KickStarter Vampire Syndicate: Gangs of MoonFall

[GentlemanCthulhu]

Will the familiars be able to remain competitive throughout the game against vampires? Since vampires are pretty damn strong(as you have said) will they be able to go toe to toe against them without becoming vampires themselves? I imagine that the big vampire chiefs will be really hard to even face directly,since they are well guarded and obviously inhumanely powerful.

So yes and no. I have no intention of balancing vampires to not be objectively stronger than their mortal counterparts, because they just are. But since this is a high-tech setting with plenty of other shit much stronger than vampires, there will be alternatives. At the very least, a cyberpunked-out Adam Smasher type character will be able to trade punches with a vamp and not get immediately splattered.

Some outside environment renders. Will probably bring back my realtime night day cycle from my last game. Vampires will suffer various negative statuses in daytime, maybe even damage ticks in direct sunlight. Will have to see.

View attachment 30461
View attachment 30462
View attachment 30463

Gorgeous but what is the gameplay like?

Design pillars?

Battle Brothers with a story. And reactivity. And porn.

Main pillars are:

1. Building a criminal empire

Set up rackets, gain the favor of your vampire overlords, maybe take over one day. Go around the city doing crime stuff, earn money, invest that in more crime stuff.

2. Fun tactical combat

I'm overhauling combat from my previous games to a less grindy, action point system. It'll still be a grid-turn-based affair, but I want to keep it fun throughout the entire game, as you'll probably be doing a lot of it. Max party size of five for now. May increase to six, but we'll have to see how action economy turns out.

3. Narrative

You got your slav/norse vampires vs Egyptian vampires vs magic triad vampires vs Cthulhu vampires. Plus a clone of the SCP foundation, some vampire hunting vigilantes, werewolves, and other stuff.

Outside of the first few intro quests, basically optional.

4. Sex

Explicit porn. Completely optional and avoidable. I might even section it off as a free DLC so I can sell the base game without it being hampered by a bunch of red tape. Dunno.

Make sure the main plot offers ample port opportunities. Don't go the retarded Subverse route where the plot is an obstacle in front of the lewd stuff.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Will there be werewolf NPCs or just enemies?

 

[Tyranicon]

Make sure the main plot offers ample port opportunities. Don't go the retarded Subverse route where the plot is an obstacle in front of the lewd stuff.

The main plot wouldn't involve sex at all. Other adult games do that and it usually leads to cringy porn plots.

Sex here is just like sex in real life. You can hire hookers, fuck if you're mutually horny, or dabble in some stable, loving relationships. Whatever.

Will there be werewolf NPCs or just enemies?

Probably both. How involved the werewolves are in the game will probably be one of the things decided by budget.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

Make sure the main plot offers ample port opportunities. Don't go the retarded Subverse route where the plot is an obstacle in front of the lewd stuff.

The main plot wouldn't involve sex at all. Other adult games do that and it usually leads to cringy porn plots.

Sex here is just like sex in real life. You can hire hookers, fuck if you're mutually horny, or dabble in some stable, loving relationships. Whatever.

Will there be werewolf NPCs or just enemies?

Probably both. How involved the werewolves are in the game will probably be one of the things decided by budget.

What about using sex to solve quests? I think not having sex in the main quest is a huge missed opportunity. There is definitly no reason for it to devolve into a cringy porn plot.

 

[Tyranicon]

Make sure the main plot offers ample port opportunities. Don't go the retarded Subverse route where the plot is an obstacle in front of the lewd stuff.

The main plot wouldn't involve sex at all. Other adult games do that and it usually leads to cringy porn plots.

Sex here is just like sex in real life. You can hire hookers, fuck if you're mutually horny, or dabble in some stable, loving relationships. Whatever.

Will there be werewolf NPCs or just enemies?

Probably both. How involved the werewolves are in the game will probably be one of the things decided by budget.

What about using sex to solve quests? I think not having sex in the main quest is a huge missed opportunity. There is definitly no reason for it to devolve into a cringy porn plot.

Sex will affect how certain NPCs treat you and may be used to progress trust counters, as well as have some... interesting results in certain sidequests, but it won't touch the main quest directly. This is just me keeping the main quest mostly sex free for people who want to do a no sex run/want to avoid sexual content.

