Dustgrave - turn-based sandbox RPG from ICY developers - free prologue available

[Abu Antar]

 

[Infinitron]

Why aren't they using their own YouTube channel?



https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2393370/view/3820802116172957825

Combat is a very important part of RPGs; we’re designing Dustgrave’s combat system to be satisfyingly deep and challenging, giving you lots of tactical options to engage your enemies. Let's explore the foundation of Dustgrave's combat system in today's Dev Diary.

We focused on three key objectives
:

• Give unique value to all equipment pieces, instead of only increasing numbers;
• Allow players to experiment with different combos and reward out-of-the-box thinking;
• Create a deep system capable of supporting long playthroughs.

To achieve that, we created
7 different Action Templates accessed by equipping different weapons
, armors, or other items. Each turn you’ve got 2 Action Points; some of the following actions take just 1 AP, while the most powerful ones takes 2, taking your whole turn to complete them.

Fast Attacks and Strong Attacks
are given by weapons, and they represent the most basic action of most RPGs: using a weapon to attack an enemy. Fast Attacks only cost a single Action Point, allowing a character to move before or after using them. Strong Attacks have more powerful effects but require two Action Points to be used.

Quick Spells and Empowered Spells
follow the same logic, providing two different ways of using magic in combat.

Dashes
are used to move across the battlefield. Some allow characters to avoid opportunity attacks, others let slow characters move and strike a target with a single AP.

Armors and Shields give access to different
Guards
. They are defensive Actions used to protect a character from incoming attacks, or to provide specific buffs.

Shouts
are linked to a character’s Personality Attribute and scale with its value. They are useful for boosting allies’ morale, but several Skills can transform them into offensive Actions.


This is a classic longsword, providing two attack Actions.

Those two Attacks have their unique stats, influencing how many enemies they can target, how much they can penetrate armor, and how deadly they are.
In Dustgrave, you will be able to use those Actions as they are, but our unique twist is that you will also be able to combine the Skills you unlocked with them!
This is how a Skill can interact with the sword’s Fast Attack.

The resulting Action deals more damage and better penetrates armors, but will be less precise, meaning it will be easier to miss and harder to land a critical hit.

Repelling Strike adds the Status Effect Push to the attack, allowing the character to move opponents and possibly allowing allies to land Opportunity Attacks on them.

Skills change or override certain values, so choosing the right equipment for every character is fundamental.
Acquiring new items will open new possibilities and unlock new and potentially deadly combos.

The same concept applies to all other Action Templates.
In this case, we have a Skill from the Occult Magic tree, which applies to all Shouts.
While the standard Shout applies to allies and bolsters their morale, the modified Action affects enemies and applies a powerful debuff to their offensive capabilities.

This unique concept will let players experiment with the wide variety of items included in the game.
Actions hitting multiple targets are ideal for applying Status effects, while precise attacks can be used to easily trigger Critical Hits.

We are so eager to let you all play with Dustgrave and break the game in ways we didn’t even think possible. Stay tuned to learn more about the game!

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2393370/view/3874849112247692388

In today’s Dev Diary we will share some details on
how the world changes in Dustgrave
, depending on both the player’s actions and the objectives of the many competing factions.

The biggest advantage of having a sandbox structure is not having a fixed plot that shapes the world around the player. Player’s can
enjoy Dustgrave’s world at their own pace
and choosing their own path. We don’t need immortal characters or forced choices to keep the narrative intact, because the systems we developed will always be able to generate quests, choices, and storylines for the player. Provided at least a dozen people are still alive in the world!

The more we worked on Dustgrave, the more ideas we got to expand the potential of dynamic narrative. We wanted to
turn classic fantasy narrative tropes fantasy into dynamic systems
, allowing players to enjoy certain experiences without constraints (like conquering a fortress or liberating a village full of undead).

At first, we focused on simple systems, like
changing the wealth of a character after the player stole valuables
from them. Depending on the severity of the theft, the poor character may only need to sell some of their possessions to feed their family, or even lose their home and become forced to live in a tent.

After a while, we started designing more advanced systems, capable of dealing with world-changing events.
What if entire settlements get destroyed by raiding bandits or undead creatures?
What if factions with political power can engage in a war and conquer settlements belonging to their enemies? We wanted players to experience dramatic events and play a key role in their development.

