KickStarter Hibernaculum - sci-fi survival horror dungeon crawler from Wormwood Studios' Victor Pflug

[Hydro]

how is build variety in this game?

I predict it being very limited with the major emphasis on atmosphere snd style. Which would be disappointing really.

 

[Darkozric]

Congrats, you predicted that an Elvira-inspired game will have limited build variety, 2024 codex accounts...

 

[Hydro]

I draw my conclusions from that little info I am given. I am not expecting this to hit the builds variety of say Underrail.

What’s that Elvira? Sounds horny.

 

[Infinitron]

Animation/SFX test for Hibernaculum, Horror Sci-Fi RPG game that builds upon classic dungeon crawlers from a forgotten era. Survive the many dangers the Ship has to offer in your own way, with in-depth character creation & wide varying combat, quests, survival management and a driving grind to auger your character into the deepest reaches of... The Hibernaculum.

 

[Zariusz]

I think this could be even more uneasy if that thing also had eyes slightly twitching or moving in weird directions.

 

[luj1]

style w/o substance, kinda like disco elysium

 

[Hydro]

style w/o substance, kinda like disco elysium

Strong disagree. DE has very strong mechanics irrespectively of whether you call it RPG or not

 

[Ash]

Yes, it lets you save. Had considered limited saves to prevent save scumming. Won't do that but maybe in hard mode.

That or maybe iron man with exit save. Ain't no true survival horror without!

 

[Darkozric]

I am not expecting this to hit the builds variety of say Underrail.

Mention Underrail is completely retarded, since this game belongs to a different sub-genre. The games that draws inspiration from have nothing to do with build variety. It's like expecting puzzles from a strategy game.
Hibernaculum should be judged only if it manages to be a good successor of those games that tries to ape. The core pillars of those games are atmosphere, puzzle-solving, exploration, and to a lesser degree survival.

I predict it being very limited with the major emphasis on atmosphere snd style. Which would be disappointing really.

Lands of Lore was also limited combat/build wise, doesn't mean it was disappointing.

 

[Hydro]

I am not expecting this to hit the builds variety of say Underrail.

Mention Underrail is completely retarded, since this game belongs to a different sub-genre. The games that draws inspiration from have nothing to do with build variety. It's like expecting puzzles from a strategy game.
Hibernaculum should be judged only if it manages to be a good successor of those games that tries to ape. The core pillars of those games are atmosphere, puzzle-solving, exploration, and to a lesser degree survival.

I predict it being very limited with the major emphasis on atmosphere snd style. Which would be disappointing really.

Lands of Lore was also limited combat/build wise, doesn't mean it was disappointing.

The question I replied to was about builds.

 

[kangaxx]

featuring analog hardware & several period specific synthesizers (MT-32 era).

I dabble in music production in my spare time and love all that analogue stuff, can I ask which ones you use?

 

[Victor Pflug]

I am not expecting this to hit the builds variety of say Underrail.

Mention Underrail is completely retarded, since this game belongs to a different sub-genre. The games that draws inspiration from have nothing to do with build variety. It's like expecting puzzles from a strategy game.
Hibernaculum should be judged only if it manages to be a good successor of those games that tries to ape. The core pillars of those games are atmosphere, puzzle-solving, exploration, and to a lesser degree survival.

I predict it being very limited with the major emphasis on atmosphere snd style. Which would be disappointing really.

Lands of Lore was also limited combat/build wise, doesn't mean it was disappointing.

The question I replied to was about builds.

You replied to a question directed at me - but go ahead and explain how environment/room objects & enemy disposition & mindset affects attack rolls for us

 

[Victor Pflug]

style w/o substance, kinda like disco elysium

I like your style

 

[Victor Pflug]

featuring analog hardware & several period specific synthesizers (MT-32 era).

I dabble in music production in my spare time and love all that analogue stuff, can I ask which ones you use?

Anything I can afford that has a pedigree p much lol - I build my own units though.

 

[Victor Pflug]

I am not expecting this to hit the builds variety of say Underrail.

Mention Underrail is completely retarded, since this game belongs to a different sub-genre. The games that draws inspiration from have nothing to do with build variety. It's like expecting puzzles from a strategy game.
Hibernaculum should be judged only if it manages to be a good successor of those games that tries to ape. The core pillars of those games are atmosphere, puzzle-solving, exploration, and to a lesser degree survival.

