KickStarter Lords of Xulima

[catfood]

THis game looks awesome. Is it going to be released on GOG?

 

[Numantian Games]

Hi!

@Shannnow & Catfood:
First we will release the game in Steam and then in GoG and other portals. The reason is that Steam is a very powerful platform and friendly for the developers. Fast updates, forums, error reporting, the Early Access program, and a very active community.
One example, you want to fix an error that someone has found, so you fix it and launch the script to update the Steam version. The Steam console analyse the changes and only upload ~1-5 Mb for a 1,4 Gb RAM game. So it is uploaded in seconds. Furthermore, the new version is only private for the testers, and when we test that all works, one click and it is alive. Players, automatically, receive their 2-4 Mb update and can play it immediately.

But don't worry, we love GoG too, and of course LoX will be launched there.

Regards!

 

[Applypoison]

In your FAQs, you mention, you don't believe in DRM. Now all the talk is about STEAM :/
Any chance the full game will be available in a DRM-free version?

It's a fair call-out. We have fond memories of the pre-DRM era where every game could be shared and explored to heart's content. Lots of awesome stuff came from this such as Restoration Patches and large-scale community mods. Philosophically, still think that's the way to go, but there's been a contradiction.

For all its protective DRM policies, Steam does compensate somewhat by taking off a lot of the 'publisher' workload, and allowing indie devs to concentrate on the essential: the game itself, and how to offer an experience that is both intuitive and rich with substance (two tasks that are never really "done" when you're passionate about it. with experience comes better judgment). That said, although we still have a few hoops to jump through, GoG has been receptive to LoX so far.

I think when someone is a bit dissatisfied with the way things are going, the first question that comes to mind is "well, what else have they done?". So to be fair, here is a copy-paste of what's been patched into the game since backer Beta keys went out, spread across 8 semi-weekly updates:

