Untold Legends: The Warrior's Code Wrap Report

Changes and Enhancements

The only real major changes were made to the character screen UIs. We had a lot of ideas that we wanted to do here, but as we delved deeper into it, we realized that it was becoming rather unwieldy. We wanted to accomplish too much, but that simply made it so that the player had to negotiate a ton of screens.

We also focused heavily on making various AI types that would keep the combat strategically interesting. In the original game, it was often fight, shoot or flee. This time, we added harassers, mine layers, spinners, etc.

This turned out not to be as much fun as we thought. We then sat down and went over what we thought was required for these screens and streamlined accordingly. It is much more intuitive than the way we originally had designed it.Major Challenges

Due to the shorter than normal development cycle, we faced a few challenges starting with getting art in quickly so that design could play and balance the game. We would often use placeholder monsters to get the feeling of combat, but the environments were an entirely different story. Each of them in The Warrior's Code feels quite different from the others. We would build general layouts with an existing tile set to represent a level, then would get the final assets and realize that the levels played quite differently. What helped solve this was getting more people to help with level population and quest scripting towards the end of the game. This allowed the designers to spend more time with each level in order to get it just right.

Memory is another issue you are always dealing with on a console game. It is important to take this into account as early in the development cycle as possible. We experimented early on with what we thought we could get away with for polygon count and texture size, and adjusted based on what we discovered. This allowed us to let the artists know definitively what their limitations were. Armed with this knowledge, they were able to create the best art possible. Even with this sort of diligence, we did run into a few problematic levels (particularly the outdoor ones) that we dealt with on a case by case basis.

Lastly, multiplayer is always a unique challenge. We decided that it was time to introduce Internet play to the franchise. This required not only a complete rewrite of our network code, but we also needed to provide a matchmaking service so that it would be easy for people to find each other for games. With the help of SCEA, we had one person dedicated to this mode alone. It looked touch and go at times, but the results are really smooth and a blast to play. Player versus player should be tried by everyone who picks up The Warrior's Code; they will be hooked.

Best Decisions

Random dungeons were a key selling point in the first game. We decided to replace them with handcrafted ones for several reasons. The first was that we were able to create much more depth in the environments with handcrafted levels. Players could go deep into the levels by going up and down long ramps. There are also levels that have things far above or below the characters visually. Since we are top down, this creates quite a sense of depth and really makes the world seem more real. On top of this, handcrafted levels allow us to really script the story the way we wanted.

Another major focus was to tell a compelling story. We did this through video cinematics, in game cutscenes, full voice for NPCs, and more scripted quests. The quests in particular worked out well. We were able to do many more interesting and interactive things with them. Players can now escort NPCs that fight alongside them, activate parts of the environment, and battle varied and unique bosses. This really helps add variety to what the player is trying to accomplish within the storyline.

Another thing that we decided from the very beginning was that we wanted a very distinct style to our characters, creatures and environment. The goal was to make art that people would instantly recognize when they saw it on the box, in magazines or on web sites. Of course, it had to be appealing from an esthetic standpoint as well. This also allowed us to take our top down camera into consideration when we were concepting everything. It turned out rather well actually. Everything is quite clear from our perspective due to some of the decisions we made during this process.

Key Strengths

One thing that immediately stands out is our in-game cutscenes. We use the actual model and level assets, and tell elements of the story using the game's actual graphic engine. What this does is allow us to keep the player in the game setting while continuing to tell important parts of the story. This really makes it so that it truly feels like things are changing within the gameworld itself. These ended up quite well animated and very dramatic.

We also focused heavily on making various AI types that would keep the combat strategically interesting. In the original game, it was often fight, shoot or flee. This time, we added harassers, mine layers, spinners, etc. By combining these with each other, encounters are much more dynamic. We also included times when NPCs were vulnerable that the player could watch for and take advantage of.

The UI in Brotherhood of the Blade didn't always feel as 'console' oriented as it could have. We re-evaluated this and built an entirely new one from scratch. Items are organized by type, so it is quick and easy to compare what you do and do not want to use. It is much easier to use than the original and looks a ton better as well.