KickStarter Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - a Lovecraftian Computer RPG

[Musaab]

We want blood samples because there were a lot of Armenians after World War I who changed their names to Turkish and Kurdish names to feel safe after their failed uprising was put down.

 

[Scrawled]

Thank you for sharing all the Kickstarter updates people. More updates soon to follow...

 

[---]

Wow, the campaign is going super well, my compliments guys I have great hopes for this game, it's clear that you developers have first of all a great passion for what you are doing

 

[Zombra]

Update #7

Jun 13 2016

Mr. Lovecraft As Your Game Master

Greetings Acolytes!

We've always loved written descriptions in CRPGs. Think of the gore descriptions of Fallout or Planescape: Torment's surreal written depictions of its landscape.

There is always something interesting in that text box that adds another layer of immersion to the game. You can learn how the air smells, notice subtle changes in character's faces, feel tingling sensations under your skin... Right text creates the imaginary stimulant that can't be shown with fancy graphics and merge player better with the game's world.

We view this as an extension of the oral practice of Dungeon Master telling the players what's going on around them in tabletop role playing. We love tabletop roleplaying as any decent RPG developer around and we're writing our descriptive texts honoring Lovecraft as the Game Master of Stygian. His style and lexicon will be present in all of our game text to create the feeling of weird fiction's master is actually your game master in Stygian. We shared some examples below:

Vein Roots are now infesting Arkham
"This strange leafless red ivy grows out from the ground and strangulates all buildings and edifices, seemingly spurting out of every crevice. It's contorted and serpentine form constitutes a threatening appearance."

The Old Eel House
"This local restaurant, once a bright and cheerful gathering place, is now a haven for hoodlums and fools, a de facto clubhouse for the hard boiled denizens of this doomed town. The uneven chatter within speaks of conspiracy, and the dim light reveals just enough to discourage your approach."

The Grandfather Altar
"This towering depiction of one of the Elder Gods perches atop the naked base of a shattered statue. Fashioned from scraps of wood and metal, awkwardly fastened together with nautical rope, it displays the twisted aesthetics of it's makers, men clearly cursed with some disease of the brain."

"From the creature's back sprouts a pair of membranous wings, bat-like and striated with thick veins. The ellipsoid skull is covered in weird organ like antennae, from which emanate a wide spectrum of colored rays, the effect of which you do not care to imagine."

Projects We Like

Fabular: Once Upon a Spacetime

By Spiritus Games

Developed by Spiritus Games, Fabular: Once upon a Spacetime is a medieval fantasy themed space adventure rpg, where the player gets to be a brave a knight whose purpose is to attain medieval cosmic glory and unexplore deep chasms of the universe where no other knight has dared to go.

Assets such as the vast number of skills, items and a variety of ships you can upgrade serve as an effective means to nourish any rpg and adventure player's appetite. They only have 25 hours to go! Good Luck Spiritus Games!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spiritusgames/fabular-once-upon-a-spacetime/description

Next Update: A Poll on Stretch Goals. What Else Do You Want to See in Stygian?

 

[Starwars]

Descriptions are nice but editing will be needed by someone who is good at English. I'm not but I do for example know that "It's contorted and serpentine form constitutes a threatening appearance" should be "Its contorted and serpentine form constitutes a threatening appearance."

 

[lightbane]

Mr. Lovecraft As Your Game Master

Will it have racist imagery then? And virtually no presence of (attractive) women?

 

[an Administrator]

Mr. Lovecraft As Your Game Master

Will it have racist imagery then? And virtually no presence of (attractive) women?

With a few edits, we can put Lovecraft of the right side of the history!

 

[Bustamonte]

Eh, history will got like this if wombyn ever get full control:

Wombyn call the shots for 5 seconds, everything collapses and is conquered by everyone else and an extreme "regressive" government takes over from there on out.

Mr. Lovecraft As Your Game Master

I don't think that would work out as they like, though such a game would be amazing.

