Malkin

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Sun Feb 02, 2020 1:01 am

Hey all, I'll be posting Malkin updates here, and I'll keep this first post updated with useful information and links.

Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0Km6hviUDw

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewitchgame/

Manual: Coming Soonish

Launch: Fall 2020

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Sun Feb 02, 2020 1:09 am

What I'm working on now:

1. A conversation that fires/doesn't fire depending on time of day and location. The whole game takes place over the course of seven days, so I thought it'd be good to include a little reminder for players about the looming deadline -- and give a sense of setting.

2. Implementing the map (object in inventory that, when used, transports player to an area with landmarks that the player has discovered so they can fast travel).

3. Combat design, creature design, and area design, as always

4. Writing of some non-critical dialogs and characters

Post by **slowdive** » Sun Feb 02, 2020 1:12 am

Awesome! love the image... title screen? Looking forward to hearing and seeing more of Malkin as it progresses.

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Sun Feb 02, 2020 1:54 am

Yes, the title screen -- and an-game area too, with some adjustments. I'm going to be diligent!

Post by **slowdive** » Sun Feb 02, 2020 6:29 am

Your title screens have had some significance to the story in the past... I wonder if this one has a story to tell

we shall see.

Post by **youngneil1** » Sun Feb 02, 2020 8:53 am

Very happy to see Malkin in the new forum

!

Clever approach with the fast travel map

, this will come in very handy...

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 1:34 am

Greetings from the NYC region. I'll be at home for the foreseeable future -- though these days the future feels far from foreseeable. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of anxiety and frustration, not least because I had a 103 degree fever and cough right when Coronavirus started to hit New York. When I went to the doctor (a day before it was discovered in the suburbs), I was told I most likely had the flu -- and that I couldn't be tested, given that I hadn't traveled to China or Italy recently. Two weeks later that restriction seems very quaint and old-fashioned, though it's still very hard to get tests. But I recovered quickly, though I'm staying in like everybody else.

Now that the dust has settled, I can spend a bit more time with Malkin. If you've been following my Instagram (@thewitchgame) you've seen some of the icons for my new spells, most of which are summons. I've attached a few here.

: summons.png (62.82 KiB) Viewed 52340 times

Post by **youngneil1** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 8:48 pm

Very happy to hear you feel better now, Zach! That sounds terrifying, all the uncertainty and confusion. High fever is one of the worst body sensations I experienced so far (lucky me, I guess) and it made me really just wish to drop out and move time forward. To experience this combined with the fear of an unknown illness and a shaken society aorund you must be a horrifying situation, I imagine. When the situation with the virus has normalized a bit again (and I hope it will), there are a lot things to do much better as communites and countries or the next pandemic might very well throw us right into anarchy.

On a much brighter note, I am blown away again by your art - really adorable!

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Fri Mar 20, 2020 1:23 am

I am feeling much better -- though who knows how long I'll be inside. Luckily I have making games and playing games to help keep me occupied. I completely agree that we need to be more prepared individually and globally for this kind of thing. Glad you like the art! One of the most rewarding things about making it is how easily and quickly I can get it into the game.

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 9:33 pm

Hi all! Now that summer has officially started for me (it officially starts very late), I'm working on Malkin full time. This past week I accomplished more than I'd accomplished since March, including two new songs, a new quest chain, and a *lot* of new tiles for the wooded mountain region (the last major region I needed to make tiles for), as well as for an inn. I'm also having a friend improve some of the animations I have in the game right now.

Here's a link to one of the songs -- some of you may recognize it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhzZ8DdmG5Y

And here are pics of some of the new areas/tiles.

Post by **slowdive** » Mon Jul 06, 2020 2:35 am

Sounds like some excellent progress there! The areas and tiles are fantastic, they look really good! The new version of the song is also well done and has that extra benefit of being quickly recognizable for me and pleasant to the ear.

