Soul of War Inspired by Dungeons & Dragons

[fishdoggames]

Just letting everyone know the sale ended last night, if by chance you want to play the game but really can't afford it send me a pm. but if you can afford it please buy it because it helps me to make the game better.

Really find your game promising, you seem to be meeting the right points, liked the art style and that it is party based TB.

There will be a GoG or Steam release? Dude, when I see USD, I have a PTSD reaction and feel a deep anxiety, I still dont know the reason of this psychological issue but I think it all started when I saw my currency conversion rate to dollars last time.

In terms of content, what game inspired you? ToEE, Baldurs Gate? What sort of content I can expect? Combat focused? C&C focused?

What is the size of the world? The number of side quests? The size of the dungeons?

What are the details about the world building? How many serious quest hubs are in it? How about some backstory on your world and locations in it?What is your opinion on RPGs? What you like/hate about them? What you think you can offer?

You seem to like what you do, reading that excitement on your own words would make me more interested as well.

Man, be free and sell your fish, dont wait for us lazy internet bums to stop being lazy. Talk about your world and how would be interesting for us to explore? Right now I see your game as promising but you need to convince me why trying out you game is a good idea, a cRPG is huge and can take hours to make a decent impression on a game, that can easily amount to an entire week of free time.

Thanks.. I was inspired by ToEE I loved that game, (also KOTC inspired me as well that game is a true master piece as far as the battle system goes.) Soul of War is heavy into combat but very rewarding, there are stories and quests and lots of npc's to talk to. i have finished the update for today its uploading now. this is what it adds:
Added raise dead potions
12 more additional monster types
2 more dungeons
made town npc's animations smoother
made a script for more random loot
added 22 new npc's
also moved some battles because the black info box was getting in the way
revamped the story (Thanks to Falksi)

Lots of things I add or change because I listen to all the requests people put in and things they would like to see.
The Npc's animations run a lot smoother I hired someone to help me with them.

The main story is pretty long it starts out slow but progresses pretty fast when you get to a certain point, Don't want to say to much about the main story because of spoilers. It is about 3 brothers go on a quest to hunt down the legendary Medusa the younger brother was the only one who escaped, 5 years later things start to happen and he gets dragged into it.

I love turn based rpgs, I dont like mashing the button 1k times, I loved the story of BG and the characters but I hated the battle system spells were useless unless you rooted enemies first.
I love old school rpgs gold box games, wizardry, might and magic, bards tale....many many more.

All I can say is if your like me and love true rpgs you need to give this game a try it is really fun and lots of surprises. I myself always get the urge to want to play my own game but then i get disappointed because I know everything, but I do fart around with the battles lol.

Also everyone that has played it loves it so far, I have a few people say they cant stop playing it. I wish I could find a rpg I feel that way about, but I've played them all lol

oh yes I am hoping there will be a GOG release I have submitted the game to them, not sure what else to do. I'm currently polishing it up then I'll try for steam.

 

[fishdoggames]

Just wanted to let everyone know I created a new dev log on the itch website, it will have news about current updates and upcoming updates, you can leave your comments or questions there, also i'd like to hear all requests on what people would like to see or changes to the game. Thanks
https://fishdog-games.itch.io/soul-of-war/devlog/132056/soul-of-war-dd-inspired-rpg-video-game

 

[Reinhardt]

raise dead potions

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

fishdoggames
Important Queries:

1) Is it turn based?
2) Is there xp for kills?
3) Is a steam release planned?

 

[fishdoggames]

raise dead potions

I only did that because of requests, some people asked because if you don't take the use magic device skill you can't read scrolls, so i sparingly put potions around the world, can't purchase them but you can find them.

 

[fishdoggames]

fishdoggames
Important Queries:

1) Is it turn based?
2) Is there xp for kills?
3) Is a steam release planned?

yes it is turn based, you get xp for kills and quests, there will be a steam release just trying to polish it up atm im trying to get it on GOG. i want to make sure the game is 100% bug free for attempting to put it on steam, also im listening to what people would like changed.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

fishdoggames
Important Queries:

1) Is it turn based?
2) Is there xp for kills?
3) Is a steam release planned?

yes it is turn based, you get xp for kills and quests, there will be a steam release just trying to polish it up atm im trying to get it on GOG. i want to make sure the game is 100% bug free for attempting to put it on steam, also im listening to what people would like changed.

my advice is don't listen too much to the nitpicking of the autists here. Just get it on steam without game-breaking / annoying bugs, and go from there.
If I support you bros with a itch.io purchase, can I expect a steam key later when it is released? I need to do stuff in corona lock-down after-all. replaying underrail, geneforge and kingmaker is getting a bit stale now...

