KickStarter The Iron Oath - turn-based strategy RPG with awesome pixel art

[YES!]

This looks pretty good. I hope you emphasis rpg more than hipster emo gimmicks.

 

[sennin]

Thanks for the devtag!

This looks pretty good. I hope you emphasis rpg more than hipster emo gimmicks.

Hah, thanks...that depends on what hipster emo gimmicks entails :p

I'm most interested in hearing about open world and procgen quests. What's the extent of simulation here?

Tactical play seems decent, although I hope the small and relatively simple battlefield map shown in the pitch video is one of many more complex maps. As it currently looks even BB has a more varied map to fight on, and BB has what, 3-4 maps?

Most of the dynamic quests will be triggered by various world events firing off. We kind of want the overworld to play out sort of like a game of Crusader Kings, factions will war with each other and can conquer or temporarily destroy cities, they can forge alliances or even plot the murder of a king. Tied with these events will be an underlying world economy, keeping track of a cities military forces, and resources(their needs and what they're able to trade and export to other cities).

For a complex example, let's say 2 factions go to war with each other over a newly discovered gold mine in disputed territory(the discovery of which would be an event itself and wouldn't always result in wars, but at the very least would affect the economy & trade of the faction who claims it, boosting their wealth and allowing them to import some much needed resources or bolster their ranks with mercenaries for example). The war drags on and severely cripples the forces of both sides. Due to each factions forces being called to this location, other cities under their control are left under protected, and a group of bandits takes advantage of the situation by raiding the outskirts of several of these cities. This will create a quest for clearing out this particular group of bandits. Normally, the bandit situation might resolve itself eventually and the quest would be removed from the list of possible missions, but with both factions occupied by the war and their forces depleted the problem would likely continue to escalate until either the war ends, or you step in and complete the quest.

A simpler example would be an event firing in a region, stating that the wolf population is running rampant now that summer has arrived. A few different types of quests could arise from this, one could be a mission to find a group of missing civilians, one to retrieve the body or a family heirloom from a hunter that has likely perished or one to visit various locations and clear out the wolf population yourself. Like before, the situation can eventually resolve itself, or it could escalate and affect the cities economy.

As for the environments, most indoor environments(the one in the gameplay video is actually old and going to be scrapped/revamped) will be 4-5 hexes high, some rooms/hallways could be as high as 6 or low as 3(3 will be pretty rare though as it's quite cramped). Various traps & obstacles(some being destructible like crates, some indestructible/impassable like rock formations or holes in the ground) will help to add variety to each environment so its not always a wide open grid. There will be some outdoor environments too that will be larger than the indoor, but most of these will be strictly combat events and there wont be any exploration. For example, you're traveling from one city to another in the overworld, you receive a prompt that a tradecart of a certain faction passes you by, giving you the option to let it go or attack it and risk the repercussions of such an action(and choosing to attack will bring up an outdoor combat environment). Overall, we'd like to have at least 10 indoor environments and a few outdoor ones for each region of the world.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=939157197 Heres a link to our steam concepts page which has some screenshots of some newer environments I'm working on + a little more up to date info on the game

 

[sennin]

Very promising. If you can deliver that level of complexity and depth in world simulation of economy and diplomacy that the player can participate/influence, I think you will have a winning formula. A lot of sandboxes that sounded promising turned out to be very static or just plain vapor, so I will be watching this one closely.

I hear where you're comin from. Hopefully we won't have to scale anything back, but I can assure you the game wont become vapor as we're 100% committed to this.

I guess the concern is that these relatively tight battles constrain the player to skirmishes and ambushes between small squads, and make me wonder how the player will get to participate in larger scale battles between the factions described above. Cities under siege, towns being raided etc. It's fine if that's outside the planned feature scope of the game, but it has to be justified narratively somehow.

