KickStarter Nox Archaist - 8-bit RPG for Apple II, Mac, and PC - now with Lord of Storms expansion

[Infinitron]

https://www.6502workshop.com/2020/12/nox-archaist-has-officially-been.html

Nox Archaist has officially been released!

We are excited to announce that Nox Archaist has been released!

Backers of the game should have received an email with a link to the Digital Download version of the game. If you did not receive the email, please check your spam folder and, for Gmail users, the "Promotional" tab.

Physical rewards have begun to ship for backers who selected option2 on the survey we sent last month. We estimate 2-7 days for backers in the United States to receive their physical rewards, and 3-8 weeks for backers in all other countries. 2020 has delivered some unique challenges for shipping carriers and there is a chance a small number of shipments will see longer transit times.

You will receive an email from pirateship.com when your rewards ship.



It has been a long journey and this milestone is very exciting for us and we hope for you as well.

And, the journey is not over! We look forward to interacting with you as you play Nox Archaist and invite you to join the backer community Discord.

As promised, our work on the floppy version of the game continues and we will strive to release it to you as soon as we possibly can.

Thank you for your support, and enjoy the game!

Sincerely,

Mark Lemmert, Lead Programmer and Game Designer, co-founder of 6502 Workshop
Mike Reimer, Game Design and co-founder of 6502 Workshop
Chris Torrence, Game Design, Logistics Manager Extraordinaire
Jarrod Kailef, Game Design, Community Manager, Vocals
Bill Giggie, Graphics Development, Game Design
Robert Padovan, Graphics Development
Gordon Mackay, Artist
Electric Moo, Music Composer
Peter Ferrie (Qkumba), Programming, Project Advisor
Elizabeth Daggert, Project Advisor
Michael Pohoreski, Programming, Project Advisor

Spoiler

LIVE DEVELOPER Q&A

On Tuesday December 15 at 3pm US Central Time (GMT-6) the Game Wisdom Podcast is hosting a live Q&A with Nox Archaist lead developer Mark Lemmert.


JOIN OUR DISCORD SERVER

The backer community on Discord is a great place to ask questions or just talk about Nox Archaist with other players. Click the link below to join.

https://discord.gg/kwcFxVp


NOX ARCHAIST MERCH

Looking for a holiday gift idea?

Items with Nox Archaist game art are available through Willy’s, such as coffee mugs, bags, map posters, including some with Denis Loubet’s cover art!




GAME TRAILER

Check out our updated game trailer!

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

I just got my digital version and played some minutes. I'll restrain myself from playing further until I get the Collector's Edition though.

 

[Grauken]

If you want to use GC with AppleWin to play this game and also map at the same time

Here's the profile (will be included in future versions of GC)
https://github.com/hasseily/GridCartographer-Mapping/blob/main/Profiles/Nox_Archaist.xml

Here's the AppleWin version that works with GC
https://gridcartographer.com/files/applewin/applewin-gridc-20201107b-windows.zip

if you got your Nox Archaist download, you can either use the PO files and swap under AppleWin, or under AppleWin click on the joystick icon, go to Disk, click on Enable Hard Disk Controller in Drive 7 and select the Nox Archaist HDV (v1001).HDV and avoid disk swapping altogether (and then hit F2 to restart the game with the HDV-file)

 

[6502 Workshop]

Hey guys! Nox Archaist lead dev here - thanks for your support and patience as we brought this project to completion!

If you have any questions just let me know.

 

[Casual Hero]

I haven't been following this too closely, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a download link in my email today.
Can't wait to try it out!

 

[Kruno]

This game looks nothing like Cyberpunk 2077. What shit graphics. We all know that shit graphics means a shit game.

 

[Abu Antar]

This game looks nothing like Cyberpunk 2077. What shit graphics. We all know that shit graphics means a shit game.

The screens are with RT off, that's why.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.6502workshop.com/2020/12/live-discussion-q-with-nox-archaist-dec.html

Live discussion, Q&A with Nox Archaist (Dec 15)

SAVE THE DATE!

Only a few days until live the discussion and Q&A with Nox Archaist lead developer Mark Lemmert, hosted by Game Wisdom

Join us on:

Tuesday, December 15th

3pm U.S. Central time (GMT -6)

Click here for a link to the live stream.

 

[Melan]

Anyone played this? I am considering buying a boxed set, but don't want to burn myself (like with Unknown Realms).

 

[V_K]

I don't know what's harder to wrap my head around - that an AppleII game in 2020 is sold for $25 as a digital download or that there are apparently enough retro nerds to buy it at that price, or even go for an even more expensive physical copy.

 

[Grauken]

I don't know what's harder to wrap my head around - that an AppleII game in 2020 is sold for $25 as a digital download or that there are apparently enough retro nerds to buy it at that price, or even go for an even more expensive physical copy.

Why, the gameplay is what counts

 

[V_K]

I don't know what's harder to wrap my head around - that an AppleII game in 2020 is sold for $25 as a digital download or that there are apparently enough retro nerds to buy it at that price, or even go for an even more expensive physical copy.

Why, the gameplay is what counts

Frankly, I don't even understand making a game for retro hardware in the first place. Like, if you want retro look, no one's stopping you from recreating it with a modern engine (the way Skald's doing, for example) - but why bother fighting with 40 year old hardware limitations (that are certain to affect gameplay as well - not to mention QoL)? And what's the most flabbergasting, is that appealing to retromaniacs is apparently a sound decision from a business perspective - judging by how much less hype is there around e.g. Lurking games or the aforementioned Skald compared to these retro projects (Unknown Realm got $120k on kickstarter - as opposed to Skald's mere $20k).
I'm not saying all of this is bad and wrong, I just don't get it.

