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

[Iluvcheezcake]

I'm waiting for a Lovecraft RPG where you play as the horrors rather than the humans. You can still start off weak and stuff, but the point of the game should be to become stronger and create dominion over the weaklings.

Try "Cultist Simulator":

https://store.steampowered.com/app/718670/Cultist_Simulator/

(never played myself, but it looks cool)

Cool game, but a maaaaaassive time sink

 

[MRY]

Not sure the answer to either question. It's not like I was privy to their business decisions, I just gave some advice and made some introductions.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

I was able to help these guys out in various ways over the years, and they seemed like nice folks. The game seems to be in for dire straits, though -- it's just barely at 60% positive on Steam, and once it dips under that, I'm a bit worried as to whether it will ever come back above water. :/

Its their own fault tbh, 4 years for a 15 hr game that ends abruptly, instead of going early access.
I loved the 15 hours tho, but the end is abrupt and awful

Not very long into production, they ran into funding snags, which was one of the things they consulted with me on. (I'm not sure how much help I ultimately was; maybe a bit.) So I'm not surprised that they had trouble tying it off. An indie group releasing an RPG at all (15 hours seems pretty robust to me) is nothing to sneeze at, particularly given the challenge they faced.

Was that the reason they signed that publisher deal with 1C Entertainment?

Edit:

Not sure what the "citation needed" is about, but it says 1C Entertainment is the publisher on their Steam page.

Citation needed was me ineptly showing interest in the answer to your question as well

 

[Yosharian]

Because it's so freaking pitch black in that room that you constantly lose sanity just by being in there without a light. Your ability to "see" in there is for the player's benefit to find the exit.

I'm sorry, no. It doesn't make any sense that my character can suddenly not be able to find a crate and feel inside it for what might be a metal transmitter, just because there's no fucking light.

Now what might happen is my character might say "There's something here but I can't figure out what it is without seeing it" which would be perfectly fine and logical.

But for the item to cease to exist in the game world just because I don't have my light on is fucking ridiculous and counter-intuitive.

 

[Yosharian]

Two other things I recall being mentioned in this thread:

- The Baroness puzzle: It's not trial and error, but it doesn't spoonfeed you the answer either.

Spoiler

You're supposed to examine the globe the guy gave you while you're in the dreamworld to read up on her life story and choose her fears in the order she had them.

What globe? I don't remember being given any globe.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Two other things I recall being mentioned in this thread:

- The Baroness puzzle: It's not trial and error, but it doesn't spoonfeed you the answer either.

Spoiler

You're supposed to examine the globe the guy gave you while you're in the dreamworld to read up on her life story and choose her fears in the order she had them.

What globe? I don't remember being given any globe.

Her servant gives you a snowglobe while in the realworld. If you inspect it while in the dream you get a nice childrens book event

 

[Fedora Master]

Either manage your time and budget better, make the game Early Access or be open about its total lack of actual content. Anything else is a scam.

 

[Fedora Master]

I'm waiting for a Lovecraft RPG where you play as the horrors rather than the humans. You can still start off weak and stuff, but the point of the game should be to become stronger and create dominion over the weaklings.

Try "Cultist Simulator":

https://store.steampowered.com/app/718670/Cultist_Simulator/

(never played myself, but it looks cool)

The writing in Cultist Simulator is pretentious garbage.

 

[Yosharian]

Two other things I recall being mentioned in this thread:

- The Baroness puzzle: It's not trial and error, but it doesn't spoonfeed you the answer either.

Spoiler

You're supposed to examine the globe the guy gave you while you're in the dreamworld to read up on her life story and choose her fears in the order she had them.

What globe? I don't remember being given any globe.

Her servant gives you a snowglobe while in the realworld. If you inspect it while in the dream you get a nice childrens book event

For fuck's sake... I missed that. Ok well that makes more sense now. I was like 'wtf how am I supposed to know which statue to pick'. I thought it was weird...

 

[Roguey]

I'm sorry, no. It doesn't make any sense that my character can suddenly not be able to find a crate and feel inside it for what might be a metal transmitter, just because there's no fucking light.

Now what might happen is my character might say "There's something here but I can't figure out what it is without seeing it" which would be perfectly fine and logical.

But for the item to cease to exist in the game world just because I don't have my light on is fucking ridiculous and counter-intuitive.

Close your eyes, go into a room you've never been into, and try to find an object you've never seen before.

 

[Yosharian]

I'm sorry, no. It doesn't make any sense that my character can suddenly not be able to find a crate and feel inside it for what might be a metal transmitter, just because there's no fucking light.

Now what might happen is my character might say "There's something here but I can't figure out what it is without seeing it" which would be perfectly fine and logical.

But for the item to cease to exist in the game world just because I don't have my light on is fucking ridiculous and counter-intuitive.

Close your eyes, go into a room you've never been into, and try to find an object you've never seen before.

Close your eyes, go into a room with a crate with a metal transmitter in, and tell me how the crate and transmitter both cease to exist simply because your eyes are closed

 

[Roguey]

Close your eyes, go into a room with a crate with a metal transmitter in, and tell me how the crate and transmitter both cease to exist simply because your eyes are closed

It's a gamey convention because you're going to go insane in the dark from all the time it's going to take you to find it. As I said, the fact that you can see at all is a concession to player convenience.

 

[Yosharian]

Close your eyes, go into a room with a crate with a metal transmitter in, and tell me how the crate and transmitter both cease to exist simply because your eyes are closed

It's a gamey convention because you're going to go insane in the dark from all the time it's going to take you to find it. As I said, the fact that you can see at all is a concession to player convenience.

