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

[Lhynn]

Hey Lhynn. Care to share what you don't like about crafting in games?

I dont like it when the game becomes about the crafting. I believe it should be auxiliary at best, perhaps useful in early stages of the game when it comes to gear, and in later stages as a way to make your own consumables.
The fantasy of making your own shitty weapon when you go out into the world is cool, but good stuff should be found or pried from your enemies cold, dead fingers.

What I can say about the crafting/harvesting is that it's integrated into the design and provides greater build viability. For example, in the drag, there's a burning house you can enter (coming out unscathed with a blueprint for a combat stimulant if you pass a skill check). There's also a tough, optional fight in the area. If you've invested heavily in combat, you can win the fight. If not, and you don't have any of the requisite social skills to gain an advantage, having this blueprint and finding some of the resource will allow you to create a combat stim, which might just be the edge you need to win the fight on harder difficulties.

Thats cool, because making consumables is cool. Its like you are batman and you are working on your utility belt. Crafting as a means to prepare yourself for what comes next is always a neat idea, therefore consumables.
But when you need to gather the heart of 3 generic dragons, 5 magical unicorn horns, 500 iron, and 12 dicks of multicolored tigers to craft an armor that is better than anything else you can find in the game... Well, thats just shitty, at least that fantasy has no appeal to me at all.
And thats what crafting devolves into in most games that feature it. It is not only busywork, it detracts from exploration.

 

[Nortar]

Dungeon Rats had harvesting for ore and herbs.
It felt more natural in that setting of a mine-prison with nodes of ore and occasional green oasises.
Those resource were rather sparse though, and iron in particular was completely useless after 1/3 of the game.

But picking up brightly colored shrooms and flowers seems a bit out of place in a post-apoc game.
So I agree with Taka-Haradin puolipeikko, scavenging rare elements from some wrecks/nodes could be more apropriate.

 

[anvi]

Just have nanobots do all the busywork.

There won't be a ton of things to pick up. The emphasis is on creating a relatively short, as high quality as possible experience, rather than a sprawling time-sink. Games are on average too long for my tastes and TV series are so diluted that I rarely bother anymore.

Reminds me of in Dark Messiah when you craft your own weapon in the forge.

 

[Nutria]

I definitely haven't been checking into the codex enough. I was the number one kissass for Vigilantes and I didn't even notice this thread until now!

I don't really have anything to say yet from what I've seen except that you really got the fight-prepare-fight cycle down in Vigilantes, so I hope this one doesn't stray too far from that. And I don't mind a shorter game.

 

[Timeslip]

Cheers for the feedback Lhynn Taka-Haradin puolipeikko anvi Nortar Nutria - always good to get some fresh perspectives!

 

[Farewell into the night]

Hey, nice project man. Looking forward to see more of it.

 

[StaticSpine]

 

[Timeslip]

Happy new year all! Can't be worse that 2020, right. Right?

Currently working on completing the first of two play areas which will appear in the demo. After that, there's some AI work, some UI work, and balancing work on the second play area. The demo is still expected for Q2/Q3 2021. Here's a screenshot taken during current balancing work on the Drag.

 

[Timeslip]

Hi all. Since the last post, I've worked on improving the appearance of the UI, taught computer controlled characters how to open doors (and not throw a load of errors), and am currently working on the second of two play areas for the demo. You might be able to guess from the updated image below, that this isn't going to be a typical post-apocalyptic RPG which focuses on fighting dirty bandits in a burned out wasteland.

 

[Nutria]

That seems like a pretty questionable choice. We've only been retelling Mad Max 2 for almost 40 years now. Surely there's a lot more left to be said about weirdo leather-clad biker gangs in a desert.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Happy new year all! Can't be worse that 2020, right. Right?

Currently working on completing the first of two play areas which will appear in the demo. After that, there's some AI work, some UI work, and balancing work on the second play area. The demo is still expected for Q2/Q3 2021. Here's a screenshot taken during current balancing work on the Drag.

I can't get over this screenshot.
Animated water + light reflection and animated flames in a unity engine...
Knowing what fountains + fog + light did to my toaster in Vigilantes, i'll probably pass, until i get a new computer (i was waiting for realms beyond for that and this ship has sailed, maybe in 2030 then?) or you optimize your engine.

