Game News Forbidden Unit, a turn-based dystopian cyberpunk RPG, now on Kickstarter

[Infinitron]

Tags: Chainless Games; Forbidden Unit

The latest indie RPG to seek its fortune on Kickstarter is called Forbidden Unit. It's a turn-based sci-fi RPG set in a dystopian cyberpunk universe, where you play (as you might have guessed) a unit of special ops mercenaries. The developers are a group of Czech Bohemia Interactive veterans who call themselves Chainless Games. Judging by the Kickstarter pitch, they don't have anybody on their team who can write in proper English, but they have put together an impressive gameplay prototype with an interesting cel-shaded look:

Main Features

Forbidden Unit is a complex Game with a wide range of game mechanics allowing you to enjoy the game in different ways and discover your favorite play style.

Here are the Key Features:

• Stealth Mechanics - Sneak up on yoru enemies, prepare perfect ambush before the fight, eliminate your enemies silently, place bombs and trapse, or complete your mission without being spotted at all.
• Turn-Based Combat - Plan every move, prepare your weapons and equipment. Outsmart your enemies with your tactics and combat skills in classical turn-based rules, on a grid battlefield.
• Dialogs and Story - Reveal genuine story behind main characters, their motivations. Make choices that matter and face consequences in a complex world full of interesting NPCs and rich dialogues.
• Advanced Gameplay - Use advanced techniques like thermal vision, or camouflaging to find new possibilities, hidden areas or traps. Specialize your characters, and learn new skills that suit your play style.
• Destruction - Is there a powerful enemy, or wall standing in your way. Well, you didn't forget to bring some big toys with you right? The environment is mostly destructible.
• Interactivity - Use environment to your advantage, throw enemies off the cliff, create shortcuts by blowing up walls, or make barricades and cover from things you can find around you. Place traps, auto turrets, proximity explosives or find hidden places behind secret doors.

Environment

The game is taking place in the future after the last world war. Traditional states and political division of the world is no longer exist. The Earth is largely destroyed. Some people survive behind the walls of city states, under control of the large corporations that run their entire lives. The other peoples survive in the wasteland where the only valid law is survival of the fittest.

Story

The story is focused on four main characters. They work as mercenaries in a complicated world where the line between black and white is blurred. During the game, you will learn about past and present of each member of your group, their relationships, personal life, and why they work together.

You will accept different contracts from powerful corporations, clans, and individuals... There will be more than one way to finish contracts, and the decision is up to you. You might find dirty secrets behind the deals and refuse to finish the contract, but be prepared to face consequences.
​

Chainless are looking to raise $65,000 to complete Forbidden Unit, with an estimated release date of December 2018. Maybe if they succeed they can hire a writer. You can get yourself a copy for just $15, with beta and "pre-beta" access available for $25 and $35, respectively.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

pledged

 

[TheGameSquid]

Normally I'm a bit weary of companies whose background only includes a single mobile game, but on the other hand they've put together a great-looking prototype to show us (I wish this happened more often instead of constantly getting concept art and some hot air shoved down our throat).

I'm strapped for cash atm, but I would consider backing this if I wasn't. Looks neat.

 

[Goral]

Looks like they're taking ideas from the best (I see some System Shock similarities and Commandos too) and the gameplay might be great indeed. It's a shame that Kickstarter isn't as useful as it used to be, I doubt enough people will hear about it for it to succeed but I'm hoping for the best.

 

[Tom_ChainlessGames]

Hello, this is Tomas from Chainless Games, thanks for your support, It means a lot for us.

 

[Darkzone]

Hello, this is Tomas from Chainless Games, thanks for your support, It means a lot for us.

It looks good as a game and i will bake it, if it has a chance to reach its goals. Currently it doesn't look good for the Kickstarter. Nevertheless you should go on and continue with this project. You can make a build for the Early Access on Steam Direct ($100 fee) or go to GOG (direct?). I will definitely buy it there if the KS fails, because i believe that this can be a quite good game. (I'm a Cyberpunk fan, so i was bought in an instant.)
Here some feedback from my current limited perspective.:
What i especially like is that you want to make that different clothes have different equipment slots and that different slots have different AP access (dependend on the country: X-Com or UFO).
You need also different cyber upgrades, if you don't have them. (I had no time to read through your entire KS. )
I think that if you make a player customisable squad leader (the main player character) and a team of five, then even more people would be interested.
Also the fire vector for the burning character with its fire doesn't look that good in the cell shader. (Can be due to your recording technique.) Don't apply cell shaders to this fire or make the fire different (painted?) for the use of post processings like the cell shader.
I believe that you are making a game in the way of Shadowrun (without elves and magic), where you fulfill missions for money. Then make some missions mutually exclusive or unnecessary. (Most players will play them anyway, so this is not a wasted effort.)
Btw.: The use of cell shader invites some storytelling through comics. (Just saying.)

