Soul Star is a 3D Fantasy Action RPG with a focus on hack 'n' slash-style gameplay, inspired by the likes of Kingdom Hearts, The Legend of Zelda, Paper Mario, Pokémon, and so many other games that inspired the individual mechanics of the game.

In Soul Star, you'll be able to perform combos as you take down the Lurkers, use basic elemental Spells such as Kaumudi's Freeze, as well as the more expensive - but more powerful - Command Arts, which allow Soul Warriors to do special attacks that combine their Element with their Soul Weapon, such as Kaumudi's Astro Blade, to perform Kaumudi's Cryo-Strike.

Currently, this is all that is featured in the Demo, to give you an idea of how the combat works, but let's have a rundown of the rest of the features we'd like to implement into the game!

~ HOW TO PLAY ~

~FEATURES~

Basic Attacks

As a Soul Warrior, you can perform a series of light attacks that move you towards your attack's direction. Your direction is defined by where you're pointing the left analog stick towards. If you take damage, the attack animation is canceled and will get knocked back.

When you attack key while airborne, you'll perform an Aerial Attack.

Protection

Being able to attack is crucial to taking on the Lurkers, but sometimes you might be overwhelmed with how many can attack you at once.

A special Aura-based Spell, Protect can be used for defending against most minion attacks. This is an AOE Spell that envelops you with an elemental barrier, shielding you from damage.

However, when a minion lands an attack during your Protect Spell, Aura is consumed. If you run out of Aura, the Spell can't absorb any more damage so the damage is dealt to you instead.

If the Spell is cast just as the attack lands, a Perfect Protect can be achieved, which not only negates the damage, as well as knocks back your opponents, but you also regain some Aura in the process. This also builds up the Constellation Meter.

Spells

A Spell is usually a Magic projectile-based range attack that can be used to apply a Status Condition and to deal damage to the subject that was hit.

Spells are tied to their Element - which makes them stronger against a certain Element or weaker against another single one.

Spells can be unlocked and upgraded when the player has enough Experience to do so. Each upgrade makes the Spell more powerful and effective at what they do.

• As the Moon Guard, Kaumudi has two Spells: Freeze and Nox - Freeze applies the Frozen Status Condition, while Nox's effects are... Unknown to Kaumudi.

• As the Sun Guard, your AI partner, Hacim also has two spells: Heat and Lux - Heat applies the Burning Status Condition while Lux is a blinding ball of light that can inflict the Dizzy condition.

Abilities

The player has multiple abilities that affect how they perform and play, some of them being passive abilities such as Strength, some of them being active - such as Spells and Command Arts. These can be unlocked or upgraded by defeating opponents, completing Quests, and collecting the Experience they return.

There are two main categories of abilities - Physical and Magic.

Aura

Aura is the essence that powers a Warrior's Soul: it quantifies how often you can cast Spells, perform Command Arts, or block damage with Protect Magic.

When a character doesn’t have enough Aura to cast Spells, those Spells cannot be cast. Aura doesn’t regenerate on its own, but it can be recovered in multiple ways:

• Performing a Perfect Protect when an opponent attacks

• Amberlamps replenish Aura to its maximum

Elements

Magic is separated into 10 unique Elements among Soul Warriors.

Elements work on an advantage system, where each has two weaknesses and is strong against two other Elements. With the exception of the Soul Guards, every Soul Warrior controls only one element that grants them specific Spells and Command Arts.

There are two others, however, that do not fit into the Elemental Harmony... These Elements will be explored at a later date.

Some Elemental attacks can inflict Status Conditions.

Status Conditions

There are five Status Conditions identified at this point; each is related to one of the Elements present in the game. When you or your opponent receive damage from an attack with a Status Effect, that Status Effect starts building up. When the buildup is complete, a Status Condition is fully applied with its negatives until it is cured or enough time has passed. A Status Condition may do the following to you:

• Burning - Deals a certain amount of damage over time

• Frozen - Petrifies you in place, leaving you vulnerable to further attacks

• Shocked - Sometimes makes you twitch, rendering you unable to time your actions

• Dizzy - Messes up your controls - left is right, right is left, etc.

• Poisoned - Deals a great amount of damage over time, while slowing down your movements

Command Arts

Command Arts are special attacks, powered by a Warrior's Aura, that deal more damage, with the added bonus of potentially inflicting Status Conditions.

When certain Command Arts are performed, an Elemental Status Effect may be temporarily applied to your Soul Weapon. In this state, when the Weapon hits a minion, a Status Condition may be applied to them.

Furthermore, while using a Command Art, the standard aerial attack becomes an AOE (area-of-effect) Attack, that applies the Status Condition to everyone around you, but this will also immediately remove the Elemental Status Effect from your Weapon - making Command Arts a great finishing move just before your Elemental Status Effect runs out.

