Latest Demo Video
For details please see descriptions below (Update on 2015.4.26).
Greetings
We are an indie game team of two people, and here we would like to share with you the game project we’ve been working on.
Introduction
“Hatashiai” is all about Samurai Kenjutsu combat. It is a 3D FTG game with a novel melee weapon combat system. Our plan is to make it the most serious sword fighting game ever, using Unreal Engine 4.
Features
Literally, the word “Kenjutsu” means the method or technique of sword. But in fact, Kenjutsu is a complicated melee weapon combat system, including the effective guards, flexible footwork and efficient coordination of the whole body. To best capture the essence of Kenjutsu, the following features will be included in our game:
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Cultural & Historical Accuracy
We are making 8 real existing Ryuha (type/shcool of Kenjutsu) in this game. While the fighting styles of these Ryuha can be utterly different, all their skills and moves will be the actual techniques developed and used by the ancient Samurai. -
One-hit kill Fighting System
This game does not contain a life bar or health point. Similar to the Bushido Blade series, with a single hit one can disable or even kill his opponent. On the other hand, precise physics based contact detection of the weapon and the variety of balanced fighting skills (each Ryuha contains at least 8 basic guards, and instead of using pre-defined combos, the player can have multiple free choices of skill connections) will significantly enhance the viability of the fighters, preventing Hatashiai from becoming a boring seckilling game. -
??? (to be updated later)
Below is our first tech demo of “Hatashiai”, presenting some basic tests of the character’s kamae (guard) and movements, as well as the apex clothing performance. Root motion is applied to each animation.
We hope you enjoy it, and next time we will update some details about the fighting system.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update on 2015.4.5 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greetings!
We’re back to give an update here. This time I’d like to present a demo to explain how we design and implement the system to organize all kinds of kenjuts skills.
The most fundamental state in our system is Kamae. Kamae is the basic stance or guard designed to launch efficient attack or provide effective defense. In Hatashiai, character from each Ryuha has multiple types of Kamae, each for specific use. For example, temporarily we have 10 types of Kamae for Shinkage-Ryu(the one being demonstrated in the demo), but we may want to adjust the number in the future to fit in the capacity of normal video game controllers (e.g. PS4 or XBOX One controller).
From one Kamae the character can:
(1) perform movement
each Kamae has two types of movement (fast and slow) for each direction, to be used under different distances
(2) switch to any other Kamae
from one Kamae the character can freely switch to any other Kamae directly
(3) make attacks
each Kamae has at least four types of attacks (each with the choices of three kinds of footwork as forward, on site, and backward, forming three sub-types of one attack), covering different angles
When an attack ends, the character may:
(1) return immediately to Kamae (the Kamae launching this attack or the Kamae nearest to the ending pose)
(2) connect immediately with other attacks
(3) keep the ending pose as an intermediate state, from which you can move, switch to any Kamae or continue with multiple types of attacks (this intermediate state nearly equals to a Kamae)
Following this scheme, although we don’t define specific combo for the character, you can still perform continuous attacks, even endlessly if without a disturbance.
It should be noted that we don’t have a so called “defense pose”, instead we introduce contact detection for all Kamae and attacks. This means you won’t be able to press one button and block most of your opponent’s attack anymore. To protect yourself, you will need to make proper moves according to your opponent’s attack. The outcome of a sword contact is automatically computed based on an mathematical model, taking into account both the physical status (velocity, pose, contacting position…) of the swords and the reference parameter including the ability and current mental status (we will introduce this in future updates) of the character.
All in all, the sword combat in Hatashiai is a dynamic process. Players must make right decisions to perform right moves at right moments to earn triumph.
That’s all for today’s update. Please note that the 3D models and animations are still in the very pre-alpha level and will definitely be refined as the project moves forward. In future updates we would like to present a development introduction to further explain our concept, and a real combat demo to help you better capture the tone of the game. Thanks for watching. Until next time~~
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update on 2015.4.26 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there, we are updating again with our first real combat demo (the video on top), testing the fundamental system as described in former update.
This demo presents a sword combat between swordsmen from two different Ryuha (school of Kenjutsu), Shinkage-Ryu and Jigen-Ryu. Currently we are running the game in a local multiplayer manner, letting players to share a same screen (camera) and control each of the swordsman with an XBOX controller, respectively. Everything runs smoothly in 60 fps on my computer, however you may be able to see some lags in the video due to the influence of the screen recording software (Highly recommend you watch this in 1080p).
Note that the project is still in a pre-alpha status, so please be tolerant of the mesh models, the level design, as well as the animations. All those things will definitely be polished in future development.
Finally, any comment, advice or question is welcome! Hope you find it of interest~~
If you could, also add in support for the HTC Vive / PrioVR motion capture suit 
If you could, also add in support for the HTC Vive / PrioVR motion capture suit