Godshard Chronicles: A Retro-Meets-Modern Action RPG
Created by J-Cat Games Limited
Combining the best of yesteryear and today: 2-player co-op, branching quests, and rich storytelling!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Autumn 2024 Update
25 days ago
– Sun, Oct 27, 2024 at 10:00:31 AM
Autumn 2024
Elmon Dean here. Apologies for the delayed update. About two weeks ago, I lost my mother after a 10+ year battle with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare and devastating brain disease marked by neurological decline. This journey was painful and deeply challenging, lasting over a decade.
I wanted to share this because my mother was the one who bought me the JRPGs that sparked my love for the genre and encouraged me to start this game project—even when others thought it was just a pipe dream. She now joins my father, who passed away decades earlier. Thank you for your understanding during this time.
Left: My mother and I around 2009 before PSPRight: My mother on October 12, 2024 days before dying
Will this affect the development of Godshard Chronicles? No. In fact, I promised my mother before she passed that I would see this project through, assuring her that all was well and she needn’t worry anymore. It’s thanks to her that this project exists in the first place. One of our team members also lost his mother last year, so we’ll be dedicating the game to their memories.
Thank you for reading this, even though it isn’t directly related to game development. Now, onto the game-related news…
Updated Game Feature
Our awesome team members Decky and Peter have been hard at work designing several new features for the game. Here is one of them:
Premium Edition Fall Direct
That feature is just a small part of what we've been working on. Most of our updates will be in the upcoming Premium Edition Direct, airing on October 28 at 8:00 pm EST. We held off on announcing this earlier to give Premium Edition the exclusive first reveal.
Watch the video here (available from Oct. 28 - 8pm EST onwards):
Note: We'll also post a separate video on YouTube after the Direct premiers.
Jennifer Stigile & Noriyuki Iwadare
This December, Jennifer will finally meet Noriyuki Iwadare in person to record the new song for Godshard Chronicles. Although Jennifer has sung on several of Iwadare-sensei's compositions before, this will be their first face-to-face meeting! Both are thrilled, and I can't wait to hear the final recording.
Signed OSTs + Bonus Signature
We've added a limited number of signed soundtracks to our Backerkit store. If you’d like your soundtrack signed by Noriyuki Iwadare, now’s your chance! Plus, we’re including an extra bonus for past and future orders of this item: a signature by Jennifer Stigile herself!
We’ve launched a new Gamedev Guide series on our YouTube channel, where we’re considering sharing more of our development process along with a "Making of" video. We'll be sure to include Jennifer's recording session this December. If there’s something specific you’d like us to cover, let us know in the comments below!
That’s all for this month. We’d love to share more, but we’ll let the upcoming Direct video speak for itself. In the meantime, here are some bonus screenshots of our game to tide you over until the next update:
If you're interested in following us or learning more, here are our links:
Last but not least, I'd like to shout out to Maple Story, a Soublazer/Link's Awakening-inspired RPG. There's not much time remaining on this Kickstarter, but you can back it now if you act quickly:
Backer Update #6: Reward Fulfilment
about 2 months ago
– Tue, Sep 24, 2024 at 06:47:23 AM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Summer 2024 Update
3 months ago
– Tue, Aug 20, 2024 at 04:36:09 AM
Hello Everyone,
Elmon Dean here with some exciting development updates! Over the past two months, we've been deeply engaged in pre-production, focusing on refining the level design, skill trees, and overall gameplay. While much of this work involves detailed documentation, we do have some visual progress to share with you: screenshots!
New Areas
We’re excited to unveil some new tilesets, which have pushed our total completed assets to over 60%. Check out the scenery below, including some views of the city!
As with any typical city, there are both good and bad areas. Those of you who have read the novels will recognise the Pinch & Tickle—a place that tends to attract a more unsavoury crowd.
More Variety of Attacks
We've also added more attack animations since our Kickstarter campaign. Here is Adanna executing a combo attack:
Rewards Fulfilment Phase 2: Digital Comics
We mentioned this in our backer-exclusive update last month, but it bears repeating: We’ve sent out the Backer Edition of the digital comics via Backerkit. Please check the inbox of the email address linked to your Kickstarter or Backerkit account. Every backer should have received their copy, so if you haven’t seen it, be sure to check your spam folder.
