September 2024 Update
Development Update
The moon-viewing season is here.
With less moisture in the air than in mid-summer, the sky is clearer and more suitable for moon-viewing. When you get tired of playing games, try taking a look up at the sky.
This month’s monthly report is from Sekiya.
ARMED FANTASIA September 2024 Project Report
Director Sekiya here.
Just walking under this year’s hot summer sun makes me feel like I’m going to melt, like the people who drank that wine in “Street Trash.” And it seems like the temperature will continue to be hot in September.
Hearing the news that there’s unusual weather happening all over the world makes me feel like the Earth might be in a serious crisis here, but all we can do is keep working to make Londenium fall into a crisis. (And of course, the people who have to deal with that crisis are you)
The job of creating RPGs is kind of like the act of stirring up trouble for profit in the real world, since we need to first make the world fall into a calamity, then present steps on how to solve the problems.
In any case, we talked about anomalies for the past two months, so this time we’ll be changing gears and talking about the vehicles you’ll use to travel around the world and its waters.
Dock Design Art
First, Bee Tribe created this. This is a design drawing of the dock set up in a town known as Base Port Mozzelen. The scaffolding and steel cages look great.
Mozzelen has a large port in it, and the town is Londenium’s trade center, always bustling with lots of sailors.
Standing on the watch deck, Ingram looks out over the water to the player’s ship, which can travel freely across the open sea.
This design drawing depicts the ship undergoing maintenance. When the ship’s ready to leave port, the dock will be filled with water and push the ship out to sea.
Of course, whether or not we actually add that much detail to the game will depend on the overall tempo as well as cost-related things.
But how will Ingram and his friends, who are just starting out as Pathfinders, get their hands on such a magnificent ship? I hope you’re excited to find out.
Ship Design Art
And here is a diagram of the player’s ship setup.
The ships used in Londenium are basically paddle ships that use sails while turning the outer wheels with alchemical engines.
Paddle ships were not originally designed to sail on the open sea, but Kaneko-san loves ship with outer wheels, so they’ve been part of the design since the beginning.
As many of you may know, the “Sweet Candy” ship that appeared in “Wild Arms” also had outer wheels.
In fact, he likes them so much that I think I even remember him saying he wanted them to be able to use the wheels on land as well, like a certain biker who decided to launch a global cleanup mission.
The name of the player’s ship is Stella Coretzel. The female figurehead riding the sea beast and pointing at the stars was designed by bee tribe to match the name of the ship.
Other paddle ships and different types of ships will also appear in the game, and their hull sizes, coloring and figureheads will all differ from this one.
Ship Exploration
After acquiring a ship, you can move around the world map’s oceans at will and explore the seas of the world map.
Getting on and off the ship is possible at docks scattered throughout the world. By piecing together the little information you obtain, you can set out into uncharted waters, gradually exploring the world. Through this, we aim to provide the excitement that the RPGs of yesteryear once boasted.
While navigating the seas, you may suddenly come across a strange island or discover treasure at an unexpected exploration point.
Incidentally, a flying machine will also appear as an exploration vehicle, but the terrain will limit where you can land and takeoff, and some places will only be accessible by boat.
Battles on the Ship
There will be encounter judgments even while you’re traveling on the water by boat. When you enter a battle, the deck will act as the battlefield.
In fact, the size of the player’s ship was actually calculated backwards from the space needed for battles on the ship.
There are fewer RPGs where battles take place on boats these days, (and there may not be very many games where you travel by boat in the first place) so we really wanted to make the battlefield as large as possible.
In the early days of the project, we simply thought of the ocean as another terrain that players would be able to move through, but we want to make sure there are anomalies that you can only fight in the sea.
I think this is also an inevitable result of the fact that so many kaiju lovers have gathered here.
Mr. Kaneko was also very enthusiastic in creating specific anomalies for the ocean. Seems like the strongest anomalies may only be available in the sea?
The Ghost Ship Sir Ashland
Let’s touch on the ghost ship piloted by Kimiquis Mycalmel, one of the Iconocluster officers.
Kimiquis is a pirate – an enemy of the Order of the Sacred Key who attacks merchant ships that belong to the Order. She leads a fleet of armed ships, and her flagship is the ghost ship Sir Ashland.
This is just a silhouette, but you should still able to tell that it looks rather unusual for a ship, and there are no masts or rudders present.
This eerie appearance is part of the reason why it’s called a ghost ship. The hull is more than twice the size of other ships, and its strange and majestic appearance have led sailors to fear it.
That’s all I have to say about the ship this time. There are probably some areas of it that are still being adjusted, and some details may change from this point onward, so I hope you’re looking forward to seeing the final product in-game.
What? You want to know if there’s going to be a fake wedding event? I dunno…
By the way… Question: What number are we on?
See you next month.
