Aletheia: Return of Odysseus - Greek mythology turn-based isometric RPG from Tavernking

[Lord_Potato]

historically accurate mythology

Historically accurate in this case just meaning "no black people"

Actually there was a black warrior in the Iliad, some Ethiopian (Greeks called all of Black Africa "Ethiopia") king Memnon, son of Tithonus and the goddess of dawn, Eos .

And so black people wouldn't be totally out of place in the setting.

 

[Suger]

I'm quite curious to see how they'll handle the player agency when trying to stay close to the original text. What's been shown so far doesn't look very promising, but since no release date has been given, there is time to improve I suppose (like that town, in one of the screenshots that does look very empty to me).

Also with a "detailed character creation", I guess you won't play as Odysseus/Ulysses or one of the more well-known companions. Probably a random thrown into the story.

But it's still worth keeping an eye on it, I guess.

 

[AdolfSatan]

I’ll argue that Roboto isn’t really that good, it’s just popular, but that’s beside the point. It’s true that there are good fonts for free (fwiw: Academico, Alegreya, Charter, Fira Sans, IBM Plex are all excellent), but then again, finding which are those and when to use them usually depends on the trained eye of a designer. Like you say, to the average reader it might be impossible to consciously distinguish one from the other, but there will always be that subconscious tugging that says “this isn’t legit, you’re being duped” when a writing’s presented in TNR, Copperplate, or Trajan. Or when a brand portrays itself as classy by showing b/w pictures with a Chopin Nocturne in the background. It’s trashy. You may not know it, but you feel it.

Also Tavernking who are the codexers making it into the game? Spill the beans already!

 

[Serus]

historically accurate mythology

Historically accurate in this case just meaning "no black people"

Actually there was a black warrior in the Iliad, some Ethiopian prince (Greeks called all of Black Africa "Ethiopia").

And so black people wouldn't be totally out of place in the setting.

One, named, black person, clearly something special and exotic, means that "black people" wouldn't be out of place? Seriously? Unless by "black people" you meant one or two "people" from far, far away - then I might agree. But that is also a captain obvious and doesn't require Iliad to back it up. There is always a room for someone special or exotic.
In addition I checked and didn't find any reference to any person from Ethiopia in Iliad, just mentions of the place - far away where gods go to have fun. Perhaps it was in Odyssey or I checked poorly or You didn't remember correctly.

 

[Lord_Potato]

historically accurate mythology

Historically accurate in this case just meaning "no black people"

Actually there was a black warrior in the Iliad, some Ethiopian prince (Greeks called all of Black Africa "Ethiopia").

And so black people wouldn't be totally out of place in the setting.

One, named, black person, clearly something special and exotic, means that "black people" wouldn't be out of place? Seriously? Unless by "black people" you meant one or two "people" from far, far away - then I might agree. But that is also a captain obvious and doesn't require Iliad to back it up. There is always a room for someone special or exotic.
In addition I checked and didn't find any reference to any person from Ethiopia in Iliad, just mentions of the place - far away where gods go to have fun. Perhaps it was in Odyssey or I checked poorly or You didn't remember correctly.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Memnon-Greek-mythology

In Britannica they claim he was post-Homeric (so he appeared in poetry from 8-6th Century BC, for example in now lost Aethiopis), and yet he's strongly tied to the Trojan War and even got to duel with Achilles. Came to Troy after Hector's death to support the weakened Trojans.

Memnon, in Greek mythology, son of Tithonus (son of Laomedon, legendary king of Troy) and Eos (Dawn) and king of the Ethiopians. He was a post-Homeric hero, who, after the death of the Trojan warrior Hector, went to assist his uncle Priam, the last king of Troy, against the Greeks. He performed prodigies of valour but was slain by the Greek hero Achilles. According to tradition, Zeus, the king of the gods, was moved by the tears of Eos and bestowed immortality upon Memnon. His companions were changed into birds, called Memnonides, that came every year to fight and lament over his grave. The combat between Achilles and Memnon was often represented by Greek artists, and the story of Memnon was the subject of the lost Aethiopis of Arctinus of Miletus (fl. c. 650 bc).

