PROJECTS
BLESSING PART I
Polo’s Advanture
Xiangshan Master: Legacy in Wood
Ascending Souls
ABOUT ME
BLESSING PART I
「When you stand in that sea of flowers, you can find me.」
VIEW AT STEAM
ABOUT THIS GAME
「Raise the sword and enter the darkness.」
The game is made completely by my own (including Arts,Programs,Direct,Pubilishing) .
The student schedule is limited, and the game can only tell the story of the first act, apologize for any inconvenience caused.
The student schedule is limited, and the game can only tell the story of the first act, apologize for any inconvenience caused.
The game will continue to receive free updates until all content is completed.
STORY
「Is this a BLESSING or a CURSE?」
Blessing Part I is a 2D pixel style horizontal board action adventure game.
The story will be told in three parts in total.
The story takes place in an fictional dark fantasy world,
where kingdoms are corrupt, cults abound, natural disasters continue, and hunger is rampant.
It is on the eve of a storm that urgently needs a flame to ignite.
Without magic or miracles, in this world filled with loneliness and despair,
to uncover the truth behind the "blessing" of the past,
players will take on the role of a swordsman named "Lowe" ,
who lost everything in the past and embarked on revenge alone.
With only a large sword and flesh and blood,
they will fight against the twisted creatures in the darkness.
Like the raindrops falling,
it falls all the way in the dark and leads to destruction.
Or redemption,
eventually finding the flower sea in its heart.
The story will be told in three parts in total.
The story takes place in an fictional dark fantasy world,
where kingdoms are corrupt, cults abound, natural disasters continue, and hunger is rampant.
It is on the eve of a storm that urgently needs a flame to ignite.
Without magic or miracles, in this world filled with loneliness and despair,
to uncover the truth behind the "blessing" of the past,
players will take on the role of a swordsman named "Lowe" ,
who lost everything in the past and embarked on revenge alone.
With only a large sword and flesh and blood,
they will fight against the twisted creatures in the darkness.
Like the raindrops falling,
it falls all the way in the dark and leads to destruction.
Or redemption,
eventually finding the flower sea in its heart.
FEATURES
「Hope is the foremost of all calamities, for it prolongs human suffering.」
- Chapter based classic side scrolling game levels with compact linear map content.
Every chapter can be replayed freely.
- Fully hand drawn 2D frame by frame pixel animation.
All art resources are original.
- There are now over 20 types of enemies and 8 BOSS battles set up in the game.
Stand up again and again then slay these strong enemies.
- Rich combat system, proficient in using sword skills, props, and styles to build your battles.
Use whatever you can to win your fight.
- A mysterious and bizarre dark fantasy style,
with an immersive gaming atmosphere
with an immersive gaming atmosphere
An unforgettable adventure.
INSPRATION
I am very eager for single-player and indie games, so I purchased my first game console through scholarships and part-time jobs in high school—Playstation4.
The first game I played there was Bloodborne, which constructed a suffocating Victorian Gothic mixed Lovecraft style universe horror world from the gloomy and oppressive city of Yanan with towering spires to the twisted and eerie Nightmare Frontier filled with flesh and tentacles. Architecture, clothing, and monster design are all full of pathological beauty, and every frame is like a dark artwork. This kind of work deeply shocked me.
Then I was inspired by Berserk, my favorite manga. The protagonist Gust held a huge sword and fought alone against monsters in the darkness. Many plot points kept me awake for a long time.
So, I have an idea, why don't I make a game myself? I can design my own story, draw characters, and bring this resonance to players. A protagonist wearing a windbreaker and carrying a thick heavy sword running in the rain, this was my initial idea for 'Blessing'.
DEVELOPMENT
The earliest Blessing of development was a simple 2D platform game demo that could only achieve basic movement and jumping functions. After gradually familiarizing myself with Unity Engine, I began to think about how to create a cool and rich action system like a 3D game from a 2D perspective.
In terms of game art style, considering the need to draw a large number of animations and scenes, using a pixel style as exquisite as Blasphemous would greatly increase work costs. However, if the art style is very simple, the game would lose its action and epic sense.
Therefore, I made a compromise and finally finalized this protagonist image that is more general but can reflect details.
[Sword Dance]
LOW Sword Momentum
LOW Sword Momentum
[Sword Dance]
HIGH Sword Momentum
HIGH Sword Momentum
I wanted to design an action system that was concise yet capable of connecting various mechanisms, so I came up with the idea of Sword Momentum, which is the core resource of the game.
