Vapourware Basilisk Games (Eschalon) working on a first-person sci-fi RPG

[Sacred82]

he gave me trouble once when his own download links didn't work. Never again asshole.

Eschalon games were shit but 1 was one of the few games I've actually finished.

 

[HoboForEternity]

anyway are the eschalon games good? the dude who introduced me to spiderweb software said he like it quite much, and the soundtrack are good

 

[V_K]

They're kinda like Might&Magic, only isometric and with a single character. Good exploration and character system, meh combat and story.

 

[Sacred82]

Character "building" in BS games is horrible, skills fall into two categories, insta-win and useless. Of course he knows that so starting with the second game he added achievements like "shoot yourself in the foot by making a thief character".

 

[almondblight]

Good exploration and character system, meh combat and story.

The exploration kind of sucked, particularly when you compare it to something like Avernum. When I tried to go off the beaten path in Eschalon, all I found was lots of empty wilderness and trash mobs. It didn't help that the slow walking speed meant that it took forever to walk through the empty wilderness and back again. Exploration in Eschalon is a lot of tedium with nothing to find.

The character system looks cool, but it was pretty weak, at least with the character I played. I tried an elemental caster, and there wasn't anything to do except cast fire bolt, then kite the enemies will recharging my mana.

 

[V_K]

The exploration kind of sucked, particularly when you compare it to something like Avernum. When I tried to go off the beaten path in Eschalon, all I found was lots of empty wilderness and trash mobs.

As if Avernum has anything other than trash mobs, even on the beaten path.
Eschalon at least has a fair share of secrects and alternative routes that aren't immediately obvious (although the quality of areas is rather inconsisten, I give you that).

 

[almondblight]

The exploration kind of sucked, particularly when you compare it to something like Avernum. When I tried to go off the beaten path in Eschalon, all I found was lots of empty wilderness and trash mobs.

As if Avernum has anything other than trash mobs, even on the beaten path.
Eschalon at least has a fair share of secrects and alternative routes that aren't immediately obvious (although the quality of areas is rather inconsisten, I give you that).

Huh? In Avernum you can come across ancient graves where the dead will rise if you defile them, random merchants, the crypts of ancient emperors, soldiers who are under attack, etc. In Eschalon you come across trash mobs. I mean, not even empty random dungeons, just the same few trash mobs in the wilderness.

 

[V_K]

Huh? In Avernum you can come across ancient graves where the dead will rise if you defile them

= trash mobs.

the crypts of ancient emperors

...full of trash mobs.

soldiers who are under attack

...by trash mobs.

In Eschalon 2, for example, there was a whole secret game-long quest that you had to discover on your own, through careful exploration. There are 5 ways to get into the main city, two of which requires exploring different places on your own. Not to mention various secret areas in dungeon and cities, puzzles, hidden treasures, etc.

 

[almondblight]

= trash mobs.

...full of trash mobs.

...by trash mobs.

In Eschalon 2, for example, there was a whole secret game-long quest that you had to discover on your own, through careful exploration. There are 5 ways to get into the main city, two of which requires exploring different places on your own. Not to mention various secret areas in dungeon and cities, puzzles, hidden treasures, etc.

Didn't play the second because I couldn't finish the first, but the first pretty much have random trash mobs in the wilderness.

Avernum: You stumble across an ancient crypt. Once you go inside the doors lock, you're met by a wight who explains that this is the crypt of an ancient ruler, then are attacked by undead. You get attacked by undead while you wander around trying to figure out how to open the doors and get back out. While you do, you come across canvasses depicting the ancient empire that this crypt was built by.

Eschalon: You walk through the trees and find giant beetle #345. You kite it and kill it.

I'm not sure how anyone can say that these two are the same because, hey, you fight trash mobs in both.

Besides that, the slow walking speed in Eschalon makes the boring exploration needlessly tedious.

 

[V_K]

while you wander around trying to figure out how to open the doors and get back out

Only there's no actual figuring out involved in the process, because all you have to do is follow a linear path and fight a bunch of samey battles.

Eschalon: You walk through the trees and find giant beetle #345. You kite it and kill it.

It's not how exploration in Eschalon works. It's more along the lines of: You see a portal (or a staircase, or a chest, or just a dark corridor) behing a locked porticullis (or a water stream, or something else). You explore the surroundings trying to figure out (actually figure out, as in "use your brain") how to get there (which usually involves solving some puzzle, piecing together obscure hints or just experimenting with the scenery).

I'm not sure how anyone can say that these two are the same

I'm not. I'm saying that exploration in Avernum is way worse, because it boils down to mindlessly moping the area and fighting endless mobs. You're never stuck, you never have to wonder where you need to go or how to get there.
Granted, something like Grimrock 2 blows Eschalon out of the water in that regards, but for an isometric title it has pretty decent exploration.

