Steam Next Fest – Aftermath
Steam Next Fest Aftermath Greetings Smithers! Steam Next Fest took place between the 5’th and 12’th of February. This was our first time participating, and boy, was it a lot of fun to prepare for and participate on. Livestream and NEW demo! Preparing for this event required threading into unfamiliar territory in form of Livestreaming! Although we recorded it in beforehand, we were live in the chat talking to all of you, and it was a blast, Thank you all who came to watch! https://usercontent.one/wp/www.manabrigade.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Untitled-video-1-1.mp4 We had also prepared a NEW FREE DEMO for you guys to try out via Steam and Sidequest. This was a huge milestone for us and something all of you Smithers have been longing to get your hands on! As the demo went live, we were thrilled to hear about your experience of the game via the community hub on Steam store page and through a form post along with the news of the demo! Thank you so much for all your feedback, we’re working on a lot of it already! Have you not played the demo yet? The Demo is still available! Download on Steam Download on SideQuest Played the demo? We would love to hear your experience on the game! Feedback Form! Now what? The event is over BUT the development of BlackForge is going strong toward the full release of the game! We are so grateful to all of you Smithers that try the demo, leave feedback, joins the community on Discord sharing ideas for improvements and just having a good time with us and the game! This would not been the same without YOU! Stay tuned for more updates for the game by joining the discord or just follow on our socials @manabrigade! Join the Discord! Join the Brigade! Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on blogs, updates, news and releases! Subsribe! You have joined the Brigade! Opsie! That's not quite right, please try again! Wishlist on STEAM Until next time, Everything the sun touches, belongs to someone else. – Julia at Mana Brigade Steam Icon-twitter-1 Tiktok
Heroes!
Heroes! Greetings Smithers! Hope the new year is treating you well so far! We at Mana Brigade are working hard to bring the world of BlackForge to you all! Speaking of, BlackForge is the home for many creatures and people of all kinds. There are some people who stands out and will make an impact on the world. I am talking about heroes. This blog post will give a short introduction of one of our heroes you will meet early on as you start your smithing adventure, and how you interact with them. Bevvi – The woodlands hero “Bevvi is a strange girl with a close connection to all living beings. She keeps to herself. You can spot her roaming the fields and forests. She has a very special energy about her and she can, at times, appear almost feral. Yet she is very friendly, as long as you respect nature.” – The Merchant From Concept to Character Character Concept made by Elisabet In the making of her character, we wanted to create someone who can really portray the feeling of the Woodlands and its residents. The people who live in the woodlands are humble folks with a strong sense of comradery. These people look after their neighbors and support each other the best they can. They are not the wealthiest around but their strong will and great spirit makes them a respected and generally peaceful bunch. Bevvi radiates the feeling of life and her love for nature flows through the air as she passes by. Heroes also need help Even the greatest hero can’t face the worlds danger on their own. That’s where you come in Blacksmith! As you hone your skill at the forge. A very special letter might makes it way to you, this is a hero quest! Test your skill by helping the heroes on their journeys as you uncover stories of the world and their companionships! Join the Brigade! Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on blogs, updates, news and releases! Subsribe! You have joined the Brigade! Opsie! That's not quite right, please try again! Wishlist on STEAM Until next time, Play the demo, is cool. – Julia at Mana Brigade Steam Icon-twitter-1 Tiktok
Happy new year!
