KickStarter Vigilantes: neo-noir, turn based tactical RPG

[Norfleet]

No one, which is probably why he's now on your goon squad after failing his last psych evaluation.

 

[veevoir]

Wait, who in their right mind employs a fire fighter who is a schizophrenic with multiple personality disorder?

Maybe not exactly those qualities, but also certified 100% nuts

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Pyromaniac (which is indicated by that gasoline canister in picture) as a fireman is pretty common urban legend.
Probably based on truth in some cases.

 

[Timeslip]

Wait, who in their right mind employs a fire fighter who is a schizophrenic with multiple personality disorder?

You're right, no one would, if they knew. For the most part, he's lucid, though fixated on conspiracy theories. He's also intelligent enough to hide the pyromania, call in sick if his alternate personality is dominant, and keep some measure of control on the other psychological problems.

 

[ArchAngel]

Wait, who in their right mind employs a fire fighter who is a schizophrenic with multiple personality disorder?

You're right, no one would, if they knew. For the most part, he's lucid, though fixated on conspiracy theories. He's also intelligent enough to hide the pyromania, call in sick if his alternate personality is dominant, and keep some measure of control on the other psychological problems.

Lol you are stretching this a lot now. Would his alternate personality care about that ?

 

[Timeslip]

No one, which is probably why he's now on your goon squad after failing his last psych evaluation.

It hasn't been detected yet, but you're right, in this situation, it would only be a matter of time.

 

[Timeslip]

Lol you are stretching this a lot now. Would his alternate personality care about that ?

Ha, maybe. Of all the planned allies, Edgar is the one I'm most worried about in terms of making his situation seeming realistic. If something is jumping out at you, let me know, and will see what can be done.

From the point of his alternate avoiding workmates, it could come down to self preservation on the part of the alternate personality. If one of his workmates notices him acting oddly, if reported, it would mean increased scrutiny from the station's staff psychologist, which in turn might lead to treatment which would result in the alternate personality being suppressed or eradicated.

 

[Timeslip]

Maybe not exactly those qualities, but also certified 100% nuts

Ah, Steroid Gontarski. Always recruited him in the initial team.

 

[Timeslip]

Pyromaniac (which is indicated by that gasoline canister in picture) as a fireman is pretty common urban legend.
Probably based on truth in some cases.

Yeah, you could see how someone with an obsession for fire might be drawn to a fireman job. Stole the character idea from a short story I'd written (but never quite finished) about 5 years ago. That in turn drew some inspiration from Fahrenheit 451 and A Telltale Heart.

 

[anvi]

Do people really care about whether these characters are realistic or not? If you do, you are what is wrong with the gaming industry, and the world.

 

[Timeslip]

Hey again. Have just added the 30th perk for Vigilantes. There are 4 new perks in this update so far. With the exception of the first, all of these are activated perks, with AP costs and cooldowns.

• Intimidating Presence - allows leaders to intimidate characters in their command radius, reducing their chance to hit
• In The Zone - Grants a 5% chance to hit bonus for ranged attacks for this turn
• Hunker Down - Reduces chance to hit of enemies targeting you for 1 turn and reduces explosive damage
• Take Em Out - Tag an enemy to receive 10% additional damage for 2 turns

I'm open to suggestions for perks, and since I'm currently focusing on beefing up combat, am especially interested in perks which can be activated in combat. It's worth distinguishing this from the Perk Reward from Kickstarter. With the reward, you are guaranteed a perk in the game, and I'll also spend more time than usual working on it, to give you the perk you want, within reason. What I'm trying to do here is build a bigger pool of ideas for perks, in the hopes that with a bigger pool of ideas, the quality of the perks will be higher. Obviously, I can't offer any guarantees that suggested perks will be added, but I'd really like to hear your ideas!

 

[Timeslip]

Hello again. Vigilantes version 13 is now available for download. This update includes the usual boost of new content, with 4 new maps and 4 new perks.

Building on the emphasis of the last few updates on enhancing the tactical depth of combat in Vigilantes, 3 of these perks provide abilities which can be activated in battle to give you a tactical edge. Furthermore, a cone of fire has been added to shotguns, which brings both the potential to hit numerous enemies and the risk of friendly fire, making positioning of key importance. If you'd like to see some of the new content, and the additions in action, you can check out the development video below, or the release notes on our forums.



Suggestions, criticism and questions most welcome, as always!

 

[ArchAngel]

Suggestions, criticism and questions most welcome, as always!

Coming to Steam EA when?

 

[Timeslip]

Coming to Steam EA when?

Hi ArchAngel, cheers for the question. There's no date fixed as of yet. The main reason is that launching too early on EA doesn't seem like it's good for anyone: it can result in an underwhelming experience for the player, a bad reputation for the developer, negative reviews which may never be updated. It will also mean building and uploading twice as many builds, which over numerous updates eats into development time. There are pluses too: more feedback which can help with tuning the game, and additional funding which would help with creating a more expansive and polished game.

It's difficult to tell exactly when in development Vigilantes will be ready for EA. Maybe it is already and I'm being overly cautious. It's an area I'd really like some opinions on!

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

negative reviews which may never be updated.

I think this is lesser concern nowadays since Steam differentiates between early access and post release reviews.

 

[Timeslip]

I think this is lesser concern nowadays since Steam differentiates between early access and post release reviews.

Yeah, that's true. Steam's system is something of a black box, I don't think it's really known how overall/recent reviews and sales affect the visibility of a game. I'll chat to the active players and see if I can get in touch with a few developers who released on EA to get a better feel for it. Cheers!