Spoiler

Game tweaks & Localization

• Saved Game and Configuration files are now stored in Documents\My Games. Next time LoX is started, your files will automatically be copied over to the new location.
• The Dreams of Golot now have voice-overs in English.
• The Chapter "The Holy Temples" now is narrated with the voice of Gaulen.
• New Images for Difficulty Selection, Gender Selection and God Selection.
• Character screen now shows God image (and bonus) on the top-left corner.
• When selling a stack of 5 or more items, a Message will appear asking the player how much of that item has to be sold.
• Improved English texts.
• Improved Spanish texts.
• Attack values & effects tooltip is now also shown when the Right mouse button is held over the appropriate icons.
• New NPC voices: Instructor, Seller, Soldier, Priestess and Romergor the Arena Guardian.
• Party can now be moved on the map with the following keys: Numpad, Arrow Keys and WASD.
• CAPS-LOCK key now also toggles movement to Walk or Run. Shift and Control keys switch the walk mode while pressed.
• Player can change the volume of the voices in the Options Screen.
• New option in Journal to see statistics per character (% shared in combat and times defeated). Those statistics will be collected starting with this new version.
• Chapters Divine Artifacts and Impious Princes are now narrated with the voice of Gaulen.
• Blessing text (from the Temple Priestess) can now be examined with right button to know its effects before donating gold.
• Worldmap is now centered in the current region when opened.
• If the player is in a zone where saving the game is not allowed, a message box will be shown when trying to save with F5.
• Galvan in Velegarn is now easier to interact with (player can get closer to him).
• World objects can now be clicked, even if they are behind the character avatar.
• Special attacks now display their damage and hit chance when the player moves the mouse cursor over an enemy.
• Dialogs now can be close with ESC key (when they have the close button or continue button available). If only has a menu, the last option will be chosen, which normally will exit the dialog although not always.
• Selected character can be changed in inventory screen pressing the keys 1,2,3,4,5,6.
• Galvan in Velegarn is now easier to interact with (player can get closer to him).
• World objects can now be clicked, even if they are behind the character avatar.
• Special attacks now display their damage and hit chance when the player moves the mouse cursor over an enemy.
• Buttons in the shop now have tooltips with their description.
• Lots of texts, dialog and messages have been fixed in Spanish and English.
• The Error Reporting Window now is a different process so in case of crash, LoX will be closed and the Reporting Window will be shown. Also, all the error report information now is stored in My Games\Lords of Xulima\Report.
• All the statues in Hall of Heroes has their descriptions and stories in both Spanish and English.
• All texts in the Tower of Time are now translated into English.
• Paladin and Arcane Soldiers can learn common skills as fast as the other classes. Specific skills of other classes (mage, cleric), minimum level required is now lower.
• Arcane Soldiers, flaming and icy strike improved.
• Character portraits on the map now they have an experience bar above the portrait.
• Character portraits on the map now has different help texts depending on which element you are examining (HP, PP, EXP...). The general description has been improved.
• When examining rings for equipping or buying both current equipped rings of the selected character are shown.
• The game ask you for confirmation when you exit to the game menu.
• Cauldrons and wells with magical waters now shows their effect in the message once you have tried it (per type of effect).
• New images/art for the tutorial messages and certain special events.
• Loading combat screen is now faster.
• Added more info to the character portraits, in combat.
• Tooltips for enemies are now shown in the center of their models, so as to not overlap with the character/party areas.
• Items in the inventory are now sorted better.
• New background image for the inn.
• Dreams cinematic: Now the narration texts are shown over an altered background.
• New item images for the Artifacts
• New Achievement: Herald of Febret: Collect more than 1000 mushrooms.
• New Achievement: Herald of Raznet: Kill more than 1000 monsters.
• New Achievement: Herald of Kersket: Defeat 300 enemy groups.
• New voices for the Innkeeper and Farmer NPCs.
• The initiative of some monsters has been lowered.
• Rebalanced temple prices. It now accounts for Wounds and Fatal Wounds. Also, the basic price for healing HP/PP is proportional to the amount of HP/PP that needs to be healed.
• The traps in the Blood Hall of the Melancholy Tower are no longer detectable, so you'll have to follow the clues left by the Speaking Skulls if you want to survive.
• Cursed Earth Guardian event in Temple of Febret now has 50% less chance to appear. Also, his curse effect has been rebalanced and using the Camouflage skill to avoid the encounter will cost less PP.
• Chance to escape from world encounters is now higher.
• Nabros Army event is now less likely and the soldiers are now less lethal. They will also not appear unless the party's level is at or above 3.
• Cursed Hounds event is now less likey.
• Armies now only turn hostile toward the player when one of their guards is killed. If the party runs away during combat, the guards will treat the party the same way as before.
• Initiative in combat now has a 20% random modifier, so similar battles can unfold in different ways.
• Tweaked some skill learning costs for high level spells.
• Regeneration spell now heals when cast.
• 'Divine Prayer' is now less powerful.
• 'Hammer of the Destroyer' is now less powerful.
• Some Deity bonuses are now better balanced for the whole game (Nalaet +5%HP, Alnaet +5% PP, Kersket +3 Strength, Valvet +3 Agility, Febret +10 Evasion).
• Items generation in shops improved, so as to offer more items that the party can equip, especially in low levels.
• In order to give new players a little bit of added guidance at the start, the first few instructor missions are now enabled depending on the party's level (At Lvl.1 only the Rat Cave mission is available. Lvl. 2 unlock Askary Beach mission, Lvl. 3 unlocks the Spores mission). Also, the entry to the Rat Cave is now more clearly defined on the map and description of the mission.
• First dimensional gate guardian is a bit easier.
• Food and inn prices are 15% cheaper now.
• Improved Cursed Hounds group generation. Now the groups are 20-30% closer to the party's level, to bring them more in line.
• Changed the behaviour of the guards. They only ask you for money if you have it. If not, as soon as you have it they will ask you for it.
• Cereals now regenerate after two days.
• Food consumption factor in different terrains that not affect to resting.
• Base damage of Staffs are now 5 instead of 3.
• Lots of small tweaks for balancing enemies.
• Enemies will parry (defend) when they don't have any other action to do.
• The weapons parameters have been tweaked a bit. One hand weapons have more damage, and two-hand weapons are a bit slower. Saber and Katana bleeding value has been increased too.
• Some more tweats for some of the enemies.
• Special attacks now provide constant, fixed bonuses instead of a percentage. (Except for Quick Strike which is fine as it is).
• Aimed Strike now is more powerful.
• Life Potion and Antidote are cheaper. Potions weight has been also rebalanced.
• Frozen Strike PP cost reduced.
• Forest Imp Chests now always contain 2 items.
• Paladin: Healing Aura, 2x more powerful at extra cost in MP.
• Barbarian: 20% + HP
• Cursed Hounds are less overtuned.
• Temples prices are now a bit lower.
• Autorun can be toggled with the Caps-Lock key. Holding down CTRL still switches between walk & run.

