Scars of War - new indie RPG

[Vault Dweller]

I was informed that there is a new indie RPG in development - Scars of War. It has been in development for two years, so it does look like a game and not just a good idea. A website is coming soon. At the mean time, feel free to post your questions in this thread.

<blockquote>The struggle started without much fanfare as a minor conflict between neighboring kingdoms, a dispute over borders which had been fought for centuries. Before long it had escalated to war, a war which drew the surrounding nations into it like a hungry beast and which eventually spread to engulf the Westlands. Not a noble war, such as bards sing of, but a long, bloody, painful struggle, a back and forth tug-of-war which did little but drain the participants of their lifeblood. In the end, there was no noble victory, no setting things to rights. The participants drew back to lick their wounds, to rebuild, and an uneasy peace settled over the West. That peace didn’t bring any happiness with it, however. Mirtar, the breadbasket of the Westlands, had seen some of the worst battles of the war. Once fertile fields lay fallow, the peasants that tended them slaughtered. Struggling to rebuild, Mirtar barely has enough to feed its own people, never mind export food to any other nations. Winter comes, and it brings the looming shadow of famine. Kingdoms empty their already drained coffers to ship goods from afar, but the Winterking will have more than his share of lives this year, and wolves howl in the hills.

For you, the misfortunes of the war are more personal. Unlucky enough to come of age at its start, you were drafted at the tender age of 15 into the Royal Army of Athar. Now, 5 years later, the war is over and the army, indeed Athar itself, doesn't seem to need you. Like a lot of veterans, you have found your military training inadequate preparation for civilian life. With the war and the food shortages, jobs are scarce, and few people are hiring or taking on apprentices, especially adult ex-soldiers. You drift from town to town for a while, until you run into an old army contact, Lieutenant Jeman Var. Jeman is looking for men for a job, specifically men he can rely on. He has been hired by a powerful merchant baron to find out why some of his shipments are going missing en-route, and he can pay handsomely. With your meager savings running out you sign up, and head to the city where the goods go missing: Korrinport… and begin a journey which takes you far from home, and draws you into a conflict even the war didn't prepare you for - a web of conspiracy and deception, where you must choose your friends wisely and your enemies even more so.

The scars of war are slow to heal....

Scars of war is a 1st person fantasy RPG for the PC built on the Torque Game Engine. It has the following features :

- A mature story aimed at adults. Moral gray areas, hard choices, secrets, betrayal, manipulation and lies. The good stuff. No “Ancient Evil Rising or “Farm Boy with a Heroic Destiny”.
- Real choices with a strong link to the various factions. Decide who to side with, where you stand in the unfolding storyline, and deal with the consequences of those choices. Siding with one faction could cause another to become bitter enemies.
- Multiple endings dependant on your choices throughout the game.
- Branching dialogue which can be influenced by your actions, character creation choices, faction standings and social skills. Dialogue plays a large role in the game.
- No Tolkien. Elves, dwarves, orcs, gnomes and especially hobbits, none of them have a place in SoW. It is a fantasy setting and there are non-human races, but for the most part culture is what determines the differences between player races.
- Rich lore and back story. I love lore, uncovering the history of peoples and places in a fantasy world. So expect plenty of books to read and suchlike.
- A variety of interesting locations and environments to explore, from the dark, foggy streets of Korrinport to humid, brigand infested Port Hale, your journey will take you far from home.
- Classless skill point based character system. Experience is gained from completing tasks (not killing enemies) and upon gaining a new level you earn skill points which can be spent on improving skills in any of the 5 skill categories: Combat, Trickery, Magic, Social and General. You can also gain special traits to further customise your character.
- Item crafting. Powerful magic items aren't sold in stores next to the bread and cheese. Few are willing to part with their magical items but you can acquire rare components which allow you to craft powerful items. Customise your equipment to match your playing style.
- Powerful database driven game editors. SoW will ship with all the editors used to create the game, making modding simple. Even non-programmers can make significant changes to the game using the editors. Feel that the player gains too few skill points a level or that a specific monster has too many hitpoints? Want to add a new item, spell, creature, quest or character dialogue? Simply edit the values in the appropriate table. You even have the ability to store and call custom scripts in the database, allowing great flexibility.</blockquote>Sounds pretty good. Take a look at some visuals: <a href=http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/3102/screenshot10400003rv2.jpg>shot 1</a>, <a href=http://img402.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot10300004ha7.jpg>shot 2</a>, <a href=http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/5715/screenshot10500003dc2.jpg>shot 3</a>.

