Theseus: Journey to Athens - C&C RPG made in GMS 2

[Moaning_Clock]

I was meaning to respond to this, sorry it took so long. Life has its way of throwing up distractions; I am in some US state called "nevada" hauling a bunch of stuff and my family to the west coast. You are right that some of this stuff is extremely low hanging fruit, like the typos. The practical reality is that I did a terrible job backing up the source code, I haven't touched GMS 2 since the last patch, and I have a new laptop. So I would need to reinstall GMS2, hopefully find the latest version of the source code (ideally in my cloud drive, but otherwise on an old laptop in a garage several states away). At that point I could easily fix the typos, the graphical errors would take a little longer, and then I would update steam and itch.

That sounds fucking horrible. I understand why just remaking it sounds a lot more appealing but still it's a shame. I hope at least the last sale was a small success!

so I can go down in crpg history as a complete cunt.

The competition is fierce nowadays

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Finished my third playthrough! After finishing my Imperial Guards run in Age of Decadence, I still wanted to play more but another Age of Decadence run (or Dungeon Rats run) felt way too long but thankfully Theseus came to mind! The last time I played the game was two months ago and I needed a moment to adjust to the controls.

Spoiler-free opinion: Still rough gem! This short format really fits the game, testing out the different paths is fun and even though it's clunky you get used to it.

Spoiler

I had a run where I was on the water and another by foot. In both runs I had a few fights but mostly avoided them because I didn't get the required skill points in the first chapter. This time I tried to do more or less as much fights as possible. Killed the bandits, killed the jeweler daughter, raided the temple, annoyed the flute guy, helped my old teacher, killed the club guy, killed the flute guy, got the rod but didn't bring it back (nice that it was useful in fights! I simply had forgotten it lol) sacrificed the baker (sided with boutes), killed the pigs and the trap man, got his daughter (thanks to the jewelery), killed the boxing guy. The fights felt too minimalistic in my last runs but with company it's a lot better! The trap man daughter had two interesting skills (is this the only mentioning of a dice in the healing? felt out of place but maybe I didn't notice the rest) and I liked the archer teacher. First time I noticed the health increase due to my constitution increases. I still think that there's stuff in the game left but I don't know where. I remember that I had some options with poseidon and since I only did go that route really once there might be something. And how do you increase intelligence? Combat feels a bit too easy with company but it makes sense that without company it's the hard way.

I would be interested how many playthroughs you think are viable for this game to see 99% what it has to offer?

Spoiler

Endstats

Minor inconsistency - I already had spoken with her.

Minor inconsistency 2: Had company.

 

[AdolfSatan]

INT is actually botched, you can't raise it further than 2 because there aren't any events to give you the experience.

How to get those points:

Spoiler

Sacrificing to Poseidon and by bribing a priest

I'd say 3 or 4 play-throughs are enough to see all the content, provided you save/load at some points to try the shorter dead ends like being a baker and so on.

 

[Moaning_Clock]

I'd say 3 or 4 play-throughs are enough to see all the content, provided you save/load at some points to try the shorter dead ends like being a baker and so on.

Yeah, did a short run to see the baker ending! I also encountered only one way (I think) to increase Wisdom - are there more? Thanks!

Spoiler

There are two major endings? The Poseidon one and the King one?

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Wrote a very basic combat guide https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2587836065

 

[Agesilaus]

I'd say 3 or 4 play-throughs are enough to see all the content, provided you save/load at some points to try the shorter dead ends like being a baker and so on.

Yeah, did a short run to see the baker ending! I also encountered only one way (I think) to increase Wisdom - are there more? Thanks!

Spoiler

There are two major endings? The Poseidon one and the King one?

I am sure there's more than one way to increase wisdom, but I'm afraid I don't remember where. I do have a list of all the attribute descriptions, if you are interested:

Spoiler

strengthmod[0] = "Strength: (0) Skinny youth";
strengthmod[1] = "Strength: (1) You could hurt someone";
strengthmod[2] = "Strength: (2) You intimidate the locals";
strengthmod[3] = "Strength: (3) Regional wrestling champ";
strengthmod[4] = "Strength: (4) Herakles respects you";
strengthmod[5] = "Strength: (5) Divine";

dexteritymod[0] = "Dexterity: (0) Flat-footed";
dexteritymod[1] = "Dexterity: (1) Able to move";
dexteritymod[2] = "Dexterity: (2) You can dodge a fist or two";
dexteritymod[3] = "Dexterity: (3) Potential Olympic sprinter";
dexteritymod[4] = "Dexterity: (4) Artemis couldn't shoot you";
dexteritymod[5] = "Dexterity: (5) Divine";

