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There's an another video on their YT channel.
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Banquet for Fools - party-based RTwP in Serpent of the Staglands setting - now available on Early Access
- Thread starter LESS T_T
- Start date
I must be dreaming.
Modron
Arcane
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- May 5, 2012
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- 11,119
of copper?
almondblight
Arcane
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2004
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- 2,628
Joe and Hannah clearly have talent and a ton of dedication to being RPG developers (even after spending over a decade doing this with little success). I hope things work out for them.
Lyre Mors
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2007
- Messages
- 5,434
I want to support them on this one right now, but after the Copper Dreams fiasco I'm sadly going to have to wait until it exits early access and I hear some good impressions. I genuinely enjoyed Serpent in the Staglands and really want to see them do well with Banquet. Stick to your guns on this one, guys. Don't waver.
EDIT: Eh, fuck it. I love what they've got going on with this, and am sure they learned their lessons from Copper Dreams. Combat clearly inspired by Vagrant Story? Absolutely superb aesthetic and atmosphere? Emphasis on exploration? Expanded Serpent in the Staglands setting? You got me again, Hannah and Joe. Don't let me down!
EDIT: Eh, fuck it. I love what they've got going on with this, and am sure they learned their lessons from Copper Dreams. Combat clearly inspired by Vagrant Story? Absolutely superb aesthetic and atmosphere? Emphasis on exploration? Expanded Serpent in the Staglands setting? You got me again, Hannah and Joe. Don't let me down!
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Looks pretty, but they should not zoom the camera in so much, especially with these-faced models. Ideally, it would look like a mixture of Nox and Magic & Mayhem.
Nox is a masterpiece. Really great game!
buffalo bill
Arcane
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- Dec 8, 2016
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- 1,054
holy shit
they never give up
they never give up
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2015
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- 5,480
They're artistically extremely gifted, organizationally less so. I'll give them my money once it's finished and patched a few times.
Version 1.02 or so.
Version 1.02 or so.
Sensuki
Arcane
I have downloaded and played the demo (it's free). It's not that long. Might take 25-30 minutes tops if you are taking your time. Worth taking a look if you are interested. I did not even know about this until I got a Kickstarter email today from my Serpent in the Staglands pledge.
At the moment, the game engine runs in 1024x768 windowed mode and you can alt-enter to make it fullscreen.
You are given control of a character and the control scheme kind of feels a bit like Diablo when not in combat. Click and hold the mouse to move around, etc. Combat feels a bit weird to me at the moment (as in the general controls). When you enter combat, it is up to you to 'pause' to issue your action and it seems that you do that by right-clicking the mouse, or pressing space bar. When you do that, the game goes into your character's turn-state where you can choose your action and a dome appears over your character, which I believe represents their 'range', and it limits you to targeting enemies within that range, so for instance if you are not in range of an enemy for a melee attack you must exit the select action state back into the real-time combat, move closer and then re-issue the right click or spacebar to enter the action select state again. You can select an action from the context-sensitive radial menu that appears when you enter the action select state. The default character has a Two-handed sword and there are some attack types. I did change the attack type but I didn't notice a difference (they may be different, but I didn't pay much attention) Most enemies in the demo die in a single hit.
Because it is up to you to enter the action select state and issue a command, I was hit once or twice by the first couple of enemies while trying to figure out what to do and took a little bit of damage but after that I usually was able to attack first before they hit me, depending on whether I 'paused' at the right time (in range to attack). There is a cool down until you are able to issue another action. I wasn't sure what I should be doing here at first, so I just stood there or ran around trying not to get hit. There is a cooldown bar that appears on the screen that fills up and when it's full (or disappears, can't remember) you can make another action. After the first few combats, a hint appears telling you to use Defensive stance while waiting to act, which can be activated by holding down E. Apparently in this state, you take less damage but it becomes less useful over time. It appears to completely block the first attack of an enemy sometimes and then you took less damage on the second hit.
Inventory key is I, Map key is M. There were consumables to collect on the ground such as items dropped from enemies (usually weapons) and some wines which are health potions. I couldn't find an object highlight key, you had to rely on mouse over.
Later on you are given control of a couple of other characters, and you can change to control them in combat, when not in control of them they acted on their own (attacked and moved etc). Something about changing characters in combat doesn't feel quite right at the moment - it is instant, but it feels like you can be wasting your actions doing it as the combat state continues and you need to re-orientate yourself to the position of the new character and have time to enter the select action state. One of the characters has a Bow, and the dome around them is larger (so you are able to attack enemies further away). As far as I can tell, the camera doesn't pan and the closest game that I have played that the multi-character control reminded me of was Throne of Darkness (the Diablo clone from the early 2000s) although that's just my lack of depth in RPGs that I have played showing there, most likely - it doesn't feel the same as that, but that's what it reminded me of initially.
