Shinobi Chronicles
So it's now been about three weeks since the May 4th release of Shinobi Chronicles, and I want to give everyone an idea of the current state of the game and where we're going with it.
The design of the game
The game is designed to put the player into the world of Naruto. It's a unique aspect that console games like the Naruto Ultimate Ninja series can't really replicate: They let you control characters from the series, but the character is never really you, you're never really a ninja in the world, you're more like a puppet master seeing things from the third person. To that extent in Shinobi Chronicles you get to choose your own village and train starting from a lowly Academy Student into a legendary Sennin. (I opted to use Akademi-sei for the first rank because all the other ranks are listed in Japanese, and the series never really described Academy Students as having a rank title, so that seemed the closest to what should be used).
One difference however, is there is none of the specific content from the manga/anime series (Characters, Jutsu, Bloodlines, etc). That was all created by Masashi Kishimoto and is copyrighted/trademarked - Additionally it's really not necessary to use it since we have a different goal, it's not about controlling the characters from the series, but becoming your own character inside their world. In that sense SC is like an alternate universe. The same rules apply (Chakra, Ninjutsu, Villages, rankings, etc), but the specific characters, abilities, and events are different. The events that take place in game are largely determined by the players. Who becomes the Kage of the village, a battle between two of the strongest ninja from different villages, all of this is put into the hands of the players rather than a script writer.
How things work - What game systems are there right now and what's coming soon
Right now most of the core systems are in. Training, leveling up, fighting both AI opponents and other players, bloodlines, traveling around on the map, learning and leveling up jutsu, buying and equipping gear for use in combat. The specifics on some of them need to be tweaked (damage formulas are a prime example) but the structure of those are all in.
The biggest thing coming in the Chuunin update on June 1 is the Team system, where you can form or join a 4-man team (it's okay if you don't have 4 people, but that's the most you can have). The Team system is about forming a group of friends to work together with, and go raiding other villages. Teams are linked to villages, similar to an ANBU unit or one of the teams like Team Asuma from later on in Shippuden. When you defeat ninja from other villages, you gain credit in the village for your team. Depending on how much your team accomplishes, you can redeem those credits for rewards. You also get various bonuses for working as a team. Eventually this system will be integrated with multi-PvP fights, but until then you'll get bonuses in-combat just for your teammates standing on the same square as you.
Apart from the team system, you will learn your first chakra element at Chuunin, allowing Ninjutsu users to use elemental jutsu of that element (2nd and 3rd elements will be unlocked at Jonin and Sennin respectively). When two elemental jutsu clash, the elemental weakness circle comes into play (Fire > Wind > Lightning > Earth > Water > Fire) [note: In the original series, lightning was strong against both earth and water. Either we'll stick to making it strong against earth only, or give each earth+water a reduced weakness against lightning compared to the other elemental weaknesses].
The forbidden seal system is also coming, allowing users to gain some bonuses in exchange for premium credits on a month-to-month basis. These bonuses include things like a bigger avatar, longer journal, larger inbox, longer chat post limit, more jutsu/item equip slots, regeneration increase, longer logout timer, and longer training/long training with gains closer to what you'd get from doing short training for the same amount of time.
In addition a bunch of bug fixes are coming, as well as some tweaks, and a bunch of other new features. I'm not sure what other features will make it in by release day, but some possibilities are:
Apart from the new features coming, a full-scale balance revision will happen once we get the balancing structure fully figured out, and a bunch of interface improvements are coming (running timers for training/logout, character counters on posts and stuff). Some things are pretty rough at the moment, I'm focusing on getting the big important systems in to see how things run with a bunch of users using everything, then we can focus on polishing everything up.
That pretty much sums up what I wanted to cover for now, hopefully you have a better idea now of where SC is and where it's going, as well as what it's about. Feel free to comment here or tweet me @Lsmjudoka if you have any questions or input!
