Hello!

How are you all doing? Greetings from Lima, Perú, this is Jorge, director of Tunche, once more with a new entry to talk about our game’s world, its gameplay features and also about a few very important news for all of our players.

The team is still hard at work, just like last time, and the situation with the global pandemic is still complicated, just like last time; but the show must go on and we are doing all we can in order to keep our development gears turning and making sure the game is as good as we can possibly make it to be.
Without any further introductions, let’s start with the news:

New Release Year
After many months passed since our successful Kickstarter campaign and almost a whole year working from our homes during 2020, we are finally seeing the light at the development tunnel as we have entered the final stretch.
Unfortunately, this good news comes with a small number of bad ones, since Tunche does need a bit more time in the oven and will be coming out next year, 2021, instead of its original release year.
I know you have already waited for a long long time, but on behalf of our team at LEAP, I want to ask you to wait just a bit longer. It will definitely be worth it!
However, there’s one more special announcement that might help make the wait a lot easier for our faithful backers.



Backer Beta
Just a few days ago we invited a few press outlets and influencers to play our current version of Tunche and we couldn’t be more thankful for their time and content. However, this was only the first step.
This version of Tunche (which you can check out in this video by the awesome people at Kinda Funny) will be available to our backers, as promised.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opu3fYlZsZE

For those backers who paid for reward tiers that include access to the beta, we will soon be contacting you so you can grab your personal steam key.
This beta is just a small taste of the full Tunche experience, but it will certainly be far juicier than previous demos or alphas. Here’s a list of features that you can expect from the Backer Beta:
All five playable characters with many of their skills available to unlock.



New NPCs (non-playable characters) which I will talk about later in this very same log entry.

The complete First Level for the final game.

The first big bad boss of the game: Mapinguari.

The first chapter of each character’s story presented as an in-game comic.

All-new “Challenge Rooms” to test your abilities with modified battle sequences.


We will soon (I mean it, it will be soon) be revealing when the backer beta is distributed and we really hope to see a lot of feedback from you, the backers, to help us make this the best game possible.
Finally, it is time to talk about development and game feature stuff:

Interactable Camp NPCs and their precious little systems
Since Tunche became the current procedural action beat’em up that it is, we knew we wanted to bring some rogue-lite elements to it in the form of RPG mechanics such as acquiring new skills, buying items, collecting signature objects from different enemies, and, of course, simply having a bunch of charismatic characters to talk to.
We realized these things could go hand in hand if we made our different vendors and NPCs interesting characters that you would want to visit again and again, after each run, in order to not only make your character stronger but also learn more about the world of the game.
I will be talking about three of these characters and their roles here. Let’s start with…


Sacha - The Skill Tree Guy -



This wise and knowledgeable warrior has trained many generations of heroes from his tribe. Although he is not exactly a shaman, he has the ability to use shamanic magic in many different ways to improve a fighters’ abilities. He can also be considered the current leader of the survivor band within the starting camp but instead of boasting around, he enjoys a low profile.
Once you have found Sacha, very early in your game, he will be the “go-to guy” when it comes to making your characters stronger. He will be resting on his comfy wooden sofa at the very beginning of each run within the starting camp and you can go talk to him and check out the skill tree, which is where you will spend most of your precious Experience Orbs.
From new abilities such as combo finishers, aerial maneuvers, or even the powerful Super Magic Attack to passive skills like extra mana recovery or more health points, Sacha will be one of the most important allies in your adventure through the amazonian jungle.
Have in mind that each one of your characters will have their own separate skill tree and Experience Orb wallet, so if you want to make them all as strong as possible you will have to play as each one of them and then bring them to Sacha so the master can teach them some of the most impressive, and useful, skills in the game.


Ogi - The Shiny Trinket Collector -



A curious and friendly spiritual creature from the jungle, he likes to explore different areas to find what he calls “shiny trinkets” which can be many things including coins, experience orbs, crystal shards, and other types of currencies you will be able to find while playing Tunche. He loves experimenting with what he finds, only to later trade his inventions for even more trinkets with any explorer he might find.
In the game, Ogi works as your standard item vendor. You can find him at the very beginning of each run within the starting camp or even during one of your jungle trips. He will always be willing to sell you something for the right price. His products come divided into different categories: Consumables, Power-Ups, Upgrades, and World Upgrades.
The first type is pretty easy to explain: These are items that you can buy and consume either immediately or during combat like health potions. The second category is related to a character enhancing mechanic in Tunche, which is the use of Power-Ups. I will talk about this in another dev blog entry, but I can say that these items will make you more powerful in many different, sometimes unexpected, ways.
Upgrades are directly related to Power-Ups since you can make said items even more powerful using a special currency. Finally, World Upgrades allow you to unlock new room types and special types of experiences that will help you through each one of the game’s worlds.


Miski - The Scholar -



Just to round up this first batch of NPCs we have Miski, a small child who is deceptively mature and smart for her looks. She is a passionate investigator and wants to learn all she can about the amazon. She’s also quite the avid collector and is very interested in myths, legends, and magical secrets; a curiosity that has caused her quite a bit of trouble in the past.
In the game, Miski acts as your lore curator. She keeps tabs on every little piece of information you might have come across in your adventure. For example, each one of the enemies in Tunche might drop an exclusive item when defeated, like Spiked Frog Tongues, Monkey Masks, and other collectible objects.
Once you have enough of any of these, Miski will be able to analyze the enemy the object comes from and tell you more about its history and some story bits about it. In a way, she is your best option when it comes to learning more about the creatures that inhabit the world of Tunche.
Have in mind that collectible objects do not only come from enemies, you might also find some of them by doing specific things, completing certain challenges, or even by finding special “Story Rooms”.
Little by little, and after many incursions into the jungle, you’ll “Lore Compendium” will become a respectable encyclopedia of knowledge and you might even learn more about Miski herself.
That’s it for today, hope you liked this little peek into our non-playable characters and I’ll be back soon with more info to share with you!