All of my characters took some damage in the fights and I healed them by entering the inventory and drinking the potions (like in Baldur's Gate). The potions can be equipped in the quick item slots that are accessed by the radial menu.
There is a 'boss fight' just before the end of the demo where you face enemies that don't die in one hit. It was a Priestess type character and some acolytes. There were VFX beams from the acolytes going to the priest at the end, and I figured it may be one of those mechanics where you needed to kill the acolytes before the priest would die, or make him less powerful or something. There was also some animal type minion attacking me (like a bat or a rat or something) that I didn't notice until I'd killed the acolytes and the Priest.
After the battle the game goes to a different part of the world and to the Character Creation. I believe the intro you take control of an NPC (and it kind of doubles as the tutorial) and then once that sequence is over you go to create your party of four characters, and the game ends after you create your party and there's a dialogue right before the demo finishes which showcases the multi-character dialogue window. Instead of the traditional way where your main character is given different options to respond with, it appears that your party members are given dialogue lines and you can choose which one you want to go with. Practically it's not super different from giving the PC/party leader multiple responses but it differs in flavor I suppose and is probably there to represent use of party skills/stats in combat.
The visuals and atmosphere feels nice, similar in vibe to Staglands but a different (but still tasteful) art style. The game ran smooth, and felt fluid and despite the controls in combat being slightly janky to what I am used to.
When I play tested the Copper Dreams alphas back in 2015-2016, the feeling of the controls, camera and movement was not 'right' even if it showed potential and then the game started chopping and changing in different directions. I became too busy to keep providing feedback, but the flip-flopping also made me lose interest.
In contrast to that, what they have here feels pretty good in the demo, and the desired experience seems to be more realized/implemented than it was with my experience with the Copper Dreams alphas. I think the general feel of exploration already feels pretty good (and familiar). I think the way combat controls could use some tweaking, but I was able to pick it up and run with it without any problems, without knowing anything about it before hand - which I think is good (which I guess is helped by the very low difficulty).
Anyway Whalenought_Joe whalenought_hannah, if you are there, I do have some more specific feedback if you're interested.
At the moment, the game engine runs in 1024x768 windowed mode and you can alt-enter to make it fullscreen.
You are given control of a character and the control scheme kind of feels a bit like Diablo when not in combat. Click and hold the mouse to move around, etc. Combat feels a bit weird to me at the moment (as in the general controls). When you enter combat, it is up to you to 'pause' to issue your action and it seems that you do that by right-clicking the mouse, or pressing space bar. When you do that, the game goes into your character's turn-state where you can choose your action and a dome appears over your character, which I believe represents their 'range', and it limits you to targeting enemies within that range, so for instance if you are not in range of an enemy for a melee attack you must exit the select action state back into the real-time combat, move closer and then re-issue the right click or spacebar to enter the action select state again. You can select an action from the context-sensitive radial menu that appears when you enter the action select state. The default character has a Two-handed sword and there are some attack types. I did change the attack type but I didn't notice a difference (they may be different, but I didn't pay much attention) Most enemies in the demo die in a single hit.
Because it is up to you to enter the action select state and issue a command, I was hit once or twice by the first couple of enemies while trying to figure out what to do and took a little bit of damage but after that I usually was able to attack first before they hit me, depending on whether I 'paused' at the right time (in range to attack). There is a cool down until you are able to issue another action. I wasn't sure what I should be doing here at first, so I just stood there or ran around trying not to get hit. There is a cooldown bar that appears on the screen that fills up and when it's full (or disappears, can't remember) you can make another action. After the first few combats, a hint appears telling you to use Defensive stance while waiting to act, which can be activated by holding down E. Apparently in this state, you take less damage but it becomes less useful over time. It appears to completely block the first attack of an enemy sometimes and then you took less damage on the second hit.
Inventory key is I, Map key is M. There were consumables to collect on the ground such as items dropped from enemies (usually weapons) and some wines which are health potions. I couldn't find an object highlight key, you had to rely on mouse over.
Later on you are given control of a couple of other characters, and you can change to control them in combat, when not in control of them they acted on their own (attacked and moved etc). Something about changing characters in combat doesn't feel quite right at the moment - it is instant, but it feels like you can be wasting your actions doing it as the combat state continues and you need to re-orientate yourself to the position of the new character and have time to enter the select action state. One of the characters has a Bow, and the dome around them is larger (so you are able to attack enemies further away). As far as I can tell, the camera doesn't pan and the closest game that I have played that the multi-character control reminded me of was Throne of Darkness (the Diablo clone from the early 2000s) although that's just my lack of depth in RPGs that I have played showing there, most likely - it doesn't feel the same as that, but that's what it reminded me of initially.
All of my characters took some damage in the fights and I healed them by entering the inventory and drinking the potions (like in Baldur's Gate). The potions can be equipped in the quick item slots that are accessed by the radial menu.