Quests

Quests can be received by interacting with townsfolk or by following the main plotline.

Furthermore, special Friendship Quests can be received from party members such as Hacim. All of these Quests will be available to read via the Quest Log in your Atlas.

Atlas

The Atlas contains all the information you'll need to keep track of your progress, from active quests you've received to a map of the places you've visited, as well as the collectibles you have in any given area, such as Regional Currens, which can be used to purchase special items at the Sunshine Shack!

Friendship

A Warrior is only as powerful as the ones who fight beside them.

Throughout the game, you'll come across Friendship Quests that allow you to increase not only your Experience, but will raise your Friendship stat with any given party member. Friendship has its own level system, which can be raised through Soul Supports, special conversations between two characters that build their relationship by diving into their similarities, differences, as well as backstories. These allow you to work better together in combat, through better interactions such as Healing and Protection, as well as Constellations.

Constellations

Constellations are very special Command Arts that can only be performed by Soul Warriors who share a strong bond.

The Constellation Meter can go up by performing and landing attacks that require Aura, landing Empowered Attacks, or Perfect Protecting.

They can only be unlocked by completing Friendship Quests and raising Friendship among two party members, and they require the Constellation Meter to be full in order to perform them.

Amberlamps

On specific locations scattered around the map, you'll be able to find Amberlamps, which cast a light that fully replenishes your Health and Aura, as well as removing any Status Conditions you may be suffering.

This will reset any cooldowns you might have had and reset you and your party members' Constellation Meters.

Furthermore, a quick save is made at Amberlamps, which you'll be able to go back to, in the unfortunate event that you perish in the game and want to quickly reload.

Amberlamps also respawn all the minions that you may have previously defeated on the map!

Yggdraskill

Upon accumulating Experience through combat and Quests, you can dedicate whatever Experience you gather to upgrading Stats and Spells, unlocking Command Arts, as well as new abilities through a Skill Tree, known as Yggdraskill.

Choose how you grow Yggdraskill wisely, however. You won't be able to accumulate enough Experience to unlock everything.

Interactions

The people of Thera have many things for you to do, and collect.

When you come close to something you can interact with, it will be highlighted, allowing you to interact with it - which can result in an item being collected and placed in your Inventory, a chest being opened to net you an item, or a conversation being started that can progress an existing Quest or start a new one.

Shatter Strikes

Besides light and aerial attacks, the player can perform Shatter Strikes, dealing increased damage to opponents and knocking them up in the air - leaving them defenseless.

These powerful attacks can be performed after consecutive attacks have hit an enemy - being hit before landing a Shatter Strike will reset your ability to do so. Landing this attack also increases the Constellation Meter!

Inventory

Kaumudi and Hacim have an unlimited Inventory, meaning there is no weight or space limit, allowing you to hold on to the items you need for when you choose to use them. The items stored in the inventory are categorized based on their type: Consumables, Equipment, and Key Items.

• Consumables are single-use items that can help turn the tide of battle, or help you recover after one, such as Potions to restore your Health or Elixirs to restore your Aura.

• Equipment can be collected that grants you special abilities, or raises your stats, on top of giving you a cosmetic change.

• Key Items are ones that usually stay in your Inventory permanently upon collecting them. Often times they are story-related, though some are for the sake of completing a sidequest, and others are ones you can read at a later date.

Shops 

The Sunshine Shack is a shop that is open in every town within Thera. There, you'll be able to interact with a very strange shop assistant who will sell items to you in return for the Currens the player owns.

Currens

Currens are a universal currency in Thera, allowing you to purchase things such as goods or services.

There exist special Regional Currens, which are a limited variant exclusive to the Region you find yourself in. These coveted Currens can net you special items at the Sunshine Shack, which you can store in your Inventory.

Accessibility Options

We want as many people as possible to be able to enjoy the world of Thera, and we're committed to working out how to make it as accessible to as many gamers as possible. Among our plans to make an accessible experience, we plan to include a basic option, common to many video games: Difficulty Settings.

At the beginning of a new campaign, you can choose between Story Mode (Easy), Normal Mode, and Hard Mode. Upon finishing the main campaign on Normal or Hard Mode, a fourth mode is unlocked, LuNaTiC Mode, the hardest difficulty option.

A harder difficulty setting will mean that opponents will deal more damage, have more hit points - making them harder to defeat - and your Perfect Protect window will be shorter, making proper Aura management essential.

~MUSIC~

Our soundtrack has many video game influences, from Sonic the Hedgehog, to Final Fantasy, all to give it a modernized fantasy feel.

At the moment, we have only a few tracks composed by Joel Grant and Mitchell Janes.

In the beginning, there were two...

Light and Dark.

Together they lived in nothing. They marveled at each other, because for once, in all of their existence, they were not alone. For once, they had a friend with whom to roam this empty void. But, for as close as they were... They wanted to be even closer.