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

I think this is lesser concern nowadays since Steam differentiates between early access and post release reviews.

Yeah, that's true. Steam's system is something of a black box, I don't think it's really known how overall/recent reviews and sales affect the visibility of a game. I'll chat to the active players and see if I can get in touch with a few developers who released on EA to get a better feel for it. Cheers!

Yeah. Visibility through Steam is a major concern for smaller devs nowadays.
I think I know about a few Youtube channels connected to Codex who might be of some help with that visibility thing.
Ludo Lense https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLZoXbm4kZPtSpo55Xbgl1g
Fluent's World https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtumvpikfaMB89TtM_lEh-Q
(probably) tomme25 https://www.youtube.com/user/tomme25/videos
And Shane Plays https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsT3AKvY2_83XJ7jjmCSzWQ

 

[Abu Antar]

Can't you contact some devs from the codex and communicate with them about their experiences?

 

[ArchAngel]

Coming to Steam EA when?

Hi ArchAngel, cheers for the question. There's no date fixed as of yet. The main reason is that launching too early on EA doesn't seem like it's good for anyone: it can result in an underwhelming experience for the player, a bad reputation for the developer, negative reviews which may never be updated. It will also mean building and uploading twice as many builds, which over numerous updates eats into development time. There are pluses too: more feedback which can help with tuning the game, and additional funding which would help with creating a more expansive and polished game.

It's difficult to tell exactly when in development Vigilantes will be ready for EA. Maybe it is already and I'm being overly cautious. It's an area I'd really like some opinions on!

Well personally I backed your KS but I don't want to download the game from your site and frack around with that so I am waiting until you release it on Steam EA so I can try it and give feedback.

 

[Timeslip]

Yeah. Visibility through Steam is a major concern for smaller devs nowadays.
I think I know about a few Youtube channels connected to Codex who might be of some help with that visibility thing.
Ludo Lense https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLZoXbm4kZPtSpo55Xbgl1g
Fluent's World https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtumvpikfaMB89TtM_lEh-Q
(probably) tomme25 https://www.youtube.com/user/tomme25/videos
And Shane Plays https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsT3AKvY2_83XJ7jjmCSzWQ

Thanks for the contacts, will get in touch with them.

Can't you contact some devs from the codex and communicate with them about their experiences?

I will do, know a few who have been through EA. I've probably been a little too focused on getting as much development work done to give a lot of though to EA.

Well personally I backed your KS but I don't want to download the game from your site and frack around with that so I am waiting until you release it on Steam EA so I can try it and give feedback.

Thank you for backing. The goal is to make the best game possible, and the concern is that going to EA too early may undermine this goal. As mentioned above, I'm probably a little too focused on development, getting as much work as possible completed, so I will start to give EA serious consideration. I know many prefer to wait for a game on Steam, but the download process for the build is through Humble and very streamlined, enter the link I sent through KS, enter your email, and you will get an email with links to the build. Windows version has installer, Mac and Linux just require unzip.

 

[anvi]

I think I am the only one left who buys games when they are done -.- Get off my lawn.

 

[Timeslip]

Hello. I've just been notified about an issue with the current build for Elena Furey and Emilia De Soto, which prevents you from ending their turn. Since this is a fairly serious bug I'm going to fix it immediately. The problem has been solved already, and I'm building the windows version now. All versions should be updated in the next few hours. The new versions will be 13A, rather than 13.

 

[Timeslip]

The Windows are Linux versions are uploaded and the Mac version will be available in <30 mins. Apologies for the oversight. Hope you enjoy the new version!

 

[Timeslip]

Here's a quick update on work carried out on version 14 to date. The feature likely to be of most interest in this update so far is the addition of multiple types of attack for unarmed, bladed, and blunt weapons, which adds a little extra depth to combat and makes close combat more versatile. These include lighter and heavier attacks which trade damage for CTH and vice versa. Other attacks provide a higher critical chance in exchange for higher AP cost, while others guarantee to inflict a status effect, usually with a lower CTH and higher AP cost. Some of these attacks are unlocked through perks.

Four new maps, in a residental environment have been added and there are also 2 new perks, which unlock a special attack for bladed and blunt weapons. Roughly half way on this update, expect to release it in ~2 weeks.

 

[Alienman]

Hey again. Have just added the 30th perk for Vigilantes. There are 4 new perks in this update so far. With the exception of the first, all of these are activated perks, with AP costs and cooldowns.

• Intimidating Presence - allows leaders to intimidate characters in their command radius, reducing their chance to hit
• In The Zone - Grants a 5% chance to hit bonus for ranged attacks for this turn
• Hunker Down - Reduces chance to hit of enemies targeting you for 1 turn and reduces explosive damage
• Take Em Out - Tag an enemy to receive 10% additional damage for 2 turns

I'm open to suggestions for perks, and since I'm currently focusing on beefing up combat, am especially interested in perks which can be activated in combat. It's worth distinguishing this from the Perk Reward from Kickstarter. With the reward, you are guaranteed a perk in the game, and I'll also spend more time than usual working on it, to give you the perk you want, within reason. What I'm trying to do here is build a bigger pool of ideas for perks, in the hopes that with a bigger pool of ideas, the quality of the perks will be higher. Obviously, I can't offer any guarantees that suggested perks will be added, but I'd really like to hear your ideas!

I always find % perks boring, at least when they are so low. I'm just not going to bother to use those perks if there is such a low chance for it to be useful. Passive perks that give % stats don't bother me though. I usually pick those because I'm lazy