KickStarter Nox Archaist II - Dragonsmere

[Infinitron]

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/6502workshop

Not quite in development yet, but they want to raise enough Patreon bucks to make it worthwhile: https://www.6502workshop.com/2023/07/patreon-campaign-nox-archaist-ii.html

Patreon Campaign: Nox Archaist II - Dragonsmere​

Will You Help Us Make Nox Archaist II?​

(work-in-progress box cover art)

​

THANK YOU​

Many thanks to all players for their support of Nox Archaist and the Lord of Storms expansion, especially our Patreon members and beta testers. We really appreciate it!

FUNDING GOAL​

To support this ambitious project we've set a goal to increase Patreon support to ideally $1500 per month or at least $1000 per month* by August 15th.

Joining our Patreon will give you unparalleled insider access to details about the project as it progresses, and even the opportunity to directly influence the project. Your support would really help us make a Nox sequel happen.

Already a Patreon Member? You have chosen....wisely! Thank you again. If you have the capability to increase your contribution, it would really help us tackle this project.

*$1000 - $1500/mo total, including current pledges which are around $530/mo.

ABOUT NOX ARCHAIST II​

Nox Archaist II would be a full sequel, set in the Dragonsmere region of Vali (read: new overworld map to explore!), not an expansion of the original game.

Our vision for a Nox Archaist sequel involves significant rewrites to the game engine to enhance the gameplay experience with content such as more large portrait images, an auto-map in-game, and a more compressive statistical system offering exciting new character development paths.

As before it would be written for the Apple IIe/IIc, playable on original hardware and through emulators, including on Steam and GOG. A physical boxed set with printed manual replete with art and full-color cloth map is also planned.

This project would also help put our minds in the ideal space to simultaneously create an outline and notes for writing the book "Beneath Nox Archaist", a nod to the "Beneath DOS" advanced technical manual from the 1980s. Beneath Nox Archaist would be an in-depth look at the technical mechanics of RPG game engines and be a "how-to" guide for readers interested in writing an Apple II RPG.

There are no Apple II books which cover this topic. The closest are a few books on how to write arcade games. A how-to guide for writing an Apple II RPG would ensure that the methods used to create the early RPGs of the computing era are not lost to history.

DOES THIS SOUND AWESOME?​

PATREON FAQ​

==How does Patreon help us produce games faster?

The short version is, the more income we receive on Patreon, the more time we can devote directly to making games. This is especially true for lead developer Mark Lemmert, as his day job is freelance consulting. The nature of this job is such that he can adjust his workload as he sees fit. This literally means that for Mark, support from Patreon translates directly to more game development hours each month!



==Will 6502 Workshop make a Nox Archaist sequel anyway, even without Patreon support?

Probably. However, increased Patreon support helps us to do so much more quickly! And, Patreon support enables us to take on a more ambitious vision than we would likely otherwise be able to.



==What sort of perks and insider access is available through Patreon?

Depending on your pledge level, you can get access to the Inner Circle Discord channel where only 6502 Workshop developers have access, and an invite to the monthly live video chat with the 6502 Workshop developers, insider updates, free swag, and more!

A livestream is planned in the next few months to solicit project input from Patreon members.



==You didn't have Patreon support when developing the original game, why do you need it now?

Much of the time for the original project came from lead developer Mark Lemmert. His life circumstances are different than they were at that time. Currently, he has much less time available to work on the project then he did back then. However, Patreon support enables him to reduce the freelance consulting he does and use that time for game development instead.



==What if you achieve the Patreon support goal now, but then it drops off, will you be able to finish?

Yes. While it would take longer, we finish what we start. It's a work ethic that Mark Lemmert talks about in the "Making of Nox Archaist" book. A big part of what kept him going when things got tough was a stubborn refusal to quit and loose the investment of years of work.



==Why is the goal to increase Patreon support stated as a range of $1000 - $1500/mo?

