KickStarter Zoria: Age of Shattering - a party-based RPG with base management

[LESS T_T]

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ansharpublishing/zoria-age-of-shattering

https://www.zoriagame.com




https://af.gog.com/game/zoria_age_of_shattering?as=1649904300

Spoiler

Developed by Romania based developer called Tiny Trinket Games.

STORY
Zoria. Home. Mother of all her inhabitants. She provides her children with food to grow, shelter to rest in and also, the harsh lessons of life, so her offspring may learn to fight and protect her gifts to them.
But men, men wanted more.

Zoria’s finest sons and daughter: intelligent, resourceful… violent. Men turned her ores into sword and daggers, and her roots into vile concoctions of poison.

Men wanted more. They craved more land and more food. So they build their homes of stone and wood, driving out the wildlife of its woods and caves. And in those caves they find their instrument of defiance: zerrium.

GAMEPLAY
Zoria’s Gameplay is a unique mix of action-adventure RPG and tactical management. Explore the beautiful lands of Zoria, from mountains to the ocean, towns and dungeons, follow the story or discover it’s secrets.

Your outpost is your base, by expanding it you get access to better facilities and the ability to influence more of the world around you while leveling your followers gives you the ability to explore deeper, further into the unknown.

ADVENTURES
All the adventures in the game are hand-crafted, with multiple paths and various options for exploration, depending on the setup of your party and their environment abilities. You can always revisit a dungeon with another party to see previously inaccessible places and finish all the side quests.

CHARACTERS
You can choose your party from eight different classes, each with a unique skill set both in combat and exploring the world. Magic, ranged attacks, shear power, blocks and stuns, bleed and poisons, magic resistances - all there to explore, use and upgrade.

FEATURES:
• Explore a rich, immersive and diverse world: beautifully crafted environments home for an engaging story and surprising characters that bring the world to life;
• An extensive, epic story with rich and expansive lore;
• A game experience perfect both for the player eager for exploration and adventure as well as for the more strategic;
• Easy to learn crafting system with dozens of unique potions, weapons to craft and recipes to find;
• Elaborate character management and upgrade system where each class has unique skills both in combat and during exploration;
• Complex base management, with upgrades, resource facilities and more;

 

[vonAchdorf]

This looks very "inspired" by DOS - even down to the big spider promo screenshots

 

[Infinitron]

Strange lack of detail for a game coming in November 2019. (Early Access?)

Devblogs from summer: https://zoriagame.com/2019/06/15/crafting/

Systems Overview: Crafting

Hello everyone!

Things have been moving at a rapid pace for us lately and parts of the game are beginning to fall into place, so we decided to do a quick breakdown of the said game systems: everything you need to know about how the game works without the things we want you to discover yourself.

As we have already been play-testing this part of the game for a couple of weeks, today’s blog post is going to be about crafing and alchemy. The systems are somewhat similar in design. You add some ingredients and you get something more complex and useful for you in return, nothing groundbreaking so far, but we did give it our own little twist.

Crafting is based on recipes, and most of these recipes you get from sending your Follower on Missions or by leading parties in Adventures. Another important part of the crafting system is the container. Every item you craft starts with a container or a mould, so you will need lots of those!

Apart from containers and the recipe to craft whatever you feel like crafting, you also need a combination of the existing crafting materials: metals, fabrics, crystals, and magical fragments. You will need different amounts of them and different tiers. It all depends on the recipe. There are 4 tiers for each crafting material. The more you progress through the game the better materials (higher tier) you will receive. All of these are used to craft more powerful weapons and armors for your Followers in order to fight more and more powerful enemies.

Now about those recipes.

All recipes have some mandatory materials and some content you can add to your hearth’s desire to make the items more powerful. To better illustrate, below it’s the crafting screen.

Let’s use the example right here to get an idea on how the system works. In the central screen, which is the working area, there are 5 slots, some with an indication and some totally empty.

