Himeko Sutori | The upcoming tactical JRPG by Rockwell Studios

Introducing Himeko Sutori

Himeko Sutori is the upcoming tactical JRPG by Rockwell Studios, successfully Kickstarted in May 2016. The game is currently in development with a planned release in 2017 on Steam and other online marketplaces.

Himeko Sutori is a deep, story-driven, tactical RPG in the style of the Japanese classics of the genre. It steps beyond convention however with huge, epic battles between armies of over 100 unique named characters, controlled at the squad level–as opposed to the individual level–in order to keep the action moving quickly.

Stacking the deck to ensure more character-class unlocks

by Nathaniel | June 27, 2017 | Development, Technical | 0 Comments

We should probably do a more in-depth look at probability in RPGs or video games in general. But for now, this is what we're doing with probability in Himeko Sutori. The way level-ups work in Himeko Sutori is you get XP (or experience points, but if you're reading a...

Video updates showing off alpha test campaign

by Nathaniel | May 31, 2017 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments

First, the latest video: There you'll see all the pieces coming together. There's dialog with interactive NPCs (which are very easy to make in the campaign editor we'll be releasing), shops, crafting, and treasure chests. And that's just in the starting town! You'll...

Overhaul of item stats, planned from the start this time.

by Nathaniel | April 19, 2017 | Development, Technical | 0 Comments

We are finally getting into the long overdue overhaul of the equipment stats. At first when I made the equipment in the game I just kind of thought "I'll put some numbers in here and then go back and balance it later." There are going to be hundreds of items in the...

March 2017 update: level-up cards, graphical improvements, more portraits, campaign loader, and random loot

by Nathaniel | March 31, 2017 | Art, Development, Technical | 0 Comments

Here is this month's update video! The video pretty much says it all, but let's dive into details here: Here is the list of available campaigns, along with the campaign name and description. Those details, plus the level to load in order to start your campaign, are...

More updates: World map, combat, and music. Now the game engine is pretty much complete.

by Nathaniel | February 26, 2017 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments

It looks like I forgot to post the official January update, and here it is the end of February. So I guess I have two official video updates to show. The video updates pretty much say it all, but if you prefer reading to watching, let me sum it up for you: World map...

Trying to unify the look of Himeko Sutori

by Nathaniel | January 12, 2017 | Art, Development, Technical | 0 Comments

In a few online forums I've been some getting feedback as I work on Himeko Sutori. Here, here, and here for example. One thing that those forums have helped me realize is that I still don't have a unified look for the game. One person put it like this: One criticism...

World map with day/night cycle WIP

by Nathaniel | January 7, 2017 | Art, Development | 0 Comments

So I've started working on the world map for Himeko Sutori. Not the actual map to be used in the finished game, but the functionality for navigating the map, getting from one place to another, and triggering events. I started off thinking about one of my favorite...

December update: Menu upgrades, plus vendor system

by Nathaniel | December 28, 2016 | Development | 0 Comments

Hi everyone! It's time for the official monthly update. I've moved to Egypt and I'm now working on Himeko Sutori full time. In the last couple of weeks I've done a lot of work on the menus and on some systems in the background that you won't really notice. Since...

Art comparison: Two years of progress

by Nathaniel | December 12, 2016 | Art | 0 Comments

I've been working on some sprites lately. One sprite sheet I sent over to Shane to finish up. The other I'm working on myself. I may be biased, but I was pretty pleased with myself over these. And I decided to compare them to what I had been doing two years ago. At...

November update (a little late): Manual squad placement, automatic equipment optimization

by Nathaniel | December 11, 2016 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments

Hey everyone! Sorry this update is a little late. The Kickstarter, YouTube, and Facebook updates all went up in November, but I just haven't had the time to blog about it here. To catch you up, in November we added manual squad placement and automatic equipment...

The core gameplay is essentially finished and now the alpha test campaign is under development. When we are satisfied with alpha testing, we will move on to beta testing with our Kickstarter backers. From there we will decide on the game’s release date.

Until then, please feel free to take a look around and learn more about Himeko Sutori.