Kedemara - The Orphan's Ballad (Ch. 1-5) - Kragh
Hello again, Everyone!!
Well, at least this update came sooner than previous intervals! I'm always more motivated when I have GOOD news to share, instead of something that will bum everyone out. This is a pretty important news update, so I would ask you read the Chapter 5 news in its entirety at the very least.
In short, Chapter 5 will be coming out sooner than expected! However...that might not mean what you think it means. There is a release window of a couple months from now (narrower date range below), but let me explain what's happening and why...
Concerning WHAT they played thus far, they REALLY enjoyed the new "living history" segments I discussed in the last post, where you assume the POV of a historical figure, taking control of them and exploring/having conversations as them during this glimpse into their history. As a storytelling tool, it felt like a good bit of variety when peppered in between "cinematics", making it more interactive to get the history of that person. This is also a chance to put a name and personality to a face. It's one thing to see and hear about Prince Edgar, it's another to experience his thoughts and motivations. I feel this has definitely been a change that was quite worthwhile. I look forward to seeing everyone's experiences with it, and creating the rest of them slated for the rest of Kedemara!
Aside from that new feature, they also enjoyed the main story and new areas as well. I feel very confident in the variety and aesthetics the new locales and cities will offer in Chapter 5, as the tilesets are some I've never used before. There are still many laughs to be had, but there are some very compelling and emotional scenes you'll see in Chapter 5 as well. "The Feels" was a phrase that came up often in the rough and fine drafts thus far...definitely in line with what has been expected of Kedemara thus far. With all of that in mind, Chapter 5 will be releasing soon, but that is because the originally planned layout will be split in two...
While Chapter 4 had a fantastic, well-paced climax in my opinion...it didn't really leave much suspense or clarity as to what Chapter 5 had coming up. That won't be so with the transition from Chapter 5 to 6. The quality of the content thus far is much more "full" and without compromise, even compared to the pacing for Chapter 4 was. I felt the strength of the story in Chapter 4 had a sort of an inverse bell curve to it, where Blanchielle and Port Habhid felt incredibly strong, but Port Regatta and Wakeru City were a little softer, though still enjoyable according to my friends and Playtesters.
I always strive for consistency, while looking at the big picture of someone playing the game from start to finish...I feel like the trajectory for Chapter 5 that will follow into Chapter 6 is definitely where I want the pacing to be.
From a timing perspective, it's hard to explain the different phases of development and how they intersect with my personal life. I am a team of one, and while I can buy asset packs for art or music (or commission assets), the production of the game is totally up to me. This is all done in what time I can spare between my career job, home management, family/friend commitments, and unexpected life events like switching jobs or moving to a new residence. I've had previous release windows for Kedemara pushed back for months, in the last two years I've changed jobs 3 times. As the adage goes, "Third time's the charm", and I do not regret the decision I made with my current job at all.
However, that and the ending of my lease agreements being in that timeframe added up to things like insanely delayed progress and Chapter 4 not getting released until 4 months after I'd planned it to be. Chapter 5 development was subsequently pushed out 4-months later because of when Chapter 4 released. With my job change and this past January (and other issues with housing around the same time), I'd prefer to push the release date schedule (where I aim for about 1 year between releases) to late summer instead of start of the calendar year. I don't really like to bring personal life into the discussion, but this just to say it will assist me in making content more consistent and quality for future releases.
Ideally, we're looking at August of 2024 for the release of Chapter 5. Sometime in July I will be able to give a more solid release date, but for now that's the plan!! This should slate the release of Chapter 6 (the final one, for sure this time) as Summer 2025, or possibly sooner! If all works out, it will come out in the Spring of 2025 to coincide with my desired release schedule for Kedemara II.
SPEAKING of Kedemara II...
While Kedemara II will still have the same spirit, fun, and excitement of Kedemara I, it's important to understand the perspective of Koda as compared to Deirdre. In Kedemara, Deirdre is re-telling the story to someone, so understandably the game is told and experienced in a very linear (story) format. The scale of the game from a mapping perspective is VERY large...we're talking 300+ maps for Kedemara thus far. There were many structure and scripting decisions I made in the past that would be rather difficult to try and "clean up" at this point in development. If I had a better idea of what I was doing back then (this IS my first game), I may have structured things in a way that is easier to manage, but I've taken advantage of it's linearity to try and make content farther in better arranged.
Kedemara II is experienced as it happens (well, the first time around), and is much more focused on the "here and now" than the past. Koda is just starting her adventure, so the game is experienced in a different format entirely, from a story perspective. This gives me FAR more flexibility, I will also be starting this off in the RPG Maker MZ engine (instead of MV) or perhaps whatever comes out soon that may or may not be superior...I've got another year to make up my mind =)
Besides just having a far better approach to organizing the back-end of things at the start, Kedemara II will be a far more flexible and laid-back approach to how the game is experienced by the Player...which is in alignment with the attitude and tone of the story as well. Kedemara II will have a more "Hub-and-Spoke" layout to the story, where the end goal will be doing the story in (nearly) any order.
