We have been working hard at Shadows of Her Past, and we realized that our vision was not coming through the way we had intended. To try to fix this situation, we have tweaked the art style. Going with a more low poly look. This will allow us to have a much more stylized game and and also avoid some laggy situations. Check out the new art style below!

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On the lore side, the enemy is made up of Tenebra, or black spectra. Most of the enemies in the game were constructed beings, made from black spectra for evil purposes. However, this enemy is a naturally occurring Tenebra essence, and will attack indiscriminately in its search for spectra to consume. It cannot be fought against or reasoned with, and would drain the spectra from any being in contact with it.

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In Shadows of Her Past Spectra is used as a form of magical currency. The player can choose to imbue their wand with spectra to increase the effectiveness of a certain attack. Each attack, item, and enemy has its own spectral makeup, and each different color increased there affinity to different elements. Destroying an enemy will let you harvest this spectra, for use in upgrading your wands and attacks. In the image below Hermielle is gathering blue spectra.

In the load out screen your spectra totals are shown in the top right, and each attack’s icon can be also be matched to a spectra amount, so you always know how to build your character to take the most advantage of your spectra bonuses. Each wand also starts with different base spectra bonuses.

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Imagine traveling through a familiar land when a sudden cloud of darkness overwhelms the landscape. As you look up, there isn’t a cloud in the sky, but instead a massive baddie waiting to greet you. This is our idea of Elites for Shadows of Her Past.

The chance to encounter an elite will vary upon each level and each attempt in order to prevent the bore of grinding that can occur in many games. These enemies will be quite visible as they are more than double the size of their standard forms, and will some flashy effects to help catch your eye. Additionally, these baddies will have a collection of new abilities hidden up their sleeve to make them a foe worth challenging!

“What’s in it for me?”, I know you’re thinking it because we are to! Elites won’t be some enemy that you would want to run from if you can help it. Those brave enough to challenge and defeat an elite will have a plethora of Spectra (the in-game currency) granted as a rewarded.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post, “Spectra: How to Collect & Use it” for a detailed guide on the origin of the system, how it is implemented in Shadows of Her Past and why you’d want to collect it all!

TLDR: Elites are tough baddies but give loads of $$$. Stay tuned for a post on Spectra!

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Let me tell you, we at the Indie Accord have been hard at work to ensure the ultimate experience is obtained for Shadows, and we take pride in our projects and that they do sometimes take forever to release

The first major change I’d like to talk about is the player model, or Hermielle. As gamers, we know that the character whom you connect with and spend the most amount of time is traditionally the main character, which is why we decided to give Hermielle a total make over. You can check out the changes below

I think our artist has done an awesome job capturing Hermielle’s elegance and authority that she will portray through our storytelling.

Hermielle’s character is not the only one to have been given a makeover. We have been hard at work ensuring that our visual style of choice remains consistent throughout the entire experience, but I can’t go and ruin all of the surprises now, can I?

In the upcoming days and weeks, we will be posting more in depth about the various aspects and systems that we have designed for Shadows. In the mean time, here is a changelog of everything we have modified between our last internal alpha to the newest version.

ALPHA 2 CHANGE LOG

GENERAL

• Added Chapter 3 and 4 as playable.
• Fixed the transition into Wild Steppes in Chapter 2.
• Added patches of fire into Kaepe-themed levels.
• Fixed the transition of Wild Steppes by adding lava and the Black Wall.
• Tweaked the flow of levels in Chapter 2.
• Switched Wild Steppes Pt 1 & Pt 2.
• After the Fire Golem, added a warning of the rising lava.
• Adjusted group aggravation levels.
• Added basic metric collection for gameplay analysis.
• Adjusted the end of Chapter 1 for a more engaging experience.
• Fixed level select flickering.
• Fixed various camera issues.
• Increased the damage done by lava.
• Increased the damage done by blade traps.
• Increased the damage done by all moving traps.
• Tweaked the difficulty of the later levels accordingly.
• Added a key to Wild Steppes Pt 2 to match the gate.

ENEMIES

• Changed the Reaper Summoner mechanics. Now summons more enemies.
• Summoner’s minions no longer add to the combo counter.
• Bosses now will have a visual for taking damage.
• Increased the size of enemy spawners.
• Adjusted the health of the Lava Golem.
• Made the Grass Golem killable.

ABILITIES

• Updated and reworked the Teleport Mechanics.
• Tweaked the visual of and the damage dealt by Lightning Arc
• Adjusted the location of spells when created.

