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

[HeatEXTEND]

They look way too "bad-ass", generic skeletons shouldn't look like bad-asses.

 

[Beowulf]

What bothers me more, is that the sprites for left and right sides are just mirrored along the horizontal symmetry line.
So you can see characters switching between being left-handed and right-handed on the spot.

 

[Sarissofoi]

who cares
graphic are fine, the same goes for skeletons
what about mechanics and gameplay?

 

[Brancaleone]

What bothers me more, is that the sprites for left and right sides are just mirrored along the horizontal symmetry line.
So you can see characters switching between being left-handed and right-handed on the spot.

Them clever skellingtons

 

[Beowulf]

To each their own.
I'd just prefer less fancy animation but more common sense.
Like in Myth.

 

[Zombra]

Pixel artists, quit your day job and work for Curious Panda!

Update #32

Jun 24 2018

June Update

Hey guys we're back with our June update! We've spent some time lately getting a build polished enough to show at trade shows and a few weeks ago we went to DreamHack Austin to show off The Iron Oath to the public!

Getting ready for Day 1! Even though we've known each other for around 10 years (we met playing the Age of Conan MMO!) this was actually the first time we've ever met in person.
This was our first major expo and it was an overall awesome experience. Most importantly for us, the game was very well received by those who played it, and we gathered some useful feedback as well. It was great meeting other developers, and we even had a few backers stop by which was nice to see!

All in all, we were able to show the game off to a few hundred people over the 3-day event. Even though manning the booth for 8 hours a day was a lot of work, it was worth it to see everyone’s reactions and reaffirm that we are on the right path.

Showing The Iron Oath to some DreamHack attendees
After DreamHack we've spent some time implementing a few of the most common requests we heard, like outlining targets in combat, clicking to move during the exploration phase, warning players if they are about to hit a friendly unit with AoE damage, and the ability to undo your movement in combat (as long as you don't incur an attack of opportunity from moving or trigger other hazards).

The Stormcaller flashes red to warn the player an ally is in the line of fire
I also recently updated our cut scenes to have more intricate animations and interactions with fewer lines of scripting. The following gif was created with just 6 lines in a script which plays the animations and spawns the skeletons into the scene.

The Outlaw leader sacrifices an ally to form a pact with the undead in this quest
We’re Hiring!

We're looking to hire an additional pixel artist to work on our overworld map. It's a fairly big task, and one that we decided would be better to outsource. Here is a full-sized version of the map(which would normally be viewed at 200% scale in-game): https://i.imgur.com/sy2BXI4.png

I started work on one of the regions a long time ago, but it could certainly do with some improvements, as it's a little too barren and the pixeling could be much better: https://i.imgur.com/96xCJbp.png

A better example of what we would be looking for is from this overworld preview from the game Stoneshard

Of course we'd be open to any style as long as we feel it fits the game's tone. If you're interested in applying for the position please send us an email at:

curiouspandagames@gmail.com

Please include any relevant works from your portfolio or feel free to whip up a small mock. It will also be helpful to mention your standard rate(as we have a budget to keep in mind! lol), but we can discuss that in more detail once we come closer to a decision. Thanks!

What’s Next?

With our expo build finalized(the plan is to take it to PAX West in a few months, hopefully that pans out!), we're now turning our attention towards the beta build, and mapping out everything that will be included in it. We'll share more details about that when the plan is more final.

 

[Zombra]

Nice update this month. No new visuals but quest scripting and so forth is proceeding. Also a quick mention of "world simulation" elements with faction AI and things happening in the world with or without player interaction.

Update #33

Jul 28 2018

July Update

Hey guys, here with our July update for The Iron Oath! This month's update is a little short as we're working on things that we can't easily show off quite yet such as finalizing the lore, main quest campaign, working on our "Narrative Design Tool", and more work on the overworld simulation aspects of the game.

A look at our tool being used to create content for The Iron Oath. On the left is a searchable list of cutscenes, quests, dialogue, etc. On The right is a group of nodes grouped by a quest.
Our narrative design tool has been fleshed out to accommodate everything we'll need to make hundreds of quests for The Iron Oath. The tool is used to make everything involving dialogue, cut scenes, world events, and quests with as few lines of scripting as possible. The goal has been to make it as easy for us to make lots of quests but still have access to loads of variables and functions in game. The tool exposes functionality for us to play animations for characters, branching dialogue trees, branching quests, play sound effects, alter the state of the game in a variety of ways, and loads more.

A simple quest created using our Narrative Design Tool
As for the world simulation elements of the game we have made some great progress. Previously those elements were prototyped in some external programs but they have been integrated into the main game now and it's really exciting to see the simulation play out. Factions will trade or fight over the limited resources in the world. Alternatively they might form new alliances and overthrow a ruler not providing for their people. We'll share more progress of that in the future once we get the art more finalized. Right now it's still using programmer art which as you can imagine looks incredible!

