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Vapourware Frayed Knights 2 - sequel to the comedic blobber from Jay Barnson

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Frayed Knights 2: Painting the White Boxes

After a whole bunch of early, ugly, pre-pre-alpha screenshots from Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon found their way into reviews of the final game, I’ve been reluctant to show Work In Progress screens for Frayed Knights 2: The Khan of Wrath. Which totally sucks, because these are the kinds of things that I got some useful feedback from people during the development of the first game. I could post a big “WORK IN PROGRESS” stamp across the middle (they’ll cut out anything that’s along the edges), but that would kind of defeat the purpose.

Anyway, today’s small update is showing just how dependent I am on the artists. Nick, Kevin, and Taylor have all worked on the game making it look… like a game, instead of a programmer’s boxy proof-of-concept.

How we’ve been doing things is that I have been “white-boxing” the levels… making levels of the main geometry and principle scripted events, then handing them over to the artists to make them look good. While they are doing that, I can still work on the level, just so long as I don’t make any changes to the principle geometry.That way we can work concurrently on the same levels.

In theory, at least. In practice… we’ve had to work out some kinks. Still are. A lot of it is in communication, and that’s stuff I need to work on more. But things are coming along, limited by such constraints as family, day jobs, and school. Frickin’ priorities.

So here’s an example of a whiteboxed area that I’ve done:



And here’s the nearby area after Nick Lives has taken a pass at it:



This is still not complete (especially with lighting / water), but it’s a pretty good before / after view.

Another advantage of working with these guys is that they can add their own creativity to these areas, and I’ve found that creativity can magnify itself in small teams. They have ideas, I have ideas, and we bounce them off each other and get better ideas. All of us abhor the idea of “filler” content, in spite of the fact that these dungeons are HUGE on the average (our average size is about equal to the largest dungeons in FK1. We’ve only got a couple of fairly petite levels of only a dozen rooms or so), and so we all like coming up with ideas to make the visuals, the gameplay, or both stand out to keep things interesting all the way through.

So we get some more of Nick’s twisted imagination, off in the “back rooms”:





I guess you could say we’ve been working so quickly that some safety procedures have been bypassed, and some accidents have occurred. Tragic:



This is definitely a fun stage of development. It feels like the game is growing in HUGE steps now, which feels awesome. We’ve got a major milestone coming up at the first of June – the Salt Lake Gaming Con. While the game won’t be completed by then, we’re pushing to get as much done as possible by then so we can show off more of the game to people. That may be only non-interactively… RPGs are tough to show at a convention when you may have only a few seconds to a few minutes of someone’s attention as they are walking along.

It’s gonna be a busy, busy four months.

(Incidentally, the tool I’m using for white-boxing the levels is ProBuilder, which is a pretty awesome tool for Unity).
 

LESS T_T

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Codex 2014
Story of the knights:

Frayed Knights 2 – The Story Begins!

Our focus lately has been so heavy on level design that it’s hard for me to think about anything else to discuss about the game. I’m really, really excited about how this is working out, and I’m excited for you guys to play them. But… I don’t want to cross from “teaser” into “spoiler” territory. However, be warned: there will be some references to the events of the first game here, so if you are still pushing for victory in The Skull of S’makh-Daon and wish to be unsullied, don’t read past the WARNING notice a few paragraphs down.

NickBreakRoom.jpg


In Frayed Knights 2: The Khan of Wrath, we’re trying to improve everything about the original game. Story is a big one. While I feel I did an okay job on the first game, I really wanted to punch it up more for the second game. In addition to a more gripping and coherent story arc, I also want each of the 20 dungeon levels to feel like a self-contained story in their own right. Sort of like a TV series with each dungeon level acting like an episode. Self-contained, but moving the overall arc along.

