KickStarter The Way of Wrath - early bronze age RPG with fort management and dynamic open world

[Hellwalker]

https://www.thewayofwrath.com




https://af.gog.com/game/the_way_of_wrath?as=1649904300

Spoiler

Spoiler

• Wishlist on Steam!
• Wishlist on GOG!
• Official Website

Hey!
I have been working on this RPG with my team for the past two years and I finally have something to share.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWN6wfSSuHg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAvHH4rq-v4
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Click for more game details: (No Spoilers :D)​

Spoiler

The game’s three main features are:
Fort Management:
You are in charge of an old, ruined fort and you have only a few days to prepare for a massive siege. The fort will be a home base to you and the allies you recruit. Allies will help you with repairing defenses, building traps, and siege equipment, defending the fort, and general maintenance.
Allies will not mindlessly follow your commands. Each NPC will have their own personality and dynamic story with several personal endings. They will judge your actions and situation in the fort and act accordingly. Characters with low morale will easily fall to their worst instincts. You might end up with a rowdy group of alcohol and drug addicts who ignore tasks you set them to. In severe cases, you will have a mutiny on your hands and your life may end in a public execution. (Or you may be subjected to exorcism ritual).

Exploration:
There is a handcrafted, open-world “No-Mans-Land” between your fort and the enemy encampment. You will need to explore it to find allies, sabotage enemies, and harvest valuable materials. The map design was inspired by the first two Gothic games. So we plan to fill it with many immersive interactions grounded in the reality of the game setting. The focus is on a smaller, hand-crafted, and well thought-out world design.

Time Passage:
During the day you explore the open world map and manage the affairs in your fort. There will be a limited number of events you can participate in each day. This will be limited by your stamina and injuries you receive during battles. During the night you will rest and recover stamina.
Most of the game mechanics are tied into the time passage. Be it progress on the fort repairs, the harvesting of resources, crafting of major items, or healing of your injuries.
These mechanics get especially interesting with the advancement of story events. Each NPC and Faction, be it friend or foe, will have their personal goals. Each day they will try to advance their agendas and there will be consequences to both success and failure. With a limit on the number of actions per day and reactive consequences, your choices will have a huge impact on the story.

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Some highlights:

• You create your own character. You can customize appearance, origin, and skills of your character. Choices play a role in the story and the dialogue.
• You can fight with a party of companions. You can recruit NPC’s with the storyline, or build your own party from scratch. (We are not yet decided on 4vs6 companions, but lean towards 6 unless balance demands 4 in the end.)
• Combat is tactical and turn-based. The combat encounters are hand-crafted with custom AI and Skill combos to reflect the personality of your opponents. You can fight with melee or ranged weapons and even the odds with special items. One of the more unique features will be multi-stage shamanistic “Dance Rituals”.
• There is a great emphasis on player choices. Rather than the linear story and quests. The game is built around goals and events grounded in the reality of the story and the setting. You can choose which goals to follow, and you’ll have different paths to reach those goals.
• There is a survival aspect to the game. Resources are scarce. Injuries take days to heal and require multi-stage treatment. Environmental hazards play a large role in the gameplay.

Gameplay in The Way of Wrath was inspired by games like Gothic (beautifully handcrafted world, immersive interactivity), Infinite-Engine Games (deep roleplaying layered in actions and dialogue) Deus-Ex (multiple paths to goals), Divinity: Original Sin (unique interactions, tactical combat).
Story and setting were inspired by: books Joe Abercrombie’s “The First Law” and Bernard Cornwell’s “The Warlord Chronicles” and HBO’s “Deadwood” TV Series.

Special thanks to fellow codexian Keldryn. Cheers Man!

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[rusty_shackleford]

Camera feels too close in this screenshot, is this the size of a typical battle?

 

[Hellwalker]

Camera feels too close in this screenshot, is this the size of a typical battle?

Camera can be zoomed in/out and rotated to get better view of the battle. Average battles will be larger.

 

[Durwyn]

I hate this art style. Seen it 1000 times, looks like generic crap. Other than that, it seems ok.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Ok, good luck.

 

[Norfleet]

That's a seriously short range to be shooting someone with a bow from.

