Genre: Simulator, Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Adventure
Mahou Arms
Work In Progress - Spell/Magic Systems, UI Updates, Drones, World Traversal
Hey all! Just wanted to show a couple things we've been working on for the next build.
Spellcards:
The girls will have another tool in their combat arsenal: Spells and Toolspells. Spells can be executed any time in combat as long as there is enough MP. Here's the basic spell "Butterfly Ball" being used mid-combo:
"Butterfly Ball" is a basic, lightly homing shot that launches after a short warm-up period. It explodes on contact and deals AOE damage. It has a cooldown of 5 seconds. It costs one MP bar. (100MP)
Toolspells:
Toolspells are utility abilities designed to be used out of combat, though some have combat utility as well. You're already familiar with the Scan toolspell, which aids in exploration by highlighting enemies and items. One toolspell that's being added to the game is the Survey Drone toolspell, which is used to get detailed information from scannable entities and aids in locating survivors and items for certain quests.
Survey Drone Toolspell:
The new Spells and Toolspells consume MP. We've updated the combat systems so MP is slowly gained by dealing damage. If combat isn't replenishing MP fast enough, MP replenishing items have also been added:
Spells and toolspells can be equipped in the new Equip menu, which can be accessed from the Pause menu. More spells and toolspells have been planned and are currently in the works.
Holster 2.0:
The Holster has been updated so that any 3 equipped items and spellcards can be ready at a time. There's also two sets of holsters per character, expanding the total of ready items to 6. Holsters are unique per character.
Equip Menu (WIP):
The Equip menu, accessed from the Pause menu, is used to change holstered items, spellcards, toolspells, combo meters (WIP), and cosmetics (WIP). Each character has their own equipment. It is currently in a very WIP state, but will enter the next build in its current state as it is still useful.
World Traversal:
We've connected the new Vanaheim Carrier Area (the base) to Astoria in New Inverness via the dropship. With this, the various missions are finally connected, and the mission selection menu will no longer be needed to progress throughout the game. The girls can simply travel around the world as you would expect them to.
This update is by no means all-inclusive: there's lots we can't show publicly quite yet. There are also various small updates not discussed here, like bugfixes and the new Henshin particle effect for Amelia that we've quietly added.
We'd also like to apologize for the delays on this update. It's been really stressful for us too making you all wait so long. The majority of the things we've been working on requires tearing up the underlying connective tissue of the game, which makes it particularly hard to push smaller builds. We're trying to set up the game for the final story / progression structure, making it a little hard to release chapters piecemeal until the new connections are done. Once everything is reconnected, it will be easier to add smaller bits of content again.
Thanks for reading and we deeply appreciate your support all this time.
-softmode/paperbag, edited by VolatileCarbon
Mahou Arms Progress Update - February 2024
Hello Everyone!
I know it's been a while since our last update and timeline, so we wanted to take an opportunity to show what's coming up and our plans for the future.
The Next Update
First up, let's talk about what's coming in the next update. It's a fairly big one. Here's a quick summary:
GARDA aircraft carrier base (new level/mission and home base for the player)
3 New Settlements Populated by NPCs
Sidequests available from NPCs
The long awaited Soul Retrieval functionality. You can find souls and imbue drones with them, who will wander around your base!
Please enjoy some screenshots/videos of the upcoming content. We're hoping to release it in the next couple months. You may have seen some of these pictures/videos before on our social media, but not everyone follows us on other platforms so we thought it was important to share it here as well.
Soul Management System: New Drone Model GARDA base: Ark Settlement (Inside the GARDA base): GARDA Dormitory: Air Vents (for side quest): Astoria Settlement: Exodus Settlement: NPC Customization (for internal use):
Videos
Butterfly Character: Updated Drone Racing Server Room 1: https://twitter.com/mahouarms/status/1744706509572124797
Server Room 2: https://twitter.com/mahouarms/status/1744707111014318317
Coming Soon
In addition to what's planned for the next update, I'd also like to discuss and show some of what we've been working on. There are some mild spoilers here.
Sea of Souls
This is a new level which is mostly narrative-based. Pretty.