So every area has its own history and back-story, as well a story that evolves while the adventurers tackle it. I’ve had a lot of fun working on the back-story of each dungeon, and the characters and personalities involved before the player ever arrives on the scene. A lot of this work won’t really ever be visible on the surface: as a player, you might only see a fraction of this. But it informs the level design, the lore, some of the narrative elements, what kinds of encounters you’ll face, etc.

So why are the Frayed Knights here?

WARNING: Minor spoilers for the first game, Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon, starting now.


Fear grows throughout the kingdom of the return of the arch-lich Nepharides, the villain of the Wizard War that nearly destroyed civilization just a few centuries ago. Scholars have uncovered a prophecy about his return, and signs of its imminent fulfillment are already appearing. The kingdom is trying to keep this information quiet and root out the problem, but it is growing desperate.

Meanwhile, the Adventurer’s Guild is faring little better. Its membership delves into the ruins of the old civilization and the hidden places that are on the forefront of many of these prophetic signs, and mortality rates have skyrocketed. Worse, a secret faction within the Guild has apparently sided with the forces of evil, and work to assist in Nepharide’s return.

While the Frayed Knights revealed one of the major conspirators, the Guild hasn’t fully rooted out this faction, and there are some within the Guild who would like nothing more than to see the Knights – and their rivals / allies the Heroes of Bastionne – die in lingering agony for what they’ve done. Not only has this prevented both groups from obtaining membership in the guild, but they’ve been counseled by none other than the guildmaster himself, Argus Stormhammer, to lay low for a while until the full conspiracy and those who would betray them are uncovered.

So… while these frightful events and turmoil at the highest levels are taking place, and the kingdom is frantically sending soldiers to prevent the prophecy before it is too late… the Frayed Knights are cooling their heels in the middle of frickin’ nowhere, in a community called Roark’s Roost. Adventuring opportunities are few and far between, and they get to share this annoying “vacation” with the Heroes of Bastionne.

At least the inn is cheap. And if the world ends tomorrow, Dirk won’t have to worry about settling up his bar tab.
 

Morkar Left

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He's making progress. I was already worried he might abandon a sequel. I really liked the first one.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Frayed Knights 2: The Rats Are Back!



You knew this, didn’t you? The Rats of Nom would be back in Frayed Knights 2? It’s be kind of lame if they weren’t.

The funny thing is that the whole “Rats of Nom / Farmer Brown’s Cellar” quest in Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon was really a set-up for a joke that doesn’t happen until the second game. It’s very satisfying to me that that particular quest has proven so popular and stood on its own. They’ve kinda become a signature Frayed Knights thing even from their brief appearance… although I’m sure that having them earlier in the game rather than later was helpful in that respect.


But while the cellar and tunnels in FK1 were really just an outpost of the nearsighted, intelligent, EVILrats of Nom, in FK2 you’ll be visiting a couple of their strongholds, and it’ll get… messy. The rats play a major role in FK2, and so you will be encountering the power of their fully operational battle station. Or something. But for that, we’re working on the look and feel of their levels, which are decidedly unique in their style and architecture. That’s one of the things that’s so rewarding (and such a pain in the butt to develop…) in the FK series… trying to make sure all the dungeons look and feel different. This is more than just texturing – it’s in the way it is laid out from the get-go.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Frayed Knights 2: Lovingly Hand-Crafted Pits of Despair!

Nick Lives has been working on content for Frayed Knights 2 (even livestreaming his work, if you want to watch his work in progress). I gotta admit, this is motivational even to me when I see the results. I want to play this game! Which of course means I’ve gotta finish it.



This project has altered substantially since I first started. I’ve learned a lot more about Unity since I started… which means it’s a challenge not to rip out old code and replace it on a constant basis. There’s so much that could be done better… but it would be better still to get this thing done!

The design has also changed a great deal since the first game, and since my original efforts. I was working so hard on tools at the very beginning to make content development go more quickly, which would have ended up with somewhat more generic environments. The focus changed some time ago. With the proliferation of Roguelikes and the flat-level first-person RPGs (which I’m personally thrilled about), having much more custom-designed, detail-packed dungeons seems like the way to go and provide something different.