Ya, the main focus of the game is definitely small scale encounters and exploration(party limit for a mission is 4). These aspects were mostly inspired by Darkest Dungeon and we really want to emphasize tactics, non-combat decisions(choosing to interact w/ certain items etc) and resource management. Larger scale battles(allowing maybe 8-12 in your party) is something we've talked about briefly but that's more of a wish list thing. The way you would be able to take part in those bigger wars would be in more specialized ways(you perform a small but important mission while your allies provide the main assault and distraction that allows you to both succeed). For example if you were allies with one of the factions fighting a war, they can approach you with a task of reclaiming a watch tower that is vital to controlling the area. This would take place within a tower environment, so it would make sense that the encounters remain on a smaller scale.

 

[Gulnar]

Seems good.

 

[sennin]

Hey everyone. We've been working hard the last few months and we're pleased to announce that we'll be coming to Kickstarter on August 9th. We started a Thunderclap campaign(https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/59595-the-iron-oath) to help get the word out and would appreciate any support!

For the last few months I've been working on creating new environments for the game. I only have 1 or 2 tile pieces completed for each so far but the hard part is done at least

Up next I'm going to be working some new props & character/enemy designs. As always if anyone has any questions I'm happy to chat

 

[HoboForEternity]

Looks interesting. Will follow. Will probably back when KS comes out.

Will back in higher tier if my bitcoin investment is good.

 

[sennin]

Signed up, best of luck to you.

Looks interesting. Will follow. Will probably back when KS comes out.

Will back in higher tier if my bitcoin investment is good.

Thanks guys, appreciate it

 

[Castozor]

Looks good, your concept trailer seemed to have rather challenging encounters. What kind of battle difficulty are you aiming for with this game and how important would you rate the combat overall?

 

[Beastro]

and it felt really satisfying when the (Knight?) would fly into the air and come down on an enemy and slash it to bits and then stand next to it for the next round..

Dragoon

 

[Zed]

looks sick, well done

 

[anvi]

and it felt really satisfying when the (Knight?) would fly into the air and come down on an enemy and slash it to bits and then stand next to it for the next round..

Dragoon

Yea those guys were pimps.

 

[sennin]

Looks good, your concept trailer seemed to have rather challenging encounters. What kind of battle difficulty are you aiming for with this game and how important would you rate the combat overall?

At the moment the combat isn't really balanced or complete, there's still quite a few features missing in that trailer like spirit regeneration(basically like stamina but a little more complicated), blocking/dodging was also disabled for this video. We also wanted a character to die, so I believed we upped the damage values so it wouldn't drag on past 5minutes.

We want the combat to be fairly difficult(but fair) and requiring some thought & preparation both during combat and before even starting a mission. This entails choosing the right party makeup for the dungeon type you are entering(a characters experience, their class/damage type and character traits will be the key thing here), equipping any helpful gear you may have, deciding when to use your limited resources(health potions etc and your higher Spirit cost abilities) and choosing the proper time during the mission to set up camp and recuperate. Each mission will also have difficulty ratings, influenced by the region it's located in and other factors so you'll always have the choice to take on an easier mission for a lower reward, or risk your characters in a deadly mission for a big payoff.

Overall the combat is definitely important and probably the main feature(though you could potentially spend more time exploring & managing things in the overworld than actually fighting, if you were so inclined). We definitely don't want it to be boring or unfairly difficult so you can be sure we will continue to iterate on it until we're satisfied

looks sick, well done

Cheers

 

[sennin]

Hey folks, I'm back with another update just a couple days out from our Kickstarter. To follow up with the environments I showed you previously, here are the recently completed in-game versions.

We're pretty happy with how it's all turned out, hope you guys like the look! It's been a busy few weeks for us prepping our Kickstarter page but we're nearly there and cant wait to get it underway. I'll be back to post our trailer when it drops

 

[HoboForEternity]

Those are nice arts.

I am loving these hi pixels games nowadays

 

[sennin]

Thank you! It sure takes a while to do, but I feel it's worth it

 

[Infinitron]

So it's kind of like a Battle Brothers with awesome pixel art? You'd think the Codex would be more excited about this.