 

[almondblight]

Stuff

I see, you're talking about exploration/puzzle solving inside of areas. I don't remember anything particularly impressive in Eschalon I, but yeah, they did attempt some stuff in terms of environmental interaction.

But in terms of exploring the wilderness, there's pretty much nothing out there. There's no reason to do anything except go from town 1 to dungeon 1 to town 2 to dungeon 2 etc. Stepping off the very linear path just means a whole lot of wasted time.

 

[LESS T_T]

"The State of the Basilisk": http://basiliskgames.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12932

- The sci-fi RPG is in "engine complete" stage. "That means things like combat, stats and skills, item management, environment interaction- all that is done. The first 20 minutes are playable!"
- The spaceship action game Zodiac and the Marauders of Sol is put on hold. He will review it again AFTER the sci-fi RPG is released.

The State of the Basilisk, Summer 2017

Just a quick update to let everyone know what were doing (this is so much easier than answering individual emails and messages).

We are currently working on our Next RPG. Maybe you haven't heard, but we're making a sci-fi RPG and it's coming along splendidly.

As of this week, we are "engine complete"! That means things like combat, stats and skills, item management, environment interaction- all that is done. The first 20 minutes are playable! There is still much to do in terms of game content, but overall we kicked a lot of ass over the summer coding marathon. It's exciting to finally see this new RPG up and running!

This sci-fi RPG is really unique in several aspects, in that nothing quite like it has been done before as far as I know (certainly I'll be told otherwise when it's released). But more than that- this idea really predates Eschalon. The original ruleset that birthed Eschalon was a pen-and-paper sci-fi game that I worked on in the late 90s, so some form of this sci-fi RPG has been brewing for many years and it's finally starting to look like something now!

And nope- I'm not ready to announce anything, not ready to show anything, and not even ready to tell you the name. When the time its right I'll announce the game with a full spectrum of screenshots, gameplay video, game description and features, release date, etc.


Update on Zodiac and the Marauders of Sol
I get a lot of messages on this game, and I want to make it clear about what it is, and where we are at with it.

So Zodiac began as a learning project about 2 years ago. After taking a break from the release of Book III, I started learning Unity- following tutorials and such- you know the drill. Out of that experimenting and learning phase, I developed a space shooter / adventure hybrid type of game, never intending to release it. I just kept adding to it as I continued to better understand project structure in Unity. Meanwhile, I was also laying out the framework out for the new RPG engine.

But after a couple of my regular testers tried Zodiac and gave me very positive feedback, I decided to put all my efforts into it for 6 months to finish it, as a way of providing much needed financial support during the period of time between RPGs. I felt like the extra time spent building Zodiac would aid me in making a stronger RPG engine, as well (and it did!).

So I produced a logo, spoke to some people about helping with graphics and music, and switched over full time into Zodiac development. The problem was that I dove head-first into development without a project plan. Anyone who knows project management could see this was not going to end well.

I've mentioned in a few other posts what happened: after 6 months the project was feeling like Frankenstein's monster. Without a proper scope, development went off the rails and I was left with a bunch of incomplete/broken modules, and a game that needs at least a year of full-time development to salvage.

So is Zodiac dead? Well, no... but it's showing no signs of life at the moment. The project has been packed up and moved off my development workstation while I focus on the next RPG. I'll likely eliminate references to it on the main website to avoid ongoing queries about it. I'll review the project again after the new RPG is released.


SO WHAT IS NEXT? Well, I will finish out 2017 transforming years of design notes into content for the new RPG. With the engine finished, it's all about content now. Don't expect too much out of me anytime soon- I probably won't have much to say about it for a few months, but rest assured that I will be here in the lair working hard on the new RPG.

I'll be happy to answer any questions here that I missed above.

Well, I'm personally glad they're focusing on the RPG instead of the spaceship action game, but hope they're not fall into financial trouble.

 

[groundhog]

Thanks for posting. I'm glad to hear they are making progress on this.

 

[Jaesun]

Thanks for the update. I am really looking forward to this actually. Curious what this will turn out to be.

 

[YES!]

I am also looking forward to this. Eschalon games weren't my favorite but they were definitely worth buying and playing.

 

[LESS T_T]

"The State of the Basilisk": http://basiliskgames.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12932

One question - is this to be a stand-alone game or a series of books like Eschalon?

There is definitely a storyline that could continue past where the game ends, but I am not promising anything until I see how well it does financially.

Great to hear the RPG is coming along. I can't wait to play it! Maybe you'll need testers soon?

I'll not need outside testers for a little while, but I might benefit from some very early (alpha) play testing, just to get some reaction from you core fans. This would entail UI testing and feedback on combat mechanics, but probably no actual storyline or finished game areas.

This probably wouldn't even happen for quite some time, so please- nobody needs to email me on a weekly basis for a spot. I'll let everyone here know when.

