Indie Worldstone Chronicles (formerly Journey for the Crown) - Fantasy Open-World Isometric RPG with RTwP Combat

[Atlet]

Will support . Gl gl

 

[JFTC-Scott]

Will support . Gl gl

Thank you!

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Bester]

The first video is great, thanks.

He says Canadian government grants require you to have trannies in the game. Had a good laugh at this. Really didn't know. The dev says he has none of it, thankfully.

As a sort of response to the video:
I personally did go down the route of "release your unfinished game on the marketplace in form of assets", but it's not as easy as you perhaps make it sound. I sold a sort of an "RPG Kit", but while your game may require a specific/original implementation of a lot of mechanics, the marketplace kits require a generic implementation, plus a highly flexible architecture, which takes a lot of extra time. The two approaches don't mesh, so you want to sell your game engine, but you end up rewriting most of it and half a year later you realize you're not working on your game anymore. And ending up as an asset maker is a terrible career path if you're excited about making games. I spent years making assets, because it's a quicker buck, but it's like selling your soul. I wish I could quit it, but it pays, so I can't afford to.

You also make self funding sound a bit easier than it is. It implies maintaining a day job, and working on your game in your spare time. I know a lot of indies who tried that, and realized they have zero energy left after a day's work, eventually dropping out of the gamedev entirely. Part time job would do the trick, but how many part time jobs in IT have you heard of? I've never seen one. Which I think is an absolute shame, that it's a binary function: either you work full time or you don't work for us at all.
You're very blessed to have the energy to do this kind of stuff. Most people don't. It's probably something hormonal, but at this stage, the medicine doesn't know how to make all people as energized.

As for Epic grants, they're actually not as hard as you think. We've got one for $20k and our game director who was in contact with Epic didn't even speak English, so I can only imagine how limited the pitch was. A playable demo and half a page of description at most. Then a representative contacted him and they talked on Skype for an hour (a local representative, who knew the local language). I think that was it.

Thanks for sharing your well structured thoughts, though. Good stuff.

 

[JFTC-Scott]

The first video is great, thanks.

He says Canadian government grants require you to have trannies in the game. Had a good laugh at this. Really didn't know. The dev says he has none of it, thankfully.

As a sort of response to the video:
I personally did go down the route of "release your unfinished game on the marketplace in form of assets", but it's not as easy as you perhaps make it sound. I sold a sort of an "RPG Kit", but while your game may require a specific/original implementation of a lot of mechanics, the marketplace kits require a generic implementation, plus a highly flexible architecture, which takes a lot of extra time. The two approaches don't mesh, so you want to sell your game engine, but you end up rewriting most of it and half a year later you realize you're not working on your game anymore. And ending up as an asset maker is a terrible career path if you're excited about making games. I spent years making assets, because it's a quicker buck, but it's like selling your soul. I wish I could quit it, but it pays, so I can't afford to.

You also make self funding sound a bit easier than it is. It implies maintaining a day job, and working on your game in your spare time. I know a lot of indies who tried that, and realized they have zero energy left after a day's work, eventually dropping out of the gamedev entirely. Part time job would do the trick, but how many part time jobs in IT have you heard of? I've never seen one. Which I think is an absolute shame, that it's a binary function: either you work full time or you don't work for us at all.
You're very blessed to have the energy to do this kind of stuff. Most people don't. It's probably something hormonal, but at this stage, the medicine doesn't know how to make all people as energized.

As for Epic grants, they're actually not as hard as you think. We've got one for $20k and our game director who was in contact with Epic didn't even speak English, so I can only imagine how limited the pitch was. A playable demo and half a page of description at most. Then a representative contacted him and they talked on Skype for an hour (a local representative, who knew the local language). I think that was it.

Thanks for sharing your well structured thoughts, though. Good stuff.

I never went down the route of asset developer so I appreciate your insight. I never thought of it in the way you put it. If it ends up pulling you away from making your dream game that is truly unfortunate.

