Silhouette (Preview)
Heyhey, fellow 2024s! π
It's been two weeks since the release of Rendezvous. Even though it feels like yesterday, we're once again already halfway towards the release of ANARCHY's next update on January 28th.
Silhoutte is about to introduce roaming combatants, a follow-up scene to ImmigrAtion, collectible lore, a profile selection screen, improvements to the way conversations flow, and much much more!
Artificial Intelligence
If you remember November's update (Marche), you might also recall me being hellbent on getting both enemies and friends to roam the field. This eventually led to the removal of Field Impostors in favour of actual combatants in ANARCHY 0.1.2 (Rendezvous).
Building on top that, every combatant on the field now follows a behaviour tree comprised of four different states: Following random waypoints around their initial spawn, idling for a couple of seconds, chasing a player if they happen spot one and β last but not least β returning to their original destination if they lose track of you.
Line of Sight
All the movements mentioned above include a check that verifies whether the corresponding AI actor is actually able to see you. Fences and other objects, including the hills separating high- from low-ground all break line-of-sight.
In other words, you won't have to worry about accidentally pulling a pack from a hill or from beyond a fence. The same goes for the rules controlling which combatants join a running battle. Speaking of which β there's some changes to that, too!
Chain Reaction
Now that we've got a map full of roaming entities, we'll regularly see combatants hot-join the fight on either side. If they get close enough to a combatant that is already part of the battle, they'll become part of the battle and then further also pull in enemies close to them.
If you combine what I just mentioned with AI behaviours, you can already imagine how important it is to pick the places where you fight. A small-scale fight can quickly escalate into situations we're you're fighting so many enemies you might as well book a trip back to the Monolith.
Victory
Considering that battles have become much more volatile and fierce β it's good to have friends around. Friends that got your back. Friends you can trust and rely on when you're in a pinch. And what better devil than the one you know?
Starting with Silhouette, Daph will make her introduction to ParAdise. There'll be a little encounter, where you save her from a couple of slimes. Or rather: Save the slimes from her by putting a quick end to them. As a reward, she'll join you for the road ahead β and you get an achievement that automatically unlocks a new variation for as long as 0.1.5 is live.
Dorothy
In 1919, Daphne recently graduated from the college of Kenovice with a major in behavioural psychology. She's all about a person's mind β which comes in quite handy, if you're an eighteen-year old girl working for the nation's secret police.
It's undoubtedly a more timid, much less confident version of Daph. However, we're also aware TRACHI's people have learned a couple of tricks for ANARCHY. I won't spoil it too much β but if you want a piece of advice: Don't judge a girl by her cover! π
Certain things
Sometimes segues write themselves. That's the case for the one we just did. However, we're obviously not confining our fantasies to the scope of announcements, as cute as our interactions here might be. Above all, we want to make a banger video-game β and that requires a proper stage.
Silhouette hence adds another piece to the puzzle known as ImmigrAtion. The Faragos' famous home is now an actual apartment β including two furnished bedrooms and a little storage niche. There's currently no loading screens, since it's all one big scene. In fact, you can even see what's going on in the other rooms.
Have to be said
No matter how much time you spend exploring Lorna's new home, all roads lead to this place. Lorna's room saw her turn from a sheltered younger sister to the woman we all know and love. Given we're watching moments that (seemingly) occurred in 1913, you can imagine there's a lot of excitement going around.
However, we've also picked up hints that both she and her sister's move to Aion wasn't entirely voluntary. You could even say they're more or less on the run. Which is a perfect setup for breaking even bigger news to her.
Horizon
If you've played AUTONOMY, ImmigrAtion feels a bit off. We know what happened both to Lorna and Ekaterina (then Eurydice) down the line, so the entire segment is giving off huge prequel-vibes. It's frankly a bit eerie and uncanny seeing these two behave like that.
There's moments when Ekaterina suddenly tenses up. It's like she's about to break into tears, if it weren't for decades of practice not doing that. Lorna will notice something's changed β and so will you.