Bugs

• Fixed: Removed the demo barrier in the North of Sorrentia that prevented the player from reaching Cunavarn.
• Fixed: Well near Castle of Nabros is now working. You can use it to enter in the kitchen of the castle to avoid the flames of the main entrance.
• Fixed: Crash when cancelling party creation and returning to the main game menu.
• Fixed: Magic cauldrons fixed. Before, they always increase the Strength attribute, regardless of its color.
• Fixed: Treasures randomly discovered didn't actually give the gold to the party.
• Fixed: Crash which happened when forcing a lock caused the party to die.
• Fixed: Certain events claiming to grant "One hit point" when they actually gave two.
• Fixed: The problem with the Lockpicking interface when pressing the ESCAPE key.
• FIxed: Broken descriptions for some items.
• Fixed: God descriptions are now correctly shown in English.
• Fixed: All missings strings shown as "TT_XXXX" are fixed now.
• Fixed: Certain enemy attacks (the ones which affect one column) now follow targeting restrictions like other attacks.
• Fixed: Some rare issues with switches activating certain events.
• Fixed: Some rare issues with Map area spells that could cause the game to crash.
• Fixed: When there area several traps like spiders or toxic vapours in the same cell, the party only suffer the damages once.
• Fixed: Some issues in the inventory screen when dragging / equipping items.
• Fixed: Some very rare error that show all the map black but the GUI.
• Fixed: Armour penalization and experience needed for level up for Custom parties fixed.
• Fixed: When offering an item to an altar of a God, the full name of the item is shown and unknown items are excluded.
• Fixed: Maximum Weight tooltip fixed.
• Fixed: Gods descriptions are now full displayed.
• Fixed: If, for any reason, the game cannot update Steam stats, it will now continue normally without notifying the player of an error and closing.
• Fixed: Some texts of the Journal (Bestiary, Score) were missing.
• Fixed: When loading games with different difficulties, the party's HP and PP were modified by the parameters of the previous difficulty.
• Fixed: The answers to the Stone Sentinel’s riddle in Sorrentia (the animals) were all in Spanish.
• Fixed: Crash when party dies in Karraga through an event with Captain Kuros.
• Fixed: Map transport from the South of Cunavarn to Sorrentia.
• Fixed: The party can no longer rest over certain traps (such as Flames or Toxic Clouds).
• Fixed: Description of elemental offensive spells improved.
• Fixed: Some spelling errors and strings that were not translated.
• Fixed: Some issues with multi-monitor configurations.
• Fixed: The player was able to buy more items than available in the shop, by repeatedly clicking to purchase it.
• Removed message "New Entry in Bestiary" for special monsters that are not shown in the bestiary.
• Fixed: Warning Messabe box when pressed F5 in an area where the game cannot be saved.
• Fixed: Crash when you die in the Surroundings of Ovengel's Castle.
• Fixed: Some English texts which appear in Spanish.
• Fixed. When fighting with the cursed hounds the game no longer apply the fade effects for transitions like sleeping in the inn.
• Fixed: Gold frame around character in combat is only shown when is teh turn of that character.
• Fixed: Bug unequipping two-hand weapons in some specific circumstances.
• Fixed: Food level tooltip that shows wrong time remaining.
• Fixed: When healing a mortal wound, the character will be restores to 1HP if he was below zero (avoiding that the mortal wound appears again).
• Fixed: Crash in menu after dying breaking ice.
• Fixed: Divine Pray tooltip description.
• Fixed: Skill books name when non indentified.
• Fixed: Crash in menu after dying in the Smoking Mountains path.
• Fixed: Sound system issue that make the game sometimes slow the framerate.
• Fixed: Some errors in the World Map.
• Fixed crash when using a map spell (Incinerat Air, End of Flames...) from a scroll when it is invoked from the inventory screen.
• Fixed some graphics glitches on the maps.
• Fixed: Zero developed skills are not shown in Character Sheet.
• Fixed: New Game with custom party Gaulens starts with 0 exp. points instead of 100 as the rest of characters.
• Fixed: Some English and Spanish texts.
• Fixed when pressed ENTER or ESCAPE keys with some message windows.
• Fixed some crashes when the layer press keys during the load screen.
• Fixed some glitches with the shadows of some elements.
• Fixed: Flamming strike type of damage is fire instead of cold.
• Fixed: O character in minimap by W in English version.
• Fixed: In bestiary, back from the monster stats returns to the select monster screen instead of selecte monster group screen. Also the ESCAPE key works correctly.
• Fixed: Chest of the Imp in Velegarn can no longer be taken without speaking with the imp.
• FIxed: Removed prompt message when returning from the game over screen to the main menu.
• Fixed: When Max HP or PP are changed, current HP and PP won't be lowered (unless they are greater than the new HP/PP Max).
• Fixed: If graphic drivers fails to provide a screenshot for games/saves, the game will no longer crash (it will use a black image, instead).
• Fixed: Minor text hiccups, such as "wound" plural in tooltips.Fixed random crash in Save/Load Game Window
• Fixed : Game speeds return to normal game speed after load game from combat screen.
• Removed D3D9_43.dll from the installer that causes crashes in some PCs.
• Fixed crash when the party dies because of a trap and the game returns to the main manu screen.

