News on the new game!

Hello everyone!

We would like to share the current news on the whole project, and on the development of the current game. The post turned out to be quite long, so we broke it into several parts.

• 1. Some general information about the past months of our work.
• 2. News on the game we are currently working on.
• 3. Some facts about the upcoming game.
• 4. Future of Threads of Destiny main game.
• 5. Threads of Destiny books.

1. Some general information about the past months of our work:

We didn’t post much information about it, because we weren’t sure what direction this project would take and what the overall style of the game would be.

It took us a long time to decide what kind of game we want to see. Will it be done in 3D or 2D? What engine will it be created on? We tried to put together the first test builds of the game in 3D on both Godot and Unity. As a result, we’ve improved our knowledge of 3D modeling over the past few months. Working with the textures, lights, and various programs needed to develop a good, visually pleasing, stylized 3D game showed us how difficult it is to create a sufficiently good-looking 3D game. Our current level of knowledge, as well as financial aspect, keeps us far from what we imagine it to be. A good 3D game requires a lot of contributions, not only of our time and knowledge but also the work of other people. It turned out to be too complicated and time-consuming to a whole game in 3D by ourselves. According to our calculations, it will take us a year and a half at best to create the first version of the 3D game.

Therefore, we decided to postpone the development of 3D games, and in the coming years, devote some time to a more professional, in-depth study of 3D modeling, sculpting, programming, as well as studying the most suitable engines for 3D games that will provide the best visual quality we need. We will most likely work with either Unity or Unreal later on.

For now, we’ve decided to focus on what we already know and what we can take to a much better level than what you’ve seen in Threads of Destiny. Therefore, we decided to focus on 2D games. Right now, we’re making the new Elli game in 2D.

2. News on the game we are currently working on:

We are currently working on the TOD game: Heir of the Taye. It will be dedicated to Elli, and her life before the events of the main Threads of Destiny game, and before meeting Sardo.

You can see the logo of the game below. 

This is not the final version, and it may undergo some changes by the first release date.

We will try to finish the main graphics of the locations in the next two or three weeks, and post the first screenshots and videos of the finished gameplay.

A general view of the village, which will also be used as a map of the game, is currently in progress. The final art will be made in two versions: day and night lighting. The map size is 4000 by 3000 pixels. There is a fragment of the map at this link, it's not fully ready yet, but the general style and the view of the Nefeer village can be observed.

3. Some facts about the upcoming game:

• The game is being developed as a mix of Adventure, Metroidvania, and Platformer genres. We shall not say anything about the dominant part of this mixture. You will see it as the game is developed and progressed;
• The game is being developed on Godot 4 in 2D. Godot 4 works on the Vulkan API, which in turn gives a good image clarity compared to Godot 3.x, and it was very timely to transfer our developments on the current game to this version of the engine;
• We make the game in 1080p, so all arts will be drawn in high quality;
• The plot of the game covers several events of particular importance to Elli from her childhood, adolescence, and events shortly before she leaves her homeland;
• You will get to know Elli's homeland and the dense forests of Virderin;
• While playing, you will learn the dark secret of the Nefeer race, which we did not have time to reveal in the main game, but has found its rightful place in this game. You will also learn the story of the appearance of the Nefeers in the Neitras world;
• Besides, you will get to know Yumi better and learn some facts about her past. There will also be some other important story characters that will later appear in the main Threads of Destiny game;
• Heir of the Taye will end at the point where the main game Threads of Destiny starts;
• The game will have a combat system based on Elli’s specific physical condition. It will be possible to join the battle only under certain conditions. Otherwise, you will have to flee or hide from enemies. We’ll tell you more about it when all the animations and code necessary for this will be ready. Fortunately, it became possible to write a normal combat system for the current game on Godot;
• The game will let you interact with the outside world, and seek help from animals that inhabit the surrounding forests;

4. Future of Threads of Destiny main game:

There is a very important thing we don’t like about Threads of Destiny – Elli’s helplessness as a character. She grew up in dangerous forests in the south, but in fact, neither her character nor behavior shows that. I made this big mistake while writing the script. My attempts to rewrite the prologue and to correct errors did not lead to the desired result, because the game lacked battles, action, and a complete revision of the entire narrative.

Threads of Destiny was conceived as a story about the consequences of a thousand-year-old war, but unfortunately, we never got to the disclosure of plot secrets, having stuck in the local stories of separate characters.

But, we all learn and we all become better.

Sometimes, when I get tired of developing Elli’s game, I take a break by redoing the Threads of Destiny plot. A fresh look at the whole plot gave me the opportunity to rethink some points and revise the narrative as a whole. This is why we decided to release standalone games that year. It is too difficult to fit quite voluminous stories of heroes important for the plot in one game.

And the skills Elli gains during the events that you will see in the game Heir of the Taye will remain with her when the main TOD game begins. Therefore, Elli’s character will sparkle with new colors, and become much more interesting and alive, and Threads of Destiny will undergo certain changes for the better. Many of the characters you know from the main game will stick around, and you’ll certainly see their stories unfold.

5. Threads of Destiny books:

And since it so happened that in between the development of Heir of the Taye we are rewriting the script of the main game, we decided to save time and start writing this script in a form of a book.

I don’t know when the book will be finished because we focus most of the time on developing the game.

The book is being written in my native language and will be published in my native language as well. But, if everything goes well, we will try to translate it into English.

The book will tell the story of Sardo, the same one you are already familiar with from the main game, but with certain changes, improvements, and extra information that was not included in the game.

However, the game will additionally have a number of side quests that will not be included in the book when is being transferred onto another engine.

That’s all for now. This month we will try to decide on a release date of the first version of Heir of the Taye. Until that time, we will try to please you more often with visuals from the game, since now we know exactly in which direction we will work and what style we want to see in the game.

With gratitude,

ElisarStudio Team!