Siberia
This is a new combat level where Susan will be introduced in the narrative. It is quite large and will contain another settlement with NPCs and sidequests. This area is still a work in progress.
Future Plans
We're a very small team with high standards and this has led to a slower production process. However, we, like everyone else, want the game to be done and available for everyone to play as soon as possible. We feel like there is now enough content in the pipeline to deliver a satisfying experience for our fans, once it's polished and released.
Therefore, we plan to refine this content and get it done by the end of the year. We will consider the game to be complete at this point, although we may continue to work on it post-release if we can't finish everything we hope to. Those updates will be free, of course.
Thank you as always for your support!
Photo Mode, Codex, and Drone Racing Update Live! (V0.3.1581)
Build 0.3.1581 is live! This build includes photo mode, a new codex (very WIP, accessible from main menu), the start of brand new accessibility options, and a new drone racing minigame! There are also various tweaks, bugfixes, and some general QoL improvements!
Featured Additions:
Photo Mode
Drone Racing Minigame
Codex
Accessibility: Dialogue Text Size
Other Changes (since V.0.3.1457)
Accessibility options added: Dialogue Text Size, Camera Movement (reduced option reduces camera shakes and FOV changes)
Helper icon fetching code optimized, in some cases rare 60-100ms lag spikes are mitigated to ~8-20ms when spawning UI menus with lots of helper icons
Additional helper icons added
Tutorials have been added; can be turned off in Gameplay Settings
Update the UI styling for Inventory and Journal in-game menus
Additional particle effects added to some enemies
Quest names updated
When using Amelia's Gun Mode, the crosshair no longer auto-positions (shots still have a small aim-assist)
Gun Mode crosshair style updated, also turns red and converges when placed on a valid target
Drone Racing minigame added. Turn left upon entering Rhyme's Square in Chapter 3 to find the pilot chair to access the first racetrack (currently the only racetrack in the game)
Leaderboard UI menu added; currently only used for Drone Racing minigame
List, grid, and popup menus now support autorepeat key input when the gamepad joystick is kept in a direction
Ocean shader updated and stylized
Fixed a small gap in the background for Settings and Pause UI
Fixed a bug where choice menus don't support D-pad navigation
Fixed a bug where some drill attacks don't respect master volume sliders
Fixed a couple bugs where pausing during transitions are playing soft locks the game
Fix a bug where Amelia would loop her run stop animation when she is running at a boundary speed between running and walking
Fixed various bugs when transitioning between Drone Mode, Pause, and Gameplay
Various other bugfixes
Fixed a spelling inconsistency for Dragon Fall
Fixed a level streaming error in Rockefallen Dining Room
Fixed a glitch where interacting with a UseTrigger makes it impossible to respawn
Enemies standing higher than Susan can now be pulled a little more reliably when there's a vertical bump in the way between them
Enemy markers no longer vanish on the map
Ch3 Quest properly named Ch3 instead of Ch1
Fixed a bug where dying in Ch1 makes the UI vanish
Fixed a bug where standard size text box has text overflow
Hotfix for Character Selection Bug
As was previously mentioned, some users have been experiencing an issue with the character select screen that does not allow them to progress past it.
We have just released a hotfix which updates the character screen to match the standard menu style. This should resolve the issue. For any users who experienced the issue, we'd appreciate it if you could confirm it fixed in the community discussion, discord, or on twitter.
Below is a screenshot of how the new character select screen looks.
Thank you for your understanding while we worked on this fix.
Character Select Bug Affecting a Small Portion of Users
This is just a quick post to let players know that we are aware of a significant bug that is affecting a small number of users.
Bug Description
When you start a new chapter in the latest update, you are supposed to get a screen allowing you to select between playing as Susan or Amelia. Unfortunately for some users this screen does not appear correctly, meaning that they cannot progress into the level.
How We Will Address This
After investigation we cannot determine what is causing this bug, other than the fact that it seems to be related to non-English region settings on player's computers. We cannot replicate the bug locally so it's difficult to fix.
Instead, since the screen was only meant to be a placeholder anyway, we will be redesigning the screen as a "proper" menu screen, similar to the rest of the main menu. Since the rest of the main menu works, this should fix the bug.
