Hope you are all doing well. It hasn’t been that long this time. Has it? But just like I said last time, we want to keep the communication between the dev team and our fans a bit more frequent, so here I am writing a new devblog letting you know what is up in the world of Tunche’s development.
The team is still hard at work here in Lima, Perú, and the situation is still as complicated as last time, with the COVID-19 pandemic still going strong. However we are doing our best to make sure the game is as good as possible and in order to do that, we have to work on each and every aspect of it.
And since we have already talked about the characters and you have had the chance to try out our demos and experience combat directly, I think this is a good chance to talk about something we haven’t mentioned that much before: How will we tell our story?
Tunche has a story? You might be asking. Isn’t it just about beating monsters and bosses to become stronger? Well, it is, but there’s also a plot behind the adventure.
But before I get too much into it, I want to assure those that might be worried about spoilers that I will not ruin anything important for you (or for us. After all, that would be leaking info we don’t want to get leaked)
1. The World of Tunche
As most of you know, Tunche’s story takes place within the Latin-American amazonian jungle. This is a beautiful place full of exotic plant and animal life. But also full of magic and legends people tell their children about. Some of these are terrifying stories about beasts such as the Mapinguari or Tunche itself.
It is not our intention to retell any of these folklore tales directly in-game, but to take many of their elements and make them our own in a whole new tale. This way characters from other legends, like the aforementioned ones, become a part of ours.
When people have asked me about this, I like to (humbly) compare our use of these myths to the way the God of War series uses greek mythology. Mapinguari, Boutu, and the other fantasy beasts from the jungle become our bosses and also allies to the main villain of the story. Each one of them is the master of their own territory and commands their own personal army of lesser magical beasts.
The player, taking control of Rumi, Qaru, Nayra, Pancho, or Hat Kid will get the chance to face each one of them after defeating their minions and eventually meet with the main bad guy behind the chaos in the jungle.
But, as is usually the case, these heroes have embarked in a mission not only to do good but for other personal reasons as well.
2. Story Rooms / Lore Comics
This is where Story Rooms come in. These specialized rooms can be found within each procedurally generated level and present a little bit of our character's backstory and will.
Once a player enters one of these rooms, they will trigger a special scene where they will be able to read a comic lovingly drawn and painted by our studio’s artists. Each comic tells, through 4 or more pages, one of the chapters for each hero’s tale.
The stories we will tell through the story rooms will change depending on which character the player (or players) is using when they go into the room. For example, Rumi’s story will focus on her past and her responsibilities as part of a tribe of jungle shamans and magic users, Nayra’s story will focus on her current journey to prove herself as a worthy warrior to her people and so on.
Each one of the game’s levels holds one chapter of a hero’s story and this will depend on which character you are playing as. This means that in order for you to know the full story of Tunche you will have to play with each one of the available playable protagonists and go through the whole game at least once.
As you can see, there’s a lot more than just slaying monsters and plowing through enemy filled levels in Tunche and we really hope you take the time to read these comics and learn more about our characters, their motivation and their world.
That’s it for today, but I’ll be back soon with more info to share with you!
It’s been a long time since the last dev update. Hope you are all doing well. I know we have kept quiet lately, but we were working hard on Tunche. We are beginning a series of monthly Dev Blogs in the months leading to the release of the game!
Even though we are currently in the middle of quarantine in our country (Peru) the team at LEAP Game Studios have been hard at work from each of our homes developing Tunche and what better way to get in touch again that to let you know about some of the many things we’ve been working on since our last update.
So let’s begin. 1 - Our final playable character: Pancho
Many of you had the chance to try out Tunche’s most recent demo during Steam’s Spring and Summer Games Festivals. In both of them, the players could pick from 4 different characters: Our original hero Rumi, the small bird-boy Qaru, the fierce and quite popular warrior Nayra and of course our beloved guest character HatKid from A Hat in Time. However, they are not the only playable protagonists that will be included in the final game.
There’s a fifth hero, the big but gentle music-loving Pancho is the latest and final one to join the roster for Tunche.
Even though he clearly fits in the “big guy” category, he is also quite agile like the rest of the team. Pancho uses his fists and body for his melee attacks and combo finishers and makes up for their lack in range with his magical guitar which can produce sonic waves that can actually hurt many enemies at once.
We have put a lot of effort into making Pancho another viable option for Tunche’s players and hopefully, he will be a favorite of many of you once you get the chance to play as him.
2 - New backgrounds and procedural structure
As stated from the very beginning of our campaign, Tunche is a procedural beat 'em up title. As such, and as many other games with rogue-lite mechanics, all of its levels are formed by combining many playable blocks one after the other. You could consider these blocks as the equivalent to “dungeon rooms” in games like Rogue Legacy or Hades.
Of course, most of Tunche’s environments are not closed rooms or dark dungeons, but parts of the jungle. Whether you are fighting in the middle of the jungle, near the amazon river, or within a cave, you will always find nature-based backgrounds and elements in each one of our playable blocks.
