KickStarter Telepath Tactics Liberated - deterministic tactical RPG inspired by Fire Emblem

[Craig Stern]

Thanks, guys!

Craig Stern
That's interesting. Good riddance to Flash, really. What tech are you using now? Also the screenshot suggests you're going further than that. Are you going to convert Telepath Tactics into a Final Fantasy Tactics-style 3D game?

As vonAchdorf suggests, I'm using Unity going forward. Any remake of TT in this new engine will be the same basic game; it won't be made any more FF Tactics-y than it is now. So why 3D? The 3D graphics offer two big advantages:

(1) I won't need to rely on screwy 2D approximations to portray elevation differences anymore. (Which is to say, no more nonsense like that side-facing stairwell in the bar fight that you can't actually shoot down.)

(2) You'll be able to rotate the game camera to see battles from different angles. (This is already 100% supported in the engine as it exists today.)

Thanks for the dedication Craig, the non-Windows version were probably responsible just for a fraction of the sales, and still seemed to require a disproportionate amount of work from what I read.

The non-Windows versions didn't cause too much trouble apart from Steam; it's really Steam that was the problem there, tbh. I'll still support non-Windows builds of my games going forward, but I won't be so quick to promise Steam support for them.

I'm not so sure about the "real" 3D in the screenshot - the old 2D engine was visually nice, while this looks a bit confusing.

The reason it looks confusing in that screenshot isn't because it's 3D; it's because those characters are standing on a battlefield consisting of identical tiles at wholly randomized levels of elevation. Trust me, it'll look better once I start crafting actual, coherent levels in it.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

(1) I won't need to rely on screwy 2D approximations to portray elevation differences anymore. (Which is to say, no more nonsense like that side-facing stairwell in the bar fight that you can't actually shoot down.)

But those approximations never looked bad. Not once I have been confused or thought elevations felt forced.

(2) You'll be able to rotate the game camera to see battles from different angles. (This is already 100% supported in the engine as it exists today.)

The most unnecessary and useless feature ever.

 

[Craig Stern]

The issues with the distorted 2D elevations weren't cosmetic so much as mechanical. Shooting sideways onto the ground from an elevated position was impossible, there was no way to accurately portray range when shooting upward/downward to ground level from the top of a cliff or tower, etc.

You're right that the ability to rotate the camera wasn't essential in any of the levels you see in Telepath Tactics (they were specifically designed to be viewed from the one supported viewing angle, after all)--but this will open up a lot of new options for designing new levels using that engine--and in a few cases, may be essential to make things work with the newly non-distorted range/elevation interactions.

 

[Mustawd]

Glad you chose Unity. Some engines make the 2D sprite/3D environment a bit hard to do with a rotating camera.

 

[Niektory]

I understand the advantages with going 3D, but I like the current 2D pixel art look and I highly doubt it will look as good in 3D. It's also likely to be more fiddly with rotatable camera. So I'm a little torn here.

 

[Craig Stern]

Yeah; I like the pixel art as well, but it seems we may be in the minority on that one! I actually posted a poll a month or so ago in the Facebook group "Tactical Turn Based Games," asking which type of projection people preferred. 3D perspective won in a landslide:

You can see perspective in that KS update; here's orthographic projection, which is in the old style:

 

[Niektory]

Well... If you used that screenshot as an example it's not surprising that it lost. It may be the same projection the old engine used but it obviously looks much worse. You can't say based on that poll that people didn't like the old look, because the options were The Ugly New Look 1 vs. The Ugly New Look 2.

 

[tuluse]

Craig Stern

If you're doing a 3d camera can you at least have set camera orientations the player can cycle through (like FFT) and not a free form camera that will inevitably lead to fighting with it?

 

[pakoito]

Yeah; I like the pixel art as well, but it seems we may be in the minority on that one! I actually posted a poll a month or so ago in the Facebook group "Tactical Turn Based Games," asking which type of projection people preferred. 3D perspective won in a landslide

I was flabbergasted when this week on twitter reddit people were calling Duelyst's pixel art ugly and lazy. Seriously, check this shit:

Artist:
https://twitter.com/adamklingpixel





Random HQ video, better watch muted:


Apparently the new generation equates pixel art with low production values and would rather get LBA levels of 3D modelling.

 

[Jinn]

I guess I'm from a different generation (I'm 28) but 2D art almost always looks better to me, at least in terms of RPGs/Strategy games. Yes, there are some indie developers who go a little too far with the minimalism of their pixel art, but for the most part there seems to be a lot of really talented people creating some wonderful art direction by classic means. Again, this could be nostalgia talking, but from my perspective 2D art is almost always more aesthetically pleasing/just plain more classy. I really love the art in Telepath Tactics, and I think if it was polished a bit more it could be even more pleasing to the eyes. Particularly the environments.

 

[Ninjerk]

I think lazy is off the mark, but I really dislike pixel art at that resolution.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

The campaign has been successful. The masses have accepted 'pixel art' as an artistic style as opposed to calling it 'shitty graphics' by today's technical standards.

That's not necessarily a comment on this game. Just saying.

 

[Anthedon]

Great news. Will the Unity version allow saving during fights?

 

[roshan]

Hopefully the current version will remain available even after the new one releases!

 

[vonAchdorf]

Get it on GoG and make a backup

 

[Craig Stern]

The current plan is to leave the original release up there no matter what; any updated version I put out will be a "special edition" or somesuch.

Craig SternIf you're doing a 3d camera can you at least have set camera orientations the player can cycle through (like FFT) and not a free form camera that will inevitably lead to fighting with it?

Yup! The camera rotates at fixed 90-degree intervals, so as to play nice with the sprite art / keep things coherent / not look terrible.

Great news. Will the Unity version allow saving during fights?

That would be good, wouldn't it? I'll see what I can do.

 

[Craig Stern]

Btw, a quick follow-up on this, just posted today: http://sinisterdesign.net/true-messiah-september-2016-update/

If you're interested, I'd keep an eye out for the Kickstarter on or about the last Monday of this month!

 

[Jaesun]

Holy crap that art is fucking amazing! <3 <3

I doubt you will be doing a video card game of this though?

 

[Craig Stern]

Holy crap that art is fucking amazing! <3 <3

I doubt you will be doing a video card game of this though?

Thanks! I actually spent some time creating a digital version of the board game (it's how I started off teaching myself Unity), but decided to let it lie until I know that the actual physical board game is popular enough to make a digital adaptation a feasible commercial project.

 

[Jaesun]

That is certainly reasonable. Will definitely back this, just for the damn art. :D

We do have a forum specifically for PnP and Card Games: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?forums/the-gazebo.58/

Be sure to make a post there when the Kickstarter goes live! Good luck!

 

[Craig Stern]

That is certainly reasonable. Will definitely back this, just for the damn art. :D

We do have a forum specifically for PnP and Card Games: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?forums/the-gazebo.58/

Be sure to make a post there when the Kickstarter goes live! Good luck!

Sweet, thanks! Will do!

 

[mastroego]

Digital version would be relevant to my interests.

 

[Craig Stern]

The True Messiah Kickstarter is up--check it out!

(Also, I posted on The Gazebo, for the sake of orderliness: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...ah-a-game-of-surreal-religious-horror.111193/)

 

[pakoito]

The link goes straight to the FAQ for whatever reason.

 

[Craig Stern]

The link goes straight to the FAQ for whatever reason.

I appreciate the catch; fixed it!