That’s why, in Dustgrave,
settlements and locations are dynamic entities
. They can be conquered by a different faction, see their population decimated, get destroyed and rebuilt, acquire new citizens, or host travellers sleeping in the local inn or camping in the vicinity.

The ruined settlement you will find travelling around the world map won’t just provide you with a challenging fight and some loot, but someday you may protect some settlers trying to rebuild it. Or perhaps you will come back again after some months and find people living in it.
And they may have a job for you.


In a similar fashion, if you’ll want to climb the ranks of a political faction, you will eventually be involved in some good old-fashioned war of conquest.
After all, there is an ongoing civil war!
Instead of dealing with bandits and heretics, you focus on sabotage and espionage. And if you are tired of doing simple quests or minor errands, you will also be able to directly enter a settlement and decimate all soldiers. Or get beaten to death for trying.

As can be seen in the images and videos in this Dev Diary, the same settlement can either be flourishing and contributing to the region’s economy (well, they are chopping trees so it’s probably a minor contribution) or be in ruins and full of Infested walking around.
Having dynamic settlements is a powerful tool to make the world alive and interesting
, and works well with other existing mechanics.
And yes, we named Dustgrave’s zombies “Infested” in a desperate attempt of being original.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiit, I remember when one of the devs posted about ICY on the TTLG ages ago. TBH fam I am kinda surprised that the studio (they were Italians IIRC) is still around at this point...

 

[Tyranicon]

Why aren't they using their own YouTube channel?

That channel appears to belong to a PR agency, if that answers the question.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2393370/view/3954791175768336150

Dustgrave demo drops next week!
We give you some details on what you can find in our upcoming demo
We are happy to announce that
we will release a demo of Dustgrave next week!

Many of the features we described in the last weeks will be fully implemented. You will be able to
work for factions and settlements, commit various felonies, improve your standings
with some people while becoming a major enemy for others!

While we still have a long road ahead before Dustgrave reaches the level of depth and quality we intend to achieve,
the world’s reactivity to player’s choices is already showing its future potential,
and we are eager to know what you think about it.

One of our most important goals is to create a strong relationship with the community so that we can have an open discussion about what features, choices, and narrative outcomes the players want. The system we created to support Dustgrave’s dynamic narrative is now extremely flexible, and we want to give everyone of you
the chance of living a memorable story based on the path you decide to take.

Now, a list of Dustgrave’s unique features that will be available to try in the demo:

• The complex system of Records and Relationships is fully working, with NPCs remembering what you did to them and dialogues reflecting that.
• It will be possible to work for Settlements and Major Factions, developing good relationships and even helping a faction conquer an enemy settlement.
• The stealth system can be used to steal valuables or better position before a fight, or maybe even take advantage of the NPCs routines to isolate enemies.
• Characters can be created and geared up to destroy enemies in combat, so that you’ll be able to try Dustgrave’s unique take on Skills and Items.

 

[Serus]

Looks like someone has skipped leg day.

There is an easy explanation. We had a good and somewhat popular indie game where characters had no legs. However some people bitched - why no legs. The dev wanted the same for Dustghrave but to avoid the malcontents decided to compromise. Voila, problem solved.

Interested.

 

[n0wh3r3]

Interesting concept: wishlisted.

 

[Infinitron]

Steam Next Fest demo is available: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2393370/Dustgrave_A_Sandbox_RPG/

 

[Tyranicon]

Sure why not, I'll try it out. I'm headcanoning everyone as dwarves though.

Looking forward to dwarf simulator RPG.

 

[Tyranicon]

Eh nvm, this needs more time in the oven. Lots of bugs.

Best of luck and I'll give it another try when it's more stable.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Demo uses body types on character creation.