On all of our public demos, including the original Tunche Arena demo, we have always made sure to only include blocks from our first level, which we commonly refer to as “The Jungle” (not the final name) We did this on purpose in order to keep as much of the game’s world as a surprise for the final game.
Then again, we also know this might make some players feel like all of the blocks are way too similar. That is why I wanted to show some a bit of what levels 2 and 3 will look like while also letting you see how even within the same levels, backgrounds will constantly change to let the player know they are getting closer to each boss lair.
Our artists have been hard at work to make sure that, even though blocks are procedurally generated, they look different enough from each other while keeping the beauty of Tunche’s art direction intact.
3 - Backer Enemies and other Backer Content
One thing all of Tunche’s level will have in common is that they will all have enemies within for the player to face and defeat in combat and here’s where our dear backers have helped us out during these last few months.
Back during the Kickstarter campaign, many of you earned the chance to be a part of the game design process by lending your creations to the game in the form of new enemies, collectible items, or power-ups and we couldn’t be more thankful for that.
This time, however, I wanted to write specifically about our backer-designed enemies. Our design team received many interesting and amazing creatures from you and managed to work together in an effort to make sure they fit within the universe of Tunche. Thanks to that developer/backer team effort we managed to animate and code many really cool enemies for our heroes to fight, some of which I’d like to share here. As a matter of fact, one of those enemies was already present in our latest limited time demo!
I want to send a special thanks to each enemy’s creator for their time and support and I’m sure you will all be happy and satisfied with your monsters once you finally get the chance to fight against them.
4 - The Future
And on that last note, I don’t want to close this dev blog before saying a few things related to the long time Tunche’s development has been taking so far.
Even though we do not have an exact release date yet, we have not stopped working and the game is getting closer to completion every day. I just ask you to please wait for a little longer to allow us to make the best game we can and for you to be proud to have been a part of this campaign.
Like I mentioned at the very beginning of this update, we will write a lot more often from now on (at least once a month) until the game releases. Which might be sooner than you think.
Also, as a final extra little bit of news, Tunche will be featured on Day of the Devs along with many other really cool games this Monday, July 20th, in a whole new video. Here’s the link to the announcement. Don’t miss it!
That is all for today, but I’ll be back with many more Tunche news soon.
As part of the Steam Summer Fest, we are planning to hold a Q&A session a day before the dev stream! Ask the devs anything you want to know about the game, it's mechanics, the games unique hand-drawn style, the characters, and more!
We’re delighted to take part in the Steam Game Festival (June 16 - June 22), which is already live now! Throughout the event we've brought demos for each of the 8 games we are currently working on.
All of them are in different genres, settings and styles. You will surely find something that piques your interest! All the content available for Steam Summer Festival is free, some demos are long, some allow infinite play. Here is a little sneak peek of every title available.
Voidtrain
Voidtrain is a first-person action/survival game where you become a crew member of an interdimensional express. Build your own train, upgrade it, craft weapons and travel across different mysterious worlds full of outlandish creatures, Nazis and other dangers.
Voidtrain’s demo features a base loop of the game, where you’ll be able to travel between biomes on your train, gather resources to upgrade it and stop by interdimensional train depots filled with Nazis ought to be defeated.
Tunche is a charming, hand-drawn beat'em up hack and slash game with roguelike elements, co-op and a pinch of shaman witchcraft. Visit the amazonian jungle alone or together with your friends, choose one of the 5 unique characters and hack through hordes of enemies!
And if you like A Hat in Time, we got a big surprise for you — Hat Kid will be the 5th Playable Character in the game. Moreover, you’ll be able to test her in the demo!
Do you miss the golden era of Game Boy? Linked Mask is a 2D platformer that will make you reminiscent of the good old days, where a player has to overcome six towers, collect six masks containing elemental powers and ultimately conquer the Castle of the Primals. And there’s a chillingly cool soundtrack that will make your head bop as you traverse the deadly Towers!
Plunge into a VHS-era cyberpunk world of Jack Move, an RPG featuring japanese style turn based battles and gorgeous Hi-Bit pixel art. Take on the role of Noa, a vigilante hacker who is thrust into a world of murder, kidnapping and dark research after her father goes missing.
Black Book is a dark RPG Adventure based on Slavic mythology and featuring card-based combat. You will take on the role of Vasilisa, a young sorceress on a quest to revive her beloved one. In order to do so, she has to uncover all the 7 seals of Black Book — a demonic artefact, said to be powerful enough to grant any wish.
The demo features an essential part of the story — the First Day of Vasilisa becoming a witch. You’ll be able to test test the core game mechanics, battle regular demons and even test your strength in a fight against a boss.
There Is No Light is a pixel-art action adventure in a dark post-apocalyptic setting, which tells a story of a protagonist fighting against a fallen underground civilization and its appalling religious rituals.
