KickStarter Prometheus Wept - turn-based RPG from Vigilantes developer - Demo Available

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...t-a-post-digital-turn-based-rpg/posts/3353947

67% Funded, Developer Playthrough & other interesting projects

Hi!

Thanks you for your continued support - the campaign has picked up again over the last few days, helped substantially by a number of generous pledges. If this trend holds, we should be within striking distance of the goal by the time the final two days hits. Fingers crossed, and if you have any friends who like turn based games, please consider letting them know about Prometheus Wept - a small number of pledges really could make all the difference at this point.

I've started a play-through of the main section of the game demo, where you must pacify an outbreak of violent hysteria in the Drag. Especially for those interested in the story, there's a lot of extra information here.

I back a fair few projects on Kickstarter, and know how hard it is for indie creators to get the news out on their projects, so I hope you don't mind me mentioning a couple of projects that caught my eye.


In The Land Of The Dragon
The first is "In the Land of the Dragon", a cyberpunk fantasy comic in which a mercenary is tasked by a powerful corporation to kidnap a child from a corporate competitor. It's a conceptually interesting setting which combines cyberpunk and magic, with a killer art style, from a publisher with a track record.


"Kenzo is good at his job; he has always completed whatever mission he has been given. But sometimes you can't choose. Sometimes you can only follow your instincts and face the consequences."

Plainer Jane
Next up is Plainer Jane, the darkly comic story of Jane Pearson, a seemingly ordinary teenage girl who becomes a brutally efficient killer for hire. I'm fond of creative works like Plainer Jane, which skillfully weave dark events and comedy together. The publisher, who has released a number of comics to date, is even giving away the first two comics in the series for free, here.

 

[Timeslip]

Old news... 68% now

The musicians who are licensing work for the game have also agreed to give a copy of Ocean of Lies and Mother to Digital Nomad backers.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Nortar]

Yeah, checks out.

 

[Timeslip]

It's not everyday you get your game tweeted by one of your game dev heroes

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...t-a-post-digital-turn-based-rpg/posts/3356135

73% funded, Brian Fargo, The Drag Playthrough PT II & Infinity System!

Hi again!

I can't thank you enough for your continued support. 100% is getting closer - the campaign looks good, but it's going to be down to the wire. I'll pass on watching any thrillers for a while after this

Brian Fargo!
You're in good company - Brian Fargo of inXile is a backer, and kindly tweeted about Prometheus Wept. I've been playing Brian's games since the 90's, and recently finished the excellent Wasteland 3, so this is quite a treat!

The Drag Playthrough Part 2
I've played through the next two encounters in the Drag. It went quite smoothly, apart from being set on fire and attacked by wolves!

Hopefully we can hit the 85% + mark within the next week. If you're on any forums which permit it, please consider posting about/bumping Prometheus Wept or sharing the Twitter / Facebook post - at this point, small actions will make all the difference!


Before you go, I'd like to mention another interesting project I've recently backed.

Infinity System
"Part Mandalorian, part Westworld, 100% mind-bending adventure." I really like space westerns (like Mandalorian and Firefly) and stories where what the protagonist believes to be reality is challenged by their experiences, putting them on a collision course with the truth. The production quality looks really high, and the project is helmed by an experienced sci-fi author and a film maker, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what they come up with!

 

[Nortar]

The next part of the developer playthrough of the Drag, a dilapidated fishing village where the residents have become violently insane.

It might sound like I keep bitching about Prometheus, but I would not do it, if I did not care.
And in this case it's one of my favorite gripes.

Back in my tabletop D&D days, I had a DM who was always playing combat encounters to the best of his own tactical sense.
Every enemy we encountered utilized the full spectrum of tactical options.
Was it a squad of battle-hardened veterans or a pack rabid wolves - they all maneuvered to avoid AoOs, flanked the characters, focused down low-armor/high-value targets and all that.
It all was pretty good and fun at start, each encounter was challenging and intensive.
But then it got old because effectively it was the same enemy all the time.

This is what I remembered when you mentioned that the wolves, just like human brawlers aim for the "easiest to hit" targets first.
One of the wolves even ignored Zeke, who had hit him with a pipe, just to get closer to the MC.

Would not it be more interesting, if there were different behavioral sets?
For example, for wolves/animals to attack the nearest and pile on the same target; or maybe to snap back to the one who hit them last or the hardest.
And for the trained combatants to pick targets with more considerations.

 

[Timeslip]

Hey Nortar - I think what you're offering is constructive criticism, which I'm interested in.