This is just a bunch of rationalisation for a shitty game mechanic. Even if I was subject to an insanity mechanic while in the dark, losing the ability to perceive physical objects by touch wouldn't be intuitive unless there was some visual cues on-screen that indicated such a thing.

If you pulled this kind of thing in a PnP game the players would at best be super confused and at worst would start throwing dice at you

 

[Roguey]

This is just a bunch of rationalisation for a shitty game mechanic. Even if I was subject to an insanity mechanic while in the dark, losing the ability to perceive physical objects by touch wouldn't be intuitive unless there was some visual cues on-screen that indicated such a thing.

If you pulled this kind of thing in a PnP game the players would at best be super confused and at worst would start throwing dice at you

There is a visual cue, the overall darkness and the fact that nothing lights up when you press alt.

In a pen and paper game, the GM would either say you go insane for taking too long or you end up eaten by a grue, whichever comes first.

 

[Yosharian]

There is a visual cue, the overall darkness and the fact that nothing lights up when you press alt.

In a pen and paper game, the GM would either say you go insane for taking too long or you end up eaten by a grue, whichever comes first.

> the overall darkness

The darkness-level has nothing at all to do with the ability to perceive objects BY TOUCH

> the fact that nothing lights up when you press alt.

The fact that nothing lights up when you press ALT is an indicator that there are no interactible objects in that area. This is the intuitive conclusion because there are plenty of other objects drawn into the map that can be visually seen yet are not interactible, in other areas of the map. Thus, it's not intuitive to see the lack of objects lighting up and draw the conclusion 'there's something there but I need to use a light!' That's just ass-backwards rationalization.

> In a pen and paper game, the GM would either say you go insane for taking too long or you end up eaten by a grue, whichever comes first.

That's very disingenuous and you know it.

 

[Yosharian]

What's ironic is that the very thing you state as a 'player convenience' (the lack of complete darkness) would be the very thing that would be a very intuitive signal to the player that they needed a fucking torch/lamp.

 

[Roguey]

The darkness-level has nothing at all to do with the ability to perceive objects BY TOUCH

How many video games do you know accurately represent searching for things in the pitch-black? It's not fun.

The fact that nothing lights up when you press ALT is an indicator that there are no interactible objects in that area. This is the intuitive conclusion because there are plenty of other objects drawn into the map that can be visually seen yet are not interactible, in other areas of the map. Thus, it's not intuitive to see the lack of objects lighting up and draw the conclusion 'there's something there but I need to use a light!' That's just ass-backwards rationalization.

"This room exists yet there's nothing I can interact with here. It must have a purpose, ergo I need to turn on a light. My constantly draining sanity is also telling me I need to turn on a light."

That's very disingenuous and you know it.

Not at all.

"I search the room."

"Uh... okay. *rolls dice* You find nothing and lose 5 sanity from the darkness."

"I keep searching the room."

"*rolls dice* You find nothing and lose 5 sanity from the darkness."

*repeat until bad encounter happens, sanity goes to 0, or (extremely unlikely) you actually do successfully find what you're looking for*

 

[GandGolf]

The darkness-level has nothing at all to do with the ability to perceive objects BY TOUCH

How many video games do you know accurately represent searching for things in the pitch-black? It's not fun.

There's that one room near the end of 'Monkey Island 2' where you have to grope around in total dark, at least in the original.

 

[Wunderbar]

On my first playthrough as an Aristocrat i had no problems with light and never ran out of fuel at all.
Replaying the early game as an Occultist and during Marsh warehouse section i had to backtrack three times to buy some kerosene. Wtf is that, another bug?

 

[Roguey]

On my first playthrough as an Aristocrat i had no problems with light and never ran out of fuel at all.
Replaying the early game as an Occultist and during Marsh warehouse section i had to backtrack three times to buy some kerosene. Wtf is that, another bug?

Was it filled all the way? I'm also pretty sure the light keeps draining during combat.

 

[Indix]

the last fight in the warehouse can be avoided

Why would anyone do that?

If you can't stand the combat or if you can't handle this particular combat since it's the hardest battle in the game (this isn't a compliment).

you kill the head ghoul first and all the rest

Spoiler

flee

 

[Indix]

never found the stupid second hand shop that sells the laterns; or, maybe I did and my eyes glanced over it or I didn't scroll all the way to the bottom. the UI/UX isn't great, but it's an unfinished game, what can you do.

 

[Wunderbar]

Roguey on my first playthrough the oil bar was barely moving, i think i've spent like 1 bar segment during the whole warehouse.

 

[Roguey]

Roguey on my first playthrough the oil bar was barely moving, i think i've spent like 1 bar segment during the whole warehouse.

Perhaps that was the bug. Given how the warehouse is the only major area that requires light, it very well should drain fast enough for it to be a big deal. I only had to backtrack once though.

 

[the mole]

Close your eyes, go into a room with a crate with a metal transmitter in, and tell me how the crate and transmitter both cease to exist simply because your eyes are closed

It's a gamey convention because you're going to go insane in the dark from all the time it's going to take you to find it. As I said, the fact that you can see at all is a concession to player convenience.

The problem with this is that player convenience shouldn't be a thing in this section, if you can beat the whole area without a lantern, then you should be able to loot the boxes regardless, and take the penalties associated with it

Either make the sanity drain faster, or, make it completely pitch dark so you literally cant see anything

I couldn't beat the quest for probably 5 hours, or more, I had killed everything in the warehouse, and was given no indication that I couldn't loot boxes without a lantern

It's simply unclear to the player, and completely bends the rules