 

[cherry blossom]

Best of luck to you, and I like the look.

Camera feels too close in this screenshot, is this the size of a typical battle?

Camera can be zoomed in/out and rotated to get better view of the battle. Average battles will be larger.

When your game requires camera management to always get the best views, that is poor design that dumps that "responsibility" on the player. It is a burden, unfun and virtually all "isometric" games with 3D perspective do this, Codex sweethearts included. Whoever thought that 3D perspective was a good thing for isometric games...

 

[santino27]

Looks like it could be interesting. Looking forward to seeing more.

 

[Reinhardt]

Camera feels too close in this screenshot, is this the size of a typical battle?

Camera can be zoomed in/out and rotated to get better view of the battle. Average battles will be larger.

Can you please make different icons for party and enemies because even in this small battle i have no idea about turn order.

 

[rashiakas]

These are obv. mockups and not real screenshots.

 

[frajaq]

Are there classes/archetypes?

 

[Hellwalker]

Best of luck to you, and I like the look.

Camera feels too close in this screenshot, is this the size of a typical battle?

Camera can be zoomed in/out and rotated to get better view of the battle. Average battles will be larger.

When your game requires camera management to always get the best views, that is poor design that dumps that "responsibility" on the player. It is a burden, unfun and virtually all "isometric" games with 3D perspective do this, Codex sweethearts included. Whoever thought that 3D perspective was a good thing for isometric games...

Thank you!
Very good point about cameras. (The choice of 3D camera instead of fixed angle camera in our game was mainly due to some of things we wanted to pull off with the level design.)
What I meant to say about the screenshot is that camera is not locked to that particular view. It’s just a view we used to capture that screenshot and it's not the view the battle will start with. The battle camera setup itself has a complicated behavior. Each action/state of battle has its own camera logic and will try to “default” the camera in the most winning position for that particular action.(Melee Attack, Running, Choosing AOE target). The camera controls are there more to give player the freedom to study the battlefield. (And of course to cover the cases where camera logic fails to find a good position.:D)

Camera feels too close in this screenshot, is this the size of a typical battle?

Camera can be zoomed in/out and rotated to get better view of the battle. Average battles will be larger.

Can you please make different icons for party and enemies because even in this small battle i have no idea about turn order.

Sure! I'll try to color code the enemy/AI ui and make it more pronounced.

Are there classes/archetypes?

Classes will be there to give you starting skills, but you can freely choose which skills to take. Including customization of starting skills.
Skill are organized under archetypes (Aggressive style, Defensive style, Trickster style - not the in-game names) but this is more for the convenience and the simplicity of the UI.
Perks will do the most of the heavy lifting when it comes to giving roleplay depth and personality to the player characters Combat profession.

 

[Norfleet]

Is it normal that all battles will be fought at knife range, making ranged weapons seem as comically pointless and silly as they do in the screenshot, especially when characters inevitably miss shots at targets 3 feet away?

 

[Reinhardt]

especially when characters inevitably miss shots at targets 3 feet away?

Did you ever tried to hit moving target 3 feet away with bow and arrow?

 

[Outmind]

I read that as fart management at first. Now I'm disappointed.

 

[Tavernking]

Is it normal that all battles will be fought at knife range, making ranged weapons seem as comically pointless and silly as they do in the screenshot, especially when characters inevitably miss shots at targets 3 feet away?

Imagine a turn-based RPG where you can shoot enemies with your bow up to 180m away.

 

[Hellwalker]

We'll be sure to show the larger battle area with the next combat demonstration :D

The render shots of one of the first armors you can get in the game. The metals are scarce and the time is in short supply, so the smiths had to get creative with the materials.

 

[Forest Dweller]

I read that as fart management at first. Now I'm disappointed.

The South Park games have what you're looking for.

 

[Hellwalker]

Hey!
I'm getting closer to gameplay video. Meanwhile a small sneak peek of combat:



Also posted a small devlog on steam.
TLDR we'll have video out soon and arena gauntlet style closed combat beta will follow. Sign Up Form.
I though of adding some sort of scoreboard and inviting top player to help design nasty optional boss battle. What are your thought on something like that?
Cheers!