Another update will ship with Early Access, with more planned after it to continue improving replayability, party customization & game balance. Have already gotten a lot of useful feedback from the Codex, and will continue to look out for it.

Can't pretend it's great to announce delays to things like the DRM-free or Mac versions. Really grateful for everyone's willingness to go the extra mile, because we're doing the same and there is so much to learn when it comes to self-publishing. We have this vision of delivering traditional-modern RPGs with their own mythos and gameplay. What is earned with this game is put towards that vision, it is really that simple. Every little bit of contribution helps.

Game trailer should be ready next week, happy weekend.

 

[Overboard]

... and why doesn't this get front page news coverage? Hmmm, Crooked Bee & Infinitron????

Don't blame them, I backed this too and completely forgot about it (only realised it when I went to the KS page to find something to mock them with).

 

[wesleyclark]

Trailer released.

Project Update #27: New Official Trailer for Lords of Xulima!
Posted by Numantian Games ♥ Like
Greetings!

Many people have worked very hard on it: music composer, voice actor, sound engineer, artists. We really hope you like it!
As we promised last week, here you have the new official Trailer of Lords of Xulima!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWYVquh0Syc
For non English speakers, you can activate the subtitles for the Youtube video.

Steam Store
Our Steam store page is already set up and live to the public, as Lords of Xulima will be listed as Coming Soon until this Friday. All of our backers that already have played it, can now write their reviews and comments there. This is something we would really appreciate, as it would help improve the trust of Lords of Xulima for the future players that visit the store.

We will send the Steam Keys to our backers during this week. If possible, we will try to get them to you even earlier than the real launch.

And that's all for now, see you on Friday!

 

[Dorateen]

Still wish the subtitle was "A Story of Gods and Humans... and demi-humans". And it's not clear to me whether this Gaulen fellow can be kicked to the curb. But there's no disputing, the trailer and game look fantastic.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Still wish the subtitle was "A Story of Gods and Humans... and demi-humans".

 

[felipepepe]

Cool, I'll write a steam review after our Codex review comes out, to avoid spoiling. :3

 

[Wizfall]

Very nice.
Really should be on Codex's front page.

 

[Jack Dandy]

So, again- for this upcoming early access period, ALL backers get a key? Like DivOS and Wasteland 2 did?

 

[ghostdog]

New trailer, embedded :

 

[Scroo]

Hah, thanks to that trailer I finally know how to pronounce Xulima :D

And it looks great, I'm so hyyyped damn

 

[Jack Dandy]

From what I've seen, I think the graphical style looks a bit of a hard seller.

But, all the mechanics and gameplay direction still sound exactly up my alley.

 

[Sinatar]

I hope the walking speed in that trailer isn't the fastest you can go, cause that looks like it'd get real old real fast.

Other then that, looks great.

 

[felipepepe]

You can run. Most of the times you'll be running, unless you're navigating mazes and puzzles.

 

[mindx2]

I think this looks amazing!

 

[polo]

Hmm, i don't feel very attracted to this. Still going to buy it when it comes out probably. Waiting for reviews.

 

[evdk]

I can't get over the 3D art in the combat portion of the game

 

[polo]

I can't get over the 3D art in the combat portion of the game

Same here, exactly.
I think its a matter of trying it, if the game is good enough that 3D combat could become something minor.

 

[Zetor]

The game looks a bit RPGMakerish to me. That said, I don't mind having backed it...

 

[Jack Dandy]

I'm looking at it this way- Most people can handle Falcom's PC Trails\Ys games (semi-crude 3D models stamped into 2D sprites).
As long as the gameplay shines through, and it appears it very much does, this will be acceptable as well.

Can't wait to try it out myself.

 

[Wulfric Pinewood]

Will buy it, looks like hell lot of job was made into creation of this classic-look crpg. And i feel this game will be good, enough for me.

 

[mindx2]

Well, I just received my beta access key but as always I won't touch this until the final release. And as to the graphics... really? The Codex never changes....

 

[Jack Dandy]

ahh, lucky dude! I want a key.

Mainly so I can get a taste for the game's mechanics and start yapping about it in /v/ while actually KNOWING it's good sides, instead of making silly "get it because it's good" posts.

c'mon c'mon c'mon

 

[Zewp]

Bloooooooom