G. B. Wilkas

Author of Northern Winds series

[gbwilkas]

Status update 2021-6

Hi, fierce warriors!

It's been a while (4 months of no dev diary? A what now?). Time flies for sure. I have been away from any creative work AND everything else these past months...

On Writing: Nothing to add here much. But as I have acquired a little assistant and family problems have mostly been resolved (more on that below paragraph) I will be diving into Spears of Vinland writing and programming with a renewed spirit! Also on 24th, we have a yearly Summer Solstice festival "Jāņi"(similar to Lithe for Celts and Beltane), thus my pagan roots are tingling with excitement!

On Life: As I have previously mentioned my mom has cancer and the last 9 months have been difficult. But in May we got good news and the operation was very successful. I don't have these dark thoughts lurking at the back of my head and can focus on... life and its joys ^^''

Also here is my new little assistant (taken from the shelter). I do not recommend touching him thou... as a kitty from the shelter he is not used to humans and has as strong a right paw hook as Rocky... Ah and yeah his name is Ūsiņš (Name of our pagan god of horses and honey, but if you translate it literally it just means whiskers, but in a cutesy way, lol) Here he is overlooking my desk as I go into typing frenzy:

........

When I would post Spears of Vinland demo? Well, that's a few months away... I want it to be at least 50% done once I present it here. Sorry.

Well then, let's write!

[gbwilkas]

Status update 2021-2

Hi, fierce warriors!

Here is my kind-of-dev post for February.

On Writing: The new project is well underway and its math excel is being populated by various things, like food consumption, ideas for buildings and what recourses there and also diplomacy options with... natives. Some parts have been coded and some of course not. Here is a tiny peek of stat screen selection:

And yeah... I'm calling it currently Spears of Vinland

On Life: It has been a mixture of sadness and even grief with happy stuff. Starting with reuniting with an old friend (my daily spam is hard to withstand and a lot of days there is more of my spam to friends than to writing a story :D :D and this friend had to suffer most of that...)

On sad things... I witnessed how in front of me a cat was driven over and how he/she died in agony. It was a horrible experience and I'm not gonna lie. As a grown-ass man, I cried throughout that evening and night. In light of that, I have decided to take a cat from a shelter and fill my lonely life with some meowing. I would like to call the companion my helper in writing, but we all know that little fur of ball won't be helpful at all. Just a cute distraction :D (I will post pictures in next month's status update blog).

To be continued...

[gbwilkas]

Status update 2021-1

Hi, fierce warriors!

First I want to say BOO 2020 and lets open arms and hopes for the 2021 year. Let it be more good than bad!

Perhaps some noticed but there wasn't a real status update in December. I have to apologize for that. I have been dealing with real family issues then with work and then with self-loathing of my writing. You know, the usual stuff.

So...

On Writing: Dragonships have grown (and my skill in craft), the game sided design has changed a lot and improved since the first vision in 2017. Also, the length of the story that would need to be told properly is around ~300-400k words. That's like 4 novels... So barely 30% is done (with needing to touch up already done parts). Outside of private life, I have been dwelling on fact that I love this project so much that I feel the gap between the skill I have and the one I need to finish it in good quality is very wide. So what it means for chapter 3? I'm sorry to tell you that Dragonsips WIP will be paused. BUT... I will be working on a new WIP that is based on real world history. It will be more management style, with story "quests" IF and condensed into 100-150k words. I want to practice, to finish an actually interesting game, see how the publishing process goes, etc. And only then work on behemoth with life filling story that is in Dragonships.

Hint 1: Vinland Hint 2: Like King of Dragon Pass and Swamp Castle.

On Life: Those who have followed other posts know that my mom is fighting against cancer. This year she will have an operation (in spring) and afterward who knows what will happen. There is a chance for one Status Update to be all cheerful and me going hardcore on writing or me going silent for a very long time... Outside of this, I don't want these "On Life" parts to be all blog like, but I will write up what I'm reading or other fun or bad stuff happening behind the scenes in my life.

To be continued...