The design of the game
The game is designed to put the player into the world of Naruto. It's a unique aspect that console games like the Naruto Ultimate Ninja series can't really replicate: They let you control characters from the series, but the character is never really you, you're never really a ninja in the world, you're more like a puppet master seeing things from the third person. To that extent in Shinobi Chronicles you get to choose your own village and train starting from a lowly Academy Student into a legendary Sennin. (I opted to use Akademi-sei for the first rank because all the other ranks are listed in Japanese, and the series never really described Academy Students as having a rank title, so that seemed the closest to what should be used).
One difference however, is there is none of the specific content from the manga/anime series (Characters, Jutsu, Bloodlines, etc). That was all created by Masashi Kishimoto and is copyrighted/trademarked - Additionally it's really not necessary to use it since we have a different goal, it's not about controlling the characters from the series, but becoming your own character inside their world. In that sense SC is like an alternate universe. The same rules apply (Chakra, Ninjutsu, Villages, rankings, etc), but the specific characters, abilities, and events are different. The events that take place in game are largely determined by the players. Who becomes the Kage of the village, a battle between two of the strongest ninja from different villages, all of this is put into the hands of the players rather than a script writer.
How things work - What game systems are there right now and what's coming soon
Right now most of the core systems are in. Training, leveling up, fighting both AI opponents and other players, bloodlines, traveling around on the map, learning and leveling up jutsu, buying and equipping gear for use in combat. The specifics on some of them need to be tweaked (damage formulas are a prime example) but the structure of those are all in.
The biggest thing coming in the Chuunin update on June 1 is the Team system, where you can form or join a 4-man team (it's okay if you don't have 4 people, but that's the most you can have). The Team system is about forming a group of friends to work together with, and go raiding other villages. Teams are linked to villages, similar to an ANBU unit or one of the teams like Team Asuma from later on in Shippuden. When you defeat ninja from other villages, you gain credit in the village for your team. Depending on how much your team accomplishes, you can redeem those credits for rewards. You also get various bonuses for working as a team. Eventually this system will be integrated with multi-PvP fights, but until then you'll get bonuses in-combat just for your teammates standing on the same square as you.
Apart from the team system, you will learn your first chakra element at Chuunin, allowing Ninjutsu users to use elemental jutsu of that element (2nd and 3rd elements will be unlocked at Jonin and Sennin respectively). When two elemental jutsu clash, the elemental weakness circle comes into play (Fire > Wind > Lightning > Earth > Water > Fire) [note: In the original series, lightning was strong against both earth and water. Either we'll stick to making it strong against earth only, or give each earth+water a reduced weakness against lightning compared to the other elemental weaknesses].
The forbidden seal system is also coming, allowing users to gain some bonuses in exchange for premium credits on a month-to-month basis. These bonuses include things like a bigger avatar, longer journal, larger inbox, longer chat post limit, more jutsu/item equip slots, regeneration increase, longer logout timer, and longer training/long training with gains closer to what you'd get from doing short training for the same amount of time.
In addition a bunch of bug fixes are coming, as well as some tweaks, and a bunch of other new features. I'm not sure what other features will make it in by release day, but some possibilities are:
- Clan missions
- Consumable items (like bandages)
- Layered Genjutsu
- Jutsu skill trees (jutsu that require a prerequisite jutsu to be learned to a certain level before you can learn the jutsu)
- Sensei system
- Clan elder/leader positions
- Summoning jutsu
- Kage positions
- Village alliances
Touchups and balance revisions
Apart from the new features coming, a full-scale balance revision will happen once we get the balancing structure fully figured out, and a bunch of interface improvements are coming (running timers for training/logout, character counters on posts and stuff). Some things are pretty rough at the moment, I'm focusing on getting the big important systems in to see how things run with a bunch of users using everything, then we can focus on polishing everything up.
That pretty much sums up what I wanted to cover for now, hopefully you have a better idea now of where SC is and where it's going, as well as what it's about. Feel free to comment here or tweet me @Lsmjudoka if you have any questions or input!
Wow. Nice work lsm.
ReplyDeleteAwesome lsm
ReplyDelete