More funding translates to more time to work on the project. We think increasing support to $1500/mo or more would be ideal and $1000/mo is the minimum we think we'd need to work on the project at a sustainable pace and complete all of our goals.


==How do we see the progress toward the Patreon support goal?

Click here to view our Patreon page. Then, scroll down and the information should be just below the list of tiers.

Note: if you are a Patreon member, you must be logged out for this information to be displayed. We think that is weird too! Unfortunately we have no control over it.


If you have any other questions please let us know!

 

[normie]

dragon schmear

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Oh?

 

[luj1]

Thought it was a sequel to the cult game Nox for a moment

 

[Cyberarmy]

Thought it was a sequel to the cult game Nox for a moment

Same here :/

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Who owns the Nox IP?

Ah! EA? Yeah, you’ll never see a new Nox. Fucking EVIL ASSHOLES er I mean Electronic Arts.

 

[vitellus]

fuck yes. the first was the absolute tits and enjoyed the hell out of it being the fucking grognard i am. lets hope they don't shit the fucking bed and release a goddamned turd.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I'd think they'd get even better. If only a few other old school game developers would progress: Lawless legends, Stoneshard...... Unknown Realm: The Siege Perilous

 

[vitellus]

I'd think they'd get even better. If only a few other old school game developers would progress: Lawless legends, Stoneshard...... Unknown Realm: The Siege Perilous

too many vapours to keep track of, need a goddamned sniffer for all of 'em

 

[Lyre Mors]

Play Nox Archaist and Realms of Antiquity. NOW!

 

[mindx2]

Never done the Patreon thing before but decided to help these guys out for $20. The first Nox game was really good and hopefully they will only improve with the experience.

Spoiler

Also, I loved their physical boxed edition and Making Of book!

 

[vitellus]

Realms of Antiquity

isn't this Adamntyr's game? it's on my wishlist.

 

[Lyre Mors]

isn't this Adamntyr's game? it's on my wishlist.

Yes, and it's fantastic. I'd rate it a little higher than Nox Archaist even, but they're both awesome.

Absolutely pathetic how little play and attention both games have gotten here. Typical hypocrisy of the Codex, I suppose.

 

[vitellus]

isn't this Adamntyr's game? it's on my wishlist.

Yes, and it's fantastic. I'd rate it a little higher than Nox Archaist even, but they're both awesome.

Absolutely pathetic how little play and attention both games have gotten here. Typical hypocrisy of the Codex, I suppose.

well, sounds like this got bumped up the list. we (all us fuckers commenting in this thread) like old shit, it's niche and totally unsurprising that it's not spoken about.

 

[Lyre Mors]

it's niche and totally unsurprising that it's not spoken about.

Yeah, it's niche. But that's exactly why it should be played and talked about more here, of all places. Both games have some of the better RPG design seen in years.

 

[Infinitron]

While there are many retro RPG appreciators here, the RPG Codex has never really been a retro-oriented community as such.

 

[vitellus]

While there are many retro RPG appreciators here

There's dozens of us!

 

[Lyre Mors]

When series like Ultima, Might and Magic, Gold Box games, and Wizardry are supposedly considered staples of the codex, there shouldn't be a minority of us discussing games like this. But yes, even those who enjoy the above are a dwindling breed around here. The zoomers will be taking over any day now and Skyrim will be a "classic."

 

[mindx2]

While there are many retro RPG appreciators here

There's dozens of us!

Maybe even a baker's dozen!!

 

[Infinitron]

Patreon members make suggestions for Nox Archaist II followed by some technical discussion by dev team.