 

[sennin]

Ya there's quite a few comparisons to be made with Battle Brothers from what I've seen. I havent played it myself but I think the biggest difference would be that our combat is primarily occuring in indoor environments(Darkest Dungeon is the inspiration for this). Our Kickstarter drops in a little over 4hours, so hopefully you guys have something to get excited for

 

[Kuattro]

Well I know what that one with the lightning reminds me of.

But I think me, and everyone else here, being natural born cynics, get more excited when we have something to actually play.

Right now there's only a promise. A very good looking promise, mind you, but just that. And promises, in the video-game industry, are right now a dime a dozen, most of them to remain unfulfilled until the end of times.

I'm not trying to question the commitment nor the ability of the people behind this of course. If anything, they seem pretty capable and to be already in a very good path, but still, that's a reason why the reaction here might be a bit meh.

I might even pledge, and I never do that, because it really looks great.

 

[*-*/\--/\~]

"Awesome pixel art" is kind of an oxymoron, I have seen enough of that stuff back in the nineties... and it should have stayed there. The rest looks kinda interesting, will watch this one.

 

[Jimmious]

This looks really interesting and cool. I just hope that the combat will be deep and challenging enough

 

[CryptRat]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/312751524/the-iron-oath-dark-turn-based-tactical-rpg



Full description :

Spoiler

The Iron Oath is a turn-based tactical RPG that is set in a dark fantasy world. Recruit, manage, and embark on missions with a roster of adventurers, testing the limits of their mortality. Every decision made carries weight and can have a minor or major influence on your characters and the world that surrounds them. As you and your guild progress, the world changes dynamically, enabling new storylines to discover and resulting in a unique experience for every playthrough.

• Tactical turn-based Combat: Deadly foes, traps and destructible objects means one misstep could be your party’s undoing. Proper planning and execution is vital to your success.
• A Large and Dynamic Overworld: 9 regions with over 50 hubs to visit. Cities can be overtaken, destroyed and rebuilt; while various factions can emerge, rise and fall. A playthrough can potentially last hundreds of years, resulting in many changes to the initial world state.
• In-depth Guild Management: Control your guild's finances, resources, alliances and roster. Your characters will age, retire and frequently die in combat and you will need to recruit and train their replacements.
• Character Development: Every recruitable character has their own personal backstory, incorporating events that have taken place during your playthrough. Their motives, alignment and traits all stem from this, but each of the three is subject to change as their career progresses.
• Dynamic Dialogue: Characters will converse over a variety of subjects such as the current state of the world or relevant past experiences, along with offering their input on any decisions you face.
• Decisions Matter: Your choices bear consequences and they can affect your characters, your guild and the many factions that exist throughout the world.
• Detailed Pixel Art: Meticulously hand-crafted pixel art characters, animations and environments help set the mood for your journey.

• 
  

There are 2 main aspects of gameplay in The Iron Oath: The Mission phase & the Overworld phase. Missions focus on combat and exploration, while the Overworld deals with managing your guild's affairs and traveling.

Combat is a near certainty in any mission you choose to undertake. You will have to overcome your enemies' strengths and exploit their weaknesses by carefully planning your party's composition, formation and using each class's skill-set to its fullest potential.

Every character class has a set of unique abilities that cost Spirit to use. The key is not just understanding how to use your abilities, but also when to use them. Resource management is paramount during missions and Spirit is your most valued resource. Do you use the Paladin’s ‘Holy Barrage’ now to deal with the horde of undead that are upon you? Or do you instead employ your Spirit more conservatively in case a greater threat lies beyond?

Your characters will react accordingly to various events and abilities that will see their Spirit pools fluctuate. Striking a critical hit, killing blow or casting abilities at key moments will spur your character's confidence and increase their Spirit. Conversely, having an ally get knocked down or even killed can see it plummet.

Combat in The Iron Oath is turn-based and occurs on a hex grid. The size and shape of the grid varies depending on the the environment, and can be further altered by various destructible objects, traps & abilities. You might find that certain party compositions fare better in confined quarters with choke points, while others excel in wide open areas. There are many viable compositions for every situation, and you will be encouraged to experiment and discover your favorites!

