Game News Age of Decadence August Update

[Crooked Bee]

Tags: Age of Decadence; Iron Tower Studios; Vault Dweller

Iron Tower has posted another monthly update on the progress of The Age of Decadence, their long-awaited single player turn-based RPG. Have a snippet:

I'm busy working on ten things at once, so I'll keep it short. We're still working on alchemy and planning to start beta-testing it in Sep. Since we're getting closer, Oscar went over Teron one last time, fixing what's been reported and forcing me to add extra content here and there.

Now you can score bonus loyalty points by selling info to Linos and telling him that Cado's planning to attack the shipment. You can loot Carrinas' body - the most requested "feature". IG1 was tweaked based on the feedback we received. Plus, your grifter, loremaster, and thief will have more things to do.

[...] Oscar's still tinkering with the dialogue interface, as you can see. We had many complaints about the font and readability [...] [so] we've increased the font size, tweaked ol' Torque a bit to make sure it stops fucking around with fonts, and changed the layout.

I finished tweaking and expanding the mountain pass and the Ordu camp locations. I rarely praise my own work, but you guys are going to love them. The Ordu camp has a LOT of different options and outcomes, both for the Ordu and the attack on the pass.

I'll continue to introduce characters and questlines. Today's guest is General Pavola of the Imperial Guards. He served with Carrinas in the wasteland and has nothing but good things to say about him. He isn't the brightest tool, but he's the closest to being a "good guy" in the game, so don't say that the world is bleak and shit, when it has people like Pavola, ok?​

The update also contains a "sneak preview" of new dialogue options plus a few new screenshots, and you can read it if you just click here.

 

[DwarvenFood]

They should put it up on Steam Greenlight for extra exposure, before the feature is killed.

 

[Ion Prothon II]

Can't wait to the next thursday.
...

Not sure if or .

I disliked the 'windowed' talk interface, like it was in NWNs. But in AoD, since player is going to spend the majority of time in a mode like this... well, now it looks less like a game with 3D and all this shit, more like huh, an interactive story, doesn't it?

 

[asper]

That is definitely an improvement, much more readable than before.

 

[Tycn]

I still don't understand why AoD hasn't made its way onto Kickstarter or any of the new shit indie channels, there's nothing to lose by doing so and a fair bit to gain. They haven't exactly been raking in the preorders.

 

[CappenVarra]

As one of the annoying people who complained about text layout in R1, I can say that this looks much better and reads easier.

Would still space the text a bit more generously - there's loads of empty space on that panel, and increasing both vertical spacing between rows and the horizontal spacing between characters could be nice. Perhaps

 

[Surf Solar]

Really liking the new dialogue window! I always prefer them this way, "fullscreen" like in Fallout, not some floating opaque windows. Matter of taste though.

 

[Vault Dweller]

They should put it up on Steam Greenlight for extra exposure, before the feature is killed.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93102452

The Codex support will be much appreciated.

 

[Elhoim]

As one of the annoying people who complained about text layout in R1, I can say that this looks much better and reads easier.

Thanks!

Would still space the text a bit more generously - there's loads of empty space on that panel, and increasing both vertical spacing between rows and the horizontal spacing between characters could be nice. Perhaps

We can't control that in T3D. Still, there are text that are way longer and use more of that space.

 

[Haba]

I trust our appreciation will be met with the suitable... recognition.

This game has attained 0% of necessary positive ratings so far

 

[Serious_Business]

It read fine in 2006

 

[Marquess Cornwallis]

Voted up on Steam, appreciate the improved readability.

 

[Charles-cgr]

I still don't understand why AoD hasn't made its way onto Kickstarter or any of the new shit indie channels, there's nothing to lose by doing so and a fair bit to gain. They haven't exactly been raking in the preorders.

KS is for funding and it doesn't come for free. Tier rewards, PR, communicating with fans-to-be on a near constant basis is tough to handle if you are working on your spare time. And first-time projects on KS are hit or miss at best. I'd say KS is ideal for a second project once a dev has gotten some momentum.

Yeah, I've been thinking this through quite a bit

Edit - and upvoted too. Good luck!

 

[Black]

With KS ITZ could whore out VD, you know, $1000 for one night with the one and only Vault Dweller*









*Warning, doesn't scale to your level

 

[Shadenuat]

Still don't get what's the reason to place text so high on the screen when placing it near actual dialogue options like infinity-games (and actual Fallout, too) would make it less time to read.
*sigh* Well at least it's not NWN where dialogue takes less than 1/16 of the whole screen and is placed at the bottom-left part of it.

 

[Infinitron]

Still don't get what's the reason to place text so high on the screen when placing it near actual dialogue options like infinity-games (and actual Fallout, too) would make it less time to read.
*sigh* Well at least it's not NWN where dialogue takes less than 1/16 of the whole screen and is placed at the bottom-left part of it.

 

[Shadenuat]

Yeah, yeah, top left. T'was a typo.

And yes I hated that window from the first time I started NWN. And it's became even worse since majority of people switched from 1024*768 to larger screens (still, you can see that text is placed near dialogue choices, like it should be).

 

[Tycn]

I still don't understand why AoD hasn't made its way onto Kickstarter or any of the new shit indie channels, there's nothing to lose by doing so and a fair bit to gain. They haven't exactly been raking in the preorders.

KS is for funding and it doesn't come for free. Tier rewards, PR, communicating with fans-to-be on a near constant basis is tough to handle if you are working on your spare time. And first-time projects on KS are hit or miss at best. I'd say KS is ideal for a second project once a dev has gotten some momentum.

Yeah, I've been thinking this through quite a bit

Edit - and upvoted too. Good luck!

VD seems quite happy to parley with forum members on a regular basis, so I don't think updates would be problematic. Tier rewards generally seem to be either digital or expensive enough to justify the logistics - $100 for a poster or $150 for a shirt should be more than enough to cover the extra expense, if you choose to go for that kind of thing at all. There are already two very good demos so it's more than just a vacuous, possibly vapourware first project.

Even if it's a miss it's extra publicity, and I don't think it would be with a modest goal. Stuff like Wasteland shows that there might be a market.

Voted too.

 

[Infinitron]

El Sgt. Robo 38 minutes ago
This game will teleport through Green Light voting.


Gaben's No. 1 Fan 8 minutes ago
Buy this game if you support racism!

 

[Crooked Bee]

What's racist about AoD, I wonder?



vvvvvv Oh, a joke. Subtle.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

 

[Kosmonaut]

I love this kind of detailed breakdown of added features in a game. It makes a worthy read, even if one just stopped hoping for the release of the game.

 

[Saark]

Looks to be even greater than it already is. Looking at the Steam Greenlight Comments:

RK47 1 Hour ago: It's a game that the Codex deserves, but not what the Steam needs.

Wat?

​

 

[Ion Prothon II]

tetrabass
One of the best rpg of 2013!

Optimist. Wouldn't locate the next thursday in such near future.

 

[Zed]

NWN has a UI readability worthy of its shitty story.

AoD is looking better and better.