Indie Dead Monarchy: Open-World | Turn-Based | Mercenary Management | RPG - Fully Released May 19th 2023

[Prehistorik]

I've always been a fan of impossible difficulty (in an old times understanding). Brings a real good time if you are for a challenge and can be skipped if not.
A good recent example is introduction of 500% difficulty in Space Rangers HD, I couldn't win with previous 200 %, yet some people have completed the 500 one (playing for 100+ years in a single system). In general with a very dedicated fans I imagine it's hard to make something truly impossible.
Cheers

 

[Bantichai]

I've always been a fan of impossible difficulty (in an old times understanding). Brings a real good time if you are for a challenge and can be skipped if not.
A good recent example is introduction of 500% difficulty in Space Rangers HD, I couldn't win with previous 200 %, yet some people have completed the 500 one (playing for 100+ years in a single system). In general with a very dedicated fans I imagine it's hard to make something truly impossible.
Cheers

I'll admit I too am a sucker for difficult games, maybe I have too much time on my hands, maybe I'm just a masochist, maybe it's both, who knows. However at the same time, I should design with a little flexibility in mind and not force my own preferences onto players too immediately, however it is my desire to see "ironman mode" as a household name per say. I think it is legit the only way to play a turn-based game, full stop. The more you save scum the more you start that negative feedback loop and question why your even playing the game, then eventually you might feel frustrated and bored at the game not knowing that you caused your own "downfall". In my personal experience, I used to always get those feelings and end up just feeling empty, I went from Morrowind to Skyrim to Fallout 2 to XCOM. Funnily enough, everything I was looking for in games was done decades ago.

 

[Bantichai]

Also, making progress on the trailer I'm pretty sure I'll have it out before or at the start of the new year. From that point, I think 2 weeks on and the combat demo will be out and I'll be ready to take any criticism

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I've always been a fan of impossible difficulty (in an old times understanding). Brings a real good time if you are for a challenge and can be skipped if not.
A good recent example is introduction of 500% difficulty in Space Rangers HD, I couldn't win with previous 200 %, yet some people have completed the 500 one (playing for 100+ years in a single system). In general with a very dedicated fans I imagine it's hard to make something truly impossible.
Cheers

I'll admit I too am a sucker for difficult games, maybe I have too much time on my hands, maybe I'm just a masochist, maybe it's both, who knows.

That which is easily won is not worth having, maybe that's why.

 

[Bantichai]

I think it is legit the only way to play a turn-based game, full stop.

If you look at the landscape of ironman, the games where it works very well have a roguelike design and structure. Relatively short cycle, breadth variability, quick pace. You die, you learn something new from it, you go again and try something else, or are forced to try something else.

The games where it doesn't work very well are ones with relatively long cycles and emphasis on depth variability (e.g. deep branches). You play for a long while, you lose everything, you alt-f4 and manipulate save files, or you learn to play very conservatively and maybe never see deeper branches.

Which kind of design is your game? I think it's more like the latter. If you make FTL or Invisible Inc, ironman only is reasonable. If you make JA2 or Wiz 8, ironman should be optional.

There will more or less be two modes in DM. Tourney Mode (Survival) and Monarchy Mode. Tourney mode is more condensed and focused more on combat and training your fighters but will also feature some base management. I'll be focusing on adding more to Tourney Mode over the months until I feel like it is substantial enough to release into early access. The demo coming out is a portion of Tourney mode with no base management.

I don't think I can realistically do a kickstarter, nor do I think it would go well as I am more or less unknown. The time taken to organize it would be taken away from actual development time too. I'm relying on the feedback from the demo which if goes well may give players more confidence in buying the early access version. I'll be relying on funds from early access to basically fund my development and living expenses if I decide to quit my new job and work on this full time. So "Monarchy Mode" is the end goal but it will take a while and the more time I spend on just getting by, day by day the slower it will come out.

I've more or less poured my life savings into this, to contract modelers and hire an additional coder to help out. It will get done eventually, because I want to see my own game realized but development may speed up or slow down.

 

[Bantichai]

It has been a long year but an eventful one. I'd like to thank each and everyone of you for the support you've shown on my thread. Every comment really helps. I'll be ending the year on a high note with a preview of the combat demo. There are still things that need to be added and this trailer is more on the cinematic side. However, it is in fact all raw gameplay but I have disabled the interface, the camera is completely under player control.