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Are hits guaranteed or does game use some formula to calculate change to hit?

 

[Hellwalker]

Are hits guaranteed or does game use some formula to calculate change to hit?

At this moment hits are guaranteed and I'm experimenting with RNG Critical Strike,Graze Hits and Afflictions. (Higher/Lower damage than normal and status effects like bleed or stunned). This might change with testing.

 

[zaper]

Sold.

 

[Hellwalker]

As the first thunder rolled across the land and all men bowed their heads in terror; One looked up in wonder.

Fear was always a fundamental force in shaping the human perception of the world. Spawning countless myths, monsters and beliefs. Above all else, fear of the unknown always had the greatest hold on the minds of men. Those who mastered this fear, often became the shepherds of the human fate.

In the world of The Way of Wrath, those who embrace the unknown and learn its mystical ways hold great power over common people. Few can match Thein Shamans with that skill. They clothe themselves in gruesome ornaments, and wield the name “Yarbogha” - emissaries of death.

Players who choose to follow this path will have unique powers and role in the game. In a fight they can use rituals dances and words of power to demoralize enemies or inspire allies. They are masters of healing and death. Mixing balms and healing drafts, or crafting devious poisons and traps.

It is a great sin to kill a shaman. Before they even dare challenge this fearsome and mysterious foes, warriors must seek blessings of an allied shaman, or wait for enemy shaman to make the first strike. Those who kill shamans without mystical aid or provocation are believed to be cursed and will be shunned by all. Smart player can use this to great advantage in battle.



Outside combat they act as judges, advisors, healers, ritual masters and exorcists. Few, if any will dare to questions the Shaman’s word. But while feared and respected, they are seldom accepted by the common folk. Shamans lead solitary lives. They wander the land, seeking hidden wisdom and offering their services to those they come across.



Only a shaman can train another shaman and charges are chosen with care. They often seek children who are undaunted by Shaman's gruesome reputation and can look them in the eye without showing any fear.

To complete their training, a young shaman has to travel high up into the impenetrable mountains and climb the tallest peak. There in the blessed land above the clouds they spend years alone, praying in silence for wisdom and power.

Current Development Status:
Combat polish is going well and we’re near the end. We have polished UI, added notifications and visual hints to give better feedback to the player. We expanded camera with additional features to better track progress over the battlefield. AI is coming along.

What’s Next?
With combat polish almost finished, we’ll soon move on to world interactions, questing and dialogue. Getting closer to gameplay video.

***
More cool new stuff about development, game play, characters and lore is coming soon! Cheers!

 

[Hellwalker]

Hey! here are some new Armor, sword and shield designs for one of the elite enemy group’s player will fight against in the game.
As the metal is rare and valuable commodity in the The Way of Wrath, fighting these enemies will prove extra challenging; and prying equipment from their corpses extra rewarding.

 

[Hellwalker]

Hey all, we have been busy these past weeks working on combat, level design and one thing we are ready to show is the character creation!
It was quite a big one for two people to pull off :D



*The game is still in active development so UI, Stats, Descriptions etc are under heavy iterations still and will be better.

Along with visual appearance, skills and perks you can select characters origin details and reputation. These represent your avatars life before the game events.

You’ll be able to select your ethnicity, origin story and the reputation you have earned during the war. Origin story provides story background for your character, unlocks some unique encounters and dialogues. Life as a Shaman will be far different from that of a warrior. Similar to Gothic games you'll be treated differently by people with different social standings depending on your origin.

It also comes with useful stat and skill bonuses to reflect your characters experience before the game events. If you’d like to start from more of a blank character, you can always pick the “Wanderer” option.

Reputation alters some of the reputation stats by which other characters will judge your actions. Whether you are cruel or benevolent, always honest or a trickster. Some dialogue checks and story resolutions will be easier/harder depending on how the characters feel about your reputation and personality.

Class and Profession options are more there to give you starting build presets. They act as archetypes, which you can freely ignore to pick your own skills, attributes and perks.

We’ll be back soon with more updates showing combat and level design. As a bonus, a new concept piece.