Fabled Lands - text-heavy turn-based open world RPG based on the gamebook series

[LESS T_T]

https://www.primegames.bg/en/fabled-lands




https://af.gog.com/game/fabled_lands?as=1649904300

Spoiler

Developed by Prime Games, Bulgaria-based indie studio made similar games (heavy text, overworld exploration, turn-based combat ) like Dust and Salt and Trap for Winners.

Fabled Lands is an epic adventure of interactive fiction with a massive game world. Be anyone you want: explorer, merchant, priest, scholar, thief, wizard, or soldier of fortune. Buy ships, goods, and townhouses, join a temple, risk desperate adventures in the wilderness, or embroil yourself in court intrigues and the sudden violence of city backstreets. Undertake missions that will earn you allies and enemies, or remain a free agent and choose your own objectives. With hundreds of quests and locations to explore, the choices are all yours.

EXPLORE THE FABLED LANDS

• Open World
  War always leaves its mark: villages lie in ruins, dungeons are infested with monsters and old roads are abandoned. Travel across the continent of Harkuna and learn more about its past.
• Economy
  The economy is ruthless, but it also presents many opportunities: fulfill contracts and quests, hunt for treasure, buy a ship and trade goods, or travel the land to earn your fortune.

CHOOSE YOUR PATH

• An old-school RPG
  A solitaire role playing game in a pick your own adventure style like no other. Explore a giant open-ended world, where you can truly travel, investigate, and meddle with things, when and as you see fit to do so.
• Character Development
  Experiment with different professions, abilities and spells, items, and quests. Create your very own playstyle!
• Enemy Variety
  Take part in intense battles against numerous enemies. Brigands, trolls, golems, flying heads, assassins, vampires, kelpies, demons, abominable cults, the undead, and many more - all of them will vanquish the unsuspecting adventurer.
• Tactical Battles
  There is no handholding. Only the thoughtful ones shall prevail - plan your turns ahead, adapt to your surroundings and fully utilize your character’s strengths.

SURVIVE AGAINST THE ODDS

• Permadeath
  Do you like risk? Then try out the Ironman mode, where every decision is irreversible and your character dies once and for all.
• Temples
  Devote yourself to an enigmatic deity and obtain its blessing. But remember: some blessings have their price. Are you ready to make a pact?
• Ships
  Buy your own ship: upgrade it, find new routes and recruit a crew - their abilities might prove the difference when surviving a storm or viscous buccaneers. Fill your ship with valuable cargo and find where to sell it for profit.

Also announcement post: https://www.primegames.bg/en/blog/big-announcement

 

[Infinitron]

Steam demo is out.

 

[Erebus]

Dave Morris is in my opinion the best author of gamebooks (I even translated one of his books).

Fabled Lands is his one series that I don't really like... because it was trying to do things that work a lot better in video games than in interactive books. Now that it's actually a video game, it should be interesting.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

For me, FL is one of the most astonishing book series ever created and the boldest experiment game books have to offer. What makes it special is that it is basically a free roaming, open world solo RPG experience where you can travel from one book to another, where quests stretch over different books and you are totally free to do what you want. You can experiment and explore as you like, you fight thieves on the road or kill nasty beasts in the wilderness, discover back alleys of great cities or get lost in labyrinthic woods full of secrets or discover ancient ruins, trade with goods, conquer the seas, buy a city house, learn to play cryptic games or break into the well guarded palace of a mighty Shogun, you may invest in stocks, work for a king or do jousts against knights, climb to the highest mountains, conspire against political powers - or just wander from realm to realm and discover what lies behind the next hill, the next mountain, the next ocean. Based on your actions you can even get enslaved and sold into another realm (and thus are forced to travel to another book)... The concept is brillant and nothing like it exists in the realm of books ("Legendary Kingdoms" is the only book series that tries the same, the first book is out and adds a party mechanics to the FL formula). As a computer version however it loses its unique character in my opinion and I imagine it's difficult to feel what made and still makes this series so legendary. I even fear it could come out as a mediocre computer game as its gameplay mechanics are very basic and it isn't able to recreate the exciting feeling of throwing your dice and writing your own adventure diary, creating your own maps and collecting every little hint. I have many pages of notes for every book, collected in years of adventure in these wondrous lands.
I also don't like the art in this conversion, everything looks generic to me and I fear the colorful design to draw the attention away from the very delicately written, almost poetic texts. These texts, taut as they are written, really manage to evoke images in the mind of the reader. Together with the congenial original cover art and the original maps these books allow for countless adventures. It's a fascinating experience unlike any other and I can only recommend everybody with even the slightest interest to try the books. To get a first impression: There still is the Java-version of the first six books. This conversion is very true to the original books, using their scarce art and map designs.