There will be a prologue at the start of the game, which will be roughly 6-8 hours, in line with a typical Kedemara I chapter release. This is to get you acquainted with the main cast of characters, the setting, and explain the core mechanics of the game in a well-paced chunk of story. Once that part has been completed, you'll be in your "Story Hub", which will serve as the launching point for your choice and departure into various "Episodes" that will be released.
Given the format of these (and hopefully with better planning), these Episode releases will happen twice a year, at least. There may be some auxiliary content releases such as secret dungeons, caves, or "raids" if you will that are accessible from your "hub". These may be for challenge purposes, making episode combat easier, or getting special achievements/items as well. There's a lot of possibility for fun mechanics with this new format and I'm very excited to see where this takes us in Kedemara II.
You will also be able to REPLAY all of these episodes as well!! Now, the only things you would need to go back and play through an episode again for would be episode Achievements, missed story content, or perhaps combat technique manuals you didn't locate the first time around. There has been some disappointment from Kedemara I not allowing you to backtrack for all Achievements, so I feel like this will address that concern for players of Kedemara II. The explanation in-game for how this replaying is possible is pretty cute, I'll leave it for an announcement when we're closer to Kedemara II's release.
--What about combat items and such?--While your "story hub" is a distinct location, there will be another "hub" accessible from there that will have new items, weapons, and other content available for purchase after completing Episodes. This will, again, allow me to make the episodes far more flexible on what order you experience them in. The changes may be good or bad depending on your tastes, but I think it'll be a positive change in practice.
The episodic nature of Kedemara II means that Koda is largely the same age through most of what you'll experience in the game. Koda and friends start off older than the crew of Kedemara I, so you may see more mature themes incorporated (TASTEFULLY) into the story. The humor will definitely be intact, but there may not be as many "hard feels" in the story that you come across, compared with Deirdre's story. Koda's goals and priorities are different than Deirdre's, so it would make sense that their experiences would be dissimilar.
There will be some dark drama that sneaks its way in, but this will reveal itself more in character development and perhaps consequences for the actions you choose. Events happened on a world-scale with Kedemara, so things in Kedemara II may feel a bit more localized. While this may generate a sense of less significance to your actions or the story, I feel it will make the world of Kedemara II feel "bigger" and as if you are traversing more ground than you did in Kedemara I. I'm fairly confident people will enjoy the change in pace for Kedemara II.
I have much more planned ahead of time for Kedemara II than I did for Kedemara I, so while that is advantageous, it also gives me time to tweak and refine things to where I'd like them to be. I do want to leave some surprises until closer to release, but there is a lot that can change in a years' time. Considering the release of Kedemara II's Prologue may not be until 2026, I don't want to speak too much into the public that could very well change by then.
I can say that it's a new cast of characters, they are fun as all get-out, and the setting will be excellent for the strong themes of "Adventure and Exploration" that Kedemara II will be focused around.
So given the information about Kedemara Chapter 5, I hope everyone is feeling better about what's on the horizon. I will be drilling down VERY hard to get things where they need to be for the new proposed release window. I hope the updates continue to be positive ones, and that the wait will be worth it.
Thank you all!! =)
- Andrew (Creator)
Well, at least this update came sooner than previous intervals! I'm always more motivated when I have GOOD news to share, instead of something that will bum everyone out. This is a pretty important news update, so I would ask you read the Chapter 5 news in its entirety at the very least.
In short, Chapter 5 will be coming out sooner than expected! However...that might not mean what you think it means. There is a release window of a couple months from now (narrower date range below), but let me explain what's happening and why...
***State of the Game***
I did another "coarse draft" test with one of my Playtesters, and while most of this was to work out bugs, I was again surprised at how much content was there overall. There were some issues with main story progress and no combat was present, but having only gone through about 2/5ths of the fine-draft content thus far, we're looking at ~6-8 hours thus far, once all the content is in order. Now, being in the "Fine Draft" state has several things unaccounted for that take substantial amounts of time. Combat balancing, enemy creation, items/gear, encounter rate adjustment, map scaling/tweaking, finalizing dialogue, and adjusting "pacing" for the chapter so as not to have combat or dialogue fatigue. While this may sound superfluous and quick, time required for getting things "just right" is hard to nail down and VERY vital to the final result. In the same way an FPS or fighting genre game needs to "feel right", the story and flow needs to be the same in an RPG.Concerning WHAT they played thus far, they REALLY enjoyed the new "living history" segments I discussed in the last post, where you assume the POV of a historical figure, taking control of them and exploring/having conversations as them during this glimpse into their history. As a storytelling tool, it felt like a good bit of variety when peppered in between "cinematics", making it more interactive to get the history of that person. This is also a chance to put a name and personality to a face. It's one thing to see and hear about Prince Edgar, it's another to experience his thoughts and motivations. I feel this has definitely been a change that was quite worthwhile. I look forward to seeing everyone's experiences with it, and creating the rest of them slated for the rest of Kedemara!