 

[cyborgboy95]

Demo updated to alpha 0.1.7.2!
Hey everyone! Many people downloaded Dustgrave's demo, and we started receiving suggestions or bug reports. We uploaded a new version of the demo and here's its changelog:

• Greatly improved performances on the world map
• Slightly improved performances in levels
• Greatly reduced loading times
• Loading screens will now appear when needed instead of showing up too late like the rude individuals they used to be
• Improved some UIs and removed minor UI bugs
• Added some missing strings
• Improved NPC AI concerning crimes and trespassing, committing petty crimes is now harder.
• Fixed an issue preventing to access dungeons.
• Added the possibility of speaking with hostile parties on the map if they are part of a quest.
• Now custom characters will be saved properly instead of disappearing after uninstalling, but sadly all existing characters had to be purged. We are sorry.
• Added an option to use vsync.
• Initial relationships between the player and the Vultures are now at -50 (New game only). Now players can work with them and eventually even get some sort of red-colored armor to better fit with their new friends.
• More people can give quests in all settlements.
• Civilians now correctly identify people that are part of their family and Dustgrave's world is no longer devoid of any love.
• The minimap can be closed again, instead of remaining permanently open.
• The camera will no longer dance around after you're done checking your equipment or inventory.
• Added better instructions in character creation.
• Created characters can now be purged. May they rest in peace.
• Going back to the main menu and starting a New Game no longer blocks everything forcing players to contemplate the loading screen for hours.

And that would be all for today, thank you for playing!

 

[cyborgboy95]

Dev Diary 6 - Updated demo and more planned features!
It’s been two weeks since the Steam Next Fest ended, and thousands of people downloaded Dustgrave’s alpha demo, which allowed us to gather a lot of useful feedbacks! Thank you all!

In these two weeks, we’ve prioritized many features that you people have been asking, and we uploaded a new demo build with a quite large changelog.

One of the most requested things was to give new players more information and a sense of direction right after starting. That’s why we added a small starting tutorial quest which will help everyone familiarize with the basic game’s mechanics.

We also started adding in-game tutorial panels, which will provide more details on Dustgrave’s mechanics. We plan to improve them in the future, following the community’s feedback and adding content until they will cover all the game’s features and rules.

The journal has been changed to include a level mini-map. Some people told us that navigating levels was too confusing, so now it will be much easier to find traders, quests, and other important entities.

We also improved many other things: it is possible to swap between weapon sets in combat, companions will be smarter when following the player, invisible obstacles will no longer ruin your day, and NPCs will be much more reactive to your crimes in the world.

In the next weeks, we plan to drastically increase quests' variety and make the world more interesting and dynamic. We are testing new map-related events like more roaming NPC parties or temporary locations to be found, and we will soon implement new dynamic quests which will allow you to get work from minor factions and improve relationships with them.

If you want to ask about new features or suggest something, head to the Steam’s Discussion Board and get in touch!


Full changelog:

Major Fixes and improvements

• Forget about spending too much time walking around, because a Level Mini-map is now available in the Journal screen, so you will know where to go.
• You can now send bug reports through the in-game main menu.
• When hovering your mouse over people, you will now be able to see their names and affiliations.
• A work-in-progress tutorial panel will now activate when necessary and give you all the info you need, but it is also always accessible when clicking on its button.
• NPCs will be much more reactive to crime and getting caught will ruin your reputation with settlements and factions.
• Weapon sets can now be properly swapped in combat.
• Added a new Tutorial Quest, to help people move the first steps in Dustgrave. We are sorry we left you on your own!
• Added a new screen showing all the passive skills and other effects your characters may have, including Wounds and Traumas.
• Wounds and Traumas heal faster. We all wish it could be the same in real life.
• It is now possible to convince hostile NPCs to give the player available quests.
• Punching people no longer blocks the game forever.
• A new settlement, Canneto, filled with Infested zombies is now available and will be used by dynamic quests as a possible target of conquest. It will then be repopulated and spawn quests on its own.
• Camps will no longer appear when no one is there to use them.
• When betraying the quest giver, accepting a reward, or a bribe, it is now possible to kill all quest targets before they go away and still complete the quest like nothing happened.
• Allies in quests will be less likely to just stand there while you do all the killing.
• Fixed a bug seeing tiles getting occupied for no good reason. Now you will no longer have to walk around invisible obstacles in combat. Allies and companions will also follow your active character more easily.
• Tables, barrels, chests, and other small containers will no longer block visibility, meaning it won’t be as easy to sneak inside someone’s house, steal some stuff, then use a table to become invisible.
• People will no longer use their Opportunity Attacks on their allies, which we’ve been told is a terrible tactic.