The central slot is the container. As we were saying, it’s required for every item you craft, be it a weapon or an armor piece. Around it there are 4 slots for the 4 crafting materials.

The first slot requires metals and as the recipe says on the screenshot provided, it’s a mandatory Tier I

The second requires crystals, but it no longer specifies the Tier, so you can use any crystal you want or have.

The third and fourth slots have no requirements, so you can put whatever you want there to make the item stronger, if the item holds.

As you insert materials into the slots, you can actually see how the items stats change in the item description at the bottom, but also how the chance to craft the item changes. This is important because as we add more power with the materials we put in, all that magic we’re trying to fit into the item might actually break it upon crafting, so as a result, the chance to craft the item decreases. This gives the player two alternatives for playing with this: either go for the strongest item you can craft and try a few times before you succeed or stick close to the base recipe and have an almost guaranteed craft every time.

Now, about Alchemy.

As we were saying before, the systems are designed in similar manner: you need a recipe to craft a certain potion and you also need a container or a vial.

The main differences between Crafting and Alchemy are:

There is NO chance to craft, so your are successful every time.

There is no optional item. Alchemy doesn’t work like that. If you put the wrong thing in, someone gets poisoned. So all the recipes will specify clearly the 3 materials you need.

Quantity – you need more than one of each material to make a potion. It is described how much of every material in the recipe.

There are no Tiers, just many many plants and other ingredients, so keep an eye out for anything you might find in your Missions and Adventures.

With this short and hopefully comprehensive description of Alchemy we conclude our post for today.

Happy crafting!

https://zoriagame.com/2019/07/10/follower-management/

Systems Overview: Follower Management

Hello and welcome back to our developer blog.

With the Crafting and Alchemy taken care of, we decided to focus back on the core of the game and actually finish the Follower Management system. It was in the works for some time, but since it’s a more complex system involving a number of screens and various functionalities it took a little longer than we expected, especially when it came to squashing all the bugs. But now it’s almost completed and we’re ready to present it. So, here it goes:

The BARRACKS – this is where you manage the gear and skills of your Followers;

“Lucky Dog” INN – here you can go and recruit more Followers for your ranks;

“Moon Flower” BURROW – the special place your Followers use to recover morale;

Together, these 4 systems cover everything the player needs to keep his Followers at their best and ready for all the challenges the game will throw at them. And now for a more detailed view of each element of the system:

The BARRACKS: the heart and soul of the Follower Management system, it’s the place where you can equip your troops with the newest weapons you crafted, the most powerful potions, and special items found in the dungeons they conquered. You can also see in this screen your Follower’s level, stats, status, and the abilities they have unlocked. Not all of a Follower’s abilities are unlocked at start. Just as it is in life, more power comes with experience… and level.

“Lucky Dog” INN – the inn has always been, since the dawn of history, the place to meet interesting new people, so it’s only natural the inn is the place to go to when you need to recruit more Followers for your ranks. The screen is designed to show the player all the information needed, be it class, stats, unlocked abilities, special abilities, and of course cost. You didn’t think a skilled mercenary will provide his services for free, did you?

In case you’re in a hurry to hunt some monsters or raid some dungeon and just don’t have the desired Followers in the Inn at a certain moment, you can, at any time, throw a party and attract new Followers, just bear in mind too much partying can get expensive.

All that adventuring and fighting will wear down your troops morale and with morale going down everything else follows, including Follower stats and combat efficiency. The best way to recover your troops morale is to send them to the “Moon Flower” BURROW for some rest and relaxation, actually it’s the only way, if we think of something new in the future we’ll let you know. As with every building there’s only so much room, so you should plan your Followers’ stay carefully or upgrade the place. Yeah, you will be able to do that, we’ll discuss more about upgrading buildings in a later post, for the time being the goblins are hard at work on those systems.

With the hope that this post brought some light on how our follower management system works, until next time we’ll just leave you wondering about everything we left out of this presentation.