PreparAtion
I'm normally not in the habit of announcing things that aren't done β especially if they're not shipped with the update we're currently looking at. However, Silhouette is also the final patch of the 0.1 arc. With the release of 0.2 on February 28th, we'll add the third and final segment to what will one day be ParAdise's intro.
In other words: We'll close the gap between ImmigrAtion and ParAdise. It's my way of introducing big changes β both to Lorna and to you. Taking the lessons learned from InvAsion, I'll give it my all to do it right this time! π€
Story
In a similar way, I also finally got around to implement something I've been wanting to do since AUTONOMY. As you know, TRACHI puts a big focus both on knowledge and perspective. World-building is mainly achieved through dialogue, without a narrator to guide your hand.
Given this circumstance, there was always a bit of a narrative bottleneck. I didn't want to shove thousands of pages of in-universe facts through dialogue alone, so I had to come up with another way to present it all to you.
History
If you open the Info section on the ingame menu in 0.1.5, you'll not only find quests, challenges and a catalogue of enemies you fought. A new option named Lore introduces a variety of pseudo-quests you can use to track your knowledge of certain things β starting with where Lorna is and when.
At the moment, there's no rewards β so the min-maxers won't feel bad about missing these. The idea is to provide a space where I can present additional knowledge about the world and its people. Since we're using the quest system as an infrastructure, we'll also be able to update existing entries with more information as you're making your way through ANARCHY.
Persistency
Considering the many things mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, it's clear ParAdise is slowly but surely coming alive. While that's great and all, it also pushed me to think more about your own individual journey through ANARCHY.
In other words: More content means you're more likely to take a break. The ability to save and load your progress in ParAdise has been there from the start. The system itself worked great, except a couple of whoopsies along the way. However, I wasn't too happy with the way its presented to you.
Awake()
Going forward, three things happen when you jump ParAdise. First off, the game checks if there's an existing save. If that's not the case, you'll head straight in. If one of the slots already has a save, you'll be greeted with the menu above.
It's both a menu for loading and a starting new game. A profile that already has a save can be reset by pressing the Menu Button (TAB by default). Compared to what we had before, this is a huge step up in quality of life β and a big shift towards encouraging you to continue a save versus starting new.
Everything else
There's obviously also a ton of smaller changes. From UI Icons you might've spotted while I was presenting the Lore menu to ogres receiving a full visual makeover β complemented by further improvements to pathfinding and conversation controls.
As if that weren't enough, there's also a bunch of other things I'd like to implement. I won't go too deep into them, but I still wanted to give you a glimpse of the biggest one.
Status Values
Leveling up in ParAdise feels a bit weird, if we're perfectly honest. HP values increase massively with each level and ATK had to be bumped up in turn. DEF on other hand gives far too much value per individual point.
First of all, we'll rework the overall damage formula. ATK needs to hit harder per individual point, whereas DEF has to be cut down to size a little. l'll try to get the adjustment shipped 0.1.5, but it'll definitely be there for 0.2 on February 28th.
Giving Back
In Rendezvous' release announcement, I mentioned a desire to reach out to a couple of artists I've been admiring for a while. One of them is known on Twitter as babykatafan. He's drawn up the wonderful sketch you can see above.
There's a lot more in the works from a couple of other artists as well. At the moment, we're trying to get a groove going where I put something around two-hundred USD per month towards art. We're just about to reach that mark for January β but there's still plenty of room for ideas starting with February.
Long Story Short
We're putting a lot of love towards every major aspect of ANARCHY. Since the release of 0.1 last September, the game has evolved from a technical prototype to something that grows ever more confident in calling itself a video game.
There'll be two big milestones to hit this year. First, there's 0.2 in February. As was the case with 0.1, we'll be pushing five major updates on a monthly basis as we go along. On August 28th, we'll celebrate ANARCHY's birthday by releasing 0.3. In other words: We're down bad for 2024!
Above All
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here these last few months. Developing ANARCHY out in the open together with you has been β no cap β the most gratifying experience of my entire life.
