Vapourware Lays of Evenheart - Vapourware

[Tavernking]

Project on indefinite hiatus as of 23/03/22

Inspired by Knights of the Chalice, Pathfinder Kingmaker, STWALT, Crusader Kings 2, Skyrim, The Guild II.

Experience the unfair random brutality of medieval life in a fantasy world. Raise a family, slay monsters, run businesses, and explore an open world full of dangers and adventure. When you die, step into your children's shoes and continue your family's legacy.

Sign up for the public alpha: google form
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tavernking

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Unfair: You are a guest in this harsh world that has been living without you before and will carry on after it has dispatched you. Not a superhero who slaughters hundreds of enemies in a single afternoon without batting an eye. You start as a vulnerable commoner who has never held a sword in his life, and the difficulty of combat reinforces this notion. RNGesus rules with an iron fist here. Even the mightiest of knights in peak condition can be instantly killed by a single lucky arrow, shot by a frail goblin who has never used a bow in it's life.

Random: Randomly generated world map. Thousands of random events offering a wealth of choices and multiple outcomes. Many NPC companions all with unique personalities and likes/dislikes, they will leave the party if they don't like what you're doing.

Brutality: Choice and Consequence. Women, elves and dwarves face constant restrictions (but they have their own advantages too). Death is quick and irreversible, you cannot reload old saves. Death is permanent, no second chances.

This Unfair Random Brutality design philosophy comes from a game called STWALT, made by urb from mudandblood.net. You can read more about unfair random brutality philosophy here.

Journey across the lands on a large overworld map. Fight turn-based battles on a grid. Decide you’re done with adventuring, get a stable job as a farmer, blacksmith, guard, etc. Find a spouse and produce an heir. Play as your heir once your character dies of old age. There's an overarching storyline too: vampiric infestations threaten to destroy the realm, will your family line survive?

Outdated media:

Spoiler

Combat demo v3 now available: https://tavernking.itch.io/lays-of-lontherel-combat-demo-v3 (play in browser, give it a minute to load)

Early screenshot

Spoiler

Demons are prophesied to invade a thousand years from now, will your family line survive?

Random world generation gif

Spoiler

Prototype pic

Spoiler

Ancient mockup

Spoiler

 

[Catacombs]

I'm interested.

 

[mondblut]

Are you the "idea guy" looking for a coder to make it for you, as usually happens?

 

[Farewell into the night]

Is this like neo scavenger but with families and jobs?

 

[AdamReith]

Seems a bit gay? Maybe that's what you were going for, no judgies.

But it reminds me of some of Sseth's gifs.

Serious Answer: Love the sound of the concept. Can you go into details of how the various systems interact. Thanks!

 

[thesheeep]

Play as your heir once your character dies of old age. There's an overarching storyline too: demons are prophesied to invade a thousand years from now, will your family line survive?

I'm doing preparations for a project with a comparable timeline, and also played through the eyes of single people "one at a time".
Completely different gameplay, though, but I thought that was a funny coincidence.

 

[Tavernking]

I've decided to release a prototype of the random world generation. Player speed has been increased by 200% for testing purposes. Let me know what you think.

https://tavernking.itch.io/world-gen-demo

I have no idea if this download will work on computers that don't have flash player installed. If you don't have flash player, please let me know whether the game runs for you or not. Enjoy.

screenshot:

Spoiler

Serious Answer: Love the sound of the concept. Can you go into details of how the various systems interact. Thanks!

Can you elaborate on what you want to hear about?

 

[Metronome]

I have no idea if this download will work on computers that don't have flash player installed.

Well it works on Wine without any problems... at least for now.
The art is really nice. I like the use of color. I don't like the way parts of the map pop in and out while you're walking though. I think that would be better with smooth transitions. Maybe it isn't so bad when your character is going at normal speed. Other than that there's not much to say. I walked off the side of the world one time, and found acorns in the oceans, but that just seems like prototype stuff.

The plot sounds interesting, and I'll play it if you finish. Good luck!

 

[Tavernking]

Two new screenshots today.
The game will have seasons as you progress through the years. Travelling costs food supplies and camping supplies. Travelling in the winter is a pain, because it doubles the amount of camping supplies consumed and overall travel is slower. You may even find that some distant settlements become almost impossible to travel to during the winter, unless you have a high foraging skill and can live off the land.

Spoiler

A simple solution to the harsh winters of this world? Stay in a settlement for few months and work a job. Well-paid jobs require skills that you need to train beforehand. But at the start of the game you can always work for your father for some pocket change.

Spoiler

As you can see, the exp you gain is hidden. It will be random but generally proportional to the amount of time you work. Thoughts? I'm willing to change this if it's unpopular.

Now some bad news: there will be no more updates until July because I'm very busy. But I'm aiming to have a playable demo out before 2021.

 

[SerratedBiz]

Now some bad news: there will be no more updates until July because I'm very busy. But I'm aiming to have a playable demo out before 2021.

Tavernking
Don't believe his lies

 

[Tavernking]

I said I would give an update in July so here I am. There's nothing much to report except that I'm moving over from Adobe Animate CC to Godot.

Animate CC is technically an animation software, and not made with games in mind. I used it initially because of familiarity, but once I started running into difficulty there wasn't much of a community to turn to for help.

