KickStarter King Arthur: Knight's Tale + Legion IX standalone expansion - dark fantasy turn-based tactical RPG from NeocoreGames

[Ninjerk]

but will it be better than elex?

or gorasul for that matter?

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Backed it

 

[InD_ImaginE]

this looks really nice, backed

 

[CaesarCzech]

Its always online, look at what they did with Inquisitor and check how they avoid answering in backer comments. Reported it for misrepresentation of product by omission, its one thing to have Denuvo because it tends to work nowadays even if it makes games that have it have about 10-15% higher system requirements and longer loading times, it isnt catastrophe if its well implemented and it doesnt demand you be always online just that you are online once every few days so it can recheck. so Shitty but tolerable, But always Online AND DEVS OMITTING THAT PART. That is shitty as fuck.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neocore/king-arthur-knights-tale/posts/2986062

25% Funded on Day 1! Thank you!

It's been 24 hours, and our project is already 25% funded! We're incredibly thankful for your support and feedback!

We're going to update the page regularly, on a daily basis, and share more insight on the campaign and on King Arthur: Knight's Tale, with developer blogs, interviews, cool artwork and more.

Another good news! We now have a Steam page for King Arthur: Knight's Tale: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1157390/King_Arthur_Knights_Tale/

Be sure to tell your friends about it, and if you haven't backed the game yet, be sure to wishlist it. If you want to help us even more, spread the word to your friends - if not already, in that case thank you! -, whether they're folks who're into tactical turn-based games, RPGs, tabletop games, the Arthurian legend, or just love video games. King Arthur: Knight's Tale will be bigger and better with every bit of support!

Check out Knight's Tale on other social platforms:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Reddit
• Discord

A lot of you have asked about supported languages (for a good reason). The game will include English voice and text, as well as German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese and Hungarian text translations. More languages might be added later.

We also have reached the first batch of social goals and got the first reward unlocked. We're already preparing a nice little wallpaper pack based on the amazing artwork from the game, and we have a lot more to come! Be sure to check out the Social Goals part on the campaign page.

And last but not least, special thanks to those friendly developers and studios who shared our project on their sites. Really appreciate it folks!

Here's to a great and exciting campaign!

-NeocoreGames Team

something spectacular in the works maybe?

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neocore/king-arthur-knights-tale/posts/2987182

Developer Interview and 1,000 Backers reached! Thank you!

1,000 Backers Reached, Thank You!

In just two days we’ve reached 1,000 backers and we’re getting close to 40% of our goal! You rock and we cannot thank you enough for your support! Please tell your friends about us and keep getting the word out there!

New Social Goals Unlocked!
Some cool Social Goals were unlocked today and yesterday and the second Social Goal reward is now unlocked as well. To keep unlocking new rewards, make sure to check out and join the community on other social platforms!

Facebook | Twitter | Reddit | Discord

Story and Lore – Developer interview with Viktor Juhász
Now that the campaign is in its third day, it is time to examine the game and its aspects separately in more in-depth posts. First up, narrative designer Viktor Juhász answers the most important questions on behalf of the Story Team - seven questions about the story and the lore of our newest game.

1. King Arthur: Knight's Tale takes the Arthurian legend in a new, exciting direction - please introduce the plot and setting of the game briefly.

King Arthur: Knight's Tale begins where most of the Arthurian tales end, after the Battle of Camlann, which was the final skirmish between the Once and Future King and his nemesis, Sir Mordred. There are several versions to this legend, but most of them ends when Arthur kills Mordred but receives a mortal wound as well. The mysterious Lady of the Lake, the mighty enchantress who once gifted Arthur with the Excalibur, has the wounded King Arthur transported to her magical island, Avalon, where the healing powers of the land can nurture him back to health and the Once and Future King will return to defend Britannia in the times of need.

