Morning's Wrath official release and demo

[Saint_Proverbius]

<a href="http://www.morningswrath.com">Morning's Wrath</a>, an indie CRPG with a fantasy setting and real time combat, has been officially released with a press release and everything! Here's the scoop:
<blockquote>EDI Games, a Northampton, Massachusetts based independent game developer, has released their first commercial game to the public. The game, called Morning's Wrath, took the team of six developers nearly two years to complete, and has developed a strong base of fans through a developer's journal on GameDev.net and alpha releases. The team was able to produce all of the aspects of the game in-house, including a top-notch musical score and graphics, allowing them to stay within a limited development budget. Morning's Wrath is targeted at the adventure game niche, which is a segment of the gaming market that has largely been left behind with the recent increase in big budget, MMORPG and first-person shooter games. Morning's Wrath is a return to games supported by a strong storyline and intellectually stimulating game play. Players guide the main character, Princess Morning, through a series of locales containing tasks that require the completion of puzzles and the
use of 24 magic runes to create countless spells in facing a host of enemies.

A free download of the demo, desktop wallpaper, character profiles, and more are available on the Morning's Wrath website at <a href="http://www.morningswrath.com">http://www.morningswrath.com</a>, The game is also available for sale in electronic <b>download version for $19.95</b> and <b>$29.95 in CD format</b>.</blockquote>
I tried the demo a while ago. It might have been an alpha version, but it was a little rough around the edges.

 

[vazquez595654]

"Independent games," the new industry buzz word. This game demo sucks. Complete shit.The only two good low budget games I have played are the Avernums and Minions of Mirth.

 

[Second Chance]

"Independent games," the new industry buzz word. This game demo sucks. Complete shit.The only two good low budget games I have played are the Avernums and Minions of Mirth.

I love it when people back up their criticism with facts...

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Well, the combat in Morning's Wrath is really dull, at least judging by the demo I played months ago. It's a repeated click on a bad guy to attack him with very little feedback and very clunky animation that gives a very disjointed feeling about it. The pathfinding is cludgy and feels very "dumb robot", taking big square paths and moving slowly to do it.

The story wasn't bad, but the game technology around it is pretty awful. It's almost like they wanted to do something fancy as opposed to what Spiderweb does, but couldn't pull it off. That leaves a worse impression than if they'd just done something like Avernum.

 

[theshadowfan]

Hello,

My name is David Rodriguez and I'm the Marketing Director for Ethereal Darkness Interactive Games.

First off thanks for the release mention. Morning's Wrath is a game made for a niche audience. We developed this game with only six people in two years with no budget, obviously we could not make a commercial AAA title. I'm sorry that you all did not find the demo fun but the game does improve as it goes on.

For our next project we are taking note to all the criticisms that people have given us on Morning's Wrath. Now that we have experience developing a game, hopefully our next game can have more of a mass appeal.

Anyways thanks for your time.

 

[Crichton]

I played a little of the demo, but sadly never even left the castle.

I found the graphics perfectly acceptable and the art direction was ok. The interface didn't thrill me much, the "pop-up" dialog rather than the IE/fallout/arcanum/all other RPGs bottom of the screen in white font on a dark background with choices was rather dissapointing and I felt like I was being shuffled from one meaningless conversation to another.

I can't speak for the combat, et al since I didn't make it that far but RTwP for a single charecter isn't my bag of tea at all. If it's only going to be one charecter, than I'd like 3rd person behind the back, ultra-twitch hitman / bloodlines / jedi outcast combat. If it's going to be TB or RTwP, than I want an actual command (4-10 independant fully controlable manuevre units), not to micormanage one poor bastard a la NWN / fallout / arcanum / KOTOR / vault dweller's game.

If it's non-twitch, click-fest real-time without a pause button, I flat won't play. Have fun making your next game.

 

[obediah]

We developed this game with only six people in two years with no budget, obviously we could not make a commercial AAA title. I'm sorry that you all did not find the demo fun but the game does improve as it goes on.

Well that's some AAA demo back-pedalling.

