KickStarter Sacred Fire - a psychological RPG about romance, loyalty and revenge - now available on Early Access

[HoboForEternity]

Tag this is interesting

 

[poetic]

Today is a great day for Sacred Fire, as we got our first media coverage and it's on PC Gamer of all sites: http://www.pcgamer.com/how-a-debuti...itchers-geralt-of-rivia-to-voice-its-trailer/

Thank you all for your support all the way back in 2014 and now in the last few weeks, you helped to make this happen!

 

[Tigranes]

I'll keep track of this as well. It's hard to imagine how well it will all play out, but that's partly because you're actually trying to take a different approach to the mechanics from Day 1 and have all the systems respond to that approach, and that's always a rare thing deserving kudos.

 

[poetic]

Tigranes Thank you! We are working on a new gameplay trailer for the Kickstarter, so it will hopefully give people a better idea how the game plays.

 

[poetic]

With the new year here, let me wish you a delayed but sincere Happy New Year. We were busy at work and laid out our road-map and battle plans for development of Sacred Fire:

• Steam Greenlight Concepts, VOTE NOW: let's get into the top 100 Best Rated of All Time. We are already close!
• Steam Greenlight, January 2017: let's start making some waves together and get the attention of bloggers, youtubers and maybe even the almighty Valve
• Kickstarter, March 2017: get some cool backer rewards, immortalize your name, get alpha and beta access and more!
• Preview release, Summer 2017: get your hands on the first playable version for Firestarters Guild members and ALL Kickstarter backers
• Alpha/Beta release, Late 2017: be the first to enjoy the full story-line in our Beta
• Gold release: Spring 2018: own the sweet polished version of Sacred Fire

As you can see, you - our fans, are crucial to this plan. Our road-map is a chain of events, one leading into the other and building its results. A strong Greenlight campaign will be noticed the attention can give us an extra push to build a bigger community before Kickstarter. We can then get into appealing rewards to make Kickstarter more attractive. So then Kickstarter has a better chance to hit the goal in the first days. What next? A swiftly funded project can get more coverage and raise even more funds. The game is able to get more content and polish. We can even bring in more star talent, as voice over legend Troy Baker, Joel from The Last of Us, has shown interest and is watching our development.

So to get to the Gold experience, your help is essential and we invite you to take part in the Sacred Fire development. Go to our web page and Sign-up to the Firestarters Guild to receive all the updates and benefits.

We’ve are currently on Steam Greenlight Concepts, getting close to enter the top 100 of Best rated of All Time. We need one last push, vote for Sacred Fire now. If you use the Steam client, to find us in the Greenlight, you need to choose Browse 'Concepts' category.

Thank you!

Also, who would be a good fit for a female voice actress along Doug Cockle in your opinion?

 

[HoboForEternity]

I disagree with bringing fancy schmancy expensive voice actor. All those resource can be directed elsewhere. More assets, more enemy variety, more combat encounter, more item snd equipment variety, more classes, more story and quest path, etc.

If you have to have VO than there are alot of equally good talent within the less extravagant pool of Actors and actresses.

 

[poetic]

HoboForEternity I completely agree, and it was a big surprise to me to realize that the well-known talent doesn't have to be expensive. Their problem is not making more money, they look for opportunities to make art, instead on working on yet another well paying AAA job. This is the article that started it all for Sacred Fire: http://www.develop-online.net/news/...worth-more-than-money-to-voice-actors/0222590

So for indie games that brings something new to the table, the opposite is true: the well known talent will cost the same as the equally good with no following or flair. And this day and age, if a indie game wants to get any coverage it needs to work all the angles it can As that is the only way that leads to more assets, variety and story. We also want to try something else with the voice acting in the game, and instead of voicing all the NPCs focus on the inner monologues of your character, as this is in-line with our design focus. And it keeps the VA budget on a tight leash and the workload around the voice-recording at a minimum.

Our current plan to expand the game, if we reach the basic goal on Kickstarter is to let you play the role of some of the NPCs from the story. So you will still create your own character, with your stats and appearance, but you will play the origin story of that NPC and than play the basic story from the other side, encountering the protagonist of the vanilla story as an NPC. You will suddenly realize the NPCs you hated, had a pretty good reason to do what they did

 

[hello friend]

Something I think could go a long way toward getting maximum VO quality from smaller (and cheaper) names would be if you get several of them in on the same day, let them play off each other instead of reading lines in a vacuum. That way you can get some good VO work from actors without a lot of specific VO experience, thus widening your pool of potential hires and allowing you to be more selective within your price range.

Edit:

We also want to try something else with the voice acting in the game, and instead of voicing all the NPCs focus on the inner monologues of your character, as this is in-line with our design focus.

Ah. In that case, never mind.

 

[anvi]

Urgh, wake me in a year and a half -.-

 

[HoboForEternity]

poetic that is actually a good reasoning and glad you know the problem with expensive VAs and you thinj about how to circumvent the problem and try to gain advantage from there.
If what you say is true, then i wish you guys best of luck.

 

[poetic]

HoboForEternity Thank you. Yes, it's a tricky thing to make the voice-over actually make things better and not worse.

 

[poetic]

Talking about voiceovers: I'm looking for an advice - Since Sacred Fire is a psychological RPG and inner life in general is a crucial aspect of the game, we will focus on narrating inner monologues. And we're looking for a female counterpart to Mr. Witcher, Doug Cockle, in case a player decides to play with a female character.

What are your tips for well known female voices in RPGs or video games in general? Who would you like to see/hear in Sacred Fire?