[gbwilkas]

Status update 2020-11.

Hi, fierce warriors!

Here is a small status update of 2020-11.

I have been using a lot of my time outside of work with family. Mom is doing fine, but chemo gives heavy heart problems, but she is a fighter~

Speaking of Chapter 3 - I have restarted writing daily. Be it 100 words or 500 (on weekends I can hardcore up to 2k) and the self-goal is to finish this before the year ends. Can I do it? inserts doubt meme nevertheless I will try!

On other hand I have been learning a bit about the craft… reading a book here, watching lectures there. Lectures really inspire me to do other writing too. I even did a few paragraphs on my old book and some other projects that will be the focus after Dragonships is finished.

That’s all! I hope everyone will be doing good at the last month of the year and hopefully, my next update post will be the chapter release with full changelog (which is walls of text by now…).

[gbwilkas]

Status update 2020-10

Hello everyone!

Due to family reasons, (my mom got diagnosed with cancer, late-stage and she is all I got family and otherwise). I have been very to say in mildly devastated, so writing hasn’t been on my radar. This month I really wanted to restart on it, but… have evaded it. At least thoughts of stopping writing at all have vanished and I still intend to finish this (and all the other projects I have in mind in the future). So I can’t promise when we all be able to to do some fighting and pillaging, yet. :(

But not to be all on the downside I can tell, that shipbuilding has been changed a lot, and it’s very customizable. I have even thought about the contest when I finish the game concerning this. Here is an update for that.

And here is my excel with calculations and warning a bit of spoiler:

[gbwilkas]

Dev diary #4 (for chapter 3 the last one)

Hi, fierce warriors!

This week I will be speaking of how the story will pan out in ch3.

Raider or Trader (or Exploration?). Renown and Wealth systems.

A new player stat (Raider vs Trader). In ch3 player, each spring can go to raids or trading or exploration expeditions. These are short stories (imagine like them as quests(?)). Players can choose only one path in spring, but in the next one can chose different.

Raider or Trader or Exploration together with Renown will affect how your oathsworn and others will view you. For example, Viliendi won’t be happy about raiding, but twins will ask for more “fun”, where Urve will want to see the world (and taste every possible ale type).

Each of these three has its weaknesses and strengths:

Raiding will force players to raid one of the tribes. Earning more Renown it also will sow the seeds of fear and risk of losing allies and retaliation attacks may happen. With bad choices, one may lose a lot of men for wealth…

Trading will force players to trade with one of the tribes. It might net more ozerings, but could also catch some raiders’ eye or you might get cheated…

Exploration will force players to travel the lord, chase folk tales and fight more beasts un -non-human opponents. It will focus more on the world and lore and… fighting beasts.

Screenshot of gains and losses:

Due to this, the story might feel shorter (or perhaps won’t if I do writing till December O.o) but will add x3 replayability.

As one can see there is a correlation with ship types, Warship for raider path will be the best, Trader type for trading and Balanced type for exploration expeditions.

The balance of these paths might come hard with a variety of ships, but I promise to weed out “best route” scenarios. All of these paths will be rewarding and have some degree of risk. More or less it will be like with choice of fighting style. This is how players will tailor the story and the endings.

Player stats -> Allies

Due to the system above (and some story elements) players will acquire enemies and allies throughout the journey. These alliances will play a major part in the ending of the game. For example, in ch2 you can have either Savna or Odir as an additional ally.

Screenshot of the new Player stats page from my dev build.

Of course, everything that has been said might change as I write things and receive feedback.

Those who have followed my dev diary’s can see that programming and writing wise this will be the most complex chapter yet… (being it 3rd doesn’t say much thou :D).

By my current estimates it could be finished by the end of October, but no promises. Also, this will be the last dev diary as I won’t be adding anything else feature-wise and writing each week how much progress I have made as spamming word count is dull.

[gbwilkas]

Dev diary #3

Hi, fierce warriors!

I have finished my traveling due to the work and I'm back on working on the Dragonships! This week I will be speaking about the shipbuilding!

