Pre-KS Update
Greetings, RPG lovers!
Here are the latest news about
Knights of the Chalice 2. This should be the last update before
Kickstarter! Post-KS, I will probably create two new forum sections, one dedicated to KotC 2: Augury of Chaos (bug reports, suggestions and tips) and one for KotC 2 Module Creators (help and ideas).
In the last few days, I created new web pages for the game. The new pages include the following:
KotC 2 Screenshots,
KotC 2 Features,
KotC 2 F.A.Q., and
KotC 2 About Us. Be sure to check them out!
I also created a
Twitter profile and
Facebook page and I updated my
Youtube channel. Would be very cool to have more 'Likes' and 'Follows'!
In addition, I completed the Kickstarter new-project registration procedure. But I still need to create the KS video and fill up the KS page with information, graphics, reward slots and stretch goals.
I've added
links to the Kickstarter page, Youtube channel, Twitter profile and Facebook page in the website's menus, as well as 'Recommend' and 'Share' buttons on the web pages for
KotC 2 Features,
KotC 2 Screenshots,
KotC 1 Features and
KotC 1 Screenshots.
I also created the Windows installer for KotC 2: Augury of Chaos. The file is around 700 MB.
Work on the game was completed around 27 January. It wasn't an easy task, especially as my dad passed away in December at the age of 75.
Apart from module testing and tweaking, encounter improvement and debugging, the things I focused on included the following:
* Temporary companions: A non-player character may join your party for a limited time. Such companions appear and act just like a party member, but the party-size limit does not apply to them. Also, you cannot un-equip their equipped items, or give them new items.
* Spell scroll highlighting: The Inventory Screen of each character now highlights whether a spell scroll may be learned by the character, or is already known by the character. This is done using small 'Known' and 'Learn' tags.
* Destructible objects in combat: Combat encounters can now include objects that must be destroyed by the player's party in order to complete the encounter. Objects can be non-magical, such as a gate or barrier of some kind, or they may be magical, such as an energy orb, a magic mirror, a mystical crystal, an enchanted statue or a monolith that heals the enemy every round or inflicts damage to the party each round until destroyed. Maybe the object serves as the phylactery of a Lich that cannot be hurt until the object is destroyed.
* Timed riddles: The party may be given a certain amount of real time, such as one minute, to answer correctly as many riddles as possible.
* Fighters joining a combat in progress: When new combat participants join an ongoing battle, they all roll for initiative and join the initiative list according to their initiative roll. Previously, new combatants were added at the top of the list, giving them an unfair advantage.
* When potions and consumable items are used, they are no longer subject to the concentration checks that apply to normal spells and spell-like abilities.
* In the Artificial Intelligence page of the Creature Editor, I added new buttons to turn on and turn off automatic spells for the reviewed creature easily. Automatic spells are spells like Mage Armour and Mirror Image, which have a full-day duration and may be cast out of combat. High-level casters have numerous automatic-spell options.
* In the editor, mousing over a creature and pushing G now opens the 'Monster Groups' screen and highlights the group of the moused-over creature, allowing the module creator to select all creatures in the considered group easily.
* In the editor, when several creatures are selected, Alt + click on a creature allows the module creator to equip all of the selected creatures in one go. The Inventory Screen is displayed and any items that you equip the creature with are also equipped in the Inventory Screen of the other selected creatures.
Of course, I have plenty of ideas for improving the game further. I have ideas for new items and new feats; I will talk about these during the Kickstarter. I also want to implement New Feat suggestions, meaning that a few recommended Feats will be highlighted whenever a character levels up.
I'm not forgetting Steam, of course, for both KotC 2 and KotC 1. But for now I need to focus on the Kickstarter page, create videos and do some interviews with video-game news websites (if possible).
I've already posted many new screenshots in the
KotC 2 Screenshots page, so there's no need to add a lot of new screenshots here. Still, here are a few extra screenshots just for you! Please click on a picture to enlarge it.
I expect that I'll be writing an email to all the KotC customers and forum users about 48 hours before the Kickstarter, so that we can have a good start. That's a nice thing about selling directly on one's website: you can contact the customer base. If all my customers were on Steam, I would have more of them of course, but I wouldn't be able to contact them. Yesterday, I installed new mailing-list software to allow me to send emails to many recipients.
Thank you for reading! Feel free to post comments! Till next time!