Full Development

Valthirian Arc Hero School Story 2

Full Development

Valthirian Arc Hero School Story 2

Valthiria’s mightiest heroes are not born of destiny nor prophecy. They were enrolled, trained, and taught in special academies. Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story 2 putsValthiria’s mightiest heroes are not born of destiny nor prophecy. They were enrolled, trained, and taught in special academies. Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story 2 puts players in charge of an academy of the next generation of heroes – ones that will save Valthiria from the dark forces that threatens it.

Combining the best aspects from games of the RPG and Simulation genres, players take on the role of a principal of the academy as they assign courses to students, build their stats, and watch them learn and grow into the hero that the realm deserves. Battle villains, monstrosities, and vanquish threats that faces Valthiria in a strategic turn-based combat to add to the academy’s renown; as every year the seniors will graduate and principals need to manage the academy to fit the dynamic roster of students. players in charge of an academy of the next generation of heroes – ones that will save Valthiria from the dark forces that threatens it.

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Art Portfolio

Objective

Our main goal is to re-create the experience of being the principal in a school for future heroes, having to manage every facet of the school. Ultimately sharing the joy of seeing a beloved student graduate as the savior of the realm. Expanding on the best elements from previous titles of the series, Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story 2 aims to have a more strategic core gameplay with higher replayability, offering unique experience to each player in every playthrough.

Challenge & Solution

Challenge

Integrating dozens of episodic linear narrative while making sure that each of them are distinguishable and without sacrificing player agency.
Provide stable framerate on Nintendo Switch.
Provide task for player to manage balance between growing strong student for battle and running long lasting academy

Solution

Creating a keyword-based categorization such that each character (and other narrative elements) is pigeonholed into one of the four keywords. This increases relatability and eases inter-role communication.
Some special characters (Champion students) have their own storylines with a minimal branching that can be unlocked by fulfilling their growth requirements. Players who care about a particular character will experience additional contents.
Rewrite and optimize game logic Blueprint, Optimize assets size and resolution according to profiling data.
Redesign graduation system so each student must graduate after 3 years tenure, and player must prepare another student to grow

Team Composition

Designing fun mechanics to help players immerse themselves as a Principal of Hero School.

Illustrating and animating the world of Valthiria, giving life to its inhabitants.

Handles the world building of Valthirian and the immersive storyline of various characters.

Designing and creating smooth experience to help players manage a Hero School.

Implementing the designs and mechanics into a playable product.

Workflow

Ideation

Expanding from the core concept of the previous title, Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story 2 will present the same gameplay loop of managing the academy, training students, and sending them to tackle deadly foes and dangerous dungeons with more polished features and visuals.

Pre-Production

After gathering data from the previous title, the team found that a lot of criticism was directed at the battle system – which can still be improved. For this title, we decided to change the real-time combat system into a turn-based one that is closer in the form to its RPG roots. We also decided to add more depth to the academy management side of the gameplay through the addition of features such as the course scheduling system.

Production-Beta

The Team built the game with new battle and dungeon exploration system as well as several new supporting features on academy management side such as Course, Tuition, Research, etc.

Production-Demo

The Team built a demo to test out the new features and to see the response from fans of the franchise. The demo itself was available to play during Steam Next Fest in February 2022.

Production-Early Access

The team developed the early access build of the game that will enter Steam Early Access on March 2022.

Post-Production

The next step after the initial release would be the porting of the game onto PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo consoles.

Feature Highlight

Courses

Each student will have different strengths and weaknesses, and players can decide what kind of heroes they’ll become by assigning them in courses that they’re most likely to excel in.

Political FAvors

Players need to balance the academy’s relationship with Valthiria’s numerous factions, immersing themselves into the deep history of conflict, alliances, and power struggles. Through the Political features, players will have to juggle favors along with the ensuing reactions without tipping the balance of power for one faction over the other.

Student Personality

Each student will have different personalities, with different ways to handle them. The players will then receive different outcomes based on how they treat their students.

Result

Having students with randomized personality aspects with different ways of handling them, all while managing the school itself and the factions surrounding it; no two players will experience the same dynamic during their playthrough, ensuring high replayability for the game.

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