edit: As the game is unforgiving (you either die permanently or lose all your stuff in the case you made a resurrection deal with one of the temples). While the first book is relatively well balanced for beginners the second one has some very nasty surprises if you explore the wilderness. The other books are difficult too. If you experience it as too harsh you can simply start in a later book/realm (you'll begin stronger) and travel back into the first book. It's not considered cheating to do so.
http://flapp.sourceforge.net/

 

[cyborgboy95]

https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/1299620/view/2870437315155983929

Mini-devlog Update #2

It's already September and what better way to start this month of weekly updates than the hand-drawn fantasy map of Sokara, The War-Thorn Kingdom, the first big area you'll be free to roam in the upcoming game!

Sokara is a country torn apart by civil war. Grieve Marlock, the newly self-appointed Protector General of all Sokara, has overthrown and killed King Corin VII; now the country is divided between those faithful to the revolution, and those still loyal to the heir to the throne - Nergan Corin.

No stone is left unturned as you take on a journey through the War-Torn kingdom. Visit the beautiful cities of Marlock and Yellowport, climb the Coldbleak Mountains or walk to the northern mountain range known as the Spine of Harkun. Knights, monsters, royalty and a smouldering city are just a few pieces to be included in your Fabled Lands cRPG experience.

Some of the quests in this area involve assassinating the king of the rat-men infesting the sewers in the city of Yellowport, looting treasure from the lair of Vayss the Sea Dragon, defeating the Black Dragon Knight in combat to the death and rescuing a trapped god from the summit of Devil's Peak.

 

[Vlajdermen]

The art style looks like Yaga, only grittier

Is this how all Slav games are gonna look from now on?

 

[cyborgboy95]

https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/1299620/view/4579554195998787816

Mini-devlog Update #3

Here it is! Fabled Lands' very own inventory equipment window v.1.0 An improvement from the demo earlier this summer, you now have a separation of your backpack and equipped items. This gives the desired increase of inventory space. The rework of the item system from last week enabled me to transition to this classic rpg approach.

When I re-read the rules of the gamebooks I am adapting again I saw that most items that modified your abilities required you to select only one of them, i.e. you have to choose either a Mandolin or a Flute to increase your Charisma rather than both. This is a bit underwhelming if you do right click Equip/Unequip on each item that modifies an ability type and there are 6 of them... So a dedicated equipment slot would be a great solution to the UX impediment.

With my reworked combat system I could also take advantage of the usage of different armor types such as helmets, chest armor, rings, etc. for raw defence boost and shields for blocking.

So this brought up the number of equipped slots to a nice number that can actually serve as a proper RPG mannequin.

And I think that the increased inventory space that way for Adventure Gear, Consumable and Quest items is a big quality of life change as I always struggled after 2 hours of game time what to carry and what to throw on the ground. But most importantly the balance with ability checks is kept mostly intact.

My ultimate desire is when I iterrate on my inventory system next time, I'd add stackable items. There are already items with charges that I haven't properly implemented yet. Also, stackable items would allow me to introduce ammo like arrows and bolts for ranged weapons. Aside from loving the concept myself from purely old-school RPG perspective, ranged weapons are a bit OP at the moment. Having arrows that take up your precious inventory space would really help in that area.

 

[Infinitron]

https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/1299620/view/2766856426238802914

Mini-devlog Update #4

While autumn started knocking on the door all of a sudden, this week I was focusing on adding more content to the Fabled Lands build.

What can I say, I sure did enjoy gathering some scorpion venom from the corpses of my enemies!

Combat at the moment is at a middle stage. This is the biggest gameplay change from the source material becoming a full grid-based combat instead of one vs one melee combat. The first thing I want to mention for sure is the size of the grid.

The size of the grid is really not that big but I can give you my reasoning behind it. The game is PvM as opposed to controlling a whole party. However, real time combat on the world map with monsters appearing and attacking you just wouldn't fit neither the pacing nor the mood of the game. I decided turn-based was the way to go and I wanted to experiment with a hex-based grid as I have experience in that in one of my previous titles. If the grid is too big you just run away indefinitely and recharge your cooldowns/shoot with a ranged weapon and it becomes quite easy.