I'll be releasing another video soon that focuses more on the combat mechanics. I have also updated my website, there is a FAQ and I've uploaded an update on combat. Also created a facebook and twitter account. Feel free to follow me if you want, I've never really been into social media but every follower does give a boost of confidence and it's free, if not no worries!

 

[SmartCheetah]

Following you on Twitter. I love the progress so far :D You're doing a very good job, so keep it up!

 

[Bantichai]

Following you on Twitter. I love the progress so far :D You're doing a very good job, so keep it up!

Awesome! Glad you are liking the progress and happy new year!

 

[Bantichai]

Inin back at it again with 11 alerts :D Been busy this month wrapping up the demo, pretty sure I'll have it out by the end of the month. Will be doing a few gameplay videos as well

 

[Bantichai]

Hey guys, so I'll be doing a short series of videos on the upcoming demo. The first episode is pretty info heavy as I'm explaining the current state of combat mechanics and overworld gameplay. I've got time stamps in the description if there are specific parts you want to skip to. Over the next few days, I'll be releasing a few more videos until the entirety of the demo is more or less covered. I should be dropping the demo very soon, fingers crossed

 

[Jimmious]

Ι like the hit animations and sounds a lot. They have "oomph". I like the combat system too, at least as much I understand!
The UI though needs work. The inconsistency of the fonts is a bit awkward and (for example) the loot list after battle is terrible, please don't leave it like that. Something that you can look at a glance is much more preferable. Generally the UI feels very basic atm
What happens if I choose two people to attack the same target? Do they have initiatives and they'll act in turn? Also I didn't get if turns are "simultaneous" or it's us and then them.

 

[Bantichai]

Ι like the hit animations and sounds a lot. They have "oomph". I like the combat system too, at least as much I understand!
The UI though needs work. The inconsistency of the fonts is a bit awkward and (for example) the loot list after battle is terrible, please don't leave it like that. Something that you can look at a glance is much more preferable. Generally the UI feels very basic atm
What happens if I choose two people to attack the same target? Do they have initiatives and they'll act in turn? Also I didn't get if turns are "simultaneous" or it's us and then them.

There is definitely a lot to be worked on, but that is where the feedback from you guys will play in, so I know which areas to work on. So thanks for your feedback! Glad you like the sounds!

1. Yes the UI is still quite basic, I opted to skin parts of it first however functionality will still need improvement, especially when it comes to interacting with stores. Once again, that is where the feedback is crucial, I don't have a QA team I only have you guys
2. Combat has quite a bit of depth although it really needs to be played to fully grasp it, the other issue is finding the time to write more in-depth guides. Once again feedback here is crucial, I'll know which parts to iron out after you guys play it.
3. Yes the loot list is quite literally just a list now, it will be improved upon, this is the type of feedback I need, cheers!
4. So combat is phase based, player phase and enemy phase rather than initiative based. It's phase based because of how the queued combat system works. The order that your units attack in is decided on whoever goes first, IE the order in which you issued your commands. If two units attack the same enemy and the enemy dies on the first hit, the second unit will attack another unit if it is range. If it isn't in range then it won't attack anything. So in situations like that, you may decide that your betting that your first unit will kill the enemy freeing up the second unit to move to another unit. Also you only get one action, move or attack but later on I'll introduce tile effects so whilst you may take the better ground you could get hit first.

So in short, it is us and them. Within your turn, you queue your actions, all your actions play out then the enemy has its turn. It creates interesting scenarios where for example you have 3 guys vs 1 enemy. The enemy has too much helmet rating so you order your first two guys to reduce the helmet rating and ask the third guy to attack his head. Your first two units miss, meaning the enemy still has enough helmet rating to mitigate your third unit's attack to the head. For me personally, I like creating scenarios like this because it mixes things up, in the future you'll have more abilities so other options will open up. This is my opinion though so I'm nervous but looking forward to the feedback on combat

For now, you also get a log that previews your actions, I didn't display it but you can toggle it with C. Basically the log will list all the actions you take and if you hover over a unit you can see all the actions that will affect it. Still UI is something that will be worked on continuously, the feedback from you guys will be vital.

 

[Bantichai]

Jimmious

Also regarding the loot list, with the font inconsistency are you referring to the title font and the font for the item list?