I will be spending some time to improving the AI behaviour and that's something I could look at. At the minute the AI focuses primarily on damage, with ranged AI paying more attention to cover. There would be some benefit in adding variation to certain AIs, to encourage taking down the weakest, attacking the nearest, ranged enemies shooting at melee characters legs to slow them down and so on.

 

[Timeslip]

Based on reviews, I'd say repetitiveness and AI were the two issues that came up the most in Vigilantes. A good part of the extra stuff, like crafting, base building, newspaper articles, encounters were put in to make the game less repetitive, and the shift from system based to a traditional RPG with Prometheus Wept is largely about the same. On the AI, I can't think of a turn based game with a great AI. The AI in DOS2 occasionally does surprising things, but in general, the AI in Vigilantes probably wasn't much different than most other games. That's not to say it can't be made better, but I think it's shortcomings were highlighted by the fact you can always see all enemies in Vigilantes, and they often started quite a distance away from you.

 

[cyborgboy95]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1208110/announcements/detail/5524222808581525712

Prometheus Wept Almost at 80%, but time is running out!​

Prometheus Wept is almost at 80% on Kickstarter, thanks to the support of almost 270 backers. We're drawing closer to the finish line, but there's not a lot of time left, and the campaign is slowing down. To have a good chance of being funded, it will need to reach close to 90% before last 2 days. If you'd like to help out, you can find the campaign here.

I've made a couple more development videos to showcase the game. These videos show the first combat area of the game, the Drag, a dilapidated fishing village where the residents have inexplicably gone insane. Being effectively a tutorial area, the gameplay is simpler than it will be later on, but it will give you a pretty good sense of the game.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...t-a-post-digital-turn-based-rpg/posts/3360654

90% funded, Play-through Conclusion, New Pledge Tier & Tier Improvements!

Hi again!

Thanks so much for your continued support. At 90% and 4 days to go, it feels like the campaign is tipping towards funding. Fingers crossed. I'm especially grateful for a number of very generous pledges recently, which have pushed things forward greatly – no names, but you know who you are

Drag Playthrough Part 3
Here's the final part of the play-through of the Drag, followed by a bit of commentary on the world and where the story leads afterwards.

New Pledge Tier & Tier Improvements

• There's a new tier above Digital Nomad (€25), which includes a second copy of Prometheus Wept to give away to a friend for a total of €33.
• All tiers above the new tier will also receive an additional copy of Prometheus Wept.
• All pledges above €25 (including add ons / bonus pledges) will include a digital download of the in game tracks "Ocean of Lies" by Rose Thaler and “Mother” by Cult Of Neon.

The Manderfield Devil
Before I go, I hope you don't mind me giving another indie comic I've backed, the Manderfield Devil a mention. If you've played Vigilantes, you might guess from the inclusion of Ray Case as an ally that I'm a fan of detective fiction, especially works by Ray Chandler, Ross MacDonald and Denis Lehane. If it's got a trench coat and a fedora, I'm in!


Have a good day,

Daithi

 

[Abu Antar]

I don't love that synth song, tbh. Second track is better. Overall, the game looks good.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...t-a-post-digital-turn-based-rpg/posts/3362718

We did it!

We did it! Thank you so, so much. It's been an exciting, often nerve-wracking 4 weeks. The campaign started out quite well, but after a couple of days, it had slowed down considerably and really wasn't looking good.

An at best borderline campaign is challenging to deal with – it's a sinking, low battery feeling that's difficult to shake off. A failed campaign would mean losing ~5 weeks of development time. It would have been a terrible blow in what is already a difficult task. But, thanks to you, that didn't happen. I'm incredibly grateful for your support and I'll do my absolute best to make the best possible game for you.

If you have any questions or feedback, or there's some aspect of the game you'd like me to cover in more depth, do let me know

 

[Timeslip]

"I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room."

 

[Tyranicon]

"I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room."

Hey, congrats on the successful kickstarter! Don't be so down on the "borderline campaign," it's a rough time to do crowdfunding in general. Looking forward to your project's development.

 

[Lord_Potato]

"I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room."

Congratulations! I don't support games via Kickstarter, but I'm happy you managed to get it funded. And I do intend to buy Prometheus when it reaches playable state (EA or full release). Good luck with finishing your game!

 

[Timeslip]

"I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room."

Hey, congrats on the successful kickstarter! Don't be so down on the "borderline campaign," it's a rough time to do crowdfunding in general. Looking forward to your project's development.

Cheers Tyranicon - it was mainly the potential loss of 5 weeks work that was bugging me. Overall, it was a good experience. Might even have learned a few things.