USER INTERFACE

• Fixed level display names.
• Fixed graphical user interface on levels.
• Added Chapter Descriptions for the Prologue, Chapters 1 through 4.
• Totally reworked the Ability Select Screen.
• Removed the Death Menu for instant respawn.
• Tweaked the Pause Menu for additional options
• Added a tooltip for wand descriptions.
• Added additional indicators for the combo system.
• Removed a border around abilities not selected.
• Added a directional compass to the level goal.
• Ability hover over will now display the proper spell animation.
• Adjusted the spacing between Jewel Roll button.
• Added a screen flash for when Hermielle is in contact with fire & lava.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed a bug where Hermielle would continue her path after death.
• Fixed Level Select Aliasing.
• Fixed a bug where Spectra Stats would not appear until an ability was selected.
• Fixed a bug where Oar’atan Reapers would float on death.
• Adjusted the end of the Black Wall to match the following level.
• Fixed an issue where some abilities would not properly work in various levels.
• Fixed a bug where music would not properly play.
• Fixed a bug where Hermielle’s build did not persist after a level.
• Removed the console errors in Steppes Pt 2.
• Reduced the maximum height of AStar for proper slope movement.
• Fixed an issue where the user could teleport into a solid object.
• Slight graphical tweaks to the title screen.
• Fixed an issue where Boss names were not displaying properly.
• The Movement Marker will now delete on contact with Hermielle.

Last but not least, if you think you might be interested in helping us test Shadows of Her Past, please enter your contact information in the form below! We believe 2018 to be a busy year as we push our way through a few more private tests and then on to the beta

[contact-form to=”admin@internal.theindieaccord.com” subject=”SoHP Alpha Tester”][contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”1″][/contact-form]

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We have upgraded the combo system to give a burst of cast and movement speed whenever you successfully land ten hits on enemies (in a specified time). This image shows the Spectra effect when you get the combo. Having this combo will not only increase your power level via speed boost, but will also increase the Spectra you earn and can spend on upgrades.

In this level a new enemy type is shown. This trapper enemy will lie in hiding until a certain action is done, at which time it will suddenly appear and chase Hermielle relentlessly. When this happens, its better to run and navigate around obstacles than try to stand and fight. It provides us with a way to achieve an interesting change of pace in a lot of levels.

We have been working on Hermielle’s swamp ability which allows her to create an AoE effect that will slow enemies, and slow the spawn rate of enemy camps to a crawl. This AoE ability can be upgraded with green Spectra.

Enter Valdis, one of the hardest bosses in the game. This winged monstrosity will create clones to confuse you while raining down area attacks from above.

After a hard days work killing enemies and gathering Spectra who wouldn’t want to relax on the beach? However, Hermielle’s break is short lived as she soon finds Dusks invading her vacation spot.

The post Shadows Screenshot Roundup appeared first on The Indie Accord.

Type 1: Combat

Combat abilities are not impacted by a cooldown. Instead they are controlled by Hermielle’s attack speed attribute which can be changed through various wand and gem combinations.

Meteor Strike (Red)

Sends a flaming rock at the designated area. Has the potential to burn the target for an additional 1-3 seconds.

Arc Lightning (Yellow)

Sends an arc of lightning at the target that has the chance to stun them for 1 second. Has a chance to jump to nearby enemies.

Dread Apparition (Blue)

Summons a minion to fight alongside Hermielle for 15 seconds. Hermielle can command the minion to self-destruct, dealing damage to everyone in proximity.

Type 2: Crowd Control

Glacial Shivers (Blue)

Summons a frost storm around Hermielle, sending out shards of ice in every direction. Has a chance to completely freeze enemies.

Summon Marsh (Green)

Controls the spectra of an area to transform into a marsh for 10 seconds, slowing enemies by 40% and spawners by 15%.

Vortex (Blue)

Sends a gust of wind in front of Hermielle, pushing back enemies and dealing damage.

Type 3: Support

Type 3 abilities are used to bolster Hermielle’s attack and defense. When used in conjunction with other abilities, they can become very powerful.

Ivory Safeguard (Yellow)

Hermielle creates a barrier of Spectra to protect her from all incoming sources of damage.

Arcane Frenzy (Red)

Doubles the impact of Hermielle’s next spells for 15 seconds.