Self-funding seemed easy for me, just request it. But that is perhaps my country. Employers love part time here, it's less money for them and they get to squeeze employees to the max in shorter spans. That may be exhausting for some people, but making a game is hard work and dedication.

That is awesome you got the Epic grant. I'm curious are you using Unreal? I'm using Unity to build my game and never bothered trying. I went and did it now, but I think I tried a while back without any luck. Pretty cool that you snagged it.

Can't even discuss the Canadian Media fund stuff. I get so rattled about how unfair it is.

 

[Bester]

That is awesome you got the Epic grant. I'm curious are you using Unreal?

Yes. We got it back when it was early days of UE4, so all indies were on Unity, but we had just switched over to Unreal from a custom engine and had little competition.

 

[Infinitron]

In this video, I go over negative comments and footage regarding my game as it inches along in production. The hard-to-stomach comments and what I've learned along the way may be helpful for you.

 

[Bester]

Regarding that NWN1 comment... Your game looks much better now, either from materials improvement or from post processing, but it jumped out of the uncanny valley for me. It looked plastic before, it looks good now.

Fedora Master is not an angry unreal developer, he's an edgelord. They even assigned him the tag. I've never met any Unreal devs who bully Unity, all devs recognize that engines are just tools. It's players who strongly associate engines with their experiences in games.

Agree on nostalgia being a good thing - it's literally usage of neural pathways that evoke positive feelings. What the hell would there be to not like about it? If a game can do that, it's something to applaud and congratulate, because most games don't evoke anything.

The only thing I have qualms about, if I may, is very tiny colliders on creatures, which allows selection circles to intersect. Really bugs me, though I guess that it's probably to allow easier pathfinding? I'm just one of those people who never had a problem with Infinity Engine pathfinding, and blocking paths was an important part of combat. It's probably not an important part of combat in your game.
I'm also not a big fan of using ground decals for selection circles, because when they stretch vertically on nearby objects, it gives a little annoying feeling. Also they're sometimes invisible when they're below some objects.
It's all minor criticism, of course, and I'm sure 99% people wouldn't care about this stuff.

Hilarious about the guy with "learning disabilities". I don't think he has that. Imagine putting your older relative behind the PC and asking them to attack the zombie. While having a perfectly fine mental capacity, they would face the same difficulties as that player, completely unable to intuit the interface. People with no background in older RPGs will simply find it difficult. An easy fix would be to detect a situation where a player right clicks on an enemy, but has an empty action bar. A tooltip could offer a helpful tip (not dismissible) or offer to automatically populate the bar with some starting abilities. Admittedly, I'm not sure it's worth the effort, because how many of such players are going to be part of your audience?

Had a chuckle when you said "some bot automatically reposts the videos". Infinitron is a human being, lol.

Another thing worth mentioning is that your portraits are probably AI generated? As you may or may not know, Steam currently disallows AI generated content completely. It's really frustrating. So if you are using AI, don't mention it and be prepared to replace them if it comes up during review.

Your game looks great otherwise, the level of attention to various tiny details is very noticeable and appreciated. I wish I had a game like that of my own.

 

[Spike]

I wanted to also chime in and say that yes, your game looks great. I have had this wishlisted since I discovered it and am excited for it. Keep it up!

 

[JFTC-Scott]

Regarding that NWN1 comment... Your game looks much better now, either from materials improvement or from post processing, but it jumped out of the uncanny valley for me. It looked plastic before, it looks good now.

Fedora Master is not an angry unreal developer, he's an edgelord. They even assigned him the tag. I've never met any Unreal devs who bully Unity, all devs recognize that engines are just tools. It's players who strongly associate engines with their experiences in games.

Agree on nostalgia being a good thing - it's literally usage of neural pathways that evoke positive feelings. What the hell would there be to not like about it? If a game can do that, it's something to applaud and congratulate, because most games don't evoke anything.