As the name suggests, Sword Momentum refers to the ability to wield a sword, which means the player has entered a combat state. The higher the sword power, the stronger the attack power. Under high sword power, the "Sword Skills" used will also be strengthened.
The use of Sword Skills and Tools requires the consumption of Sword Momentum, and attacks that deal damage or successfully parry can increase Sword Momentum. Skilled players can use parry and actively attack to rapidly increase Sword Momentum, unleashing more powerful Sword Skills and gaining more combat initiative.
The Sword Momentum will recover when it is too low and decay when it is too high, keeping it at an appropriate level to prevent players from feeling overly discouraged.
Normal Attack
Many platform action games, in order to increase playability, allow players to have multiple weapons at the same time and switch between them during battles. But I wonder if it would be more interesting to design only one type of weapon, but to correspond to battles by changing the player's style? This approach is more challenging, but it also makes the entire combat system more concise.
STYLE [Seeing Through]
So I designed the Style System, which includes Basic Attacks and Style Attacks in the game. Changing the style will switch to a new set of action mods and Sword Skill. In battle, players can flexibly switch Styles to deal with different types of enemies.
STYLE [Heavy Slash
attack actions will not be interrupted and stopped, making them suitable for taking down powerful enemies.
[ Sword Dance ] :
there are multiple attack segments, allowing players to effectively strike enemies in the air.
[ Seeing Through ] :
it can unleash stronger counterattacks and quickly accumulate a large amount of Sword Momentum.
STYLE [Sword Dance]
In addition, players can combine different Styles by constantly switching during any attack process.Basic Attacks and Style Attacks can also be freely combined. For example, you can use two ‘ Sword Dance ’ first , then switch to ‘ Heavy Slash ’ in the third and fourth attacks.
CHARACTER DESIGN
In terms of gameplay, because most of the scenes in the game are dark, I set him to have white hair, which allows players to always capture the character's position.
Many games use red or blue as the impression color for the main character, making them look more like a legendary hero. But I wanted Lowe to look more gloomy, even a bit unsociable and reclusive, so I chose a combination of a brown windbreaker and a gray green scarf.
In the game, Lowe's main weapon is a large sword. In order to increase the immersion of the story, the main character has no superpowers and cannot use any magic. But he still has to fight against those monsters, standing up again and again.
This is very cruel, but also closer to my imagination. Blessing wants to tell not a heroic epic, but a story of ordinary humans overcoming fate with courage and will.
Other characters.
The characters in the Blessing are dressed in simple without complicated decorations. Due to the cold raining climate in the background story, the characters' clothes are mainly long with cloak.
CONCEPT ART
In terms of concept art, I usually don't do a lot of early work. If I have great ideas, I will record them on my laptop or notebook as soon as possible. When I feel the time is right, I will turn to output and try to truly implement these concepts in the game. I believe that this practice oriented approach can improve efficiency and experience more quickly.
My workflow is that if I want to design a new chapter, I will first use a series of Keywords to lock the concept of this level.
For example, the concept of Endless Rain in Chapter 1 is rainy night, forest, multi touch enemy, Cthulhu, village and terror. After designing the process of the levels, I will create map materials based on these concepts and implement these map artworks in Unity.
Then design different enemies, first draw design images on scratch paper or ipad, and then use game art to implement them on the computer, followed by creating a series of animations.
After the art work is completed, I will write code for the materials, then add music and some special effects at the end. If it involves Boss battles, it will be even more complex.
The key word I designed for this boss battle in Chapter 4[the Children], is Contrast. The Count of Lorraine, who has been weak and sickly since childhood, obtained his blessed blood through special channels.
Afterwards, in the name of blessing, he sent the children to the "paradise" he had created within the city.
He is a cannibalistic demon who plays with life and claims to be merciful.
Count Areyat, in his congested monster form, has sharp teeth and claws prepared for bloodletting. He uses blood magic and his exaggerated head to bite and eat, presenting a savage, violent, and aggressive image.
After the imbalance, the Boss will enter a temporary form of bleeding, falling to the ground and showing weakness, bleeding uncontrollably. This strong transformation demonstrates the Count's hypocrisy and guides the player to shift from defense to attack.
Although the Count's image is distorted, this BOSS battle is accompanied by a very elegant piano piece. This quiet and soft melody, combined with the Count's sharp howls and the occasional sobbing of children, creates a strong contrast, thereby enhancing the eerie and immersive feeling of this BOSS battle.
