Aod News Main Thread

[Major_Blackhart]

That looks fucking great.

 

[Lurker King]

The concept art is great, but what is important is how the characters, buildings and other objects will look in the game.

 

[Ninjerk]

I can't remember--are they staying with Torque for that game?

 

[Vault Dweller]

We'll try Unreal 4 first.

 

[Zanzoken]

He simply doesn't fit the game and I don't want to shove His Most Radiant Holiness Miltiades the First, Glory of a Thousand Suns, in simply because many players like him.

You gotta at least slip an easter egg in there somewhere.

The crawler takes place in a prison, right? Maybe something like this happens:

Spoiler

You see a thin man hunkered down in the dirt, cradling a bowl of runny porridge as if it were a newborn baby. A sign of the times.

When he looks up, you're startled by a nasty scar which runs from his left ear up through the middle of his forehead.

Player: "Who are you?"

Inmate: "Name's Maximus. Welcome to the asshole of the world."

He laughs raucously. Or it might've been a wheeze, you can't tell for sure.

Player: "Mind if I ask how you got that scar?"

Maximus: "A khopesh. Those curved blades can be a real bitch."

Player: [charisma] "There's got to be more to it than that."

Maximus: [charisma success] "I guess we don't have anything better to do.

I used to be a farmer. My father was a farmer, and his father before him. I always knew I could do better though. Scratching around in the dirt might eke you out a living, but it ain't much of a life.

Then one day I got my big break. I made the trip up to Teron and had just finished selling my produce when I ran across this trader. We talked for a bit and I could tell he was just like me -- a charming fellow who was just a bit down on his luck. Turns out he had a great haul of goods he'd just gotten to town with, but the Commercium wouldn't let him sell without paying their fees first, and he had run out of money from the trip.

He offered to let me see his stock, but I did him one better -- I offered to pay the merchant fees in exchange for a half share in the entire enterprise! I figured once we sold I could take the profits and maybe start a little trading business of my own. I've always had a nose for it, ya know."

Player: "I'm sure. What happened next?"

Maximus: "Well, my partner and I headed to his warehouse to start packing up the goods, but as soon as we made it in the front door we got jumped by two thugs. I fought tooth and nail and managed to kill the fuckers, but therein lies the answer to your question."

He points to the scar.

Player: "What about the goods? And your, um, partner?"

Maximus: "I lost track of my partner in the fighting but I guess the thugs must've brought backup, because the next thing I knew I was on the ground and blacking out. Bastards must've snuck right up behind me and clubbed me over the head. I didn't wake up until several hours later.

By the time I came around the warehouse had been cleaned out. And I guess they got my partner too, because I never saw him again."

He lets out an audible sigh and stares down at his porridge.

"It's a damn shame. Sometimes you just have a good feeling about someone, you know? I had only known the guy for a few minutes, but it felt we'd been friends for years. And the ironic thing is, after taking that knock on the head I can't even remember his name."

 

[HoboForEternity]

We'll try Unreal 4 first.

doesnt unreal take 40% of your revenue if the game sold certain number of copies?

 

[Elhoim]

doesnt unreal take 40% of your revenue if the game sold certain number of copies?

Nope.

 

[HoboForEternity]

My bad it's 5%

Dinno how i got that 40 hahahaha

 

[Goral]

Vault Dweller on dungeon crawler first companions: http://steamcommunity.com/app/230070/discussions/0/361798516947539403/?ctp=3#c350540974006313609

The way it works, you start at the bottom of the mine so you won't have access to 'top talent' right away:

"All three men have seen better days. They look old but you have a feeling that one ages fast in this hellhole.

The man on the right is armed with a crude crossbow. He tries to look tough but you doubt that he’s ever been in a real fight before. At best he used his “crossbow” to keep the critters away.

The man on the left is holding a sword with practiced ease – a former mercenary or even a legionary, if you’re lucky. A coughing fit breaks the spell, specks of blood flying everywhere as he coughs harder.

The last man has the look of a farmer – strong as an ox and big enough to plow a field all by himself. He’s holding a wooden spear as it were a staff. Hopefully he can hit something with it."