Aside from that new feature, they also enjoyed the main story and new areas as well. I feel very confident in the variety and aesthetics the new locales and cities will offer in Chapter 5, as the tilesets are some I've never used before. There are still many laughs to be had, but there are some very compelling and emotional scenes you'll see in Chapter 5 as well. "The Feels" was a phrase that came up often in the rough and fine drafts thus far...definitely in line with what has been expected of Kedemara thus far. With all of that in mind, Chapter 5 will be releasing soon, but that is because the originally planned layout will be split in two...
--Why the change in plans?--
As stated prior, after filling things out and polishing, we're going to be looking at about 7-8 hours of content for the now-planned Chapter 5. It may end up being MORE, as shifting the goalpost to a different part gives me more flexibility to pace the story and make additions where needed with more grace. The new ending point for Chapter 5 will be a very good spot and sets up Chapter 6 quite well. While Chapter 4 had a fantastic, well-paced climax in my opinion...it didn't really leave much suspense or clarity as to what Chapter 5 had coming up. That won't be so with the transition from Chapter 5 to 6. The quality of the content thus far is much more "full" and without compromise, even compared to the pacing for Chapter 4 was. I felt the strength of the story in Chapter 4 had a sort of an inverse bell curve to it, where Blanchielle and Port Habhid felt incredibly strong, but Port Regatta and Wakeru City were a little softer, though still enjoyable according to my friends and Playtesters.
I always strive for consistency, while looking at the big picture of someone playing the game from start to finish...I feel like the trajectory for Chapter 5 that will follow into Chapter 6 is definitely where I want the pacing to be.
From a timing perspective, it's hard to explain the different phases of development and how they intersect with my personal life. I am a team of one, and while I can buy asset packs for art or music (or commission assets), the production of the game is totally up to me. This is all done in what time I can spare between my career job, home management, family/friend commitments, and unexpected life events like switching jobs or moving to a new residence. I've had previous release windows for Kedemara pushed back for months, in the last two years I've changed jobs 3 times. As the adage goes, "Third time's the charm", and I do not regret the decision I made with my current job at all.
However, that and the ending of my lease agreements being in that timeframe added up to things like insanely delayed progress and Chapter 4 not getting released until 4 months after I'd planned it to be. Chapter 5 development was subsequently pushed out 4-months later because of when Chapter 4 released. With my job change and this past January (and other issues with housing around the same time), I'd prefer to push the release date schedule (where I aim for about 1 year between releases) to late summer instead of start of the calendar year. I don't really like to bring personal life into the discussion, but this just to say it will assist me in making content more consistent and quality for future releases.
--Going forward, what can we expect?--
My goal will be getting Chapter 6 out roughly a year from when Chapter 5 releases. While I don't have AS much completed for those later parts, the bulk mapping and many other things are already laid-out for Chapter 6 as I write this post. I'll be starting with better footing for it than I did for what is currently Chapter 5. This will help ensure the development process will go smoother and there will be less guesswork when it comes to story and layout. Ideally, we're looking at August of 2024 for the release of Chapter 5. Sometime in July I will be able to give a more solid release date, but for now that's the plan!! This should slate the release of Chapter 6 (the final one, for sure this time) as Summer 2025, or possibly sooner! If all works out, it will come out in the Spring of 2025 to coincide with my desired release schedule for Kedemara II.
SPEAKING of Kedemara II...
***Kedemara II News***
It may seem premature to talk about Kedemara II given the news I just delivered about Kedemara I, but this information gives some context to why Kedemara I's development has been the way it is, how Kedemara II will be structured differently, as well as what that means for content and player experience moving forward...--Story Structure--
While Kedemara II will still have the same spirit, fun, and excitement of Kedemara I, it's important to understand the perspective of Koda as compared to Deirdre. In Kedemara, Deirdre is re-telling the story to someone, so understandably the game is told and experienced in a very linear (story) format. The scale of the game from a mapping perspective is VERY large...we're talking 300+ maps for Kedemara thus far. There were many structure and scripting decisions I made in the past that would be rather difficult to try and "clean up" at this point in development. If I had a better idea of what I was doing back then (this IS my first game), I may have structured things in a way that is easier to manage, but I've taken advantage of it's linearity to try and make content farther in better arranged.
