KickStarter Prometheus Wept - turn-based RPG from Vigilantes developer - Demo Available

[Iluvcheezcake]

it's going to take 12-18 months per act. Crazy when you think it's for 4-6 hours of gameplay.

What takes so much time when you have game systems in place and a lot of assets can be reused?

No raging coke habit

 

[Modron]

What takes so much time when you have game systems in place and a lot of assets can be reused?

Content generation is the longest and most laborious part of game development isn't it? Ron Gilbert went ahead and said even with the engine they created for Thimbleweed Park another game using it wouldn't really be any cheaper to make because of that.

 

[Timeslip]

What takes so much time when you have game systems in place and a lot of assets can be reused?

In terms of game systems, the game's in a good enough place. Some new environment assets will need to be worked in for each act, and new maps will needed. A more complex map, with several buildings, could take a week. A simple map could be wrapped up in 2-3 days. There will be new factions in each act, so character models will need to be added. I spent an absolute age manually adding clothes into the software I'm using for character models, so it's not very time expensive to make models. Maybe 1 hour for something simple, 4 hours for something more complex.

The dialogue encounters are time expensive. First design -> bullet point -> multiple drafts, for the writing. Scripting the encounters and debugging them is where most of the time goes, though. I'm using a really good third party plugin for managing the dialogue in game, but regardless of how good it is, every time a character, prop, camera or any aspect of the game world is moved, rotated, enabled, that needs to happen through scripting. So far, I've written about 170 code functions to handle all the actions, but they are activated with a scripting language which lacks some of the error checking and conveniences of c#. It's easier to make mistakes here, and each possible choice the player can makes needs to be tested. On simpler encounters, it might be possible to debug it in a handful of passes. In more complex ones... well... you might be looking at 20+ passes to test all the possibilities and fix any bugs that are found.

 

[Timeslip]

it's going to take 12-18 months per act. Crazy when you think it's for 4-6 hours of gameplay.

What takes so much time when you have game systems in place and a lot of assets can be reused?

No raging coke habit

Some of these days, I'm going to crack (pun intended) and go old school Steven King on this game

 

[Timeslip]

What takes so much time when you have game systems in place and a lot of assets can be reused?

Content generation is the longest and most laborious part of game development isn't it? Ron Gilbert went ahead and said even with the engine they created for Thimbleweed Park another game using it wouldn't really be any cheaper to make because of that.

Yeah, it's super time consuming. I knew making an RPG would take longer than a combat focused game like Vigilantes, but didn't anticipate how big the difference would be.

 

[Infinitron]

This dev log for turn based RPG, Prometheus Wept covers the completion of the militia pre-finale mission, which provides options to recruit more militia, and improve their equipment through trade and crafting. You can also attempt to interrupt a rebel arms deal on a newly created map.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Here's text part of that update.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1208110/view/3980686873611947746

Prometheus Wept Dev Log Jan 24!
TLDR: The militia pre-finale is complete, and includes an optional combat mission which takes place on a new map.
Hello, and welcome to the January dev log for Prometheus Wept. I've wrapped up the militia pre-finale, where you will prime Sunny Pine's militia for confrontation with the rebels. This includes improving the militia's equipment through trade and crafting, recruiting new members, improving morale.

In the militia pre-finale, you must decide how to best allocate your faction's cash and time.


You can also attempt to convince the mayor to print extra currency to be used in the war effort, or follow up on intel received about a rebels arms deal, in an optional combat-focused encounter. Doing so will briefly bring you in contact with one of the main factions of act 2. Each faction has preferences for the weapons they use, so there is an opportunity to get your hands on some new items here.

Attack, approach, sneak or observe. The choice is yours.


This encounter required a new map, which has been completed and is the final map for act 1. There are a number of options for handling the encounter, such as observing the group, approaching them, or attacking. If you approach them, you will discover that their goal is to deliver a crate of merchandise to you, which raises further questions on what exactly is going on.

Up Next: Militia Finale & Minor encounters

Moving on to what's coming next. The focus for the next number of weeks will be two-fold. Firstly, I'll be working on the series of combat focused encounters which make up the militia finale. It's a fairly big piece of work, likely in the ballpark of 6 weeks. Second, I'm going to start addressing what I see as Prometheus Wept's biggest current weakness, namely, a lack of things to do outside the main questline. The goal here isn't to add large side-quests, but rather to focus on getting a decent number of smaller encounters, which breathes life into the world, and develops the characters.

That's it for now, thank you for watching. I'll check back in next month, and if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, I'd be happy to hear from you!

 

[Timeslip]

Thanks for sharing Infinitron and Taka-Haradin puolipeikko - Nice to be drawing closer to a release. If anyone has any comments, questions or suggestions, happy to chat!

 

[Infinitron]

This dev log covers the completion of the militia finale, where you must defend against a major rebel attack on Sunny Pines. Numerous encounters play out over up to five locations as you struggle to retain control over the rising city state.

 

[Timeslip]

You can get this from the video, but if you can't be arsed trawling through 15 minutes of rambling, here's some low spoiler extra detail on the militia finale:

- The finale starts after you spend your time units and cash on launching pre-emptive strikes, recruitment, crafting and purchasing of equipment for the militia.
- Sunny Pines comes under attack by a substantial rebel force, which will attack different districts with different attacks, including a head on attack of the main gates, encouraging rioting, attacking infrastructure, and more.
- If you are defeated in any fight, you regroup with what remains of the leadership and militia for a last ditch defence. If you win this battle, you'll push back the rebels and will launch an attack on their HQ. If you lose the battle, Sunny Pines will fall under rebel control and you'll move on to act 2.

Here's the character artwork for sociopath and con man, Ferdia Beckett. Beckett (unfortunately) joins you early on.

Here's the artwork for Markus Tiber, the sheriff of Sunny Pines. Depending on your choices, Tiber can become an enemy or permanently join your party.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...t-a-post-digital-turn-based-rpg/posts/4099807

April - May 2024: Militia Finale (Finally) Complete!​

Hi there-

Daithi here. I hope you're doing well! I've just wrapped up the militia finale – that's all the encounters designed, written, implemented and debugged across the five maps the finale can play out over. While working on the finale, I added code to:

• Allow AI characters to target objects
• Allow AI characters to spend AP activating objects
• Improve trap mechanics
• Equip a faction's troops

Olga's artwork for con man and sociopath, Ferdia Beckett. (He's on your team!)
Debugging these additions ate a fair bit of time, so I'd expect the rebel finale will be quicker to complete. The focus for the next couple of months will be the rebel finale, along with making the maps more interesting with small encounters and loot. Then it'll finally be early access time.

You can find more a more detailed outline of recent developments in the below video, or continue reading for the short version.

Artwork:​

Olga has been working on illustrations for key characters and has completed the artwork for Markus Tiber, Sheriff of Sunny Pines, and sociopath/con man, Ferdia Beckett.

Olga's artwork for Markus Tiber, Sheriff of Sunny Pines. Depending on your choices Tiber can be a key ally, or an enemy.

Militia Finale:​

• The finale starts after completing recruitment, crafting and purchasing of equipment for the militia.
• Sunny Pines comes under attack by a substantial rebel force, which will attack different districts with different attacks, including a head on attack of the main gates, encouraging rioting, attacking infrastructure, and more.
• If you are defeated in any fight, you regroup with what remains of the leadership and militia for a last ditch defence. If you win this battle, you'll push back the rebels and will launch an attack on their HQ. If you lose the battle, Sunny Pines will fall under rebel control and you'll move on to act 2.

Almost there I'll check back in some time in June.

Until then, all the best, and if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please let me know!

Daithi