The main idea behind Knight’s Tale for me was the question that drives storytellers – what happened after all that? What if this grand plan didn’t work as intended? What if the Once and Future King has been stuck somewhere between alive and dead, becoming something that could not be healed and cannot die? I imagined a monarch writhing in endless pain, slowly going insane, a king with otherworldly powers trapped on an island that is suffused and shaped by magic, which he will begin slowly to turn into his nightmare.

This is where the Lady of the Lake enters the stage again. She has become powerless in her own domain and she is watching helplessly as the king destroys everything. She needs someone who could stop Arthur before Avalon succumbs to his fever dreams. Sometimes the only option is far from the most ideal solution: the Lady, with great concern, decides to bring back the nemesis of the king. After all, Sir Mordred almost finished the job once, so who could be a better candidate to take on the terrible presence of Arthur himself?

2. What were the main inspirations behind this unique dark fantasy take on the Arthurian legend?

As far as I remember, the idea came up in 2018, during a casual discussion about how the potential settings for our next planned game should look like. The direction had already been set that time, so we were brainstorming a dark fantasy world leaning into grimdark, with heroes and magic and monsters. We already had various pieces of concept art commissioned from our talented artists who had been toying with ideas rooted in dark medieval fantasy. One of the art pieces depicted a wrecked throne room with a colossal dragon corpse sprawled among the rubble. “What if this place were Camelot?” – that was the question that set everything into motion, giving birth to a war-torn kingdom, fallen knights and the dying king.

3. It's been a while since NeocoreGames did a King Arthur game. How does Knight's Tale relate to those older titles?

Knight’s Tale tells a stand-alone story and it is totally understandable without being familiar with any of our previous King Arthur games. Those games were set in the warring realm of mystical Britannia and depicted the rise and the conquests of the Once and Future King. Knight’s Tale is set after the last battle in Britannia and the story is tied to the mystical island of Avalon. It includes all major characters, factions, mythical creatures and tropes from our own Arthurian mythology, but places them into a brand new environment. Knight’s Tale is absolutely comprehensible for newcomers, and for the players of our previous Arthurian games it also offers a huge amount of familiar elements.

4. Mordred plays a central role in Knight's Tale, seemingly a heroic one too. Why was he chosen for this role? What is it that the story team finds compelling about him?

The idea, as most of the sparks that drive the thought process in the Story Team, came from an inspired conversation between János Tóth, my fellow narrative designer and myself a good while ago. At that point I had been already brainstorming about the mad, dying king and his terrible influence on Avalon, but I felt that although making him the big bad and sending the Knights of the Round Table against their former king and friend might be worth exploring, it also felt… slightly too convenient. And that was when János came up with the idea of bringing back fearsome Sir Mordred from the dead, granting him his own knightly tale, and with that, a chance for redemption (or the chance to continue his dreadful ways) and then it all clicked.

5. Now Arthur himself is depicted as an undying mad king, framed as the main antagonist. Do you have any concerns that this might be too wild for hardcore Arthur-fans? What was the thought process behind this new take?

We admit it's quite a radical take! Although the Arthurian mythology has an eternally wounded king, the Fisher King, so in a way it is a nod to those who like their Arthurian tales, the story also offers answers to why the king ends up in this nightmare scenario, linking the events to much darker events in the background. When we decided to make some radical adjustments to the mythology, we also wanted these changes to serve the plot. On the other hand, with all the various interpretations of the Arthurian mythology out there – and with each passing month there seems to be a new one, which is absolutely thrilling! – we hope that by playing with the familiar elements we can offer a fresh take on the material.

6. What is the ratio between the classic Arthurian elements and original material? Any returning characters or places that we might know from the myth (or the previous games)?

Our previous King Arthur games had already been colorful remixes of Arthurian mythology, blending dark fantasy, Celtic legends, medieval romances, the Morte d’Arthur and some slightly anachronistic ideas. Those games leaned heavily towards fantasy, and by transporting the main characters of the Arthurian mythology to the magical island of Avalon, the ratio of original material has become larger. However, it still is all rooted in the legends. One of the most exciting aspects of the narrative design was to incorporate as many of our already existing characters and characteristic locations into a brand new story, so yes, there will be familiar faces and themes. And that is just the main campaign, as the endgame presents some well-known characters, especially the ones from mythology.