A game where everything is truly shit and gets worse with every moment and there is no hope no matter what

 

[MisterStone]

Descriptions are nice but editing will be needed by someone who is good at English. I'm not but I do for example know that "It's contorted and serpentine form constitutes a threatening appearance" should be "Its contorted and serpentine form constitutes a threatening appearance."

Actually the whole sentence should be rewritten and about half as long... the punctuation is an easy fix, the wordy amateur fanfic prose needs some serious tuning. The Old Eel House text is spot on, were these written by the same peeps?

 

[Space Insect]

I think the reason the writing is being criticized is because of how closely it follows Lovecraft style. Lovecraft had some great ideas and usually a good sense of pacing and such, but his prose just sucked.

 

[Prime Junta]

I think the reason the writing is being criticized is because of how closely it follows Lovecraft style. Lovecraft had some great ideas and usually a good sense of pacing and such, but his prose just sucked.

IMO it's not so much that his prose sucked, but that he didn't have a good enough editor.

At the Mountains of Madness is fairly well-written by most measures IMO... until the shoggoths show up and everything descends into purulent, gibbering, scabrous te-ke-li-li lunacy anyway.

 

[Ellef]

I think the reason the writing is being criticized is because of how closely it follows Lovecraft style. Lovecraft had some great ideas and usually a good sense of pacing and such, but his prose just sucked.

Is this what insecure Lovecraft fans say who are afraid to admit liking authors not praised in University Literature programs?

His prose did not suck, he did not become the face of fantasy horror by being a shit author.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

Agreed. That said, his prose is unconventional and probably an acquired taste. Getting some of that into the game is commendable, but also a bit tricky (and needs more "singularly" and "grotesque" i guess).

From the examples i like The Old Eel House description best.

 

[Bustamonte]

Most people are too retarded these days to follow a sentence that expresses a complex thought, so they call everything written by someone literate terrible writing. Film at 11.

 

[tormund]

To hell with those that hate on Lovecraft's prose. I'm not even a native English speaker, and his writing style is still part of his appeal to me.
And his prose can be legit beautiful at times, like in Dreamland tales...

Mr. Lovecraft As Your Game Master

Will it have racist imagery then? And virtually no presence of (attractive) women?

With a few edits, we can put Lovecraft of the right side of the history!

Modern Murrican Fantasy Writors are already doing that
https://www.amazon.com/Ballad-Black-Tom-Victor-LaValle-ebook/dp/B0166PX1Z8
(Oh, and in the preface he apparently even states how "Lovecraft was awful as a writer" or something to that measure, and for good measure his novel apparently features psychopathic racist villain named "Howard". Probably a good read for Codexian libruls that like to insult Lovecraft's writing)

 

[Scrawled]

Let us know if you happen to visit Istanbul again Prime Junta. Unfortunately he doesn't need us to have the most evil of ideas. He seems he's going "terrific" without our help...

Istanbul's a super-cool city too. Shame Erdogan is now demanding blood samples if you want to swing by. You sure you guys haven't been giving him ideas Scrawled?

 

[Prime Junta]

Let us know if you happen to visit Istanbul again Prime Junta. Unfortunately he doesn't need us to have the most evil of ideas. He seems he's going "terrific" without our help...

Istanbul's a super-cool city too. Shame Erdogan is now demanding blood samples if you want to swing by. You sure you guys haven't been giving him ideas Scrawled?

I just might take you up on that. I'll probably swing by Beirut later this year, and I often go through Istanbul...

 

[MisterStone]

I think the reason the writing is being criticized is because of how closely it follows Lovecraft style. Lovecraft had some great ideas and usually a good sense of pacing and such, but his prose just sucked.

Is this what insecure Lovecraft fans say who are afraid to admit liking authors not praised in University Literature programs?

His prose did not suck, he did not become the face of fantasy horror by being a shit author.

Look, nevermind if Lovecraft's prose sucks or does not. The writer shouldn't give themselves an excuse to suck... writing well is hard enough anyway.