 

[Rohit_N]

Sounds pretty good.

Indeed.

 

[spacemoose]

they're certainly saying the right things. and the screens look good.

but of course, until we see some examples of dialogue and quest resolution with cnc, I'll remain cautiosly optimistic.

also this is why I love the codex - you're not going to hear about this game on ign or gamespot for years (if ever!) but here it is.

 

[sheek]

Sounds very appealing - especially the moddability...

What about combat though? Introductory story sounds like a game with a lot of fighting, maybe large group fighting (recruiting mercs), & 1st person is not the greatest interface.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

Keep `em coming. :shock:

Small critic: i hope they add some birds/chickens/fishs in those huge maps to make them look more peasant, i`m a fan of that.

 

[stargelman]

If it'll turn out at least half as good as they make it sound, I'm sold. The design philosophy seems to be right at any rate.

 

[spacemoose]

Sounds very appealing - especially the moddability...
maybe large group fighting (recruiting mercs), & 1st person is not the greatest interface.

large group fighting is something we really don't get enough in rpgs period. it would be great if this one had a more 'jagged alliance' approach to combat

 

[stargelman]

Who's making this anyway? Why the secrecy?

 

[Vault Dweller]

One of the locals. I can't let you guys know who it is because that would be unprofessional and maybe even unethical. I'm sure he'll introduce himself later on.

 

[Texas Red]

I especially like the idea of their races. I think this is how it should generally work if you try to make a new setting, none of the random names and weird bodies.

 

[Jora]

Sounds excellent. I really like the story description.

Will there be sea travel? Like in Ultimas? (please say YES)

What about a magic system with more depth than what's usually seen in games? Spells that aren't just offensive or defensive?

Is the plot linear (Baldur's Gate) or non-linear (Temple of Elemental Evil)?

Please implement many dialogue-based actions such as snapping a Dustman's neck in Torment.

 

[Naked Ninja]

Thanks all.


And it's not they, it's me. Singular. I am the lone developer of this game.


Just to clarify on the combat and plot a bit. The game plot isn't about the war, it's about events that occur as a result of the war. The region known as the Westlands is in a bit of an unstable state at the moment.The nations in the region have been embroiled in a stupid, pointless, ugly war. Peace was reached not because of any kind of resounding victory, but because it was simply costing all the participents too much. Precious farmlands have been razed, treasuries are running low, banditry and smuggling has skyrocketed, and now winter approaches, bringing with it the threat of starvation. So an uneasy peace has been reached, one in which everyone is watching each other for the first sign of treachery, all while looking for their own advantage.

The "Scars of War" has 2 meanings. It refers to the fact that both the region and your character are battle-scarred and weary. You are an ex-soldier but what position you had in the military is up to you. You might have been an infantry fighter, an archer, a scout, a battlemage, a healer, or perhaps you used your silver tongue to talk your way out of the most dangerours assignments. Perhaps you where the supply clerk. You don't have to be a "tank".

Hopefully that helps indicate that the focus isn't on combat, especially not mass combat. The war is over, even if tensions are still high. The main focus is on dealing with the situation you find yourself embroiled in, a situation in which many factions are keenly interested, all trying to turn it to their advantage. Trying to determine who to side with and who is playing you for a pawn, that's the main focus.


@ SimpleComplexity : Yep, the areas are devoid of life at the moment. Right now my focus is on environmental art, but I'll post up pics when I get to it.



If you have any other questions I'd be happy to answer them.

*EDIT* (Lol @ VD's comment. Touche man, touche)

 

[Mr Happy]

Faction action, excellent.

