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KickStarter Alder's Blood: Definitive Edition - Victorian-fantasy tactical stealth game

ShockworkMichal

Shockwork Games
Developer
Joined
Feb 16, 2018
Messages
4
Sorry for the late reaction, but after yesterday's message, we needed to take a big breath, calm down a bit and clear our minds.
We just want to say: HUGE THANK YOU for your support here, guys.
We'll do our best to pick the best, possible solution. Please, stay tuned and don't forget about Alder's Blood =)
We'll figure something out!
 

Galdred

Studio Draconis
Patron
Developer
Joined
May 6, 2011
Messages
4,346
Location
Middle Empire
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I would recommend more prior PR work, and a relaunch. That said, even in Poland, I doubt KS could give enough money to sustain a team long enough, so EA might be a good solution, but it would require working on the game without funding for a longer time, which might not be feasible.
Working "After hours" with a large team would be very hard to manage indeed. It breaks very easily, as people get attracted to other priorities. I guess implementing clear rules for leaving the project can make it better, but otherwise, it will be very messy as soon as some of you will end up working 4 times more than other on the team.
From my limited experience, it is very hard to pull out an after work hour project with a team larger than 2-3.
 

Talby

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 15, 2008
Messages
5,507
Codex USB, 2014
The Bloodborne plagiarism is a big turn off. You can do Victorian horror but at least be slightly original about it. But mixing off-brandborne with Xcom gameplay seems like mixing milk with orange juice.

Take this concept art for example:
RamblerConcept.jpg

Clearly they were "inspired" by (copied from) the Yharnam Hunter armor and the top weapon is the Saw blade. It's all too close for comfort for my taste.

It's not even merely a ripoff. That would be bad enough. Look at this concept art from Bloodborne;
latest
It's traced. Blatant plagiarism.
 
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Egosphere

Arcane
Joined
Jan 25, 2018
Messages
1,909
Location
Hibernia
I tried out the demo and it was pretty cool, if a bit simplistic on the combat side. I couldn't figure out how to use the whistle, it wasn't showing up in the actions tab for me. They need to bind Escape key to closing the research/buildings/market tabs and going back to the main map.

I think it straddles a weird line. It feels like a popamole-ish tactics game, but it doesn't have the artistic flair to back it up and make it stand out the way Darkest Dungeon did.
 

ShockworkMichal

Shockwork Games
Developer
Joined
Feb 16, 2018
Messages
4
Hi guys,

We're glad to see that you're still following our work. :)

To follow our recent progress and the moment we've decided to change the direction from skeletal animation to stop-motion animation, you can take a look at my Twitter posts here: https://twitter.com/Bernat_Mike.
For example: https://twitter.com/Bernat_Mike/status/1004842827208122368

As you can see we never stopped working on Alder's Blood, but it sure need some rework, so we're now doing our best to improve everything.

We'll be back to "2-devlogs-a-month" routine very soon. :)

Thanks!
 

CryptRat

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/167825245/alders-blood/posts/2141388?ref=activity
We're back! With a publisher

Hey guys!

Long time no see.

After months of silence we finally have an exciting news! We've got a publisher!

46b007d1d40ac39f58036d6295474e0a_original.jpg

I'm this guy in the middle.
Fat Dog Games is an indie games publisher from Poland, who will help us deliver Alder's Blood to your PCs!

After all this time, we can finally work full time on the project and be sure that we're going to release the game next year!

We never gave up, we spent all these months talking with different publishers, shearching for any possibilities, making contacts and...working!

We never stopped working
We were quiet for a longer while, but we've been working hard. We've decided to change our path a little, for the better, of course. We're in the middle of the process of reworking graphics and animations. We no longer do skeletal animation, as we found stop-motion animation more attractive and suitable.

93ba16d0eee2cc6df25af3286d8715b6_original.gif

To see other examples, visit the links below:
https://twitter.com/Bernat_Mike/status/1008767719142027264
https://twitter.com/Bernat_Mike/status/1005163120816476160
https://twitter.com/Bernat_Mike/status/1010456102838947841

About 2 weeks ago, we started posting our progress on our social media again.

176f32a41f9cb3595fbd88339da07d43_original.gif

A werewolf who doesn't feel so good...
b72264c74d56eddd8e656f83c9f204cc_original.gif

A poor, dying Hunter...
a9f441c30007eb84e4ecdfb0b52982fe_original.gif

A floater, cutie...
79b32d06035db48a07bd09819753371d_original.jpg

And the new, awesome keyart!
And now we're even more motivated!

A lot of work ahead of us, and many adventures!
We'll be back to our devlogs routine really soon, so to be always up-to-date with our blog posts, daily thoughts, new concept art, screenshots and trailers follow us on our social media: Facebook, Twitter. Our blog is currently under construction, but we'll share the link with you as soon as it will be ready.