 

[fishdoggames]

fishdoggames
Important Queries:

1) Is it turn based?
2) Is there xp for kills?
3) Is a steam release planned?

yes it is turn based, you get xp for kills and quests, there will be a steam release just trying to polish it up atm im trying to get it on GOG. i want to make sure the game is 100% bug free for attempting to put it on steam, also im listening to what people would like changed.

my advice is don't listen too much to the nitpicking of the autists here. Just get it on steam without game-breaking / annoying bugs, and go from there.
If I support you bros with a itch.io purchase, can I expect a steam key later when it is released? I need to do stuff in corona lock-down after-all. replaying underrail, geneforge and kingmaker is getting a bit stale now...

of course everyone who purchases now will get the first dlc free and a steam key. thanks

 

[Flux_Capacitor]

Ok, I just bought this, and have only gone through character creation. Didn't really look and read everything, but here are some thoughts:

- In the opening story, its stated that its fairly long (its not really, but anyway). If its going to be long, you may want to put the current page number and max page numbers somewhere, like in the lower right, so the player knows how far along they are. Also, if there's a way to skip it once its started, I couldn't find it. You should probably have that as an option.
- Spelling and grammar issues. I get the impression you are not a native English speaker, which is fine, but there are several places already that I've seen that need to be cleaned up. To vs too seems to be an issue.
- Background border images in a lot of places seem to be cut off. For instance, the main one for character creation has a fancy top and top left and right corners, but the bottom only shows about half that. It looks even more cut off for the left selection box (like class selection). Some others are just fine, like the right description box. Not sure why its handled differently. Tried it in both windowed and fullscreen mode, and it didn't change.
- The main background image really needs to be changed. Its far too dark in some places, making it difficult to read the dark text.
- Similar to the previous one, the background for places where you're increasing and decreasing values, like attributes and skills, makes it very difficult to tell what's going on. The right arrow for increasing values practically disappears into the background. Readability and clarity is far more important.
- The scroll bar could certainly stand to be more pronounced.

Hopefully this doesn't make it sound like I'm all negative about your game. I'm looking forward to getting into it.

- Edit
I'm having the game constantly crash just outside the initial house. I keep getting a "Script 'Game_Character' line 129: NoMethodError occurred." I *think* it has to do with the two children near the river. They also have odd names when I hover over them; something like EV025 and EV026. Maybe that has to do with it. There aren't any problems when I talk to them, though.

Also, pathfinding seems a bit slow. Its not terrible most times, but when you click on an illegal location, its pretty bad. For instance, there's a chest in the lower right of the initial house where if you click on it, I got a couple second delay where the entire game stops.

 

[fishdoggames]

Ok, I just bought this, and have only gone through character creation. Didn't really look and read everything, but here are some thoughts:

- In the opening story, its stated that its fairly long (its not really, but anyway). If its going to be long, you may want to put the current page number and max page numbers somewhere, like in the lower right, so the player knows how far along they are. Also, if there's a way to skip it once its started, I couldn't find it. You should probably have that as an option.
- Spelling and grammar issues. I get the impression you are not a native English speaker, which is fine, but there are several places already that I've seen that need to be cleaned up. To vs too seems to be an issue.
- Background border images in a lot of places seem to be cut off. For instance, the main one for character creation has a fancy top and top left and right corners, but the bottom only shows about half that. It looks even more cut off for the left selection box (like class selection). Some others are just fine, like the right description box. Not sure why its handled differently. Tried it in both windowed and fullscreen mode, and it didn't change.
- The main background image really needs to be changed. Its far too dark in some places, making it difficult to read the dark text.
- Similar to the previous one, the background for places where you're increasing and decreasing values, like attributes and skills, makes it very difficult to tell what's going on. The right arrow for increasing values practically disappears into the background. Readability and clarity is far more important.
- The scroll bar could certainly stand to be more pronounced.