So it's not like you pick a specific build here rather decide which guy(s) you'd rather have: a somewhat skilled swordsman with poor health, a unskilled but strong spearman, or low-skilled crossbowman.

They aren't meant to be your best buds, each and every man a hardened and vicious killer, but they can help you get to the second level where you can recruit better fighters. These fighters won't be standing there, waiting for you to show up and ask them out. So you'll have to use either Charisma or prove that you're worth following in other ways, like risking your life to their theirs.

And talking about new AoD massive update that is planned for this year: http://steamcommunity.com/app/230070/discussions/0/350540974003217876/#c350540974003871408

Spoiler

The update will revolve around traveling to the temple with your lord. There will be different obstacles and related events (like Gaelius and Meru sending their own men to the temple, should they both live, etc). Characters that have a role to play there will make an appearance, either as ally or as one of the above mentioned obstacles (like Neleos) or loose canon like Miltiades should you invite him to accompany you.

We'll need about a month to put it together but at the moment we're working on the dungeon crawler, so the update's ETA depends entirely on the crawler's release.

 

[Zanzoken]

It's awesome that you guys are still adding free content to AoD a year after release. I just crossed the 100 hour mark in-game, looking forward to at least 100 more!

 

[Goral]

Not sure what's the occasion (announcing Dungeon rats I guess) but Age of Decadence is 50% off again on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/230070/

 

[Deleted member 7219]

So, in the AoD Steam update comments I saw Vault Dweller say this:

I don't know. We had plans for a sequel (exploring the Qantari culture), but AoD didn't sell enough on release to warrant a sequel. Our next full-scale project is a a colony ship RPG. When it's done, we'll take another look at the situation and decide what to do next. So while today it's unlikely, it hasn't been ruled out completely.

That's the kind of trolling I see from the likes of SEGA, you are trolling right VD? Sarcasm doesn't translate well on the internet.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Why do you think that comment was trolling or sarcasm? Vince stated twice in December that ITS would consider a sequel to Age of Decadence tracking an Aurelian expedition to Qantari lands, but that it would be contingent on AoD selling well enough to warrant a sequel, and that in any case this would be something to consider after the dungeon crawler and colony ship games, with the latter projected for a 2018 Early Access release.

He also stated more recently that he thinks trying to establish a new franchise is usually a mistake.

 

[Infinitron]

Why do you think that comment was trolling or sarcasm? Vince stated twice in December that ITS would consider a sequel to Age of Decadence tracking an Aurelian expedition to Qantari lands, but that it would be contingent on AoD selling well enough to warrant a sequel, and that in any case this would be something to consider after the dungeon crawler and colony ship games, with the latter projected for a 2018 release.

2020

 

[Vault Dweller]

http://www.irontowerstudio.com
^ the site is up. It's wip but it will do for now.

So, in the AoD Steam update comments I saw Vault Dweller say this:

I don't know. We had plans for a sequel (exploring the Qantari culture), but AoD didn't sell enough on release to warrant a sequel. Our next full-scale project is a a colony ship RPG. When it's done, we'll take another look at the situation and decide what to do next. So while today it's unlikely, it hasn't been ruled out completely.

That's the kind of trolling I see from the likes of SEGA, you are trolling right VD? Sarcasm doesn't translate well on the internet.

Neither trolling nor being sarcastic. It's an honest and straightforward answer.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

http://www.irontowerstudio.com
^ the site is up. It's wip but it will do for now.

So, in the AoD Steam update comments I saw Vault Dweller say this:

I don't know. We had plans for a sequel (exploring the Qantari culture), but AoD didn't sell enough on release to warrant a sequel. Our next full-scale project is a a colony ship RPG. When it's done, we'll take another look at the situation and decide what to do next. So while today it's unlikely, it hasn't been ruled out completely.

That's the kind of trolling I see from the likes of SEGA, you are trolling right VD? Sarcasm doesn't translate well on the internet.

Neither trolling nor being sarcastic. It's an honest and straightforward answer.