Timeline
We apologize for the inconvenience to players suffering from this bug. It is a high priority fix that we will try to get out as soon as possible. It may take a few days to a week to fix the bug, depending on whether the redesigned screen suffers from the same issue and the availability of users suffering from this issue to test our fix.
Thank you for your patience. We will post another update when the issue is resolved.
Susan Gameplay Introduction Build Live! (0.3.1457)
Build 0.3.1457 is live! This build includes Susan: a new playable character! There is also a new training mission, as well as various tweaks, bugfixes, and gameplay additions from the previous build!
Featured Additions:
Susan, a new playable character. Press the Special/Use button (E on M/KB and B on Xbox-style gamepads) to trigger Dragon Claw: a grappling attack that can pull enemies toward you or you toward enemies, depending on whether the button is tapped or held. Feyntan was the hard carry for Susan as her move designer/animator! Thank you, Feyntan!
New Training Mission for Susan
Ring Radar: Incoming projectiles are now indicated on the Ring Radar
Minimap UI element added
Environment art direction tweak: More stylized skies, lighting, and distant post-processing
Other Changes (Since V.0.3.1176):
Air Dodge Counters added
Fix: Some attacks should no longer hit twice when they should only hit once.
Silhouette Post-Process Material updated to only show Player Silhouette when the player is occluded
Fix: a bug with the crosshair in Gun Mode
Force feedback added to some animations
UI Tutorials updated to format text dynamically based on Keyboard/Gamepad Input Mode
Style for Loading screen hints has been updated
More loading hint screens added, old ones updated
Overall balance tweaks
More particle effects added to Perfect Dodge
Toon Skin Shader now has a stylized ringlight
General lighting tweaks and updates to all existing levels
Some environment art polish to co_office
Susan character portraits added
Additional rose particles added to some attacks
Some attacks renamed
Fix: Baroness now deals the correct damage on her slash attack
Baroness's slash attack now has a particle effect that plays to better differentiate it from her Spiky Balls attack. It also has a swipe effect as well now.
Rockefallen now has an Expanding Ring particle effect to indicate it is the center of a mind control transmitter
Fix: Flamethrower Corrupt's attacks now use projectiles instead of a static hitbox, which means it won't hit through walls anymore.
Combo will now be retained through the phase-change cutscene during the Baroness Boss Fight
Various bugfixes
Notice: Certificate Error with Launcher and Website Resolved
This is just a quick post to notify you that the certificate error with the Launcher/Website has been resolved. Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.
Notice: Certificate Error with Launcher and Website
We're aware of a certificate expiring and causing issues with launcher and mahouarms.com website. We're working on it now, but while it's being worked on there might be access issues with the launcher and website. We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience!
We'll update you when the issue has been resolved.
Status Update: Potpourri
Happy March! It's time for a big status update. Lots of things have been happening, so we'll break it up into various sections.
Art:
Many pieces of concept art have been created for GARDA HQ. Here are some highlights:
Animation:
Susan now has grapple animations. We've had to revamp most of the input and animation systems to get this to work. Note that her moveset is still a work in progress and the content of the video does not represent Susan's final state as of yet. [previewyoutube="Fn-ooPMvdag;full"]
Level Design:
Three levels have been blocked out and implemented (basic). They don't look like much yet, but here are some screenshots:
Game Systems Design:
We've spent a lot of time on documentation to codify the gameplay, progression systems, and overall pacing of the main story missions. We're planning on reworking the in-combat item system to support spells (more details later).
Game design for crafting, shops, and spells/equipment has been started.
Butterfly Cannon for traversal has been created and implemented in various blockout levels.
This isn't everything we've been working on, but it's what we wanted to show right now. Thanks for reading and thank you for your continued support!
Mahou Arms Original Soundtrack Coming to Steam!
We're pleased to announce that the Mahou Arms Original Soundtrack will be coming to Steam! This soundtrack features over 19 tracks composed by Dale North. Relive all the excitement of Mahou Arms in this beautiful soundtrack which will be going on sale later today with a 10% launch discount!
