Torment's Producer tries his hand at a RPG Kickstarter

[forgottenlor]

Guido Henkl, who produced Planescape:Torment, and who is immortalized on the box (he is the model of the nameless one covered in blue makeup) is trying his own kickstarter. Looks sort of like Wizardry or Might and Magic:

 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/g3studios/deathfire-ruins-of-nethermore?ref=category

 

 

Thoughts?

[Walsingham]

Thanks, man. I like the bit about party NPCs.

[obyknven]

and compare this with Deep Down

http://youtu.be/vJj9vvOQnuE

 

Guide Henkel  you again FAIL.

[BruceVC]

Guido Henkl, who produced Planescape:Torment, and who is immortalized on the box (he is the model of the nameless one covered in blue makeup) is trying his own kickstarter. Looks sort of like Wizardry or Might and Magic:

 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/g3studios/deathfire-ruins-of-nethermore?ref=category

 

 

Thoughts?

 

This is an interesting topic but its been discussed extensively in  the Kickstarter thread in Computer and Console section.

 

Personally I'm not supporting this project until Keyrock gives his famous "thumbs-up"  

 

The game looks too generic for me and there isn't anything really about it that distinguishes it from other RPG?

[forgottenlor]

I'm worried they're asking for too much money for this type of game, and I say that though I love games likes Might and Magic and Wizardry. I'm not sure what type of audience there is. The last one that was commercially succesful was Might and Magic 7, and that was in 1998, I think. That sort of limits the audience.

Edited November 7, 2013 by forgottenlor

[samm]

I don't think it's too much money for a good RPG, but I too had the first impression of "generic fantasy". Even though the first monster, a dinosaur-like thing, pretty locations and portraits suggest somewhat otherwise.

[Tale]

Moving this over to Computer and Console. It's perhaps a little too on topic for off topic. I know there's already some discussion in The Kickstarter Thread.

 

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/63674-the-kickstarter-thread/page-26

[Labadal]

He previously failed to reach the funding goal for his previous kickstarter game, THORVALLA. I pledged for that but I don't have any real interest in this.

[melkathi]

I think the name is silly. Usually video game names are silly, but this is one of those names that try to be cool while being silly. Tired of "death"this, "dark"that etc. I'm too old for that.

That is not to say that I may be overlooking an awesome project. But I have spend too much on kickstarter already. I am backing the Mandate and that is enough for me right now.

[samm]

I think the latest updates of their Kickstarter warrant another look at the game, silly name though it may have. Notably, the party interaction system sounds good, and it should be noted that it's *not* a dungeon crawler only, despite what than many - including me - thought at first, but there's supposed to be good story telling, intrigue and politics for people who like such things

[rjshae]

I can't say the name is any sillier than Temple of Elemental Evil or Dungeon Siege or Legend of Grimlock or Planescape: Torment.

[Keyrock]

RPS Guido Henkel Interview:

 

 

RPS: For German readers, and certainly for a lot of RPG fans, the words “Realms Of Arkania” certainly cause people to pay attention. Can you explain for those who weren’t there at the time what they were, and why people still remember them so fondly?

 

Guido Henkel: I think, one of the reasons these games are so memorable has to do with the level at which they engaged the player. Many of today’s games are like fast-food. They are slick, simple, fast and pretty, but they have very little substance. The moment you finished your burger, you forget about it.

 

Games like the “Realms of Arkania” trilogy operated on a different level, partially because they were very unforgiving and because they forced you to pay attention. It’s not that the games were unfairly harsh, but if you made a bad decision, you would suffer the consequences eventually. If you did not pay attention to detail, you would potentially lose your companions because they starved, got sick or because they were simply ill-prepared for what was ahead of them.

 

The concept in those games has been to simulate a real tabletop roleplaying game session in the computer with all of its intricacies. Sadly, a lot of technical limitations, such as processing power, speed and storage limitations, held us back in those days, but that’s exactly where we want to jump in with my new project, “Deathfire: Ruins of Nethermore.” We want to recapture that kind of gameplay and atmosphere, and then go beyond the technical limitations of yesteryear and enhance the experience with what modern computers and their computing power can offer. Deeper characters, multi-layered storylines and plots, more reactive environments, independent opponents, and so forth.