So if you ever get into a mood where it feels like no one really cares, please think of the fact that I do. Every single bit of ANARCHY is there not because I like to dream β but because I'm thinking of you.
I'll be back next week with a set of update notes, coupled with the release of 0.1.5 on the public beta branch.
Until then, I remain β as always β your biggest fan! π€
much love
nory
Truth be told, it's making me tear up a little bit. TRACHI was in a weird spot, back in January. The first post-AUTONOMY year passed β and I frankly wasn't too content with the things I had to show.
For the first time in a year, I was making things again. What started out as a run-of-the-mill JRPG quickly transformed into a Tactical RPG. As you can imagine, these things don't just simply fall out of the sky. Especially considering that little nory here never made a game like this before.
For the first time in history, I put the game above its people. That's not to say TRACHI is no longer a franchise about curious idiots and their tendency for unprovoked violence. In fact, it's exactly that formula that led to ANARCHY in the first place.
Undoubtedly, something got lost on the way. For the sake of clarity, let's call that something AUTONOMY 2. It's a little novel made in RPG Maker, continuing the story after August 28th, 1923. Given the amount of hours funnelled into TRACHI over the past 24 months, we'd already be back in the city again.
About a month after releasing AUTONOMY, I was already gone. Partially because I'm a person who always chases the next shiny thing. However, I also had the numbers backing me up. Playtime statistics on Steam clearly indicated something went wrong. 
You can imagine how curious I was to find out why. AUTONOMY undoubtedly had flaws β but that never stopped a game from being good. Add to that the fact that tons of people reached out just to tell me how much they enjoyed the story.
You know I love writing dialogue. There's nothing I enjoy more than unravelling decades of history by rubbing two people against each other. This particular aspect β henceforth called TRAdition β is the engine that drives most narrative movements in TRACHI. 
In August 2021, someone brought up a lack of interactivity. That particular line of feedback hit me in a very special way, since I grew up with video games prioritizing gameplay over cinematic experiences. Speaking as someone who β mildly put β wants to be the best at everything, I didn't think twice about whether I could.
The problem with conversations driven by dialogue options is that individual lines turn into an item on a laundry list. The overwhelming majority of sequences don't change the world, whereas TRAdition dictates to never waste a single word.
One of the lovely reviewers pointed out that moving between places didn't add too much to the game. I'm not one to judge whether that's true or not, but I do understand the message. Most of the time, travelling in AUTONOMY is relatively uneventful.
As you know, 
The first half of still holds up, I think. Conversations flow better than ever, lines are short and the pacing is just the way I want it to be. Most of the scenes would fit into AUTONOMY without a problem. In fact, there were times when I wished I would've made them in RPGMaker instead. 
Towards the end of InvAsion, there is a behemoth of a scene that goes on for fifteen minutes. In a place called ATOPIA, we're left to witness nothing but two people and bits of the UI. If there's one scene screaming TRAdition, it's this one.
If I was a politician, I'd say: "I stand behind the principle". TRACHI's people and its world had to go because words and maps weren't enough. Whatever followed AUTONOMY would be more interactive by throwing combat in to the mix.
Turns out working a new engine whilst adding combat and RPG systems is a tall order in itself β let alone adding an entire dimension. Although I'd gotten hold of most intermediate stuff, there would be no game coming out anytime soon.
All the while, the 2D's character builder had been updated with animated side-view sprites. The moment I saw that, I thought of InvAsion and how it ran on an RPG framework at some point. 
Three months later, we released a little game in early access. On August 28th 2023, InvAsion reemerged as ANARCHY. AUTONOMY's successor appeared in the shape of a full blown tactical top-down RPG.
There's stats and status effects, consumables, equipment, challenges and quests, monster catalogues and β of course β roaming enemies, neutrals and friends. All of that running on a map that makes AUTONOMY's Anderson Park blush with gentle embarrassment.
I know it's a lot to take in. AUTONOMY put a big emphasis on authenticity β and yet we're running around killing slimes. One might point out that there's a bit of a discontinuity there. Others might roll their eyes and straight-up accuse me of going isekai.