Minor fixes and improvements

• People will no longer sleep inside their bed structure.
• Added several new faction-related dialogues and improved existing ones.
• Your journal will no longer be filled with quest duplicates.
• Fixed several missing strings.
• Fixed a graphical artifact appearing near characters’ feet.
• Added some information on backgrounds and cultures in character creation.
• Enemies will be more reactive to the player walking around.
• Skills will properly refresh when a character’s equipment is changed.
• It is now easier to know if a movement will require one or two actions points, since we changed the preview colors to be clearer.
• The “Record Added” notification will no longer prevent you from travelling.
• Greatly reduced the amount of useless loot in the game.
• Reduced the cost of armors and weapons.
• When meeting people on the map, they will no longer look towards the horizon but instead will be facing the player’s party.

 

[cyborgboy95]

Updated demo!
We just released a new update for Dustgrave’s alpha demo including many improvements and additions!

We keep working on the game, and we are close to releasing some interesting features that will drastically increase the player’s agency and freedom of action in the game. While we keep improving Dustgrave’s narrative with new quests and dialogues, we also believe players’ options shouldn’t be limited to fighting and talking.

That’s why we developed a system allowing for secondary interactions to be used in the game, ranging from classic stuff like picking locks and killing sleeping characters, to more unique approaches like making NPCs forget the bad things you did to them or poisoning food supplies to weaken a group of enemies before fighting them.

Simply having those new options wasn’t enough, so we’re also in the process of revamping the structure of major quests so that completing sub-quests won’t be the only way to progress! Actions like killing a group of enemies or poisoning a settlement’s well will have an impact on the game’s simulation and narrative. This means that it will be possible to finish some major quests, like the ones involving the conquest of a settlement, without being forced to also complete several subquests before launching the final assault.

More details on those new two systems will be released in the future with a proper dev diary. In the meantime, you can check the latest update’s changelog.

Changelog 0.1.4.10

Major Fixes and improvements

• NPCs will now greet the player properly instead of always thinking they already met the player a few seconds earlier.
• Keybindings have been added to the Options Menu
• NPCs will be much more reactive to crimes and other player actions.
• The game will no longer explode if you kill an NPC that gave you a Quest. Still, it’s a rude thing to do and you shouldn’t do that too often.
• The trading screen has been revamped. Trading items is no longer instantaneous, but chosen items will move to a new area. It’s the same screen that many games have, so it’s not even a new cool feature, it’s just us fixing our past mistakes.
• When hovering your mouse on items during trades, the trader will now share unwanted opinions on what you may be willing to buy or sell. The system’s reactivity will be greatly expanded in the future.
• The game will now track stolen items. Traders will recognize the stuff stolen from them and even the stuff stolen in the same location they live in. If a trade is attempted, they will react accordingly.
• It is now possible to sleep in Inns, which has the added benefit of healing Wounds and Traumas at a higher pace.
• Some Items now have a durability value, which can lead to permanent penalties to the item that can only be restored by repairing them. This will let us increase the number of looted items, especially when it comes to faction-specific armors, without ruining the game’s progression.
• Added new locations (Sacred Shrines and Ruins) which will be used in Quest and Subquests.
• Added new quests, minor factions will now have their own quests to assign depending on their identity.
• Added new sub-quests.
• Added special events that can alter the structure of existing quests.
• Added roaming parties of NPCs on the map. They are just chilling around, doing stuff, living life.
• Trader will no longer buy everything at the same price, but will have favoured or disliked categories, and may even refuse to buy certain things.

Minor fixes and improvements

• Wounds and Traumas now work properly again.
• A new tooltip area has been added to show the currently equipped item when changing the equipment.
• Money is now displayed in the inventory.
• Added a visual feedback when clicking on the ground to move around.
• Fixed a few instances of the Quest Marker not disappearing once a Quest status changes.
• Added additional feedback in combat to let the player know if a character is dying or if they have no more Action Points to spend.
• Added a minimum cap of 1x to the Critical Modifier.
• Fixed a few issues with how damages were calculated when attacking highly protected enemies.
• Changed the order of Actions in combat, so that Attacks and Spells will be displayed first.
• Traders will now refresh their inventory after some in-game days.
• Added more places in which the Persuasion Minigame can be used in dialogues.
• The Persuasion Minigame will now show the correct percentages when hovering on different options.
• NPCs will no longer ignore the player going around killing people, and will now occasionally join the fight if they feel like it.
• Going back to the main menu is less likely to destroy the game and lead to absurd issues.
• Areas of Effect will now be anchored inside the max range of each action.
• Added more detailed info in the diary, so that Quests and their Phases have descriptions when necessary.
• Added a visual effect for the Rooted Status.
• Rebalanced some Attributes.
• Fixed an issue when loading savegames.

