Vapourware Odd Gods - phase-based spacetime travel RPG about the 1990s

[rusty_shackleford]

and Disco Elysium. Quite exciting that they are all turnbased, but also all moving away from the clunky Fallout "chess with guns" tropes.

Yeah, it sure did move away from Fallout's combat that's for sure.

 

[Grauken]

The lineup of characters reminds me somehow of Maniac Mansion

 

[Smoker]

Kurt Kobain guy needs a cigarette.
Why's the hip hop guy 1980s RUN DMC instead of 1990s 2pac.

 

[Grauken]

2pac looks stupid, though I agree on the cigarette

 

[Pearass]

Wow, I'm sorry that I've never heard of this. After reading this thread I'm very excited for the project! Love the general design ideas, and the way the dev speaks about the setting and themes gives me a lot of hope. Too often settings, plots, and themes are reduced to simple monoliths. Nuance is generally better, and I'm hoping that this is nailed more than anything.

Best of luck!

 

[Grumpy Grognard]

Tupac is west coast, which wasn't part of our background for the character, who's more of an old school east coast b-boy, without going into more detail.

The kotaku link has more stuff if you care to check it out https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/05/the-art-of-odd-gods/

Including a cigarette we snuck in there.

 

[Darth Canoli]

The lineup of characters reminds me somehow of Maniac Mansion

You could say that in a really sad way, it looks like Maniac Mansion as much as a battery chicken looks like an outdoor bred hen.

Also, about the combat system :

Spoiler Alert :

Spoiler

It's shit real time but let's call it simultaneous TB (ala Darksouls ) to look cool

4th Turn) Speaking of gameplay. Can you explain the combats mechanics?

Odd Gods uses a (mostly) deterministic simultaneous turn-based combat system on a grid. Almost like a party & turn-based Dark Souls where everyone moves at the same time.

Each turn takes about 3 seconds, or ‘ticks’. A dagger thrust takes 1 tick. An aimed musket shot: 2 ticks. Reloading a sidearm is 3 ticks. An evasive manoeuvre (like diving into cover or feinting) might take 1 or two ticks, depending on the ability. You could see an enemy preparing to split your head with an axe – and ready a parry ability instead. Ditto, you can intercept enemies – say, an enemy is moving to cover, you can ‘lead’ the target if you can guess where they’ll be when your attack lands, or (my favourite) push an opponent into an enemy’s line of fire, or trip an attacker en route to flank one of your party members.

The combat resolves in real-time – as opposed to waiting for (forever) 3 enemy fighters to move 3 metres forward, one at a time, everyone moves and attacks simultaneously. Based upon how well you can understand the battlefield & your opponents intentions, you plan your party’s turns, preview the possible results and confirm your orders. If you’re skilled enough, and close enough, you can get more information about an enemy’s upcoming action – what direction they’re heading, what kind of attack they’re going to make, etc.

There’s no RNG – no percent chance to hit. You’re not rolling numbers to check against a spreadsheet – you’re moving and commanding units. Our combat system is based on choice & consequence, as opposed to reductive skill checks. There’s a lot of advantages to this: no level scaling, no HP sponges, and so on. It’s a bit like a more turn-based approach to Frozen Synapse, or Laser Squad (or a more accessible Knights of Legend system). There’s not a lot there like it, but you could say that a lot of early menu-based combat RPGs (looking at you, Bard’s Tale) were same phase, with everyone rolling at once. We just take the rolling out of it, and give you the ability to move and attack etc in the game world. I’d call out Neo Scavenger and Copper Dreams as having systems that are a bit like cousins of Odd Gods in that way.

Now, not only every game is a RPG but also, every Real-Time shit is simultaneous TB ala Dark Souls ...



Just when i thought i had seen everything ...

 

[Fenix]

Strong DE vibes.

In art maybe. What about role system?

Tupac is west coast, which wasn't part of our background for the character, who's more of an old school east coast b-boy, without going into more detail.

The kotaku link has more stuff if you care to check it out https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/05/the-art-of-odd-gods/

Including a cigarette we snuck in there.

Dude on thr right (I know it's the same dude) looks like

Spoiler

LA Beast lol

just can't get rid of that similarity.

 

[luj1]

Why's the hip hop guy 1980s RUN DMC instead of 1990s 2pac.

Because the 80s was the golden era of hip hop

 

[luj1]

Strong DE vibes.

In art maybe.

I'm getting Bill and Ted vibes tbh

 

[Roguey]

Now, not only every game is a RPG but also, every Real-Time shit is simultaneous TB ala Dark Souls ...

It's phase-based, not real-time. Guess they thought calling it that would go over the average Kotaku reader's head.