7. The player agency in this game extends to moral decisions and diplomacy - will we see changes in the story in different playthroughs?

The main storyline milestones are set – after all, this is all about Mordred trying to find and destroy King Arthur –, but the game offers meaningful choices to solve problems, and these decision influence everything in the campaign, from the tone of the story to the actual arrangement of Mordred’s Round Table – and with each hero being a very strong personality, certain combinations can lead to quarrels that shake up this setup –, and under special circumstances these decision can also unlock storylines or unique heroes. The narrative will adapt to these changes and move along, so characters, management options, resources, magic items can vary from replay to replay.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Its always online, look at what they did with Inquisitor and check how they avoid answering in backer comments. Reported it for misrepresentation of product by omission, its one thing to have Denuvo because it tends to work nowadays even if it makes games that have it have about 10-15% higher system requirements and longer loading times, it isnt catastrophe if its well implemented and it doesnt demand you be always online just that you are online once every few days so it can recheck. so Shitty but tolerable, But always Online AND DEVS OMITTING THAT PART. That is shitty as fuck.

not according to latest faq at least:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neocore/king-arthur-knights-tale/faqs

Will I be able to play King Arthur: Knight's Tale offline?

King Arthur: Knight's Tale will support offline play, however, some features, such as leaderboards and achievements will only be available to online players.

 

[CaesarCzech]

Its always online, look at what they did with Inquisitor and check how they avoid answering in backer comments. Reported it for misrepresentation of product by omission, its one thing to have Denuvo because it tends to work nowadays even if it makes games that have it have about 10-15% higher system requirements and longer loading times, it isnt catastrophe if its well implemented and it doesnt demand you be always online just that you are online once every few days so it can recheck. so Shitty but tolerable, But always Online AND DEVS OMITTING THAT PART. That is shitty as fuck.

not according to latest faq at least:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neocore/king-arthur-knights-tale/faqs

Will I be able to play King Arthur: Knight's Tale offline?

King Arthur: Knight's Tale will support offline play, however, some features, such as leaderboards and achievements will only be available to online players.

When I made that claim they were actively refusing to answer and avoiding the question, despite the fact several people me icluded spammed twitter reddit facebook even discord, wanting clear answer.

Perhaps they just saw the feedback and figured they are losing kickstarter money because the KS audience is more choosy ?

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neocore/king-arthur-knights-tale/posts/2988463

FAQ update and Social goals

We can't be grateful enough for all the support you've given us in these past three days! Knight's Tale is already 40% funded - and we do not plan to stop! Of course, it all couldn't have happened without you, the amazing backers and followers of the project.


Updated FAQ
Since the start of the campaign, we've received several questions about the game - thank you for all of these. While lots of them were of course included in the initial version of our FAQ, there were some that weren't. Until now! You can now go ahead and check out the section's updated version.

To mention the most important new addition: Knight's Tale WILL support offline play with a few restrictions to things like the leaderboard. We hope that even more people will be able to enjoy the game with this feature!


Social goals
We'd also like to highlight a feature that you, the community have the biggest impact on: Social Goals!


As you can see, we've already reached quite a few of them. Our aim with these goals was to help create an amazing community, and it seems like we can put a nice green checkmark to that, you're all fantastic! The next step of course is to grow this community so that we can continue on the road of releasing this game together.

Some of the social goals, such as joining the Discord server only require a simple click, but artistic members of the community can also grab their preferred tools and create King Arthur or Knight's Tale themed art. We've already received some of these fantastic works - keep them coming, we'd love to see them!


Check out King Arthur: Knight's Tale on

Facebook | Twitter | Reddit | Discord

and join the Neocore community over at

Instagram | YouTube | Twitch

With all this support you've given us, the wallpaper pack and more music have already been unlocked, and we're working on delivering them as soon as possible. Until then, make sure to follow and tell your friends about us to unlock further milestones!

