KickStarter BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION - isometric post-apocalyptic adventure from STASIS developer

[Abu Antar]

 

[Pyke]

Not so much a game related product as it is a product of my small side hobby of candle making. :D

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Pyke]

is that homm2 artifact reference?

It's a 'Chris got a quote for some candles for his wedding and almost shat himself' reference. Seriously, for 10 kg's of wax and a the silicone to pour a mold, I can literally make these things at 5% of what they were gonna charge!

 

[Kev Inkline]

Roger Penrose got a Nobel Prize in physics yesterday, so I had to hurry and finish this game.

 

[Boleskine]

From the Matt Chat thread:

At the outro Matt mentions that he will be interviewing Chris and maybe Nic in the next episode.

 

[Star Citizen]

I fucking loved this game. Got my biases too because I live there, but I found this experience fantastic.

 

[Star Citizen]

An impromptu sci-fi that only the 90's could deliver.

 

[Dexter]

Fokken love it so far after playing for a few hours.

Got some questions though.

Are the gold thingies like the "Gold Plated Hood Ornament" or "Gold Dog" you find only for offering for credits or can you do anything else with em? I first thought they might be vanity ornaments you could upgrade your flying car with that you find for "off the beaten path" exploration.

Does the "radiation sound" you sometimes hear when standing in certain places have any (gameplay) meaning, or is it just background noise?

Ran into a Text Bug a few times early in the game btw. If you have "Large" Text it cuts off the text before the end of the description, if you turn it down to Medium it displays everything, turning it back to Large after that works too. Noticed it on the troop transport after you're in the future and on the truck trailer at least. Playing at 4K.

 

[lightbane]

Are the gold thingies like the "Gold Plated Hood Ornament" or "Gold Dog" you find only for offering for credits or can you do anything else with em? I first thought they might be vanity ornaments you could upgrade your flying car with that you find for "off the beaten path" exploration.

They're meant to be changed for money, I think. At least in the demo, dunno if they do anything else in the full game, but I doubt it, as it seems finding a job in post-apocalyptic Africa is hard.
You can buy vanity ornaments with said money for your car though.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Dexter]

Finished the game now:

- Interesting story and presentation. More appealing than STASIS overall
- Improvement of UI over the first two in parts like main menu, the retro stuff looks great (still has a bit of a "UI Unity box" feel on the PDA), don't know about object highlights though
- Much improvement on CG scenes, longer and some of them look absolutely amazing, similar with character models and animations in general (idle animations for the dog are a nice touch)
- Intriguing dialogue system inspired by Fallout
- Voice actors seem a bit off at first, but you get used to them and the top-down-ness rather quickly
- Reminds me a lot of the "1000 Years Later" Prototype once you're in the future, but more interesting from the apparent lore

- Having a talking Robodog following you around is pretty kewl
- The game benefits from dialogue with strange and mysterious characters and creatures A LOT, replacing the diary reading with them was a great design decision (Maybe something to consider at least in a limited capacity for the new STASIS game?)
- LOL @ speaking robot with (Jamaican?) accent in the first town
- Exploration reminds me a lot of the Infinity Engine games without the combat (aside from the "Arcade/Arena" Minigame)
- Has a Planescape feel to it with a bit of an African tribal setting mixed in
- On-and-off party dialogue adds some nice flavor
- "Hey, I recognize some of these people..."

- A lot of back-and-forth traveling between the different worlds and settlements by Mid- and Late-game, drags on a bit
- Longest and easiest game they've made so far (the only thing I had to look up was how to complete the Biome Seeding Device after I had already completed the game once, turns out I missed the Spore Pod the first and second time I was in the Moss cave since I didn't see the path up to the Nursery to the top left)
- Maybe a bit too weird at times, the robotic "Boneyard Maidens" with barely any face left singing while digging up old graves and milling bones to create biofuel or some of the factions that want to remove your skin might be pushing it a bit.
- Kush was funny, loled a few times trying to drag various inventory items into his scanner thing
- Nest/Moss Quest was the most C&C-y, I liked that
- Arena fighting turned out to be one of the most superfluous parts of the game. Would have been better if you could also return there for "friendly matches" after you've beaten the 5 fights or if there was more to it or other arenas. Any Tokens you may find after that point are essentially wasted even though they're a rather big part of the reward scheme of the game, and there's even several obvious ways to bypass the whole thing.
- Some units like the "Big Man" of the Mongrels or the Witness sniper seem OP, I always brought some of them up first to clear the field or against bosses, repeatable 1AP attacks doing 3-6DMG or a 6AP attack that does 10DMG or units with 3-4AP attacks also doing 3-6 damage with less accuracy... gee I wonder which I'll pick?
- A bit Eh how some of the characters just "disappear" never to be seen or heard from again if you "solve" their quests like the sisters in the Boneyard and Kettle or Bra Bones and his brother, no closure and the environments are emptier without the NPCs around.
- The "The real journey was the Enemies we've made along the way" Ending was a bit Meh

Some interesting design choices, the "green cube" when getting close to an item for instance - I understand why it was done, because it's hard to highlight specific spots in a large detailed landscape, but they stand out and remain glaring throughout the game.
Also saw that places glow green on the world map if there's something new to be done, probably a good decision given how many places you would have to backtrack through.