There is a 'boss fight' just before the end of the demo where you face enemies that don't die in one hit. It was a Priestess type character and some acolytes. There were VFX beams from the acolytes going to the priest at the end, and I figured it may be one of those mechanics where you needed to kill the acolytes before the priest would die, or make him less powerful or something. There was also some animal type minion attacking me (like a bat or a rat or something) that I didn't notice until I'd killed the acolytes and the Priest.
After the battle the game goes to a different part of the world and to the Character Creation. I believe the intro you take control of an NPC (and it kind of doubles as the tutorial) and then once that sequence is over you go to create your party of four characters, and the game ends after you create your party and there's a dialogue right before the demo finishes which showcases the multi-character dialogue window. Instead of the traditional way where your main character is given different options to respond with, it appears that your party members are given dialogue lines and you can choose which one you want to go with. Practically it's not super different from giving the PC/party leader multiple responses but it differs in flavor I suppose and is probably there to represent use of party skills/stats in combat.
The visuals and atmosphere feels nice, similar in vibe to Staglands but a different (but still tasteful) art style. The game ran smooth, and felt fluid and despite the controls in combat being slightly janky to what I am used to.
When I play tested the Copper Dreams alphas back in 2015-2016, the feeling of the controls, camera and movement was not 'right' even if it showed potential and then the game started chopping and changing in different directions. I became too busy to keep providing feedback, but the flip-flopping also made me lose interest.
In contrast to that, what they have here feels pretty good in the demo, and the desired experience seems to be more realized/implemented than it was with my experience with the Copper Dreams alphas. I think the general feel of exploration already feels pretty good (and familiar). I think the way combat controls could use some tweaking, but I was able to pick it up and run with it without any problems, without knowing anything about it before hand - which I think is good (which I guess is helped by the very low difficulty).
Anyway Whalenought_Joe whalenought_hannah, if you are there, I do have some more specific feedback if you're interested.
Sensuki
Arcane
I played through it again and recorded it for those interested:
I didn't realize this while playing, but the last fight where my party members turned on me, they were drinking the potions I gave them!!! lol
I didn't realize this while playing, but the last fight where my party members turned on me, they were drinking the potions I gave them!!! lol
This annoys me, specially considering promotional pics are at 2K
Not this time:
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2011
- Messages
- 99,628
I see they've dumped the Whalenought Studios brand name.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1649838104/serpent-in-the-staglands/posts/4203281
Next game in the SitS world: Banquet for Fools out next year, Early Access the 30th this month
What ho everyone!
We’ve been working on the next game in the Serpent in the Staglands world, Banquet for Fools, and will be releasing it next year. We’ll be sending you all keys for your stretch goal when it’s completed, thank you for supporting small artists like us and making this journey possible. The game has been worked on for a while now and is feature complete and we will have it in Steam’s Early Access finishing map content and tidying it up for you starting the end of this month.
If you’re interested in checking it out early we can always use the extra pizza funds, and you can send your second copy to a friend or loved one to discuss solving weight puzzles and how to kill Vol-dracula.
Our exercise for this follow up was to take the atmosphere, vibes and systems from Serpent and improve on all of them through feedback we’ve heard and what we wanted a lot of systems to originally be that we just didn’t have time for or knowledge on how to implement. It should feel very similar despite these overhauls. This is just being made by Hannah and I, but we really pushed ourselves to both stretch our art and tech knowledge and fit into a solid timeline like Serpent’s, with hopefully the added feedback from Early Access to create a more refined experience. We’d love to have you along for the ride again!
If you’d like to check it out early there is a small demo available on Steam. We’re contacting GOG to see if we can be listed there if you’d like a DRM free copy again, and will also be offering it on our site as a standalone with a built-in patcher on release to that end as well.
We’ll update here again around release to let you know how to verify email addresses. If you have any questions please let us know at HannahandJosephGames@gmail.com. We just moved and decided to spruce up the llc, but are checking either email.
If you’re interested and would like us to spam updates and info here over autumn and winter let us know, otherwise we’ll be doing so on Steam and Youtube.
Hope you’ve all been well and wishing you all the best as we move into the spookiest time of the year!
Hannah and Joseph
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buffalo bill
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2016
- Messages
- 1,054
I wonder if some of the weirdness involved in changing characters during combat would be reduced if changing characters were to automatically cue the new character's "action bubble". Though obviously the game would be better turn-based, especially since there seems to be friendly fire and positioning your characters looks like a real headache with this system. But H&J gonna do their own crazy thing as usual.
Or even just make it normal real time with pause I guess, and use the action bubbles to indicate range (pause, choose actions for party members, unpause until their action cooldown ends and/or to move them, pause again to issue commands, etc.). Inferior to true turn based, but would make the combat in this game less annoying I bet.
also, the sex slider at character creation lol. I foresee many triggered codexers
too bad they are ditching the graphics from serpent in the staglands for these kind of generic looking ones, since the graphics in sits were maybe the best part of the game, but whatever I guess
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This vs Swordhaven?
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