Project Ronin

Team Crossroads consists of a team of 10. We have myself taking on the Creative Lead, Narrative Design and Production side of development. Alongside myself we have a Concept Artist, Two Programmers, a Level Designer, Three 3D Modellers (Character Artist, Environmental Artist and Props Artist), One Composer and One SFX.

The project is a 2.5D Metroidvania where we will have 3D character and environmental assets with a 2D camera system.

Project Ronin is based in a fantasy Japanese inspired world. The story revolves around our protagonist Ikari who seeks redemption after an event from his past cursed his soul with an undying guilt. Ikari must find his own path, one that leads him to his own redemption.

Our Game Pillars: Exploration, Gameplay, Narrative & Worldbuilding

At the beginning stages of the games development I had proposed an idea that would allow the project to explore four main areas (pillars) that when put together would give the player a rewarding gameplay experience.

Firstly, with any Metroidvania a staple pillar that is required is Exploration allowing the player to freely explore what they can and figuring out how to unlock areas that they cannot get to.

Smooth Gameplay (Combat) was a goal that we strive to achieve, giving the player the freedom to fight in different ways that leave a sense of satisfaction is core to our vision.

As with any good story Narrative is crucial to get right, especially if we want Project Ronin to be a memorable experience. This stage may prove to be tricky to handle as given the nature of a Metroidvania traversing the map in multiple ways the player sees fit could lead to important areas skipped.

Finally, we wanted our player to want to explore every area of our world and look through every piece of lore. This is where detailed and thought-out Worldbuilding come into practice. Creating the rules and structures of our world so that our world will feel consistent and rich with depth to really give players a sense of immersion. Utilising this pillar also helps support the themes our team wish to engage within our story.

Narrative Design:
Narrative Direction, Character Concepts, Story Design, Worldbuilding, Lore, Dialogue and Mechanics.

Production:
Help manage developers for each area of game development and throughout all development phases. Ensuring the quality of our project and timelines within all roles in our team are achieved. This involves having an understanding of what each area entails for all members of Team Crossroads. These areas include: Narrative Design, Level Design, Programming, Concept Art, 3D Character Artist, 3D Environmental Artist, 3D Props Artist, Composer & SFX.

Below is our first draft of Ikari, our protagonist of Project Ronin.

Here we have a Village Protector. He is one of the first characters Ikari will first meet in the village hub area.

Our first draft for our standard Samurai NPC. These units will be one of the first enemies the player will interact with.

Here we have a basic demonstration video on the current movement cycles for our player character. This is very early on in development so a lot of these movements and animations will improve as the game develops further. Also, enjoy one of our current music themes created for the beginning of our game.

What’s a Samurai without his blade, here is our first design of the Samurai’s main weapon.