I predict it being very limited with the major emphasis on atmosphere snd style. Which would be disappointing really.

Lands of Lore was also limited combat/build wise, doesn't mean it was disappointing.

Gonna tackle this as you seem to be in the scant few actually willing to discuss game mechanics lol

So - Elvira has zero influence on Hiber combat mechanics. We lean on yeah, Lands of Lore but really more Westwood's earlier EoB, & build on that.

AD&D 2e is the foundation for us as it was for Westwood but, well, like the Hiber literature out there mentions; we bring cRPG sensibilities and a survival mindset into THAT system.

Or at least God help me, I'm trying.

 

[Hydro]

I am not expecting this to hit the builds variety of say Underrail.

Mention Underrail is completely retarded, since this game belongs to a different sub-genre. The games that draws inspiration from have nothing to do with build variety. It's like expecting puzzles from a strategy game.
Hibernaculum should be judged only if it manages to be a good successor of those games that tries to ape. The core pillars of those games are atmosphere, puzzle-solving, exploration, and to a lesser degree survival.

I predict it being very limited with the major emphasis on atmosphere snd style. Which would be disappointing really.

Lands of Lore was also limited combat/build wise, doesn't mean it was disappointing.

The question I replied to was about builds.

You replied to a question directed at me - but go ahead and explain how environment/room objects & enemy disposition & mindset affects attack rolls for us

Aww man sorry for hijacking the question. When you’ll be able to tackle your butthurt, I’d be glad to hear more about those cool mechanics

 

[kangaxx]

featuring analog hardware & several period specific synthesizers (MT-32 era).

I dabble in music production in my spare time and love all that analogue stuff, can I ask which ones you use?

Anything I can afford that has a pedigree p much lol - I build my own units though.

Is this Eurorack shenanigans or pure building your own shit from scratch? I'm less up on that, but kudos if so. The sounds in your videos are fucking outstanding in my opinion.

 

[Victor Pflug]

featuring analog hardware & several period specific synthesizers (MT-32 era).

I dabble in music production in my spare time and love all that analogue stuff, can I ask which ones you use?

Anything I can afford that has a pedigree p much lol - I build my own units though.

Is this Eurorack shenanigans or pure building your own shit from scratch? I'm less up on that, but kudos if so. The sounds in your videos are fucking outstanding in my opinion.

Nah Eurorack was above my paygrade for the most part - I started building my own shit way back during Primordia production because I couldn't afford vintage synths. I was just circuit bending and rehousing junk & kids toys - after Primordia's release I bought some nice units before the market went insane - a lot of the music for Cloudscape was made on those (Oberheim, Ensonique, some sought after keys etc). Had to sell those to pay rent a few years later which sucked extra hard because that happened to be RIGHT before the vintage market went nuts. I had plans to buy them back, back then, too. Lol, more building my own shit for years - until now.

It's always been a mix of vintage obscure gear, usually the stuff noone else wants to fuck with because of a lack of pedigree. Kawai K1-M vector synth and a (was) cheap Akai S-20 sampler did most of the heavy lifting on the SL OST.

Best thing I built was the Klaxon though. What is the Klaxon?

It's just the Klaxon;

 

[Victor Pflug]

Uploaded in 8 colours due to image restrictions - but this is a quick demo of one of the many subtleties of our CHAR GEN - high INT on an ERSATZ type body and low CON causes low HP box loadout and few C&C items slots (our version of EoB spells which get created as items on rest as opposed to spell list blah blah - making those real items in game akin to spell scrolls any char can use - also of course TECH class excels at making TECH items as a Mage does mostly offensive magic. MED is our Cleric analog).

Reroll catches a more average score for INT & CON and you can see the HP and C&C adjustments play out... Hit a 10 which is mildly rare too - only synthetic characters can hit a 10 (similar to over 18 socres in ADnD). Mutoid has this for their CON etc etc

There's too much to mention in my butthurt state lol - plus you know, actual work to accomplish etc; that minor inconvenience.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

So - Elvira has zero influence on Hiber combat mechanics. We lean on yeah, Lands of Lore but really more Westwood's earlier EoB, & build on that.

Aw, what a shame. Elvira was so close to having a wonderful combat system, so close that anyone could do it if they desired. But it had one limitation, you only fought one enemy at a time, which if I'm reading your implications right, means that there will be no such mercy here. That said, I hope Elvira's feeling that every combat could result in your death will remain.