Now I'm using Godot: development is much faster, about 5x faster. One thing that took me an entire day with Animate CC can be done in Godot by simply checking a box. Amazing.
Another bonus: Animate CC supported a game world of 51x51 tiles. Godot can handle a much larger world of 204x204 tiles. That's 16x more tiles to explore!

 

[Shem-Rizhu]

How far are you in development?

 

[J1M]

Don't take this the wrong way, but I would be more excited about the game if it was really about an RPG called Tavern King.

 

[Tavernking]

How far are you in development?

Release is years away. But I like the idea of demos/alphas/betas.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I would be more excited about the game if it was really about an RPG called Tavern King.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/867290/Crossroads_Inn/

 

[laclongquan]

As you can see, the exp you gain is hidden. It will be random but generally proportional to the amount of time you work. Thoughts? I'm willing to change this if it's unpopular.

Not HIDDEN. We hate hidden things.

Sure, you can hide the calculation behind that "random generate" thing. But not hidden.

 

[Tavernking]

Small update but one I think will be appreciated. I'm using Donjon's Medieval Demographics calculator (which is based on Medieval Demographics Made Easy by S. John Ross for anyone who's interested) to build a more realistic and authentic world.

The game takes place on a continent the size of modern day France and modern day Germany combined (~385,000 mi²). Although Dwarven and Elven colonies have existed for far longer, the lands only started to be tamed by human civilisation 1200 years ago. There will be 2 major cities, 4 other cities, 40 towns, 54 castles in the wilderness and 18 ruined castles in the wilderness (which the player can restore).

The best part is that this all works perfectly. And the game world is so large that it's not like ten settlements are being squeezed into your screen at any one time. Next update in December.

 

[Tavernking]

I like to think I'm a man of my word. I promised an update in December, so here it is. Also promised was a playable demo before 2021, but that might be a tad late...

Now some bad news: there will be no more updates until July because I'm very busy. But I'm aiming to have a playable demo out before 2021.

Tavernking
Don't believe his lies

I have mixed feelings about the combat in this game. I want players to be frightened of it and avoid it at all costs, this game does have mandatory perma-death after all. I also want to make it detailed enough so that the player feels there's a wide array of tactical decisions he/she can make. The combat system is inspired by Knights of the Chalice, DND and Pathfinder, but I want to stress that this game isn't a OGL 3.5 kind of game.

Next update within a few weeks, along with a combat demo. Will also start working on proper marketing and clean up my old patreon (link here for anyone who's interested (here you can play some ancient versions of the game from 4 years ago, NSFW))

 

[madhouse]

Will it have anal circumference stat?
Looks promising.

 

[Tavernking]

Not an update, but my Patreon has been set up. I don't expect anyone to donate just yet, as all I've shown are pictures and words! That will change.

If you don't want to check out my patreon page, here's all the new info:

Spoiler

A patron-only 'adventure' demo is scheduled to release in mid-2021. A free combat demo is scheduled to release by January 14th. The combat demo will showcase this game's combat system, the adventure demo will provide a more complete RPG experience.

Short description of the game from the patreon page:

Spoiler

A sandbox role playing game that requires patience and dedication. Think of it like a medieval fantasy life simulator, you are thrown into the game world and left to your own devices to do whatever you like.

You can become the richest man in the world, the greatest warrior, most respected knight, even the king himself. You can become a notorious crime lord, or a murderous serial killer. Or you can uphold the law and swear fealty to one of the world's factions. Find a respectable wife and marry her in order to produce an heir, or you can have an 'accident'.

Most of the game will revolve around the player trying to acclaim wealth and increase his social status (these goals are optional, of course). You can spend multiple lifetimes advancing from a peasant to a commoner to a noble to a king. You will slowly grow into an old man. If you die with an heir your fortune and titles may be passed onto him/her and you can continue playing the game, but if you die without an heir then the game is over.

You can live a mundane safe life as a farmer or a blacksmith, slowly amass a small fortune and marry a cute peasant girl to have a child with. Or you could go on crazy adventures and take big risks for big rewards… Sail the high seas, fight in wars, break the law, gamble, go on dangerous adventures.

 

[madhouse]

Alright. Hopefully more people get on board. Send your demo to some YouTube channel that covers games in developement if possible, you could probably garner a good amount of attention that way.

 

[Tavernking]

Alright. Hopefully more people get on board. Send your demo to some YouTube channel that covers games in developement if possible, you could probably garner a good amount of attention that way.

Will do that with the adventure demo mid-2021. The combat demo coming soon will likely be met with lots of negative feedback but I'll listen to that feedback and keep posting new versions here until I get it right.

 

[Tavernking]

Combat demo coming out in about a week. For now here's an old cripple attacking goblins.

 

[curds]

Tavernking

Will it be possible to increase combat speed? Looks painfully slow as is.

 

[Tavernking]

Tavernking

Will it be possible to increase combat speed? Looks painfully slow as is.

That will definitely be an option by that time the game releases. Let me know if you still feel this way after playing the demo and I'll make sure it's there in the next update.

 

[PompiPompi]

Looks really cool.

But... you are creating a new game genre/type. That is a risky move.
There is a reason why game developer clone old and known genres. Because those genres were perfected before them. They passed "natural selection".
I am afraid highly lethal combat+no save+1 life will make your game impossible to progress very far. Or the death will be so random, combat should be avoided at all costs.
Then you make an entire combat system no one will want to even try.