponents will have different vulnerabilities, depending on the elemental magic used. For example, a creature may be damaged by fire magic more than water magic.

For this video, the creature Mangmangkik is defeated by mainly using Invisibility (Air Magic Ability) and Fireball (Fire Magic Ability).

The Mangmangkik in the game can:
- Send toxin balls which can deal damage
- Teleport
- Heal itself
- Cast a ground trap which, when stepped on, causes vines to burst out of the ground which stun and deal damage.

When the player has invisibility, the Mangmangkik transforms back to it's spirit form then looks for trees nearby where it can rest and heal.

The Mangmangkik in the game is an interpretation of one of the creatures in Philippine Mythology, specifically of the Ilocanos (northern part of the country).

"In older times, Ilocanos, especially those from Ilocos Norte would sing these verses before cutting trees in the mountains."

"This is done so that spirits in the trees, the mangmangkik are not offended. If these spirits are offended, they can inflict grave illness upon the offending human.

These creatures are usually invisible but can appear in human form, as in the Ilocano story “Ni Juan Sadut” (Juan the lazy) where a mangmangkik appeared in human form to the protagonist because he did not ask permission from the spirit to cut down the tree."

(ref: https://www.aswangproject.com/mangman...)

The Mangmangkik can be defeated using stealth and fire damage.

Here's to share a piece of the Magic Combat System of the game. There are multiple magical abilities that Amaya can learn throughout the game. All can be cla...

31/10/2020

For this update, I would like to showcase my implementation of the Melee Combat System.

The melee combat system of the game allows the player to collect, craft and upgrade knives and swords. Melee weapons may be found in specific areas of the map or throughout the main story in the game. The weapons can be equipped/unequipped using the Equipment menu.

Basic and combo attacks are available to the player, depending on the available stamina (green bar below the health bar).

I'm planning to showcase more pre-colonial knives, swords and other weapons of the Philippines (including the popular Kampilan as shown in the demo). I'm hoping to incorporate Arnis or Kali (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnis) but since this demands specific animation movements, this would fall under the long term goals.

Also, this video features one of the creature characters of the game: Nuno sa Punso (literally translates to "ancestor in the anthill").

"The nuno sa punso are generally described as old men with flowing beards. They stand as tall as a three-year old child. In some stories, they wear a salakot, a traditional wide-brimmed hat made of rattan or reeds."

"The nuno sa punso are known to inflict illness on people who dare to disturb their dwelling place. "

(ref: https://www.aswangproject.com/nuno-sa...)

In the game, the Nuno sa Punso will generally leave you alone as long as you don't disturb their mound. Otherwise, it will throw rocks at you or attack you with its earth fissure.

The Nuno sa Punso is a mischievous character and can hide in plain sight as a mound on the ground. It can also teleport to escape an attack and heal itself when its life is below a certain threshold.

There are different ways to defeat the Nuno sa Punso but generally, patience and right timing pays off well against it.

Feel free to leave your comments or suggestions for improvements!

For this update, I would like to showcase my implementation of the Melee Combat System. The melee combat system of the game allows the player to collect, cra...

31/10/2020

With just this second video after more than a year, I've packed this latest post with tons of changes.

I've worked hard to get various improvements from last year's gameplay test. I've incorporated a number of unreal engine marketplace assets and plugins with modifications to suit the game's needs. I've also programmed a number of systems (of course with the help of youtube tutorials) to use including:

- Dialog System
- Day/Night Cycle with Environment Settings
- Chapter System
- Crafting System
- Level Loading System
- Save Game System
- Music and Vocal Reactions System

Combat System
The combat system was based on Grzegorz Szewczyk's combat system. (https://www.unrealengine.com/marketpl...). I was able to implement the melee and magic combat systems but was having a hard time implementing the Archery system. With that, I may have to remove the feature (which also saves me time). Would have been nice :)

Narrative Driven Game
A few months ago, I've decided to move forward with a more narrative-driven game so I've used/developed the systems to allow me to direct the game as such. While there will be open-world elements like areas to discover, items to craft or possibly side quests, it will most likely revolve around the main narrative or contribute to that main goal of resolving the conflict as shown in the first cutscene.

With such decision (and given that I am not a writer myself), I am looking forward to afford a game narrative designer in the future, ideally someone with interest/passion in Philippine Mythology/Culture.

A long stretch would be hiring voice actors once the narrative is completed but, that's for future considerations.

In the mean time, please be kind to my dialog :) I have the gist of the story outlined but my writing skills are limited so I will be putting in dialog just to move the game development forward.

Character Creator 3 and iClone 7
I've decided to invest in Character Creator 3 and iClone 7 in my character design. I find that doing the same in blender is a project in itself which is very time consuming. Whilst I've tried doing it for the purpose of learning the concept of 3D character design in blender (as you can see on my first video), Character Creator 3 and iClone 7 has so far helped me speed up my character design and basic animation as well as allowing me to focus more on the game mechanics and the story line.

Blueprint Development
This game is being developed using the Unreal Engine 4 blueprint programming system which helps me (with limited programming skills) a lot!

Target Launch
As of this writing, I am planning to launch a "Chapter 1" part of game in a year or two where in the players will get to learn about the story and get to play the game for a bit, the systems and controls which are available. The reason behind is that as an indie solo developer, I have limited resources and launching a full game at the moment will take me years to do. By breaking the game into smaller chapters, I will be able to work more in polishing each prior to launch.

Feel free to leave your comments, opinions and suggestions for improvement.

Kalasag - Shield of Faith is a solo indie game developed by KickOff Creative using Unreal Engine 4. The goal is to showcase the rich pre-colonial Philippine Myt...

31/10/2020

One of the first few versions of the game.

Kalasag - Shield of Faith is an indie solo game developed by KickOff Creative using Unreal Engine 4. The goal is to showcase the rich pre-colonial Mythology ...