 

 

 

RPS: To the rest of the world, you’re probably most famous for being a producer on “Planescape: Torment.” As well as being the face on the box, of course! The role of producer is a mysterious one to most, I think – can you explain a bit more what it means, and what your role was on the game?

 

Guido Henkel: It is so mysterious, in fact, that even I was taken by surprise when I started on Planescape: Torment. Titles used to have very little meaning when I first began. They were often simply a moniker to show who was involved in a project and in roughly what capacity that person’s focus was. I think in the “Realms of Arkania” games I’m credited as the producer as well, while in fact, I programmed, designed, created art, did the music and a million other things. It would have appeared as excessively self-serving to add my name to each category, so we decided early on not to do that and instead pick one and leave it at that.

 

When I signed on with Interplay to produce Planescape I was imagining to see the same kind of work environment, in which everyone is helping everyone to the best of their abilities, in order to build the products. I found very quickly, however, that there was a much stronger separation than I had anticipated.

 

As a result my primary responsibilities on that project were primarily administrative in nature. While I did some work on some of the technical design aspects of the game, I was mostly the guy who was crunching the numbers and maintained the project plans to make sure everyone knew what they were supposed to do, and got it done in time. It was also my job to shield the team from the many corporate issues that surround a project, that may simply be distracting the team from the creative aspects. It is neither a fun, nor a glorious job.

 

RPS: Deathfire: Ruins Of Nethermore, as well as being about the most RPG name of all time, looks like a return to classic late ’80s role-playing games. What was it about that era that made you want to head back there? Did the success of Grimrock have any part in that?

 

Guido Henkel: I looked at Legends of Grimrock and it made me realise that I had never considered what our classic games could look like if you gave them a modern day presentation. I always thought they were simply outdated as a whole, without realizing that at the core there is still an absolutely valid game core that was every bit as engaging now as it was 25 years ago. It only needed to be packaged properly. I really have to thank the guys at Almost Human to open my eyes to those possibilities.

 

Once that thought had broken, very quickly the desire grew inside me to conjure up the real role-playing magic of games like the Realms of Arkania trilogy and bring them to today’s players. Thus the concept of Deathfire: Ruins of Nethermore was born, and from the first moment it was clear to me, that it would be a real throwback to the classic games. After all, who better to build a traditionally inspired game like this, than the guys who built the traditional games to begin with? This is exactly our field of expertise. Old-school games by old-school guys!

 

RPS: I’ve seen people asking why the grid-based format? What is it about this format that appeals to you, makes you want to stick to the pre-Ultima Underworld universe?

 

Guido Henkel: It is a personal preference, really, and it has to do with my memories of tabletop, pen & paper games, I suppose. There is something magical about that for me, because to me it somehow defines the space better and gives the player better control of that space in a strategic sense.

 

We were extremely mindful, however to make sure that despite being grid based, the game does not necessarily look that way. You can see very well in our outdoor screenshots that we broke up the geometry to create a look and feel that completely hides the underlying grid and creates an environment that is every bit as crooked and angled as it is in other 3D games.

 

Depending on the environment, we do the same thing in dungeons, though some dungeons are by their very definition fairly straight tunnels and do not benefit at all from too much deviation.

 

So, on the whole, it is an artistic and nostalgic decision, and since we know that it may not be everybody’s cup of tea, we make amends by also offering full mouselook capabilities and the ability to turn off things, such as the little bounce in each step. That way it is possible to move through the world in a fashion that easily lets you forget that you’re moving along a grid in a stepwise fashion.

 

RPS: I can imagine that developing an old-school RPG might come with some challenges based on expectations. People at once want something that reminds them of their favourite games, but also want something original. But at the same time others will react negatively to the original, because it doesn’t remind them of their favourite games! Is finding that balance tricky?