I also get why they've decided to go with 3 characters for the new STASIS now, story-wise and for the purposes of dialogue it works very well, though not sure if in the same manner for a "Space/Underwater Horror" game where being alone in a "scary" environment is a big part of it.

Better than STASIS and about double as long, not the same genre though, it's not "spooky". I dropped some cash on their "Deluxe Mega Bundle" during the Sale and got my brother to buy it too, also told a few people about it.

Some remaining Questions:
I found the Hanasi, Chiznyama, Mongrel, Witness, Caecus, Nest and Fley Tokens through Trial & Error and found out how to imprint Agnate and Moss Tokens at the Fley Mainframe. What the heck is the 10th Token and where do you get it???

Is there any Easy way to change the Simulacrum Colors from a Save or similar without having to replay the entire game?

The game would benefit from a "disable UI" keybind, the few times a cutscene takes it away it sometimes looks even better and it would help with Screenshots.

 

[Pyke]

Finished the game now:

- Interesting story and presentation. More appealing than STASIS overall
- Improvement of UI over the first two in parts like main menu, the retro stuff looks great (still has a bit of a "UI Unity box" feel on the PDA), don't know about object highlights though
- Much improvement on CG scenes, longer and some of them look absolutely amazing, similar with character models and animations in general (idle animations for the dog are a nice touch)
- Intriguing dialogue system inspired by Fallout
- Voice actors seem a bit off at first, but you get used to them and the top-down-ness rather quickly
- Reminds me a lot of the "1000 Years Later" Prototype once you're in the future, but more interesting from the apparent lore

- Having a talking Robodog following you around is pretty kewl
- The game benefits from dialogue with strange and mysterious characters and creatures A LOT, replacing the diary reading with them was a great design decision (Maybe something to consider at least in a limited capacity for the new STASIS game?)
- LOL @ speaking robot with (Jamaican?) accent in the first town
- Exploration reminds me a lot of the Infinity Engine games without the combat (aside from the "Arcade/Arena" Minigame)
- Has a Planescape feel to it with a bit of an African tribal setting mixed in
- On-and-off party dialogue adds some nice flavor
- "Hey, I recognize some of these people..."

- A lot of back-and-forth traveling between the different worlds and settlements by Mid- and Late-game, drags on a bit
- Longest and easiest game they've made so far (the only thing I had to look up was how to complete the Biome Seeding Device after I had already completed the game once, turns out I missed the Spore Pod the first and second time I was in the Moss cave since I didn't see the path up to the Nursery to the top left)
- Maybe a bit too weird at times, the robotic "Boneyard Maidens" with barely any face left singing while digging up old graves and milling bones to create biofuel or some of the factions that want to remove your skin might be pushing it a bit.
- Kush was funny, loled a few times trying to drag various inventory items into his scanner thing
- Nest/Moss Quest was the most C&C-y, I liked that
- Arena fighting turned out to be one of the most superfluous parts of the game. Would have been better if you could also return there for "friendly matches" after you've beaten the 5 fights or if there was more to it or other arenas. Any Tokens you may find after that point are essentially wasted even though they're a rather big part of the reward scheme of the game, and there's even several obvious ways to bypass the whole thing.
- Some units like the "Big Man" of the Mongrels or the Witness sniper seem OP, I always brought some of them up first to clear the field or against bosses, repeatable 1AP attacks doing 3-6DMG or a 6AP attack that does 10DMG or units with 3-4AP attacks also doing 3-6 damage with less accuracy... gee I wonder which I'll pick?
- A bit Eh how some of the characters just "disappear" never to be seen or heard from again if you "solve" their quests like the sisters in the Boneyard and Kettle or Bra Bones and his brother, no closure and the environments are emptier without the NPCs around.
- The "The real journey was the Enemies we've made along the way" Ending was a bit Meh

Some interesting design choices, the "green cube" when getting close to an item for instance - I understand why it was done, because it's hard to highlight specific spots in a large detailed landscape, but they stand out and remain glaring throughout the game.
Also saw that places glow green on the world map if there's something new to be done, probably a good decision given how many places you would have to backtrack through.

I also get why they've decided to go with 3 characters for the new STASIS now, story-wise and for the purposes of dialogue it works very well, though not sure if in the same manner for a "Space/Underwater Horror" game where being alone in a "scary" environment is a big part of it.