In Egypt the name of Memnon was connected with the colossal (70-foot [21-metre]) stone statues of Amenhotep III near Thebes, two of which still remain. The more northerly of these was partly destroyed by an earthquake in 27 bc, resulting in a curious phenomenon. Every morning, when the rays of the rising sun touched the statue, it gave forth musical sounds like the twang of a harp string. This was supposed to be the voice of Memnon responding to the greeting of his mother, Eos. After the restoration of the statue by the Roman emperor Septimius Severus (ad 170) the sounds ceased; they were attributed to the passage of air through the pores of the stone, caused chiefly by the change of temperature at sunrise.

 

[Serus]

T

historically accurate mythology

Historically accurate in this case just meaning "no black people"

Actually there was a black warrior in the Iliad, some Ethiopian prince (Greeks called all of Black Africa "Ethiopia").

And so black people wouldn't be totally out of place in the setting.

One, named, black person, clearly something special and exotic, means that "black people" wouldn't be out of place? Seriously? Unless by "black people" you meant one or two "people" from far, far away - then I might agree. But that is also a captain obvious and doesn't require Iliad to back it up. There is always a room for someone special or exotic.
In addition I checked and didn't find any reference to any person from Ethiopia in Iliad, just mentions of the place - far away where gods go to have fun. Perhaps it was in Odyssey or I checked poorly or You didn't remember correctly.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Memnon-Greek-mythology

In Britannica they claim he was post-Homeric (so he appeared in poetry from 8-6th Century BC, for example in now lost Aethiopis), and yet he's strongly tied to the Trojan War and even got to duel with Achilles. Came to Troy after Hector's death to support the weakened Trojans.

Memnon, in Greek mythology, son of Tithonus (son of Laomedon, legendary king of Troy) and Eos (Dawn) and king of the Ethiopians. He was a post-Homeric hero, who, after the death of the Trojan warrior Hector, went to assist his uncle Priam, the last king of Troy, against the Greeks. He performed prodigies of valour but was slain by the Greek hero Achilles. According to tradition, Zeus, the king of the gods, was moved by the tears of Eos and bestowed immortality upon Memnon. His companions were changed into birds, called Memnonides, that came every year to fight and lament over his grave. The combat between Achilles and Memnon was often represented by Greek artists, and the story of Memnon was the subject of the lost Aethiopis of Arctinus of Miletus (fl. c. 650 bc).

In Egypt the name of Memnon was connected with the colossal (70-foot [21-metre]) stone statues of Amenhotep III near Thebes, two of which still remain. The more northerly of these was partly destroyed by an earthquake in 27 bc, resulting in a curious phenomenon. Every morning, when the rays of the rising sun touched the statue, it gave forth musical sounds like the twang of a harp string. This was supposed to be the voice of Memnon responding to the greeting of his mother, Eos. After the restoration of the statue by the Roman emperor Septimius Severus (ad 170) the sounds ceased; they were attributed to the passage of air through the pores of the stone, caused chiefly by the change of temperature at sunrise.

This guy. Ok the name is known to me but it seems he isn't from Iliad. Trojan War was a favorite subject for other artists post-Homer. The fun part is that he might be portrayed as dark skinned but his parents seems to be portrayed as Greek-looking. Add the fact that Eos was nymphomaniac according to some other myths. Son of Tithonus, yeah sure...

 

[Tavernking]

I’ll argue that Roboto isn’t really that good, it’s just popular, but that’s beside the point.

Is there a specific font you recommend I replace Roboto with?

Also Tavernking who are the codexers making it into the game? Spill the beans already!

So far I've written the dialogue files for a pottery enthusiast and a lunatic heavily inspired by Lilura and rusty_shackleford.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Lord_Potato]

I know it's and indie title, but lack of unit animations triggers me a bit. Even in Jeff Vogel's later games characters moved when walking and attacking. A few frames of animation made a lot of difference. These guys remaining a static sprites no matter what they're doing look bad. Hope these are placeholders.

 

[Tyranicon]

I know it's and indie title, but lack of unit animations triggers me a bit. Even in Jeff Vogel's later games characters moved when walking and attacking. A few frames of animation made a lot of difference. These guys remaining a static sprites no matter what they're doing look bad. Hope these are placeholders.

