4X Leylines by Crystal Shard - now available on Steam!

[Fizzii]

Leylines is now available on Steam:

Itch.IO: https://radiant.itch.io/leylines

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Hi guys,

Wanted to share some previews of our next project, Leylines, a 4X turn-based fantasy themed strategy game. Some of you might have seen an earlier incarnation of it a few years ago. Over the last couple of years I've been helping Radiant with a complete graphical overhaul, and the game is now in beta testing. We'll be taking the game to Steam Greenlight sometime in January.

Trailer


About
As a powerful wizard, you start by ruling a small nation as you plot to take over the world! Rule over seven diverse races, from shapeshifting Theria, to spider-riding Dwarves, to the decadent Regency. Explore a vast fantasy world, expand by building more cities, battle the armies of rival wizards, and cast earth-shattering enchantments to ensure your victory.

Leylines is a 4X game, a turn-based strategy game of exploration and conquest. The game features 150 different units and 80 different spells, customizable heroes and a map editor.

Screenshots

Feel free to ask any questions about it and I'll do my best to answer

 

[Raapys]

Looks interesting, very Master of Magic like, but... What's gonna make me want to play this over MoM? And will there be artifacts and artifact creation?

I think most of the screens look good, but the world map hexes don't. I think if you're planning on changing them, you should probably do it before you move to steam. Also, the UI buttons seem needlessly small and difficult to press, given all the available UI space.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Is there going to be a campaign mode? I normally wouldn't care with a 4x game, but you guys have proven yourself to be very capable narrative designers in my eyes.

 

[Fizzii]

Looks interesting, very Master of Magic like, but... What's gonna make me want to play this over MoM?

Reply from Radiant:
If you like Master of Magic, you'll almost certainly enjoy Leylines as well! Features for Leylines include:-
* Seven highly distinct races. Where all races in MOM shares the same tech tree and mainly have similar units, in Leylines all the races are unique; from the chivalrous humans to the shapeshifting Theria and from the decadently corrupt Regency to the nomadic Goblins.
* More tactical terrain. For instance, jungle is impassable to most units, and desert will damage units. You can build watchtowers and place explosive trap spells on the map, and there's even a spell that lets you move mountains.
* More diverse spells. Clone enemy units, deploy ghosts to reduce enemy morale, cast tidal waves to move ships around, and use illusion to disguise your units as something else.
* Atmospheric soundtrack by Royal Holloway composer Nikolas Sideris, known from games such as Resonance, Diamonds in the Rough, and A Tale of Two Kingdoms.
* Multiplayer support, including online, hotseat, and splitscreen.

Thanks for your feedback on the graphics; I'll take your comments into consideration. Buttons are bigger at lower resolutions, and personally I find the size to be OK at 1920x1080 resolution and have no issues clicking them when I play (the above screenshots are scaled down so the buttons appear smaller than they actually are).

Is there going to be a campaign mode? I normally wouldn't care with a 4x game, but you guys have proven yourself to be very capable narrative designers in my eyes.

There will be a campaign mode but no elaborate storyline as this doesn't really fit the genre of 4X.

 

[Ranarama]

because the genre has yet to see a worthy successor to MOM,

AOW3 came very close. I don't understand people who say the empire building of MOM was particularly great. I don't know that I ever deviated greatly from the same build order. Most races aren't going to make much of a difference when I'm churning out slingers or war trolls out of the 2 or 3 cities that I'll ever use to produce units. The real let down for me has been finding a fantasy 4x that has turns as quick as MOM.

None of the systems in MOM were particularly deep, but I think that's what provided the integration that made using all of them worth it. You play AOW3, spell casting is easy to ignore, because it's so expensive, the combat was too slow (compare how small and quick battles are in MOM). Certainly never bothered with summons to the degree you can lean on them in MOM early game.

Maybe we've all been spoiled by how quick dosbox makes the turns.

Anyway, what I'm really hoping leylines will be, is a fast fantasy 4x that isn't as obtuse as Dominions is.

 

[JarlFrank]

I'm very, very optimistic about this. Unlike most of the other attempted AoM clones and other 4x games, which often ended up not even remotely reaching the quality of AoM or MoO2, Crystal Shard have a proven track record and have shown competence at game design before.

Likelihood of ending up as a buggy, half-finished mess is less likely than with some of the Kickstarter 4x games that have been funded.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

None of the systems in MOM were particularly deep, but I think that's what provided the integration that made using all of them worth it. You play AOW3, spell casting is easy to ignore, because it's so expensive, the combat was too slow (compare how small and quick battles are in MOM). Certainly never bothered with summons to the degree you can lean on them in MOM early game.

U wot m8. Summons are very useful in AoW3 and some classes depend on them heavily. Can't imagine how you would play sorcerer or a druid without heavy summoning. Apart from that I agree that magic in AoW3 is pretty disappointing, especially the strategic spells other than summons.

 

[ghostdog]

Looks very promising. So far Crystal Shard has delivered some great games and each new game is better than the last. Fizzii ,as always, your art is beautiful.

 

[thesheeep]

That looks beautiful.

 

[Ranarama]

So the old version of leylines has been pulled from the internet?

 

[Fizzii]

So the old version of leylines has been pulled from the internet?

We have removed the old version from our website as it doesn't make sense to keep it up there when we're going to release the new version in the coming months.

 

[curry]

Not gonna lie this game looks gay as fuck

 

[you know what time it is]

Heroine's Quest folks? I'm in.

 

[HoboForEternity]

looks awesome!

 

[Fizzii]

Leylines is now listed on Steam Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=823206975
http://crystalshard.net/steam.php (link to open Greenlight page within Steam Client)

Please vote for us if you're interested in playing this game on Steam

 

[HoboForEternity]

voted

 

[Jinn]

Absolutely voted. I cannot wait to play this game. It looks great!

 

[MRY]

Voted, looks great -- and what an unexpected followup to HQ!

 

[Galdred]

I played Leylines ages ago. It is great to hear a reworked version is being worked on. Good luck with that!
From the combat resolution screen, I assume battles will be resolved like in Warlords 3, correct?

 

[Beowulf]

Voted. Actually looks promising.

 

[Fizzii]

Thanks everyone for your support!

Here is some raw gameplay footage, since there have been a couple of people asking for more (best viewed on Youtube in HD mode (Settings > 1080p HD) on a 1920x1080 desktop resolution):

I played Leylines ages ago. It is great to hear a reworked version is being worked on. Good luck with that!
From the combat resolution screen, I assume battles will be resolved like in Warlords 3, correct?

I'm not familiar with Warlords 3 myself (Radiant might be), but quick summary of combat basically involves the following:
1) Arranging your troops (frontline / those behind them). Those behind the frontlines cannot be engaged in melee combat until the frontline is cleared.
2) Range then get 3 rounds off prior to melee being able to engage in battle.
3) Hidden enemies get a jump on your units (and likewise, your units that are hidden get a jump on the enemies).
4) Amount of damage dealt by a unit depends on the experience of the unit, as well as the target's armor/resistance to your unit's attacks. Your units can miss their target and deal no damage, or the target may be immune to your attacks (for instance, a priest's holy smite is only effective against undead and deals no damage against other types of units).

 

[tabacila]

Voted. Good luck!

 

[Fizzii]

Leylines got Greenlit today Thanks to everyone who voted for it! I'll post again when we have more news.

 

[LESS T_T]

So, Steam page:

 

[Monstrous Bat]

So, uh, what happened to this game?