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Mon Jul 06, 2020 1:14 pm

Thanks! Glad you liked the new/old song -- I was struck when I was mixing it to how the tone of the banjo seems identical to the tone in the H&C track. I set up a new little studio which has made recording things a lot easier -- I don't have to get everything out and plugged in etc., and the noise from the nearby road isn't as bad. It is, however, very mildewy, so I have to have a dehumidifier constantly running.

Glad you like the mountain tiles too. I've been using some photos from recent hikes as inspiration.

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Fri Jul 31, 2020 4:03 pm

Hey all! I've made a website for Malkin. Here it is!

https://thewitchgame.info

Post by **slowdive** » Sat Aug 22, 2020 2:02 am

The website is coming together nicely so far!

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Mon Aug 24, 2020 4:59 pm

Thanks Jer!

AUGUST UPDATE...
Edit: Here's a video of the map in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RADSukQ2PLI

I'm making a lot of progress and still feel on track to finish this year, depending on what the fall brings.

Major features I've brought into the game over the last few weeks:

A map

Accessible via the inventory, the map allows the player to a) fast travel to certain locations discovered over the course of the game and b) have a bird's-eye, accurate view of the world at large. This was important (and challenging!) for me to implement, because Malkin has a lot of small areas that make intuitive navigation really difficult. I made the map by taking screenshots of individual areas and mockups of areas yet to be made, stitched them together in GIMP (see below), and traced the PC's main routes in white.

Then, I hid the map layers and transferred the routes an image of graph paper, which allowed me to copy the route to scale to paper and produce the watercolor rendering, with most of the map (except the special mountain area) represented in full.

I had some intense scripting to do to make the map work as I wanted it to. These are the map's final features, as well as things I need to keep track of as I proceed:

1. If you're underground, indoors, in combat, or having certain plot interactions, the map can't work.
2. You can fast travel to certain locations in the forest (landmarks) that you discover as you travel, but you can't travel to those locations if you're at those locations or merely one area away from those locations.
3. When you're on the map, you appear as a pointer. (And when you're not using the map, you appear as normal.)
4. You can't use the map right after transitioning from one area to another. I found that this broke the map script I was relying on.
5. When you're on the map, time freezes.
6. The world map is broken into different zones, and traveling from one zone to another takes a certain amount of game time. But if your character has the Woodcraft trait, fast traveling takes less time. So I needed all fast travel transitions from the map to calculate the travel time between the starting zone and the destination zone.
7. Meanwhile, global ints were needed in the game world to keep track of characters' zones.
8. You have to be able to put the map away.

Combat triggers

I've made combat more interactive by including triggers for things like high grass (+2 AC, -50% Fire Resistance), higher ground (+2 Attack Bonus), and swamp (-2 AC, -50% Cold/Electricity Resistance) in battle. I've also added tons of items to the game, and most of the game's battles have a treasure trigger that gives randomized treasure across several different tiers of treasure tables.

More spells

The witch now has a wide variety of spells to choose from (currently 17) -- the goal is 20, so all the rows are filled!

Main quest

Most of the dialogs for the main story are in the game. This week I intend to finish them.

Post by **Dorateen** » Mon Aug 24, 2020 7:30 pm

I like the map, and how it translates from the art to the in-game area.

Post by **slowdive** » Tue Aug 25, 2020 11:09 pm

That's quite a bit of work you have done to implement the map and provide functionality that makes sense. I think it will definitely pay off. You always have a great amount of detail to your work and that is why it turns out so well and is memorable. The video shows off the map and its use well.

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Fri Aug 28, 2020 6:06 pm

Thanks guys. I've been writing all week and am making good progress. Lots of variables to keep track of, so 3/4 of my time is writing and 1/4 is scripting it/revising scripts I've made. Shaping up, though! Wish I had about ten more weeks of summer, but I'm going to try to do all I can in the two weeks left.