 

[NecroLord]

Completing quests through the power of your cock.

 

[thesheeep]

no sex run

The new pacifist run achievement just dropped!

 

[Dadd]

Can you subjugate your enemies with your cock and thus enslave them?

 

[Tyranicon]

Weapon modification/upgrade screen, in early development. Some quality loss due to compression.

 

[Dhaze]

Unf. That is some tasty gun design; props to whoever designed it.

 

[Tyranicon]

Unf. That is some tasty gun design; props to whoever designed it.

Unfortunately I can't take credit for it, it's a store asset. I'll have to ask where it came from.

I haven't seen a revolver rail gun before, pretty cool. I'll have to twist my brain in a knot trying to justify its usefulness.

Or more likely, just leave it vague.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I'll have to twist my brain in a knot trying to justify its usefulness

Why? Rail gunshot to the heart sounds like a very effective substitute for a stake.

 

[Dhaze]

Unf. That is some tasty gun design; props to whoever designed it.

Unfortunately I can't take credit for it, it's a store asset. I'll have to ask where it came from.

I haven't seen a revolver rail gun before, pretty cool. I'll have to twist my brain in a knot trying to justify its usefulness.

Or more likely, just leave it vague.

I think there was a Crysis 1 mod that incorporated a three-shot revolver rail gun, though visually it was little more than a re-skin of the Majestic. But anyway, in my eyes, that's the kind of thing cool enough that its existence might justify itself, if you really want to include it in your game.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

Tyranicon Why shebang perl and then not have any of its incomprehensible syntax?

 

[Tyranicon]

Tyranicon Why shebang perl and then not have any of its incomprehensible syntax?

Oh that's probably just part of some "technobabble" that came with some of the graphics. Will be removed later since it doesn't make any sense.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Tyranicon Why shebang perl and then not have any of its incomprehensible syntax?

Oh that's probably just part of some "technobabble" that came with some of the graphics. Will be removed later since it doesn't make any sense.

if you want to keep the aesthetic of it being a command, just change it from perl to info, keep the /usr/bin/ part.
nobody actually uses info, but it would make more sense than `man` for people who don't know better.

 

[Gargaune]

Weapon modification/upgrade screen, in early development. Some quality loss due to compression.

View attachment 30639

Gun looks cool and I like that you've got proper descriptions, but some UI feedback - the other animooted stuff is fine, but the blinking squares on the left side are visually irritating. Considering nixing.

 

[Tyranicon]

Weapon modification/upgrade screen, in early development. Some quality loss due to compression.

View attachment 30639

Gun looks cool and I like that you've got proper descriptions, but some UI feedback - the other animooted stuff is fine, but the blinking squares on the left side are visually irritating. Considering nixing.

Oh those are for modification slots, the icons aren't ready yet. I will probably remove the some elements that serve no purpose and keep the UI clean, but it's still a work in progress.

 

[Tyranicon]

Augmentation menu screen. I'll just post a png since the gifs dont add much.

 

[Sykar]

Time to build a cyber zombie!

 

[ropetight]

Augmentation menu screen. I'll just post a png since the gifs dont add much.

View attachment 30660

Those are pretty nice assets, clean design puts them to focus.
This game will be great visual improvement over Battle Brothel.

 

[Tyranicon]

Augmentation menu screen. I'll just post a png since the gifs dont add much.

View attachment 30660

Those are pretty nice assets, clean design puts them to focus.
This game will be great visual improvement over Battle Brothel.

Yeah I'm custom coding the menus this time around so I don't have to deal with those fugly defaults.

 

[santino27]

Will you be doing Early Access for this like you did for Battle Brothel?

 

[Tyranicon]

Wrote this down some time ago, so enjoy this word salad on the gameplay basics.

Notes:

• Game will be low numbers. Expect it to be roughly similar with 3.5 dnd.
• There will be reduced RNG when it comes to accuracy/to-hit. Melee attacks will hit basically 99% of the time, and ranged attacks will probably hover around 95%.
• All classes will have some kind of self-heal.

