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KickStarter Forged of Blood - turn-based tactical fantasy RPG

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,882
On a side note, RPG Codex was the first site to take an interest in our project and has showed support for us for about half a year now. I am not the most eloquent so I'll just say that we truly appreciate it.

If anyone is going to PAX East, please stop by our booth and try out the game. I've spent at least 80 hours testing the progressing build over the last few weeks and it's already quite fun to play.
To show your appreciation take one of the codex troll pictures and put it as image on a few shields of NPCs around the game world :)
I am sure mods or staff people would give you original images for resizing if you asked them :)
 
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vivec

Self-Ejected
Joined
Oct 20, 2014
Messages
1,149
Hi.

I really like the Magic System. However, I am a bit skeptical of the weapon system. By making too many weapon types you run into the danger of either two of them two similar or one of them just too superior due to lack of testing and imbalance that results from it. Why not condense that list into 4/5 type? Bladed, Axe, Mace and ranged Bows and Crossbows?
 

Milo

Critical Forge
Developer
Joined
Nov 25, 2016
Messages
33
Hi.

I really like the Magic System. However, I am a bit skeptical of the weapon system. By making too many weapon types you run into the danger of either two of them two similar or one of them just too superior due to lack of testing and imbalance that results from it. Why not condense that list into 4/5 type? Bladed, Axe, Mace and ranged Bows and Crossbows?

Hello, this is an area I can speak specifically about.

Your skepticism is understandable. While there is, of course, a lot of testing and refining that will need to be done, I spent months going over the build balance and believe it's in a fairly good place. Some builds are good vs other builds but the builds mean out over the levels. For instance, if you use the maul as an Area Denial by focusing on attacks of opportunity and knock back, it is quite stronger in the later levels once you have enough general abilities to max out the Attack of Opportunity General Ability Tree. However, while it is strong, it would be slow and dagger, long bow and short bow builds would be effective against it. A defensive longsword and shield build with high endurance would be able to reliably resist the knockback effect and also be useful against it. Our testing so far has things quite balanced.

For the weapons, I focused more on play style when looking at the weapons. There are 18 intended distinct playstyles that the weapon abilities focus on. As you can switch weapons, thereby switching weapon abilities, characters can mix playstyles as well. However, somethings, such as armor and general abilities aren't tied to your weapons and don't switch when you switch weapons. This means that you usually are most efficient having two synergizing weapon builds or one primary focus and one situational. For instance, using the long bow and dagger can be effective as you can make lightly armored high mobility builds with both. Another option would be to focus on using a long bow for ranged focused dps and then switching to maul and using attack of opportunity with knockback to try keep people at bay; your effectiveness with the maul would be less but as you only use it when people close in and mobile characters generally have more difficulty resisting knockback, it can be an effective combination. With the way I did the balance, the player should have hundreds of unique combinations of playstyles without anything being too dominant.

If you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to ask :)
 

udm

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 14, 2008
Messages
2,752
Make the Codex Great Again!
Massive incline of azns :smug:

Ye I know I'm one myself blah blah blah
 

pbrand

Novice
Joined
Dec 7, 2016
Messages
10
Fellow tactical RPG developer! Backed it to show support for our genre :D
 

pbrand

Novice
Joined
Dec 7, 2016
Messages
10
Hey, may I ask what is your game you are developing?

-Joe

I don't feel comfortable shilling in another person's thread, so eventually I might make my own thread for that after I've settled in a bit. I'll PM you when I do
 

joesys

Critical Forge
Patron
Developer
Joined
Jun 2, 2013
Messages
24
I don't feel comfortable shilling in another person's thread, so eventually I might make my own thread for that after I've settled in a bit. I'll PM you when I do

Please do. I love all sort of tactical RPGs. :)
 
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vivec

Self-Ejected
Joined
Oct 20, 2014
Messages
1,149
Questions:

Are there hard skill checks in the game or do you roll for everything?
How much game will I see in one playthrough (this question has roots in AoD)?
How is the levelling handled?
 

joesys

Critical Forge
Patron
Developer
Joined
Jun 2, 2013
Messages
24
Are there hard skill checks in the game or do you roll for everything?

There will be some hard skill check, especially in narrative section since that's how we keep track of personality and reputation.
For combat, it'd be similar to XCOM so there are some rolling involved.

How much game will I see in one playthrough (this question has roots in AoD)?

Narrative wise, since certain path is mutually exclusive, you won't be able to see 100% of the game in 1 playthrough.

I can't really give an indication of how much % you can see in one play through or whether or not we can match Age of Decadence in that way. Part of the reason we come to Kickstarter is to expand the writing team. It is one of my pet wish list, that by expanding the writing team, we are increasing the number of narrative choice and the consequences of those choices. Assuming we got funded, you'd see less of the whole game in one play through.