 

Guido Henkel: I am not sure at this point. Time will tell, I presume. All that we can do is make the game we feel is the best we can make. I look at features of my old games and try to determine which ones were valuable and which ones weren’t. The other day, for example, I began playing Shadows over Riva, the third of the Realms of Arkania games, and was shocked at how unfriendly the experience was in terms of usability. So I made notes how to improve that. I also found that it had an excessively slow start from a narrative point of view. So I made notes of that as well, and made respective plans not to repeat the same mistake in “Deathfire.” I will start with a bang and set players on the right path straight away, giving them something to do.

 

The perception of any game is highly subjective. I often see people flock to a certain game on troves, and when I check it out for myself, I just can’t see the appeal oftentimes. And vice versa.

 

Every player has his own preferences and projects his own expectations in a game. We cannot control this – and think we shouldn’t – and the best thing we can do, really, is to make the kind of game we would love to play. That way it will always be earnest and genuine, without becoming a product made purely for commercial appeal.

 

RPS: So, go on, what will we see from this game that will take us by surprise?

 

Guido Henkel: Many players who have not really played through the heyday of classic computer role-playing games may find that the experience is a very different one from what passes for role-playing these days. It is a much more engaging and diverse experience that is not limited to repetitive combat and level grinding. Instead, it is much more focused on story and character development, getting the player invested on a completely different level, adding facets to the overall experience.

 

At the same time, I believe the biggest surprise that players will find is the story itself. At this point Deathfire may seem like it is a bit generic, traditional high fantasy – and that’s the image we are creating for it, including the title – but there’s a whole lot more going on in the story.

 

There is a good reason why we picked a Nethermancer and not a Necromancer as the antagonist. A Nethermancer has very different abilities that go way beyond raising the dead or some arcane magic. A Nethermancer can bridge dimensions… I’ll let your imagination fill in the rest.

 

RPS: Thank you for your time.

Really good stuff.  Guido is definitely winning me over.  Initially when the Kickstarter was launched I got a definite "just a dungeon grinder" impression, but it's becoming more and more clear that the game will be a heck of a lot deeper than that.  Sadly, it's struggling in the funding department and looks like it will likely not make the funding goal unless it gets a shot in the arm.  Nice of RPS to give it some coverage.  It would be great if a place that gets tons of eyeballs everyday like IGN gave it some coverage, but that's highly unlikely.

[forgottenlor]

Yeah it needs a shot in the arm. On the other hand this week is has steadily gained about 1% funding per day, and hasn't stagnated (yet) like Greywalkers or some other projects I have funded. I'm hoping this weekend does it well. Normally Friday and Saturday are good days for funding. It needs to be around 50% by the last weeked if it is to have any chance, I think.

Edited November 13, 2013 by forgottenlor

[samm]

The more I read the better it sounds Don't know if it will help funding though, because somehow, the best parts weren't clearly visible as a first impression...

 

German interview http://www.gamersglobal.de/interview/kein-anderes-rpg-macht-was-wir-machen included some things I didn't know:

 

* first question "Honestly - how did you chose the name, some RPG name generator? Or does it actually mean something?" ^^ love straight questions And yes, it actually has a reason to be called that, stems from a dangerous spell burning souls out of people, long ago banished from all official spellbooks.

 

* A HOMM II veteran is part of the team.

 

* They aim for a PnP like feeling (I hope unlike in our current PnP: ginding only and story close to 0)

[IndiraLightfoot]

I'm definitely rooting for it. It's not just nostalgia, but the emphasis on puzzles, problem solving, party characters that have phobias and flaws, and nor will they stop talking either, and there are political intrigues, factions, and outdoor areas. I think Guido would make a nice game of this, despite the slightly corny name.  

[Keyrock]

The initial pitch was poorly done and made the game sound like just a dungeon crawler, while now it is becoming clear that the game is a lot more than that.  The damage may be done.  Hopefully it's not to late for this campaign to get going, but it;s not looking good right now.

[IndiraLightfoot]

For those of you interested, a fairly hefty update just landed, with all the reward tiers made much more meaty:

 

Update #9

Nov 17, 2013

More rewards for you

11 comments

 

Like

6 likes

 

Today, we have an exciting update for you, not so much because we will talk more about the technology or features of “Deathfire: Ruins of Nethermore,” but because we are announcing a whole lot of changes to our reward structure, with the result that every single backer of our campaign will get more swag! How do you like that?