Also, I like

social skills

as well. More than one social skill is usually a plus. What sort of skills can we expect there?

 

[Avu]

I love the setting and the premise in fact it reminds me a lot of Westeros. I don't know if you used that world for the general feel and moral ambiguity but it's a good idea if you did.

I won't comment about graphics as I do not really care about that as long as it does not get in the way of a good combat system (the FP view).

- A mature story aimed at adults. Moral gray areas, hard choices, secrets, betrayal, manipulation and lies. The good stuff. No “Ancient Evil Rising or “Farm Boy with a Heroic Destiny”.

As long as I can suffer all that good stuff and especially if I can inflict it unto others I am one happy man. Believable villain player characters are not something you get to see in games if all the good stuff is available to the player maybe we won't need get to see monetary rewards evil. One can only hope.

- Real choices with a strong link to the various factions. Decide who to side with, where you stand in the unfolding storyline, and deal with the consequences of those choices. Siding with one faction could cause another to become bitter enemies.

Hopefully the faction interaction will be deep enough to actually exploit this aspect. A simple denial of services and quest is not enough as we all know.

- No Tolkien. Elves, dwarves, orcs, gnomes and especially hobbits, none of them have a place in SoW. It is a fantasy setting and there are non-human races, but for the most part culture is what determines the differences between player races.

I cannot hope but love this approach. I guess we all know the reasons why races are a bad idea. Hopefully the different nations in the game will only have minor differences in the character creation process or we risk a new level of clichees and stereotyping. Some clichees are good but going against the norm is much more rewarding.

- Rich lore and back story. I love lore, uncovering the history of peoples and places in a fantasy world. So expect plenty of books to read and suchlike.

Books are nice and all but is the setting conductive to such an approach to lore? What would be the reasons for large amount of books to surface in that world? Maybe storytellers/old members of the communities be a better idea to relay the lore? Heck all the conversations with the learned/ long winded / full of shit people can be recorded in the journal if the ability to reread is what made you pick books as the main lore source if that is what you did.

- Item crafting. Powerful magic items aren't sold in stores next to the bread and cheese. Few are willing to part with their magical items but you can acquire rare components which allow you to craft powerful items. Customise your equipment to match your playing style.

I for one would enjoy a lot more a world without any magic items at all. Quality equipment could take the role magic items. Of course I don't have a clear picture of what setting exactly you are aiming for.

Anyway this sounds very very promising. Best of luck and hopefully it will turn into a reason for me not to quit playing games altogether.

 

[Jora]

I think Arcanum did a better job at presenting lore than, say, Morrowind (which was just full of boring book shelves). While adventuring, you could from time to time find mysterious temples, caves and ruins that all had a connection to the world history and the main stoyline.

For instance, instead of having to read a lot of books about the Molochean Hand and the Derian Ka, there was an undead NPC (and a potential follower) in the old temple who tells you about the war between the factions. Everything really felt connected. I felt that the past really mattered and part of my playing experience.

Don't make the past and the present seperate things.

 

[Naked Ninja]

@ Mr Happy

Social Skills at the moment :

- Persuade : Convince others to see your point of view through convincing argument.

- Bluff : Make lies seem believable.

- Intimidate : Convince others to see your point of view by threatening them.

- Streetwise : Protection against social skills. Seeing through others attempts to persuade, bluff or intimidate you.

- Bartering : The ability to get a good price when buying or selling goods.

As you can see by the skills, yes, you can definately lie or manipulate others. I'm not promising that you can avoid combat completely, but social skills can dramatically effect dialogues and plot.


@ Avu : I'm not familiar with Westeros, the setting is one of my own creation. The first person view is mainly because that is my preference, I like looking at the world from ground view rather than the top of my avatars head.

About the evil. I don't see evil as just asking for more money. I see it as being willing to treat others badly to achieve your ends. For example, betraying a promise to achieve a personal goal. The evil path will generally be easier than the good path, as well as probably more financially rewarding. However, it could make you more enemies. Also, I'm attempting to make it so that the "evil" path isn't always easily apparent. Hence the "hard choices" part. And you need to keep in mind that someone could be trying to manipulate you for their own ends.