Boss image in Blessing, many of them were inspired by manga Berserk and Soul Game.
Boss fights are considered as the most important parts in a chapter, so I always spend a lot of time in designing the final Boss in every chapter.
Icons desgin in Blessing, used in Steam achievement system.
LEVEL DESIGN
- Improve the density
- Reduce homogenized experiences
- Focus on combat interaction, narrative, and performance
- Weaken platform jumping and equipment systems
- Linear and flat
- Reduce homogenized experiences
- Focus on combat interaction, narrative, and performance
- Weaken platform jumping and equipment systems
- Linear and flat
In Chapter 2 [Heart & grave], Lowe is in a world of consciousness, presenting a faded dark red hue with scattered ashes.
Composed of various scattered dead trees, graves, confession stands, and collapsed statues. The enemies, such as ghosts, corpses, and chunks of meat, are all monsters projected from Lowe's subconscious.
When the player collects all the keys, they can open a hidden door, which is deep in Lowe's subconscious and a memory that has long forgotten and unwilling to mention. Lowe once discussed with his sister, wanting to go together to that boundless sea of white flowers that never wither, a utopia where people can give up struggle and support each other to live.
But in historical time and space, Lowe chose to flee eastward with the refugee team instead of the flower sea to the west.
Players can obtain an unnamed white flower here, symbolizing redemption and hope. As an important prop for subsequent plot branches.
As we delve deeper, the whole world becomes increasingly twisted and bizarre, presenting a very crazy crimson color, implying that we have gradually reached the depths of Lowe's consciousness.
There are almost no living objects in the entire scene, and both the background and foreground begin to show a large number of vortex shapes. Implies chaos and unease.The last fragment of the soul also suggests that the siblings are about to encounter an accident during their escape.
After crossing the long bridge of souls, a large group of demons appeared on the other side. They had terrifying appearances, but they were all calmly praying. When players try to examine what they say, they will find that it is all unreadable garbled code.
But if the player completes the previous' white flower 'subplot, players can understand the truth of the story. The siblings encountered a church that provided relief to the world. In order to ensure the protection of all refugees, fate played a cruel role by making the sister a sacrificial offering. The refugees who were willing to extend their butcher knives to innocent people in order to receive blessings were demonized in Lowe's heart.
Entering the final room, which is the focus of Lowe's subconscious, players will find the "White haired Witch" in the middle of the screen, also known as Lowe's sister, hanging on a cross, surrounded by religious personnel performing rituals.
After defeating the boss, players will enter two different endings based on their choices. One leads to redemption, regaining the promise to search for the flower sea, while the other continues to seek revenge, knowing that they will also face destruction.
The narrative of the entire chapter is told through space to narrate time (using the progress of the player's spatial advancement to compare the passage of time in history). Through the arrangement of scenes and various subplots and foreshadowing, it uses a spatial montage technique to narrate to the player in a fragmented manner.
PROGRAMS
BLESSING AND ME
Thank you to my friends who have been supporting me all along,
as well as every player who has given Blessing and suggestions for their love.
Without their company, there would be no Blessing today.
AWARDS
2024 China University Student Game Award
— Best Action Game Nominate
2024 IndiePlay China Indie Game Award
— Best Student Game Nominate
2024 Tencent Game Award
— Bronze Award
UPDATES
2024 China University Student Game Award
— Best Action Game Nominate
2024 IndiePlay China Indie Game Award
— Best Student Game Nominate
2024 Tencent Game Award
— Bronze Award
UPDATES
[ ver 0.10 ]
—The first demo includes Chapter 1 and Boss
[ ver 0.20 ]
— Improve the Style system, add the check point system, and create Chapter 4
[ ver 0.24 ]
— Add medical grass，improve Voice and Music
[ ver 0.25 ]
— Remake action system to add roll
[ ver 0.27 ]
— Increase difficulty selection, improve UI system and guidance
[ ver 0.29 ]
— Create Boss for Chapter 2 and reorganize the keycode
[ ver 0.30 ]
— Chapter 2 and 3
[ ver 0.33 ]
— Rebuild Menu system, adding Level system
[ ver 1.00 ]
— Published in Steam
[ ver 1.01 ]
— Add Key mode choice
[ ver 1.02 ]
— XBOX controller support
[ ver 1.03 ]
— Add energy system
[ Now ]
— Chapter 5 producing