With the number of dungeon levels in this game (WHY do I do this to myself?), it was crazy trying to rack my brain for ideas on how to make each level stand out and be unique. I try to do that from the get-go, so that even the white-boxed blank levels have a different feel to them. Gameplay – each has a somewhat different focus and flavor. Then Nick comes in and makes sure that every level stands out visually as well, room-by-room and hall-by-hall. It’s fantastic, and a huge motivation boost for me to see things come alive like that.

Of course, we’re using tools to speed our efforts, but there’s a LOT of dungeon-crawling goodness to hand-build. I hope that the emphasis on custom, detailed, hand-crafted dungeons is appreciated and has an audience out there. As much as I like well-made procedural content, to me it still pales to a well-designed human-built level when it comes to dungeon crawling. Hopefully people will agree that this describes the dungeons of Frayed Knights 2: The Khan of Wrath.





 

YES!

Hi, I'm Roqua
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So I looked at his site wondering what is going on with this game and it seems like he is writing. I couldn't find any new about the game, just Grimiore, super hero movies, and writing and more stuff about writing.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

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Barnson has been working on the sequel since the release of Frayed Knights in 2011. Don't expect it to be finished any time soon. Though there's a 50-50 chance it will be completed before Grimoire. :M
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Remembered about the game today, searched for it - no news about it in the entirety of 2017? Is he even still working on it?

http://rampantgames.com/blog/?p=11824

I’ve also been avoiding making some hard choices with Frayed Knights 2. At this point, there are some things that just need to be completely re-written and re-done, but I am terrified that taking that step can throw the game into an endless loop of rewrites. But it may need to be done. FK2 was a learning project for me, and I now know a whole lot of what I did wrong. Continuing in the same direction could actually take more time. But content-wise, we’re still stuck at the halfway point. It’s a rough place to be.

Development hell.
 

Mustawd

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Playing FK myself. The game is ugly, but the combat is fun. I don't find the jokes all that bad tbh. Sucks about the delays for the sequel.

I wonder what changes he needs to make. What could be that bad that it'll have to be redone?
 
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Darth Roxor

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Frayed Knights had the best translation/implementation of PNP-style fate points that ever appeared in a computer rpg. For this reason alone it should be better known, and the fact that probably less than a hundred people in total played it is a disgrace.
 

Deuce Traveler

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Grab the Codex by the pussy Divinity: Original Sin Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture
I enjoyed the first game. That party was a bunch of rejects and I had a hell of a time getting out of the first couple dungeons. But I planned out my end-game character builds and explored everything I could, and that same bunch of losers ended up curb-stomping the enemies in the final dungeon. Of course, if you end up with sub-optimal builds then you are screwed.

Too bad we might never see the second.
 
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fantadomat

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The first game was great fun,a little bit hard if you messup your build later on. I liked the storytelling and the humour. Hope to be alive to play the second one.
 

Machocruz

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Fuck time flies. Didn't seem too long ago I was checking in on his blog every now and then, a couple months before the game released. :negative:
 

Mustawd

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Fuck time flies. Didn't seem too long ago I was checking in on his blog every now and then, a couple months before the game released. :negative:

Same. Then everything became about him writing steampunk. Tbf it’s hard to blame him. Writing is a much more cost efficient hobby than game dev.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

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This lack of news is worrying. I enjoyed Frayed Knights a lot.
The developer, Jay Barnson, decided it was a more rewarding hobby to write mediocre fantasy books than to finish his CRPG series. Frayed Knights 2 is unlikely to ever be released.
 
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ortucis

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Wow, I used to read his blog a lot back in the day (before Frayed Knights 1, from Indiegamer forums). It's a shame he gave up on the sequel.

Not surprised though, I doubt it these games make a lot of money on Steam, unless you port them to phones and have better visuals than what Torque Engine was capable of.
 

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