Factions are a key part of the game, not just denial of servies. Basically, they all have competing objectives, opposing ways they want this situation to play out. And they are willing to use whatever means are at their disposal to ensure that it goes their way. Whichever direction you choose will make at least one of the factions your enemy, as you are going directly against their wishes.

Books were an example. There will be people who will tell you lore, notes, etc. I'm not talking backstory here, I'm talking little details that flesh out the world, that are unneccessary to complete the game or understand the plot but which add that extra touch of personality. I love that kind of thing, so it's it

The world will have magic and mages. I have loved magic since I was a child, so they're in. I am trying to ensure that magic isn't just blasting and shielding. One of the things I've loved about playing mages in PnP is their versatility, and I'm hoping to capture that in SoW.

 

[sah]

I like the deviation from traditional fantasy spirit. The shots look great and should be appreciated (I imagine visual content can be problematic for an indie developer).

 

[Jora]

double post

 

[Naked Ninja]

@ Mr Happy

Social Skills at the moment :

- Persuade : Convince others to see your point of view through convincing argument.

- Bluff : Make lies seem believable.

- Intimidate : Convince others to see your point of view by threatening them.

- Streetwise : Protection against social skills. Seeing through others attempts to persuade, bluff or intimidate you.

- Bartering : The ability to get a good price when buying or selling goods.

As you can see by the skills, yes, you can definately lie or manipulate others. I'm not promising that you can avoid combat completely, but social skills can dramatically effect dialogues and plot.


@ Avu : I'm not familiar with Westeros, the setting is one of my own creation. The first person view is mainly because that is my preference, I like looking at the world from ground view rather than the top of my avatars head.

About the evil. I don't see evil as just asking for more money. I see it as being willing to treat others badly to achieve your ends. For example, betraying a promise to achieve a personal goal. The evil path will generally be easier than the good path, as well as probably more financially rewarding. However, it could make you more enemies. I'm also attempting to ensure that choosing the "good" or "evil" path isn't always easy. That sometimes you simply have to choose between 2 viewpoints. And keep in mind that characters could be attempting to manipulate you for their own ends

Factions are a key part of the game, not just denial of servies. Basically, they all have competing objectives, opposing ways they want this situation to play out. And they are willing to use whatever means are at their disposal to ensure that it goes their way. Whichever direction you choose will make at least one of the factions your enemy, as you are going directly against their wishes.

Books were an example. There will be people who will tell you lore, notes, etc. Perhaps even writing on temple walls, if I can get the tech up (shouldn't be too hard ). I'm not talking backstory here, I'm talking little details that flesh out the world, that are unneccessary to complete the game or understand the plot but which add that extra touch of personality. I love that kind of thing, so it's it

The world will have magic and mages. I have loved magic since I was a child, so they're in. I am trying to ensure that magic isn't just blasting and shielding. One of the things I've loved about playing mages in PnP is their versatility, and I'm hoping to capture that in SoW.

 

[sah]

About the evil. I don't see evil as just asking for more money. I see it as being willing to treat others badly to achieve your ends. For example, betraying a promise to achieve a personal goal. The evil path will generally be easier than the good path, as well as probably more financially rewarding. However, it could make you more enemies. Also, I'm attempting to make it so that the "evil" path isn't always easily apparent. Hence the "hard choices" part. And you need to keep in mind that someone could be trying to manipulate you for their own ends.

Funny, I just mentioned that in another thread.

Do you think being evil (brutal, cruel) to evil people makes one evil also?

 

[Naked Ninja]

It can. This is one of those grey areas, the hard choices.

Lets say you have the option of torturing an evil person to acquire information. Does that make you evil? What if the information will saves lives. Is it justifiable?

I'm not going to answer that question in the game though. I'm simply going to present different views via the different characters. Some NPCs will find it acceptable. Some you will alienate. It isn't going to be that there is a "good" option which will make all the "good" characters happy with you and all the "evil" characters unhappy. The world isn't divided into 2 opposing halves. Sometimes the "best" option will make more people unhappy with you, even on "your side".