The only thing I have qualms about, if I may, is very tiny colliders on creatures, which allows selection circles to intersect. Really bugs me, though I guess that it's probably to allow easier pathfinding? I'm just one of those people who never had a problem with Infinity Engine pathfinding, and blocking paths was an important part of combat. It's probably not an important part of combat in your game.
I'm also not a big fan of using ground decals for selection circles, because when they stretch vertically on nearby objects, it gives a little annoying feeling. Also they're sometimes invisible when they're below some objects.
It's all minor criticism, of course, and I'm sure 99% people wouldn't care about this stuff.

Hilarious about the guy with "learning disabilities". I don't think he has that. Imagine putting your older relative behind the PC and asking them to attack the zombie. While having a perfectly fine mental capacity, they would face the same difficulties as that player, completely unable to intuit the interface. People with no background in older RPGs will simply find it difficult. An easy fix would be to detect a situation where a player right clicks on an enemy, but has an empty action bar. A tooltip could offer a helpful tip (not dismissible) or offer to automatically populate the bar with some starting abilities. Admittedly, I'm not sure it's worth the effort, because how many of such players are going to be part of your audience?

Had a chuckle when you said "some bot automatically reposts the videos". Infinitron is a human being, lol.

Another thing worth mentioning is that your portraits are probably AI generated? As you may or may not know, Steam currently disallows AI generated content completely. It's really frustrating. So if you are using AI, don't mention it and be prepared to replace them if it comes up during review.

Your game looks great otherwise, the level of attention to various tiny details is very noticeable and appreciated. I wish I had a game like that of my own.

Thanks Bester. I appreciate the follow up and re-valuated feedback. Good to see my work has improved. Lol.

Ya the unreal thing is something I see on Twitch a lot. It is there, several of my dev friends noticed the same. but I think it's just with new users who obsess over little decisions and get little dev work done.

You've nailed it precisely with the collider issues. Tiny ones are so easy to manage, but I keep them to a decent size otherwise the flipside becomes an issue. Pathing is really the solution. I use Astar pathfinding so it is very good, but some small issues with crossing paths I do see sometimes. There is scenarios where you can't make it through a door if too many enemies are in the way and vice versa. Not sure I like it or not cause they look funny doing strange movements while stuck trying to reach locations.

As for AI, my portraits are a combination of modified art and AI. It is just the face that I save time on. This usage is literally everywhere on Steam. The article I assume you're talking about. Well, they banned one guy and who knows what this guy did with his game or even if it's actually true or just fake. All of that information seems to be omitted from all these articles. My guess is he made a clone and it was so horribly copied it was flagged. If you have any personal experience or proof let me know that would really be helpful as I am still on the fence with how Valve has not really spoke up about it's stance. I won't be surprised if they ban it down the road, just might be impossible to enforce.

Didn't know he was human. Lol. Sorry!

Thanks.

 

[JFTC-Scott]

I wanted to also chime in and say that yes, your game looks great. I have had this wishlisted since I discovered it and am excited for it. Keep it up!

I really appreciate that. Thanks Spike.

 

[Bester]

The article I assume you're talking about.

I don't know which one. I found out before articles started coming out, so I haven't read them. A guy posted on reddit about two months ago that his game got rejected for AI usage with screenshots of correspondence with Steam. Steam inquired where the images came from. He said it was Stable Diffusion 2.1 standard dataset, no loras, etc. Then they took a couple weeks to think it over and eventually rejected him, even though SD 2.1 is already a crippled model, because they trained it on an inferior dataset to avoid copyright issues. Anyway, we then watched the SteamDB discord and saw a dozen games rejected/banned the same day, all using Stable, some of them not even visual novels. I remember a building sim, which relied on SD only for full body portraits in dialogues, but most of the gameplay was placing buildings and managing the economy. Then some people in the community came out of the woodwork after they got rejected for using Midjourney and someone even for using Dall-E. One guy got rejected for a chatgpt integration, for text dialogues. Steam seems to have left alone games that were submitted before a certain date, but after that they don't seem to accept any AI at all. I think it's temporary, plus it's easy to disguise when it's just the faces, but still better to not mention you're using AI anywhere. It's ridiculous because Unity is releasing AI-assisted tools, Photoshop lets you outpaint using AI, Adobe Stock is selling SD-generated images, while Steam is acting out. The US courts don't help with their rulings.