 

[LESS T_T]

This is from their previous game (platformer), I wonder if these developers like this kind of washed-out color scheme or what. I'm not fond of it.

 

[JarlFrank]

I misread the title as "Zelda" and was like "Wait, Zelda is a proper RPG now?"

 

[Urthor]

The number of "your classic RPG but with drastically lower production values" games coming out of dark places is getting pretty insane lately

 

[Delterius]

I misread the title as "Zelda" and was like "Wait, Zelda is a proper RPG now?"

goddamn me too

The number of "your classic RPG but with drastically lower production values" games coming out of dark places is getting pretty insane lately

also known as the shadow renaissance of 20XX

 

[Lurker47]

The number of "your classic RPG but with drastically lower production values" games coming out of dark places is getting pretty insane lately

I misread the title as "Zelda" and was like "Wait, Zelda is a proper RPG now?"

goddamn me too

The number of "your classic RPG but with drastically lower production values" games coming out of dark places is getting pretty insane lately

also known as the shadow renaissance of 20XX

I'm happy to see them though. It kind of has charm.

 

[Urthor]

The number of "your classic RPG but with drastically lower production values" games coming out of dark places is getting pretty insane lately

I misread the title as "Zelda" and was like "Wait, Zelda is a proper RPG now?"

goddamn me too

The number of "your classic RPG but with drastically lower production values" games coming out of dark places is getting pretty insane lately

also known as the shadow renaissance of 20XX

I'm happy to see them though. It kind of has charm.

Honestly I really want a good game rather than a charming game, and while a 4 man team of Russians in a dodgy apartment can make something like Atom which is brilliant, most of the 4 man teams fall flat at a certain stage. Really would enjoy more AA development like Obsidian or Divinity than anything, that size of studio produces a lot of good fun but there's not that many of them sadly

 

[Contagium]

Wishlisted, why the fuck not. Maybe it'll be priced a bit nicer than some other hyped but destroyed on release games *cough* *Stygian* *cough*

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Very important question.

Is this Turn Based?

 

[lobsterfrogman]

Very important question.

Is this Turn Based?

Dude, look at the first screen (hint: look to the right).

 

[Lurker47]

Honestly I really want a good game rather than a charming game,

I've come to temper my expectations.

 

[Urthor]

Honestly I really want a good game rather than a charming game,

I've come to temper my expectations.

idk there are a LOT of really SSS tier games out there that nobody has ever heard of that are absolutely awesome.

It's hard to settle for mediocre when for example there's tons of really top tier Deus Ex OG mods like The Nameless Mod to play, you could never ever finish the list of absolutely brilliant games in your lifetime

 

[Darth Canoli]

One of the worst cRPG title possible, anything with "age of" makes me cautious, at the very least, then Zoria, right, then story driven, i'm afraid it also means linear ...

 

[NeLeS]

Hey everyone,

Thank you all for your interest in the game, I'm one of the developers. It's great for us to see the game sparked this much interest. The game has been in development for 2 years+ now but working more on the systems than on the looks there wasn't much to show until recently.

A few notes on what's been said so far:

- no, it's not coming out in November ... sorry. We made a press release stating clearly it's coming out spring 2020 when we launched the page. It was a mistake in setting up the page that we are correcting as we speak, it only takes some time for Steam to reply. But it was all in good faith - there is something coming out this November - a DEMO. We plan to release a DEMO for the game around 15-20th of November and many questions will be answered in the best way possible - playing the game.

To answer some right now now: the game is turn-based but not grid based - you move in real time around the map and enter a combat phase when encountering an enemy or group. Patrolling enemies can enter the combat if they wander around any of your followers making what seems an easy combat more difficult or surprising.

Yes, the game follows a story, it's not a sandbox, so there is a degree of linearity but we're working hard on making the story enjoyable and the gameply as diverse as possible.