Here's our trailer with Doug Cockle, in case you want to hear what we're looking for:

 

[V_K]

Terri Brosius.

 

[anus_pounder]

Jennifer Hale and Laura Bailey.

 

[Siveon]

Jennifer Hale and Laura Bailey.

 

[mixer]

That map of Westeros is upside down.

Game looks interesting enough, will follow.

 

[anvi]

My advice is don't have dialogue because it will be bad.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

That map of Westeros is upside down.

That map of Scotland is rightside-up.

 

[poetic]

Thanks for the voice actress tips, I will definitely check them out!

We have been hard at work and have some exciting news - right on track with our roadmap we just launched our regular Steam Greenlight campaign.

Thank you for your feedback and encouragement during our Concept stage. Your reactions were overwhelmingly positive. You’ve become a vital part of this adventure.

“I didn't realize it, til I saw this trailer, but I've been waiting for a game like this.”
-Cypher-D

“Looks (and sounds) awesome. Good luck!”
-Aleonymous​

We’ve taken your comments and ideas and used them to further refine our official Greenlight page.

• We’ve added a few juicy gameplay GIFs showing in-detail combat, politics and ambush gameplay
  
  
• Added more details about Combat and Choice Making in Sacred Fire. These are important aspects of the game and deserve more information.
  
  
• And we are particularly happy about a quote from Arnie Jorgensen, art director of Banner Saga.

So now we’re turning to you again to help us to make Sacred Fire a reality.

Head to Sacred Fire Greenlight page now and vote ‘Yes’.

Every single ‘Yes’ vote is appreciated and important. We are always looking forward to when a new comment pops up and we had a blast answering them. Favorite us or follow, so you don’t miss important updates. And tell your gaming friends on Steam about Sacred Fire.

Thank you!

 

[Abu Antar]

I don't know how to feel about this but I upvoted on GL.

 

[poetic]

Abu Antar Thank you for the upvote!

The commnets on our Steam Greenlight are fairly positive and the voting is going very well. Thank you all for your support!

I checked out the voice actress tips, they are really great, thank you. I liked especially Jennifer Hale.

 

[anus_pounder]

btw, have you guys mentioned anything at all about character creation? (if any, please say there is)

 

[ERYFKRAD]

btw, have you guys mentioned anything at all about character creation? (if any, please say there is)

Even an option for a longer beard on the main dude will be okay.

 

[poetic]

You guys are onto us, as in what we want to reveal next! It's kind of cool, kind of scary This is our first update for the Steam Greenlight - character creation. It goes way beyond majestic facial hair Here, you can have it before it's official:

Sacred Fire is all about building a strong personality. You need both inner strength and social influence to guide the story into the direction you want.

Our character creation and writing supports multiple playstyles, and lets the player gain an edge with either force, smarts, skill, looks or empathy in every situation. These represent the five conflict resolution archetypes you can mix and match to create a unique character and take your own path trough the story. The inspiration behind this was Fallout 2, where you had many options how to approach a situation, how to solve a quest, how to acquire equipment or firepower. This is what we support in our writing and design, many ways how to gain an edge, get to wealth, fame, love, influence. You chose what winning means and how to get there.

Besides extensive visual customizations (10 outfits x 10 faces x 10 hairstyles x 10 paint styles) you can choose valuable appearance traits.

Traits like a “Melodic Voice,” “Fragile Figure” or “Vivid Gestures” make everything you do more memorable. They also evoke specific reactions. For example, “Fragile Figure” evokes the instinct to protect and you are less likely to be perceived as a threat.

Beauty helps you win people over but also evokes envy. Menace helps you intimidate opponents and can prevent them from attacking.

The personality and beliefs model represents a mature and nuanced take on the “good” and “evil” meters seen in some games. The goal is to bring over the pen & paper role-playing experience where a Game Master rewards you for staying in-character.

For example, processing failure is easier if you have a strong belief that there is happiness possible in life. But the same belief makes it harder for you to risk your life. Forgiving is easier if you believe there is goodness in people, but you may be prone to being played.

Believing you have the favor of a divinity can make you both courageous and arrogant. Ideals may be impractical in times of war, but being selfless helps you gain allies.

Mood plays an important role in how effectively your character controls emotions and uses skills and judgment under stress.

Mood depends on stress and comfort. Danger, pain from injuries, relationship conflicts, and traumatic memories can all raise your stress Comfort and safety comes from powerful allies, a trusted blade in hand, luxury items and strong convictions.

Having a high mood helps you win both combat and story confrontations, as it makes you more resistant to Fear and Anger. On the other hand, stress and discomfort make you prone to Fear and Anger.

Using fighting, healing, crafting, and relationship skills develops both them and the associated Attributes: Agility and Strength, Intellect and Empathy, Beauty and Menace. The more intelligence you have, the faster they progress.

Living through both success and failure creates positive and negative memories. It’s up to you to save up enough willpower to process the negative memories and use them to make you stronger.

Story choices strengthen or weaken your beliefs. The pros and cons of positive and negative beliefs are balanced. The goal is to give the player the possibility to freely express different beliefs and explore their consequences.

Authority expresses the inner strength of your personality. It’s the sum of memories, beliefs, skills, and attributes. Gain enough authority to level-up and:

• Strengthen your willpower
• Choose traits like “6th Sense,” “Unstoppable,” or “Stoic” affecting gameplay
• Unlock ideas that represent your fundamental beliefs like “You Are on Your Own,” “Things Happens for a Reason,” or “There is Not Enough to go Around.”

Please let me know what you think.

 

[V_K]