ANARCHY will cover that explanation in four acts. Everything from 1924 to Daphne paying a visit to Ganymede in 1926. Unrolling it all means showing the full picture, including InvAsion. 
Scenes such as Lorna losing her service card (1918 Edition) are triggered through interactable objects placed all over the world. Some of these, but all of them are tied to their own ingame rewards.
Remember when I said everything has a price? The thing is, InvAsion becoming part of ANARCHY makes it a bit awkward for AUTONOMY's DLC. Not that it's harming anyone as is, but there's also very little reason to keep it around. 
Going forth, there'll be two core products: AUTONOMY and ANARCHY. The former is a kinetic novel that also acts as a narrative background to ANARCHY. Over the last four months, AUTONOMY already received a couple of big boosts, both in terms of downloads and playtime. 
You're the reason I'm still going. Whenever I'm neck deep into systems, I'm thinking of you. It reminds me that I'm not only doing this because I get off on learning things, but also because I have to hold up my end of the deal. 
Initially, Lorna's little adventure was conceived as a prologue β and in many ways it still is! There's lots of exposition including a whole bunch of question marks. In regards to ANARCHY, ParAdise carries a special responsibility to establish ground-rules from which we can extrapolate the rest of the game.
At the moment, ImmigrAtion is just a Fragment with a little snapshot from Lorna's past. Those of you accustomed to TRACHI however already know: Things are rarely as they seem. At some point between tomorrow and February 28th, we'll rip away the tapestry and expose the world for what it is.
TRACHI itself is full of people who love nothing more than to lend a helping hand. Whether it's a battle to the death or any other forms of social interaction, Lorna can count on the fact that everybody involved wants to leave their mark β including you.
AUTONOMY's interaction boiled down to triggering dialogue and/or changing scenes. In ANARCHY, we'll also be interacting a lot. However, there is now a whole range of interactable objects eagerly waiting to be used.
TRACHI has always been about personal growth. What's new in ANARCHY is the ability to quantify this kind of progress via stats, equipment, consumables or quests. For that matter, a major chunk of development time was spent on establishing pipelines that not only facilitate changes to these systems, but also present them to you.
Quests by itself operate on a meta level. They don't do much on their own, but they're often the main indicator of where you currently are within a game. Starting from which quest is available where and when and how β all the way to what they want you to do. Which doesn't count for much if the game keeps that information from you.
For all the breadcrumbs and leitmotifs I'm trying to implement, I constantly remind myself that these things don't necessarily mean much to everyone. If you prefer to run around and kill things for fun, that's okay! In fact, you're actively being catered to.
Shortly after the release of 0.1.3 (Marche), I set my mind on transferring combat from dedicated battle maps to the field map itself. Even though fights in ParAdise were already heavily impacted by things you brought along, there was always a potential for more.
In effect, groups of enemy combatants are now placed directly on the field. Walking up to one of these then triggers a battle. Every combatant in range is placed on a map-wide grid where you then also get to deploy your friends.
No matter how the battle turns, the overall rules of the world stay the same. Things die if they're killed β and stay dead until something triggers a Monolith. This means you're largely in control of respawn cycles, barring those that happen when you're defeated and/or flee a battle.
From ANARCHY's (conceptual) birth in February 2023, I was eager to solve two things. First and foremost, I wanted to give you the ability to customize the appearance of TRACHI's people. Like every other type of interaction I mentioned, the primary goal here is to give you more control.
It's been a big effort building this bridge, but the good news is: We got it built. Integrating Steam into the pipeline enables variations to be driven directly by your Steam account.
As with everything else I've mentioned so far, the monetisation model also tries to leave you as much freedom as it possibly can. I believe everyone should have a chance to interact with the game, which is why there's no up-front price tag on any of the TRACHI games. 
In my mind, TRACHI deserves to be big. On the other hand, good things take time. That's why I set aside two full years to graduate from RPGMaker to a big boy engine the same way I started as a writer and became a person making video games.