Greetings, Worthy Travelers and Valiant Homunculi!

This month, our primary focus has been on the technical aspects, but don't you worry-we've got a digestible breakdown of it for you.

Under the hood

When I talk to people in game development about "Tales," the conversation often shifts to game engines. "Tales" isn't just an ambitious game in development; it's also a custom made engine and fine piece of software. For an MMORPG, it's critical to manage hundreds or even thousands of simultaneous requests efficiently while maintaining top-tier performance. This demands meticulous resource management. We've achieved response times significantly faster than Discord's reaction times - and paired with UX and UI optimizations this ensures smooth gameplay at all times.

We also streamlined the integration of external story narration tools to let our narration artists write content without any technical border and produce new scenarios and encounters without worrying about their implementation.

The robust backend we've developed is designed to seamlessly integrate new content and balance updates without the need for restarts or downtime. Unlike other games that suffer from exploits due to discrepancies between client and server, "Tales" encapsulates every round, validates, and saves the game state in real-time—a luxury most 60fps games can only dream of. All of this is to ensure a fair and enjoyable multiplayer experience.

Dynamic Round-Based Battle System

Our goal was to create a battle system where both PvP and PvE encounters follow the same core mechanics and design. In our round-based combat, each round offers multiple actions, with the exact number determined by the relative speed of your weapon and your opponent's. This adds a strategic layer to every encounter.

Players can choose from a range of actions, including using items, physical attacks, or dark sorcery. These options are shaped by the bonds, items, and abilities you've acquired during your run, emphasizing the strategic depth of roguelike gameplay. Some paths may focus on powerful buffs from shrines and sacrificial rituals, while others might rely on crafting potions and using essences to survive the treacherous lands surrounding Vorlund's tower. While other members of the Discord server can use their power to summon magical orbs to heal and support, not all of them are what you expect them to be.

While most PvP battles might leave you with nothing more than cut tongues and broken bones, the inhabitants of dark swamps and withering ruins won't be merciful enough to spare a Homunculi's life. But death is just another beginning.

A Frightened Note

Today, for the first time in this forsaken wilderness, I encountered another living being; yet had I known the horrors that awaited me, I would have gladly foregone the experience.

I was dragging myself through the scorching heat of a barren, rugged landscape when I heard a dull, squelching thud emanating from a hollow concealed from my position.

Dropping to all fours, I crawled to the edge of the hollow to cautiously peer down. There, a skirmish must have taken place. Fresh carcasses were strewn about, bleeding into the dirt.

Knee-deep in the bodies stood a figure, roughly human in shape, yet an insult to the term; greasy hair hung low over its deformed face, in which any semblance of lips was missing from the wheezing maw. Instead, lip-like ridges, akin to gills, hissed along its hunched spine; its skin, covered in tattoos and ritual scars, was barely concealed by makeshift rags.

Though this creature could only be a crude accident of nature, one not yet erased by time, it seemed cheerful. In its unevenly long arms, it held sharpened stone tools, with which it worked on the corpses beneath it.

At first, I mistook the bloody spectacle for cruelty or madness; but then I realized it was cutting the dead into manageable pieces and loading them onto a wooden cart, much like a butcher or hunter would with a few pigs.

I pressed myself firmly into the ground, making no sound, fearing it would notice me; yet it seemed too absorbed in its work. It kept glancing attentively towards the east, as if expecting someone.

Likely more of its kind, I concluded, to eventually haul the cart away, and a chill crept over me.

As it was loading a few legs onto the cart, I slowly crawled away, and once I felt safe, I sprang to my feet and ran westward. Only when I reached the thicket of a protective forest did I pause to catch my breath.

Thank you for being with us and see you in the next one!