Kedemara II is experienced as it happens (well, the first time around), and is much more focused on the "here and now" than the past. Koda is just starting her adventure, so the game is experienced in a different format entirely, from a story perspective. This gives me FAR more flexibility, I will also be starting this off in the RPG Maker MZ engine (instead of MV) or perhaps whatever comes out soon that may or may not be superior...I've got another year to make up my mind =)
Besides just having a far better approach to organizing the back-end of things at the start, Kedemara II will be a far more flexible and laid-back approach to how the game is experienced by the Player...which is in alignment with the attitude and tone of the story as well. Kedemara II will have a more "Hub-and-Spoke" layout to the story, where the end goal will be doing the story in (nearly) any order.
There will be a prologue at the start of the game, which will be roughly 6-8 hours, in line with a typical Kedemara I chapter release. This is to get you acquainted with the main cast of characters, the setting, and explain the core mechanics of the game in a well-paced chunk of story. Once that part has been completed, you'll be in your "Story Hub", which will serve as the launching point for your choice and departure into various "Episodes" that will be released.
--"What's an 'Episode' going to entail?--
The main difference with the "episodes", is they will be around 1-2 hour long chunks of story that are self-contained. These should be doable in any order, but there may be some "Tiers" or "Sets" of episodes that may be used to manage difficulty or things along those lines. Experience will be gained at completion of the episode, not on a fight-by-fight basis. This will open the possibility of not doing random encounters for character progress, but there will certainly be some mechanics that help you if boss fights or story encounters become too difficult. Since there will be more focus on combat and progress in Kedemara II, this may not be a problem once I get farther along in my planning.Given the format of these (and hopefully with better planning), these Episode releases will happen twice a year, at least. There may be some auxiliary content releases such as secret dungeons, caves, or "raids" if you will that are accessible from your "hub". These may be for challenge purposes, making episode combat easier, or getting special achievements/items as well. There's a lot of possibility for fun mechanics with this new format and I'm very excited to see where this takes us in Kedemara II.
You will also be able to REPLAY all of these episodes as well!! Now, the only things you would need to go back and play through an episode again for would be episode Achievements, missed story content, or perhaps combat technique manuals you didn't locate the first time around. There has been some disappointment from Kedemara I not allowing you to backtrack for all Achievements, so I feel like this will address that concern for players of Kedemara II. The explanation in-game for how this replaying is possible is pretty cute, I'll leave it for an announcement when we're closer to Kedemara II's release.
--What about combat items and such?--
--Will the content be the same level of "maturity" as Kedemara I?--
Anybody who feels the tone of Kedemara I is too juvenile, has in nearly all cases never completed Chapter 2 or played much of Chapter 3. The tone of Kedemara I is incredibly "progressive", in the same way that aging brings you more awareness of how the world truly is...a concept similar to innocence lost with age. Since the story of Kedemara I covers about 3-4 years of Deirdre's life, this fits very well into the concept of the game.The episodic nature of Kedemara II means that Koda is largely the same age through most of what you'll experience in the game. Koda and friends start off older than the crew of Kedemara I, so you may see more mature themes incorporated (TASTEFULLY) into the story. The humor will definitely be intact, but there may not be as many "hard feels" in the story that you come across, compared with Deirdre's story. Koda's goals and priorities are different than Deirdre's, so it would make sense that their experiences would be dissimilar.
There will be some dark drama that sneaks its way in, but this will reveal itself more in character development and perhaps consequences for the actions you choose. Events happened on a world-scale with Kedemara, so things in Kedemara II may feel a bit more localized. While this may generate a sense of less significance to your actions or the story, I feel it will make the world of Kedemara II feel "bigger" and as if you are traversing more ground than you did in Kedemara I. I'm fairly confident people will enjoy the change in pace for Kedemara II.
--What else can you tell us about Kedemara II?--
I have much more planned ahead of time for Kedemara II than I did for Kedemara I, so while that is advantageous, it also gives me time to tweak and refine things to where I'd like them to be. I do want to leave some surprises until closer to release, but there is a lot that can change in a years' time. Considering the release of Kedemara II's Prologue may not be until 2026, I don't want to speak too much into the public that could very well change by then.
I can say that it's a new cast of characters, they are fun as all get-out, and the setting will be excellent for the strong themes of "Adventure and Exploration" that Kedemara II will be focused around.
So given the information about Kedemara Chapter 5, I hope everyone is feeling better about what's on the horizon. I will be drilling down VERY hard to get things where they need to be for the new proposed release window. I hope the updates continue to be positive ones, and that the wait will be worth it.
Thank you all!! =)
- Andrew (Creator)
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