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neocore/king-arthur-knights-tale/posts/2990966

Developer Interview - Music

ALMOST 50% FUNDED IN LESS THAN A WEEK!


Hey everyone! We're about to reach 50% of our goal, and we cannot be grateful enough. Thanks for your support and your feedback, we read every single one of them and it means a lot!


MUSIC - DEVELOPER INTERVIEW WITH GERGELY BUTTINGER

Today, we'll continue our developer interview series. Next up, composer Gergely Buttinger answers a few questions about how the music of King Arthur: Knight's Tale is created.


1. How did you prepare for composing the music for King Arthur: Knight's Tale? What kind of atmosphere can we expect?

Turn-based strategy games require a different musical structure than Action-RPGs. Here, the player has the opportunity to ponder, to think about their next move. When this is the case, music has to be calm. During the turns, ambient music is dominant, and the menu themes are calm as well. The melodies have a folk music approach, more precisely a hint of Celtic and Norse folk music mixed with modern instruments. We use live recordings of plenty of instruments, such as "koboz" (Hungarian lute), hurdy-gurdy, various drums, just to name a few.


2. Where does inspiration come from? Do you work from concept imagery or do you know instinctively what kind of atmosphere you need for the story?

See my previous answer. The story can provide inspiration, and I get ideas when talking to the writers, but the genre of the game is important too, it tells me a lot about how to approach the composition.


3. To what extend do developers / producers provide instructions? Did you have any disagreements?

We usually work together. During the development the music is shaping up constantly, and we decide together where to go next. There where many instances when we disagreed on the direction, but nothing major, we could always find a common path in the end.

4. Can you lead us through the composing process from inspiration to implementing tracks in the game?

The first phase is inspiration and gathering ideas, and it's a long process. I usually have more than enough time to do some research and experiment with sounds. During this phase I usually record some basic tunes, sometimes involving various instrument-players. I often find myself reaching back to these initial recordings when working on the final tracks. As the development of the game is progressing, we're moving with the music as well. As soon as the game is shaping up from the initial prototypes, we can start testing how the music fits. During this time I do some minor adjustments and changes compared to the initial ideas, but the general direction usually remains. When the music seems to be working with the game, we can proceed with creating actual tracks.


5. How do you approach composing nowadays, is it any different than your work on The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing and Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor? Did you change as a composer after gaining experience on those projects?

People always change, you learn about new technologies, programs, you start playing new instruments. You look at new trends and you develop yourself. Composing requires constant learning, and I like that. I approach my work just the same: I'd like to do a good job helping the game communicate its atmosphere, with the usual "Buttinger" sound, of course


6. We know that you like to experiment with exotic instruments, so, did you find anything fitting for King Arthur: Knight's Tale?

As I mentioned above, I used a koboz which is a kind of lute, a hurdy-gurdy (a stringed instrument with a hand crank-turned wheel) and some special drums. These drums are made of wood, and though they've been manufactured with modern industrial methods, I swapped the default leather for goatskin, so the sound is more authentic, old.


7. Lastly... could you show us something from the soundtrack?


Listen here:

And here:
1. Announcement trailer music
2. Hurdy Gurdy ambient test
3. Slow music

 

[StaticSpine]

Might be a cooler version of Blackguards with Disciples-ish aesthetics. Sounds p. good. Still hesitating about backing, tho.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neocore/king-arthur-knights-tale/posts/2992384

Weekly report and Social Goal rewards!

Woah, we're half way there - over 50% funded with more than 1600 backers, all this in a mere week! You're awesome! If you like what we do, please keep telling your friends about Knight's Tale and spread the word. It's the greatest bit of help right now.


What's being worked on
In the meantime, we're busy tweaking, tuning and polishing the game. We can't wait to show you our Early Access version, coming just a few weeks after the Kickstarter campaign ends. Still curious to see what's being worked on? Then check out this sneaky sneak peek - the model of a prominent hero from the Arthurian legend is being textured. Wanna guess who she might be?