Many objects that obstruct hexes can be destroyed

In between combat engagements, you will explore procedurally generated dungeons on your way to completing your mission. Enemies are not the only obstacle that your party must overcome. Traps, hazards, rare events & scarce resources will all seek to challenge your resolve and that of your characters.

Not everything is a detriment to your party however, there are many interactable objects and events that can prove beneficial. Hidden passages can be uncovered, unlocking secret areas that contain rare loot or long forgotten artifacts. Shrines of ancient Gods can grant their blessing to those who are deemed worthy. You may even stumble across an NPC who requires your assistance, or one who offers theirs to you.

A traveling merchant offers to sell you his wares
Much like combat, exploration has a heavy emphasis on resource management and decision making. If your party is low on health or Spirit, perhaps it would be best if you left that corpse alone rather than risk an unwanted battle. Whenever there is a choice to be made, your characters will offer their opinion on what they believe is the correct course of action. Heeding their advice is generally wise, but they will not always agree with one another and ultimately you will have the final say.

When dungeons are long enough you will be given the opportunity to set up camp. Doing so allows your party to rest and recover their HP, Spirit and possibly remove any negative traits that they have acquired on the way. Your party may even end up with a few well-rested bonuses providing the conditions are met. Choosing when and where to camp are both equally important; camping too early may squander its benefits, and choosing to camp in an unsecured room could prove disastrous.

Full map of the known world
The overworld is comprised of 9 unique regions with over 50 cities and towns for you to visit. The economy and political makeup of the world is completely dynamic and subject to change as time passes. There are a variety of events that can occur in the world, triggering outcomes such as wars, the destruction of cities, or even the complete collapse of a once powerful faction. All of these events and their outcomes shape what storylines and missions are made available to you.

An overworld view of the realm of Lithus
The decisions you make on your journey can also have a profound influence on the world and your guild. You may choose to spare a powerful sorcerer who bargains for his life, only to see him spawn a large faction of undead that begins to threaten or overtake the region. There are a number of encounters you will face while in the Overworld, and you will need to consider your choices and their consequences carefully.

One of many possible encounters in the Overworld

As you travel throughout the overworld and complete missions of your choosing, you will earn gold and reputation for your actions. Gold is obviously valuable, but your guild’s reputation can be equally important. Do you want to be known as cut throat mercenaries, leaving a pile of bodies and enemies in your wake? Or do you want to remain honorable by helping those in need and forging meaningful alliances. Whatever path you choose will have an effect on the missions and opportunities made available to you. Keep in mind, your characters have their own motives, opinions and a sense of loyalty towards the guild. Making choices that they do not agree with can decrease their Loyalty, leading them to question, abandon or even betray you.

Maintaining your guild is a costly venture; you will need to pay expenses for travel, accommodations, and supplies. Your characters don't risk their lives for free either, and they will expect to be paid on time and by the terms of their contracts. Planning out your travel route and accepting the right missions goes a long way to running a successful organization.

As time passes your characters may retire, leave or die and you will need to be on the lookout for new recruits. Recruiting can be done while visiting towns and cities, but you will also have the chance to recruit some NPCs that you encounter in the overworld or while completing a mission.

When it comes time to begin a mission, choosing the right party and provisions are crucial to success. There are a few important factors to consider for this:

• Are they willing? Depending on the mission, some of your characters may not be inclined to participate, either for moral, psychological, or other reasons. You may force them if you wish, but it could lead to problems within the dungeon or even further down the line.
• Are they fit for duty? Your characters can succumb to a number of negative traits, illnesses and injuries that should all affect your decision to include them in the party.
• What threats are you likely to face? Certain classes and compositions perform better than others against a particular foe, and taking along the right potion or antidote may just save a life.
• Do these characters get along? Your characters have an Affinity rating to one another which can affect the party’s synergy. If two of your members dislike each other, tensions between them could potentially unravel the mission.

Many class compositions will be viable for any given situation, but you will need to take into account all aspects of your characters in order to form the most effective party.