It’s 2024! Happy new year Smithers! Hope the holidays have been kind to you with plenty of rest, food and of course some Blacksmithing! We just got back last week and are ready to dive head first into this year. But before we do that, we would like to share some thoughts with your guys of the year that has been. So let’s go back in time. Review of the year that has been This was the year when we went full ballistic ultimate power working fulltime with a dream project! Here’s a list of some of our achivements: Recruiting a new member in February (hi, yes that would be me) to cover social media and modeling. We changed office three times! Celebrated multiple huge milestones! Hired another awesome person (Malin! More of her work is coming soon) to handle character modeling and animation. We grew on our social platforms! Highlights of the year is posted down below The community on the Discord grew exponentially during the year! WE LOVE YOU! Highlights! What is a great year without some great highlights? So here are some of the great moments for us of the year! Starting with the top TikTok videos. https://usercontent.one/wp/www.manabrigade.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/05cde0990f2734cd8a5aed24bb33cc89.mp4 “Bros tryna hide hes swedish” was quite a funny comment to us so we just had to make a response to it. Yes the entire team consists of kanelbulle fanatics living in IKEA homes with the morning alarm featuring the national anthem of Abba. https://usercontent.one/wp/www.manabrigade.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20c6e4108137078ab7b1d2f17367c530.mp4 This video blew us away. Nearly sixty thousand views! Goddamn you guys. We are so happy that you enjoy the content we make. Thoughts from the team! We as a team would like to share some of our thoughts and experience that would not have been possible or the same without your support! Isac, “Magister of Black Magic” We’ve grown so much, both as a team as a community, and I’m so excited for the future as the project picks up speed and is coming closer to launch! Julia, “coffee drinking, weight lifting, 3D-modeling magician” Working with BlackForge this past year has been a blast! I am so proud of the progress so far and what we have accomplished! Malin, “Puppet Master” I’m happy to have joined the team, and am excited to contribute to such a fun game! Erik, “Master of Surround Vibes” I want to thank the team for this insane year that we’ve had. I am so grateful and proud to be able to hang out with such talented people every day. Here’s to another insane year! skål Elisabet, “Art MacGyver” It is so nice to finally see the game entering it’s final stages of development after many years of testing and iterating. Blackforge is almost an actual game now! It is also super exciting to have expanded the art team and that the game is starting to look so amazing! 😄 Fredrik, “Tech Priest” Copious amounts of progress has been made, lessons has been learned and every experience has made us all level-up quite a bit! To the community, we thank you for all the feedback given through all of this! Continue with us on this wonderful journey and experience the fruits of our labour! Expectations on this year! As we start this new year, we bring some expectations or stuff we are working to make a reality for the upcoming months! First thing first: Demo this is something we all have been wanting to happen and we can say that we are in fact working on releasing a new freshly made demo with a bunch of new stuff to show of! With that said, We can’t give you an exact date but it’s not far away, so keep your eyes open! Release!! As some may already know, this is the year (hopefully) for the full release of BlackForge! We don’t have a set date nor price to share as how right now but know that we are working with full force to make this happen! Community Last year really showed us the start of a great community and it has been a blast to hear your thoughts of the content shared so far. The discussions with you have helped us in multiple ways, giving us new perspective on mechanics and showing us if our work matches your expectations of the game. THANK YOU!We are all looking forward to interact even more with you all this year. Join the Brigade! Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on blogs, updates, news and releases! Subsribe! You have joined the Brigade! Opsie! That's not quite right, please try again! Wishlist on STEAM Until next time, May the spirit of ABBA forever be in your favor – Julia at Mana Brigade Steam Icon-twitter-1 Tiktok
Barter
Time to barter! Hello Smithers! As you make stuff in your forge, you might need some extra materials. You will get materials during quests but you can also barter with the Merchant as he visits you! How does it work? Take note that this system is still work in progress so stuff might change along the way. But this is what we got right now: Bag of holding As you work you will eventually be introduced to something we call “the bag of holding”, (creative name right, not obvious of its purpose at all) and it pretty much work as any inventory in most games. Stuff your unwanted stuff in it and walk up to the Merchant as he has opened his shop to you! You will know of he has opened shop as he climbs into his cart and swings the doors open! We got some WIP animation clip here: Valuating scale Choose want you would like to get from him by pointing at the item and he will place it on a scale, this is where “the bag of holding” comes in. You place it on the corresponding scale bowl and the scale will valuate your item(s) in the bag with the item from the Merchant. If the scale is tilted towards the item from the Merchant you need to add stuff on your side of the scale to match its value. If your items corresponds well with the shifting of the scale, you’re good to go! As noted earlier, this is still in testing for us so we might iterate on it. But this is at least the general idea for the purpose of the Barter System! “Working with physics based games are so much fun!” – the day before implementing the valuating scale Me with instant regret Join the Brigade! Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on blogs, updates, news and releases! Subsribe! You have joined the Brigade! Opsie! That's not quite right, please try again! Wishlist on STEAM Until next time, Christmas is upon us! HoHoHoHoHueHueHue – Julia at Mana Brigade Steam Icon-twitter-1 Tiktok