The absence of a party really is a challenge for the tactical aspects. So aside from terrain modifiers and obstacles, I decided to play around with spell patterns. I.e. you have to position yourself accordingly to be able to gain maximum utilization of your spells' hex patterns. Add on top of that some passive skills that may adjust the effects depending on how you apply them and I feel it starts to be interesting. There are summoning spells as well like the Wayfarer's animal companion or the Troubadour's illusion. These spells instantly elevate the positioning element of the combat as well.

I will talk a lot more about combat in the future updates with the development of active and passive skills and ranged weapons and ammo and how this would affect the gameplay. My biggest challenge would be the emblematic boss fights and how to turn them into challenging and interesting encounters.

Steam Game Festival demo: https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/1299620/view/2853551354769277483

FABLED LANDS - LIVE Q&A WITH THE DEVS
Join us on our Discord for live discussion on Oct 9 8:00 PM
EEST.

If you are an old-school RPG fan, a tabletop roleplaying addict, or just interested in good story-driven games, come and join us for a live chat session! We will stream the game and have some fun while you will have a chanсe to give us feedback on the demo, and even influence the development!

Join us on our Discord.

 

[Infinitron]

https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/1299620/view/2853551354769391225

Hitting a milestone amidst a pandemic

It has been a crazy 2020 and it has not even finished yet. Without going into too much detail about the personal health issues me and my family had (you know, aside from COVID hysteria and the quarantine) I tried to focus hard on my game development work amidst a pandemic. It was my personal island of serenity every time I had the chance to code and focus on swords, magic, dice, and tactical combat. Here is what happened in brief during the development of my biggest game so far.

Combat and pen’n’paper RPGs

Early this year we renewed our Dungeons and Dragons sessions online. We conducted them over the wonderful online tool Roll20. Although I am more of a fan of a ‘theatre of the mind’ type of pen’n’paper RPG, the party really enjoyed grid-based combat with tactical maps, distance measuring, terrain obstacles, etc. I believe the timing was perfect for me to experience that. The reason being that at the same time I was wrapping up how the new tactical combat that ought to replace the one in the books, would work out for Fabled Lands cRPG.

One of the biggest challenges I was faced with when adapting the source material was ‘can you get tactical’ when you are controlling a single character (hero) vs several monsters (enemies). If you look at chess, a beautiful war-game with staggering simplicity yet seemingly endless complexity for the human mind, each piece has a simple, unique role, and the mixture of the different roles resulted in an abundance of different tactical scenarios and outcomes.

Even the simplest stereotypical adventuring party with a warrior, wizard, rogue, and cleric, each with their own specific abilities, is enough to bring some meaningful choices to the table with clearly defined roles (tank, control, damage dealer, and healer). At the end of the day, giving the players as much choice as possible is what makes the recipe complete and fun.

My PvM combat (player vs monsters) in a turn-based hex-based manner seemed redundant and out of place to some people who watched the teaser trailer. Why a grid in the first place? Why turn-based? Whilst FL combat cannot nor it should go in great complexity heights, I did want to enhance it.

As I mentioned, the game is single player vs monsters as opposed to controlling a whole party. In many, many similar RPGs the combat is delivered in real time or semi-real time (i.e. Divine Divinity, Stoneshard, etc.) However, what do you do when you have a narrative RPG? The more story based JRPGs can go either way depending on how the story works (remember Dragon Quest?). Real time combat on the world map (or semi-real time with pausing or simultaneous play of turns) with enemies appearing and attacking you while you move around would not fit neither the pacing nor the mood of the narrative game. I decided turn-based was the way to go and I wanted to experiment with a hex-based grid as I have experience in that area from one of my previous titles. If the grid, however, is too big you just run away indefinitely and recharge your spell cooldowns/shoot with a ranged weapon, and it becomes quite easy and more of a chore than anything else.

Even though space is scarce, it lets me experiment with obstacles, terrain modifiers and even onboard collectables to put more weight on positioning. I decided to play around with spell patterns too. In example, you must position your character accordingly to be able to gain maximum utilization of your spells' hex patterns. I want to add on top of that some passive skills that may adjust the effects depending on how you apply them, and I feel it starts to be interesting even if a bit simplistic compared to modern-day standards. There are also summoning spells like the Wayfarer's animal companion or the Troubadour's illusion. These spells instantly elevate the positioning element even more as well as help other spells that boost your and your allies’ stats shine if used in combination.

