Here's another, slightly bigger, Rainbow Skies development update. Our completion status is currently about 75% and we have recently started balancing the game. The first couple of hours are already well playable, although there will still be the usual changes and tweaks here and there.

In today's update we focus on Rainbow Skies' battle system. Built on Rainbow Moon's grid & turn-based battle system, we've implemented a lot of new features and improvements for a faster and simplified approach.

We would like to run you through some of the more important changes in the following screenshots.

I. Simplified Move & Attack

As the move & attack commands are commonly used, they no longer need to be selected from the battle menu. Simply push the directional buttons into the designated direction and your character immediately walks (free field) or attacks (occupied field).

II. Damage Prediction & Affinity

Before attacking an enemy, a new damage prediction UI helps you determine roughly how effective your attack will be and shows your weapon affinity status in comparison to your enemy. The damage prediction bar is divided into standard damage (dark blue) and bonus damage caused by skill level, conditions and other bonuses. (light blue)

III. New Battle Menu

A sleek new battle menu pops in if you would like to execute one of the less frequently used commands, such as using items or escaping from battle. All commands are viewable without scrolling. The skills menu can also be accessed directly using the square button shortcut without opening the menu first.

IV. Skill XP Progress UI

After executing a skill, the skill XP increases and the current progress and level is shown on screen. Skills can level up and new skills can be unlocked through continuous use.

V. Item Reward Requester

When picking up loot, the new item reward requester contains additional item information. It also allows you to learn new books and skills without closing the requester.

VI. Turn Order Lookup

Up to 20 turns can now be looked up in extended turn order display mode. Turn orders are now also immediately refreshed if the speed attribute of a unit changes during the battle. (e.g. for slowed/hasted status)

VII. More skills...

There will be more than 200 skills in Rainbow Skies. Here are a few new screenshots of some of the skills in the game. We hope that you like them! :)

VIII. General

Not necessarily related to the battle system but a lot of other changes can be found in the series of screenshots above, including:

• New character on-screen portraits
• New clock design
• New turn display
• Party arrows
• New battle pattern symbols
• Torch icon (when light magic is active)

We hope that you've enjoyed today's update. Please let us know your thoughts and questions in the comments below.