Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind - King of Dragon Pass spiritual successor

[Merlkir]

Preorders are up! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/six-ages-ride-like-the-wind/id934012726?mt=8

Life between myths. Clans, cows, choices.
The Golden City lies under a great sheet of ice. Your ancestors rode free, looking for a new home. It took three hundred years, but your clan finally settled here, in the valley where you hope to find your gods, recruit spirits, and win respect from your fellow Riders. Can you protect your people and claim your destiny when you’re beset by wizards, lizards, and worse, your barbaric neighbors, the Orlanthi?

Six Ages: Ride Like The Wind, the spiritual successor to cult hit King of Dragon Pass, combines interactive fiction and turn-based strategy to immerse you in a hostile, blood-soaked land governed by myth and cursed with wonders. Uncover the secrets of the valley, battle ancient enemies, and meet the gods, all while protecting your people and raiding your neighbors’s cows. Hundreds of scenes unfurl, accompanied by gorgeous artwork and backed by a clan simulation that makes every game unique. You’ll be faced with hard choices, but you’ll get advice to follow or ignore — although your advisors have their own agendas.

Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind is now available for pre-order in the iOS App Store. It will be released on 28 June. (Other platforms are currently in development.)

 

[Merlkir]

A new interview, with some new info and a bunch of screenshots:

https://www.pockettactics.com/articles/six-ages-ios-preview/

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

So, Praxians?

 

[Silva]

So, Praxians?

No way. Praxians don't ride horses.

Perhaps migrants from Pent.

 

[Silva]

Hmmm they could be the Grazleanders:

http://glorantha.tumblr.com/post/115517799098/grazelanders.

You know, that queen you marry in the end of KoDP? She was their leader. Maybe the game will tell the story of the colonization of Dragon Pass through the eyes of another culture. It could be a neat idea, indeed.

 

[Merlkir]

Robin D. Laws talks to Ken Hite about Six Ages, and explains quite a bit about the setting:

http://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/index.php/episode-298-now-were-just-gygaxing/

(starts around 38 minutes)

edit: there are moderate story spoilers. If you don't want to hear them, skip the bit from 48:30 to 50:30.

 

[Merlkir]

Here's the first LP done on Twitch. (it's from an iPhone) Gameplay starts around the 8th minute (though it takes him a long while to get through the tutorial):

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/276460426

(he turns the music off around 48th minute, only half of it, then turns the other half off around 1 hour in.)

 

[Merlkir]

I wrote a blog about creating artwork for events in SA:

http://janpospisil.blogspot.com/2018/06/six-ages-blog-01-creating-scene-art.html

 

[Merlkir]

An interview with our QA lead:

https://sixages.com/blog/index.php/2018/06/the-six-ages-team-liana-kerr/

I had a lot of issues with imposter syndrome and self-confidence, which meant my tendency was to assume that my input wasn’t very valuable. I mean, who was I to contradict David Dunham on a matter of game design, or edit Robin D. Laws’s writing? But the truth was that my position was unique: as a longtime fan of King of Dragon Pass, I approached Six Ages from a player’s point of view, and so I was not only looking for bugs, I was also looking for scenarios that didn’t make sense, outcomes that felt unfair or unsatisfying, or places where a little extra detail would have a big impact on the scene. For example, when another clan creates a song mocking you, I wanted to know exactly what the insult was! (And Robin came through with not one, but several different insults that are chosen randomly each time the scene appears.)

Can confirm, I felt like that many times during production. And it was way cool that we could in fact share our ideas and suggest changes.

 

[~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-AIN'T]

That's promising. Good QA includes feedback/involvement with the design, not simply being a mindless bug-finder.

 

[Raghar]

Here's the first LP done on Twitch. (it's from an iPhone) Gameplay starts around the 8th minute (though it takes him a long while to get through the tutorial):

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/276460426

(he turns the music off around 48th minute, only half of it, then turns the other half off around 1 hour in.)

So we can be nice, and for while not pirate.
Oh such thought makes us urinate.
We can watch it on twitch.
Watch...
And then bitch.

 

[Merlkir]

My interview is not nearly as interesting as Liana's, but hey:

https://sixages.com/blog/index.php/2018/06/the-six-ages-team-jan-pospisil/

 

[Shaewaroz]

It should run on any iPad other than the original. iOS 9 or later.

Nice to see you here David Dunham. I bought one of your KoDP art pieces some years back from your Etsy auction, I still have it laying around somewhere.

Gotta say, as a long time KoDP fan, I'm very frustrated for the exclusive iOS release. I don't own an Apple phone or iPad, so I'm not going to be able to enjoy this game that I've been looking forward to playing ever since it was announced. But I understand that the mobile version is expected to sell much more copies that the PC release, so focusing on it is understandable.

Do you have any reassuring words for us who are eagerly waiting for the PC release?

 

[Merlkir]

LOL, game is already available in Japan, due to timezones. Yay!

Turkey too, maybe.

 

[Silva]

Just bought it. Downloading!

 

[DakaSha V]

I dont feel like reading the whole thread so im just gonna ask: Is replayability handled basically the same way as KoDP, or does Six Ages do more (or less) to make the game more sandboxy/replayable?

 

[Shaewaroz]

Someone get a let's play going?

 

[Merlkir]

I dont feel like reading the whole thread so im just gonna ask: Is replayability handled basically the same way as KoDP, or does Six Ages do more (or less) to make the game more sandboxy/replayable?

It's comparable to KoDP.

(also, it's started raining quite a bit today. Truly, we are in the Storm Age!

 

[Merlkir]

First reviews:

http://www.148apps.com/reviews/six-ages-ride-like-the-wind-review/
https://www.pockettactics.com/reviews/six-ages-ride-like-the-wind/

 

[Sarissofoi]

Wait. Its only on IShit?
Why even bother then.

 

[DakaSha V]

Pocket tactics is absolute trash in terms of reviews, so I wouldnt even bother with that one.

 

[Merlkir]

 

[Silva]

Fantastic game so far. It feel more polished, the interface better organized and easy to use , mechanics improved and way less opaque in its workings, and the writing top notch as usual, as the art. Bravo, Merlkir and David Dunham .




The new horse-riding culture is weird at first but it's starting to grow on me. What were it's real world influences, Scythians?

 

[Merlkir]

The new horse-riding culture is weird at first but it's starting to grow on me. What were it's real world influences, Scythians?

I'm writing a blog post about that, with a video going through my research library. Should be out today, or in a few days.

(TL;DR though - kind of Scythians, yes.)

 

[Polanski]

I am so exited to play this on Monday. I am (un-) lucky enough to own an iPhone. Though I seems very strange to release it first on iOS, it is one of the few games where I think it will play just as well on as on pc.

How is this release not on the codex front page btw? It that reserved for 3D actions games and AAA “rpg’s” ?