Steam Summer Game Festival

Back in April I received an unexpected e-mail from Steam. It turns out that they were experimenting with new formats and were giving devs new opportunities to present their games to the public. Upcoming games could participate in an online festival with players being able to try out a demo.
Although Fabled Lands wasn’t really ready just yet, I poured my energy into creating a small build that can give people a taste of what is to come despite being a bit rough on the edges and with tiny content.

As an indie dev you have one shot at this, and you cannot afford mistakes, or you are buried under a big pile and sent back in line for contracted work. So, opportunities like this are not to be missed or taken lightly.

To my surprise people really enjoyed the demo and I received incredibly positive feedback as well as constructive one to help me on the long development road ahead. Those moments when you share your months and years of work with other people and they get an enjoyment out of it is really a precious thing for any content creator and I am extremely proud and joyful to be a part of that process.

The end of the year approaches

It is time for the Autumn edition of the Steam Game Festival, and I am once again in the loop, hoping to impress you. The demo is officially back! Although those who have missed the chance to play it last time or those who are new on the hype train (is there really such one?) are obviously the gamers I aim for, I have in store for my faithful play testers some neat new stuff such as the character equipment window, sailing, Ironman mode, a glimpse of the world map, and small improvements based on the community feedback.

I know I have talked a lot more about combat this time but if you join me on this ride you will learn more in my weekly updates on the real strength this game has to offer - its open world narrative adventures.

I wish you a wonderful stay at my indie dev tavern!

 

[Heroic Liberator]

This looks quite nice.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Infinitron]

Some devlog updates: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1299620/view/2895213456446446209

Mini-devlog Update #5
With so many players having their eyes on the actual gameplay of the Demo that participated in the Steam Game Festival, I managed to collect useful feedback that sat down at the back of my brain and aged well.

My method of development is iterative, coming from my agile software development experience. I always try to plan a vertical slice of tasks for 2 weeks ahead and have a working prototype at the end of it. That way I have to re-do portions of the code when I figure out something can be or must be improved which costs time but makes me more flexible with changes, and at the end of the day, it delivers.

When I first implemented the character inventory, I did it under the form of an action bar at the bottom of the screen. I used right-click pop-up menu to let the players Equip items by highlighting them which worked for the time being and allowed me to transition fast to other functionality areas. However, in the Combat screen where I needed an actual action bar for the skills and actions the players can perform, I struggled where on the screen to put what. I implemented tabs to switch between items and actions, and I left that known issue for the time being to advance to other areas.

Later, I separated equipment from the inventory and placed that on the Character Sheet dialogue. I was quite happy how it looked but this deepened the other issue. Now you had to go to the Character Sheet to equip/unequip items which resulted in lots of useless clicks. Not to mention that some people struggled to figure out that they have a healing potion they could drink or how to do drink it even if they see it. Some also stated the obvious question: why do I need to always see my inventory while reading the story if the items are not needed on the spot?

Another area that showed usability issues was the merchants. Although players figured out how to buy or sell items, many expressed concerns with how it is presented.

With the development of the full Skill system (both active and passive skills) on the horizon for all professions, it was time to go back and revisit my UIs and make them better.

First, I had to rework the inventory management system. I refactored all code related to item slots to make the system extendable and modular. I quite enjoyed that as a programmer :D Refactoring meant that all the functionality must act the same as before while improving only the code. It is not a productive thing to do when meeting a deadline, but I needed a solid foundation to make changes, or it turns into a bug-fest quite quickly. Nothing like a bug to ruin any game experience.

Second, I removed the inventory action bar and implemented a backpack in the Character Sheet, House Stash and Shops.

Spoiler

Then I implemented weapon sets. Thus, you could equip a range weapon and switch between your weapon sets instead of constantly opening the inventory to swap weapons.

Lastly, I changed the combat action bar by adding 'Swap weapons' and 'Use Item'. 'Swap weapons' allows you to switch between your equipped weapon sets while 'Use Item' pops-up a mini-action bar containing all your consumable items such as potions. Voilà, you can now left-click to drink! In addition. both of those actions now cost 1 Action Point. That way they become more tactical and add some depth to the decision-making while slightly nerfing Ranged combat and Healing pots.

