XSEED Invites You to Touch the Environment in Sumioni: Demon Arts
Mother Nature is gonna need an adult.
Published: February 11, 2012
Today, publisher XSEED graced us with some detailed info about how they plan to use the Playstation Vita's touch screen to enhance Sumioni: Demon Arts, their upcoming 2D action platformer. From the sound of things, players will be using either the touch screen or the rear touch pad constantly - seemingly for everything from platforming to combat.
The most basic brush stroke is called the road brush, and it allows players to create solid platforms for your character to jump on. I'm sure it will be used liberally in platforming sections, but I'm actually really curious to see if it has any combat applications. For instance, it might be cool to create a series of platforms to stay up and away from melee attackers on the ground while pelting them with a projectile attack of some sort.
Next are the nature and water brushes.
The water brush can be used to erase the platforms you made with the road brush and can also wash away certain enemy projectile attacks. It can also interact with other parts of the environment, to interesting effect. Applying the water brush to a fire creates "burning hot steam that assaults opposing samurai and archers", and using it on a line of clouds results in a large scale lightning storm that can slow and damage large groups of enemies.
Meanwhile, the nature brush gives you more direct offensive strokes allowing the player to summon forth "devastating walls of flame to engorge their enemies or localized storm clouds right above their heads to rain down damaging bolts of electricity".
All this environmental mojo uses up ink from your character's ink well. That's where the rear touch panel comes in. Whenever you need a little more juice, all you have to do is slide your finger across it a few times and your ink well fills right up. However, this comes with a few risks. According to the press release, your character "remains perfectly still, and is completely vulnerable" while doing so. Sounds like smart resource management and picking the right moments to fill back up will be vital in order to make the most of these fancy brush techniques.
Last, but not least is the call brush, which sounds like the most impressive to me. Through more elaborate, multi-stroke swipes, the player can summon different "Inkgods" to fight alongside them. We've already seen glimpses of both Shidou, the lion and Yomihi, the phoenix in the official trailer, but we haven't actually seen what they do yet. I imagine that they'll sport some powerful attacks, or maybe even confer bonuses of some sort on your character. However, regardless of what their exact functionality winds up being, I'm sure they'll both look awesome and transform into motorcycles. Because that's what summons do. Because Square Enix.
Check back for more Sumioni: Demon Arts news and media as it's Spring 2012 release draws nearer.
The most basic brush stroke is called the road brush, and it allows players to create solid platforms for your character to jump on. I'm sure it will be used liberally in platforming sections, but I'm actually really curious to see if it has any combat applications. For instance, it might be cool to create a series of platforms to stay up and away from melee attackers on the ground while pelting them with a projectile attack of some sort.
Next are the nature and water brushes.
The water brush can be used to erase the platforms you made with the road brush and can also wash away certain enemy projectile attacks. It can also interact with other parts of the environment, to interesting effect. Applying the water brush to a fire creates "burning hot steam that assaults opposing samurai and archers", and using it on a line of clouds results in a large scale lightning storm that can slow and damage large groups of enemies.
Meanwhile, the nature brush gives you more direct offensive strokes allowing the player to summon forth "devastating walls of flame to engorge their enemies or localized storm clouds right above their heads to rain down damaging bolts of electricity".
All this environmental mojo uses up ink from your character's ink well. That's where the rear touch panel comes in. Whenever you need a little more juice, all you have to do is slide your finger across it a few times and your ink well fills right up. However, this comes with a few risks. According to the press release, your character "remains perfectly still, and is completely vulnerable" while doing so. Sounds like smart resource management and picking the right moments to fill back up will be vital in order to make the most of these fancy brush techniques.
Last, but not least is the call brush, which sounds like the most impressive to me. Through more elaborate, multi-stroke swipes, the player can summon different "Inkgods" to fight alongside them. We've already seen glimpses of both Shidou, the lion and Yomihi, the phoenix in the official trailer, but we haven't actually seen what they do yet. I imagine that they'll sport some powerful attacks, or maybe even confer bonuses of some sort on your character. However, regardless of what their exact functionality winds up being, I'm sure they'll both look awesome and transform into motorcycles. Because that's what summons do. Because Square Enix.
Check back for more Sumioni: Demon Arts news and media as it's Spring 2012 release draws nearer.
