Vlad's Development Blog

[Vlad 251]

 

Greetings and welcome to my first entry in my Development Diary! In these blog-style posts, I hope to convey information to the community that highlights personal projects I am working on in Shinobi Story (if they are not secret), documenting important statements, & actions I am taking. 

 

Waking up this morning I did not expect to be ending my day on such a positive note. We had a plan in mind going back two weeks ago; drafting a timeline to improve our livestreams and to showcase what we had going on. We listened to your feedback. We were going to show the jutsu, after a long awaited reveal. We've been planning them for months, thinking of every detail to make sure the base 12 masteries were fun, innovative, and offered a fresh take on a typically stale scene. I think you guys are owed an explanation, especially if you did not hear the opening words of the livestream. I did not do a great job in delegating the task to be completed in the way I wanted it to be. The theory behind the system was relatively solid- something not tried before using a wow engine.. a skillshot system that would wield great power, but be difficult to handle well without practice. 

Over the course of 6 months, two different developers I have turned to were unable to churn out this massive endevor. Yesterday, we were supposed to receive and implement enough jutsu to showcase in our livestream- just in time we thought. It turned out there were serious complications which ended the work on them by the developer tasked with it. We were in panic mode. There was no way the stream was going to end on a positive note... & It didn't. After a few words of encouragement to the team, we got to work. A new developer has been assigned the task of rebuilding the entire skillshot jutsu system in C++, something that would not only massively future-proof the game, but also offer unparalleled stability in terms of performance. I think this was a blessing in disguise, as our old approach was flawed and could have been vulnerable to being bogged down. This ended up being an upgrade. We will keep the community updated on our journey of creating this dynamic system as we plunge into hard-core development mode to get ready to receive players in alpha. 

In my closing words i'd like to offer some perspective to those new to developing a game such as this: we're doing well. It has taken us this long to finally get all the back-end things working, threading wires and tightening screws. A lot of work that you will never see has went into the back-end; the nitty gritty technical, just to finally be able to begin building the shinobi world & everything that comes with it. I am proud of our developers, our GMs, and our Storytellers. I am proud of our community and I am grateful for the opportunity and trust you all have given me. The whole team is working hard for you, so please thank some of them when you get a chance- it just might be the extra energy they need to keep on going building this mammoth of a world. 

 

Vlad

[Vlad 251]

 

Greetings community.

It has been 10 days since our bare-bones alpha launched, and I just wanted to share a few words about that because diving into the future plans of ours! I want to personally extend a thank you to everyone who has played so far, offered feedback, and helped new players- you are greatly appreciated & your feedback is listened to. Since the launch of the alpha only 10 days ago, we have doubled the size of the map, added a lot of additional custom models, made a fully functional skillshot pvp system (which has never been done in this engine before, mind you), and laid the groundwork for future development to come! Without our amazing Developers none of this would be possible. 

 

Now, some of you may be wondering what the near future of Shinobi Story holds; and I am prepared to outline the path we are going to be taking. After listening to a lot of feedback & looking at statistics, it seems a lot of people aren't getting that iconic Naruto feel  that many people are seeking. This is something we foresaw early on, but wanted to try a route that hasn't been taken before- Warring Clans. Although this is definitely an interesting perspective, I must agree that it is missing core Naruto elements. To address this, we have begun work on Konoha, to introduce the village into the game in as soon as we logically can.

Here is a sneak peek of some work developers have been doing behind the scenes to get ready for Konoha! 

Spoiler

The next main concern for players is that there is not too much gameplay right now. We are going to be rapidly addressing this by adding a lot more content, and a more understandable/streamlined system to progress. We are aiming to keep participation in roleplay as the key method of progressing your character, but we are not discounting other means of progress as long as we deem it fun and creative. This week I am going to outline the propositions to the Development & Game Master team, then a comprehensive tasklist will be made so that we tackle this challenge as efficiently as we can. I hope you stick around during this unorthodox alpha, and join us as we shape the future of Shinobi Story together! 