 

[Timeslip]

"I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room."

Congratulations! I don't support games via Kickstarter, but I'm happy you managed to get it funded. And I do intend to buy Prometheus when it reaches playable state (EA or full release). Good luck with finishing your game!

Thanks Lord_Potato - it's a big relief. I'll get back to development soon, and will start releasing monthly dev videos to keep you posted.

 

[Infinitron]

Kickstarter complete.

€7,816
pledged of €7,443 goal

365
backers

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...t-a-post-digital-turn-based-rpg/posts/3365960

Campaign Conclusion, Rewards, Surveys & GRUNND

Hi!

Thanks again for your help getting Prometheus Wept over the line– it just wouldn't have happened without your support. In the near future, I'm going to get as many of the rewards that can be delivered quickly, particularly Steam keys for previous games and music tracks, out to you as soon as possible.

I'm also working on the surveys, though I'll also get in touch directly concerning some of the more complex rewards. If you have any questions, please do get in touch at any time!

Have a nice weekend - Daithi

P.S. I've also backed GRUNND, a fusion between dark Mystery and Science Fiction, which is a narrative driven adventure where your choices matter.


Inspired by storybuilding of Franz Kafka and David Lynch, Southern Gothic and Black Metal soundscape and game mechanics of your favorite Role-Playing Game. I love stories where reality is distorted or breaking down around the protagonist, and the atmosphere in the trailer is INCREDIBLE. I really hope they get this funded!

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1208110/view/3132815117660630100

Merry Christmas!
Hi-

I'd like to wish you a merry Christmas, or whatever you happen to celebrate. I'm starting to wind down for the holiday at this stage, though sitting around all day doesn't really suit me, so I'll likely end up chipping away at the writing in a leisurely way

Monthly development logs for Prometheus Wept will be posted from here on in – the first will be out in the next week or so. If you've wishlisted and are followed the game, you should get a notification when it's posted.

Enjoy the holiday!
Daithi

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...t-a-post-digital-turn-based-rpg/posts/3394077

Happy Christmas & Dec 2021 Dev Log! Healing Manager, Writing & More!

Hi-

I hope you're having a nice Christmas! Here's the first post kickstarter dev log.

To summarise:

• I've worked on the writing for the next two missions
• A healing manager, which makes healing outside combat more intuitive and less click heavy has been added
• A number of character models for the upcoming missions have been created
• Firearms automatically reload after combat
• Save games are now ordered by time and date
• A number of minor bugs have been fixed.

If you have any questions or feedback, please leave a comment and I'll get back to you!

All the best,

Daithi

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...t-a-post-digital-turn-based-rpg/posts/3417511

Dev Log Jan 2022: Extra content for the Drag, Act 1 Mission 2 added and more!

Hi!

Here's the development log for January 2022. The focus this month has been on creating and adding the content for act 1. In particular, an optional objective, to discover the source of the outbreak in the Drag, and the second mission for act 1 has been added.

Environment weapons have been re-introduced, including an energy cell, which can be wirelessly activated by the protagonist to damage nearby enemies, and the lethality system has been revised.

All the groundwork is in place for act 1 mission 3, including an extra map which was created earlier this week.

An early preview of one of the maps for A1M3

Before I go, some of you may be aware that Brian Fargo very kindly gave Prometheus Wept a mention on Twitter, so I wanted to return the gesture in a small way by mentioning Wasteland 3, which is currently heavily discounted on Steam. I finished Wasteland 3 late last year and had an absolute blast with it - it does everything really well, but in terms of the setting and characters (homicidal Ronald Regan AI anyone?), it makes other RPGs feel flat and dull in comparison. It's well worth a look if you haven't played it!

Talk soon,

Daithi

 

[Timeslip]

I will list all problems I found in this demo, hope this will help you:

- Walking seems pretty awkward. There is like a second delay between issuing movement command and character moving, which is mega irritating. It's caused by character rotating towards destination. Using combat grid cursor as an out of combat movement cursor makes this feel even more awkward, the cursor is bigger than characters.

Good call on the delay. I cut it down to 1/3 and it feels way better now.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

I will list all problems I found in this demo, hope this will help you:

- Walking seems pretty awkward. There is like a second delay between issuing movement command and character moving, which is mega irritating. It's caused by character rotating towards destination. Using combat grid cursor as an out of combat movement cursor makes this feel even more awkward, the cursor is bigger than characters.

Good call on the delay. I cut it down to 1/3 and it feels way better now.

Kukukukukuku, Radek's feedback is always the best