 

[Grauken]

I don't know what's harder to wrap my head around - that an AppleII game in 2020 is sold for $25 as a digital download or that there are apparently enough retro nerds to buy it at that price, or even go for an even more expensive physical copy.

Why, the gameplay is what counts

Frankly, I don't even understand making a game for retro hardware in the first place. Like, if you want retro look, no one's stopping you from recreating it with a modern engine (the way Skald's doing, for example) - but why bother fighting with 40 year old hardware limitations (that are certain to affect gameplay as well - not to mention QoL)? And what's the most flabbergasting, is that appealing to retromaniacs is apparently a sound decision from a business perspective - judging by how much less hype is there around e.g. Lurking games or the aforementioned Skald compared to these retro projects (Unknown Realm got $120k on kickstarter - as opposed to Skald's mere $20k).
I'm not saying all of this is bad and wrong, I just don't get it.

That's okay, this is clearly not for you

 

[Grauken]

Frankly, I don't even understand making a game for retro hardware in the first place. Like, if you want retro look, no one's stopping you from recreating it with a modern engine (the way Skald's doing, for example) - but why bother fighting with 40 year old hardware limitations (that are certain to affect gameplay as well - not to mention QoL)?

Part of that is nostalgia, you don't make a game like that because you expect to earn a lot of money, but because you love the platform. Most likely it was the first system the creators had, it had a significant impact on them and remains a key milestone in their memory. Doing it like this is partly to honor that memory, to become part of that tradition that had such an effect on you. Skald and Lurking (which are both great) can't just tap into the same kind of nostalgia, since they don't have a specific platform in mind and are just retro.

 

[V_K]

you don't make a game like that because you expect to earn a lot of money

Price tag - in comparison to Skald and Lurking again - says otherwise

 

[Grauken]

you don't make a game like that because you expect to earn a lot of money

Price tag - in comparison to Skald and Lurking again - says otherwise

It's still small peanuts and given the long development and the physical editions is probably long used up

Edit: you were talking about the game price, I dunno $25 isn't much for me

 

[V_K]

Edit: you were talking about the game price, I dunno $25 isn't much for me

I'm admittedly a cheapskate. But I wouldn't pay more that $10 for a game that requires an emulator to run - unless it really excites me, in which case I wouldn't pay more than $15.
(to put things into context, I was also arguing that Operencia shouldn't have cost more than $20. Like I said, cheapskate)

 

[Ranarama]

Strictly speaking the game does not require an emulator to run.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

I wasn't old enough to experience the heydays of these computers back in the 80ies and I began gaming in the mid 90ies myself. So for me it isn't nostalgia that made me purchase the CE of this game. But the older I get the more I'm interested in the early days of gaming and the more I find myself attracted to these ancient machines and their games while modern computers with all their fancy AAA-stuff become less and less interesting for me. I find it wonderful to see that these computers are not dead and that passionate and dedicated developers still support them with their creations. That's something I like to support because it's obvious that it's made out of love and not primarily for profit.

 

[taxalot]

Another reason is that some people learn to program on old computers, do not move to more modern hardware, still know the old stuff and can produce a good game for that hardware without having to learn something new.

It's a legitimate reason for anyone when stuff is made on one's free time ; and it does produce a certain amount of asthetic and has its own kind of charm.

 

[V_K]

Meh. If you already know how to code, learning a new language/environment takes a couple weeks tops. Incommensurate with the time it takes to create content - e.g. making graphic tiles without the comforts of modern graphic editors.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.6502workshop.com/2020/12/1st-run-sold-out.html

1st run SOLD OUT!

The first production run on boxed sets for Nox Archaist has SOLD OUT!

***GOOD NEWS***

The Digital Edition is still available and we've got a preorder setup for a 2nd production run. ORDER NOW to reserve your copy!

Nox Store

http://order.noxarchaist.com

 

[Lyre Mors]

6502 Workshop any chance of a steam release in the near future?

 

[Gastrick]

Frankly, I don't even understand making a game for retro hardware in the first place. Like, if you want retro look, no one's stopping you from recreating it with a modern engine (the way Skald's doing, for example) - but why bother fighting with 40 year old hardware limitations (that are certain to affect gameplay as well - not to mention QoL)? And what's the most flabbergasting, is that appealing to retromaniacs is apparently a sound decision from a business perspective - judging by how much less hype is there around e.g. Lurking games or the aforementioned Skald compared to these retro projects (Unknown Realm got $120k on kickstarter - as opposed to Skald's mere $20k).
I'm not saying all of this is bad and wrong, I just don't get it.

The idea is that several indie games are shit imitations of retro games where they mess up the pixel look or don't get the colors right. Made for an emulator, it's a lot more likely the developer can make a game exactly like what a game from the time would be like. With difficulty, it's kind of like making your own engine versus using unity.
I agree on the second part, why isn't this free? If I'm going to try a random game out with nothing going for it that I couldn't find in another free game then I'm not going to bother paying money.

 

[taxalot]

In an age where everything is free, nothing has value.
You have more of an incentive to play if you pay for it.