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to make this game & community. You are an amazing bunch of people,

Vlad

[Vlad 251]

 

Hey Shinobi,

I know I haven't been very good at blogging in this diary, but i'd like to make an entry and discuss a few concepts! The map has been a monumental task, and so far i've been the only one working on it. I'm very pleased to say that it has been turning out better than I expected! Just for comparison, this was how the map looked during the last alpha phase.. and this is the level it is at now! While i'll continue to always be working on it, expect nice things soon!

 

I also wanted to touch upon how combat and the mastery system will work and what to expect. So at each Village rank: Genin, Chuunin, and Jounin (upon completing the proper promotion requirements), you will gain 1 mastery point to specialize into. For example, a Jounin would look like this: Fire, Water, Swordsmanship; or Genjutsu, Uchiha, Fire, etc. This is meant for balance and to not have a jack-of-all-trades types of character. Weaknesses and counters are an important aspect to the ninja world- this is where squad gameplay comes in. At Genin rank, since you only have 1 mastery point, you will be paired up with two other genin, and with this team, you will be able to fight at a competitive level as a jounin, for example. Team and synergy gameplay is very important to learn at low levels. The early stages of a shinobi's career might feel like a MOBA, where everyone has a role and works together to overcome obstacles.  If you get a solid squad, just imagine when all three of you are jounin.. 

Certain abilities and masteries synergize with each other; fireball jutsu absorbs all (friend or foe) wind jutsu and grows in size and power, causing an even greater amount of damage in an area. Masteries have different aspects to them, and learning and taking advantage of them is what will separate  the C-Ranks from the A-Ranks. 

Here are some pictures you may or may not have seen..

 

Imgur Gallery

 

Till next time,

Vlad

[Vlad 251]

 

Hey Ninja,

 

Long time no see on the development blog. I just wanted to stop and write down some thoughts, as I think it is very helpful for the community to know where we are on this journey! We had good numbers at the start, but we don't yet have enough content to retain player attention long-term. We've gathered a lot of feedback & are definitely acting on it as fast as we can; it can be a little difficult with a content development team our size, but we're having fun and making good and steady progress! You should be expecting the new update about this Friday! (yay)

We know a lot of people get lost in the early game, we are are doubling down our efforts into making the earlier game smoother & are actively working on resources and content to assist new players with direction. Our initial ideas were too ambitious and this has caused new players to sometimes get confused and lost. We want everyone to be off to a good start! 

 

I will start using this development blog a little more to be more transparent with the community on our doings being the scenes, as with your valuable feedback we will be able to make the game super fun! Please bear with us as we try our best to deliver content in a timely manner, because we really do care and put a lot of effort into making our game look and feel acceptable to players. We put a lot of love and detail into the game, so we want to add our signature polish to everything before it is ready for players to enjoy! Everything from making our icons (and making sure every icon feels appropriate and enjoyable to look at), to the map, making large, scenic atmospheres to engross you in the Ninja World. 

 

Just imagine what the game will look and feel like in 3 months, 6 months, and even a year at our current trajectory! Our future is bright and we are passionate about what we do! 

 

Till next time,

Vlad

[Vlad 251]

 

Hey Ninja,

 

You probably did not expect an update to the Development Diary so soon, huh!? Well, we have a few things to announce.. 

 

1) Alpha Version 18 will be live in a few hours! We've added quality-of-life stuff, and fixed a lot of bugs. We have also released the Hyuuga Clan and Light Style Ninjutsu up to level 10 for now! We have so much planned, but so little time to do everything we wanted to in this patch. I'm afraid additional later-game content was not added this time around. We're still working on it because a lot of stuff needed fixing on the backend before we were able to continue with that. 

We will announce in a couple hours when the update is live, as it is currently processing! 

 

In the not so distant future we are going to be starting some sweeping changes, most notably adding a world map to help players orient. Our initial idea just did not work as too many players got lost, and we are adding a Main Storyline which will reward Koban, weapons, items, etc. & help introduce systems to players at lvs 10, 20, 30, and 40. This Main Storyline will also help navigate players through different towns in a more streamlined way. Don't worry, we will still make plenty of challenges! 