As this is one of my favorite parts to code/write building process might change a lot and expand as I write the game. I think this part is really cool and want to make it even cooler as to how many games let you build your longship? Not many~

First of all to improve Oathsworn equipment, your weapons and building ship will be an option that players can choose from their respective stat pages and only when in the story the player is in the village.

Screenshot:

Secondly, there are 3 types of longship one can make. Warship, Trade ship, Balanced ship. Each of these comes with their stats and tiers. Like every type has 3 tiers that improve stats, but cost way more (explanation of differences are in the screenshot).

Of course, shipbuilding will be the costliest action in the game. Due events at the end of ch2 one can build a new ship (tier 1)! Or stick with the good old Karvi, whose stats are worse than tier 1 new ship. But don’t worry ch3 won’t force you to fail only cuz you stick with Karvi.

Screenshot:

Thirdly each ship (the type of it might affect variation) will have additional options to decorate them. If you feel fancy or have ozerings to spare. I haven’t done brainstorming fully on these nor coding them, but this definitely will come with ch3. Up to this point, you could get only custom prow or sail for Karvi if your parents were alive.

Screenshot:

And lastly, why would you spend so much wealth just to build a new ship? Well, it is pretty cool~ and besides that, each tier will give a significant boost to stats that will be used in the story. The relevance of this will be more explained in the next weekend’s dev diary where I will write how the story will pan out in ch3.

[gbwilkas]

Weekly update #2

Hi, fierce warriors!

This week I’m showing two systems that will be more relevant in chapter 3 and in the future.

Reworked Warband moral system.

Previously it was barely implemented, just changing stat by some choices. Now it will come in play with small scale battles, how player’s warriors will respond to orders, and even affect how many join or leave player’s warband on a yearly basis.

Small code snippet:

Implemented fully armor/weapon system for warband.

Previously it wasn’t used at all, just text in stat page. Now the player can spend ozerings (wealth) to buy various tiers of upgrades. RPG style. Each type has its own stats and costs. Depending on what upgrades player has acquired the survivability of warband in battles will be affected and acquired top tier equipment will increase Renown.

Small code snippet:

[gbwilkas]

Weekly update #1

Hi, fierce warriors!

To keep myself on track and dedicated to the task ahead, I’m going to try to write up weekly progress updates.

This week I can show you guys the new maps!

The first one I have completely redrawn in 4k with much more detail. It still lacks forests, swamps, mountains (few of those), etc.

And here is the map for chapter 3. Which will be useful as each spring MC will be able to choose to go raid someone or trade with them. Additional character stat regarding this and also others will shift their views on you.

And here is that small ship zoomed-in from the first map. I don’t have great skill in the art of drawing, but whisky helped out here~

[gbwilkas]

Adding depth and early look at title art.

Hi, fierce warriors!

Here is planned improvement for chapter 3 in the future. Warband stats will become more important and actually will be up-gradable and used in battle situations.

And here is early look on title art piece.

Artist is god sent as she is very patient with my bickering on every small detail. ^^’’

Can you guys guess who is who?

[gbwilkas]

Chapter 3?

What’s next, curious warriors?

First of all updated public build now with the small bug fixes and additions (not worth to replay).

Map not showing in-game fixed.

Edited things that @Isi_Talks showed.

Added another choice option at the end of ch2 which will not be a “good end” and nor it will end the game abruptly as “bad ending”. It will just make things harder in ch3 for MC.

What about Chapter 3?

Chapter 3 – Flight of Dragons

Ability to forge own weapon and make a longship!

The chapter will revolve around player raiding and trading, preparing for an enormous sea battle (and taking part in it) that was foreshadowed in earlier chapters.

The new cover art is delayed. Artist is all in into university stuff still and day work. Probably art pieces will be done in summer.

Editing all written texts to be more in a line of proper COG style (including revising choices up to now).

Released date? Would love to finish in September as I’m a weak person and gonna indulge myself into few games that come out at that time :S So who knows. Not promising anything as I need to read a lot and research about ships/ship-battles properly. Also, ch3 might be the most complex part of my coding yet.

