Zoria: Age of Shattering - a party-based RPG with base management - free prologue available

Hello everyone,

A little later than we would have wanted, but we're back with news: the Demo for Zoria: Age of Shattering is now available.

https://tinytrinket.itch.io/zoria-age-of-shattering
https://gamejolt.com/games/ZoriaAoS/474992

We would love to get your feedback on it, either here or live on Discord http://discord.zoriagame.com

Thank you.

 

Also coming to Steam?:

 

Hey, awesome, fast catch, we just released the page.
Yeah, it's also coming to Steam in the form of a Prologue. Content-wise it will about the same thing, but with a number of improvements, mainly updated UI and all the fixes that we apply to the demo as well based on feedback ... and probably a few improvements also, based on the feedback.

The choice is based on Steam's way of promoting content = 0 visibility for a DEMO but full game visibility for a Free Prologue (same thing, but we pay the fee for a game launch ) - and as a very small team/studio visibility is most important.

We welcome feedback either way and from any source - here, Discord, itch.io / Gamejolt, Steam when it's released. We hope you like the demo, just keep in mind everything you see can be subject to change based on feedback and also, we didn't include the management systems - they activate in the Outpost you are supposed to reach after the end of the DEMO.

There should be an update in a couple of days on itch.io / Gamejolt based on feedback, if you feel like avoiding a few minor bugs we bumped into.

 

Nice.

 

Is there any character creation in the finished version?

I played the demo and the combat felt minimalist, it was only a matter of: i attack, the enemy attack, i attack etc.

 

Hey Sloul, thank you for your feedback, but would need a little more info on "felt minimalist, it was only a matter of: i attack, the enemy attack, i attack" - it's turn based combat, I don't really know what would make it feel less minimalist. There are many abilities as you progress, offensive, defensive, buffs and debuffs, healing, single target and AOE, but at the very start might feel a little limited, until you unlock more abilities. On the other hand, we don't want to make it over-complex, aiming for a balance of complexity and speed of combat, don't want for a battle with a few characters to last half an hour or so.

Regarding the character creation - the game work differently from a traditional CRPG and so does character creation. Think the way X-COM handles characters, it's quite similar. There is no character creation in the traditional sense, but you don't really play with a single party, the only constant is the commander. The rest of the party you choose who you take with you depending on your preferred style, on the story requirements (maybe a character is needed for a certain quest), on the availability (you can have injured characters waiting to recover), on dungeon specifics (a dungeon high in the mountains will clearly need a mage to summon bridges for example).

Consider the Demo is a mission but we picked your party for you - because of the necessary story development, to introduce you in the world. There are more classes, more abilities and ofc you have your own choices in how you build every character in your roster, what abilities you choose. Together these options should allow for quite a wide variety of play styles.

A few question:
- was combat slow to develop into something interesting?
- did you use the skill system to get more abilities?
- did you get to the end of the demo, through the dungeon?

Thanks, cheers

 

- yes, it was dull (sorry): no flanking/backstabbing (aka positioning), no movement abilities, no light/darkness mechanic, no fire spread, no environmental interaction/creativeness (aka I kick someone in the balls into oil puddle, so that it falls, and then proceed to burn it by throwing a lamp). etc. etc. etc.
Even if I am going a bit far, what I mean is: dull. Nothing.

- First part of your question: yes.

- No, there was a bug preventing me from finishing the demo (I think), the latest part of my playthrough was killing a mage (the first mage you meet).

 

The atmosphere reminds me of DA origins