Attempting to create the perfect union, one where they would never be alone again, the Light unintentionally consumed the Dark and only the Light remained, wandering oblivion with the Dark residing deep within. The Dark tried to break free, wanting to unite with its friend, and in fear of being forgotten.

Eventually, the Dark overpowered the Light and devoured it. They could never be one, they soon realized.

This did little to stop their efforts. They continued trying, their attempts creating an endless cycle. They soon came to fear that perhaps this was their fate: only one was meant to exist while the other was cast aside. Their ceaseless endeavor to embrace one another, to protect their partner from the crippling loneliness that once consumed them, would never end.

They were equal in power, intensity, and will. Light tried to push harder, and Dark feared for their counterpart.

To protect the other from their own optimistic and naïve nature, and to keep the other from ever feeling alone again, the Dark, once more, broke free from the Light's embrace, shattering it, and scattering its pieces across the void, until nothing remained. That Light, of course, created the world we know today, Thera, as well as all life on it.

The Darkness has since been lost, wandering in search of its eternal rival; its only friend.

When I was young, I found comfort in stories. Things I saw on television, whether they be movies, cartoons, or video games. My fascination for creating grew into not only the visual arts such as illustration, but into character creation and making those characters fit into a narrative. Eventually, I found myself with many characters inhabiting a common world and worked hard to have them share paths, journeys, and even small, tender one-on-one moments with each other. And that world developed into something unlike anything it had begun as.

Soul Star is the Prologue to that story. Its intention is to introduce audiences to the world of Thera, as well as some of the people, places, traditions, and stories that exist within her.

In this world there exist two kinds of people: the Ords and the Soul Warriors. The Ords are people much like you and me, going about their everyday lives. But the Soul Warriors are those who bear a special power in their Soul, which allows them to conjure up their own Weapons, as well as the ability to control an element tied to them. In present day, among the Soul Warriors there exist two factions: the Servants of Light and the Masters of Darkness. However, their existence is a secret to the Ords. For this reason, they tend to only operate at night, and the Servants of Light, in particular, dedicate their time to defending the world from the Lurkers that try to attack the nearby towns.

Amongst the ranks of the Servants of Light are the Soul Guards, two of the most powerful Soul Warriors to exist: Kaumudi, the Moon Guard, and the newly recruited Hacim, the Sun Guard. They are young and have much to learn about their abilities, but together they plan to collect the thought-to-be-mythical Soul Stars, objects said to imbue an Ord with the power of a Soul Warrior, before the Masters of Darkness can carry out their plan of awakening an Ancient God and unleashing it into their world.

Setting 

The story takes place in Thera's Noppin Region which is visually inspired by East Asian countries (Laos, Japan, Vietnam).

In a vast forest abundant with creatures bordering Seiiki Town lies a place known as the Sanctuary.

~CHARACTERS~

Space Rock Games is a New Zealand-based indie game studio, with graduates from Auckland's Media Design School, famous for its reputation in producing outstanding professionals for the creative industry. Among the alumni that are working to develop PROJECT: Soul Star, we have:

Aside from Space Rock Games, we also need to credit the wonderful actor that brought Kaumudi's voice.

And of course, the person leading all this...

~BACKER REWARDS~

While a visual representation of rewards is always promising, let's get into specifics, especially for Tiers that can't have a visual aid at the moment:

• A Digital Copy - It's what it says on the box: a copy of the game that you can play on your PC (currently the only supported platform, but subject to change).

• Name in the Credits - Also pretty straightforward: your name (or a name of your choosing) will be shown during the Ending Credits sequence at the end of the Main Scenario, under the Tier you choose to contribute to.

• Soul Star Card Set - While the rules are being decided on, we have trading cards with special art being developed, featuring a Spell, a Command Art, and an AU Cost. This reward will net you the entire set of cards from this Series.

• Soul Star OST - An OST is an 'Original Soundtrack', and while specifics are being discussed, the plan is to distribute this to backers physically, including every song we decide to include in the game.

• Signed Poster - This poster is planned to be a complete showcase of all the characters in this game in one, single art piece, drawn and signed by Nahum Luna.

• Digital Art Book - A complete catalog of the Concept Art made for this game, complete with designer notes and art descriptions.

• Tee - A T-Shirt with the game logo and character art printed on it.

• Therian - Backers will be contacted in order to have their character or likeness of their choosing to have them turned into a 3D model, acting as an NPC in one of Thera's Settlements.*

• Quest Maker - Backers will be contacted in order to have them come up with a short storyline that will constitute a Quest for players to complete in the game.*

• Cross-Fate - Backers will be contacted in order to have them design a secret Boss Battle for the characters to fight.

*Designs are subject to being contested in order to fit not only the narrative, but the style of the game, not just visually, but in tone as well.