constitutionmod[0] = "Constitution: (0) Sickly";
constitutionmod[1] = "Constitution: (1) Healthy";
constitutionmod[2] = "Constitution: (2) Hale and Hearty";
constitutionmod[3] = "Constitution: (3) Horses are jealous of you";
constitutionmod[4] = "Constitution: (4) Disease is afraid of you";
constitutionmod[5] = "Constitution: (5) Divine";

wisdommod[0] = "Wisdom: (0) Your nickname is Epimetheus";
wisdommod[1] = "Wisdom: (1) You avoid touching fire";
wisdommod[2] = "Wisdom: (2) You know when to walk away";
wisdommod[3] = "Wisdom: (3) The gods guide you";
wisdommod[4] = "Wisdom: (4) Prometheus admires you";
wisdommod[5] = "Wisdom: (5) Divine";

intelligencemod[0] = "Intelligence: (0) Possibly an idiot";
intelligencemod[1] = "Intelligence: (1) Middling intellect";
intelligencemod[2] = "Intelligence: (2) Smart enough to be dangerous";
intelligencemod[3] = "Intelligence: (3) Daedalus would envy you";
intelligencemod[4] = "Intelligence: (4) As clever as Sisyphus";
intelligencemod[5] = "Intelligence: (5) Divine";

charismamod[0] = "Charisma: (0) Nobody enjoys talking to you";
charismamod[1] = "Charisma: (1) You told a joke once";
charismamod[2] = "Charisma: (2) You light up the room";
charismamod[3] = "Charisma: (3) Orators imitate your style";
charismamod[4] = "Charisma: (4) Gods enjoy your company";
charismamod[5] = "Charisma: (5) Divine";

In regards to your other question,

Spoiler

Yes, there's at least one more ending. If you participate in the sacrifice to Zeus Lykaios, you can become a werewolf and lead the monsters to Athens. There was also supposed to be a Boutes-related ending, but I don't think I ever implemented that.

Wrote a very basic combat guide https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2587836065

Hah, awesome stuff. I would only add that there are also combat-related items. For example, if you let Connidas die you get his bow, which gives you a multi-shot special ability which is very powerful. If you get the stick in Epidauros, you can shoot acid blasts. I think those are the only two special abilities that Theseus gets.

 

[Agesilaus]

In honour of the thread being bumped, I have put the game on sale. It's 50% off, sale lasts a fortnight. The sale doesn't take effect until tomorrow, Steam won't let me start it immediately.

There are standardised Steam sales throughout the year, and if I remember I put the game on sale during them, but Steam doesn't let people share the exact dates.

 

[Moaning_Clock]

I would only add that there are also combat-related items.

I didn't play the game enough to give a more detailed guide, so I sticked to the very basics but I'll mention that there are items. The companions were easy because you can see how many you get at maximum.

I do have a list of all the attribute descriptions

interesting - but most of them can't get to five, or?

In honour of the thread being bumped, I have put the game on sale. It's 50% off, sale lasts a fortnight.

How many copies do you usually sell during a sale if I may ask? Always wondered how indie niche rpgs are doing.


And I will try what you mentioned!

 

[Agesilaus]

I would only add that there are also combat-related items.

I didn't play the game enough to give a more detailed guide, so I sticked to the very basics but I'll mention that there are items. The companions were easy because you can see how many you get at maximum.

I do have a list of all the attribute descriptions

interesting - but most of them can't get to five, or?

In honour of the thread being bumped, I have put the game on sale. It's 50% off, sale lasts a fortnight.

How many copies do you usually sell during a sale if I may ask? Always wondered how indie niche rpgs are doing.


And I will try what you mentioned!

You apparently can't get 5 in all categories. Let's not dwell on how or why it turned out that way, I'm sure I had a good reason.

This game is definitely not a money maker, but the actual received income has been enough to cover the financial expenses of making it. Which is probably what I deserved for an unpolished after-work project: a learning experience, my own little game on steam, and my actual bills paid off (software, graphics, music).

Right now it sells a handful of copies every month when not on sale. For this month, it has sold 5 copies and been added to 12 wishlists. When it is on sale, it spikes - I had it 50% off from June 24 to July 7 (Steam Summer Sale). It sold 32 copies during that sale, which is gross revenue of $64. In total it sold over 300 copies on Steam, and some more on Itch, at various different price points (it used to cost more than 5$ until recently, and I've put it on sale from time to time). It's still on 855 wishlists and growing, so apparently there's still a market for it.