Choose your party and provisions wisely

Every character that is available for you to recruit has their own backstory. Their backstory is comprised of moments in their life that shape who they are, and incorporates world events that have occurred during your playthrough. Perhaps they grew up in a small town that was ransacked during a recent war, and lost their home and family. A character’s goals, traits and alignment are determined by these moments in their backstory. Using the above example, they may want revenge on the offending faction or they may simply hold a general dislike towards them. Moments often have a character trait associated with it, which can be either positive or negative.

There are a number of ways for you to develop and customize your characters as well. Once a character has earned enough experience to level up, you will be able to spend an ability point to augment one of their abilities. Each ability has its own skill tree of enhancements for you to choose from such as: increased potency, reduced cost or added crowd control effects.

The Paladin's ability bar
Traits are another aspect that you have some partial control over by way of the Mentor System. This feature allows you to assign an experienced character to mentor another of the same class. By doing this, the mentor will be able to pass on some of their more positive traits, and also increase the rate at which the apprentice gains experience. Additionally, if the mentor manages to survive until their retirement, they will pass on their passive ability to the apprentice.

Lastly, gear allows you to further customize your characters. A Diablo-like loot system allows you to obtain a variety of equipment through merchants, quest rewards and by looting either enemies or misplaced chests of treasure.

We are planning to launch the game with 12 distinct classes, each possessing 6 unique active abilities and up to 2 possible passive abilities. We’ve also fully mapped out another 9 classes that we'd like to eventually add to the game.

The 4 classes currently in-game
The 4 classes currently implemented are the Paladin, Pyrolancer, Stormcaller, Valkyrie. The other 8 are the Grappler, Hellraiser, Shifter, Sage, Warden, Nightstalker, Trickster, Troubadour. We will share more information and abilities with forthcoming updates, including the visual reveal of the Grappler class after we hit our first social goal.

Lineup of various enemies you will face
There will be numerous enemy types to provide you with both variation and challenge, such as: beasts unique to each region, bandits & various human factions, undead creatures, demons, and the Blighted.

The Valkyrie prepares herself against the Blighted
You will also come across many neutral NPCs on your excursions including merchants, blacksmiths, other adventurers and more. Your choices during these encounters can have a number of possible outcomes for your guild and potentially the world.

In the first age humanity was young and vulnerable. Then came the Gods, who shared their wisdom and knowledge. The Gods shielded humanity from the threat of the Blighted, and they grew into prosperity.

However as time passed, so too did the Gods. They were replaced by a great being of darkness; one that brought only death and disease to the land. Those afflicted by its blight lost their minds, their bodies and their souls as they slowly became abominations of the flesh and outcasts to society.

The Dragon, a great being of darkness, death & disease
Yet in the wake of this tragedy heroes began to emerge, taking up the mantle left vacant by the gods. They defended the realm with their lives for centuries, but eventually they too would fade. So humanity endures, waiting for new heroes to rise up that can perhaps put an end to the suffering that has plagued them for so very long.

The Void is a dark realm where the souls of the living linger after they die
--------------------------

A fragile peace now exists between the factions of the world. Every few decades, the dragon(whose exact origins remain a mystery) ventures out from its slumber within the Void, returning to the realm and inflicting its sickness upon the people. Those afflicted are known as the Blighted, and they slowly transform into aggressive abominations who are often then shunned, excommunicated or killed.

The game begins on the eve of the dragon’s return(or so the people believe). Uncovering and completing the main storyline of the game is entirely optional, and you may choose to ignore it and let events unfold without your input.

The Iron Oath boasts a dark fantasy orchestral soundtrack produced by talented composer Alex Roe. Alex draws from a wealth of experience in writing remixes & original music based on the Dark Souls and Bloodborne series. Other influences for the soundtrack comes from titles such as Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Shadow of the Colossus and Soul Sacrifice.


If you'd like to hear more of Alex's work, we encourage you to visit his Bandcamp: http://alexroe.bandcamp.com

The Iron Oath will be released on Steam for PC, Mac and Linux. DRM-free versions will be made available through The Humble Store. Our targeted release date is Q1 of 2019.