Basic Stats

• HP: Hit Points. Drop to 0 and you’re dead. Nothing but a save scum will bring you back unless you're a vampire.
• AP: Action Points. Required to use actions, but not required to move. Base humans will regenerate a low amount at the end of each turn, augments will increase this, becoming a vampire will greatly increase this.
• Movement: Governs how much you can move per turn. Can move before and after actions. Can be reduced or increased by armor/augments.
• Defense: Lowers incoming damage. Usually dependent on armor.

Attribute Stats

• Athleticism: Melee damage scaler and physical action skillcheck/mission success rate
• Perception: Ranged damage scaler and perception skillcheck/mission success rate
• Willpower: Magic damage scaler and willpower skillcheck/mission success rate
• Intellect: Tech damage scaler and intelligence skillcheck/mission success rate
• Sanguinity: Vampire damage scaler and vampire abilities skillcheck/mission success rate

Skillchecks will be flat pass/fails. If something requires 4 Intellect and you have 5, you will pass every time.

Mission success rates will be dice rolls on a D6 system. This governs how well you perform on openworld operations/rackets, etc.


Classes

Player characters will start off in the Familiar class (which has all other human class abilities) and have the chance to unlock the Vampire class tree as well.

• Vampire (selfdamaging abilities but very strong)
  • Bloodreaver (vampiric melee)
  • Hemalurgist (vampiric ranged magic)

Party members will need to choose from the below four:

• Enforcer (melee)
  • Duelist (mobile single target melee)
  • Brute (tank)
• Gunner (ranged)
  • Assassin (single target ranged)
  • Grenadier (AOE specialist)
• Shaper (mage buffer)
  • Disciple (self buffer, very mobile melee)
  • Weaver (healer)
• Hacker (Debuffer)
  • Mastermind (battlefield controller, positioning)
  • Omniphage (damage over time)

Subclasses are non-exclusive (you can spec into both, or however many I end up having) but it will cost you some progression resources.

Backgrounds will also now be much more important than my last game, not only changing dialogue and how factions view you, but changing much of the game.

For example, the undercover background starts you as an agent of the Traveler’s Mandate, seeded within the Vampire Syndicates as a spy. You can choose to stay loyal to the Traveler’s Mandate, or turn traitor and embrace the vampiric lifestyle.

• Undercover
  • Special ability: Call Handler
  • Faction bonus: Traveler’s Mandate
• Noble
  • Special ability: Connected
  • Faction bonus: All
• Courtesan
  • Special crew: Street Walkers
  • Faction bonus: The Courtesan’s Guild
• Mercenary
  • Special crew: Veterans
  • Faction bonus: Imperials
• Street Thug
  • Special crew: Street Kin
  • Faction bonus: All lineages
• Disgraced Vampire
  • Special: Start as a Vampire
  • Faction bonus: Negative reputation with all lineages
• No Special Background
  • You’re just a regular citizen, move along.

The following are backgrounds that I’d consider “madlad ideas” that will take a lot of work, and probably are relegated to DLC or something. They require completely new campaigns.

• Facilitator (the player character from my last game, you’re in charge of some fancy hookers)
  • Special: Saint Gorfu Guild Hall
  • Faction bonus: Courtesan’s Guild
• Templar (You’re a vampire hunter, doing vampire hunter things).
  • Special crew: Slayers
  • Faction bonus: The Slayer Order
• Lupercalian (You’re a werewolf, doing werewolf things).
  • Special crew: Lycans
  • Faction bonus: Lupercal

Gameplay loop

Gameplay loop will be divided into five sections, each cycling into the next until it comes full circle.

• Story missions: Traditional RPG quests that advance the story and have a lot of dialogue and combat.
• Side quests: More casual stuff mostly for roleplaying and immersion. Little combat.
• Operations: Battle Brothers-esque contracts where you get paid for doing stuff. Mostly combat.
• Rackets: Passive income you get from managing various criminal enterprises. Will need your attention every once in a while. Little combat.
• Your Organization: Initially, the only crew you have is your immediate party. But as you ascend the vampire hierarchy, you can increase your number of crews, assign lieutenants, and send them out to do stuff you’re too important to do. Mostly management.

Like the Sopranos, but more competent… hopefully. And also you eat people.

 

[Vincente]

Was just wondering, is it possible to have a 'Challenge Mode' where you play as a human? Kind of like the 'Templar' idea you posted. Or is that just too much work? All this stuff look awesome by the way, can't wait.