Since then, we have released Issue #4 on Amazon Kindle. If you haven't picked it yet, you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D8174ZXC
(Note: The proceeds from digital comic orders will also help fund our game development.)
For those curious about the physical comics, Antarctic Press will be releasing them in 2025.
Tokyo Comic Con
We're also planning to have a booth at Tokyo Comic Con this December. If you're in Japan, feel free to stop by and check out our physical merchandise. I’ll be there along with manga artist Hiroshi Kanatani. We’ll share more details closer to the event!
In the meantime, here is our promotional trailer for the comics on our YouTube channel (please subscribe for video updates!):
Next Steps: Development & Fulfilment
As we wrap up the final stages of pre-production, our focus will shift to creating and refining the areas for the demo.
We'll also be mailing out the remaining orders for the statues and cassette tapes—unless you requested to wait on receiving them. Additionally, we’re in the process of designing the NPCs for those who selected the 'Design an NPC' tier. These are coming along beautifully, and we look forward to sharing them in a future update.
If you're a newcomer, feel free to support us by choosing one of the following:
Once again, thank you again for helping us! Your excitement is our excitement! Thank you for reading, and we'll keep doing our best.
Till next time,
Elmon Dean Todd
Backer Update #5: Comics & Development
4 months ago
– Thu, Jul 18, 2024 at 01:49:03 PM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Fulfilment Phase 1 & Comics
5 months ago
– Tue, Jun 25, 2024 at 09:21:29 AM
Hello Everyone,
Elmon Dean here. We've had a few backer-only updates, so here's an update everyone can see. As we forge ahead with development, I'm thrilled to show you how the houses in Godshard Chronicles will appear:
The left picture shows the outside of the house, and the other two show each of its respective floors. Notice how the interior design matches the exterior design. Our level designer/mapmaker Decky will create the other houses in this manner.
We also have some exciting things in the works, which we'll share in the following updates.
Rewards Fulfilment Phase 1: Digital Wallpapers
We have sent out the first round of desktop and mobile wallpapers via Backerkit. Please check the inbox of the email address linked to your Kickstarter or Backerkit account. Every backer should receive them, so check your spam box in case you haven't received anything. We plan to send out more wallpapers in the future, so if these don't catch your fancy, you'll have other options.
Note: Backerkit registers items as SKUs. In order to create a catchall to give everyone who pledged the wallpapers, we linked the wallpaper SKU to every item on the store. That means that you will receive as many copies of the wallpapers as items you ordered. So don't be alarmed when you receive multiple copies of the same wallpaper.
Backer-Edition Comics
Next up will be our Backer-edition comics, which are currently being finalised. We plan to release these later this summer. If you haven't claimed yours yet, you can still order them at our Backerkit store here: [link]
On top of the first 3 issues, the Backer-edition comics will contain tonnes of exclusive art, a variant cover, extra lore, and more. The comics are complete, but we will need time to compile the bonus content.
Godshard Comics Available Now on Kindle
If you can't wait for the Backer-edition, the Kindle edition digital comics of issues 1 and 2 are available now on Amazon. Issues 3 and 4 are available for pre-order and will be released soon. You can order/pre-order them below:
We recommend the Backerkit Store for the first three issues of the comics, as the backer-exclusive editions offer more content than the Kindle versions.
Physical Comics & Manga
We've just spoken to our publishers about the physical publications. There are plans to release a tankōbon-style (単行本) manga in Japan later this year, just in time for Tokyo Comic Con. This edition will be published in Japanese and available in bookstores across Japan. For those interested, we will share the relevant links when they become available.
We have some unfortunate news about the North American release of the physical comics. Our USA-based publisher, Antarctic Press, has informed us that the release date has been pushed back to September 2025, instead of summer 2024. However, we’ll notify you as soon as the physical copies are available!
In-Game Objects
For those of you who put your name or message in-game, here is an area where some will appear. For example, names and messages will appear on tombstones pictured here and in other locations. We're considering placing items with some of these objects to make finding them fun and rewarding. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Conclusion
Thank you again for checking in and supporting us. As always, if you have have any questions, come talk to us on our Discord server.
You can also follow our development on social media:
