Indie Call of Saregnar - a Betrayal at Krondor-inspired RPG

[Rhuantavan]

One few things about the plot kept bothering me so I'll just mention them here. How did Arthur supposedly acquire such a rare dangerous book from a random vendor (only one in existence if I understood correctly)? Also the interactions with the gods in the cave and ruins were kinda overt, just getting showered with a god's attention all of a sudden, nothing wrong with that per say, I just wish that kinda stuff was more subtle, getting a god's attention should not be that easy, imo.

1. There's some backstory to the book that is not revealed here, but yes, he did buy that book without knowing what it was exactly. He suspected it was about magic, so he let his cousin Hewan know about it.
2. I hear you. I rushed that part a bit for the demo as I wanted to demonstrate getting a god's favor + one new spell.

 

[J_C]

Some bug report:
I don't know why, but sometimes when I entered either the Temple, or the Tavern, I couldn't talk with anyone. The Talk icon is there, but when I click, nothing happens. I have to reload to fix it.
And a more critical bug, which ended my playthrough of the demo. I quicksaved the game, then I reloaded immediately and since then I only get a black screen. The sound is in the background, but it is just a black screen. Strange because quicksave worked well before.

 

[Rhuantavan]

Some bug report:
I don't know why, but sometimes when I entered either the Temple, or the Tavern, I couldn't talk with anyone. The Talk icon is there, but when I click, nothing happens. I have to reload to fix it.
And a more critical bug, which ended my playthrough of the demo. I quicksaved the game, then I reloaded immediately and since then I only get a black screen. The sound is in the background, but it is just a black screen. Strange because quicksave worked well before.

There is a savegame corruption issue. I think it happens if you save after encountering an error in the game (which would not show to the player), so these two issues are likely connected.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[fantadomat]

 

[fantadomat]

the game needs longer day/night cycles.

 

[garren]

Yeah it does feel a bit fast, maybe increase the price of rations and make them drop less, etc. to make it more balanced.

Also, I started thinking about traps and puzzles, the game gonna have those? The cave in the demo would have been a great place for a small trap of some sort, it already had the body as a warning, although he died from his torch running out but still . The BaK style traps in the combat screen were kinda wonky I think, so having something like M&M or daggerfall like stuff (and more) would be better. Also, we need some pits man. Maybe a "puzzle" could be to find something or someone that can help you cross a large pit for example, like hiring a village carpenter to make a long plank or two to throw across the pit so you can walk across. Also a cool chance to alter the state of the world a bit by your actions, by making small changes like that to appear.

One thing that crossed my mind also was that you can surprise the lone enemy in the second encounter, maybe if you get the initiative you could place your characters freely as you got the ambush done successfully?

 

[~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-AIN'T]

The demo really, completely captures the essence of BaK, to the point I immediately started a new Krondor playthrough after finishing it. Nice job Rhuantavan.

Most of the feedback I'd give has already been covered by others here, I'd just like to add a +1 to the requests to make time flow more slowly. Also, the riddles were pretty easy, hope there will be some much harder ones later.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

work on Windows 8

Guys we've found him! The last person in the world using windows 8!

 

[toro]

work on Windows 8

Guys we've found him! The last person in the world using windows 8!

He is just ahead of the curve.

 

[Darth Canoli]

So, I found out it's possible to remap the movement with the numpad which allowed me to play it.

• During the fight against the two ruffians by the house, one tree blocked the view when the archer fled at the bottom left of the battlescape, you can zoom in but I'm quite sure it'll generate some negative reviews.
• Move and attack from different tiles in one move when movement points allow it (apparently, you need 1 PM left to attack) like in Heroes of Might and Magic would be great (moving the mouse around the target hex allow you to attack from different tiles.
• Already mentioned but being able to bind arrow keys for moving in exploration mode would be nice.
• What about auto-loot or a loot screen after battle and with a loot all button?

More subjective (I'm a meanie)

• I find the story bland but maybe it takes off later.
• The tavern wench bossing you around is exactly the sense of adventure everyone here is searching for... Really, I find the premises quite lame.
• Dina complaining all the time... And I can't even stand the sorry face he's always making.

 

[Rhuantavan]

So, I found out it's possible to remap the movement with the numpad which allowed me to play it.

• During the fight against the two ruffians by the house, one tree blocked the view when the archer fled at the bottom left of the battlescape, you can zoom in but I'm quite sure it'll generate some negative reviews.
• Move and attack from different tiles in one move when movement points allow it (apparently, you need 1 PM left to attack) like in Heroes of Might and Magic would be great (moving the mouse around the target hex allow you to attack from different tiles.
• Already mentioned but being able to bind arrow keys for moving in exploration mode would be nice.
• What about auto-loot or a loot screen after battle and with a loot all button?