 

[LESS T_T]

Sorry, you're not the only person to express their disappointment. In game development, sometimes developers need to prioritize games based on a number of factors; sometimes games get cancelled altogether. I don't see Zodiac ever being cancelled, since there is so much good work already done on it. It's just that Zodiac really needs a full restructure of the project to get back on track, and I can't waste the time on it now.

Does anyone remember when I said Zodiac was loosely based on the backstory to our upcoming RPG? By delaying Zodiac, it would give me a chance to make it more than "loosely based"; I can re-direct the game to be an action/adventure/shooter spin-off of the finished RPG, giving players more of the backstory, told from a different perspective.

Oh and there were some relevant tweets:

 

[V_K]

So it seems like it's party-based. That's nice.

 

[LESS T_T]

http://basiliskgames.com/light-recent-backlash-certain-game-companies/

In light of recent backlash against certain game companies…

We’ve updated our Who We Are page to reflect our philosophy on DLC or pay-to-win schemes for our games.

About Basilisk Games

Basilisk Games is an independent game development studio founded in 2005. Our first release was the sprawling, isometric role-playing game Eschalon: Book I (2007), which was followed by its sequels Eschalon: Book II (2010) and Eschalon: Book III (2014).

Since finishing the Eschalon Trilogy, we’ve began experimenting with other genres of games, as well as third-party design and development, and working with emerging technologies such as the HTC Vive. Our next role-playing game is in the works right now, and more information about it will be available soon.

We are gamers, just like you. Our mission is to make engaging, DRM-free games that are available on the platform of your choice. We think that you should be able to play your games without a required internet connection and that when you buy a game, it’s really yours. Also, we don’t believe pay-to-win, loot boxes or paid DLC of any kind, although we do occasionally update our gameswith new content, free of charge, as a thank you to our customers.

Our headquarters are located in a secret bunker just outside of Indianapolis, Indiana. Basilisk Games’ founder & Head Hancho is Thomas Riegsecker, and we collaborate with artists and musicians worldwide to build our dreams.

And some forum posts about the sci-fi RPG, now codenamed "TRP":

We just finalized the name for our sci-fi RPG! :D The initials are TRP, which will be revealed soon-ish. Logos are in the works now. I need to secure the domain name this next week.

TRP is a placeholder where ZATMOS was.

The Role Playing, I bet.

A while back I posted some early concept art for what was to become "TRP". These images are outdated and have been replaced, so I don't refer to them anymore, but technically they do still represent areas in the game. Since I don't remember where I originally posted therm, here they are again.

This in response to some update requests I've been getting... I promise, I am working night and day to get this RPG done. I know Basilisk Games has been deathly quiet for a few years now, but some real information on this new game is coming! This is a BIG game and I am still largely a one-man show (with some valuable help from others!) so please be patient. ♥

Concept #1

Concept #2

Concept #3

TY, PM. Yep, that fits the timeline well.

* About 2 years ago (pretty much January 1, 2016) I had the design doc for TRP finished, concept art made, and Unity up and running. I put about 8 months of basic engine work in on the RPG (testing different engine styles) and learning Blender as well (I had used 3DS Max on Eschalon). Anytime I wanted to try a new Unity feature out, I added it to a little space shooter project so I wouldn't bog down the RPG engine with "training code" that likely wouldn't stay in.

* In autumn of 2016, the Zodiac idea came to be, and I burned 6 months up on that (but it was continued hands-on training with Unity, so not a total lost). By the time I mothballed Zodiac, I had a mind full of fresh ideas for the RPG and valuable experience on how to best implement them. I also feel like I really became proficient in Blender during my time with Zodiac.

* In spring 2017, I picked up the RPG again and have been working non-stop ever since

Whew! I'll work my ass off through the end of the year and then try to give you some more info on the game when we hit the 2 year mark of my first real "post-Eschalon RPG" update.

So probably the real update is coming in January.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Lol microtransaction so bad that other gamedevs are using it as publicity platform

 

[Infinitron]

We just finalized the name for our sci-fi RPG! :D The initials are TRP, which will be revealed soon-ish. Logos are in the works now. I need to secure the domain name this next week.

TRP is a placeholder where ZATMOS was.

That was last month. Can't find any domain owned by Basilisk Games other than basiliskgames.com...

 

[LESS T_T]

We just finalized the name for our sci-fi RPG! :D The initials are TRP, which will be revealed soon-ish. Logos are in the works now. I need to secure the domain name this next week.

TRP is a placeholder where ZATMOS was.

That was last month. Can't find any domain owned by Basilisk Games other than basiliskgames.com...

Yeah, likely he's using a proxy like zatmos.com did.

 

[vonAchdorf]

I don't think that anyone expected them to add loot boxes and other pay to win stuff that this clarification was necessary. You need the audience for that and especially an install base of engaged players in a competitive MP title.

 

[CryptRat]

It doesn't hurt once in a while to explicitely remind the players that you respect them while many others don't.

 

[serch]

Tasteful Rape Protocol