Anyways thanks for your time.

Thanks for making a game. The more the merrier. If your games get better as you go, that's enough to make you a AAA developer in my book.

 

[Shagnak]

Now that we have experience developing a game, hopefully our next game can have more of a mass appeal.

Mass appeal? No, that is not what we want.
If anything on average we want something with less mass appeal. TB combat and oodles of stats-driven character development, for example.

Anyway, good luck.
But I think I'll be playing Prelude to Darkness this Christmas (crosses fingers).

(Note: I haven't played your game yet. Just going of feedback).

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

Well, played the demo for a bit. Music is ncie, graphics ok, but animation is a bit stiff. Dialogue is well written, but offers no choices (so far). Combat was unexiting, although it might get better with magic. The story writing so far was pretty decent. That is the one thing that might make me want to play it... I guess I will at least see if I can try out magic.

 

[whitemithrandir]

I have a few gripes with the combat system. It feels too clunky and doesn't mesh very well with the interface, but otherwise, I haven't found any faults that can't be fixed with a few tweaks here and there.

The writing is surprisingly good and fits a good notch above most action RPG's nowadays, so congratulations!

The graphics engine is a bit sluggish, and I can't say I agree with the artistic styling, but it was adequate for the framework of the game.

That said, this is a remarkable piece of software for six guys working on a tightneck budget. Good job, I will certainly keep an eye out for you and your future products.

 

[TheGreatGodPan]

Maybe I'm business ignorant, but with six people, isn't it a bit much to have a marketing director?

 

[vazquez595654]

Maybe I'm business ignorant, but with six people, isn't it a bit much to have a marketing director?

Maybe he has multiple job descriptions.

 

[theshadowfan]

Maybe I'm business ignorant, but with six people, isn't it a bit much to have a marketing director?

Maybe he has multiple job descriptions.

I was brought on as Marketing Director in Late October. My job is simply to make as many people aware of this game as possible. It is definitely not as easy as it sounds though.

EDI Games has 3 members right now. The other 4 left when MW was completed. With such a small team there needs to be someone on who is dedicated to promoting the game. The other two members are working hard on project 2 so if they had to go out and promote MW, there would be no progress made on project 2.

 

[Human Shield]

First off thanks for the release mention. Morning's Wrath is a game made for a niche audience.

Then why does it look like a Diablo clone? Where is the niche audience that wants to play Diablo but with lower quality?

For our next project we are taking note to all the criticisms that people have given us on Morning's Wrath. Now that we have experience developing a game, hopefully our next game can have more of a mass appeal.

So you think you can appeal more masses then leading companies by offering the same gameplay but worse?

Why don't you go for mass appeal by improving on something gamers like but don't get enough of.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Why don't you go for mass appeal by improving on something gamers like but don't get enough of.

That's probably your best bet if you want to see a degree of commercial success. The big publishers really have the actiony CRPG market licked and covered right now. In fact, of all the actiony CRPGs they churn out, I'd say a few of them might make decent money but it's fairly saturated right now.

 

[vazquez595654]

That's probably your best bet if you want to see a degree of commercial success. The big publishers really have the actiony CRPG market licked and covered right now. In fact, of all the actiony CRPGs they churn out, I'd say a few of them might make decent money but it's fairly saturated right now.

While the market is saturated for action rpgs, it not saturated with good ones. Of course this news probably doesn't help these guys.

 

[theshadowfan]

Update:

For those of you who have yet to buy Morning's Wrath you can now buy either version (downloadable or boxed) for 20% off with our Holiday discount. Simply visit www.morningswrath.com and use the coupon code HOLIDAY when you buy the game.

Thanks for all the support.

 

[vazquez595654]

Update:

For those of you who have yet to buy Morning's Wrath you can now buy either version (downloadable or boxed) for 20% off with our Holiday discount. Simply visit www.morningswrath.com and use the coupon code HOLIDAY when you buy the game.

Thanks for all the support. Wink

This guy is hilarious.

ps No offense shadow, I know you're just doing your job. Wink.