Updated FAQ
Based on the questions you have sent us in the past few days, we have updated our FAQ section too! Head over there to find out more about multiplayer options and more!


Unlocked social goals
We have not one, but two new rewards unlocked in the last few days! They're already in the works, and as promised, we're here with the first batch of social goal rewards. And what did we bring you today? …drumrolls… It's a super nice wallpaper pack based on the amazing art from the game, to set the mood for a knightly quest! You can check them out below:

Desktop Wallpapers | Mobile Wallpapers


But it's not all! You can help us keep unlocking the social goals for even more rewards. Just make sure to check out and follow our social channels, and join the conversation!

Facebook | Twitter | Reddit | Discord | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch

 

[Darth Roxor]

the model of a prominent hero from the Arthurian legend is being textured. Wanna guess who she might be?

Clearly, that's Sir Lancelot.

 

[Darkzone]

.... the model of a prominent hero from the Arthurian legend is being textured. Wanna guess who SHE might be?

And there i thought i was unfair against this game and their take on the Artus legend.... Good that i waited with baking this fucking shit. This people do not understand what even a hero is. Fuck i'm out.

 

[Citizen]

Princess Arthuria

 

[Ontopoly]

.... the model of a prominent hero from the Arthurian legend is being textured. Wanna guess who SHE might be?

And there i thought i was unfair against this game and their take on the Artus legend.... Good that i waited with baking this fucking shit. This people do not understand what even a hero is. Fuck i'm out.

I would consider the lady of the lake a hero. Handing out swords is a really important job.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

My guess would be Nimue, since they said hero. If not, Morgan le Fey would be plausible, since they have Mordred.

 

[bec de corbin]

.... the model of a prominent hero from the Arthurian legend is being textured. Wanna guess who SHE might be?

And there i thought i was unfair against this game and their take on the Artus legend.... Good that i waited with baking this fucking shit. This people do not understand what even a hero is. Fuck i'm out.

do you just not know anything about arthurian legend or something, like do you think there are no women at all in morte d'arthur, are you a retard or something

specifically that is Morgan Le Fay. I recognize the art from KA2

 

[Darkzone]

My guess would be Nimue, since they said hero. If not, Morgan le Fey would be plausible, since they have Mordred.

Nimue ( Vivian or Niniane or Yneve and etc) is the Dame du Lac that gives Artus the Excalibur (Caledfwich (Welsh), Calesvol (Cornish) or Caliburnus in Latin ) in most versions (look at the post above your last post). But this is not always and not always clear, because some versions treat Nimue and Lady of the Lake as seperate entities. Melory has Nimue as the highest Lady of the Lake and mentions other Ladies of the Lake, but she is one of the Queens that take Artus to Avalon after Brwydr Camlan (Battle of Camlann). Also Sir Balin killed one water-fay with no name. Also to add is that dependent on the version the relation between Nimue and Myrddin ( Myrddin or Merzhin or Merlinus) is not clear: Is she his daughter or his student or love interest and is Merlin killed by her or not?

.... the model of a prominent hero from the Arthurian legend is being textured. Wanna guess who SHE might be?

And there i thought i was unfair against this game and their take on the Artus legend.... Good that i waited with baking this fucking shit. This people do not understand what even a hero is. Fuck i'm out.

do you just not know anything about arthurian legend or something, like do you think there are no women at all in morte d'arthur, are you a retard or something

Hey look at me i have a name after a late medieval polearm, that was named after the specific long spike that looks like a beak of a raven hance his name raven's beak or as in old french "bec de corbin". I know so much things. Uh..uh....

You are clearly a retard, because if you would only look at my six to ten last posts then you would find there one that goes into Le Morte d'Arthur and one that explains what is a Hero. And if you had any brain matter you could add 1+1 together and understand why i have written what i have written in the post that you have quoted.