 

[Jimmious]

Yes generally you have these "fancy" fonts for titles and then a "basic" font for all info which doesn't really fit imo

I like the idea of the combat but if you go with this system, an indicator of who is going to act when is important. If I have 10 guys I want somehow to remember who I order to act first, second etc

 

[Bantichai]

Yes generally you have these "fancy" fonts for titles and then a "basic" font for all info which doesn't really fit imo

I like the idea of the combat but if you go with this system, an indicator of who is going to act when is important. If I have 10 guys I want somehow to remember who I order to act first, second etc

Thanks Jimmious The battle summary interface will definitely be overhauled eventually and I'll look into turn indicators. I've added your feedback to my to-do list

 

[Bantichai]

Episode 2 is out, I go into more detail about combat and show off some synergy between different weapon types. We also continue Alwin's story as a tourney fighter.

 

[Bantichai]

Episode 3 is out! Admittedly I don't do much commentary in this video however things get very interesting towards the end. Definitely something I didn't expect!

 

[SmartCheetah]

A lot of great work! I love to see how your game progresses! Keep it up!

I know majority of things might be WiP but some feedback and ideas. I might be repeating myself with some things, sorry for that. Also, some of the ideas are for a distant future, but still...


I absolutely agree about the UI. It's WiP, so it needs work.
Those circles under your people and enemies - after you used one guy already there should be some sort of indicator instead of just green circle. Lets say a green circle with check mark. ✓

About the portraits - these are a great I think, giving your boys (and possibly girls in the future, lol) more character. What I don't like are the portraits with helmet. Lets say that you have 4-5 knights in your company, and you couldn't tell which one is Adalbrecht and which one is Adolf without clicking on 'em. It's cool on some kind of mercenaries, unnamed bandits or monsters (provided that you could see their icons in any case) but you also should feel that emotional bond with people in your ranks. Personally I think that face should distinguish those guys to the point where you could say "Ok, this is definitely Adalbrecht"
Ofc it's WiP, but I'm curious what are your feelings about it.

Weapon and armor stat ranges (So, eg. one "blue" claymore can be like +80 might, and the other +83 - lets say +/-5 range) as an incensive for "exchanging" poor craftsmanship for a better one(inside the one tier)
And I'm not talking only about "legendary" items like in Battle Brothers. You should be able to buy cheap but worse platemail, and also great set of it at much bigger price. Then comes the other tiers, ancestral/legendaries etc.
Other then that, I love the progression of helmets you have shown in first video(Altough, I'd add one more tier with rusty, terrible looking metal surface and something with leather/padded helmet underneath) - Or just add them as variety in the same tier with difference in stats.


Ability to have your own player character as a combatant. Building such system from the grounds up should be helpful with later developement, as you won't have to change events etc. at later date because of introducing that option. It wasn't an option in Battle Brothers, unfortunately (while it was in Jagged Alliance2) and a lot of people asked about it. Ofc you could have changed the looks of your lads and their names, but some people wanted to also pick their background(or write one), stats et cetera.


Modding! I'm absolutely sure you remember about that and that you're thinking about it in advance 8) Don't underestimate it! It might also become a chore if you won't take on that early enough.


different types of food, giving small modificators to your lads (eg. venison improving might, some type of alcohol improving morale, fancy stuff working better on few other stats and... risky, rotting stuff lowering your overall condition but keeping your guys fed, grain etc.)
System should react to the type of food you're using at certain times. Lets say that your guys were eatingy lavishly for few weeks now, and suddenly you're forcing grain diet on them. I wouldn't expect happy faces in your company for a while after such drastic change. That would definitely improve "management" side of gameplay in a way.

Looking forward to the demo! Keep it up Bantichai!


Another batch of feedback and loose ideas coming in next few weeks!

 

[Bantichai]

A lot of great work! I love to see how your game progresses! Keep it up!

I know majority of things might be WiP but some feedback and ideas. I might be repeating myself with some things, sorry for that. Also, some of the ideas are for a distant future, but still...


I absolutely agree about the UI. It's WiP, so it needs work.
Those circles under your people and enemies - after you used one guy already there should be some sort of indicator instead of just green circle. Lets say a green circle with check mark. ✓

About the portraits - these are a great I think, giving your boys (and possibly girls in the future, lol) more character. What I don't like are the portraits with helmet. Lets say that you have 4-5 knights in your company, and you couldn't tell which one is Adalbrecht and which one is Adolf without clicking on 'em. It's cool on some kind of mercenaries, unnamed bandits or monsters (provided that you could see their icons in any case) but you also should feel that emotional bond with people in your ranks. Personally I think that face should distinguish those guys to the point where you could say "Ok, this is definitely Adalbrecht"
Ofc it's WiP, but I'm curious what are your feelings about it.