[gbwilkas]

So how interactions work with oathsworn?

1. Friendship choices. The player can explore them with all oathsworn in same event scene.

2. Romance choices. The player can’t pick more than one for all oathsworn in same event scene. (When the player has enough friendship stat, they will accept romance choices). But later in a different event scene can pick a different person.

3. Going “official” means that you accept them as that special one (as in modern sense). Also, such a choice will be explicit and available based on how much romance choices have validated.

4. Currently, there are no repercussions as it’s at the end of ch2. In future, if the player “plays around” with many ROs then there might be drama as characters have their own mind things like that… If the player is accepts being together with someone, then can keep messing around with others, but it may end very badly for you or that other oathsworn.

[gbwilkas]

NW:Dragonships Chapter 2 is out!

Excellent news, fierce warriors!

After a few setbacks and delays Chapter 2 is out!

Have modified almost all aspects in the main post so anyone interested should check it. Full changelog is posted there too.

Released Chapter 2 – Talons of War!

Queen Naula has vanished and the boy-king Valdaris is blaming you! Can you solve the mystery behind her disappearance and salvage the alliance between both tribes – your Skalavians and neighbouring Kourenians?

Meet 2 new ROs. Urve the Priestess of Mothers and Laup the chieftain of Balg – your rival! (Warning: depending on choices, Laup may become your nemesis, Urve… beheaded.)

New Lore pages.

A lot of optional talking with companions.

Total word count increased from 32k to 68k

More info and full changelog available in the publisher’s forum: https://bit.ly/39L7FeT

Link to the demo: https://bit.ly/35AQfhD 

[gbwilkas]

Chapter 2 release by next weekend?

Marvellous news, fierce warriors!

I have almost done with endings of chapter 2. The first draft will be complete and next week will be spent on the second draft (major bug fixing and grammar hammer)! The release post with the game update and full changelog will be available by next weekend. :)

[gbwilkas]

Slight delay for Chapter 2

Hi, fierce warriors!

I have sad news about Chapter 2 release date. Due to circumstances in life, it will be pushed by 2 weeks at least. (that’s how far back I’m in the schedule)

For those who wonder what happened...well I’m getting old xD. Got my back strained so hard that couldn’t even sit or sleep properly for few days. So last 3 weeks have been quite a ride with daily work piling up too.

The chapter will revolve around the mystery and wee bit of detective work. Also currently changelog is getting big as there are changes in the first chapter too. (I track each stat and bigger changes in the scenes in my notes). Also there are some world-building changes (in names) to make easier on people reading/remembering stuff.

[gbwilkas]

Chapter 2 tease and progress so far.

Hi, fierce warriors!

A short update on Chapter 2 and development in general.

Doing 1k words per day has drawbacks which I didn’t expect. Getting feedback from my First Reader (yes I try to follow Stephen King’s advice on the craft) that story feels rushed. So I’m slowing a bit down. What does it mean for the release date? Probably 2 months, so around the last week of February.

Also, a new title cover art is in making from the more professional artist than me. We are in talks about her making more art than just title one, but time will tell how it goes.

What is this tease I spoke of? Well, its header piece with the name of Chapter 2!

[gbwilkas]

NW:Dragonships Chapter 1 is out!

Northern Winds: Dragonships is Interactive Novel where your choices control the story. You take the role of a village chieftain who is thrown into events that will change the lands of Abalusa forever!

Live the life of a village chieftain.

Build and customize your longship. Raid and trade with your warband!

Have varied romance options for both male and female players.

Choose between four different fighting styles (Blade and shield, dual blades, long-axe, bow and dagger).

Specific Lore section with pages of world’s mythology, culture and its historical counterparts.

Can you stay alive and protect your lands and family or succumb to a dark path of this world’s history?

Northern Winds series are set in a fantasy world that takes roots in Baltic and Nordic country mythology and culture around the time we call “Viking Age”. Link to the publisher’s forum: https://bit.ly/39L7FeT Link to the demo: https://bit.ly/35AQfhD