So let’s not waste any more time with preliminaries, let me outline for you, what is happening and what you can expect.

Rewards Galore!

First and foremost, all of our reward tiers will receive eBook versions of the entire “Jason Dark: Ghost Hunter” Collection, a series of pulp-fiction style novels, written by Guido Henkel. The collection features all eleven adventures, a $30 retail value, that we’re giving away to every single backer, even those coming in at the $5 level.

We are also creating a Monster Naming Pool. Throughout the game you will encounter various monsters and we will create a pool of names — that you will provide — and randomly pick unique names for many of these creatures. You can throw your own name, or a name you made up, into the pool if you’re backing this project at the $50 level or higher, adding to the variety this game will offer its players.

In addition, we have decided to create a Cloth Map for the game, displaying the various areas the game plays in. It will be beautifully crafted and best of all, it will be added to all existing physical reward tiers! Once again, we feel by adding this kind of value to all physical tiers, we can express our gratitude for your support! Naturally, the map itself will also be made available to all digital tiers in a digital image format.

One of the key levels in “Deathfire: Ruins of Nethermore” is a Graveyard area that surrounds the Apocryphic Temple at the top of Mount Nethermore. Instead of filling it with entirely made-up names, we have decided to hand the space over to you. We are giving you the chance to name the graves. At the $60 level and above, you will be able to name a tombstone. Once you commit to the $100 MOUSER EDITION and upwards, you will even be able to name an interment site in a catacomb, select the look of it from a number of designs, and place a personalized banner over it, which you can provide as a bitmap image. If you are a backer at the $300 level or higher, you will receive a fully personalized crypt instead. It will contain all of the above features and will also allow you to add a personal epitaph. With these rewards, which span a wide range of reward tiers, you can now immortalize yourself in the game!

As we pointed out before, the game features a recipe-based crafting system, which allows you to create brand new items, or enhance existing ones, such as weapons. Starting at the $100 MOUSER EDITION tier, backers now also have the ability to name a specific crafting recipe, adding their own name to the ancient lore of the game world this way.

For those of you more interested in all things combat, starting at the $120 CLASSIC BARD EDITION tier, we will also give you the opportunity to name a rare weapon. These highly individual weapons will be available to all players, but they will carry the name you provided. Imagine the fame your weapon could achieve among players!

Needless to say, all naming options will have to adhere to certain naming rules that we will make available, in order to avoid abuse and copyright infringements.

We are really happy to provide all these new rewards to you, and as the creators of the game, we are really looking forward to some of the cool names and ideas you will undoubtedly throw at us as part of the process. Most importantly, however, these new rewards will allow you to become a part of the game itself, and judging by our own pride we take in our work, it is a prospect that is truly exciting.

Matt Chat Video Interview

Before I sign off, I also wanted to point your attention to a video interview I did recently with Matt Barton as part of his “Matt Chat” YouTube channel. The first part of the interview is now live, giving you about 30 minutes of talk about “Deathfire” and its features. Other segments, covering other aspects will follow. Matt is a smart guy who really knows games and the conversation truly reflects that so make sure to check it out.

Stay tuned, and don’t forget to spread the word about the game and these new rewards!

[IndiraLightfoot]

Snow elves! Finally!! Everbody ought to jump with joy! At least I do. In D&D, I loved those snow-themed monsters, like Winter Wolves and Snow Kobolds. And now we would get a playable winter race too in a CRPG.

 

Update #10

Nov 19, 2013

A Closer Look at Characters

 

We still have 18 days left in our campaign to get “Deathfire: Ruins of Nethermore” funded, and we are still confident that it is possible to reach our $390,000 goal. It will not be easy, but with your help, and with the help of the press and our own doing, we hope we will be able to increase the influx of new backers once again, to help carry us over the finish line.

As you know, every backer is important to us, and with the added rewards we announced the other day, we were very grateful to see many of you upgrading their pledges. It helped tremendously, and the entire Deathfire Team thanks you very sincerely.

With that in mind, it is time to dive into more details about the game itself.