 

[cyborgboy95]

New features added to the demo!

It’s time for a new update, this time bringing several new features to Dustgrave, which can be tried in the demo!

While the full extent of how those changes will affect the player’s agency and the gameplay will be explored with future dev diaries, today we will introduce the new features.

More Interactions
So far, you could only interact with NPCs by talking or killing them, and with objects by using them. It is now time to explore an extra dimension of interactions, to make things truly sandbox and dynamic!

Are you tired of people remembering bad things you did to them or reacting negatively when stealing from them? Say no more! With the new magic scrolls we added, you can finally alter the mind of those poor NPCs, making them forget your crimes or ignore them! You can also implant in their mind a feeling of warmth and friendliness toward you.

Are you interested in committing war crimes? Or maybe just normal, plain crimes? Well, you can now poison wells, pick locks, assassinate sleeping people, or kick that locked door that’s blocking your way!

To access those new interactions, you only need to right-click on entities you want to interact with, and see which kind of extremely unethical option better suit the current situation.

Progress Meters
What’s the purpose of having dynamic and reactive systems when you, the player, the person we want to please, have no way of actually having some feedback from the world? To solve this, we modified how quests works and added a new UI that will let you track your progress when dealing with major quests or specific events. You can now see the effect of your deeds, including the ones unrelated to active quests: any act of sabotage or retribution towards the enemy will affect the Progress Meter, and you can drive away a group of brigands just by decimating their number. Don’t let those annoying officials tell you what to do!

It is also used to track relationships with Factions and Settlements, explaining in detail what happens when reaching certain thresholds. We still have to implement the option of joining a faction, but it will soon be available!

Future Updates
Those two new major features will greatly expand the variety of content we can create for Dustgrave, with the goal of providing a truly sandbox and dynamic experience. Having more ways to complete a big quest is always good, but when those ways don’t solely rely on pre-written dialogues or quest branches, you players can enjoy an even greater freedom in choosing how you want to live your story in the game.

Here’s a list of a few things we plan to add to Dustgrave in the future:

• New Quests that don’t rely on fighting or talking, but instead take advantage of the new interactions to let you steal, sabotage, sneak, or investigate.
• Also, existing quests will have new ways of completing them. Right now, when tasked with retrieving a stolen item, you will have the chance of simply sneaking past the guards and taking the item. This kind of freedom of action is what makes a sandbox RPG truly interesting, so we will make sure to always add multiple ways of progressing through quests.
• Many more interactions will be added, allowing you to sabotage or steal supplies, pickpocket people, or change the NPCs’ behavior to your advantage.
• We plan to add dynamic events to the world, like the plague spreading to a settlement and eventually killing everyone in it if nothing is done to stop it.
• Some Major Quests will have their specular counterpart, allowing you to double-cross factions by accepting to help both sides and betraying one when the time is right. For example, it is already possible to help a faction conquer a settlement, but in the future, every time such a quest is triggered, a specular one of defense will be available to the opposing faction. With those features fully implemented, betrayal won’t only be easier, but also have an exquisite taste.

And now, the full changelog of this new build.

Major Changes

• We introduced the concept of Progress Meters. They will let you know more about what’s happening in the world and how your major quests are going, while also letting you progress in major quests without only relying on completing related minor quests.
• It is now possible to interact with entities in the world in many more ways, thanks to a menu dedicated to secondary interactions. You can finally pick locks, break open doors, cast spells on people to make them friendlier or make them forget things, and even poison stuff. Many more interactions will be added in the future.
• Added a new major quest type with several variants, revolving around rebuilding destroyed settlements or improving the economy and stability of existing ones.
• Added several new minor quests to improve the overall variety.
• Added many barks to NPCs, they will now complain about everything bad happening in their life.
• People will now lock some of their containers, and you’ll have to pick or break those locks. Which is considered a crime, so they may get a little angry if they find you.