Hopefully this doesn't make it sound like I'm all negative about your game. I'm looking forward to getting into it.

- Edit
I'm having the game constantly crash just outside the initial house. I keep getting a "Script 'Game_Character' line 129: NoMethodError occurred." I *think* it has to do with the two children near the river. They also have odd names when I hover over them; something like EV025 and EV026. Maybe that has to do with it. There aren't any problems when I talk to them, though.

Also, pathfinding seems a bit slow. Its not terrible most times, but when you click on an illegal location, its pretty bad. For instance, there's a chest in the lower right of the initial house where if you click on it, I got a couple second delay where the entire game stops.

Thank you...I welcome the feedback im saving what you said and try to redo some of it in the next patch, I am a native english speaker, its just my writing skills suck. but I have someone from here working on it already. (Falksi) hes doing very well and most if not everything will be changed. I also have a spanish translator working on it along with a french translator. I have been meaning to tighten up the ui a bit more, i'll get on it. Thanks again all the feedback helps me make the game better, I'd rather someone be honest and tell me some things could look better than not tell me anything.

 

[Flux_Capacitor]

Some other things before I need to go:

- Not sure how to solve this, but exits in the lower right could be problematic, with the text box in the way.
- Is there a way to go directly from the character sheet to inventory, and vice versa. Having to exit from one and then clicking the button for the other is awkward.
- Also on the character sheet/inventory screens, there are buttons to move forward and backward through the different characters and through the skills/spells/feats windows. However, holding the mouse button down on these forward/backward buttons continuously move through them. Its easy to hold the mouse button down a bit too long and pass the one you want. Would be easier if it just moved once per mouse click, maybe on the mouse button down, or mouse button up.
- Is there a way to flee from combat? Or are you stuck once it gets going?
- Can you change items in combat? You can go to the inventory screen, but you can't seem to switch items. I wanted my character to switch from a ranged weapon to a melee weapon, but couldn't seem to do it.
- You mentioned earlier having trouble with context sensitive mouse clicks in combat. I understand that. If you're not able to get it working satisfactorily, is it possible to add some buttons directly on the main screen for some of the more common options? Stuff like end turn, move, and attack would be nice.

 

[fishdoggames]

Some other things before I need to go:

- Not sure how to solve this, but exits in the lower right could be problematic, with the text box in the way.
- Is there a way to go directly from the character sheet to inventory, and vice versa. Having to exit from one and then clicking the button for the other is awkward.
- Also on the character sheet/inventory screens, there are buttons to move forward and backward through the different characters and through the skills/spells/feats windows. However, holding the mouse button down on these forward/backward buttons continuously move through them. Its easy to hold the mouse button down a bit too long and pass the one you want. Would be easier if it just moved once per mouse click, maybe on the mouse button down, or mouse button up.
- Is there a way to flee from combat? Or are you stuck once it gets going?
- Can you change items in combat? You can go to the inventory screen, but you can't seem to switch items. I wanted my character to switch from a ranged weapon to a melee weapon, but couldn't seem to do it.
- You mentioned earlier having trouble with context sensitive mouse clicks in combat. I understand that. If you're not able to get it working satisfactorily, is it possible to add some buttons directly on the main screen for some of the more common options? Stuff like end turn, move, and attack would be nice.

The next patch we will be implementing an option to hide the text bar at the bottom.
shift arrow keys move your character, space ends turn. i will see about adding buttons
fleeing from combat i worked on for a while but the coding was beyond my skills i kept having many problems, i am trying to find a good coder to help me fix things like that.
i have wrote down the rest of what you mentioned and will add it to the list of things to do.
once again thank you.

 

[fishdoggames]

I just uploaded the new package fixing some text and grammer, doesnt change anything except the text. (by Falksi)

 

[Sloul]

Do you need help with cleaning your english version? I had some experience with doing that previously.

 

[fishdoggames]

Do you need help with cleaning your english version? I had some experience with doing that previously.

Thank you....Falksi is working on it, you can get with him if you like and ask him. He may need some help.
Thanks for your interest.