Haste (Green)

Speeds up Hermielle’s movement speed, cast speed, and teleportation recharge rate for 15 seconds.

My personal favorite build is a green and yellow wand with Haste, Arc Lightning, and Summon Marsh. I move and attack fast, while my enemies are stuck slowly sinking in the bog

The post Abilities in Shadows of Her Past appeared first on The Indie Accord.

Elette

Elette and Hermielle were actually featured in a previous game by The Indie Accord. However this is the first time we see it in full 3D. Elette is a city of refugees and wanderers, and was built in quite a haphazard way, with citizens adding on buildings and rooms as needed. The one stand out feature is the Salton Manor (pictured in the distance above), which the citizens of Elette built as a gift to their ruler, Hermielle.

Mo’Bahl

Mo’Bahl is a volcano that lies across the planes from Elette and is populated by the Oar’atan Reapers, an industrial race of half wolf/half human hybrids. The Reapers mine the volcano in the heart of Mo’Bahl.

Black Wall

The Black wall separates the Oar’atan Reapers from the rest of the world and serves as a monument to the Reaper’s industrious and violent spirit. If any of their neighbors from Elette approach the wall they are savagely attacked by the Reapers within.

Ruins of the Vernetrim Empire

Before the Reapers lived within the confines of the black wall they were known as the Vernetrim Empire and were a much more widespread nation. As they began to slowly withdraw to their capital city, ruins were left behind to be reclaimed by nature, shadows of their once great Empire.

Cathedral of A’verim

Inside the Ruins of the Vernetrim Empire lies a cathedral inhabited by a magical statue. This statue was fashioned after a Oar’atan Reaper King whose people worshiped him as a deity.

El’Narath

El’Narath was once home to a proud civilization populated by the ancient and nearly immortal Eteras (Hermielle is an Etera), but it has fallen to shambles after the Eteras fought a great war among themselves. The picture above shows it in its glory days.

These are just a couple of the environments in Shadows, and we hope to show even more in a future post. Each of the above locations will be at least one playable level. For now I hope the descriptions and images have whetted your appetite for another adventure with Hermielle!

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This will be our first game as a Razer partnered indie dev! We will be providing full support for Razer Chroma keyboards, mice, headsets, and mouse pads. This includes custom effects and GUI surprises built into the actual hardware you play with! Such immersion, very wow! Since the game world’s main source of magic is “spectra”, this is a really cool opportunity to use the colors and lights in exciting ways.

Additionally, we have decided to run a Steam Greenlight campaign for this project! We are excited to show off the game, screenshots, and videos on Steam!  We would appreciate any and all support/feedback you could give during the campaign. As always, we are open to any suggestions, comments, and concerns about our projects and are more than willing to answer any questions. Vote for us here!

The post Shadows of Her Past Announcement appeared first on The Indie Accord.

Name: Oar’atan Bomber

Description: The Bomber will not directly attack unless approached, instead he will allow other Reapers to lead the charge while he throws bombs into the fray, damaging everything in a radius and burning the ground. This is the biggest of all Reapers, and can easily take multiple hits before even slowing down. Avoiding the thrown bombs and burning ground with constant movement will be required to take a Bomber down.

Name: Oar’atan Necromancer and Skeletal Reapers

Description: The Necromancer takes a different tactic than most reapers. Instead of training his body he trained in Tenebra, or Dark Spectra which is some pretty bad stuff. The Necromancer keeps his distance, instead raising his fallen brethren to fight for and protect him. If no more reapers can be raised from the grave the necromancer will retreat and attack with a long distance spell. This is the only Reaper where up close combat may not be a bad idea.

Name: Oar’atan Civilian

Description: Smaller in size than their Reaper brethren, the standard civilian of the City of Bladespire are traditionally light on their paws. Commonly found within the city walls, the Oar’atan civilian are commonly called into war as scouting parties due to their speed. There is a pride deeply rooted in their home nation and even the lowest of Oar’atans will step up to defend Bladespire and their leader. These enemies will charge you without regard for their own safety, so the best way to defeat them is to take them out before they reach you. If you allow them to get into melee range their ferocity and speed will make quick work of you.

Name: Oar’atan Reaper Soldier

Description: Known for their brute strength, the Reaper Soldiers are the primary force utilized by Bladespire. This Reaper’s size makes him a little slower than the Civilian, but what they lack in speed they make up for in strength. A group of them is deadly in melee range, use teleport and wind attacks to keep them at a distance.

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