As for the merchants, I did several improvements. Separating the items in two tabs: Items in Stock and Searching to Buy, gets rid of the problem that new players see right away items that they not only can't afford but actually can't buy because those items are what the local merchants seek to obtain for themselves.

The whole point of the market system in the Fabled Lands is to roam the open-world freely and find the best places to sell your loot for the best price. Due to the small nature of the inventory and various interesting quest developments that lead to losing it, it's quite the inconvenience to carry your loot all over the place to price check items. House stashes are there to store your valuables until you need them. Hence, I reached the conclusion the player still needs the information what can be sold where and at what price, just presented differently.

To improve on that, I added sell price, cost price, or willing to buy price to item tooltips. Items that you cannot sell at the current market are disabled (but you can still drop them if you want to make room for new items). Lastly, you can sell an item by drag & dropping it onto a BIG visual area, right-clicking an item and choosing 'Sell' or by ctrl-clicking an item for faster shopping.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1299620/view/2879452759167557335

Mini-devlog Update #6

You instinct was correct. The sea bed suddenly drops away, to reveal the ruins of the Sunken City of Ziusudra. Crumbling towers climb out of the hazy green depths, and shoals of flashing silverfish dart through the abandoned windows and doors of coral-encrusted buildings.

The creature you are following arrows down towards a large dome-like structure covered in waving tendrils of seaweed. It disappears through a hole in the roof of the dome.

Carefully, you swim down to the hole and look through, into the palace of the repulsive ones.

The inside of the dome is lit with an eerie yellowish glow that comes from the sea-moss that carpets the ceiling. At the far end, a grotto in the wall contains an idol made from sea-shells and coral, presumably of Oannes, the god of the repulsive ones. At its feet lies the golden net of Alvir and Valmir, the object of your quest. Between you and it swim several of the giant squid-creatures, carrying out various undersea chores.

Underwater encounters are a challenge to represent in a 2D game as nothing can beat the vivid imagination of the reader but we try our best!

A knight, in full plate armour, rides up and says, ‘Welcome to the Castle of the Dragon Knights. It is our custom to joust against all who would come here – for a wager, of course.’

He explains that you must bet the weapon and the suit of armour that you will use for the joust. If you lose, you forfeit the weapon and armour. If you win, you get the armour and weapon of the knight you defeat. Most of your potential opponents, you note, would be using a sword and plate armour.

There are so many wondrous places in the Fabled Lands and it brings me joy exploring them visually. I know for sure that I love our leading artist's work (Bernar Aganchyan), and while I configure, balance and test all combat encounters, I cannot but feel eager to find your reaction when you explore every single place we are preparing for you.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1299620/view/2901972025488811413

Mini-devlog Update #7

This week was very productive in terms of bug fixes and balancing. The first big area of the game is completed and you will have a chance to participate in the closed alpha at the end of January. Players will be picked from the community on Discord who have helped me during the development with fruithful discussions, feedback or just a thumbs up for support.

In the remaining time while working on the next major areas, I'll add all the quest markers for Sokara, and impement buying & learning combat skills from markets.

An example of such a quest is attempting to steal the golden chain mail of Tyrnai in Caran Baru. It pushes your thievery abilities to the edge. The two stone golems that guard it require cunning and skill to overcome and are tough opponents if underestimated. Many rogues have failed before and have been caught and sold as slaves until the rest of their lives. Will you be the one to succeed?

The Temple of Tyrnai, the God of Battle, Chaos and Strife, is built like a small fortress in one corner of the city, near the barracks. Its heavy wooden gates are flanked by iron statues of bull-headed men wielding clubs. The workmanship is uncannily life-like. Inside, the god is represented by a stone idol of a jaguar-headed warrior. A beautiful suit of gold chain mail adorns the idol.

This and other interesting events await you in one of the cities of Sokara, Caran Baru. Be on the lookout for the man with the velvet eye-patch!