 

[HoboForEternity]

I didnt know these games exist, i think i have seen it before but slipped by (or was it other games idk) wishlisted

 

[vitellus]

patreon update

Quarterly Update (November 2023)
3 days ago
Hello Patrons, thank you for your continued support, it's been an exciting couple of months!
As discussed in the last update, the next step in the Nox Archaist II project is to upgrade the toolchain used for creating maps, items, NPC dialog and more. The content for Nox Archaist was created with a rather clunky toolchain based on spreadsheets. For Dragonsmere, we are developing our own apps to replace the spreadsheets to dramatically increase the speed of content creation and work in an environment more conducive to creativity.
General R&D around the this project has been completed. The new content creation app is called the "Nox WorldBuilder". It is being written in TypeScript on the frontend, Node.JS on the backend with MySQL2 database integration. This app will be accessible by anyone on the dev team via a web browser, greatly increasing collaboration efficiency.
Some design work has been completed and development has begun on the "Pixel View", which is a Apple II pixel editor.

(The animated Wizard tile is loaded. Each animated frame is rendered on the left window grid)

The artist can click on a pixel in the left window to toggle it between ON and OFF. The grid will updated the colors shown based on a simplified version of the Apple II color scheme. The circle buttons on the left and right sides of the pixel grid control the value of bit7 (/aka the color bit) in each screenbyte. This switches between blue and violet and switch between orange and green in their respective columns.

The window on the right is rendering the pixel grid using code from Chris Torrence's Apple2ts emulator. This enables our artist to make changes to pixels in the left window and in the right window instantly see pretty close to what the shape will look like in-game. I say pretty close because there can be color bleed interaction between two adjacent tiles.

To fully appreciate how impactful this tool will be, I will briefly describe the evolution of tile art design:

Richard Garriott - early Ultima Games.

Using state-of-the-art technology at the time, he created a pixel grid on graph paper and filled in the graph paper squares for the pixels he wanted to turn on. Then he calculated the two binary values represented by the pixel pattern for each line of the tile. After doing that he flipped the order of the bits within each nibble and flipped the order of the nibbles (necessary because the video signal is flipped between the Apple II and the monitor / TV) . Next he converted the binary numbers to hexadecimal.

After the hex values were calculated, he keyed them into the Apple II and observed the graphic on screen. If the graphic didn't look as expected, it was a tedious process to redo the prior steps to try to find an error in the calculations.

Nox Archaist I

I tried the process Richard Garriot used a few times to verify I was doing the calculations correctly and then created a pixel editor in a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet used formulas to do all the number conversions and concatenated the hex values together which I copy/paste into the assembly source code.

This massively reduced the chance of human error but did not totally eliminating it since the spreadsheet pixel grid did not calculate the Apple II colors - our artist, Bill Giggie, had to keep track of that. Additionally, there was no "emulation window", making the workflow was tedious. Bill would design a tile using the spreadsheet and then email me a copy. I would copy / paste the hex values into the source code and run a full build of the game, which would create an updated disk image. Then I would email the updated disk image to Bill. He would boot up the disk image in an emulator and observe what his art looked like in-game.

Each tile had an average of 3-4 iterations each of which involved this feedback loop between Bill and I. And there were over one thousand unique tiles in Nox Archaist so the iteration time added up quickly.

Nox WorldBuilder

The pixel grid keeps track of the colors and the emulator shows the in-game results instantly, eliminating the feedback loop. Bob's Your Uncle.


The Pixel View portion of the Nox WorldBuilder is not yet done but we are making steady progress. In the upper right corner of the screenshot above are buttons for "Map View", "Tileset View", "Game Data View" and "NPC View". Each of these is essentially a sub-app of the Nox Worldbuilder app.


Commodore Update

Progress is steady. The refactor of the source code from SBASM to 64tass is complete.

The next goal is to stand up a prototype. Here is a screenshot of the game booting up the main menu for the first time in a Commodore emulator. The graphics shown are a rough-cut algorithm conversion and we expect to have an artist touch them up or rework them in some cases.

The next step toward the prototype goal is to be able to launch the game in the shipwreck "tutorial" area working and then be able to exit the Overworld.

Thanks again for the faith and trust you have placed in us by being our Patron!
Regards,

Mark Lemmert

Lead Developer & Project Manager

6502 Workshop