 

[Grauken]

The lineup of characters reminds me somehow of Maniac Mansion

You could say that in a really sad way, it looks like Maniac Mansion as much as a battery chicken looks like an outdoor bred hen.

No, it looks like a fun group of characters to mess around with, same as Maniac Mansion.

 

[Grumpy Grognard]

You're wrong, Canoli.

Let's expose this spoiler stuff to some sunlight.

It's shit real time but let's call it simultaneous TB (ala Darksouls to look cool blah blah)

No.

Roguey has it (mostly) right:

It's phase-based, not real-time.

Odd Gods combat uses a phase-based combat system.

It has similarities to 'we-go'. If you're interested in the topic: design-wise, it's a modification of classic wargaming and tabletop combat systems that were themselves developed from HG Wells 'Little Wars', Prussian officer college wargame training systems, and in particular: a personal favourite, a house-rules mod of Charles Grant's The War Game: An awesome read. If you're familiar with Laser Squad Nemesis, there's a similar system there.




We've also covered these sorts of questions before in detail here: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...pg-about-the-1990s.118969/page-3#post-5363817


For the sake of this thread though, I'll do a precis here.

• SAME PHASE COMBAT
  • 1. PLANNING: You, and the enemy, plan your orders and press a button to resolve them
    • Each combatant can only perform one action per 'tick', and actions also cost stamina, etc.
  • 2. RESOLUTION: Combatants play out their actions and they resolve according to internal combat rules, stats, equipment.
    • This is the 'real time' bit, or rather - simultaneous resolution.
• EXAMPLE - THE DRUNK FRENCH FOREIGN LEGIONNAIRE:
  • You're toe-to-toe in melee with a violent, drunk deserter from the French Foreign Legion.
  • The bayonet on their musket is broken, so they're using it as a kind of club. You are unarmed, but sober, and have boots with toe spikes.
• PLANNING PHASE
  • Set your party's orders.
    • You can see the enemy raising their club.
      • Their club attack is a heavy attack with a medium speed, by default.
      • However: the Drunk FF Legionnaire takes a speed penalty from alcohol abuse - the medium speed attack become a slow one.
    • You set an order: Kick the bastard in the nuts with yout spiked boots.
      • A quick attack, resolved in the first second of the combat round: a one-tick action.
    • Once you're ready, you press a button to kick off the resolution phase..
• RESOLUTION PHASE
  • Your party and the enemy then execute their orders simultaneously. A round takes roughly 3 ticks, which are roughly one second - with one action per second. You could even call it a 3-action combat round. The game treats these actions systematically, with modifiers on a deterministic base layer of combat system. Anyway:
  • TICK 1
    • The drunk swings their club, high above their head, swearing and snarling - they're angry, and they want to hurt you. But - slow, and drunk, this attack won't hit until Tick 3.
      
    • HOWEVER. You saw this shit coming in the planning phase, which is why you opted for a quick kick in the nuts.
    • SIMULTANEOUSLY, while the enemy has their busted musket raised menacingly high in the air, your toe-spiked boot snaps forward, causing a critical hit, wounding the unarmoured target, triggering bleeding, shock, and...
  • TICK 2
    • If your kick was strong enough, the enemy is knocked back. Regardless, they'll be in shock, and will be useless next round.
    • You recover your stance and...
  • TICK 3
    • The enemy is stunned and will remain so next turn most likely. Morale or rage or panic might supersede that, but that's another story.
    • And so: next turn.

It is different to traditional turn-based combat (which works, but has some serious flaws) but it's not real-time dressed up as something else for the sake of marketing. Don't blame you for thinking that - but it's not true.

... Guess they thought calling it that would go over the average Kotaku reader's head.

The term real-time doesn't appear in the Kotaku piece at all, although we have used it as shorthand for describing how phase based combat works.

 

[Yosharian]

Looks good

 

[Darth Canoli]

You're wrong, Canoli.

blah blah blah

I didn't call it a TB & party-based Dark soul syystem, it's from "10 turns Interview with Odd Gods developer" on the previous page.

By the way, i never read anything more retarded than a turn-Based Dark Souls. Even here, a place retards call "home".
With that kind of references, you're going very far

Spoiler

out of the cRPG genre.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Has there been any news on this since THIS?

 

[dmwyvern]

Please tell me this CRPG is still happening.

 

[Smoker]

Hope so

 

[baud]

At least one of the dev was still alive at the start of December:

 

[Grumpy Grognard]

Still alive, busy 'n crazy year...

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Still alive, busy 'n crazy year...

Spoiler

 

[cyborgboy95]

Finally, some news at last! Really thought this game was turning into vaporeware

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Has the teknomad class been implemented yet?

 

[sosmoflux]

Report in, team

 

[almondblight]