Better than STASIS and about double as long, not the same genre though, it's not "spooky". I dropped some cash on their "Deluxe Mega Bundle" during the Sale and got my brother to buy it too, also told a few people about it.

Some remaining Questions:
I found the Hanasi, Chiznyama, Mongrel, Witness, Caecus, Nest and Fley Tokens through Trial & Error and found out how to imprint Agnate and Moss Tokens at the Fley Mainframe. What the heck is the 10th Token and where do you get it???

Is there any Easy way to change the Simulacrum Colors from a Save or similar without having to replay the entire game?

The game would benefit from a "disable UI" keybind, the few times a cutscene takes it away it sometimes looks even better and it would help with Screenshots.

Nest token:
Scan the PROTONANITE at the Fley Computer.

Support the Mongrels and destroy the Fley.

Visit the Fley ruins, and you will find a new character - a Nest that can survive in fire called The Children Of One. For canon's sake - the Children Of One were going to play a major role in any (someday maybe) sequel.

You can also get a Priest Token by finishing the game with the DESOLATION ending - the next game you start you start with a Priest Token.

The Simulacrum alters with each choice you make in the game. So every little dialogue option will alter it in some way - so you have to go through the game again to change it.

Interestingly, you can be 'evil' to the world characters, and nice to your companions. Or good to the world characters and your brother, but an asshole to Pooch. Or Visa Versa. Depending on how you play, Pooch may leave you and Don stays, or Don leaves but Pooch stays - or they both leave or both stay. This change will alter the final conversation with Daris, and the cinematic story of Marks life, as well as alter the look of the statues at the end - particularly the 'final' statue, showing the three characters. If its just Mark, just he will be there - but the other variations exist in the statues as well.

We were surprised to find that lots of gamers played the game as either 'good' or 'evil'. Not many shades of subtly at all!

 

[The Jester]

Pyke
How did the game sell? are you happy with it?
What is the next step for THE BROTHERHOOD?

 

[Cyberarmy]

What is the next step for THE BROTHERHOOD?

They're going to "Bone" us!

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...se-set-in-deep-sea-installation.135719/page-5

 

[Pyke]

Pyke
How did the game sell? are you happy with it?
What is the next step for THE BROTHERHOOD?

I don't have the numbers infront of me - but we arent starving to death - so thats good!

Its tracking roughly the same as Stasis, sales wise. It's a bit of a knock because it cost close to double (probably double and a bit) more than Stasis to make. We were hoping to eat a little into the other genres for BD to justify the additional cost - but that didn't quite happen. That said, we did build the framework to allow us to shave a lot of time off of future games - which is how we got the demo of Bone Totem out in 5 months from conception to launch!
But it's made enough to keep us fully independent for at least our next games development cycle, which is really what we want. It opened some amazing doors for us for future collaboration with publishers - and we are pretty excited to see how the console version does.

Next step - more Stasis! www.stasis2.com

We REALLY wanna get Stasis 2 out in about half the time it took us to do BD. Personally I wanna get another 2 games out of our framework - but Nic may go a little mad. :D

I'll be doing a YouTube blog thing soon with some of our post-desolation prototypes (Brototypes...) - but here is the one that *almost* got made before we switched tracks:

Spoiler

We did 3 Brototypes to a playable state. The space one got the furthest - even so far as getting an additional writer onboard to flesh out the backstory and lore.
Essentially you were the admiral, building up a huge space fleet. It was Star Control 2, but with bigger real time space battles where you actually see your huge fleet engaging in space combat, while you issue orders to the fleet commanders. Really trying to get that 'Battlestar Galactica' vibe going - or the final space battle in Mass Effect. I think that space games are quite a hard sell, because there are so many of them out there, and so many REALLY good ones.
I think our world we were making was quite unique - lots of the 'strangeness' of Beautiful Desolation, combined with my love of super complex world building. I really hope we do something with this world in the future! It really was great!

The others were a smaller 'Action' game called Northmen based off of an Pen and Paper module I wrote (Vikings!), and then Movile - which became Bone Totem.

Northmen would have been a really fun game - but honestly when I watched some WOLCEN gameplay footage my brain siezed up. The graphical standard for Diablo'esque action games is just SO high. The concept itself was unique - and I know it would make a cool game (the prototype was fun as hell) - but I think we need a little more experience before diving into something like that. Again, it would have been a 3 year dev cycle for both the space game and the action one - and I think both Nic and I were just feeling a little burned out at the thought of another HUGE project, especially going into genres we weren't super familiar with (from a design point of view).

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

Pyke, those concepts are lovely! Interesting mix of fantasy and realism in that design. Still would prefer to see a game with spaceships laid out properly (skyscraper vs ocean liner). Are those panels on the spacestation supposed to be solar panels or radiators?

