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Tags: Ash of Gods: Redemption; AurumDust
Earlier this month we reported about the Steam Greenlight page for Ash of Gods, an impressive-looking Banner Saga-like from Russian indie studio AurumDust. With perfect synchronicity, the game was greenlit today only hours before the launch of its Kickstarter campaign. Yup, I guess those lavish animations don't spring forth from the Russian soil free of charge after all. The developers are seeking $75,000 from Kickstarter, which will constitute 25% of their total funding and allow them to add a third storyline to the game. The Kickstarter page includes some new details about the combat system, with a pitch video featuring animation that makes The Banner Saga look like Hanna-Barbera. Check it out:
Combat System
This is the heart of our game. We first developed the combat system on paper and then turned it into a web prototype (which you can read more about here). Over the past six months we've played the prototype against more than 2000 players from Steam, Facebook, VK, RPGCodex, RPGWatch, IndieDB, and each time we've asked them (and ourselves) the same question: “Aren't we making a piece of crap?”
What we strived for:
The full version of the animated war scene from the pitch video is available for viewing here. If you're sufficiently impressed by what you've seen, a copy of Ash of Gods can be yours for just $16, with Early Access available at $35 and above. I'm not sure if they're going to make it, but a game with these production qualities probably should.
Earlier this month we reported about the Steam Greenlight page for Ash of Gods, an impressive-looking Banner Saga-like from Russian indie studio AurumDust. With perfect synchronicity, the game was greenlit today only hours before the launch of its Kickstarter campaign. Yup, I guess those lavish animations don't spring forth from the Russian soil free of charge after all. The developers are seeking $75,000 from Kickstarter, which will constitute 25% of their total funding and allow them to add a third storyline to the game. The Kickstarter page includes some new details about the combat system, with a pitch video featuring animation that makes The Banner Saga look like Hanna-Barbera. Check it out:
Combat System
This is the heart of our game. We first developed the combat system on paper and then turned it into a web prototype (which you can read more about here). Over the past six months we've played the prototype against more than 2000 players from Steam, Facebook, VK, RPGCodex, RPGWatch, IndieDB, and each time we've asked them (and ourselves) the same question: “Aren't we making a piece of crap?”
What we strived for:
- Unpredictability. With the right approach, cards and units, inevitable defeat can easily turn into glorious victory. The closer you get to the battle finale, the more the adrenaline and unpredictability kick in. We want you to experience real emotions, not just stare at the battlefield with the calm look of a chess player finishing off an adversary who's actually already lost the game.
- Responsiveness. The player has all the necessary information at his disposal to make decisions, but thanks to the timer, you’ll also be fighting against the clock, so there's no long waiting for your opponent to make their move.
- Satisfying gameplay. Even if you're losing, you'll still be having plenty of fun. Thanks to the cards which enable you to make unexpected moves, you can corner your opponent and even cause him to break out in a cold sweat.
- Replay value. Even if you have the same heroes in your team, each tournament will develop in its own unique way, time after time.
- Only your adversary's moves should come as a surprise. The game is entirely devoid of any element of chance such as dice throwing. When you launch an attack or put one of your skills to use, you know exactly what the effect will be.
- Everything comes at a price! Many skills use up HP instead of the more traditional MP. For instance, an archer can kill his enemy with one shot, but he will lose a substantial portion of his health and become extremely vulnerable in the process. You decide with every move if now is the time to take a risk and get rid of another enemy character, even though this may come at the expense of your own character's health.
- HP and MP are equally important. Any of a character's resources can be damaged, and if you attack the MP, the character could lose one of his abilities. What's more, if a character doesn't have any MP left, any damage he suffers will cause him to lose double the usual amount of HP! This forces you to keep an eye on both HP and MP, but also provides you with additional tactical opportunities.
- Tactics and bluffing. At the beginning of a fight you will receive five cards with different amounts of power, and their effect can turn the outcome of a battle. Each card has its own power that may only be used in a specific round of the battle. Some cards act in a straightforward manner, such as healing an ally or inflicting damage on an adversary. But others work in more complicated ways. One can, for instance, sacrifice one of your team members for the sake of improving the strength of all the others. In battle you always need to plan on two different levels — tactically, with units on the battlefield, and strategically, based on the cards you've been dealt. It's like a game of chess mixed with poker bluffing.
- А small team needn't mean a weak one. Opponents take turns to making moves, either performing some action with a character or using one of their cards. After all of a team's characters have made their moves, a new round begins for that team. This works to the advantage of small teams, as they will begin a new round sooner, which gives them the opportunity to use their strongest cards before their opponents can do so.
The full version of the animated war scene from the pitch video is available for viewing here. If you're sufficiently impressed by what you've seen, a copy of Ash of Gods can be yours for just $16, with Early Access available at $35 and above. I'm not sure if they're going to make it, but a game with these production qualities probably should.