Briefly, here is how we are structuring it narratively.

Act 1 is all about context setting. In the relatively short Act 1, the narrative freedom of this game will be somewhat constrained due to Act 1 also serves as an extended tutorial. We do require a little but of structure for the tutorial to properly serve its intended function. The narrative structure for Act 1 is similar to a Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) type of novel/game. In BG context, it'd be somewhat similar to Candlekeep and the first wilderness.

In Act 2, the game opens up and you start to take an active role in the strategy layer. You choose which territory to conquer, etc. Rather than having a giant CYOA narrative structure, we have a numerous small story arcs that get trigerred by player's action or inaction. It's like having many short stories that, when taken as a whole, tells the journey and the development of player's character in the context set in Act 1. This is somewhat similar to an extended BG2's "get 20k gold, don't care how you do it" quest structure.

By expanding the writing team, we can have a much richer Act 2.


In terms of assets, I guess you would see the majority of the assets we made. The only exception would probably be the ending cinematics depending which ending you get.


How is the levelling handled?

Here is how it is at the moment:

Assuming you win, each tactical battle gives you 2 skill points in each of your primary and secondary weapon slot.
Every 4 skill points in your highest skill tree, you get a level up.
No class. What your character can do depends on what you equip him with.

We like the idea of Elder Scroll system where the more you use something, the better you are at it. Originally, we tracked how many times you swing that weapon, say long sword. The more you swing that long sword, the more skill points you have in long sword skill tree. However, in our internal play testing, some players (me!) may (will!) abuse this system by having one character attacking an enemy with long sword and another character heals that enemy ad infinitum. In the end, we simplify it by saying that, as long as you equip that weapon/magic in either Primary or Secondary slot, you gain some skill point in it after the battle.

I also like the idea that the player has some new "toys" after each battle. Hence, after each battle, the player can improve their character a bit by being able to spend 2 skill points that they just earned for each of their primary and secondary slot.

Do note that what I described above is still subject to change as we fine tune it further and hearing input from our closed beta players. So please don't hold me to it.
 

Jimmious

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 18, 2015
Messages
5,132
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
The main question for me is: Are you planning to work on the game regardless of KS success? We're sitting on 1/15 of the required amount currently and my experience with crowd funding says that this is not going too well, to be honest.

But I would really like to see this released in any case...So there you have it
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,882
How is the levelling handled?

Here is how it is at the moment:

Assuming you win, each tactical battle gives you 2 skill points in each of your primary and secondary weapon slot.
Every 4 skill points in your highest skill tree, you get a level up.
No class. What your character can do depends on what you equip him with.

We like the idea of Elder Scroll system where the more you use something, the better you are at it. Originally, we tracked how many times you swing that weapon, say long sword. The more you swing that long sword, the more skill points you have in long sword skill tree. However, in our internal play testing, some players (me!) may (will!) abuse this system by having one character attacking an enemy with long sword and another character heals that enemy ad infinitum. In the end, we simplify it by saying that, as long as you equip that weapon/magic in either Primary or Secondary slot, you gain some skill point in it after the battle.

I also like the idea that the player has some new "toys" after each battle. Hence, after each battle, the player can improve their character a bit by being able to spend 2 skill points that they just earned for each of their primary and secondary slot.

Do note that what I described above is still subject to change as we fine tune it further and hearing input from our closed beta players. So please don't hold me to it.
This has a serious problem of players needing to know in advance which combinations work and which don't unless you also provided some means of respecing.
 

Milo

Critical Forge
Developer
Joined
Nov 25, 2016
Messages
33
How is the levelling handled?

Here is how it is at the moment:

Assuming you win, each tactical battle gives you 2 skill points in each of your primary and secondary weapon slot.
Every 4 skill points in your highest skill tree, you get a level up.
No class. What your character can do depends on what you equip him with.

We like the idea of Elder Scroll system where the more you use something, the better you are at it. Originally, we tracked how many times you swing that weapon, say long sword. The more you swing that long sword, the more skill points you have in long sword skill tree. However, in our internal play testing, some players (me!) may (will!) abuse this system by having one character attacking an enemy with long sword and another character heals that enemy ad infinitum. In the end, we simplify it by saying that, as long as you equip that weapon/magic in either Primary or Secondary slot, you gain some skill point in it after the battle.

I also like the idea that the player has some new "toys" after each battle. Hence, after each battle, the player can improve their character a bit by being able to spend 2 skill points that they just earned for each of their primary and secondary slot.

Do note that what I described above is still subject to change as we fine tune it further and hearing input from our closed beta players. So please don't hold me to it.
This has a serious problem of players needing to know in advance which combinations work and which don't unless you also provided some means of respecing.