 

[Pyke]

Pyke, those concepts are lovely! Interesting mix of fantasy and realism in that design. Still would prefer to see a game with spaceships laid out properly (skyscraper vs ocean liner). Are those panels on the spacestation supposed to be solar panels or radiators?

Those panels were solar. It was more just trying to get that 'NASA' feel - not a ton of thought at that stage in the mechanics of how they would work! Honestly if the game went forward, I would have ditched the solar panels and come up with a different power source for the stations. I do have some concept art of Dyson Spheres and other mega structures I wanted to put into the game.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

Lovely Don't forget about heat rejection though please! Some cool things you can do with radiators, and they don't always have to be big sheets of material.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

when I watched some WOLCEN gameplay footage my brain siezed up. The graphical standard for Diablo'esque action games is just SO high.

Looked at WOLCEN screenshoots. Your games look far better than that.

 

[Pyke]

when I watched some WOLCEN gameplay footage my brain siezed up. The graphical standard for Diablo'esque action games is just SO high.

Looked at WOLCEN screenshoots. Your games look far better than that.

It's more things like the animation and how reactive the environments are. We will get there eventually - but we want to remain independent - so we have to take smaller more calculated steps to get there. :D

 

[lycanwarrior]

Just completed the game yesterday after playing for 18 hours.

Beautiful Desolation describes the game very well.

Great-looking game set in a barren post-apocalyptic world.

The screenshots definitely doesn't do the game just whatsoever.

Ironically, it was this thread that picqued my interest in this game. Otherwise, I would have easily glossed over this game as the screenshots/trailers do justice to how nice-looking and atmospheric it is.

This game definitely should've been more popular. Maybe should've make the colors/backgrounds more vibrant instead the "earthy" tone that the screenshots make it look, I dunno.

 

[Dexter]

Pyke Was trying to delete the game and Backup the Saves before and noticed there's like 500MB of Saves. Most of them were Autosaves made throughout the game (for some reason they happen very frequently instead of just keeping one or cycling through 3-5, same with Quicksaves). I deleted all the ones labeled as AUTOSAVE in the game Menu but the file size of the folder hasn't decreased at all. I just see a bunch of ".bro" and ".old" files in there. Is it just renaming .bro to .old when "deleting" ingame and making them invisible? Is it safe to delete these? It also gave "Steam Cloud Syncing" a lot to do. Also noticed that all the Saves have an uncompressed ~4MB .png file accompanying them (some of which have also been appended ".old") instead of a small .jpg or similar even though it's just a small thumbnail displayed at the top right of the Save screen.

I hope there'll be a better solution for upcoming games.

 

[StaticSpine]

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.thebrotherhoodgames.com/studio/2021/02/22/beautiful-desolation-wins-best-graphics/

BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION WINS BEST GRAPHICS

We were honored to receive two awards at the 2020 Aggie Awards which is the quintessential adventure game awards show in the adventure game industry as chosen by industry professionals and players.

Beautiful Desolation was nominated in 6 categories, winning Best Graphics and received a runners up honor in Best Sound Effects.

Best Graphic Design: Beautiful Desolation
With 2015’s sci-fi horror adventure STASIS, indie South African developer The Brotherhood established a hyper-realistic aesthetic that was as appealing as it was horrifying (in all the right ways). Beautiful Desolation carries on the isometric approach that Nic and Chris Bischoff have become known for, with the same careful eye for painstaking detail and flair for the exotic, this time in a whole different setting that ups the visual ante even further. The story of Mark and Don Leslie lends itself to a broad spectrum of creative sci-fi design elements, as Earth is invaded by the alien Agnate, followed by the brothers being swept into the overrun planet’s distant future – all of this within the game’s opening minutes! What follows is a tour de force of imaginative vistas and fantastical environments that marry ancient African tribal culture with futuristic hi-tech sensibilities, creating a clash of elements that’s as unique and breathtaking as it is alienating and even disturbing at times.

And that’s not even scratching the surface of the game’s character models, as Mark and Don find they are the only actual humans still around in this future. Assimilations between man and machine, dreadlocked Rasta robots, and mechanical sentry dogs are just the tip of the science fiction iceberg here. Sentient plant creatures, living trains kept alive by pulsating internal organs, and parasitic brainworms make up just a part of the menagerie in store for players. It all makes for a world so utterly fantastical, and so incredibly gorgeous that it manages to snag our Best Graphic Design Aggie from a tough field with a variety of jaw-dropping styles.

FROM : HTTPS://ADVENTUREGAMERS.COM/ARTICLES/VIEW/THE-AGGIE-AWARDS-THE-BEST-ADVENTURE-GAMES-OF-2020/PAGE9