Ok. I just thought you didn't care that much about sales but AoD sold better than you expected, considering it never got much word of mouth from the main gaming sites.

 

[AbounI]

Iron Tower Studio is a premier destination for all your hardcore RPG needs.
Proudly serving 0.003% of the Global Gaming Market since 2015. The remaining 99.997% need not apply.

 

[Goral]

Vault Dweller
Do you take preorders for Dungeon rats? I see "buy" button but it redirects to AoD.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Ok. I just thought you didn't care that much about sales but AoD sold better than you expected, considering it never got much word of mouth from the main gaming sites.

I don't care that much about sales (to influence design) but sales (as in money) are a factor. We can't make another game working part-time, it's too slow and inefficient. We're putting all AoD and DR revenues into the next game's budget, hoping it will do better than AoD. If it sells less, especially a lot less as is often the case with indie RPG sequels, we're done.

So right now an AoD sequel isn't an option. In 4 years it might be. The game *is* selling well (for an indie) and people are still talking about it on other sites, which is encouraging.

As for my expectations, the game sold better than I expected because I tend to keep my expectations low. Failures are much more common in this business than success stories. I didn't secretly hope to sell 200-300,000 copies (what are the odds of that?) much like I don't secretly hope that the dungeon crawler does *really* well but in case it does we can take one of the endings (you'll know which one when you get there and you're going to love it) and make another crawler. Maybe even hire a couple of extra people.

Vault Dweller
Do you take preorders for Dungeon rats? I see "buy" button but it redirects to AoD.

I'm undecided as I didn't have any time to think about it. In general, I want people to know what they are buying or pre-ordering. Maybe when we post more info.

 

[AbounI]

Vault Dweller
Do you take preorders for Dungeon rats? I see "buy" button but it redirects to AoD.

I guess they need more time to finish the rebuild of the site
What we had today was great, keep it some for later

edit
also, the inventory screen has just been posted, but where are the slots for the different armors parts?Not yet ready it seems

 

[Sensuki]

I'd pre-purchase if the refresh rate issue is fixed :D

 

[Cazzeris]

also, the inventory screen has just been posted, but where are the slots for the different armors parts?Not yet ready it seems

Maybe they decided against expanding the system in the end? I don't see any mention of "more armor parts" in the feature list.

Elhoim Vault Dweller

Also, wasn't the maximum party size going to allow five characters (like the CSG) or did I misread? The linked post seems to talk about the number of recruitable companions, since the game is supposed to let you have a group of two at least (unless I'm misremembering that as well).

 

[Vault Dweller]

also, the inventory screen has just been posted, but where are the slots for the different armors parts?Not yet ready it seems

Maybe they decided against expanding the system in the end? I don't see any mention of "more armor parts" in the feature list.

Didn't work out. Such a system should be done from scratch, trying to adapt an existing system would have taken many months of extra work on all fronts (models, icons - we're behind as it is, and especially balance).

Also, wasn't the maximum party size going to allow five characters (like the CSG) or did I misread? The linked post seems to talk about the number of recruitable companions, since the game is supposed to let you have a group of two at least (unless I'm misremembering that as well).

We reduced to 4 fairly early for balance reasons.

 

[AbounI]

Didn't work out. Such a system should be done from scratch, trying to adapt an existing system would have taken many months of extra work on all fronts (models, icons - we're behind as it is, and especially balance).

Understandable.Hopefully you'll have the time to set this up for the Sunless World

 

[Vault Dweller]

Still undecided. The sci-fi nature of the setting and a fairly high tech level (they're able to make a large variety of firearms) lean toward the same system we used in AoD: body armor plus helmet. The multiple-piece armor setup works when you have to scavenge bits and pieces of armor (dungeon crawling and post-apocalyptic).

The main reason we dropped it is the time constraint. Originally, I hoped that we can easily split AoD armor into different pieces and go from there but that's where we hit the first roadblock. Once it became clear that we'll have to redo most armor, it became a problem. Our artist got buried under tons of portraits (twice as many as we originally anticipated), so he would need two extra months to do the new armor icons.