Weapon and armor stat ranges (So, eg. one "blue" claymore can be like +80 might, and the other +83 - lets say +/-5 range) as an incensive for "exchanging" poor craftsmanship for a better one(inside the one tier)
And I'm not talking only about "legendary" items like in Battle Brothers. You should be able to buy cheap but worse platemail, and also great set of it at much bigger price. Then comes the other tiers, ancestral/legendaries etc.
Other then that, I love the progression of helmets you have shown in first video(Altough, I'd add one more tier with rusty, terrible looking metal surface and something with leather/padded helmet underneath) - Or just add them as variety in the same tier with difference in stats.


Ability to have your own player character as a combatant. Building such system from the grounds up should be helpful with later developement, as you won't have to change events etc. at later date because of introducing that option. It wasn't an option in Battle Brothers, unfortunately (while it was in Jagged Alliance2) and a lot of people asked about it. Ofc you could have changed the looks of your lads and their names, but some people wanted to also pick their background(or write one), stats et cetera.


Modding! I'm absolutely sure you remember about that and that you're thinking about it in advance 8) Don't underestimate it! It might also become a chore if you won't take on that early enough.


different types of food, giving small modificators to your lads (eg. venison improving might, some type of alcohol improving morale, fancy stuff working better on few other stats and... risky, rotting stuff lowering your overall condition but keeping your guys fed, grain etc.)
System should react to the type of food you're using at certain times. Lets say that your guys were eatingy lavishly for few weeks now, and suddenly you're forcing grain diet on them. I wouldn't expect happy faces in your company for a while after such drastic change. That would definitely improve "management" side of gameplay in a way.

Looking forward to the demo! Keep it up Bantichai!


Another batch of feedback and loose ideas coming in next few weeks!

Heyo SmartCheetah Thanks a lot for the feedback, the more the better so keep it coming, I'll dive into a few points now

1. Markers/UI - Firstly, I'm not too fond of the current markers, I'll probably do a toggle to toggle them on and off but a check marker, is a great idea. The UI will most definitely go through several iterations, I'll be looking at this in particular especially after hearing your guys thoughts after playing the demo, I'll be curious to see how the combat feels now with the current UI interface implemented.

2. The portraits are most definitely WIP and may not keep their current art style, I may actually display the character model of the unit. Also FYI not everyone will be bald, I just haven't gotten the hair/facial hair in. That said I've started to notice in combat that whenever I see a bald head I tend to get excited knowing I can chop it off, interesting side effect. Those knights are kind of just in place for the demo because there is no context outside of the tourney, I think I mention it in the coming videos that when the overworld map gets added the tourney is a side activity but a high risk one, so in a proper play through you'd have some higher leveled mercenaries. So helmets obscuring faces will is definitely WIP. - I will be interested in seeing whether or not equipping them gets confusing with the current interface.

3. The current item tier system I don't like it and won't be staying. Having "blues" with better stats then "reds" is too confusing, obviously you can have better "blues" but each color representing a tier should be higher than the one beneath. The reason why I did it was mainly for identification purposes, there are around 50 sets of armor in the game but they are derived from about 10 unique armor models and some of the visual changes are quite subtle IE just adding pauldrons. In the future though all brown armor will be beneath greens in terms of stats. The actual visual progression too is not cemented more or less because there are still A LOT of models that are not done yet I can only work with what I currently have. So yeah the armor progression in the demo is leaning more towards a showcase, glad you love the helmets that said for things like great helmets I don't think having "helmet decoration" should equate to higher stats. Definitely something I'm still playing around with, but at least you can see now how modular the armor is.

4. This is an interesting point and something I will have to directly write down, interestingly enough I had initially implemented this but for the demo I decided to take it out. Having a player character as an active a combatant is already a huge discussion in itself although in short it is something I would like to see in DM. That said, the consequences of death are quite important. Is it game over if the player dies, should the player be able to pop out some kids to continue his/her legacy, etc. If this doesn't make it into the initial stages it will make more sense when I add the overworld map, currently the player is more or less a calculative/ruthless HR rep.

5. "Battle Sisters" will be in, basically when I work with my modeler we create the male armor version first because historically the majority of armor is fitted for males so when we look at the historical references for inspiration that is our starting point. After we create the male armor we then convert that model to fit the female form, that said no boob armor. Not only is it something I can't stand...but it just means more work The female armor version is more or less the male version but fitted for the female form, currently the issue is the areas around the neck are too large. "Battle Sisters" will be but perhaps not in the initial stages, since it more or less comes down to workflow should I throw a kink in my current workflow with my modeler or create all the base armors first then convert, I opt for the latter.