BackerKit and Surveys

At the end of this month we'll be closing the BackerKit store so it will be the last chance for anyone to get the game at the $15 price tag. Additionally there are still over 100 people who have not yet completed their BackerKit surveys. We sent out a reminder email last week and will continue doing so until we lock down the surveys(exact date TBA). If you haven't received an email and have not completed your survey, you can request it to be resent here: theironoath.backerkit.com

Lastly if you haven't already done so, please take a moment to wishlist us on Steam as it helps with the game's visibility. Thanks and have a great weekend!

 

[Abu Antar]

Here’s a new gif.

 

[Infinitron]

This is a short timelapse of a vanish animation for the 'Backstabber Outlaw' enemy in our Tactical RPG The Iron Oath. This animation was done a while ago but I believe it took me about 2-3 hours. I've had some technical issues with recording timelapses as of late but I'm hoping to post a lot more in late 2018 and throughout 2019

 

[Major_Blackhart]

What's the expected release date on this one?

 

[Zombra]

What's the expected release date on this one?

Kickstarter says March 2019, whatever that means. Steam page says simply "2019".

 

[Abu Antar]

I’m on my phone. There’s a gameplay sample and a music sample that didn’t make the copy/paste.

Update #34

Sep 16 2018

September Update: Concerning the release date and more

Hello backers! We have a number of things to share with you today, along with some good news and bad news, the latter of which we’ll address first as it’s most relevant to you.

We’ve come to realize over the last few months that our initial timeline was too ambitious for the game’s scope, and even though we’ve made good progress overall, the game will unfortunately not see a release in 2019. This also means that the closed beta which we had initially planned for next month will be pushed back to a later date. We have an idea of the new release window, but an exact date won’t come for some time as we have many new factors to consider. We do sincerely apologize to all of you who have supported us and were looking forward to the beta/launch. We hope you can understand our position of wanting to deliver The Iron Oath in a state that we are proud of, without compromise to its various aspects of gameplay. We’d also like to reassure you that this is not a financial decision and the project is not in any danger; we’ll both continue to work full-time on the game until its completion.

So what’s the good news? We have a lot of exciting announcements in store, but we can’t quite spill the beans on them yet. In short, we’re firmly in a position that will allow us to complete the game to its full extent and deliver it to a wider audience. We believe we’ve taken the best course of action to ensure the game’s success and we hope the coming announcements will soften the blow of the delay. I know the above is all very vague, but please bear with us

In lieu of the beta next month, we’ll be making our current expo build available starting next weekend to our beta tier backers so we can collect their feedback. We'll post a separate update for that once it's ready for download. We’re also planning to make another pre-beta build available some time in the first half of 2019. For the rest of our backers, we'd like to share with you a gameplay video taken from the build:

Last month Chris took the build to the Orlando IX convention where hundreds of people had a chance to sit down and try out the game. Overall it was a little busier than our experience at DreamHack, and the game was once again well received which is always a good sign! Here’s some pictures from the event:

As for what we’ve been doing the last month and a half: Chris has continued to work on the Overworld’s gameplay experience, working on tasks such as sea travel; visiting city hubs and interacting with the different buildings in each; and the flow for accepting, completing and turning in different types of quests. Last month I completed all the lore and world history, and have just recently finished a large task focusing on the logic for Rulers and the different decisions that are available to them during the course of the world’s simulation. We’re getting close to a point where we’ll be able to sit back and watch the game’s world progress through hundreds of in-game years. It’s pretty exciting to think about all the gameplay possibilities that will present themselves to the player!

The game’s soundtrack has been coming along nicely, and Alex has been continually creating some awesome music to accompany the game. Here’s a short clip of one of his recent tracks for the city hubs of Winter’s Reign:

Finally I’ve uploaded an art timelapse that I completed earlier this summer. I haven’t been able to upload as many as I’ve wanted due to some unfortunate Aseprite crashes while recording. If it keeps happening I’ll have to start recording my entire process and editing down the video so it’s watchable! Either way there will be lots more coming in 2019 as we continue to fill out the game’s content.

We’d like to once again apologize for the situation and ask for your patience and understanding. We do believe the extra wait will be worth it in the end!

 

[Infinitron]

So what’s the good news? We have a lot of exciting announcements in store, but we can’t quite spill the beans on them yet. In short, we’re firmly in a position that will allow us to complete the game to its full extent and deliver it to a wider audience. We believe we’ve taken the best course of action to ensure the game’s success and we hope the coming announcements will soften the blow of the delay. I know the above is all very vague, but please bear with us

Sounds like they got a publisher.