Obviously I would need to produce something much better, and/or much more popular, than this if I want to make a living as an indie game developer. I am happy that it continues to sell even though it was released more than 2 years ago. On the other hand, I really don't track it anymore. I stopped paying attention; every so often Steam sends me an email saying I made more or less than the minimum deposit level, and every so often Steam asks me to put it on sale for an upcoming event.

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Tbh that sounds great, that you could cover all expenses and will make a profit over time. Sure, it's not a money printer but getting 32 new potential players from a sale is awesome (and at least one actual player - me, picked it up in that time-frame). And with bundles (on Steam with your next game or otherwise) it surely can give you some shekels for years. For the first commercial project this sounds awesome! Thanks for being so open!

How's your next game going?

 

[Agesilaus]

I have a few projects going on, but I have learnt not to predict release dates or development milestones. I put aside my work on Siege of Plataea to remake an old 80s game, but lately I've been more focused on improving web development skills. Then I'll convert my PDF into a website and expand it again, and somewhere along the line I'll finish that 80s remake. I see you're working a title too, with any luck you are a more dedicated and careful developer than me

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Good luck then - really looking forward to your next projects. Would love to see an updated version of Theseus or a Remake. It really feels like it's missing 1-2 months of development time to really polish it up.

with any luck you are a more dedicated and careful developer than me

I feel really bad when I don't finish stuff and every longer project needs to make money since I'm self-employed. But calling it dedicated sounds a lot nicer lol

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Theseus is on its all-time low price. After you've ripped off the Grimwah guy, rip off the Theseus guy

 

[680x0]

overpriced :D

 

[Agesilaus]

overpriced :D

I forbid you from playing my game, no soup for you

 

[Sukhāvatī]

Bought.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

Man I so want a massive CRPG set in ancient Greece. Why are devs so fucking blind to its potential. Why is it UrinalSoft of all people whose ever made a Greek "RPG".

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Why are devs so fucking blind to its potential.

Too homoerotic for the 99% of human population.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Man I so want a massive CRPG set in ancient Greece. Why are devs so fucking blind to its potential. Why is it UrinalSoft of all people whose ever made a Greek "RPG".

You and half the Codex, except they want no combat and the whole "adventure" happening in Mykonos...

 

[Üstad]

https://antiquity-games.itch.io/aeschines-glimpse-of-adulthood

Agesilaus this is your site right? If not is it safe to download this free game from here?

 

[Agesilaus]

https://antiquity-games.itch.io/aeschines-glimpse-of-adulthood

Agesilaus this is your site right? If not is it safe to download this free game from here?

Yeah go for it, it's an old game I built in tyrannobuilder ages ago, and then I got fed up because tyrannobuilder had a bunch of bugs that were affecting the game (or maybe I just sucked at making it) and the compiler stank. Not going to tell you it's good, but if you like the Attic Orators and 4th century Athenian history it's worth a download, not like it has much competition.

I am working on some new stuff, my main goal is to make a game about the siege of plataea but first will make a btech game in unity / ork project so I can be more competent. But I also just wind up spending non-work/non-family time on my eleatic hobby project ( https://antiquitystudio.com/testpage.html ), arguing online, and playing crpgs and field of glory 2 multi.

 

[Tavernking]

I wish there was some kind of catchy word like 'historically-accurate' that I could use to describe this game. Kudos for being faithful to the source material and not adding a bunch of stupid stuff like most greek mythology games do.

p.s. I'm still yet to buy the game please put on a sale

 

[Agesilaus]

I wish there was some kind of catchy word like 'historically-accurate' that I could use to describe this game. Kudos for being faithful to the source material and not adding a bunch of stupid stuff like most greek mythology games do.

p.s. I'm still yet to buy the game please put on a sale

ok, how much of a discount should I offer

 

[Tavernking]

I wish there was some kind of catchy word like 'historically-accurate' that I could use to describe this game. Kudos for being faithful to the source material and not adding a bunch of stupid stuff like most greek mythology games do.

p.s. I'm still yet to buy the game please put on a sale

ok, how much of a discount should I offer

At least 50% please good sir

 

[Moaning_Clock]

I ended up trying it and ultimately didn't like it. Still, I admire your efforts to bring classical antiquity to CRPGs! So for that alone I am excited for Siege of Plataea.

p.s. I'm still yet to buy the game please put on a sale

Did you forget about that or just pirate it