6. My origins are in modding and when I picked up Unity, I started to look for a framework first since realistically to code everything myself is not really feasible, especially with the scope that I have in mind. On the plus side, when you are working with an established engine, it will be easier for modding purposes, creating your own engine with modding in mind is optimal..but yeah unfeasible (for me). However, I do have some interesting ideas I'd like to share now. When you refer to modding, if you are talking about more weapons and armor I do have a solution to that. The character framework I am using is an open source framework created by the Unity Community, it is called "UMA". So not only is there already a community build around it but in terms of distribution, I was thinking about crowd sourcing content through the asset store. Bear with me, it is almost like the opposite of "paid mods" where if you the modder put up an awesome set of armor you made for "UMA" and it fits with the aesthetic of DM, I'll buy it, put it in DM and credit you. Not only can it be bought by other Unity devs, but you'd make something on the side, of course if you want to put it up for free then great. Like I said, these are ideas, "paid mods" has left a bad taste in everyone's mouth but if I did go for this solution I myself wouldn't be making any money, I would just be the mediator as I plan to work on DM for a very long time. We shall see, but working with Unity has its advantages in terms of community.

7. Food types are a great idea, which is where I will mention that the current system for food may be a bit limiting. I will be interested in hearing feedback, I also find that for the purposes of "surviving" in the demo, you can more or less offset it with a victory to boost morale back up, so the consequences of food will be tweaked probably made more severe. Venison improving Might, perhaps giving a temporary buff, love this idea and if I went with it I might make it a direct consumable item since there is no direct stat increase in DM aside from better stats that come with weapons, I think something like food will add a very interesting twist. Stockpiling on venison because you want to increase your Might then suddenly your lad gets the "constipated buff" and that lad's Condition reduces by 25, interesting stuff, will be writing this one down!

As always, open to all feedback, especially the bad so I know which areas I should improve on. As mentioned, I'm one guy, I don't have a QA team I only have you guys, the community

 

[Bantichai]

Hey guys, I've got two more episodes. There will be one last video covering the last fight and after that, the demo will be dropping. I'll be uploading the demo to Indie DB and will drop the link here when it is live. Looking forward to all the feedback!

 

[Bantichai]

Just wanted to mention again, that if you've been watching the videos you might have noticed that combat so far takes place in really cramped places with no ranged combat. That is intentional as it is more or less the main theme of tourney combat, it is supposed to be cramped and chaotic with fast engagement times. That said, there will be field battles taking place in larger areas and with more emphasis on formations. Eventually when I add the overworld map which enables exploration, tourneys will slot in nicely as a dangerous side activity that crop up occasionally at bigger settlements. Just wanted to point that out again, however for now I feel that tourney is a nice compact way to show off combat and a few other features without putting me in a wheelchair due to overwork.

With the demo coming to a close, next month I'll be taking into account all the feedback and also working on the other issues that are still currently in the demo (will put up the list later). I'll also be showing a video of a field battle with formation AI more or less after the demo is out.

 

[Mustawd]

The swaying off all these ppl is making me seasick

 

[Bantichai]

The swaying off all these ppl is making me seasick

That is an interesting point you make and is exactly why I'm pretty eager on getting the demo out for feedback. When the demo drops, have a go and let me know how it feels in game.

 

[Mustawd]

Yah will do.

In terms of the swaying, I think the main issue is that all the models are super similar, so they sway at similar intervals. Also, it's a lot of models in one small area. Maybe the amount of swaying is the issue?

Many games have idle animations, so I don't think it's that per se. But I'll give more complete feedback once the demo comes out.

Looking good otherwise. The portraits already look good IMO.

 

[Bantichai]

Yah will do.

In terms of the swaying, I think the main issue is that all the models are super similar, so they sway at similar intervals. Also, it's a lot of models in one small area. Maybe the amount of swaying is the issue?

Many games have idle animations, so I don't think it's that per se. But I'll give more complete feedback once the demo comes out.

Looking good otherwise. The portraits already look good IMO.

I decided to temporarily replace the shield animation with the same animation used by knights carrying heater shields. I'll probably slot it back in later. The size of the arena probably has an effect, still debating whether or not the small arenas should contain 12vs12 fights, but the demo is also a stress test, we shall see from the feedback. Glad you like the portraits, but if I stick with them I'll need more variety we'll see