 

[Victor Pflug]

So - Elvira has zero influence on Hiber combat mechanics. We lean on yeah, Lands of Lore but really more Westwood's earlier EoB, & build on that.

Aw, what a shame. Elvira was so close to having a wonderful combat system, so close that anyone could do it if they desired. But it had one limitation, you only fought one enemy at a time, which if I'm reading your implications right, means that there will be no such mercy here. That said, I hope Elvira's feeling that every combat could result in your death will remain.

I dunno I felt like the Elvira system was just rock paper scissors with slightly more blood. Figuring out blast radii and incidental damage like it's bloody 40k has me thinking you know what?

That would have been a LOT easier. :D

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

So - Elvira has zero influence on Hiber combat mechanics. We lean on yeah, Lands of Lore but really more Westwood's earlier EoB, & build on that.

Aw, what a shame. Elvira was so close to having a wonderful combat system, so close that anyone could do it if they desired. But it had one limitation, you only fought one enemy at a time, which if I'm reading your implications right, means that there will be no such mercy here. That said, I hope Elvira's feeling that every combat could result in your death will remain.

I dunno I felt like the Elvira system was just rock paper scissors with slightly more blood. Figuring out blast radii and incidental damage like it's bloody 40k has me thinking you know what?

That would have been a LOT easier. :D

The original game's combat system? Where you match left or right as the enemy is swinging his sword at you? I'm not really sure I'd say that bit is true, but I admit I haven't thought about the system on that deep a level.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hibernaculumgame/hibernaculum-survival-horror-rpg/posts/4104840

HIBERNACULUM SURVIVAL/COMBAT MECHANICS UPDATE​

Greetings once more, Hibernians!

The month of April brings us ever nearer the reality of Hibernaculum becoming more than the sum of it's parts.

We now have fully implemented (barring more testing as we begin to really flesh out the playable regions leading to mid-game);

*32+ unique weapon types implemented (ranged & melee)
*HP, hitboxes and heal/craft items during REST fully working
*Equipment slots + pouches working (plus all associated adjusters)
*Respawning enemies
*Simulated combat dice rolls (based on DnD-esque system)
*Weapon "cooldown" (simulated turn-based)
*Enemy AI improvements
*Limb crippling
*Heaps of graphical additions including but not limited to;
*Blood!
*Fog!
*Corpses!

Essentially - the lattice from which the survival horror experience will hang from - is in now fully working in build. All of our survival, crafting, resting, healing and basic fighting mechanics are now fully implemented and working fluidly.

This is, I think, really what that keeps the more visceral and horrific stuff on the surface moving and making sense. So while all these mechanics/math happen under the hood and don't really get seen; doing it all right was I think fundamental to things like emergent gameplay and replayability in the long run being possible - plus being really an unseen but fundamental logic that draws the players mind into the experience on a deeper level than eye candy, and simply choosing Y/N (IMO).

I'm really proud of us. My team, my partner, our crew, myself. I know it's been a slow couple months for updates, and while the amazing Shade Meadows (our head of social media) does a great job keeping the crew updated minute to minute, I myself am still left to communicate our progress through him, not to mention it's me doing much of the social media marketing too - so when there's crunch on the engine I'm left with a lot of pots on the boil - hence the wait for this update.

I think in future we can get these updates out more frequently, though. In a way this was the main hurdle we had to overcome as a team - now having done this with flying colours it's time to really forge ahead and plumb the depths of the Hibernaculum.

Things are happening very hard and fast now with the build and updates lag behind the actual work significantly, so if you'd like to keep updating minute to minute of course remember we have our Discord channel for those interested;

https://discord.gg/k2ywK8rE

As well as the Youtube channel;



Along with of course our official Twitter feed;

https://x.com/HibernaculumRPG

And my personal dev/Hibernaculum feed;

https://x.com/modredcastleton

There is really SO much more I could talk about and show off here but I think the vast majority of you would agree my time is best spent doing the work rather than talking about it - although with that said I will strive to keep these updates more regular from here on out.

Now that the mechanical engine framework is essentially locked down, this allows us to really push building content out at a significantly faster pace along our planned dev pipeline schedule.

I'm really exited - I hope you are too!

Be seeing you

- Mords

 

[Hydro]

Is there any extensive gameplay showcase?

 

[hacknhack]

Is there any extensive gameplay showcase?

I don't think so but there are quite a few bits and pieces here:

https://www.youtube.com/@hibernaculum/videos