Wood
Wood! Hello Smithers! Wrapping up this november with a last blog post of the month. Let’s do a deep dive and take a closer look at the gameplay when using wood in BlackForgeVR! Got wood? Every weapon would do good with a handle right? We believe so too and to make the workflow of adding a handle more immersive, we use inspiration from the real world. First up is the wood station! As you take your first steps in the forge, the Merchant will introduce you to the wood station where you can pick a type of wood material by pulling the different handles. Then you can choose a desired length simply by dragging the wood out from the station and then use the axe to chop it. Wood turning Time to trim down that piece of wood to a smooth handle. Use the chisel given to you as you process in the game and get to work! Careful not to trim it too much or the wood might break into tiny splinters! Do you need a handle longer than the wood turning can fit? Don’t worry, let’s talk about wood welding! 1 + 1 = 1 Now it’s time to put the two pieces together! Use your mighty hammer to weld the pieces to a longer handle that you want. Don’t worry if your two pieces are not similar in size, as you weld them together, they will automatically fuse together smoothly. Join the Brigade! Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on blogs, updates, news and releases! Subsribe! You have joined the Brigade! Opsie! That's not quite right, please try again! Wishlist on STEAM Until next time, Do your math – Julia at Mana Brigade Steam Icon-twitter-1 Tiktok
Leather wrapping
Leather wrapping Hello Smithers! As a blacksmith creating weapons of all kind of needs, some of them are bound to be in need of some extra grip. Let us introduce Leather wrapping! Wrap around and around As you craft different type of weapons, you will have different type of wrapping at hand as the world of BlackForge expands throughout your progression. Depending on the weapons need for grip you can choose the fitting wrapping. Be aware that some materials for wrapping excel in other areas than grip. You can also change the width of the wrapping to fit your need. You’re not limited by a set thickness. Add and remove wrapping Did you use the wrong wrapping? or just want to change the placing? Don’t worry! You can simply remove the wrapping just by going the opposite direction with your hands. This is also doable after you let go of the wrapping and come back later to redo it. The wrapping also stays on save (woohooo) this will probably not ever happen to you playing BUT dayum did we have some struggle with this. As we tested this tool, the leather wrap never stayed after we stop playtesting and started playing again. So we got it all working and looking good, only to loose the entire thing when we pressed play again. Join the Brigade! Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on blogs, updates, news and releases! Subsribe! You have joined the Brigade! Opsie! That's not quite right, please try again! Wishlist on STEAM Until next time, Work that grip strength! – Julia at Mana Brigade Steam Icon-twitter-1 Tiktok
Meeting the travelling Merchant
Meeting the travelling Merchant Hello Smithers! Time for another blog post! You may have seen him before trough our socials and if not, (go follow us on our socials of course!) let me introduce The travelling Merchant. One of the characters of BlackForge that you will get to know from the very start of the game. Lets dive into it! The Merchant As you step into the forge for the very first time. A familiar and peaceful aura embraces you, the present of the ancestors from you bloodline is all around you. As you take your first step and look around, a voice calls on you from the fences of the backyard. Looking out into the backyard filled with flowers, plants and greenery, you see a silhouette. With a friendly face and a dark raspy voice the silhouette presents himself as the travelling Merchant. He is happy to see someone in the forge yet again. You get some sense of familiarity as you get closer and you remember him from the stories told by you family when you were younger. He is a good friend who has visited this very forge for years and is now here to help you on your journey. The Merchant Cart The Merchant will travel all over the world of BlackForgeVR. he comes to your forge with his cart dragged along behind him, bringing you quests to accept and tradeable materials for you to barter. As he swings the doors open on his cart, you will see into his home and can get a hint of adventures he has been on. Materials and trinkets of all kinds becomes available to you throughout the game so make sure to check in when he visits you! NOTE: Pics of the cart model is Work in Progress. Join the Brigade! Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on blogs, updates, news and releases! Subsribe! You have joined the Brigade! Opsie! That's not quite right, please try again! Wishlist on STEAM Until next time, We are hanging on – Julia at Mana Brigade Steam Icon-twitter-1 Tiktok
Black Magic!