Fixes and Improvements

• Fixed a major issue that could completely block the game during fights.
• Improved performances in levels.
• Greatly reduced saving time and save games size.
• Fixed the AI’s pathfinding, now NPCs will less likely waste their turn dashing or moving around with no purpose.
• Added many sound effects to the UI.
• Fixed the minimap in levels to be clearer and to work properly in most levels.
• Improved loading times for many levels.
• People now actually use a pen when pretending to work.
• Fixed the difficulty level not working properly.
• Fixed an issue with healing actions having wrong values.
• Academians without a body now have one, the ones that already had a body now can move it.
• Change the Money item in the inventory and all other panels to be always on top and have a much less ugly icon.
• Enemies will now disengage when they run out of Morale, without causing game-breaking issues. You can still beat them to death, though.
• The behavior of several Statuses like Bleed or Bravery has been fixed and they now do what they’re supposed to. Good boys.
• You will no longer see torches being lit without actually emitting light.
• The Root Status now has a proper visual effect.
• The Persuasion Minigame is now harder and takes relationships into account.
• Couples will now try to sleep in the same bed, even when angry at each other after a petty fight.
• NPCs will no longer refer to quests you didn’t start yet.
• It is now easier to access some settlements on the map.
• When stealing stuff, you will no longer be accused of murder.
• NPCs will no longer all share the same ethical values, but will finally enjoy the wide variety of beliefs we made for them, promoting further chaos and instability in the already ravaged continent of Yarsa.
• Added more music to the game, with many new ambient tracks and one combat track.
• When deserters are sent back to the settlement, they will now be hanged properly if their superior is not willing to forgive their actions.

 

[cyborgboy95]

The Disguise System
We’ve been working hard this summer, and Dustgrave now includes several new features that will be playable in the next demo release!

One of those features, is the Disguise System, allowing your main character to use any faction’s armors and clothes to disguise as a member of such faction. Doing that, your identity will be concealed and NPCs will treat you as a member of that faction. As long as your deception holds.

This opens dozens of alternative approaches with existing quests and systems, here’s a nice bullet-point list detailing everything:

• You’ll be able to get minor and major quests from hostile factions. This won’t help you increase your relationship with them, but money is money!
• When disguising yourself as an enemy during quests, new diplomatic paths are available, but it’s also possible to simply use your guise to launch a surprise assault on your enemies.
• Are you interested in criminal activities but also care about your reputation? Just put a faction outfit on and the NPCs won’t blame you but the faction you’re disguised as. Provided you don’t get exposed.
• A group of bandits ambushed you while traveling? Not a problem, you can try to pass as one of them, and get away without fighting!
• On top of that, we also added hundreds of new dialogue lines to allow NPCs to react to disguises. Just be careful while reporting back after doing a quest: they will remember if you took the job while pretending to be a priest.

There are also a couple of features we’re still working on that will take advantage of this new mechanic:

• A few major quests will become specular, allowing you to choose which side you want to support, or even play both sides. With disguises, sabotaging the enemy's side while pretending to work for them will also be possible!
• Since NPCs won’t blame you for what you do while using disguises, it will soon be possible to use them to alter existing relationships between two factions. This goes both ways, and doing quests or helping people while disguised may appease hostilities between the two parties.

The next demo build is nearly ready, with only a few issues left to address, and you’ll soon be able to fool NPCs by cosplaying different factions!

 

[cyborgboy95]

Prepare for the Dustgrave’s Prologue – The journey begins October 10th!
After months of intense development, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of Dustgrave: Prologue. It will feature all the updates and new mechanics we’ve been working on in the last few months!

The best part? Your progress in the Prologue will carry over into the full game at launch, since save games will be fully compatible!

We’ve taken our demo offline to focus all our efforts on making the Dustgrave: Prologue the best possible experience for you. Expect new features, improvements, and a world that’s more reactive and immersive. Plus more crime-related features, we love adding those.

Dustgrave: Prologue will be available for free on October 10th. Wishlist now so you can download as soon as it goes live!

 

[OwNathan]

Thank you for sharing all the past news here!

This Prologue is yet another (pathetic?) attempt at gaining some visibility, but we made some huge improvements compared to the Next Fest's demo, and also saves will carry to the final game, in case anyone is interested in giving it a try. We implemented some nice features, like disguises, and added a lot of dynamic quests to make everything more varied and interesting. Characters are still deformed, sadly, but it's possible to cover their ugly faces with many new armors.

