#indie dev

Alright… unfortunately I think I’m gonna have to let this scoop go soon- maybe I can get further once things have cooled down. I’ve hit too many dead ends for this to be mere coincidence. My next Werewolf Wednesday may see me leaving the city as discreetly as possible!

I think I’ve spent too much time in the city, it feels like these buildings are looming over me and looking down with a masked malevolence. I’ve surely drawn unwanted attention, who knows what eyes watch me from high above and behind the callous glare of these windows.

I couldn’t leave well enough alone; I snooped around the Stronghand HQ Tower and the surrounding area. Since it doesn’t seem like they’re the type to welcome walk-ins I decided to try my luck with searching their trash. I know I know, quite the step up from lurking in the sewers!

So I tailed a waste management employee leaving the facility and politely asked if I could have a moment of his time and a peek in the trash. He seemed to be in a really bad mood though so I went ahead and relieved him of some work and sent him on break to chill out

What’s unusual is that the vehicle was locked up, so I had to borrow a key for the hatch. Everything was very neatly packed for trash, must have been real special trash. Mostly shredded paper. Weirdly there was a lot of broken shiny glass too, which gave me deja vu.

Finally I decided to check the cabin of the truck and found a ledger with buddy boy’s route, so naturally I figured that was a great lead and snagged it. I went back to LOSC to check up on the key project I gave Sammy and go over my finds.

Well gang, looks like I’ve seen yet another thing I shouldn’t have in my tireless pursuit to bring y’all an exciting Werewolf Wednesday Who am I kidding, I don’t even need an excuse to get up to trouble Hmm I hope my research wasn’t monitored. Well no use worrying now!

So about that strange door I found in the tunnels last time, I decided to try and figure out what building it was below- assuming that the two would be connected. I went back to the archives at HQ to see if Sammy could help me track down any docs I missed.

Took me a while but I measured my pace in the tunnels and lined my route up with a map of the City above, from what I could tell that door is somewhere beneath a big building downtown, crawling with security and little trace of its purpose other than “probably bureaucratic”.

Even the folks that work in the area seemed to have little idea what that place is, all I could find was one sign by a shipping entrance that read “Stronghand HQ Tower” something about that name stuck out as familiar but I can’t quite place it…

Checking the database for more information led to a few heavily redacted preview images with heavy security clearances and a link to “request clearance and schedule an archive visit” which confuses me because I thought I was working at like… THE archive for most things here.

I was tempted to bring Sammy on but I’d rather keep him out of this fishy business. Decided to just have him help me find a lock specialist in that area for that key I found so I have more of an alibi to be snooping around downtown. 

back at it with Werewolf Wednesday and guess who scored some documents on the city infrastructure? Sooo… they were a bit hard to make heads or tails of, but they worked well enough as a map for my underground adventure.

Actually, regarding those documents, it seems they were partially redacted? Others were straight up missing passages and tunnels… at least I think? I figured with a place as built up and old as this there would be some errors in the documents but to be missing such big features…

Anyways, I found a bunch of cool stuff down there! I managed to find some old coins and broken jewelry, bottles, and even a set of keys! Returning those keys could be a second adventure. Also I met a few squatters that were pretty cool, we had some drinks It was a good time.

Wasn’t keeping great track of time but I spent hours down there. Once I figured it was getting dark topside I started planning my departure. I was trying to fit more exploration into my journey out by taking a different exit, when I found something unexpected.

There was an oddly blank portion on my makeshift map that I was passing by, in its place was a heavy duty steel door. Peeking between the cracks I could see it was dead-bolted in  several places but I tested the handle anyhow.

WELL turns out there was someone waiting on the other side, probably some kind of guard… when I rattled that handle I gave them a start from what I could hear. Lucky I pressed up against the wall quick because a little peep hatch slid open… very sus, I’m def investigating further.

Bruh, they ACTUALLY forgot about me hahaha, everyone is way too busy dealing with the Monster Kingdom debacle. Unfortunately that means all my buds at LOSC are too busy to hook me up with another trip to the springs… Well whatever we shall have a Werewolf Wednesday yet!