 

[Avu]

@ Mr Happy
About the evil. I don't see evil as just asking for more money. I see it as being willing to treat others badly to achieve your ends. For example, betraying a promise to achieve a personal goal. The evil path will generally be easier than the good path, as well as probably more financially rewarding. However, it could make you more enemies. I'm also attempting to ensure that choosing the "good" or "evil" path isn't always easy. That sometimes you simply have to choose between 2 viewpoints. And keep in mind that characters could be attempting to manipulate you for their own ends

I don't find mindless evil too appealing to play or interact with and by mindless I mean evil for evil's sake things like hurting innocents just for fun and mocking your lessers. I find characters that you love to hate much more enjoyable. For example Jon Irenicus in BG2 he is clearly superior to the player at least for half the game he is intelligent manipulative but is he evil? He steals your soul kidnaps your childhood friend (we'll ignore imoen's irritating nature) so by our standards that makes him pretty evil. What about Irenicus's standards? He starts as a scholar a little too obsessed with discovery and improvement add a little brat syster with a taste for power an obtuse girfriend that cannot match his intellect and decides to marginalize him and you get Irenicus one of the more morally complex characters in a game. Does he consider himself evil? He is a product of circumstances. That type of evil is what I want to see.

Did anyone care that much for LaCroix? He was manipulative too but worhty of anyones respect? Someone you love to hate? Not really. What I'm saying is that evil characters are people too and they should have the same level of complexity as good guys. They should have moral dilemmas and those moral dilemmas should be as hard for them as they are for goodies. They should have honor or at least a reputation for keeping their word they should have good qualities mixed in with the bad ones. Once you get that apply the same principle to the good guys and you get realistic characters that easily create moral dilemas.

 

[Mr Happy]

@ Mr Happy

Social Skills at the moment :

- Persuade : Convince others to see your point of view through convincing argument.

- Bluff : Make lies seem believable.

- Intimidate : Convince others to see your point of view by threatening them.

- Streetwise : Protection against social skills. Seeing through others attempts to persuade, bluff or intimidate you.

- Bartering : The ability to get a good price when buying or selling goods.

As you can see by the skills, yes, you can definately lie or manipulate others. I'm not promising that you can avoid combat completely, but social skills can dramatically effect dialogues and plot.

Coolio. About the skills, can non-dialogue skills play part in dialogue? (Example; in Fallout 2 if you had enough science skill you could talk to Myron about the details of Jet making, find a cure, etc.) Also, do you plan on using skill synergies within the categories, AoD style? Assuming combat skills are mostly weapon based, it seems like a diplomatic character would be at a disadvantage without them, you have to master 3 or 4 skills, while a combat guy only really has to master one (unless skill points are more "potent" for dialogue skills or something.)

 

[sah]

@Avu, some "evil" people are just thugs. Some are "chaotic" (let's say, serial killers), and some are like you described. There should be more of them in RPGs, the types that I mentioned seem to be overused.

@Naked Ninja - I was also thinking of a situation in which you are jumped by some muggers in a dark alley and have two options: scare them away (because you are much stronger than they are) or slaughter them. Both decisions can be rationalized: not using your full potential against a weaker foe/giving them a second chance OR protecting other citizens from banditry/sending a message to possible bystanders. Now that I think of it, it is tightly knit with role playing - I would roleplay a bitter and angry weapon master for instance.

 

[cardtrick]

Naked Ninja, this game sounds great - congratulations.

Also, would you mind posting the link to your Garage Games developer blog? I stumbled across it a while ago (I recognize that third screenshot . . . I've always thought the FPS Environment Pack is freaking fantastic for RPGs, even if I don't think it makes as much sense for its intended purpose). Anyway, I remember thinking at the time that the game sounded promising and very Codex-y, but I forgot to bookmark it.

The blog, as I recall, was more about the development process and some of the technical issues you faced, and I found it an interesting read for anyone possibly interested in making an RPG using Torque. A quick Google search just now failed to turn up the link, though.