Resonance: Rhythm in You - Our Hero - Pt 2

February greetings from Resonance Games!

It's been a while, and I apologize for the wait. It's been a crazy month and a half, not only for myself, but for Resonance Games.
As you can see from the attached gifs, we've been hard at work finishing the full environmental exploration suite of animations for our Hero character, and I really think they speak for themselves. @gatekid3 (twitter) has been really working hard to make sure that each animation is to the highest quality and fits the character. In fact, now that the Hero has his range of movement animations, he's been moving on to other characters, so stay tuned for those (they're looking really good as well!).

But back to the long wait for a post. Having been off work from the covid situation, paired with the challenge of finding funding for Resonance Games, I took a job with a new company and am now working full time since Feb 1.
"But wait!" I hear you call, "does that mean this project is dead in the water? Kaput? Finished? Never to see the light of day?"

...

NO, of course not! I love everything about Resonance Games, and its characters, mechanics and art. I am 100% dedicated to making sure this game is released to everyone reading this (and more people of course lol). What this news means is that the team is going to be moving into what we're calling a "slow burn development". Basically with most team members working their other game industry jobs, we're going to be putting extra curricular time into the project (what we do for our art, eh?). So if you were looking forward to more from Resonance Games , fear not, we are still moving in a good direction. Just a little bit slower.

Over the last month, we've not only worked on more concept and animation art, but also attended the 2021 Global Game Jam Vancouver event! For those who missed it, we'll be posting a full edited recording of the event, so be sure to follow either our Facebook, Twitter or YouTube channel to see that. Overall, it's been a pretty wild couple months!


Back to our Hero. As many of you may know, Resonance: Rhythm in You has two distinct gameplay modes. The first, the exploration, allows the player to traverse the world, and is more akin to a Metroidvania with a few twists. You can expect to unlock abilities that will let you go back to previous locations to find hidden treasures, and will be able to traverse the 3D world on a (more or less) 2D plane.

Check out how that might look on our latest video here:

As you can see, it's a really cool effect to see our Hero running around a 3D world. We think it's a really unique looking direction and that's not the only cool thing this allows us to do! We haven't built the tech yet, but our goal is to allow the player to 'turn corners' so to speak. So you may find an alleyway leading into the Z-Axis. Simply pressing the right button will turn the whole world 90 degrees, allowing you to travel down that alleyway. It allows us to do what a lot of Metroidvania style games are unable to, which is make a more believable 3D world that still follows the gameplay standards you've come to expect from games like Hollow Knight, Castlevania and Momodora to name a few.
Stay tuned to see that in action when we get the tech finished!

As to the animations themselves, the player is now able to do all basic motions: idle, run, jump, crouch and attack from a variety of positions. It's kind of funny how such a simple thing we take for granted in most games can actually be an exciting reveal as a developer!

And as for the those with a more narrative interest, I have something for you as well. A little excerpt from our Hero's point of view... enjoy :)



Sitting at the side of the road, he took a deep breath in, before releasing it out, exasperated.
Two long days. Nothing to show...
He looked down the road: a group of men struggled to lift kegs onto their wagon. Two of them seemed to argue about the method to lift while the third one was busy writing on a pad of paper. The keg hit the ground with an audible crunch as one of the men's grip loosened.
As the liquid seeped onto the cobblestone street, they shouted and clumsily tried to fix the situation.
He almost wanted to get up and help them, but more often than not, that was a quick way to find yourself in more trouble these days in Zephra. Better to mind your own business.
It wasn't always that way. The man remembered when he was younger and the town was kinder. Or maybe it had always been this hard.

He stands up, wiping the dust and dirt from the crimson cloth tied around his belt. The backpack he carried shifts uncomfortably as he tries to readjust it. The day was just beginning and yet he already wanted to be back home, in Elizabeth's arms.
He lets a deep breath out, exasperated, as he strolls down the street.

He'd been to Riverside yesterday, and it was all too common to be picked clean of anything of value.
A body could usually be found in an alleyway, but it was also a good way to become tomorrow's corpse.
He stops as a woman passes by, a friend of his wife. She waves and they stop to make idle chat about the weather and the upcoming parade.

He'd nearly forgotten. The queen was coming to town soon and it was one of the few things to get Zephran society excited these days.
He shakes his head as he continues down the street. How quickly people will go from hating the crown to eagerly waiting for them to show some minor amount of acknowledgement...
He saw the intelligence of the move. The Queen was the only royal which the people of Zephra tolerated. It was looked upon favourably by the people when the King took her as his wife: a way to bridge relations between the native Zephran population and the growing number of 'others' and travellers which trickled in.
And the children seemed to like her...

Looking up from his thoughts it dawned on him that he had walked all the way to the Eastern Way, the bridge out of town.
Hands on his hips, he considered turning up the way and heading to the Main Street, but stood there a moment longer.
He recalled Elizabeth mentioned having enough for tonight's meal. She wouldn't have said otherwise though, and the morning's breakfast was thoughtfully put together but paltry, by no fault of her own. Their child deserved better...
The forest wasn't so bad, he knew it like the back of his hand, but he'd heard rumours of increased bandit activity and other less believable accounts.

Taking a deep breath in, he started making his way across the bridge, a strange mixture of nerves and curiosity pulling him to the East.

He began to whistle a little tune to himself as he nodded to the farmers crossing into town. Something his mother used to sing when he was young.
The song was about a Hero, but he couldn't quite remember the words.



And that's all for today! I hope you enjoyed today's update, I hope to get another one out in the coming week or two. As always, I recommend you going back and reading our previous devlog posts if you haven't had the chance to yet, there's a lot of good stuff in there.  Also leave any questions in the comment section below and I'll be sure to answer them!

...can you hear the music?

Kurin Laing
Founder of Resonance Games