 

[Flux_Capacitor]

Now some positives/depends on your opinion:

- Music is good and varied, and appropriately dramatic.
- Voice acting is...surprisingly decent. About on par with Baldur's Gate, I'd say. There seems to only be voicing for the player characters, which I have no problem with. You don't have a choice which voice you get; there's a set one for each class/gender combination.
- Portraits are similar to voices; there's one for each class/gender combination.
- Tons of icons. There are icons for skills, feats, and spells. They're bright and colorful, and look good.
- Lots of character creation options. All 11 base classes, 8 races, 12 backgrounds, 13 skills, and a good selection of feats and spells. There are some I'm not familiar with, and would guess they're from supplements. Not all the base feats are there, but there's definitely a solid assortment.
- Pretty solid support specifically for a necromancer/undead summoner. There are several feats similar to Augment Summoning that work only for undead summons, and Summon Undead spell at level 1. I've tried it out a bit, and they're quite strong so far.
- Limited rest mechanic. You find camping supplies, and use one when you rest. There's one immediately, and three more not long after that. Not sure how rare they are later, but low level D&D, especially when you've only got one or two characters like here, kind of necessitates more rests.
- Spell point magic system. Vancian system is replaced with spell points. Metamagic works by increasing the cost of a spell by a multiplier, which can be decreased through feats.
- Pretty good implementation of combat options and tactics. Attacks of opportunity, 5-foot step, charge, trip, and disarm. I've seen mention of others, like bull rush, but haven't seen a way to use them.
- High max level? During character creation and level ups, there are epic level feats that require level 21+. Don't know what max level is.
- Scribe Scroll is the only craft item feat, as far as I can tell. Probably for the best, considering how they pretty much broke KoTC. Scribe Scroll is strong itself, depending on how its implemented. Haven't tried it yet.

Note to the developer - Would it be possible to divorce the voices and portraits from these class/gender combinations? It would be nice to be able to select them for each character, and only tie it to gender. Maybe I want my male wizard to look and sound like a hulking barbarian. It'd give a nice bit of extra variety and personalization for characters.

 

[fishdoggames]

Now some positives/depends on your opinion:

- Music is good and varied, and appropriately dramatic.
- Voice acting is...surprisingly decent. About on par with Baldur's Gate, I'd say. There seems to only be voicing for the player characters, which I have no problem with. You don't have a choice which voice you get; there's a set one for each class/gender combination.
- Portraits are similar to voices; there's one for each class/gender combination.
- Tons of icons. There are icons for skills, feats, and spells. They're bright and colorful, and look good.
- Lots of character creation options. All 11 base classes, 8 races, 12 backgrounds, 13 skills, and a good selection of feats and spells. There are some I'm not familiar with, and would guess they're from supplements. Not all the base feats are there, but there's definitely a solid assortment.
- Pretty solid support specifically for a necromancer/undead summoner. There are several feats similar to Augment Summoning that work only for undead summons, and Summon Undead spell at level 1. I've tried it out a bit, and they're quite strong so far.
- Limited rest mechanic. You find camping supplies, and use one when you rest. There's one immediately, and three more not long after that. Not sure how rare they are later, but low level D&D, especially when you've only got one or two characters like here, kind of necessitates more rests.
- Spell point magic system. Vancian system is replaced with spell points. Metamagic works by increasing the cost of a spell by a multiplier, which can be decreased through feats.
- Pretty good implementation of combat options and tactics. Attacks of opportunity, 5-foot step, charge, trip, and disarm. I've seen mention of others, like bull rush, but haven't seen a way to use them.
- High max level? During character creation and level ups, there are epic level feats that require level 21+. Don't know what max level is.
- Scribe Scroll is the only craft item feat, as far as I can tell. Probably for the best, considering how they pretty much broke KoTC. Scribe Scroll is strong itself, depending on how its implemented. Haven't tried it yet.

Note to the developer - Would it be possible to divorce the voices and portraits from these class/gender combinations? It would be nice to be able to select them for each character, and only tie it to gender. Maybe I want my male wizard to look and sound like a hulking barbarian. It'd give a nice bit of extra variety and personalization for characters.