 

[OwNathan]

Prologue is available!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3226250/Dustgrave_Prologue/

You can now recruit companions whose names are directly taken from the Mongolian language, like Naranbaatar or Enkhtur. The alternative is some basic normie Italian name like Marco or Tonio, if you find people belonging to the not-so-subtly Italian-inspired culture.

 

[Infinitron]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/3226250/view/7155748162124651609

Dustgrave: Prologue is now available!
It's done, Dustgrave's Prologue has been released! Experience the first few hours of Dustgrave: A Sandbox RPG and keep your savegames to continue the journey in the final release!

Compared to the demo we released a few months ago, the Prologue brings a massively improved experience, with extensive changes made to all game mechanics.

Here's a changelog listing the most important changes!

Major Changes

• Revamped and rebalanced everything related to combat
  . Many new items and enemies have been added, to offer a more consistent experience and add much-needed variety to enemies.
• Companions can now be recruited while traveling across the world
  , and it is no longer possible to start with 4 characters. Companions have unique personalities, but for now, they have limited content as a few dialogues and barks.
• Added a Crafting System
  , allowing for the creation of consumables and enhancement of equipment. Equipped items now have a Tier level that determines the scaling of their stats. Dismantling items will yield materials, including unique Tier-related ones that can be used to upgrade weapons and armors by visiting traders.
• When wearing faction-specific armors or clothes,
  you can now disguise yourself
  as a member of that faction, opening new ways of solving quests or overcoming challenges. All existing content has been updated to accommodate this new feature.
• Completely revamped the UI
  to be better-looking and easier to read, with several panels that have been rebuilt or improved to show additional info.
• Added several dynamic sub-quests
  to most major quests.
• Added a new dynamic major quest
  , with different flavors depending on where it triggers and who is involved.
• NPCs will now react to murders
  , meaning you can no longer kill people without alerting potential witnesses. It’s still a little buggy, just like real-world justice, but we keep working on it.
• Added Bombs as consumables
  , so that you can have fun throwing stuff at enemies.

Fixes and Improvements

• Greatly improved performances all across the board, in particular, while travelling on the map and when rendering stealth cone of views. There are some issues and stutters left, which will soon be addressed.
• Fixed some navigation-related issues in certain settlements with bridges or other similar structures.
• Completely reworked the Minimap on the World Map. It’s now much bigger, it can be panned with the mouse, and shows more details on regions, locations, and related quests.
• NPCs are smarter when it comes to detecting crimes.
• Skills cooldowns will now reset between fights.
• Improved the UI on the map to show more details of locations when hovering on the.
• Saving is now possible in quest locations.
• When saving the game, the position of playing characters is now saved properly, and no longer resets to the level’s entry point.
• Greatly improved the existing combat log to show more info and be easier to read.
• Fixed an issue with some quests related to finding stolen items or intel that couldn’t be completed.
• Your character will now say something when trying to open locked doors or containers.
• Locations on the world map will now dynamically change their looks to reflect their current status.
• Reworked the Journal to display more information and to group related quests together.
• Fixed several issues with dead people still being highlighted and showing UI pieces in combat, now they’ll be left alone until the end of the battle and won’t bother you anymore.
• In many quests, after trying diplomatic solutions it is now possible to go back and try different approaches instead of being locked into the choice after just one step.
• Prisoners found while exploring or doing quests that are not directly related to a quest now have many more interactions.
• Imprisoned people won’t free themselves and stand still like idiots after you talk to them. They will now be committed to their role of kidnapped or jailed people.
• NPCs overlays will glitch less often.
• Fixed a critical issue with Stealth remaining active during combat.
• Fixed several issues with loot dropping from enemies and the condition of such items.
• Mercenaries camped in a settlement will no longer pretend to be part of the local authorities.
• You will now be able to repair items, since we repaired the UI allowing you to do that!
• Expanded and improved all dialogues related to finishing a quest and getting a reward, increasing contextual accuracy and giving the player some choices to make.
• Wandering parties of traders or minor factions will appear in different settlements and move after some time.
• Tutorials can be turned off in the options.
• Characters will now react differently to Records depending on their ethics.
• Changed how critical hits work with status effects, now they simply increase the duration by 1. This also applies to Grazes, which only decrease duration by 1.
• Fixed a frankly ridiculous amount of game-breaking bugs, which says a lot about our competence as developers, but who am I kidding? Maybe three people will read this, so we will keep telling everyone, including ourselves, that we’re good at this.
• Added a lot of combat and ambient sounds to make the world more lively. Well, more lively than pretty much nothing was easy to achieve.
• Added a new panel to show relationships between factions.
• Fixed cooldowns on certain actions not working as intended.
• Dead people will no longer engage in solo conversations.