Hello. You are able to respec and there are upgrades at the castle (base) that will help you to train up another weapon. Also, you will be able to see the weapon skill trees and general ability skill trees from the start. Finally, we will have "guides" for some general builds that players can follow.
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,882
How is the levelling handled?

Here is how it is at the moment:

Assuming you win, each tactical battle gives you 2 skill points in each of your primary and secondary weapon slot.
Every 4 skill points in your highest skill tree, you get a level up.
No class. What your character can do depends on what you equip him with.

We like the idea of Elder Scroll system where the more you use something, the better you are at it. Originally, we tracked how many times you swing that weapon, say long sword. The more you swing that long sword, the more skill points you have in long sword skill tree. However, in our internal play testing, some players (me!) may (will!) abuse this system by having one character attacking an enemy with long sword and another character heals that enemy ad infinitum. In the end, we simplify it by saying that, as long as you equip that weapon/magic in either Primary or Secondary slot, you gain some skill point in it after the battle.

I also like the idea that the player has some new "toys" after each battle. Hence, after each battle, the player can improve their character a bit by being able to spend 2 skill points that they just earned for each of their primary and secondary slot.

Do note that what I described above is still subject to change as we fine tune it further and hearing input from our closed beta players. So please don't hold me to it.
This has a serious problem of players needing to know in advance which combinations work and which don't unless you also provided some means of respecing.

Hello. You are able to respec and there are upgrades at the castle (base) that will help you to train up another weapon. Also, you will be able to see the weapon skill trees and general ability skill trees from the start. Finally, we will have "guides" for some general builds that players can follow.
Ok, but do these skill points affect things like hit chance or damage dealt or do they only let you take a skill from skill tree?
 

joesys

Critical Forge
Patron
Developer
Joined
Jun 2, 2013
Messages
24
Ok, but do these skill points affect things like hit chance or damage dealt or do they only let you take a skill from skill tree?

Some abilities in the skill tree affects hit chance or damage dealt. Some abilities in the skill tree gives you new ability.
 
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vivec

Self-Ejected
Joined
Oct 20, 2014
Messages
1,149
Sounds great!

Another big query is about the weapons/equipment itemization. I have often felt that there is too much of that in most games which can very well devolve into Diablo style treasure hunts. How are you planning to handle that? Another issue is how will equipment interact with character stats? Will they have a big role to play in boosting the stats or will they only boost them enough to make a difference? Finally, the most important question: What is the range of *values* that the stats can take? Will it be like D&D 3.5 where skills progress by 1 every level (max of course) or increasing cost/benefit ratio (i.e. from 2 -> 3 it takes 3 points; from 3 - > 4 4 points)?
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,882
Ok, but do these skill points affect things like hit chance or damage dealt or do they only let you take a skill from skill tree?

Some abilities in the skill tree affects hit chance or damage dealt. Some abilities in the skill tree gives you new ability.
But is that the only/main way to gain bonuses to hit chance?
What I want to know, if I being a newbie to the game decide to use a bad combination of weapons and decide I want to switch to something else after few missions will the hit chances with new weapons be at basic level or will they be similar to weapons I used before but only lack special abilities?
 

joesys

Critical Forge
Patron
Developer
Joined
Jun 2, 2013
Messages
24
Just a head up.

We are about to head out for PAX East now so I'll probably won't answer until later.


Sent from my SM-G935K using Tapatalk
 

joesys

Critical Forge
Patron
Developer
Joined
Jun 2, 2013
Messages
24
Sounds great!

Another big query is about the weapons/equipment itemization. I have often felt that there is too much of that in most games which can very well devolve into Diablo style treasure hunts. How are you planning to handle that? Another issue is how will equipment interact with character stats? Will they have a big role to play in boosting the stats or will they only boost them enough to make a difference? Finally, the most important question: What is the range of *values* that the stats can take? Will it be like D&D 3.5 where skills progress by 1 every level (max of course) or increasing cost/benefit ratio (i.e. from 2 -> 3 it takes 3 points; from 3 - > 4 4 points)?

While our system do allow a great number of weapon variations, we have a somewhat more targeted crafting than Diablo which tends to rely more on the luck for their itemization. So you have more control over what weapon you want to craft (though not 100%). We had a target value on how much does a character power derives from their equipments vs skill points vs level vs other things. I don't remember the exact value so don't quote me on this. I believe we once considered that 30% of a character's "power" should come from the item's stat. This value might have changed or will be changed as we are continuously fine tune and balance the game.

The skill tree system is different from 3.5e.

In each skill tree, we have a number of "skills" which have different "cost point" depending on how powerful it is. Say, skill A cost only 1 skill point and skill B cost 5 skill point. When you have 5 skill points to distribute, you can choose to put all 5 into A (which cost only 1 skill point on each increment and thus raising skill A to lvl 5), or to put it on skill B (which cost 5 skill points per increment, and thus you will only get a lvl 1 skill B).
 

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