 

[bec de corbin]

morgan le fay didn't become a negative character until later in the development of the matter of britain, lol

 

[Cleric of Asmodeus]

Uh don’t you also play as Mordred as the protagonist?

You are Sir Mordred, the nemesis of King Arthur, the former black knight of the grim tales. You killed King Arthur, but with his dying breath, he struck you down. You both died – and yet, you both live.

The Lady of the Lake, the ruler of the mystical island of Avalon brought you back to end a true nightmare. She wants you to go on a knightly quest. She wants you to finish what you have begun. Kill King Arthur – or whatever he has become after she took his dying vessel to Avalon.

Anyways I went ahead and backed it because it’s pissing you off so much

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Darkzone I know Arthurian legend is all over the place, but I can't say I recall Nimue being the lady of the lake, or an aspect of her. As I recall, she becomes Merlin's infatuation (lover) and apprentice. After learning all of his powers, she basically bewitches him and entombs him within the earth.

 

[bec de corbin]

Darkzone I know Arthurian legend is all over the place, but I can't say I recall Nimue being the lady of the lake, or an aspect of her. As I recall, she becomes Merlin's infatuation (lover) and apprentice. After learning all of his powers, she basically bewitches him and entombs him within the earth.

Depends. Malory sort of split the Lady of the Lake into multiple characters, and one of them is Nimue. She takes over the role in the stories after Balin kills the woman who actually gave Excalibur to Arthur, since there still has to be a Lady later on to appear in other stories (and trap Merlin under a rock, yeah)

 

[Darkzone]

Darkzone I know Arthurian legend is all over the place, but I can't say I recall Nimue being the lady of the lake, or an aspect of her. As I recall, she becomes Merlin's infatuation (lover) and apprentice. After learning all of his powers, she basically bewitches him and entombs him within the earth.

Depends. Malory sort of split the Lady of the Lake into multiple characters, and one of them is Nimue. She takes over the role in the stories after Balin kills the woman who actually gave Excalibur to Arthur, since there still has to be a Lady later on to appear in other stories (and trap Merlin under a rock, yeah)

Bec. If you act like a retard then i will treat you like a retard. If you act like a thinking man then i will treat you like a thinking man.
What you have written is correct: In "Le Morte d'Arthur" Sir Balin beheads the Lady of the Lake that has given Artus the Excalibur. After Artus has declined to kill Sir Balin and give his head to her (her demanded favor for Excalibur). Artus previous Sword was broken in the fight between him and King Pellinore.
The problem with Malory's "Lady of the Lake" is that he made a sort of compilation of different Post-Vulgate Cycle stories and poems and Tristan Prose. He had to split the figure to make it coherent and unite them in the magic title of the "Lady of the Lake". Therefore in the end you have on the barge four ladies of the lake: Morgan, Queen of Northgailis, Queen of the Waste Lands and (the chief lady of the lake) Nimue. (Talk between Sir Bedivere and Bishop of Canterbury in a Chapel.) This is given to many facts like that Nimue was often used for the Lady of the Lake that has raised Lancelot du Luc (Lancelot of the Lake) and Morgan was also in a poem (at least one) as the lady of the lake besides a lake in the vanity of town Niniane? (Viviane - Nyneve - Nimue).

So yes 4 hundred years of literature over half of Europe is a detriment to the coherence of a story and some of the charactes.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neocore/king-arthur-knights-tale/posts/2993591

Developer Interview - Production and Scope

Hey everyone! In today's update, producer Zoltán Pozsonyi offers a glimpse of the processes behind the scenes, answering a few questions about the production of this new direction for NeocoreGames.

1. When did development of King Arthur: Knight’s Tale begin, and what is its current status? How many people are working on it?

The development of the core concept started in the spring of 2019, the first prototype build came about in the summer, by autumn we had a direction for graphics and atmosphere. Currently we are in pre-alpha. What we mean by that is that we’re finished with most of the bigger iterations and we have lots of assets already loaded in, but the game itself isn’t coherent yet, so a few changes can be expected. Around 60 people work on the game right now, counting those who work within the studio and outsider colleagues as well.