We’d also love to bring the game to consoles but as we’re a small team we cannot yet commit to the idea. Whether or not it happens will depend on opportunity and the success of this campaign.

Your pledge means everything to us, but there are other ways you can support the campaign too! Help us spread the word on Facebook and Twitter, drop a tip to your favorite journalist, tell your family, your friends, even your cat! Every goal reached pushes us one step closer to unlocking the following rewards:

• 4 Goals: We’ll unveil another playable class in a campaign update: the Grappler
• 8 Goals: An alternate skin for every class will be added to the game
• 12 Goals: Our artist will create a video tutorial explaining his process and tips for designing & animating characters
• 16 Goals: Enlarged and improved character portraits will be added for all cinematic & dialogue sequences.
• 20 Goals: Discover the hidden secrets of our game’s world by completing a multi-stage quest which will unlock an additional character class in the game.

Links for Social Goals:

• Follow on Twitter: Follow @TheIronOath on Twitter
• Retweet Us: Retweet this tweet on Twitter
• Follow on Tumblr: Follow our Tumblr account
• Share on Facebook: Share this post on Facebook
• Like Us on Facebook: Like The Iron Oath's Facebook page
• YouTube Trailer: Re-watch and share our YouTube trailer

This is our dream game and we’ve been working on it nearly full-time for the last year. In order for us to continue in a full-time capacity and hit our 2019 release date, we need your support! Part of your funding will go towards our basic living expenses, but we also need to pay our composer, hire a sound designer and additional pixel artists to help with the art and animation workload.

Any funds raised above our target will be put towards our large list of stretch goals that we had to place on the back burner during the designing stage. There’s a lot of potential there that we’re really excited about and we hope to get the opportunity to reveal and discuss our ideas with you!

And finally, the community we build through this Kickstarter will help provide us with valuable feedback on various aspects of the game’s development. We cannot thank you enough for your interest and support and we hope you believe in our project enough to back us and tell your friends!

Concept Art by @mobiusu14

Follow us on social media and keep up to date by signing up for our newsletter!

• Twitter: @theironoath
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/theironoath
• Website & Newsletter: theironoath.com
• Tumblr: theironoath.tumblr.com
• YouTube: youtube.com/user/CuriousPandaGames
• Alex Roe's Bandcamp: alexroe.bandcamp.com
• Mobiusu's Deviant Art: mobiusu14.deviantart.com

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[Kuattro]

The 2.000$ pledge seems like it was made expressly for the Codex.

Pledge $2,000 or more
Design a Bandit Group
Design a notorious group of Bandits who can become the subject of various missions, Overworld Encounters and World Events. Choose the group's name and colors, choose their leader's name and backstory, their location within the world, and what type of crimes they are known and wanted for. (Content subject to our approval)

Includes:

• Desktop Wallpaper & Ringtone
• 2× Digital Game (Steam or DRM-free)
• Your Name in the Credits
• Digital Manual
• Digital Art Book
• Digital Soundtrack
• Invitation to Closed Beta
• Invitation to Private Discord
• Exclusive In-game Guild Flag
• Your Name in the NPC Pool
• Write a Corpse's Journal
• Book of the Fallen
• Design a Legendary Item
• Design a Neutral NPC
• Design Overworld Encounter or Event
• Design the Shrine of a God
• Design a 2-Stage Mission
• Design a Bandit Group

2.0 marketing at its finest, I would say.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Dem animations


Thesystem looks interesting too. Will back later after i sleep

 

[sennin]

Having trouble adding quotes but we appreciate the support guys

CryptRat You're a legend man, thanks for posting all the information <3

Jimmious Strategic & Challenging combat is definitely the intent!

Kuattro You know we didn't even consider the fact that the 2k reward could be a fun thing for a group of people to band together for. Maybe you guys can make it happen

 

[mediocrepoet]

Having trouble adding quotes but we appreciate the support guys

Maybe I'm failing my reading check, but on the Kickstarter page, it says you guys already shipped a game together. What was it?