Naxia is an international open-world Action RPG set in a fantasy world with a diverse combat system and an immersive story about four guardians of the land of Naxia, where both Angels and Demons have long landed from their far-fetched worlds in order to harvest the power of the crystals (primary sources of energy) and defeat their opposing side. But the world of men (Naxia) resists the plunder, and the foremost leaders of such resistance are the four powerful guardians of Naxia.
Each character starts the game from a different location in the world and encounters other guardians a few times along their journey, to unite together and eventually save the world. In that matter, there is one whole overarching story present in the course of the game, narrated from four different perspectives. The characters are unlocked one after another once the player finishes the storyline for each one of them.
The first playable character is a female rogue named Ajira. I designed some of the quests for her storyline with a focus on storytelling and character development. For every quest, I started with writing and developing the relevant chunk of the story, with considerations towards character development and how different story events would influence the arc of the character. Then I viewed and analyzed the story chunk from a gameplay perspective and added or removed different gameplay elements. Finally, I wrote and described how every in-game and player event should be implemented, so that the developers could implement the quest with all of the required details. In this process, I learned a lot about how to develop a story gradually, and also how to develop characters' backgrounds and their characteristics in order to construct and tell a compelling story.
As an Action RPG, there were also a lot of complex systems working together to present a satisfying combat experience. In that matter, I did some of the balancings, and system designs involved in the project, including XP/level up system, item tier design, and reward system.
As for XP/level up, I defined a formula that calculated increments in the amount of required XP a character needs to level up every time, with a predefined level cap. This way, I had a pool of XP for the entire game, which then I could take and distribute to make a balance among the different elements of the game, such as main & side quests, achievements, different zones of the game, etc.
Regarding item tiers, I specified four tiers and four sub-tiers within each one, and assigned different rarities and drop chances for them. Then for different pieces of clothes (head, shoulders, body, boots), I defined a certain number of items and multiplied that by different rarities and colors. Finally, for adding some randomness and variety, I designed a system that categorized each item by type, rarity, and color, and then assigned specific stats and powers to them accordingly.
I also established a new pipeline for quick-testing and bug-reporting, which automated the testing process and reduced bug-fix time dramatically. I defined specific rules and procedures (such as categorizing different bugs, the life cycle of the bugs, how to report them correctly, etc.) for every team member who wanted to test the game so that they knew how to report and fix different bugs efficiently.
Check out the game's Steam Page.
Watch the official trailer:
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