Stay safe!
Jorge - Tunche’s game director

Welcome back to an all-new Tunche Development Blog!

As you may already know, one of the reasons we decided to make Tunche was that we wanted to show players other ancestral cultures in Latin America besides Inca and Maya. Even our own country, Peru, has more than 10, each with rich enough folklore and lore to make a whole game about.
When we decided to make a game about the myths and legends of the Amazon rainforest we knew we had to exalt every single aspect of the culture: lore, creatures, and an integral part of the amazon folklore, the music.



The music of the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest

There are two main types of music from the area that we are focusing on: the timeless sounds of the tribes of the Amazon and the more modern sounds of “cumbia chicha” music.

Traditional Music

This music is inspired by ancestral tunes and rhythms of all the different tribes that live along the Amazon River and beyond. It is heavily influenced by winds that resemble the sounds of the animals and mystical creatures of the rainforest.

Tribal music

Whenever we hear these kinds of sounds, we imagine a tribal setting deep inside the jungle with shamans dancing and performing rituals. The music emanates the mystical and magic aspect of the cultures of the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest and it is something we want to show all of you in Tunche as well.



Cumbia Chicha Music

Next, cumbia chicha. This type of sound is the modern equivalent of tribal music. It is meant to be a reevaluation of the traditional customs and folklore of the amazon people while also modernizing it in order to make it fit in modern times.

One particular thing about this kind of music is its use of a special kind of guitar, one we call here at the studio the “chicha guitar”.



As you can see, this type of guitar is somewhat psychedelic. Its distorted sounds are the ones that transport you to an oasis-like setting when you listen to them and in Perú I can certainly tell you that when we hear this type of sound we instantly think about the riverbed of the Amazon river. It's quite ingrained in our imagination. These iconic sounds from the rainforests are the pillars of Tunche music.



Fusing it all together

Once we knew what our pillars were it was time to turn them into actual songs for the game. Because of this, we had to establish some rules

- Every single track should have the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest’s music DNA.
- Every track must have the necessary energy worthy of an action game.
- Every track should have both low energy and high energy versions in order to change between combat and non-combat states.
- Instruments should enter and exit the song dynamically in order to make every single run through the worlds of Tunche sound a little bit different.



To make this possible we partnered with the ultra-talented team at The Audio Hive. They have made the soundtracks of games such games as Dauntless and Remnant: From the Ashes and we are really excited for you guys to listen to what we have created together.
The task was not easy, as we had to fuse both chicha music, traditional amazonian music and what would you expect from an action game (guitars, drums, and so on) but after so many versions I really think we have struck gold. Here is a sneak peek.

River teaser

You can hear the chicha guitar playing at full force with an upbeat rhythm and being accompanied by some amazon winds and percussions like timbales. This is what we meant by keeping the Amazon DNA, every single part of the pillars is there, we are just fusing them with other elements to make your adventure even more powerful.


Jungle teaser

Here is another example where the amazon winds take center stage and make you reminisce of the typical amazon tribal sounds that we talked about in the previous section. Again, this type of fusion is what we consider 'the sweet spot' of sorts and we hope you'll love it as much as we do.



What should you expect?

From a chicha induced battle theme to empowering hard rock tunes and many different kinds of weird stuff, these tracks are designed to connect you to the cultures of the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest while also making you feel like a total badass while playing Tunche.

For those of you who have never heard the culture’s music before, we hope these tracks serve as the first step in your journey of discovering the amazing sounds the Amazon rainforest has to offer.

We hope this post makes you as excited as we are for the game’s music and we will have more info to share with you soon.

Stay safe.

Francisco - Tunche’s lead programmer.

Hello, everyone!

It's our great pleasure to announce that Tunche is heading to PAX 2020.
You can catch us on the PAX show floor during the event at the Hypetrain Digital booth here

Hello again!

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!

Stay safe!

Jorge - Tunche’s game director

Hello, everybody!

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.

Stay safe!

Jorge - Tunche’s game director

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!

Tune in via Discord
or ask your questions on Twitter

Don't forget to try out the demo and tune in for the Q&A session on June 19, 5 PM UTC

Hi!

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 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.

https://youtu.be/o0bIODWSX5Y

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.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1159690/Voidtrain/




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!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/887450/Tunche/




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!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1111590/Linked_Mask/




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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yOLVvhsJFw

There’s a brand new demo of Jack Move available that features a new slums area, a new dungeon and a whole bunch of new enemies for you to tangle with.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1099640/Jack_Move/




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.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1138660/Black_Book/




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.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1132980/There_Is_No_Light/




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?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1138650/Tower_Princess/




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!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1293180/SuchArt/

Hello everybody!

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

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1138660/Black_Book/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1293180/SuchArt/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1099640/Jack_Move/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1132980/There_Is_No_Light/

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.

Don't forget to try out the demo build and feel free to leave us feedback on Steam and Discord https://discord.com/invite/YGZMj6U

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.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1284240/Black_Book_Prologue

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAwar9QdMao

Today Black Book goes LIVE on Kickstarter — support the game and take a look at lots of exclusive content on the project’s page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/morteshka/black-book-an-rpg-rooted-in-slavic-mythology