Since I’ve been basically unsupervised I thought it was a good chance to check out the open air markets, and better yet the street food. You’d be surprised by what they’ll fry up and put on a stick. Ah one of my favorites was this nice wolf who was roasting wild game.

I decided to sneak off and get a better lay of the land so to say, and got to wandering the alleys and taking in the liminal life between the public and the private that’s missed by the usual tourist. I was kinda lost tbh so I decided to stop at a tiny cafe by the canals.

While enjoying my coffee and looking over the water I kept getting whiffs of something wet and dank. I decided to talk to the old owner fella and he mentioned that the storm drains and sewers have an outlet into the canals under the bridge near the shop.

I poked around under the bridge a little and I can’t help but be interested where that big tunnel leads… Well I’ve got nothing better to do and I’ve wised up and ‘borrowed’ some maps and documents on the city from HQ. Ya boi Klah is about to pick up a new spelunking hobby!

Well Sammy boy really did me a solid there, but fret not dear readers ya boi Klah is back in the saddle… well I don’t like horses actually but I’m back for Werewolf Wednesday regardless!   I had to be pretty careful with what notes I chose to bring along with me.

I pretty much had to immediately take my report in once I got to the city, even jumping the normal chain of command. Hey it went well enough… nothing a little masterful deflection and playing dumb couldn’t fix. Anyways the higher ups are really at a loss of what to do right now!

Really they’re outraged at the impact these road closures are going to have on the economy, which is great because it keeps them distracted from what to do with me next. I even overheard them planning to make a plea to King Durr to reconsider the restrictions.

I should hope they pick someone better suited to be the emissary for that, I’d be sniffed out instantly among monster nobility. Well that’s neither here nor there! I’ve got some “Paid Time Off,” as it were and I intend to use it!

Now I can’t forget about y’all so I’ll make sure to find some time to update y’all, wonder where I should go first? AHH there’s so much I wanna do, here’s hoping they forget about me and my next assignment for a loooong time!

Since I have been asked about the lorebehindVampire’s Bit a couple of times recently I decided to organize my ideas a little and post them here.

When I started working on Vampire’s Bit my main goal was to recreate the feeling of earlyARCADE/NES games, since keeping it as simple as possible both in gameplayandgraphics was a main priority, considering it was my first time taking part on a game jam, and my first time working under a very tight deadline too.

This minimalistic approach would also reference heavily some of those old games that I used to play a lot in the past and that were a big inspiration for this project, like Bomberman,Pac-man,Berzekand Lode Runner.

Since most games from that era couldn’t rely on a story heavily due to technical limitations I decided to keep Vampire’s Bit a little bit vagueandmysterioustoo, as I’d love to see other people filling the blanks with their imagination, and coming up with different stories and interpretations based on it, in the same way most people would come up with their own ideas,stories, and even their own character designs based only the small amount of information those old games could provide them. 
As time went on and I kept working on the game I deviated a lot from that initial view and style, and while that’s something I have been struggling with recently, I’ll address it with more detail in another post later on.

So, for the loreaspect itself, let’s list all the details I have set on stone:

The main character of the story is a vampire called Elizabeth, a name both her family and her friends usually shorten to Elzieafectionally, and that I also use often when talking about her.
As you can imagine her name is an obvious reference to Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed, who has become popularly associated with vampires, and also as a reference to one of the stories from the book “Vampires Are” by author and vampirologist Stephen Kaplan. In that story Kaplan is approached by a woman named Elizabethwho claims to be a real vampire, and not only manages to evade all his trick questions, but also introduces him to a very interesting and detailed account on how a vampiresurvives in our current times.
As for Elzie’s appareance she was inspired by romanian strigoi mythology, which noted people with red hairandblue eyes as someone suspicious of beingorbecomingavampire.

The events in Vampire’s Bit take place during the Victorianera (1830~1900) and Elziehas been a vampirefor some time already. 
She’s quite experienced with her vampire powers, and the only thing drawing her back is that as she was quite youngwhen turned into a vampire, she is very shortandthinphysically, and also not very strong. This part of her characterization also takes heavy inspiration from other famous vampires from popular literature like Claudiafrom “Interview with the Vampire” byAnne Rice, and Elifrom “Let the Right One In”, by John Ajvide Lindqvist.
Before becoming a vampire, she probably was the spoiled daughter of a rich family, something we can see small hints of not only in her bratty attitudebut also on her taste for fancy looking placesandfancy lookingdresses.

