From color choice to outlines to enemy behavior to the power of sound, Hazelnut Bastille was developed through careful study of things that worked on the classic system.
A young woman arrives at a mysterious island seeking knowledge in Hazelnut Bastille. To find what she seeks to know, she’ll need to explore the island’s environments and buried ruins, fighting what lies inside in combat that may seem quite familiar to Zelda fans. She won’t be able to tackle these challenges all on her own, though, but will draw from the people she meets, as well as an array of powerful items (that need to be used in clever ways) before she’ll find what she needs.
Like many developers, Aloft Studios was inspired by the games they loved growing up, and have studied them carefully for their action RPG. They have looked at the hard lines and clearly-defined edges that went into environmental design, making the player highly aware of the space they could navigate at a glance, while also making visual elements truly pop out. Likewise, color from the era provided a clarity through contrast that the developers also mean to use in Hazelnut Bastille.
Combat and puzzle design also take inspiration from classic titles, giving players many items that can be used in multiple ways to help in fights or figuring out complex contraptions. This also ties into enemy design, as Hazelnut Bastille uses foes with specific patterns, but mixes them in various ways to provide challenge. All of this is tied together with its soundtrack (which Secret of Mana‘s Hiroki Kikuta is contributing to), creating an experience truly powered by the developers’ good memories and some deep thinking on why these elements stuck with them.
Hazelnut Bastille’s developers are currently raising development funds on Kickstarter. A demo is currently available through the developer’s site.
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