 

[Citizen]

This game looks both like a beautiful fairy tale illustration and like a crappy mobile game at the same time, because of the cheap looking uninspired UI that completely kills the mood of the artwork

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

I don't know, I still find the style very generic and neither aesthetically appealing nor in the atmosphere and spirit of the books. But the Fabled Lands have a very special place in my heart and for me this fantastic gamebooks should be enjoyed in their original way. No other book demonstrated me the power of imagination in such a powerful way like these did. As literary experiments they boldly went beyond the boundries of books and storytelling (and far beyond all simple "cyoa"-gamebooks) and created something totally unique. There are, as far as I know, only two gamebook series who attempted a similar kind of open world experience (Legendary Kingdoms and Steam Highwayman).

 

[rojay]

I don't know, I still find the style very generic and neither aesthetically appealing nor in the atmosphere and spirit of the books. But the Fabled Lands have a very special place in my heart and for me this fantastic gamebooks should be enjoyed in their original way. No other book demonstrated me the power of imagination in such a powerful way like these did. As literary experiments they boldly went beyond the boundries of books and storytelling (and far beyond all simple "cyoa"-gamebooks) and created something totally unique. There are, as far as I know, only two gamebook series who attempted a similar kind of open world experience (Legendary Kingdoms and Steam Highwayman).

Yes, but did you like the books?

I can see giving this a shot when it comes out, depending on the price.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

I don't know, I still find the style very generic and neither aesthetically appealing nor in the atmosphere and spirit of the books. But the Fabled Lands have a very special place in my heart and for me this fantastic gamebooks should be enjoyed in their original way. No other book demonstrated me the power of imagination in such a powerful way like these did. As literary experiments they boldly went beyond the boundries of books and storytelling (and far beyond all simple "cyoa"-gamebooks) and created something totally unique. There are, as far as I know, only two gamebook series who attempted a similar kind of open world experience (Legendary Kingdoms and Steam Highwayman).

Yes, but did you like the books?

Which do you mean? FL or Legendary Kingdoms and Steam Highwayman? I adore FL, obviously. There is nothing like them. But Legendary Kingdoms and Steam Highwayman are fine books too with some interesting new ideas.

 

[vortex]

This looks so heavenly good, if only with rtwp gnomeplay.

 

[Infinitron]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1299620/view/3014566643975515307

Mini-devlog Update #9
Skills & Spells, Part II

This week saw the release of the closed alpha of the Fabled Lands cRPG and, oh, boy, what a week it was! On the morning of Saturday, one week after the release, once the dust had settled, I texted my best men: “You know you’ve had a release with this type of chart:”

He asked in return: “Why, what does it mean? New players? Downloads?”

“No,” I answered. “Code commits*.”

* git commit is a command that captures a snapshot of the project’s current changes in its state. The graphic shows the number of times I have ‘patched’ the game on a weekly basis over the last couple of months.

I had a wonderful release. With alpha testers playing their hearts out, having fun and finding bugs and issues along the way. Such a great community any indie dev could ask for. How can I forget to mention Guy from ‘How to be a Great GM’ who did a fantastic live playthrough on his channel:

Back to the topic at hand

In the last development update, I talked about active skills. You obtain skill books and learn the spell within if you meet certain criteria. Well, another interesting item to obtain are the skill scrolls. They contain the knowledge of a skill that will apply a passive bonus during combat. Unlike active skills, the passive ones do not have requirements related to the character’s base abilities (or stats) and can be obtained by all professions at any point in the game if they have the money.

There are different types of bonuses. Most are conditional and depend on the environment, status effects, currently equipped and active weapon, etc. while others are independent of all of that and are constantly applied.

For example, the Hot Pursuit passive skill regains you some of the Action Points expended in combat. Early in the game, the amount of action points you have per round is 6 which limits you to few basic actions like most pen’n’paper RPGs do. Move and attack, disengage to avoid provoking opportunity attacks, use an item from your backpack, swap weapons or cast a spell. With the Hot Pursuit you can have an additional 2 action points each time you cast any of the skill’s signature active skills.

Spoiler

While the Brawler passive gives you a damage boost when in the vicinity of 3 or more enemies.

In my current example, my Mage has learned Archery, Brawler and Blizzard’s Bite. Naturally, as any self-respecting mage, I have bought a bow (or a sling) to shoot from a far and cast my spells before my enemies could even reach me. Archery helps to improve my critical hit chance. My AOE spell Ice Bolt hits multiple enemies and applies the Frostbite status effect which reduces their Action Points by 1 to keep my skin safe just a tad more. My passive Blizzard’s Bite increases the damage received by all targets with the Frostbite status effect. Finally, the Brawler boosts the damage output even more when I am surrounded.