 

[Infinitron]

Combat song for the Burakis battle in Journey for the Crown. Composed by Tim Cox : / @timcox5373

 

[Infinitron]

In this video, I go over unity's new runtime fee and how it impacts everything.

 

[Infinitron]

In this video, I go over Unity's new runtime fee and how people are reacting to it. I also take a look at it from my perspective and provide some thoughts.

 

[cyborgboy95]

Tons of new updates in this 23nd devlog series. 3 new scenes, upgraded stealth mechanic and respawning enemies and timers.

 

[vazha]

Looks like that Black Gayser game, hopefully it wont have similarly retarded world and mechanics.

 

[JFTC-Scott]

Looks like that Black Gayser game, hopefully it wont have similarly retarded world and mechanics.

I've not played that game before. I just watched a video walkthrough of the game, while it does have some similarities it does seem to differ a lot. Can you specify what you disliked about that game a bit more? Cheers.

 

[vazha]

Sorry for the late reply, just saw this now. Note I said looks, not plays, so its mostly aesthetics at this point. As for the BG's flaws, there is an entire (and rather hilarious) thread about it on the 'Dex, look it up. My personal "favourites" are the gimmicky Greed mechanic, beyond retarded lore (village Schoolfart), and char systems that can best (and favorably) be described as an unbalanced mess. Sadly the vaunted Crushmaster class didnt make it in the final game though.

 

[agris]

Looks like that Black Gayser game, hopefully it wont have similarly retarded world and mechanics.

I've not played that game before. I just watched a video walkthrough of the game, while it does have some similarities it does seem to differ a lot. Can you specify what you disliked about that game a bit more? Cheers.

separate from Black Geyser's faults, here are some things I hope to avoid/see in Journey for the Crown:

• Character power development driven by itemization
• Itemization that favors less frequent, more impactful upgrades
• Itemization that doesn't resemble skinner-box mechanics (no color coded, away from dry and meaningingless +1% here or +2% there)
• No crafting, outside of the rare instance of "bring rare item(s) to NPC to make even more rare item"
• Classes that have meaningful impact through the use of class restrictions on ability scores and gear
• No cool downs
• Combat encounters that challenge you via enemy composition and terrain limitations, not just the number of enemies
• Writing that does more with less. Short, punchy writing that isn't purple or full of overwrought descriptions
• Party formations, and easy independent control of party members (no dreaded Larian-style toilet chain)
• Party selection/interaction/order giving reminiscent of RTS games (robust keyboard-driven selection)
• Skeuomorphic UI

 

[JFTC-Scott]

Looks like that Black Gayser game, hopefully it wont have similarly retarded world and mechanics.

I've not played that game before. I just watched a video walkthrough of the game, while it does have some similarities it does seem to differ a lot. Can you specify what you disliked about that game a bit more? Cheers.

separate from Black Geyser's faults, here are some things I hope to avoid/see in Journey for the Crown:

• Character power development driven by itemization
• Itemization that favors less frequent, more impactful upgrades
• Itemization that doesn't resemble skinner-box mechanics (no color coded, away from dry and meaningingless +1% here or +2% there)
• No crafting, outside of the rare instance of "bring rare item(s) to NPC to make even more rare item"
• Classes that have meaningful impact through the use of class restrictions on ability scores and gear
• No cool downs
• Combat encounters that challenge you via enemy composition and terrain limitations, not just the number of enemies
• Writing that does more with less. Short, punchy writing that isn't purple or full of overwrought descriptions
• Party formations, and easy independent control of party members (no dreaded Larian-style toilet chain)
• Party selection/interaction/order giving reminiscent of RTS games (robust keyboard-driven selection)
• Skeuomorphic UI

Here are some of those answered. Hopefully, this appeals to you.