 

[Kz3r0]

Wow, the campaign is going super well, my compliments guys

Not quite, they are just edging it, at this point, can implrove or can get worse let'see.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

And another update.

A Poll: What Else Do You Want to See in Stygian?

Greetings Fellow Occultists!

In this update, we'd like to ask your opinion about some of the stretch goals we have in mind.

Before announcing our ruinous plans, we wish to explain a decision we took about the hierarchy of our stretch goals. Since Stygian was Greenlit on Steam, we've been approached both by our brother acolytes and private companies on the matter of language localisation of game content. With the launch of our Kickstarter, interest has escalated, and we've decided to include the localisation process as a natural part of the development of Stygian. With this out of the way, we will now focus our efforts on content, content, and more content!

Let's have a look.

The Town of Dunwich (Expansion Area)

The ramshackle hamlet of Dunwich awaits beyond the eddying mists. This isolated farming village hosts an unspeakable horror somewhere among the warrens of tumbledown warehouses and shacks. Perhaps a relaxing tour of this charming burg would provide a nice break from the hustle and bustle of Arkham...

Can you feel its presence?
We plan to add the Town of Dunwich to the game as an additional area with its own unique quest line, NPCs, items and events.

Dreamlands (New Game Systems and Narrative Content)

Do you think that sleep may offer some respite from the horrors of the Black Day? Not in Stygian. You'll think twice before slipping into the realm of Morpheus, for another world of wonder and terror awaits in the Dreamlands!

Rest you may find, but not in dreams. Rather, in death...
We're planning to implement a set of Dreamlands experiences to add yet another layer of engrossing storytelling and gameplay to Stygian, while giving a unique edge to familiar rest mechanics.

When resting from your exertions, you will be able to enter the Dreamlands and achieve different goals by unveiling the mysteries of your ancestors in this other world.

Dreamlands will include both adventure game elements and puzzle-like combat encounters. The unique perks you gain in the Dreamlands will also be reflected in the waking world of Stygian.

Spell-crafting (New Game Systems)

Would you like to create your own spells to thwart your foes and possibly hasten your own demise? With spell-crafting you'll be able to cobble together your own incantations from theOccult Phrases you've previously learned.

The more you master the Art, the closer to the Abyss you tread.
It will take some time to balance the strengths and penalties of magick spells, but this forbidden knowledge will grant you access to new survival strategies and immerse you even further in the Mythos!

What do you think? Please write your priorities to the comments section below!

 

[HoboForEternity]

puzzle-like combat encounters

i am a sucker for these, i hope they are well made and clever! game got better with every update

 

[Daemongar]

Looks very good, and even better, original in approach. I'm not a rich man, a LARPer, or a goth, but I really want that cultist robe at the 200 Euro level...

 

[thesheeep]

I'm not a rich man, a LARPer, or a goth, but I really want that cultist robe at the 200 Euro level...

With the robe, you can certainly pretend to be all three of those.

 

[screeg]

He won't be pretending.

 

[Zombra]

Update #9

Jun 16 2016

The decision has been made! Let's have a look at our Stretch Goals

Greetings Acolytes!

Thanks for your participation! It's wonderful to see such excitement and curiosity towards what comes next for Stygian

The order of our stretch goals is as follows:

You can click on our Stretch Goals to learn more about them.
And with your permission we'd like to repeat our decision on Localisation Stretch Goals, in case some of our backers have missed our previous update:

Since Stygian was Greenlit on Steam, we've been approached both by interested professional individuals and private companies on the matter of language localisation of game content. With the launch of our Kickstarter, interest has escalated, and we've decided to include the localisation process as a natural part of the development of Stygian. Now we see the French, German, Spanish and Russian localisations of Stygian as a stronger possibility and decided to focus on additional content. Please contact us via message or e-mail for further information.

See you in our next update!

That is not dead which can eternal be played.