Post by **slowdive** » Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:09 pm

Making the best of summer like Phineas and Ferb

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Sun Sep 13, 2020 5:33 am

Gameplay update...

I originally designed five different "paths" (traits) for Malkin (Woodcraft, Swordplay, Folk Magic, Natural Philosophy, and Warding). You could only choose two for your character at character creation. These traits had unique powers attached to them and a number of campaign-related benefits as well.

This system is still fundamentally intact, but in order to make Malkin more replayable, the main character more customizable, and leveling up more fun, I've dramatically expanded the list of traits available via trees for each of the five paths. Furthermore, the player doesn't choose the paths explicitly at the beginning of the game- -- I've instead made ten different witch classes, and each witch class has a unique combination of the five traits. Here are a few examples:

Witch of the Circle: Warding and Folk Magic
Witch of the Casque: Warding and Swordplay
Witch of the Heath: Woodcraft and Folk Magic

Now, to make these classes even more distinct, each also comes with a unique hex that suits its playstyle/flavor. A hex is a swift action spell that costs a little HP to use and debuffs enemies. So the Witch of the Circle gets the Hex of the Circle:

: hex.png (384.72 KiB) Viewed 60766 times

Finally, instead of different fantasy races to choose from, Malkin has five seasons (the four you know and then one that's called "Cycle" -- instead of being attuned to one season, the witch is attuned to the seasonal cycle). Each of these seasons also has a trait tree, like the paths. At each level up to and including Level 4, a new tier in each trait tree is unlocked.

In the picture below, the witch has just advanced to third level. You can see by the Roman numerals on the flowering plum that he chose Winter Attunement II last time. Now he has the option of continuing on the Winter Attunement tree or choosing one of the class trees, Warding or Folk Magic.

: traits.png (326.92 KiB) Viewed 60766 times

TL;DR: Malkin has fifty class/season combinations, each of which gives a unique set of level up options.

Post by **slowdive** » Mon Sep 14, 2020 12:43 am

Love the system enhancements and character build options that will make multiple playthroughs more interesting. My hope is to have IBx work well for Malkin and Hearkenwold on multiple platforms as well as it does on the PC. It will be a little tricky to get it to run as fast and load as fast as the PC version, but I'll do my best. Malkin and Hearkenwold deserve to be played by as many as possible and with the best engine that Karl and I can produce

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Mon Sep 14, 2020 1:13 pm

Sounds great, Jer! The idea of Malkin on portable platforms is really exciting to me. The wider audience, of course -- but I also think turn-based games just really work well as portable games.

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Thu Feb 25, 2021 4:06 pm

The soundtrack for Malkin is DONE and LIVE! Check it out if you have a chance! It's on Spotify, Amazon, Apple, and so on.

https://open.spotify.com/album/1ZKZ5FjQ ... Z__8TV7r9Q

Post by **slowdive** » Thu Feb 25, 2021 4:39 pm

Woohoo!!

Post by **cartons** » Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:35 am

Great! I'm going to bathe my ears in this tomorrow

Post by **Pongo** » Sat Feb 27, 2021 9:54 am

Hey Zach, I had a listen this morning and really enjoyed your tunes! Really nice and professional sounding recordings, very atmospheric and evocative. Reminded me of Yann Tiersen sometimes, and also the Michael Nyman/Albarn work on the Ravenous soundtrack (probably because of the recurring sad/sinister banjo), both which are definite thumbs up in my book. Impressive stuff - the tracks will sound amazing in your game for sure.

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Sun Feb 28, 2021 10:33 pm

Thank you all! Pongo, I'm going to check out these artists. Thanks for listening, and I hope that you get to experience it in-game sooner rather than later.

Post by **youngneil1** » Tue May 11, 2021 7:55 am

Hey Zach, I am just browsing through the forum and it is so delighful to see all the good development and continuity. The map of the woods looks very impressive and makes my mind wander curiously around it in an instant. As always, the icons you made for the spells/traits are top notch, professional quality. Keep up the good work

.