2. NeocoreGames has been known for its Action-RPGs recently, why this change in direction?

I think I’m not revealing any big secrets when I say that we’re currently working on a bigger Action-RPG as well, but the release of that game is very far away. We felt that we need a little break by developing something different, so we don’t become jaded with the Action-RPG genre. Once in a while it’s a good thing to do something different, to get some distance from the genre, so we don’t just repeat ourselves. Most of us from the concept team love tactical games and RPGs with a tactical approach, so the choice of direction felt natural, and then one decision lead to another. The thinking process was like this: "if we want a tactical game, we should incorporate RPG elements, since we’re mostly RPG creators and writers", so this is how this hybrid came to be. As this was decided, we approached it from a rogue-lite angle as well. And as soon as this mixed genre was locked, we looked around to find a setting. We wanted fantasy, and free creative control, so we reached back to our old King Arthur games. The last step was to approach King Arthur from a dark fantasy perspective.

3. It sounds like a unique project – but how risky is it to experiment with genres?

There’s always the risk that you end up with a game that isn’t good enough for fans of either genres, because we only take the common features. We already have some experience with mixed genres, so we’re confident that we can pull this off. Our main principle is not to mix in a 50-50 ratio, this way we can avoid compromises. With King Arthur: Knight’s Tale our approach is that we consider it a full-blown fantasy tactical game, so no compromises there. RPG features are only added to enhance, to expand on that core idea, never to take away from it. The mixing of genres isn’t the most challenging task here, but the mixing of narrative and rogue-lite features. Our solution is to separate the campaign from the endgame chapter, as the toughest challenges will be introduced in the endgame. For this endgame portion, the question isn’t if it’s challenging enough, but how many tries will it take, how far will you be able to go?

4. How will the studio’s experience with Action-RPGs inform Knight’s Tale? Will there be features in there that the fans of that genre might find appealing?

These two genres stand very far apart, but anybody who loves a good loot system, artifacts and builds based on character skills, will enjoy this aspect of Knight’s Tale, provided they are happy with the tactical pacing and challenges. This game will require deep tactical approach and precise calculations, not only in combat, but in the management aspect as well, all decisions have to be weighed.

5. Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr is a four-year-old game at this point. Were there any technological advancements at NeocoreGames? Was the engine updated? Is the studio ready for the next generation of visual fidelity?

We’re now using the new generation of our engine based on DirectX 12, and we've had numerous technical developments. A few of these will be visually pleasing – lighting, weather conditions, effects –, but most of them are experimental features, mostly tied to performance, to the ability to render a very detailed game at a higher speed. We made advancements in animation, almost all animation is done with motion capture. We have a new workflow for terrain and set pieces, a photoscan team provides high quality materials for a unique asset pool. So we think the game will be quite spectacular!

6. What kind of experience is behind the development, and what kind of challenges does the studio face with this new project?

After 11 shipped games, the studio can be considered quite experienced. Most of our developers are veterans with an average 8 years of experience in the field of game development. Among the designers, we have pen-and-paper RPG designers and writers, which provides extra benefit for King Arthur: Knight's Tale character-centric, branching story approach. Our experience in RPGs and Action-RPGs will help us create a good progression and loot system as well.

7. What sort of players might enjoy Knight’s Tale?

Anybody who loves dark fantasy, no doubt, and I think people who like adaptations of myths and historical settings with a twist, will be impressed by the design and the art direction. Tactical game enthusiasts who like to combine team members and develop character builds, will find the game more interesting, as there will be five playable classes, with the additional extra skills of unique heroes. Artifacts have a huge influence on how a build will look like, even beyond skills. As for RPG-enthusiasts, I think it will appeal to players who love slower, more thoughtful gameplay, since your decisions have more weight, and you won’t always notice the consequences of your actions immediately, sometimes these will be apparent many-many missions later.

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