Now, depending on the encounter this selection of skills might prove useful, especially in the cases where I am about to fight a boss and their minions, changing the strategy a bit to keep the minions alive and apply some damage until a devastating attack finishes the boss in one or two mighty blows.
Thus, the player can adjust his skill combination before a certain combat, especially later on when meeting more devastating enemies.

Final Words

The combination of passive bonuses, active skills and equipped weapons are the core foundation that forms the type of builds in the game. However, they are not an isolated system within the combat encounter but a fluid part of the world. The players must keep a fragile balance of spending quest rewards on an ability that would help them learn a new skill versus on an ability that would improve their ability checks within the story, especially helpful in certain areas and bigger quests. On the other hand, rotating and experimenting with skill books and skill scrolls requires constantly generating more income, thus balancing out the end-game economy.

When advancing in the game beyond the boundaries and safety of the known realms every bit of an additional stat can prove the difference between life and an expended resurrection deal!

 

[Infinitron]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1299620/announcements/detail/3015694258165865529

Mini-devlog Update #10
‘Awake, my paladins! Now has the time come for our rebirth! Harkuna will be freed, and the Uttakin will feel the wrath of my revenge.’

At the far end of the chamber, a stone plinth is raised above the rest. On it sleeps a man dressed in purple-hemmed cloth of gold. On his bearded and patriarchal head rests a golden crown, which glints in the quivering light you have brought with you. His hands are crossed over his chest. In one he holds a steel mace, the head of which is fashioned in gold to resemble a flaming sun. In the other, he holds a silvery scythe, its blade fashioned into a crescent moon. It is the High King, sleeping through the lost
centuries, awaiting the day of his awakening.

Suddenly the temperature drops even lower – a sudden cold that threatens to stop your heart.

If you have a wolf pelt, it protects you from the cold. If you haven’t, roll two dice and lose that many Stamina points.

If you still live, a smoky, phantasmal shape appears in the centre of the chamber. Her spectral white face is as blank and smooth as snow, and her ghostly robes, pale as moonlight, billow out behind her like a trail of stars. Taloned hands, like the wind-blasted branches of a winterbound tree, clutch at you.

...

Ah... was it wise to meddle with things that much?

Oh, well, even if you have second thoughts, I am sure you'll love the opportunity find out how your choices affect the world of the Fabled Lands.

That is, if you live long enough to see it...

 

[Infinitron]

Oh looks like this is releasing in May.

From last month: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1299620/view/5496053284168349640

Mini-devlog Update #11
Prelude

I have been struggling a bit to keep up to speed my work pace as I have been fighting the symptoms of Meibomian glands dysfunction for some time now. If you do not know what that is you basically feel your eyes burning, itchy, irritated and dry. Symptoms get worse when you are on the computer for a long time which lead to pink eye. Obviously, the timing is "just perfect" when I am on the bring of releasing Prime Games’ biggest title to date. Fortunately, once I knew the correct diagnose, with proper medical treatment in combination with more physical exercise in the past one month my eyes have finally shown improvement and things are slowly getting back to normal (fingers crossed).

A game dev in the making

"If you grew up during the 80s or 90s, chances are you had a few Choose Your Own Adventure books on the bookshelf. Or maybe you had seen some at school, or perhaps your best friend’s older brother had a box of them hidden away somewhere.

Gamebooks weren’t just a craze; for a generation of people, they were a cultural phenomenon, part of the shared zeitgeist."


Quote by Martin Plowman

I lived and breathed gamebooks growing up. I was inspired by them and invented new rules and stories, maps, weapons, and enemies. I even got to the point when I had several notebooks of my writings with art either done by me or cut out and glued on paper taken from some photocopied fantasy magazine or book.

While I was adding yet another alchemy item like Parrot Fungus, Witch’s Hand, Uncanny Salts, or a mythical artefact like the mighty White Sword that you may never lose (even in the after life, after all it is given to you by the God of Death himself, a-hem, a-hem) the child in me felt deep satisfaction.

The Finish line is only the beginning.

I am massively expanding the content from the closed alpha version of the Fabled Lands game that testers from the community had the chance to play in January. It is quite the wonderful feeling to populate the world with the bizarre events, entertaining stories, and tough quests that were brought to life under the quills of brilliant creators Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson. It all comes together in an interesting and quite addictive story-telling way in a ‘may you live in interesting times’ sense.