 

[lightbane]

Fighting spirits? Sounds cool. Did you take inspiration from the World of Darkness books?

 

[Nortar]

Fighting spirits? Sounds cool.

No wonders, considering all the glowing weeds and shrooms you get to harvest.

 

[Timeslip]

I can't get over this screenshot.
Animated water + light reflection and animated flames in a unity engine...
Knowing what fountains + fog + light did to my toaster in Vigilantes, i'll probably pass, until i get a new computer (i was waiting for realms beyond for that and this ship has sailed, maybe in 2030 then?) or you optimize your engine.

The game world has to be visually represented anyway, so it's natural enough to spend a little extra effort improving visuals. I'm shooting for having it run at 60FPS on 6-8 year old, mid range PCs and will commit a % of resources to optimisation. If your PC had problems running Vigilantes, you're probably right - better to hold off for an upgrade, it's unlikely it will offer a good experience with PW. Mind me asking what the specs are?

 

[Timeslip]

Fighting spirits? Sounds cool. Did you take inspiration from the World of Darkness books?

Hey Lightbane. The character in the image isn't supernatural, though they are using their appearance to pretend to be. In a quick scan through the planned content, I don't think there are any fantasy elements. WRT World of Darkness, my only exposure to it would be through the two Vampire games.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Mind me asking what the specs are?

Mine's a philip single coil 2 slice heater.

 

[Timeslip]

Fighting spirits? Sounds cool.

No wonders, considering all the glowing weeds and shrooms you get to harvest.

A good part of the reason behind the plants is to make them stand out from regular vegetation. It's unclear right now if it will be possible to re-visit all areas, so it's reducing the risk of players missing valuable resources.

 

[Darth Canoli]

The game world has to be visually represented anyway, so it's natural enough to spend a little extra effort improving visuals. I'm shooting for having it run at 60FPS on 6-8 year old, mid range PCs and will commit a % of resources to optimisation. If your PC had problems running Vigilantes, you're probably right - better to hold off for an upgrade, it's unlikely it will offer a good experience with PW. Mind me asking what the specs are?

My computer ran vigilantes just right aside from the end game areas, the one with the animated fountain + fog and the very last base attack with disco music and weird lights (i think).
It ran but with some huge FPS drops here and there.

Proc AMD E1 2500 1.4GHz with integrated Radeon HD graphics
x64
4 Go Ram
Win 8

 

[Timeslip]

Mind me asking what the specs are?

Mine's a philip single coil 2 slice heater.

Well hello, Mr Fancypants.

 

[Timeslip]

A refresh of the character screen. Most of the screens which will appear in the demo are nearly there.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

What does Resolve do?
Both in stats and derived stats?

 

[Timeslip]

Hey Taka-Haradin puolipeikko - it does a couple of things:

1. Acts as the base stat for social skills (leadership, diplomacy, etc). High resolve will boost these skills and vice versa.
   
2. Generates resolve points, which can be used for special abilities. These are primarily unlocked through perks
3. Helps resist psychological effects, such as fear and terror

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

• Generates resolve points, which can be used for special abilities. These are primarily unlocked through perks

• Helps resist psychological effects, such as fear and terror

This sounds pretty similar to how Phoenix Point handled morale on battlefield.

 

[Testownia]

I really can't stand the "generic, no-style, no-aesthetics Unity graphics".

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Hey Taka-Haradin puolipeikko - it does a couple of things:

1. Acts as the base stat for social skills (leadership, diplomacy, etc). High resolve will boost these skills and vice versa.
   
2. Generates resolve points, which can be used for special abilities. These are primarily unlocked through perks
3. Helps resist psychological effects, such as fear and terror

That's good. It's really one of the only ways to make the stat worth in in the context of a game that dominantly features combat. I have a Resolve stat in my homebrew RPG system and came to similar conclusions. Rather than being a resource for special abilities though, I have an "effort" mechanic where you can add a Resolve die to the roll when it's made. This can be done only once per action, but as many times in a day as the Resolve dice's maximum value.