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Tue May 18, 2021 2:00 pm

Thank you! And thanks for all your great work. I hope to get Malkin out this year -- we'll see!

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Tue Sep 06, 2022 1:55 am

The end of the summer is here, and I'm pleased to report that Malkin is nearly finished (content wise anyway).

I have a week or two of writing left -- this is mostly to tie up side quests and write epilogues. (Malkin has five distinct endings, and each ending has several minor variations.) Otherwise, areas, creatures, items, and 99% of encounters are designed, spells and abilities are final, all art is done, and everything seems to be working -- though I'll let you know when I've actually played the game from beginning to end! It's been a long, rewarding project, and I'm excited to have people play it. There will be a lot of testing and tweaking before it's ready to go out into the world, of course, but having that happen before the end of the year is now realistic.

I'll keep you posted!

Post by **Dorateen** » Tue Sep 06, 2022 7:22 pm

Post by zach_holbrook » Mon Sep 05, 2022 8:55 pm

The end of the summer is here, and I'm pleased to report that Malkin is nearly finished (content wise anyway).

I have a week or two of writing left -- this is mostly to tie up side quests and write epilogues. (Malkin has five distinct endings, and each ending has several minor variations.) Otherwise, areas, creatures, items, and 99% of encounters are designed, spells and abilities are final, all art is done, and everything seems to be working -- though I'll let you know when I've actually played the game from beginning to end! It's been a long, rewarding project, and I'm excited to have people play it. There will be a lot of testing and tweaking before it's ready to go out into the world, of course, but having that happen before the end of the year is now realistic.

That's good news. It will be great to have more IceBlink modules out there.

Post by **Pongo** » Wed Sep 07, 2022 7:50 am

This is excellent news indeed!

Post by **slowdive** » Thu Sep 08, 2022 2:55 am

Exciting news indeed, Zach! I don't know if I will have the IB Unity version ready by then, but hopefully the current version of IB (v203) is working well enough for Malkin's initial release. My goal with v204 (first IB Unity version) is to have it full compatible with the existing modules so no work will need to be done by the builders to have their modules work with v204. v204 will be essentially the same, but with some UI changes and more potential for future features including better audio functionality.

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Thu Sep 08, 2022 7:16 pm

Thanks all!

Slowdive: Well, it's definitely not 100% finished, and I know it will require a lot of testing. There are so many moving parts. Meanwhile, I'm pretty satisfied with the balance of the first third encounters, medium satisfied with the second third, and I've hardly played the last 1/3 of them. I need to do many runs with many builds. And there will be plenty to revise in the writing, too. There's enough for a novel. So while it may be realistic to say it'll be ready this year, it isn't necessary and may not be desirable! In other words, I'm willing to wait for 204 however long it takes.

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Sat Sep 09, 2023 9:29 pm

Hey all, it's been some time since my last post here, but not because I've been inactive!

Here's a link to Malkin's Steam page!: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2481230/Malkin/.

It should be up and running in November if all goes according to plan. I'm in the midst of making achievements for it and, as always, testing.

Post by **Dorateen** » Sun Sep 10, 2023 1:35 pm

So good to see an IceBlink engine game on a platform for distribution. Best of luck!

Post by **zach_holbrook** » Sun Sep 10, 2023 5:46 pm

Thank you!!!!

kamal · Post by **kamal** » Fri Aug 30, 2024 2:33 am

Malkin is now on Steam as a demo :
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3158970/Malkin_Demo/

/can't seem to sign in with my old kamal account, had to register this new one.

Post by **slowdive** » Sun Sep 15, 2024 4:09 pm

kamal2 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 30, 2024 2:33 am /can't seem to sign in with my old kamal account, had to register this new one.

yeah, I had some issue when updating to the latest phpBB where it messed up something that made us have to change our usernames, but I think I can delete your old account and then you can register under that one if having a "2" bothers you