"Some new stuff this week! Be sure to let us know what you think!"

[Lore]

Xen Raith is the centre of the Qie Zaratkan Empire. Qie Zaratka’s government is very centralized, and all of the smaller towns in this vast desert enjoy a certain continuity in government, religion and culture that is largely absent in most other territories of Estaria. The other very unique aspect of this part of the world is that they are the only culture in Estaria to have made regular expeditions into the Wildlands. The culture here is very proud, and most of the discoveries made about the Widlands have never been shared with other societies.

Emperor Eltoro Sheer, as per tradition, rules with an iron fist. The culture of Xen Raith has always been very militaristic, but this is offset by a strict adherence to the practice of meditation and martial arts that can create an ironic sense of peace. The dominant magical element here is that of Time, and the ability of the Qie Zaratkan people to anticipate certain future events creates a stoicism and a general absence of fear and anxiety. In fact, since in many cases people are able to predict their own death within a few days of its occurrence, most funerals are held with the soon-to-be-deceased party in attendance, and the general view on death here is that it is something to accept gracefully, if not actually look forward to.

Though fear and anxiety are largely absent from the worldview of the general population here, there is also a large weight placed on the psyches of the Qie Zaratkans that comes in the form of the plague they all seem to be exposed to from birth. Locally it’s referred to as “Hahnsaur”, which roughly translated to “the Curse”. Basically, the moment the total Qie Zaratkan population reaches a certain number, babies start becoming stillborn. But as long as the population remains “reasonable”, these instances all but disappear. The Hahnsaur has been present for almost a thousand years, and has worked its way into many facets of the Qie Zaratkan belief system.

Xen Raith is home to the Zara’Behn, a large festival celebrated twice a year that honours the right of passage that every Qie Zaratkan citizen undertakes at puberty. Youth from across the desert make a harrowing pilgrimage into the Wildlands, where they must survive on their own for several months, staving off both unimaginable physical dangers as well as the madness the Wildlands tend to inspire in those who attempt to traverse them. The connection to the Time element greatly helps them in navigating this strange, psychedelic wilderness. Pilgrims from Xen Raith and the Western settlements of Qie Zaratka generally earn a higher level of respect due to the fact that they have more desert to cross before reaching the Wildlands, though many pilgrims from towns like Zet Manokeet will deliberately spend more time in the Wildlands to offset having less desert to cross to get there in the first place.

Entertainment here is largely rooted in the practice of martial arts. Qie Zaratkans have a reputation as some of the most formidable fighters in Estaria, and even the most pacifistic foreigners who have been lucky enough to witness some of the sparring matches here have attested to a degree of elegance and beauty in violence unheard of in the rest of the world. Smaller, less lethal games usually involve play with Time, with one party trying to embrace conflicting impulses enough to impede the other’s ability to predict their actions.

The economy of Qie Zaratka is mostly self-contained, as a degree of xenophobia has always existed among its population. International trade is mostly seen in the form of mercenary aid to those territories who oppose Elitist expansion, and through a slave trade that exists mostly between Qie Zaratka and the Mortal Desert. A group calling themselves the Dedicated Eye oversees this process, and though their activities are not officially sanctioned, they have a wide-spread presence within Qie Zaratka (especially Xen Raith) and are generally understood to be working with the best interests of the Empire in mind.

In terms of religion, the faith practiced in Xen Raith and across Qie Zaratka is a relatively simple one. The Emperor is believed to be a manifestation of the divine, and as such a pagan system of a myriad of gods and deities would generally be seen as superfluous here. There is a great emphasis on the individual chasing physical and mental perfection through extreme personal discipline, and though their political system is unapologetically imperial, there is no caste system to be seen here and every individual is respected as an indispensable cog in a grand machine.

[Dynamic Skinning]

So I've touched upon this in a previous Dev Log as well, but in New Eden, we don't use the standard, limiting Paperdolling system that 99% of other 2D game use. We have developed an advanced dynamic skinning system that is ultra powerful. The early gifs of this system didn't look too great, however, as we were still deciding on how exactly to skin the player based on the equipment. A while back, Sion worked out what we think is the best way to approach this. Here's an insider's look into it:

This system is, indeed, very advanced, and as such, can be complicated to grasp. We love how it's looking in-engine so far, however, and we really hope to continue this progress!

[Claws]

Last week I had mentioned an upcoming Video Showcase on Claws. While that video is still being worked on (sorry for the delay!) we wanted to show you a small snippet of Claws in-game, to give you all a feel of how aggressive they are!

As you can see, Claws as a weapon type are very feral in their swings, launching you forward with ferocity with every attack. We see Claw users being the more reckless players in New Eden.

[Animation Upgrades]

With addition of Claws and Spears, something quickly became apparent to us. The Animation system we've designed for Players in New Eden needed a few tweaks and upgrades, especially with the inclusion of being able to change direction mid-combo.

With a bit of hard work, we've achieved a new high for New Eden's animation system! Previously, your character would toggle between several different skeletons based on the direction they were facing. When not toggled, the skeletons would default to their "idle" animation, waiting to be told what to do when they were made active again. This posed a bit of a problem for attacks/combos such as the jumps and dives present in Claws and Spears. If changing direction in between the jump and dive with the claws, for instance, your character would try and fail to blend between the last position and Idle, meaning they would "slide" up the screen before falling back down.

Now, with the new upgrades, however, animations will sync with their other directions, resulting in perfect direction swapping, bringing snappy attacks to life:

It might not be so apparent without having seen what it was like before, but trust us in saying that it is far, *far* better than what was present previously!

[Blocking]

A few major changes are coming to New Eden's combat. Most of these are in store for Blocking, Parrying, and Poise. The first of these major changes has been completed: Blocking.

For those who didn't play during our testing event, blocking used to be a timed button press, allowing you to negate an incoming attack if timed correctly. This was really bad. It felt terribly clunky and unrewarding to attempt to block an attack.

Now, however, we've overhauled it entirely!

Now, your weapons are raised in a Blocking position while you hold the Block button. Blocking now requires stamina, as it drains stamina while being used. It also no longer negates 100% of damage by default. The damage negated depends on the weapon. Some weapons, like the Bladeshield will have a high block rate (perhaps even 100%!), whereas something like the Crowfeather Bow will only block about 40% of damage from basic attacks. We really believe this will liven up the combat in a good way, giving even more options to skillfully take down your opponent!

Blocking also ties into the upcoming Parry system, as well as a soon to be reworked Poise system, but we'll get to those at another time.

["Pause" System]

Something that has also been completed this week was the "Pause" system. Now I know what you're thinking: "Um, what do you mean 'Pause'? This is an MMO!" And you're absolutely right! "Pausing" is merely the term that best comes to mind.

As some of you are aware, New Eden uses a unique "Loadout" system for it's spells and weapons. You select a few skills you can use into your limited slots, and can only use those until you swap them out again. However, being that you could swap these out at any time, what was to stop you from quickly swapping spells during combat?

Well, with this new "Pause" system, we think we've found the answer. You will only be able to access some of your game menus when not in combat. If you open up your inventory when out of combat, and something targets you while sifting through it, your menus will close automatically, not allowing you to open them until you either retreat or deal with the threat. This stops players from abusing the Loadout system or swapping weapons or armor mid-battle. It also allows you to change up your Loadout between combat sessions!

"We're quite looking forward to seeing what you guys think of these additions/changes. Please be sure to give us your feedback! Be it on the Lore, gameplay, or systems, we want to know what you think! Thank you all for reading, and have a great week!"