Join our Newsletter and wishlist us on Steam
A partnership with the publisher means more announcements, news and of course, milestones. To be the first to receive all the info about our progress, plans and (in the future) discounts and other surprises, please join our Newsletter: https://aldersblood.com/newsletter/

Alder's Blood is also wishlistable on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/820020/Alders_Blood/

Thank you
We wouldn't be able to make it without you. Your support here helped us to believe, that this project is worth fighting for.

We are still considering launching a second campaign (with much smaller goal), as that would help us to add a few more features and expand the world of Alder's Blood, but this is something we have to carefully think through.

We hope that you are still with us. Thank you.

Your Shockworks.
 
Joined
Nov 23, 2017
Messages
4,010
When I saw XCOM being used as a descriptor I was kind of expecting something else when it came to combat. This funnily enough looks like its inspiration was Heroes of Might and Magic.

The Bloodborne plagiarism is a big turn off. You can do Victorian horror but at least be slightly original about it. But mixing off-brandborne with Xcom gameplay seems like mixing milk with orange juice.

Take this concept art for example:
RamblerConcept.jpg

Clearly they were "inspired" by (copied from) the Yharnam Hunter armor and the top weapon is the Saw blade. It's all too close for comfort for my taste.


It's not even merely a ripoff. That would be bad enough. Look at this concept art from Bloodborne;
latest
It's traced. Blatant plagiarism.

While I get that they're taking this from Bloodborne, because they say as much, it ain't like Bloodborne just came up with that. From Software seemed to very clearly be pulling from Brotherhood of the Wolf when it came to Bloodborne.


JYtVCjj.gif


Brotherhood-of-the-Wolf-2001-dvdplanetstorepk-356x500.jpg
 

MRY

Wormwood Studios
Developer
Joined
Aug 15, 2012
Messages
5,703
Location
California
It's incredible that the DVD jacket has the quote as "A Wide Ride." I remember the subtitles being atrocious in this movie (bad enough that I did a fansub for a friend) so I guess it stands to reason the publicity material would be ridiculous too.
 

Talby

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 15, 2008
Messages
5,507
Codex USB, 2014
Assisted Living Godzilla, I know From didn't invent gothic horror or Highwaymen, but looking at their concept art it's just way too close to From's designs. Even the pose and angle and way the coat falls is identical to From's hunter artwork.
 
Joined
Nov 23, 2017
Messages
4,010
Assisted Living Godzilla, I know From didn't invent gothic horror or Highwaymen, but looking at their concept art it's just way too close to From's designs. Even the pose and angle and way the coat falls is identical to From's hunter artwork.

My point is From themselves took it from a movie. Bloodborne has Brotherhood of the Wolf stuff like Dark Souls has Berserk stuff. It's just kind of hard for me to give a shit that this is pinching Bloodborne stuff that was pinched from another place.

I don't really see the big deal about the concept art. While it very much looks like whoever drew it was looking at that drawing given the stance and outline of it, the details of everything in the drawing are different; it's a different style of coat, it's a different style of hat, they're different boots, they've got different gauntlets, they don't have the same belts. It looks like someone saw that Bloodborne concept art, thought it would be cool if in their game characters stood in that perspective on the 2D board map, and someone told the artist to copy that 3/4 stance for the human characters.
 

CryptRat

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
We're back with DevLog #5
We're back with another update and excited to show off the new features we've added to Alder's Blood. We've reworked the UI, how ranged weapons fire and added some new enemies.

Posted by Shockwork_Games on Oct 12th, 2018

Hello Hello!

It's Mike here again with another Devlog update on Alder's Blood.

Some time ago, we mentioned some changes coming to Alder's Blood. We’re excited to show you what we’ve done so far!

Keep in mind these are just some of the changes that we have in the works, there’s plenty more to come as we work to transition more things from prototype to production for the project.

One of the first things you might notice is new graphics. We’ve got the new UI, which has slightly changed from the last version. It has been adjusted so that we can keep the same UI design when porting to other platforms.





Two of the first enemies are already in the game, each with a full set of animations and are relatively polished and are ready to tear apart our hunters. They are still pretty dumb, but we’re working to make them smarter.

We have some of our weapons classes ready as well, there’s four that you can check out so far; an ax, a greatsword, a blade, and a rifle. We’ll be doing another Devlog about weapon classes later, in which we’ll delve into the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Alders_Blood_rifle_attack_giphy.gif




We've changed the way firing a ranged weapon works, now after clicking on the ranged attack icon, you will enter a ranged combat mode, with its own UI. The camera will be locked on your current target, and you’ll be able to switch between available targets. You can also see how the shot will affect the enemy. When you’re ready, click confirm to make the shot.

We have lots more in store, that we can’t wait to show you so stay tuned for the next Devlog, and be sure to check out the Vlog below!
 

CryptRat

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
New update : https://www.indiedb.com/games/alders-blood/news/melee-weapons-in-alders-blood
Hi everyone, we’re back with another Devlog and are excited to kick off a miniseries in which we’ll cover all of the tools of combat that are available to the Hunter’s in Alder’s Blood. This week we’re taking a look at the melee weapon classes, so let's dive in!

