Greetings everyone, this is Udon here with my first devlog for Veiled Skies an expansive jRPG set in the floating skydom of Ezo.  It's currently being developed in RPGMaker MZ. I've always dreamed of making my own jRPGs, ever since I played my first one more than twenty years ago. Ever since then, I've been a hobbyist who has toyed with the RPGMaker engines since 2009. While I released my first game on Steam in late November 2021, it wasn't with the intention of getting sales or even reviews. I just wanted to publish a game on Steam and see how everything worked.

To sum up the game as poorly as possible: it is either Ara Fell meets foxgirls + skyships. Or an ex-assassin foxgirl goes to war with floating America. And before you ask, no: kemonomimi are not furries!!! Knowing is half the battle! ^^

The game has been in development for roughly six months, starting in earnest in January this year though the initial framework was laid out late last year during a game jam. Floating worlds, foxgirls, airships and magic just sorta merged until I started getting enough ideas to draw up a rough game design doc. I figured that if I set my game in a "skydom" it would be easy to expand and serve as a nice basis for a series of games set in the same universe.

Currently the game has:

- A robust combat system where players can combine existing skills into more powerful abilities. Yes, you  can even combine ITEMS. It also uses a CP-system where your CP is a resource that can be used to execute multiple actions in one turn but it DOES come with its own set of consequences.

This graphic explains it pretty well:

- Detailed journal system that covers both the main story and side quests. Sidequests serve as a means of enhancing the setting and building on world lore, all the while rewarding you with sweet loot and cash.

- Equipment rather than character classes that define battle roles. The player has the option to further strengthen these roles or have a character fulfill another role entirely  (Example: Rina's closest traditional class equivalent would be a Samurai: aka high damage with lots of critical hits but  without the dual-wielding. But you can take advantage of her speed and use her as an emergency healer as well).

- Floof. LOTS of Floof + lots of worldbuilding. And yuri.

- All female cast. No sausage fests allowed.

Sexy Floof. Former hitokiri (manslayer) and swordmaster extra-ordinaire, Rina "Redwing" Seiko is our heroine for the VS saga. Art by me ^^

Currently I am trying to go for a psuedo Octopath look without the 2.5D (RPGMaker is TERRIBLE when it comes to things that are even remotely done in 2.5-3D (unless you want your FPS to suffer)

The game is planned for a March 2024 release on Steam with around 10-12 hours of playtime. I will try to do monthly blog posts until then ^^

[Edited 3 May 2024]