 

[Tom_ChainlessGames]

Hello, this is Tomas from Chainless Games, thanks for your support, It means a lot for us.

It looks good as a game and i will bake it, if it has a chance to reach its goals. Currently it doesn't look good for the Kickstarter. Nevertheless you should go on and continue with this project. You can make a build for the Early Access on Steam Direct ($100 fee) or go to GOG (direct?). I will definitely buy it there if the KS fails, because i believe that this can be a quite good game. (I'm a Cyberpunk fan, so i was bought in an instant.)
Here some feedback from my current limited perspective.:
What i especially like is that you want to make that different clothes have different equipment slots and that different slots have different AP access (dependend on the country: X-Com or UFO).
You need also different cyber upgrades, if you don't have them. (I had no time to read through your entire KS. )
I think that if you make a player customisable squad leader (the main player character) and a team of five, then even more people would be interested.
Also the fire vector for the burning character with its fire doesn't look that good in the cell shader. (Can be due to your recording technique.) Don't apply cell shaders to this fire or make the fire different (painted?) for the use of post processings like the cell shader.
I believe that you are making a game in the way of Shadowrun (without elves and magic), where you fulfill missions for money. Then make some missions mutually exclusive or unnecessary. (Most players will play them anyway, so this is not a wasted effort.)
Btw.: The use of cell shader invites some storytelling through comics. (Just saying.)

Thank you for the feedback. So far, we do not know how we will continue if the KS does not work. We have some backup plans, but development will definitely be more complicated.

If you like the project, you should definitely become a backer. You help us make us more visible and you are not risking anything even in case it won't succeed.

 

[Gecos]

Pledged $75 but to be honest, by the way this KS campaign is going, it won't even make it to 10 grand.

 

[Tom_ChainlessGames]

Pledged $75 but to be honest, by the way this KS campaign is going, it won't even make it to 10 grand.

Thank you very much, generous sir.

Even if we don't reach the goal on Kickstarter, more money our backers are willing to send may eventually help us to find alternative funding for our game.
So far it seems that people are really interested in the game, but we are not visible enough. We are trying our best, to improve that.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Prime Junta]

Don't touch my unit, is forbidden

Seriously, intriguing pitch. I dig the aesthetics, but are the dick and colostomy jokes in the names intentional?

 

[Tom_ChainlessGames]

Don't touch my unit, is forbidden

Seriously, intriguing pitch. I dig the aesthetics, but are the dick and colostomy jokes in the names intentional?

To be honest, we didn't know there is "another" meaning behind word Unit... A little bit too late to change it.

 

[Gecos]

Pledged $75 but to be honest, by the way this KS campaign is going, it won't even make it to 10 grand.

Thank you very much, generous sir.

Even if we don't reach the goal on Kickstarter, more money our backers are willing to send may eventually help us to find alternative funding for our game.
So far it seems that people are really interested in the game, but we are not visible enough. We are trying our best, to improve that.

Wish you all the best. Would be very pleased to be proven wrong and even more pleased to see your game available on Steam&GOG someday, not too far in the future.

 

[Tom_ChainlessGames]

Pledged $75 but to be honest, by the way this KS campaign is going, it won't even make it to 10 grand.

Thank you very much, generous sir.

Even if we don't reach the goal on Kickstarter, more money our backers are willing to send may eventually help us to find alternative funding for our game.
So far it seems that people are really interested in the game, but we are not visible enough. We are trying our best, to improve that.

Wish you all the best. Would be very pleased to be proven wrong and even more pleased to see your game available on Steam&GOG someday, not too far in the future.

To see that people are really interested in our game is really important for us, and we will definitely continue with development. However, it may take longer than we originally planned.
It is also possible that we will make early-access to the game via Steam Greenlight. But at this moment I cannot estimate when that would be.

 

[TheGameSquid]

Alright, I manned up and backed it anyway. The campaign definitely needs to gain a little traction though...