Weapon overview - melee

weaponswap.gif


Hi everyone, we’re back with another Devlog and are excited to kick off a miniseries in which we’ll cover all of the tools of combat that are available to the Hunter’s in Alder’s Blood. This week we’re taking a look at the melee weapon classes, so let's dive in!

The most important tool a Hunter has is their weapon. Each hunter can carry one at a time, but there are no restrictions to swapping them between missions.

Weapon Classes:

There are currently 5 weapon classes (with more coming soon):

  • Blades
  • Greatswords
  • Axes
  • Longarms
  • Special weapons
Each weapon classes has multiple variants, so you will find different blade types in the game, that all belong in the Blades Weapon Class for instance. We made these distinctions to divide weapons into roles, while also allowing for some smaller and bigger variants within the role.

Zrzut_ekranu_2018-11-15_14.10.18.png


Weapon Roles:

Blades - Blades are light, one-handed weapons such as short swords, one-handed axes, falchions, sabers, etc. They are quick and easy to use, these weapons usually do not end the Hunters’ activations, allowing them to be more versatile in combat. Blade Hunters will play the role of scouts or ambushers and are most effective with tools like traps, grenades, and medkits, as they can attack and use these items within one turn.

giphy.gif


Greatswords - Greatswords are heavy, long blades of the knights of old. Greatswords deal a relatively high amount of damage, but their main feature is the arc attack. With these weapons Hunters can attack multiple enemies in one swing, making the greatsword an ideal crowd control weapon. Greatsword attacks end Hunter’s activation so timing the attack is crucial.

1972066giphy.gif


Axe - Axes are crude and simple, but highly effective weapons. Attacks from an axe are devastating, dealing tremendous amounts of damage. Hunters wielding these weapons take the role of pure damage dealers as axe attacks cost two actions to use. Axe Hunters are better suited to being equipped with artefacts as they benefit more from having their natural stats increased, versus equipping them with tools which they will most likely not have the opportunity to use.

axe.gif




That’s it for melee weapons if you’re a fan of ranged weapons stay tuned as we’ll be taking a look at the ranged weapons available to Hunters and how they work in the next Devlog. See you next time!

Stealth_Kill.gif
 

Abu Antar

Turn-based Poster
Patron
Joined
Jan 19, 2014
Messages
13,512
Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth


Event system in Alder's Blood

First of all, we want to thank you for your great support! Thanks to you guys, we've made it to the top100 on IndieDB!
Now you can vote for Alder's Blood to make it an Indie of the Year: Indiedb.com. We're in the 'Turn Based Tactics' category. :)

I will tell you a story about our story. There was a creative Spirit, a good soul that wanted to create great things. The Spirit wanted to tell a story, an extensive one, with many characters and events. It needed a way to do it, so it turned to the dwarfs from the great Halls of Code. The brave dwarfs toiled night and day, and after some time they had crafted a tool for the Spirit to use for its story. But the Spirit was restless in its creativity, it wanted to create even more amazing stories, it wanted to have branching events, so that whomever would experience this story would have choices that transformed the story itself. So again the Spirit asked the dwarfs for help. The dwarfs liked the challenge, after some searching they found a schematic, created by a great dwarf Thor, on which they could greatly expand the tool for the Spirit. Finally the Spirit was pleased, its thirst for creativity sated, but the story isn't over yet.

Hello, I’m Kamil Wójcik, and that is as much fun and adventure I could put into this devlog :) What will follow, is more or less a technical description of the tools we use to create the story that will be in the game. :)

We have the events system, which handles all the situations such as NPC meetings, ambushes, and other random occurrences that we’d like to have in the game. It's pretty straightforward, we just need to set some data and everything should work perfectly (just like it always does in computer programming). The system itself was relatively easy to use at first, but it became more difficult with more events and all the connections between them.

We soon found that we needed a visual tool to easily connect different events and to handle the branching and looping conversations. After some testing we found the xNode framework to be most suiting to our needs - many thanks to the creator of xNode Thor Brigsted. Some work later, and now we have a visual editor for our events system.

Setting up an event is pretty simple, we create a new event of a particular type on the story graph and we fill in the required data. Things like where it should show up, what reward the player should get for completing it, what should be written in it and what choices the player has for it and so on. Then there’s the matter of connecting the event with the other events to create a chain. An event has connection points, on the left side are incoming connections and on the right side are the outgoing connections. To unlock an event, all connected events need to be completed, or any completed event can restart an event (useful for conversation loops) and we can disable an event (and in effect all subsequent ones depending on it), making player choices matter more.

As you might have noticed, we also use translation keys. Instead of putting the actual text into an event, we use stuff like Event_Blackwells_1_0_8 and later translate it in the game based on the selected language. It’s a system we've used before, but with all the texts for different events we might need to improve it a bit. But that would be a story for another time, if there’s anyone that would want to hear it.

I hope you liked this short story or at least you didn't hate it, because we have more to come.

Farewell!
 
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Abu Antar

Turn-based Poster
Patron
Joined
Jan 19, 2014
Messages
13,512
Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth


:itsamystery:
 

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