Arcade-style battle experience with the best graphics! Introducing the features and development process of "Fist: Darkness in the Red Lotus Castle," released this month!

A development diary has been released for "Fist: The Darkness of Red Lotus Castle," which will be released on PS5/PS4 on September 23, 2021, introducing the arcade-style battle experience and changes made during the development process.

Fist: The Darkness of Red Lotus Castle" is an action game developed by TiGames and released by Game Source Entertainment (GSE). The game follows the adventures of Leighton, a rabbit who was once an elite member of the Resistance, as he attempts to counterattack a mechanical army that has invaded the "Red Lotus Castle," a place where animals once lived.
The game is a fusion of the beauty of dieselpunk and good old oriental cityscapes, and features top-quality graphics.

⇒Stunning graphics! Fist: The Darkness of Red Lotus Castle" will be released on PS5 and PS4! Reservations are now being accepted!

The game will finally be released on September 23, and a development diary has been released introducing the arcade-style battle experience and the changes made during the development process.
（The following is a summary of the development diary.)

Easy-to-play arcade-style action game experience

From the very beginning, the developers had a clear direction of making the battles in "Fist: Darkness in the Red Lotus Castle" an "arcade-style" action game. This is not only because of their childhood fascination with arcade games, but also because of the appealing nature of the game, which can be started immediately and experienced right away.
We hope that players will be able to experience an arcade-style action game experience with "Red Lotus Castle.

[Trailer

Initially, battles were designed to be performed with a single attack button. The player would press and hold the button to accumulate energy, then hit the button repeatedly to perform a combo, and when the enemy's life reached a certain value, press the button to finish him off.

This series of attacks encompassed everything from the powerful cut-in at the start of the battle, to the continuous output during the battle, to the gorgeous ending at the end of the battle. The functionality and visuals are extremely complete. It matches the atmosphere of the arcade game and we are very happy with it.

Based on this, we spent more than two months working on a demo version of the game, which was well received by players who experienced it at online/offline events, and we are convinced that we made the right decision in going this route.

The contradiction between simple battles and rich levels

We then began formal development of "Fist: The Darkness of Red Lotus Castle," an action game with over 10 hours of play time for the main story, seamless maps, rich exploration elements, and simple and fast gameplay. After completing the first level, as the game content became more complex and the game time gradually increased, the initial battle system became too repetitive and flawed.

The initial three-level battle experience was time-consuming to prepare for and difficult to deal with sudden battles. In addition, the techniques used to finish off the enemy were essentially performance, with little connection to the action, and most of the action the player could experience consisted of pressing a single button in rapid succession.

This is reasonable for a 15-minute demo version, but clearly not enough for a full-fledged game lasting several hours, and even a bit tedious.

Trade-offs when designing continuity moves

After rethinking the player's experience with continuous moves, we decided to extend the attack button to two buttons, one for light attacks and one for heavy attacks. Instead of a single AAA-style button input, the system has been changed to sequential input in combinations that require memory, such as AAB, ABA, and BAB.

However, we did not want to abandon our original idea of arcade simplicity. If we had to memorize button combinations, how could we make it simple? After several brainstorming sessions, we came up with the following rules.

1. Start with a light attack.
2. Up to 5 button presses
3．No light attack after a heavy attack
4. Minimum number of combinations.

With these rules, we have restricted the game to the following seven combinations of sequential moves.
AB, AAA, AAB, ABB, AABB, AAAB, AAABB
A little complicated, isn't it? But the logic in the game is much simpler: first press the A button, and then press the B button when you want to activate a sequence of moves.

This sequence of moves satisfies the developers' need for simplicity and richness, starting with a light attack and ending with a heavy attack, creating a tendency for the sequence to be progressively enhanced, and the design language is consistent in its graphic presentation.

In addition, although there are three weapons in the game, some techniques with similar performance, for example, AB is used to throw the enemy into the air with all three weapons, and the unified mode of operation is used to avoid extra memory costs to the player.

Introduction of a Derivative Battle System

As development progressed, the battle system added physical moves, throws, special moves, weapon switching, jumps, dashes, and cancels in addition to sequential moves, giving players more and more options in battle.

However, in every process, we have "added" to each system, while at the same time "subtracting" in terms of operability and comprehension. The ultimate goal is to make it easy for players to do cool tricks that would make audiences cheer in an arcade.

▼ The release of "Fist: Darkness in the Red Lotus Castle" is just around the corner. Click here to pre-order!
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[GAME INFO]
■Fist: Darkness in the Red Lotus Castle (Fist: Gurenjo no Yami)
Compatibility: PS5/PS4
Release date: September 23, 2021
Price: 3,828 yen (tax included)
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Package version: Game Source Entertainment
Downloadable version: bilibili Game
Developer: TiGames
CERO: B

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