And this lead us to analyze her personalitywith more detail. If I had to choose a word to describe Elzie I’d say mischeviousis a good one.
At first glance shewill be antagonisticwithout any doubt, as I thought that a game where you play as “the villian” was a very interesting twist on what we usually get from vampire themedgames.
Growing up as a rich and spoiled girl, she is quite used to things always going the way she wants them to go, and using her unnatural powers gives her an extra advantage to do whatever it takes her to ensure that’s exactly what happens.
But deep inside she is not really evil, and a big amount the questionable things she does, she does out of necessity, such as killing people, because she needs to feed herself, or out from boredom and lonelyness, leading her tosometimeskeep people as pets or slaves, or doing riskyanddangerousthingsjust get a thrill, like dancing outside at the brink of sunrise.
In the same way  Pendleton Ward’s “Adventure Time”explainedMarceline, their own vampirecharacter,Elzieis not actually evil, but very very old and has “lost track of her moral code”.

At some point in the future we will have a couple of chances to see Elzie interact with other characters, like Layna, the main character from @lightspiritdev’s “Project Light Spirit”, which will give us a better insight on her personality, and how she relates and interacts with others. But that’s also something for a different post too.

So, this is pretty much al the lore I always had in mind for Vampire’s Bit, and more specifically for Elizabethas a character.

With this as a starting point let your imagination fly and feel free to come up with anything you want, and of course, please share it with me too, as I love to see different interpretations of her and the game.

Made a new low-poly model, since the previous one has received a lot of likes recently! This time I picked Shishiro Botan, as a small nod to a friend that likes her, and this style of models, a lot.

I followed the rules set by zen’s#256fes challenge again, meaning that the model can’t have more than 256 polygons, and can only use a single 256 x 256 pixelstexture.

I still have a lot to learn about 3D modeling, but I’m very happy with the results, and also with how my workflow has improved when compared to the my previous attempts at it.
Hopefully I’ll make more models like these ones as soon as I have more free time.

• You can see and download the model here
• Botan’sYouTubechannelhere

As a joint Winter Solstice / Christmas gift, we’ve put a 15% discount on Fadó!
Dive into the world of Irish myth today at:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1148200/Fad_Chapter_One/

Episode One on Steam: 
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1148200/Fad_Chapter_One/

Release Date: 21 October 2019

Fadó is an episodic game by Irish developer Fionn Keeley, focusing on iconic Irish myths and legends. The game is a 2D retro-inspired RPG for PC, featuring turn-based combat and four story routes based on classic tales. 

Features:

- Play as four iconic heroes across each of the four story routes: Cú Chulainn, Fionn Mac Cumhaill, Brigid and Saint Patrick

- Explore a fantastical hand-drawn ancient Ireland

- Come face-to-face with legendary allies and otherworldly enemies in lively turn-based battles

- Experience an evocative original soundtrack by Georgia Lynch, Peter Kelly and Fionn Keeley

Press coverage:

RTÉ Lifestyle: https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/living/2019/0321/1037756-fado-the-video-game-merging-irish-myths-with-modern-tech/

TN2 Magazine: https://www.tn2magazine.ie/mind-benders-and-mythologies-the-passionate-developers-at-dublin-comicon/

GamEir: https://gameir.ie/featured/failte-to-fado-a-retro-inspired-irish-rpg/

Geek Ireland: https://geekireland.com/irish-indie-games-of-dublin-comic-con-2018/

Virtual Citizens: https://player.fm/series/virtual-citizens/episode-33-news-and-whatchawhatcha

Contact details:

Fionn Keeley:

Email:[email protected]

www.facebook.com/fadofadoineirinn

https://fadogame.tumblr.com/

Media:

Look, even saints get in trouble sometimes.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1148200/Fad_Chapter_One/

Fionn comes face to face with the Salmon of Knowledge!

Get Fadó here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1148200/Fad_Chapter_One/