From the Strategy Map to a Third-Person 3D RPG — Building the New GEKOKUJO

Development on GEKOKUJO: Vagrant Crown is now shifting its focus from the previous strategy-map-centered structure toward a third-person 3D RPG where you travel through the world from behind your character.

In this Development Update, we want to introduce the direction of the new GEKOKUJO and the major systems currently in development.

A NEW FIELD BUILT FOR THIRD-PERSON TRAVEL

We are building an explorable field where the protagonist can travel alongside their Wolf Companion through roads, forests, rivers, waterfalls, and routes leading toward settlements. This is more than a camera change. We are revisiting the scale and shape of the terrain, vegetation density, river flow, fallen trees, rocks, and other details to make the journey itself feel like part of the game.

REBUILDING THE FOUNDATIONS OF BATTLE

The Battle System is also being reorganized for combat in the new third-person field. We are creating a shared foundation for the protagonist, NPCs, enemies, the wolf, and temporary reinforcements, while rebuilding how attack range, weapon timing, enemy targeting, and the flow from the start to the end of a battle are handled.

We are also connecting Vagrant, the first Main Job in this new structure, to live combat. Its Job Level progression, unique abilities, and adaptation-based mechanics are now undergoing gameplay and regression testing.

PARTY MEMBERS WHO REMAIN PART OF THE LIVING WORLD

The foundation for a three-character Party, including the protagonist, is also in development. Rather than replacing an NPC with a separate party-only copy, our goal is for the same person who lives in the Living World to join you—and to retain their name, relationships, experience, and Job after leaving the Party. The Wolf Companion is designed to travel separately from those three Party slots.

We are currently continuing work on walk and run animations, combat stances, Battle VFX, and in-game testing for the Job and Party systems. These features are still in development, but they form an important foundation for bringing the new GEKOKUJO toward Early Access.

Thank you for following the development of the game. Future updates will take a closer look at the walk and run animation improvements, followed by progress on the new Battle System, with current in-game footage whenever it is ready to show.