Zoria: Age of Shattering (read you love the naming ) is inspired by a number of games (old and new) with an important one being the XCOM series (very old and new) - so setting up your party, choosing the followers you take with you on each mission as well as the management of the outpost (buildings, upgrades, follower health) is as important as what you do on the map - 2 players can have very different experiences playing the same game. Also, each class has different abilities than can be used on the map making party composition very important in what areas a player is able to explore or the path it uses.

Thank you again for your interest, I will do my best to stick around as much as possible and answer any questions. If you want to talk to us directly, we've just set up the Discord server - https://discord.gg/k3fPxX8

 

[Infinitron]

Here is the press release: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/351346/Zoria_Age_of_Shattering_coming_to_Steam.php

Zoria: Age of Shattering is a tactical, party-based RPG with base and follower management, coming to Steam, in Spring 2020. We, at Tiny Trinket Games, are pleased to announce the title and reveal of our first gameplay trailer, with many more exciting announcements to come in the near future.

Zoria. Home. Mother of all her inhabitants. She provides her children with food to grow, shelter to rest in and challenges to overcome, so her offspring may learn to fight and protect her gifts to them.

But men, … men wanted more. They are Zoria’s finest sons and daughter: intelligent, resourceful… and violent. Her Ores turned into sword and daggers, and Her roots and flowers into vile concoctions of poison. They turned upon Her creation, for men wanted a kingdom. From their shelters of stone and wood, they drove out the wildlife of its woods and caves. It is within those caves that they found their ultimate instrument of defiance: zerrium. It is then that the cogs of their demise began to turn.

Key Features:

• Explore a rich, immersive and diverse world: beautifully crafted environments, featuring dense forests, haunting dungeons, golden deserts and many more.
• An epic story driving your experience, with rich and expansive lore. Discover the hidden tales and stories that live on through the people of Zoria and your own companions;
• Plan your moves or just enjoy the ride - a game experience suited both for players eager to just explore and adventure, as well as for those who want a challenging combat with a strong emphasis on strategic thinking and planning.
• Easy to learn crafting system with dozens of unique potions, epic weapons and other curious recipes that can be found throughout the world.
• Elaborate character management: class and character upgrade system, unique skills both in combat, and during exploration. A wide array of character builds for each class will allow you to approach an encounter in your own way.
• Complex base management: build new facilities, upgrade buildings, manage resources and expand your base;

 

[lobsterfrogman]

One of the worst cRPG title possible, anything with "age of" makes me cautious, at the very least, then Zoria, right, then story driven, i'm afraid it also means linear ...

PTSD after playing Age of Decadence?

 

[Reinhardt]

Obsidian

produces a lot of good fun

 

[Darth Canoli]

PTSD after playing Age of Decadence?

Not really, i was thinking about all the other "age of" starting with age of empires until the recent age of conan and all the other age of boringness in between.

 

[Lurker47]

here are a LOT of really SSS tier games out there that nobody has ever heard of that are absolutely awesome.

Like?

 

[Urthor]

here are a LOT of really SSS tier games out there that nobody has ever heard of that are absolutely awesome.

Like?

Sabres of Infinity, West of Loathing, maybe Exit Fate, VVVVV, Fall From Heaven 2, Ghost of a Tale

 

[a100167]

I can't get over how fucking stupid that name sounds.

 

[Garbage]

I can't get over how fucking stupid that name sounds.

I keep reading it as if everyone just shat themselves. I like it.

 

[NeLeS]

I was sure you will love the name


But there is method in our madness - The Age of Shattering is the 10th distinguishable age in the history of Zoria, following the Age of Restlessness. And as only hindsight is 20/20, ages are usually named after or during the late years, so our heroes don't know it, but the Age of Restlessness is over...

We published some more info on the game here - https://www.indiedb.com/games/zoria...age-of-shattering-announcement-and-steam-page . It should give a better idea on at least a part of the gameplay.
Thank you for your feedback everyone.