Thank you very much!, I'm sure I can make the voice request happen, I will see what I can do about it.
Oh also you can purchase camping supplies in towns.
to tell you the truth there is no max level, you can go as high as you want,

Spoiler

later in the game you will be able to farm enemies, there will be places for endless random battles.

 

[Flux_Capacitor]

Thank you very much!, I'm sure I can make the voice request happen, I will see what I can do about it.
Oh also you can purchase camping supplies in towns.
to tell you the truth there is no max level, you can go as high as you want,

Spoiler

later in the game you will be able to farm enemies, there will be places for endless random battles.

Nice. It just seems that many of the voices could easily be used for several classes, if not all.

Is there a maximum number of camping supplies you can carry at once? Right now, they stack (not sure how big the stack size is), and don't have any carry weight. If you can buy and carry a virtually unlimited number, I'm not sure I understand why it was implemented. Personally, I prefer a much more limited approach, where deciding whether or not to use up a valuable resource is an important decision. But, I know not everyone feels that way.

I tried a bit more with a necromancer build, and its crazy strong. I started with a Wizard going all in, and then made a Cleric for buffing/debuffing and more undead. I can't summon yet with the Cleric (what level do the domain spells become available?), but the two from the Wizard were able to take out the two wolves at the entrance at level 1, giving them level 2. Then they took out the three hellhounds just inside the cave without too many problems.

 

[fishdoggames]

Thank you very much!, I'm sure I can make the voice request happen, I will see what I can do about it.
Oh also you can purchase camping supplies in towns.
to tell you the truth there is no max level, you can go as high as you want,

Spoiler

later in the game you will be able to farm enemies, there will be places for endless random battles.

Nice. It just seems that many of the voices could easily be used for several classes, if not all.

Is there a maximum number of camping supplies you can carry at once? Right now, they stack (not sure how big the stack size is), and don't have any carry weight. If you can buy and carry a virtually unlimited number, I'm not sure I understand why it was implemented. Personally, I prefer a much more limited approach, where deciding whether or not to use up a valuable resource is an important decision. But, I know not everyone feels that way.

I tried a bit more with a necromancer build, and its crazy strong. I started with a Wizard going all in, and then made a Cleric for buffing/debuffing and more undead. I can't summon yet with the Cleric (what level do the domain spells become available?), but the two from the Wizard were able to take out the two wolves at the entrance at level 1, giving them level 2. Then they took out the three hellhounds just inside the cave without too many problems.

Yes different builds have there good points and bad ones, some enemies have very high saving throws so wizards and the like would not be wise.
I really wanted to make the game hard thats why I have it so you cant buy certain things like raise dead scrolls or potions you must find them. when I first released the game you couldnt buy camping supplies but people complained. and I remeber with KOTC people complained a lot about not being able to rest lol, so I said the heck with it and made camping supplies easier to get. do you think I should still sell them but just raise the price to like 200 gold each with the next patch?

 

[fishdoggames]

Just got word of a bug for all those who got the game today, the magic dealer in trent is bugged i see the problem and i fixed it, it will be in the morning update, I am sorry. thanks

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

fishdoggames

bought it on itch.io. Always willing to support bros who work for the incline.

UI improvement is a must. A lot of text is unreadable due to UI texture. Change font image set to a white font bordered by black outline maybe? that generally improves readability.
List of hotkeys and/or settings so that I can view/review controls.
Mouse feedback is a bit floaty i guess?

getting that 129 error what Flux_Capacitor said and game crashes.

Instead of wasting your time with voice acting (its competent enough) / graphics (its serviceable, but UI needs quite a bit of work) I suggest you resolve these critical issues. Long time bug-fixing/polishing required for steam release; or the initial negative review will rekt you I suppose.

 

[fishdoggames]

fishdoggames

bought it on itch.io. Always willing to support bros who work for the incline.

UI improvement is a must. A lot of text is unreadable due to UI texture. Change font image set to a white font bordered by black outline maybe? that generally improves readability.
List of hotkeys and/or settings so that I can view/review controls.
Mouse feedback is a bit floaty i guess?

getting that 129 error what Flux_Capacitor said and game crashes.

