Many years ago Aellyn's Writing Director Ben dreamed of writing his own children's book, while the Creative Director Mel always dreamed of making a video game. So in the wise words of Old El Paso por que no los dos?

As many of you know we have started the development of Oaris a cosy Space Exploration. However, due to the size of the video game we are also working on a smaller game to expand our skills and knowledge as a team. MMOs are the hardest to develop after all. So we like to introduce Tales of the Valente. We have shown off a little about TotV over the last week on our social media.

The story of Tales of the Valente follows a kid named Bastien as he faces his fears in his own little fantasy world and through his life. Little shy Bastien becoming Sir Bastien as he slays monsters and conquers the darkness amongst other things.

What makes this game so unique? Don't worry I didn't just leave you hanging before. Ben and Mel have collaborated on the story behind Tales of the Valente. Creating a story book for our younger audiences and a cosy little video game for our older audiences. Inspiration for the design taken from games like Plucky Squire, Wylde Flowers, Hue, It Takes Two and so many more.

The game will take place in a 3D world of Bastien's life. You will see his fears come to life as he moves through his house and interacts with his family and friends. Starting out as a shy, terrified little boy. Inside his bedroom he lets his imagination run wild and will take you into the world of The Glowing Forest where he is a knight. Sir Bastien! Brave and outgoing warrior ready to protect the kingdom! Helping others feel brave.

Fight Monsters like spiders or the Monsters under the bed in unique none combat based ways and help Bastien build that confidence to feel like Sir Bastien in the real world and fight through his fears.

The childrens story book on the other hand will have some variations in story. This is because of the younger target audience but also due to the interactive level needed for a video game. Sir Bastien still fighting to help his kingdom and protect them from monsters like giant three headed dogs.

Why have so many differences between the two when they are meant to work hand in hand? As previously mentioned, we are targeting slightly different audiences. But also keeping a video game so much like the book itself wouldn’t leave as much room for player choices and engagement.

So why have different target audiences? The childrens book is designed to help teach little kids how to overcome their fears. Helping them face them and overcome what is truly scaring them. However, the game is designed to do the same but not. Yes the moral of the story is still there hidden amongst the game play. But we also able to expand and create our own little world to engage even adults into this game. Something fun to unwind with.

Thank you all for supporting Aellyn Studios. As the first blog post and more detailed behind the scenes to the initial stages of Tales of the Valente. Including the original art for Bastien, branding and some behind the scenes in the development of the game itself.

During the first stages of Tales of the Valente we knew the art style was going to be very important. Needing to find the perfect artist to capture the design behind Bastien and his companions and enemies.

Through research Niko was found and boy does she do Bastien justice! That isn’t to say there has been lots of work behind the scenes to get the characters perfect as well as ready to be 3D modelled for the game itself.

During some work with Niko she also brought a few additional artists forward to ease her workload and allow for some more amazing content to be brought out! Which brought Kureeye and Wumble to the team!

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Branding also has been very important to the early stages of Tales of the Valente. Although we are still working on a potential update to the branding we have found a font that suits the theme and values we wanted to have within the game and story book.

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