 

[cyborgboy95]

What's going to be in Dustgrave EA Release?
As Dustgrave’s Early Access release approaches, we wanted to share with you more details about what you’ll find in the current version of the game and what our plans for the future are!
Our ambitious goal with Dustgrave is to create a deep and vast RPG Sandbox experience, focusing on player’s freedom and the impact of choices on the game’s world. We focused on creating the core gameplay features and the codebase we needed to handle thousands of entities, so that now we can efficiently add content to the game, following your feedback and ensuring all plausible narrative paths are open to players.

Here’s what you can expect to find in the imminent release:

• More than 15 settlements, that will dynamically change to reflect their wealth, who rules over them, or which major events are affecting them.
• 6 Classes and 14 Skill Trees to experiment with. More than a hundred equipment pieces to create your perfect build.
• 4 political Factions, 3 criminal Factions, and 2 minor Factions. You’ll be able to join all political and criminal factions, gaining access to unique quests and gear, but also drastically affecting how NPCs in the world will see you.
• 50 Different dynamic quests, with content that adapts to the current context to offer a varied and consistent experience.
• 160 different event Records that track what happens in the world, affecting relationships with characters and factions, with special attention to your choices and their consequences.
• A stealth system allowing you to steal, lockpick, pickpocket, and start fights with an advantage.

According to the QA sessions we did, Dustgrave already offers 15-30 hours of playtime for a single playthrough, depending on how many towns are visited and with how many factions you want to develop solid relationships.
What are Dustgrave’s future steps? We already collected a lot of feedback with the Prologue and the QA sessions we did, and after the EA release we will closely follow discussions on Steam and Discord to determine our priorities. Optimization and bugfixes will always be on the top of the list, but right after those we will collect your opinions and ideas to focus the development on what the community wants to see in Dustgrave.

During the Early Access, we’ll drastically increase the game’s content, with particular care devoted to the following aspects:

• Making the World Map feel more alive and engaging, adding local and worldwide events and allowing minor quests to be done dynamically with encounters on the map.
• Adding a ton of dynamic quests, especially when it comes to unique content for factions and late-game content, the latter of which is completely absent for now. Following the feedback we received, we also want to add more minor and major quests that can be done in the same location, to avoid constant traveling in and out of levels.
• Expanding the current Classes and Skills selection, integrating new features in the combat and improving what’s already available.
• Giving more content to companions, allowing you to develop relationships with them and doing quests to help them with their personal stuff.

Thank you for your support and please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and opinions. We mean it when we say we plan on including player suggestion!

 

[cyborgboy95]

Dustgrave's Early Access begins now!
It finally happened, Dustgrave has been released and we begin our Early Access Journey!

This is an important step in a long journey started four years ago, but it's only the beginning of a new development phase, which will see our development team follow the community's feedback to deliver content and improvements based on your suggestions!

Thank you for being part of this journey and have fun with Dustgrave!

 

[Tyranicon]

Congrats on the EA launch. I might pick this up at some point and see if the early roughness is gone.

Pretty good reviews on Steam so far.

 

[MerchantKing]

Are there Gnomes in this game? I sure hope they don't defame that glorious race with their shitty in-game "body-type."

 

[OwNathan]

Congrats on the EA launch. I might pick this up at some point and see if the early roughness is gone.

Pretty good reviews on Steam so far.

Thanks! A slow launch, but we were expecting that due to the relatively low amount of wishlists and the game being released in EA. We received interesting suggestions, some positive feedback, and are working to address the countless bugs that popped out in the last two days. The only real disappointment is that no one noticed the incredible dialogue branch I made for xenophobic insults.

Are there Gnomes in this game? I sure hope they don't defame that glorious race with their shitty in-game "body-type."

Sorry, we only have deformed humans, but maybe that make them closer to gnomes than classic humans.