Well, now I must buckle up my programing skills, walk the final steps and finish 2 years of development to deliver you something that I am already proud of. I am fortunate to not be alone in this endevour but backed up by the authors themselves, the really amazing and talented artist Bernar Aganchyan, the testers and the wonderful community.

Still, the release is only the beginning! Already the roadmap for the year includes developing and enhancing the game further, and further and it looks quite exciting! Hope you will enjoy the ride too!

 

[fantadomat]

Hmmm this looks interesting. Will try it out once it comes out.

 

[lukaszek]

Hmmm this looks interesting. Will try it out once it comes out.

demo is out on every festival, if its not available all the time now

 

[fantadomat]

Hmmm this looks interesting. Will try it out once it comes out.

demo is out on every festival, if its not available all the time now

Not interested,will try out the final product.

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Fabled Lands was my favourite book series when I was a kiddo and still is - got them from a library which only had part 1, 2 and 3. Sadly the series never was finished but in Germany the situation was even worse - only 4 out of the 6 released books were translated and it was more or less impossible to get it in a book store. It was pure joy when I got a copy of the fourth one many many years later.

This series brought me to writing and later to gamedev. As Ludwig von Eisenthal said the series was revolutionary. I grew up with a lot of choose your own adventure books but these were something else. I only got this sense of exploration in some of the TES games and never in that way in a book. So many different places, so many options, just so much. Two times I tried to make my own spin of this unique open-world cyoa genre but abandoned it twice since this task is fucking enormous. And they really got the writing right, especially the length.

Years later a German publisher republished the first ones and promised to release the fifth and sixth one. I was skeptical because the proofreading was really bad in another book of them and then a translation? But I bought three of the first four published ones (the first one wasn't available and it seems they released the fifth one later) but then they seemed to scrap that idea and instead of publishing the fifth and the sixth book in that series they started to rereleasing them as two book bundles (so 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6) I was really angry about that wasted money. In the end I just bought them in English with the newly released 7th book which I haven't touched yet. (Does anybody know if that one will be included in the game?)

While I was browsing the CRPG tag on Steam I found Fabled Lands and immidiately wishlisted it even though I have the same reservations about the artstyle which looks good in some areas but in other very mobileish and have fear to be disappointed. If it wouldn't been Fabled Lands I think I would have just glanced over it. Still it's awesome to see that this series is still alive and more people will enjoy it. Hopefully enough money and time will align soon and I can play it!

 

[Infinitron]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1299620/view/3074244859362348096

Mini-devlog Update #12
Ships and Sailing

Hey, folks! This week I wanted to talk about Ships and Sailing in the Fabled Lands narrative cRPG. Once you are up for the challenge of the open seas, you can buy your own ship: upgrade it, find new routes to explore and recruit a crew - their abilities might prove the difference when surviving a storm or vicious buccaneers. You can also fill your ship with valuable cargo and find where to sell it for profit.

Cargo can be bought from City Ports and carried on your ships. If you reach another port, you could sell the cargo. This makes sea voyages quicker for covering long distance travels, more profitable but quite risky.

Different ships have different cargo space. Also, a bigger ship and seasoned old salts and veteran marines, ready to follow your every order, will help you survive when sailing the open sea whilist a ragtag crew that at least won't kill you in your sleep will make things... worse. Probably.

There are random events at sea. These can help you obtain cargo even when not in a port by taking over another ship or, for example, helping out someone in need. Sometimes you could even get amazing loot or even a better ship. However, most of those events are unique and won't happen to you twice so it really depends on what choices you make.

As a captain you have access to your ship's manifest where you can view and track your active barques, brigantines and galleons.

Also, certain quests can be unlocked via finding new islands and hidden fortresses. But be wary, my fellow adventurers, as the sea is filled with formidable foes and unpredictable storms. The darkening of the heavens heralds the gathering of the storm, and if you haven't got a blessing from the twin gods of the sea Alvir and Valmir to aid you, you are in for a split mast at the very least. But what if you survive? Well, there are pirates, them murdering lot. Aye, you could turn to the buccaneer life youself, after all, if you can't beat them, join them...

High winds, a strong current, and heavy rains sweep you and the raft to a destination over which you have no control. The raft is washed up on a thin sliver of beach, under towering cliffs. Judging by the landscape, this is Nerech, the Land of the Manbeasts.