You can find all the details of the update on the Patch Notes

 

2) Our long awaited Cash Shop is making its debut! To celebrate this, we are making the [Ninja Journey Starterpack] free until the 30th of this month when you use the discount code: CashShopLaunch

You are limited to one coupon code use of this per account! 

Creating and maintaining Shinobi Story is actually expensive, and I humbly thank everyone who is able and willing to buy some cool cosmetics to support the upkeep of the server, because at the moment it is all out-of-pocket. We are not a company, we're just a group of friends trying to make a cool game!

 

Thank you SO much for playing!  We're always listening and adding in your feedback, so please do no hesitate to make your voice heard! 

 

Till next time,

Vlad

[Vlad 251]

 

Hey Shinobi,

Just wanted to check in with you guys in terms of where the development stands & our plans for the future. I hope Version 29 was fun & introduced some much needed quality of life adjustments to the game. Our recent player numbers reflect a general trend of playability, and this warms the whole teams' heart. The Blood Moon Festival event was put together rather quickly, so expect better holidays in the coming months and year in terms of quality and quantity as this one was more experimental. Hope you enjoy & take plenty of pictures with the moon before it goes away for a year!

In terms of development, we are currently working on a minor patch which should fix some stuff and and a little bit of minor content, but right now the team is focusing on revamping the website, web functionality, the ability to reset your in-game password, and a general overhaul of the front face to help get new players & to better serve existing ones. Another point for us in this cycle is to try our best to improve the download process of SS, as it can be a bit cumbersome with antivirus false-positives, and slow download speeds to people outside of Norther America. We are working towards trying to resolve these issues. Sadly, this takes away from game development time but it very much an important aspect to focus on. 

After these issues are addressed, we will continue to try to add higher-quality content to play! 

 

Some things we are cooking up include: 

• A In-game map which will be an item you click on to pull up a regional map. This map will show the entire Land of Fire, show a bunch of landmarks to help you figure out where you are and where you need to go to, as well as having a location for all of the towns. We feel this is super important to help make the game more playable at early levels. 

 

• The start of the Storyline Mission chain is going to be introduced so players (especially new players) will be able to have a little bit of a more streamlined early game experience in order to help retain their attention and interest. This will also award Koban; stay tuned!

 

• A way to begin to try to unlock Chuunin. While we want the Chuunin Exams to be a community-wide event which will be treated as almost like an E-Sport, a Chuunin missions will be available for players who cannot attend the event or who do not wish to attend. This will be the "main" way to get Chuunin, but the Chuunin Exams will act as a shortcut. 

 

These are just a few things I felt like brining your attention to! 

 

Thank you so much for playing Shinobi Story, and happy Sunday!

Till next time,

Vlad

[Vlad 251]

 

Ninja,

I wanted to spend some time to touch base about our development cycle that just passed & the one coming up. The Team really stepped up & put in the work, and for that I am extremely proud to call them colleagues. I have watched certain developers join the team with zero experience on our engine, to me fully trusting them with content. They have truly blossomed & have worked hard to create (hopefully) enjoyable content. 

 

I can say with confidence that this is the first time that I feel Shinobi Story has enough content to truly be playable. This last development cycle does have some issue, though. The crashing bug is really putting a damper on things, but once we get that sorted it will be mostly bug free, besides minor things. Unfortunately I am on a trip for the rest of the week, but I am in constant contact with some third-party developers to help us understand and hopefully solve our crashes. I always want to be transparent with the community & give them a clear look at whats happening. At the moment we will be working on a hotfix to update some stuff, but after the hotfix the team will be on holiday for a bit of time to properly celebrate the holidays. I hope there is enough content to at least have an enjoyable time in the meantime!

 

I just wanted to give a quick community update some some stuff. 

Till next time,

Vlad  & the SS Team