To play devil's advocate, animations are one of the most time-consuming and expensive things in gamedev. I would think about replacing these unit cut-outs with some kind of token graphic, or a miniature (just put a round base underneath the unit and it's like you're tablegaming!).

However, Lord_Potato is completely right and a lack of animations will hurt your commercial prospects, if that's something you're concerned about at all.

 

[AdolfSatan]

I’ll argue that Roboto isn’t really that good, it’s just popular, but that’s beside the point.

Is there a specific font you recommend I replace Roboto with?

Any of the previously mentioned. There are even more options, like Inter, or Karla, but it all depends on what one’s trying to achieve and convey. Alegreya, for example, is a font that up close looks quirky —even goofy—, but it can hardly be beaten in readability and spacing, so I often use it for lyrics in scores.

In any case, picking a font should be one of your last priorities. Roboto is lazy and overused, but it gets the job done, there are lots of other things to deal with before.

 

[Agesilaus]

The concept of a game set in one of Homer's stories is interesting but I cannot see how one can make both a textually faithful work and free form RPG. The Odyssey, even with all of its twists and turns, is a linear story with a known definitive conclusion that does not lend itself to a RPG.

Well, if you're being very strict about it, then I suppose you would just make a movie or a new translation of the text. But the text doesn't give a day by day playthrough of the entire odyssey, so you can follow the general narrative very closely while including limited, branching quests at the various locations Odysseus visits.

If you're willing to be even more flexible, you can do what I did. When designing a game/story about Theseus, I stuck with ancient source material but went beyond any individual text. A lot of these myths have multiple versions that contradict. You can use them to branch the overarching narrative accordingly, depending how you piece them together and how willing you add original content. But of course, if the game is very strictly focused on the Odyssey, the overarching narrative will be kept linear.

 

[MerchantKing]

Will there be ancient Greek Gnomes?

 

[Serus]

I know it's and indie title, but lack of unit animations triggers me a bit. Even in Jeff Vogel's later games characters moved when walking and attacking. A few frames of animation made a lot of difference. These guys remaining a static sprites no matter what they're doing look bad. Hope these are placeholders.

To play devil's advocate, animations are one of the most time-consuming and expensive things in gamedev. I would think about replacing these unit cut-outs with some kind of token graphic, or a miniature (just put a round base underneath the unit and it's like you're tablegaming!).

However, Lord_Potato is completely right and a lack of animations will hurt your commercial prospects, if that's something you're concerned about at all.

I suggest removing the legs. It seems to work well for at least one indie game I like.

 

[Serus]

Will there be ancient Greek Gnomes?

Gnomes didn't really exist before the Great Temple destruction by Humans from the Empire. Before that there was only a proto-race from which Gnomes, Dwarfs and Hobbits emerged.

 

[normie]

https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/baltic-odyssey/ sorry, bro, but we wuz odysseus

 

[Fedora Master]

The Irish claim descent from Trojans too. Why are there no red-haired moustachioed Gaels?

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

The Irish claim descent from Trojans too. Why are there no red-haired moustachioed Gaels?

I think Welsch people claimed that, not Irishmen.

 

[Agesilaus]

The British people are ultimately all descended from the Trojans; see the myth historical account of Brutus of Troy. The Irish have their own mythological origin from either greeks or romans or whatever.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Gandalf]

Looks pretty cool. Graphic style reminds me of the some of the Spiderweb Software games.

 

[fantadomat]

Looks good,won't mind giving it a few bucks if it comes out.

 

[Serus]

The British people are ultimately all descended from the Trojans; see the myth historical account of Brutus of Troy. The Irish have their own mythological origin from either greeks or romans or whatever.

I once saw a B class movie where Mayans in America were Christians - before year 1000 AD. There is also that movie where Egyptian undead mummies (and no, they weren't from Hellenic or Roman period) speak Latin. What mythology those two come from?

 

[Tyranicon]

Looking pretty nice. Keep up the good work.

 

[Agesilaus]

>trades his sword and armour for... fish, cheese, and a necklace.




have fun dying in the next combat scene, odysseus.