Dev Blog Vol. 3 - How the Jewelers are coping with the next series

Hi, Toru Nakamura here, the director of Vivid World.

Apologies for the delay, but today, I’m excited to share a closer look at how randomness works when it comes to units in the game, and the new systems we’ve built around it.

If you are one of us who has ever experienced that moment when that one unit that would perfect the party just wouldn't show up...

This blog post is for you🖖

🐭The Evolution of the Jewelers... and the Arrival of a Devilish Newcomer

In Vivid World, several familiar faces from Vivid Knight make a return.

What's even better, they're joined by some brand-new characters as well.

Allow me to introduce a group of characters that play a major role in shaping your encounters with units: the Jewelers.

If you have played the DEMO, you must already know that the Jewelers are back.

These characters pop up at random locations during your run and offer a selection of random units for sale.

What unit do you get? That’s all up to fate.

You’ll still pay 30 Carats for one unit, and refreshing their stock costs 15 Carats...same as before.

(Charging players just to look at different wares... now that’s some ruthless capitalism if you ask me!)

So what’s new this time around?

For starters, their visual design has been completely revamped.

But it doesn’t stop there. We’ve gone deeper with their personalities and added more character-driven lore to bring them to life in new ways.

And yes… we’ve added an entirely new jeweler character as well!

Brings a fresh twist to these mid-run encounters!

The jewelers continue to be a core part of the Vivid series’s roguelite essence.

Whether they’re helping you pivot your strategy or throwing unexpected surprises your way.

Get ready to meet them all!

💎 Stein the Jeweler

A familiar face from Vivid Knight, the Jeweller returns once again to handle all your gem-trading needs, this time in the form of Grim Reaper👻

Its appearance might seem a bit more serious and stoic this time around, but his core role remains the same: buying and selling jewels.

We designed it with the image of a “student council president” from a school-themed anime... an upright, honor-student type who always plays by the rules.

Personality Traits: Dutiful, demands compensation even for kindness, hopeless with directions.

💎 Felsen the Nomad Jeweler

Just like in Vivid Knight, a Nomad Jeweler appears mid-run to offer a selection of units focused on a specific symbol, perfect for shaping your strategy.

It’s actually the older brother of Stein, but personality-wise, they couldn’t be more different.

While Stein is strict and serious, Felsen is cheerful, easygoing, and a natural at customer service.

It often praises Stein whenever the opportunity arises.

Just like before, it will often be sighted in the later stages of your dungeon run, ready to help your party building.

Personality Traits: Upbeat, clever, savvy merchant.

💎 Husslin the Demon Jeweler

A brand-new character debuting in Vivid World, Husslin appears randomly in the tougher, mid-to-late stages of the dungeon.

Unlike the other jewelers, it is not a reaper but a devil who mimics the jewelry business with his own shady twist.

Rumor has it that in his previous life, it was involved in all sorts of shady business.

It has even modeled its appearance after Stein and Felsen… but what kind of deal does it plan to strike with Lemuria? 🤔

Its mafia-like look isn’t just for show. His business practices are just as sketchy!

More details will be revealed later, so please stay tuned!

Personality Traits: Obsessed with making money, lacks pride or conscience, only takes actions that guarantee profit.

🧬New Feature: Jewelry Perfume

Next up, let us talk about Jewelry Perfume, a new item that lets players influence the unit lineup offered by jewelers.

What is a Jewelry Perfume?

Jewelry Perfume is a special fragrance item you can bring into the dungeon.

It alters the symbol color of the units sold by the Nomad Jeweler.

For example, if you’re wearing a blue-symbol perfume when you visit the Nomad Jeweler, its entire stock will consist of blue-symbol units only🔵

This gives you the power to target specific unit types and build your party around them more reliably.

It’s not full control, but it’s a tool designed to nudge luck in your favor.

There are also rare perfumes with special effects... the kind that might just save your run when things get tough.

As for how to get them…

I would like to keep that a surprise for now.

But here’s a hint: You might find someone willing to trade in a certain location.

Rumor has it a perfumer is hiding out there… 🤫

In the previous series Vivid Knight, we received a lot of feedback, pointing out that they can never get the unit they want, or the Party building feels like pure RNG in this game.

With Vivid World, we made some adjustments to address those concerns.

That’s why we’ve introduced new systems like perfume and new jeweler characters, which let players influence their party-building luck to some extent.

That said, the goal isn’t to build the go-to team with the desired units every single time.

Instead, these features are designed to be tools that add vivid color to the randomness, not eliminate it.

Whether to fight against fate, or go with its flow.

We’ve built the game so that choice is entirely up to you.

Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end!

Next time, we’ll be diving into some updates on the battle UI improvements.

See you again in the next dev blog!

Toru Nakamura