 

[Darkzone]

To see that people are really interested in our game is really important for us, and we will definitely continue with development. However, it may take longer than we originally planned.
It is also possible that we will make early-access to the game via Steam Greenlight. But at this moment I cannot estimate when that would be.

There is interst in a Cyberpunk, Turn based cRPG (doesn't need to be a full fledged cRPG), but currently KS is not good for computer games.
Steam Greenlight is no more, now it is Steam Direct and you can publish the game if you pay the fee of $100, that you get back if the game has sold enough units. So you don't even need to be greenlighted on steam to publish a game. Therfore i have suggested that you maken an limited (less story, some itemes (weapons, armor and etc) a few missions and most of the game mechanics) Early Access build of the game for Steam when your KS fails.
GOG can make even a loan / financial help for publishers if the game is in a good shape and it is obvious that the devs are on it. It will be then paid back via sales: https://af.gog.com/indie?as=1649904300
And you definitly need cyber upgrades for the party members, like blades in forearm and etc.
Also go for the carbon fiber, gun metal and titanium look, because everything looks better in black. And if you don't agree with this notion then imagine a pink, purple, braun or polka dot darth vader.

 

[Tom_ChainlessGames]

To see that people are really interested in our game is really important for us, and we will definitely continue with development. However, it may take longer than we originally planned.
It is also possible that we will make early-access to the game via Steam Greenlight. But at this moment I cannot estimate when that would be.

There is interst in a Cyberpunk, Turn based cRPG (doesn't need to be a full fledged cRPG), but currently KS is not good for computer games.
Steam Greenlight is no more, now it is Steam Direct and you can publish the game if you pay the fee of $100, that you get back if the game has sold enough units. So you don't even need to be greenlighted on steam to publish a game. Therfore i have suggested that you maken an limited (less story, some itemes (weapons, armor and etc) a few missions and most of the game mechanics) Early Access build of the game for Steam when your KS fails.
GOG can make even a loan / financial help for publishers if the game is in a good shape and it is obvious that the devs are on it. It will be then paid back via sales: https://af.gog.com/indie?as=1649904300

Thanks for tips.

>>> Steam Greenlight is no more, now it is Steam Direct
Right, I forgot they already changed it. This is definitely one of the possible options for us.

>>> Therfore i have suggested that you maken an limited (less story, some itemes (weapons, armor and etc) a few missions and most of the game mechanics)
That's what I meant by this early access version.

>>> GOG can make even a loan
I didn't know this, I will look into it to get more information...

 

[Tom_ChainlessGames]

I just wanted to ask. Since I am new to this forum. I could not figure out, how this rating system works?
I must be blind, but I don't see how can I give a rating to a post?

 

[Freddie]

You are sort of in a difficult place if you don't get more visibility. At the same time you are going to get lot of suggestions. Everyone wants their Molly in the game and so on.

My own suggestion however, the game that would make happy, would be game that actually exists, which developers have economic foundation to patch it if needed and so on.

So you may want to consider cost of adding new features versus how much customers they bring to you, if they help you to gain visibility, campaign. Shadowrun without magic might be something you could try to test out the waters.

It looks good, especially for the price. It just that too few people know about it.

 

[Infinitron]

I must be blind, but I don't see how can I give a rating to a post?

That normally requires one year's seniority on the forum.

 

[Tom_ChainlessGames]

That normally requires one year's seniority on the forum.

I see...
I like the way this forum works, It's quite interesting and entertaining.

 

[Darkzone]

That normally requires one year's seniority on the forum.

I see...
I like the way this forum works, It's quite interesting and entertaining.

Keep always in mind that this is a free speech zone, which means that people will tell you what they think and this means that some will brofist you and others will call you a retarded moron. The best way to handle it is to grow a thick skin and carry on. But this is also a good attribute, because you will get somehow a true opinion about your project.
RPG Codex has quite a visibility and there are much more lurkers than activ posters.

 

[Tom_ChainlessGames]

Keep always in mind that this is a free speech zone

That's how it supposed to be, we don't have any issue with that and it is also the only way to get true feedback.

 

[Kev Inkline]

I think the name is unfortunate, not so much because of the double meaning, but because it's just quite bland.

I don't think it's too late to change it, in partcular if the KS campaign falls through.

 

[Abu Antar]

I think the name is unfortunate, not so much because of the double meaning, but because it's just quite bland.

I don't think it's too late to change it, in partcular if the KS campaign falls through.

They can still change it, even if the Kickstarter ends up successful. There are other projects that have done it.