Instead of wasting your time with voice acting (its competent enough) / graphics (its serviceable, but UI needs quite a bit of work) I suggest you resolve these critical issues. Long time bug-fixing/polishing required for steam release; or the initial negative review will rekt you I suppose.

Thank you for your recommendations, I'm gonna work hard at getting this stuff done. I'm just trying to find the right person to help me out, I'm not the best graphics designer nor the best coder, thats why I'm saving every penny from sales so I can hire a couple of people that will do the job right, there are people cheap on fiverr but I've been burned by a lot of them on there so I don't use them anymore. also I'm glad you mentioned the error I have fixed it, I did not see Flux_Capacitor edit on the error, I had forgot to name the children on mouse hover. I am releasing an update today that wil fix the childrens bug, and the magic dealer in trent village he was bugged I forgot to name an item he has. I'm trying so hard to work on the big stuff that I over look some small things.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Thank you for your recommendations, I'm gonna work hard at getting this stuff done. I'm just trying to find the right person to help me out, I'm not the best graphics designer nor the best coder, thats why I'm saving every penny from sales so I can hire a couple of people that will do the job right, there are people cheap on fiverr but I've been burned by a lot of them on there so I don't use them anymore. also I'm glad you mentioned the error I have fixed it, I did not see Flux_Capacitor edit on the error, I had forgot to name the children on mouse hover. I am releasing an update today that wil fix the childrens bug, and the magic dealer in trent village he was bugged I forgot to name an item he has. I'm trying so hard to work on the big stuff that I over look some small things.

After fixing the UI and critical/irritating bugs you could release the game on steam as Early Access.
This would reduce butthurt over lacking polish and also give you a huge pool of feedback for bug fixing/polishing and a lot of funding.

 

[fishdoggames]

fishdoggames

bought it on itch.io. Always willing to support bros who work for the incline.

UI improvement is a must. A lot of text is unreadable due to UI texture. Change font image set to a white font bordered by black outline maybe? that generally improves readability.
List of hotkeys and/or settings so that I can view/review controls.
Mouse feedback is a bit floaty i guess?

getting that 129 error what Flux_Capacitor said and game crashes.

Instead of wasting your time with voice acting (its competent enough) / graphics (its serviceable, but UI needs quite a bit of work) I suggest you resolve these critical issues. Long time bug-fixing/polishing required for steam release; or the initial negative review will rekt you I suppose.

Thank you for your recommendations, I'm gonna work hard at getting this stuff done. I'm just trying to find the right person to help me out, I'm not the best graphics designer nor the best coder, thats why I'm saving every penny from sales so I can hire a couple of people that will do the job right, there are people cheap on fiverr but I've been burned by a lot of them on there so I don't use them anymore. also I'm glad you mentioned the error I have fixed it, I did not see Flux_Capacitor edit on the error, I had forgot to name the children on mouse hover. I am releasing an update today that wil fix the childrens bug, and the magic dealer in trent village he was bugged I forgot to name an item he has. I'm trying so hard to work on the big stuff that I over look some small things.

After fixing the UI and critical/irritating bugs you could release the game on steam as Early Access.
This would reduce butthurt over lacking polish and also give you a huge pool of feedback for bug fixing/polishing and a lot of funding.

Thank you, I'm gonna do that, is there anything you can tell me about steam that could help me out in getting it up there? I really don't know a lot about steam I have never used it.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Thank you, I'm gonna do that, is there anything you can tell me about steam that could help me out in getting it up there? I really don't know a lot about steam I have never used it.

Well I do not know much about Publishing games on steam. Just that steam sale volumes can be a LOT with the right promotion.
Better PM people who have actually published games on steam. Like Vault Dweller Styg Atomical 68kStudios Sneaky Seal

What I will tell you is that for those who dig these kind of cRPGs, the art style and sound is beautiful as it is.
There is no need to invest more on graphics/sounds/voice acting any more. Those who want pretty colors and top tier voice acting will not buy your game no matter how much you can realistically invest in these.

If the lack of controls/setting is due to an engine limitation, include a pdf manual with your release which details the default control scheme. And maybe a ingame splash screen which points out the pdf manual. good enough for a quick-fix/workaround.

But the UI issues (other than possible game-breaking / time-wasting bugs) is the only major hurdle for your title with amazing potential.