Races and Classes, and the whole Spiel

We have discussed races and classes in the game a couple of months ago as part of our Developer Diary on the official website, but I thought it would be a good idea to reiterate some details about characters in “Deathfire: Ruins of Nethermore” once again here, for every backer to see.

As you certainly know by now, character stats are very important to us in this game. With the help of our Psycho Engine, all the character attributes — visible as well as hidden ones — help us create characters that will be richly varied and will feature unique personalities.

Because we want the game to be accessible to players who do not have a lot of experience with deep role-playing systems, we decided to keep the character generation fairly straight-forward and easy to use.

So the first thing the player will get to choose for a character is his or her race. We are offering six races - Humans, Dwarves, Snow Elves, Wood Elves, Halflings and the vicious Tarks. Each race has certain modifiers associated with it that will affect the character’s final traits. Snow Elves, for example, have a higher resistance to ice than Humans. Halflings are more dexterous than Dwarves, while Tarks are experts at taunting; that sort of thing.

Naturally, you can also determine the character’s gender and name at this point and then continue on to select the character’s class. “Deathfire” offers eight available classes, Warrior, Crusader, Scout, Shadow Dancer, Shaman, Druid, Wizard and Sorcerer. The female counterparts for these classes are currently called Valkyrie, Scout, Shadow Dancer, Shamaness, Druid, Witch and Sorceress, though these names may not be final yet.

Each of these classes is specialized in a certain area of expertise and, like the race, comes with modifiers that affect the character’s final skills. It is a carefully balanced system that took quite some time to get right, and I expect to tweak it still, once we begin seeing these characters spring to life in the actual game.

The next step will take the player to the base attributes. They are automatically rolled using twenty-sided dice and consist of Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. Based on these values, as well as the race and class modifiers, the computer also calculates a number of other attributes, such as weapon skills, attack and defense values and others. The base stats also affect the damage the character can do, the amount of magic points he has, and the armor rating. Some additional values are being calculated and kept invisible to the player, just to keep things manageable.

A look at the base stats [Click to enlarge]

If the player is not happy with the distribution of these values, a single click will roll the dice anew for a complete, new set of values.

The next step takes us deep into the character’s traits and disadvantages. In order to create a role-playing experience that has real depth and gives the player breadth in shaping their in-game characters over time, “Deathfire” currently offers 34 different traits, packed together into various groups to easier track them.

The character traits at a glance [Click to enlarge]

The first group contains Resistances, controlling how well the character can withstand various types of damage. The Body Skills determine how well the character can handle himself physically and is therefore home to things such as Balance and Speed, among others. The list continues with groups such as Nature Skills, Craftsmanship, and Mental Skills, as you can see from the screenshot below, each with a number of individual attributes that determine the character’s innate abilities.

And then there are the negative attributes, called Disadvantages. Everyone of us has lost his cool before, so why should our game characters be any different? In my opinion, negative attributes bring zest to the game. They give heroes personality and, from a design standpoint, open up an endless array of opportunities for great character interaction and mishaps.

What we are looking at here runs the gamut from ordinary Temper tantrums, to a person’s Fear of Height, or Arachnophobia. But it also includes values such as Greed, Superstition and Pessimism. As you can undoubtedly tell, there is a lot to allow us to color characters and create interesting gameplay moments, but it can also feel overwhelming to the player. Therefore we will also have an optional game mode that will hide away many of these attributes and let the computer control them for you.

As outlined previously in our Psycho Engine Update, “Deathfire: Ruins of Nethermore” uses an intricate artificial intelligence system to manage characters, based on all of these attributes, as well as the ones hidden below the surface. Taken together with the data retrieved from the game environment and the logic that drives the Psycho Engine, all these values will shape the behavior of each character in the game in all of its details.

I think it is easy to see how such a wealth of information about characters can help give the game depth and create interesting situations, particularly since the NPCs and opponents feature the same set of values to drive the Psycho Engine with behavior of their own.

Did we whet your appetite already?

Team Q&A: Michael Flad

Hey Michael. What’s your job on the Deathfire Team?

I’m a programmer, and because we are a small team, there are many hats to be worn at all times, since we don’t have the luxury to have a dedicated specialist for every part of the game. But to me, that is one of the reasons why I love to work in a small and independent team. There’s a new and interesting challenge to be found around every corner.