 

[Zombra]

I'm not a beta level backer, but those who are should now have access to the "expo build":

Update #35

Sep 22 2018

Expo Build now available on BackerKit

Hey everyone, as promised we're distributing the expo build today to our beta tier backers. If you’re eligible, you can claim the build by doing the following:

• Login to your BackerKit Account (https://www.backerkit.com)
• Click the ‘Review Details’ button next to The Iron Oath
• Click on the ‘Get your Digital Downloads’ button
• Download the Build.

As an aside, there are still many who have yet to claim their Private Discord Invite, and you can find it in the Digital Downloads section as well. If you haven't completed the survey(it was sent out last year), you can do so here to create your BackerKit account. We hope you guys enjoy the build and we would be appreciative if you could leave your feedback in the Discord!

We have a couple things we'd like to mention about the build itself before you begin playing. Since this is an expo build, we're usually standing next to the person playing and can easily answer any questions they have. This isn't a tutorial mission, so there's a lot to take in when you begin!

The balance of the build isn't necessarily representative of the final game and was crafted to give a brand new player a challenge(but for an experienced player it is fairly easy). You'll notice that the Focus cost of abilities is very generous and you can basically use anything you wish without fear of depleting your Focus. We did that to let players have fun with each class and get to know their abilities without having to manage Focus costs. Obviously that will be a major factor in the final game, but for this build it's not something you need to worry about!

There are 5 Health Potions you can pick up in the first chest that can be used both inside and outside of combat. If you find any bugs you can hit F12 to report it and describe(if possible) what you were doing when it occurred.

Have a great weekend and we look forward to hearing your thoughts!

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I want this game to come out soon. So far it looks impressive.

 

[Serus]

What's the expected release date on this one?

Kickstarter says March 2019, whatever that means. Steam page says simply "2019".

It says "2020" now I'm afraid.

 

[Mazisky]

Problem with indie games (not devs fault obviously) is that they take a very long time to be made, and half of them become vaporware

 

[Zombra]

Update #36

Oct 31 2018

October Update

Another month has passed! We're still hard at work everyday on The Iron Oath and making great progress. This month we wanted to give you an update on some of the systems we recently implemented into the game, starting with the Injury System.

All of your characters are mere mortals, and as such they are susceptible to a variety of injuries that can be sustained during combat which will reduce their effectiveness or place them out of commission for a specified period. Our design philosophy behind this system is to encourage the player to make use of their full roster and experiment with different classes and combinations, as well as giving consequences to actions (or inactions) committed during a battle.

Injuries can be sustained in two different ways. The most common is when a character is “Downed” and reduced to 0 HP. An injury is automatically applied when this occurs, and its exact nature and location is defined by a series of dice rolls that:

• Determines the zone of the Injury
• Determines the specific body part within the selected zone
• Determines the grade of severity (which can be influenced by their injury history, age, attributes, traits, and equipment)

The second way to sustain an injury(or worsen an existing one) is by taking damage that is a high percentage of a characters max HP. Placing a fragile mage in front of an enemy with a great warhammer would risk a trip to the Infirmary, especially if they land a critical hit!

As mentioned, there are four main zones on the body where injuries can occur: the Head, Torso, Arms and Lower Body. Each zone has many possible injury types, and those types apply penalties to your characters depending on the severity of them. Many(but not all) injuries will also be accompanied by Lacerations, graded as Light, Deep and Severe. A character with a laceration will take damage whenever they perform a combative action aside from Waiting. If not properly treated, and depending on the grade, a Laceration can worsen and lead to Complications in the form of Infection, Fever and Death. The former two apply attribute penalties to the character, while the latter is pretty self explanatory! Below is a chart of all possible injuries and their respective penalties.

When an injury is sustained in combat, you can apply a Bandage to Stabilize the injury and treat any Lacerations, which prevents them from worsening to a higher grade for the time being. If you’re out of Bandages, you’ll need to do your best to shelter that character until the mission is over, or risk their injury becoming worse and possibly fatal.

The recovery time varies for each possible injury. The effects could last as little as a month, but more severe injuries could sideline a character for up to a year(which sounds longer than it really is! lol). Apart from Bandages which are temporary solutions, some injuries don’t require any medical intervention and will heal on their own without issue. However, more severe injuries will require treatment, either by your guild’s Physician or at a City’s Infirmary if the injury is beyond their capabilities. Even with treatment, sustaining a severe injury can sometimes have a lasting and permanent effect(in the form of a Trait) on the character, such as the loss of an eye or an ear.