In this demo you’ll be able to explore a small part of the game world. Visit a village, the existence of which remained unknown for a long time. Find out how people live in the underground world ruled by the Church of the Great Hand. Find your own playstyle by combining 3 available weapon types, so that eventually you can fight a giant boss Behemoth that gets in your way to freedom.
Tower Princess is a 3D roguelike action platformer where you'll have to beat a dungeon, defeat a dragon, rescue a princess/prince and manage a perfect date with them! There’s a wide variety of royalty members you can hit on — you’ll be able to find someone you like even if you’re not into humans.
The demo is a linear and brief sample of a run in one of the Castle's areas. It shows the visuals and the core gameplay of Tower Princess, but it's focused on the princess aid in combat, as without her help, you wouldn't stand a chance against the Evil Dragon. Are you ready to test yourself as a knight in shining armour?
SuchArt is a painting sim game featuring you being such an amazing artist. Really you rock, your latest DNA test is very positive about it. Now please paint, sell and expose your art from your new studio aboard the Space City. And don’t forget — the only limit is the size of your brush (or a flamethrower).
SuchArt demo features a separate room (a virtual studio instead of a real one you’ll get in the full game) with a limited amount of tools and an introductory part of the story. However, you’ll be able to test the core game mechanics and take a couple of commissions from virtual clients, which is already fun!
Looks like you want to know more about Tunche? Well, alright!
First and foremost Tunche is a beat 'em up (or hack and slash whichever you prefer) game with, with rogue-like elements. Each and every character, monster, and the environment as well as every animation, every move and every special attack have been hand-drawn by our artists with care and love.
The game features 4 worlds, bosses and mini-bosses, storylines for each of the 5 characters, including the Hat Kid from 'The Hat in Time'. Join us on this journey and defeat the evil that is threatening the amazonian forests. Uncover mysteries and master a character best suited for your playstyle.
The demo allows you to choose any of the characters in the game as well as go through one of the worlds, the Jungle. We hope you enjoy it!
“Amazon folklore speaks of a deadly creature that wanders the rainforest. A being of no discernible shape that confronts people with their inner selves, leaving the unworthy to die deep in the jungle. They call it Tunche.”
Welcome to Tunche!
Other games worth trying out during the Steam Summer Fest
Hey everyone! As part of the Steam Summer Festival, we're holding a Livestream dedicated to Tunche! Our team members will be playing the game and answering your questions starting this Saturday, June 20, at 3 PM UTC.
We at HypeTrain are happy to present a release of a free playable Prologue of Black Book, Adventure-RPG mixed with deck-building turn-based combat that takes you on a journey through Slavic folktales. It comes together with a Kickstarter campaign for the main game.
Immerse yourself in a world of Slavic mythology, following the tale of Vasilisa as she tries to uncover the seven seals of Black Book — a relic said to be powerful enough to grant any wish.
Black Book: Prologue is a free standalone version of the game, featuring an essential part of the story - the First Day of Vasilisa becoming a witch. It lets you follow Black Book’s storyline from the very beginning and dive into the gameplay before full release — core mechanics remain the same.
Every hero needs a good story. It helps us connect with them and see that anybody can become a hero. They can weild magical powers, have tremendous strength or be extremely agile — but in the end they, too, have favorite foods, animals or places they would like to visit. To deepen the characters of heroes of Tunche, we will be sharing their bios with you!
We hope you like Qaru's story! While you wait for the next update, you can follow us on social media to stay updated with the game development. We post all kinds of awesome things in there, give it a look! To support us, you can also add Tunche to your wishlist.
21 hours left to try out the free demo! We really hope that everyone has already played it but in case you didn't, here's a little secret for you - in the end of the demo there's a tiny little sketch featuring all the playable heroes (yes, Hat Kid included ːlunar2019piginablanketː)!
If you already played the demo and (hopefully!) loved it, we would really appreciate if you would add Tunche to your wishlist!
A Hat in Time is a cute-as-heck 3D platformer featuring a little girl who stitches hats for wicked powers! You like cute art? A Hat in time! You like 3D platformers? A Hat in Time! You strive for games that are both fun to play and like ACTUALLY fun? A Hat in Time!
As we all know, GDC and all other events are getting cancelled and indie games now have even less opportunities to show their creations to the players. But! Thanks to Steam and Indie MEGABOOTH we have our demo of Tunche available for players all over the world.
This demo is very special to us as this is the first time we are putting a playable demo that features Hat Kid as a part of our collaboration with Gears for Breakfast, the creators of the famous A Hat in Time. Hat Kid will be the 5th Playable Character in the game. She will be joining Rumi and friends on their adventures in the Amazon jungle and have a full skill tree, a new unique skill set as well as her own story to tell.
For those who are not familiar with A Hat in Time, we strongly recommend to try it out! It's a cute-as-heck 3D platformer featuring a little girl who stitches hats for wicked powers!