What are you working on at the moment?

Right now I’m working on our Psycho Engine AI framework, that we use to control all the creatures in the game. One of my big goals is to make this all very dynamic and less predictable, while still serving the purpose in any given situation in the game. It’ll actually be a pretty cool system and you can learn more about it in Guido’s Psycho Engine Update from a few days ago.

What’s your typical work day like?

Well, since we are a distributed team I work from my home office, and after getting up and taking a quick shower, I really need a cup of fresh brewed coffee and have to go for a walk with my dog — it’s a decent enough way to really wake up and to get ready for some heavy thinking.

I’ll do a quick email check and then just dive into whatever I’m coding at the moment. I usually do this until I’m either hungry or tired, or both.

Typically I try to eat healthy light food, so I won’t get tired and lethargic, and depending on the time of day, I either continue to work on my current task again or I'll take the dog for another walk first.

While I’m working, I tend to listen to ambient music, and I absolutely love to discover new stuff every few days on Bandcamp, which, I may add, is also a great site to listen to some great soundtracks from indie games.

Besides working on Deathfire, how do you spend your free time?

A large chunk of what free time I have is already mixed into my work day, such as the time spent with my dog. But apart from that, I love going to the movies and watching TV shows. Some of my all time favorites are The Sopranos, The Wire, Dexter, Entourage, Rome, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead and… of course on the #1 slot, Breaking Bad - I love how they managed to evolve the characters season over season.

What games have you worked on before you joined the “Deathfire” team?

I think it is pretty cool to let you know that I started working as a professional game developer, working on “Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva” at Guido’s company Attic Entertainment Software, along with our artists Marian and André. But even before that, I already knew our other artist, Thomas. We had done some game development on the Amiga together.

Along the way I have worked on a number of released and (sigh) canceled titles, big and small, such as “Sovereigns of the Seas (aka Herrscher der Meere),” “Wildlife Park” and others. I also wrote an engine for point & click adventures, that was used to release four or five games.

In addition, I’ve also worked on various mobile projects on virtually all mobile platforms.

I can’t talk about the canceled titles though… NDAs and such. You understand.

Anything else we should know?

The cake is a lie — but I guess most of you knew that already, didn’t you?

[Keyrock]

I hate <whatever> Elves.  I'm guessing Tarks are this game's Orc equivalent, so that instantly becomes my preferred race.  Tark Shaman looks like my ideal combo.

Edited November 20, 2013 by Keyrock

[ShadySands]

I backed it but at this point I'm pretty sure that is money that won't be leaving my account any time soon

[ilhdr]

I would pledge if it wasn't turn-based

[samm]

They're above 100K now Also, in the latest update they said they'd include physical die rolling, during character creation but also for saving throws for example, as an option To me, this is of course nothing but an option... but a damn cool one! Makes this game even more PnP-like.

[Keyrock]

The dice rolling thing is a gimmick.  That said, it's a really really freakin' cool gimmick and I wants it. 

 

Also, in-game footage:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLMjEMl3Ssk

Edited November 24, 2013 by Keyrock

[nikolokolus]

and compare this with Deep Down

http://youtu.be/vJj9vvOQnuE

 

Guide Henkel  you again FAIL.

 

One's a blobber on a shoestring budget, the other is a medieval FPS with millions of dollars backing it. 

 

Apples and oranges fail.

Edited November 24, 2013 by nikolokolus

[samm]

After reaching 200'000 and missing their goal, they decided to go for plan B and release the game in a different mode. I for one think it was a good decision and continued to support them in the new model.

 

This Plan B can be read about here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/g3studios/deathfire-ruins-of-nethermore/posts/687176

 

In short, works as follows: Instead of abandoning the game, now that much of the mechanics already exist and development effort has been put into it, they release it anyway. Knowing that a second Kickstarter later on would bear the same risk of costing time and effort for no return except raising awareness, they decided to release their game chapter by chapter. Six chapters, six episodes. They can be pre-pruchased via Paypal, keeping the structure of the Kickstarter Pledge Rewards except that there are no physical rewards.