In addition to the implementation of Injuries, Chris has been working more on the world simulation code off and on for a few months now, and it’s starting to all come together nicely. This has been a HUGE undertaking and the amount of work we’ve put into it should hopefully translate into making the world of Caelum a very interesting place, with a lot of room for replayability. Houses and cities will rise and fall, Kingdoms will wage war and nobles will plot to sabotage their counterparts. Through quests, you will be able to assist Houses in their endeavors and help swing the outcome of these events one way or another. We'll continue to have more to say on these aspects of the game in the future as we get closer to release and It’s something we’re planning to show off in a devlog video at some point.

This past month Nik has been finalizing the enemy pool and the respective abilities of each type. Enemy variety(both their looks and mechanics) is of great importance to us, and we’ll have some visuals to show off over the next couple months for that. There's been plenty more smaller tasks we've tackled this month but those were the major things we wanted to highlight for this update. See you next time, and Happy Halloween

 

[Sarissofoi]

Problem with indie games (not devs fault obviously) is that they take a very long time to be made, and half of them become vaporware

(not devs fault obviously)

(not devs fault obviously)

>doubt.jpg

 

[Abu Antar]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...th-dark-turn-based-tactical-rpg/posts/2358789

November Update

Hey everyone. This months update will be a little shorter than usual but things are still moving along nicely. I have recently been able to shift focus back to artwork, drawing visuals to match the enemy designs that were laid out last month. There's a lot to go through but I'm excited that we're at a point where I can ramp up and focus on asset production. In saying that, I've recorded and uploaded the design process of a couple enemies that will round out the "Outlaw" enemy group.

The first is the Outlaw Chief, the boss enemy of the Outlaw grouping who will appear frequently throughout the game:


The second is the Outlaw Bladedancer, a higher tier enemy who uses her unique weapon deal a large amount of damage if left unchecked.


I'll record a few more timelapses to share next month as I continue to work my way through the list of enemies

Chris has worked on various features during the month of November: continuing to tweak the Overworld simulation; implementing character leveling, ranks and aging; and revisiting the aspects of the Line of Sight feature that were previously left unfinished (such as specific obstacles and allies providing "cover", and tweaks to enemy AI so they play by the rules!).

Finally, a friendly reminder that you can wish-list The Iron Oath on Steam (link here), which helps bring visibility to the game. We'd very much appreciate it! See you all next time

 

[Zombra]

The December update!

Update #38

Jan 3 2019

Happy New Year!
Posted by Curious Panda (Creator)

Happy New Year to everyone, and we hope you all enjoyed the Holidays We're a few days late here with our December wrap-up so we apologize for that, but here it is nevertheless!

This past month Chris has been working on various mechanics that take place during dungeon crawls. First up is our overhauled knockout state for your characters which we've dubbed as the 'Bleedout' mechanic.

Previously as a placeholder, your characters would get knocked down and their health would go into the negative until a certain threshold was hit, upon which time they would die. Healing them back into the positive would get them back into the action. Now when your character is knocked down in combat, they enter the Bleedout state where they dip into a reserve health pool, which is represented by a series of blocks on their health bar. They receive one for every point of Constitution they have, and this pool is persistent throughout the entire dungeon, carrying over from battle to battle. This means that if a character is knocked down and their reserves are reduced to 6 blocks prior to being revived, the next time they get knocked down their reserve pool would still be at 6 bars instead of the maximum.

On their turn, a character in the Bleedout state will lose 1 block of reserve health. Attacks committed by enemies will also deplete it further. Healing the downed character at any point will restore them and bring them back into the fight (at the health value they were healed for).

The dynamic dialogue feature has also received some love, adding in various triggers for characters to communicate, such as when they sustain an injury, experience a character's death, or land a critical hit.

The logic for coming across and interacting with shrines is also being worked on, with various Gods that can grant your party buffs(or debuffs) depending on their nature and how you interacted with the shrine (such as what items you offered, how you answered their query or whether or not you complete a task they charge you with). We'll have more to show for this feature at a later date!

On the art side of things, we've recently hired a talented artist to oversee the final version of the Overworld map which is coming along nicely. Here's a sneak peek of its current state; we're looking forward to sharing the full version with you later on

Overworld map by Brullov: twitter.com/brullov_art
I've continued to work on enemy designs, some of which will be passed off for animation as we continue to expand our team. Here's two more recent ones: a House Commander and a Coven Familiar.

Thanks for reading and for all of your support during the past year. We wish you all a terrific 2019, and we'll be back later this month with our January update

 

[agris]

The fabled "Third Leg" character...

Jaesun Tigranes

 

[Merlkir]

Oh damn, that's a quite unfortunately chosen colouring.

 

[Tigranes]

I am pleased with the throbbing masculinity of this video game

So he gets 2 attacks per round right

 

[Major_Blackhart]

When is the release?