• Character power development driven by itemization - Very driven by items and abilities which are found not earned. Some basic ones can be bought.
  
  
• Itemization that favors less frequent, more impactful upgrades - Items drop in a variety of rates, some guaranteed, one-of-a-kind unique, or total trash.
  
  
• Itemization that doesn't resemble skinner-box mechanics (no color coded, away from dry and meaningingless +1% here or +2% there). - Unfortunately, the skinner box method is like RPG's in a nutshell. I do have color rarities and ultra-rare item drops. I like that part of gaming. But there is usually something that drops that would be an upgrade. The idea is you can farm areas, or you can keep going.
  
  
• No crafting, outside of the rare instance of "bring rare item(s) to NPC to make even more rare item". - I have a very simple crafting system which is optional. No grinding for points, if you have a recipe and the ingredients you can make it.
  
  
• Classes that have meaningful impact through the use of class restrictions on ability scores and gear - Tons of this. The subclass system allows you to mix around your base class with whatever subclass you want. Each blend is unique and offers something.
  
  
• No cool downs - All abilities are designed around a cooldown. Without it, the game could not be designed in a group fashion. For example, to shoot a fireball it may have a 6-second cooldown, so you need to find another say frost bolt to slip in. As you progress your speed increases so you'll have even more gap fillers. Threat and so on is another issue if you spam too much. You'll have to control that.
  
  
• Combat encounters that challenge you via enemy composition and terrain limitations, not just the number of enemies - Yes, but not so much terrain. I keep things very flat like old D2. Enemies will have tricks and tactics you'll have to manage. You will be required to play different playstyles and group compositions to excel.
  
  
• Writing that does more with less. Short, punchy writing that isn't purple or full of overwrought descriptions - I definitely agree. I do try to keep the lore short and to the point. Some optional stuff might take you a bit off. For example in the library, you can read books, but it's not actually a full book, it's like a synopsis of one.
  
  
• Party formations, and easy independent control of party members (no dreaded Larian-style toilet chain) - Each member plays just like your main. You can set them up with different abilities, items, and playstyle settings.
  
  
• Party selection/interaction/order giving reminiscent of RTS games (robust keyboard-driven selection) - I assume you mean less mouse clicky? I do have Select All, F1, F2 targeted, etc, but the mouse is needed for targeting enemies. There is also a formations setup you can move them around on a grid, and placing tanks upfront, healers in the back. You can design it in whatever way you wish.
  
  
• Skeuomorphic UI - I don't know how you could implement this in my game. I get it for a cooking game or say a VR game.

 

[Fedora Master]

In this video, I go over unity's new runtime fee and how it impacts everything.

View attachment 21544

Into the trash it goes

 

[VHS9000]

I get it for a cooking game or say a VR game

Why? I may misunderstand the skeuomorphic term but isn't it just classic "book for journal", "compass for map" or "weapon rack for inventory" framed with the "natural' elements of marble and wood and precious stones? Spellbooks looking like books with all the tattered pages and thematic bookmarks? Take the Siege of Avalon as an example.

 

[JFTC-Scott]

I get it for a cooking game or say a VR game

Why? I may misunderstand the skeuomorphic term but isn't it just classic "book for journal", "compass for map" or "weapon rack for inventory" framed with the "natural' elements of marble and wood and precious stones? Spellbooks looking like books with all the tattered pages and thematic bookmarks? Take the Siege of Avalon as an example.

Perhaps I'm overthinking it, but I assume he wants more realism in the UI such as functionality and appearance. Outside of a spellbook, I didn't really think of this as a huge issue. I do need to work on the UI more so it's something to think about later.

 

[VHS9000]

Don’t understimate “tactility” of UI. Gay minimalistic UI which makes whole game looking like a mod toolset is the main reason why I won’t touch Solasta even with the two-meter pole.