Black Magic! Hello Smithers! We got some cool black magic to show you! Or in more familiar term, Visual effects (VFX for short) Our Magister of black Magic (or just Isac for short) have created some really cool looking effects for some of our stations in BlackForgeVR. Planning Station This station is where you begin your thinking work. Putting the quest given from the travelling Merchant and place it on the convenient square slot. AND NOW, BEHOLD THE MAGICAL SPHERE APPEARING! As you create the weapon desired in the quest, you place it in the sphere. Delivering finished quests is done by returning them to the province board outside your forge. We are however going to iterate on this station for the future. Reading text in VR is a struggle, so we are working on adding something that will zoom in on the quest description after it’s placed in the slot. Currently cooking up some delicious concept art atm so we’ll get back later on that! Ore smelter We got some sweet VFX for the ore smelter aswell! As you start pouring ore in the container, your companion, the Fire Spirit will start cuddling it to heat it up and you can quickly see the bubbles from the smelted ore. As you pour more ore, the bubbles rises. When you are satisfied with the amount, pour the melted ore and be MESMERIZED by the SATYSFYING flow of metal pouring out into the mould. Pick up your metal and get hammering! Join the Brigade! Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on blogs, updates, news and releases! Subsribe! You have joined the Brigade! Opsie! That's not quite right, please try again! Wishlist on STEAM Until next time, Cheerios! – Julia at Mana Brigade Steam Icon-twitter-1 Tiktok
Back to blogging!
Back to blogging DISCLAIMER: We got a new blogger in town! Our amazing Erik has left the blog post over to me, Julia, (hello :d) since it fits under my role as social media manager and I do kinda like writing stuff like this. Happy reading! Hello Smithers! Summer is officially over! (whaa) After some well deserved vacation, we are back on track with development of BlackForgeVR and back to posting blogs! We are aiming to keep this up every two weeks to keep the info in a somewhat bitesize format. Stuff has happened since the last post and guess what? Yes – we got a new office (again), or more specifically, we expanded our office by devouring the office area next to us! (don’t worry, the previous tenants moved beforehand) Check it out! The pictures on the right side (top and bottom) is our previous office space acting as a lounge room for snacks, games and breaks. Our new office (bottom left) is behind the yellow curtain you see on the top right pic! It is a bit naked at the moment but we have some plans on decorations so stay tuned for that. Along with new trinkets, the forge has had a remake. We moved some stuff around with all new stations and tools being implemented! We have also worked with baking the lights to really bring out the coziness of the forge. It is starting to look like a place you can call home! We also got some more trinkets to show off, we talked briefly about them in the last post but here you get some pics of two trinkets in game atm. Until next time, Cheers! – Julia at Mana Brigade Join the Brigade! Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on blogs, updates, news and releases! Subsribe! You have joined the Brigade! Opsie! That's not quite right, please try again!
Summer Time!
Summer Time! Hello Smithers! Summer is officially here! This means that development is going to slow down a bit and the team will start taking some well deserved vacation. So the next blog post will be moved forward. As usual we’ve been dealing with bugs and balancing. But we have also started building the weather system that i mentioned in the previous post. We have also moved into a new office that is much bigger than the last one! No more cramped spaces! Woo! I would also like to talk about trinkets and weapon decorations. We are planning to have two types of trinkets that you can use in your crafting. Powerful Major Trinkets will unlock through the story. These will be harder to come by and will give your creations an enchantment when attached, improving your chance to succeed in specific missions by a large margin. There will also be Minor Trinkets that you can get as a bonus reward when completing missions. These are much easier to get a hold of and will give you the opportunity to be more creative with your own weapon crafting style. I am sure the adventurers will appreciate the extra flair! What kind of trinkets and attachments would you like to see in the game? Until next time, Have a great summer! – Erik at Mana Brigade June 8 – 2023