More subjective (I'm a meanie)

• I find the story bland but maybe it takes off later.
• The tavern wench bossing you around is exactly the sense of adventure everyone here is searching for... Really, I find the premises quite lame.
• Dina complaining all the time... And I can't even stand the sorry face he's always making.

Combat camera is bad, working on it. Btw, you can Q, E to rotate it. If you hold Alt, you can choose angle of attack in your one-move-per-turn you have. (F1 to bring up controls help)
I've just added ability to drop items, improving the loot UI is next. (update coming to steam a a couple of weeks)

As for subjective stuff, the storyline should pick up substantially from the moment you reach the next town. It's a starts slow, picks up pace as you go, type of thing.
Dina rules.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Also, forgot to mention the screen moving both horizontally and vertically with the mouse, this is a choke-point, it was extremely painful to test and I hope you're going to, at least, add a command to lock/unlock the screen, just like in Might & Magic VI+ (at least that's how it works with grayface's patchs, didn't play without it since its release)

 

[Narushima]

I have a question: What sets this apart from Betrayal at Krondor? It looks the same, plays the same, the world is similar... Did you not take too much inspiration from that game? Is yours going to have its own identity?

 

[Modron]

I have a question: What sets this apart from Betrayal at Krondor? It looks the same, plays the same, the world is similar... Did you not take too much inspiration from that game? Is yours going to have its own identity?

I for one wouldn't care if nothing set it apart from BaK. Only complaint about the demo was days could have been longer.

 

[madrigal]

I for one wouldn't care if nothing set it apart from BaK. Only complaint about the demo was days could have been longer.

Days already seem longer than BaK which would only last about 20 seconds of travel.

 

[Rhuantavan]

I have a question: What sets this apart from Betrayal at Krondor? It looks the same, plays the same, the world is similar... Did you not take too much inspiration from that game? Is yours going to have its own identity?

Well my question would be, does it necessarily have to look and feel different to BaK? There are no comparable games out there anyway. I am still longing for a proper sequel and I doubt we'll see it anytime soon, or ever. I have taken everything that worked in BaK and built on top of it (and still am, for many QoL improvements are coming).

Secondly, I think the lore, setting, characters and story are all very different to BaK. It might not be apparent from first glance, or by playing the demo, but there's not much in common with the Midkemian universe apart from it being medieval fantasy.

 

[Rhuantavan]

I have a question: What sets this apart from Betrayal at Krondor? It looks the same, plays the same, the world is similar... Did you not take too much inspiration from that game? Is yours going to have its own identity?

I for one wouldn't care if nothing set it apart from BaK. Only complaint about the demo was days could have been longer.

Well, you're right. I think I already mentioned my intention to have time pass more quickly in the wilderness, and more slowly in towns (testing viability currently). I have already extended the day a bit, but I still want to keep the day length realistic to the distance covered (considering world compression). Can't have the party travel for 100s of miles before night falls.

 

[Modron]

Days already seem longer than BaK which would only last about 20 seconds of travel.

Honestly that isn't a bad way to do things you don't have to spend as much time waiting for shops/houses to open and shorter periods of reduced visibility.

 

[Mauman]

I have a question: What sets this apart from Betrayal at Krondor? It looks the same, plays the same, the world is similar... Did you not take too much inspiration from that game? Is yours going to have its own identity?

I'd be ok if they dug up BaK's corpse entirely and Frankensteined it with new life.

Which seems to be the path that's being taken.

So, to the devs, and carry on.

 

[Haba]

As you are using actual photos of people, what about character "diversity", the demo chars are all on the younger side of things.

Also, will there be more big booba tavern wenches? Asking for a friend.

 

[Falksi]

I'm trying to resist getting the demo coz I want to play it in full on release, but it's constantly tempting me. Looks mint.

 

[Rhuantavan]

As you are using actual photos of people, what about character "diversity", the demo chars are all on the younger side of things.

Yes, I primarily use photos/frames of members of a local medieval reenactment group. Getting old people if tough, but I am certainly looking to get ahold of them as I will eventually *need* a number of them in any case.

Also, will there be more big booba tavern wenches? Asking for a friend.

Tell your friend to consider that a possibility.

 

[Haba]

As you are using actual photos of people, what about character "diversity", the demo chars are all on the younger side of things.

Yes, I primarily use photos/frames of members of a local medieval reenactment group. Getting old people if tough, but I am certainly looking to get ahold of them as I will eventually *need* a number of them in any case.

You can also look for street-credible faces from the local homeless community.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Getting old people if tough, but I am certainly looking to get ahold of them as I will eventually *need* a number of them in any case.

Just ask a fellow game developer who shipped at least one game, hopefully at least one troubled project. They're likely to have more gray hair than your grandpa despite being younger than you.