KickStarter SKALD: Against the Black Priory - retro RPG inspired by Ultima

[Bah]

Just finished the demo and it's quite enjoyable. Here's some minor comments:

• Would be nice if Esc also closed any screen that has a "1. Exit" option. My Esc muscle memory is strong for closing Character/Inventory/Shop screens.
• Food is slightly scarce. You have to be careful with resting or you'll find yourself unable to heal. <incline>
• Chest loot does appear to be random
• No diagonal movement, so combat positioning can sometimes result in one character having to walk a long way around all your guys to be able to go hit someone. Not too much control over initial character positioning when combat starts.
• Started to see some hints of C&C towards the end of the demo as well as good vs evil choices. I'm sure I've missed some things.

Edit:

• When you don't have a lamp, pressing T seems to "wait" one-minute instead. This isn't mentioned in the keybindings page, and seemed odd to me.
• Turning the lamp on equips it in the off-hand, un-equipping an off-hand item like a shield. But turning the lamp off doesn't re-equip the shield, so you do have to remember to do it manually.

 

[Acrux]

Just finished the demo and it's quite enjoyable. Here's some minor comments:
Would be nice if Esc also closed any screen that has a "1. Exit" option. My Esc muscle memory is strong for closing Character/Inventory/Shop screens.
Food is slightly scarce. You have to be careful with resting or you'll find yourself unable to heal. <incline>
Chest loot does appear to be random
No diagonal movement, so combat positioning can sometimes result in one character having to walk a long way around all your guys to be able to go hit someone. Not too much control over initial character positioning when combat starts.
Started to see some hints of C&C towards the end of the demo as well as good vs evil choices. I'm sure I've missed some things.

Completely agree with all of these. Overall very impressed. I'd also add:

• I appreciate the integration of "modern" UX elements to an Ultima clone.
• I like that you can select dialogue options you don't have the skill level for, you just automatically fail. I prefer this to it not being an option My dumb, uncharismatic fighter could still try to influence people but fail every time!
• Higher skill points adds a higher range to the pool, so you can still easily lose a (say) diplomacy role with bad luck.
• I had a moderately high ST/DX/CN warrior and had 3 action/movement points. I don't know if that changes based on stats (I haven't tried anything else yet). Battle maps were larger than I expected, so sliightly more movement point would be welcome.
• The full screen pictures didn't look quite as good on my screen as they did in videos since everything scales up.
• I really wish there was a paper doll for equipping items.

 

[Butter]

Something that bothered me was the button in the bottom right corner. I'd rather have that centred or even floating over the object I'm interacting with, so that it's easy to see. As is, it's only in my peripheral vision and I usually don't notice the text change to Ascend or Open.

 

[Bah]

Ah yes, I would like a hotkey for that button too. I can almost avoid using the mouse... almost.

 

[SkaldRPG]

Just finished the demo and it's quite enjoyable. Here's some minor comments:

• Would be nice if Esc also closed any screen that has a "1. Exit" option. My Esc muscle memory is strong for closing Character/Inventory/Shop screens.
• Food is slightly scarce. You have to be careful with resting or you'll find yourself unable to heal. <incline>
• Chest loot does appear to be random
• No diagonal movement, so combat positioning can sometimes result in one character having to walk a long way around all your guys to be able to go hit someone. Not too much control over initial character positioning when combat starts.
• Started to see some hints of C&C towards the end of the demo as well as good vs evil choices. I'm sure I've missed some things.

Edit:

• When you don't have a lamp, pressing T seems to "wait" one-minute instead. This isn't mentioned in the keybindings page, and seemed odd to me.
• Turning the lamp on equips it in the off-hand, un-equipping an off-hand item like a shield. But turning the lamp off doesn't re-equip the shield, so you do have to remember to do it manually.

Completely agree with all of these. Overall very impressed. I'd also add:

• I appreciate the integration of "modern" UX elements to an Ultima clone.
• I like that you can select dialogue options you don't have the skill level for, you just automatically fail. I prefer this to it not being an option My dumb, uncharismatic fighter could still try to influence people but fail every time!
• Higher skill points adds a higher range to the pool, so you can still easily lose a (say) diplomacy role with bad luck.
• I had a moderately high ST/DX/CN warrior and had 3 action/movement points. I don't know if that changes based on stats (I haven't tried anything else yet). Battle maps were larger than I expected, so sliightly more movement point would be welcome.
• The full screen pictures didn't look quite as good on my screen as they did in videos since everything scales up.
• I really wish there was a paper doll for equipping items.

Something that bothered me was the button in the bottom right corner. I'd rather have that centred or even floating over the object I'm interacting with, so that it's easy to see. As is, it's only in my peripheral vision and I usually don't notice the text change to Ascend or Open.

Thank you so much for playing the game and offering feedback! I really appreciate it and I'm taking note of it all! In general I don't hang out on RpgCodex too much but I will be trawling the discussion forum for the game's steam page so feel free to leave further comments there

Ah yes, I would like a hotkey for that button too. I can almost avoid using the mouse... almost.

Are you refering to the lower right corner key? THe SPACE bar maps to it

Cheers,


AL

 

[Infinitron]

Released on GOG: https://af.gog.com/game/skald_against_the_black_priory_the_prologue?as=1649904300

 

[Lady Error]

It has a party, stylish art and turn-based combat. Quite promising actually.

 

[Bah]

Are you refering to the lower right corner key? THe SPACE bar maps to it

Awesome! Looking forward to this game.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.skaldrpg.com/2021/06/the-public-skald-prologue-is-live-on-steam-and-gog/

The Public Skald Prologue is Live on Steam and GOG!

The Skald: Against the Black Priory Prologue is now live on Steam and GOG!

And finally: A gameplay teaser!

This is a huge milestone for the project as it means that thousands of fresh eyes will be enjoying the game, testing it and offering feedback. It also goes a long way towards getting Skald on the radar of consumers, content creators and press.


I hope you all take the time to download the Prologue and give it a go. More importantly: Take two minutes to offer a review afterwards. This is hugely important for Steam and GOG visibility and it would be amazing if we can get as many eyes on the project as possible.

Leave any constructive feedback on the Steam or GOG forum-pages for the game.

Next Steps
There will always be polishing to do on the engine and rules implementation (such as how combat should work). In general, however, the coming months will see work move more towards implementing the narrative, adding feats, spells and classes properly (the current ones are mostly placeholder) and populating the game with art assets. Sound FX in particular are in line for some love.

To make sure the work flows nicely, I’ll be spending some time polishing the editor-tool so that adding stuff like scenes or character components is fast and easily maintained in the long run.

The plan is still to launch the Early Access (EA) version in August. However, this is depends on two things:

1. The feedback from the prologue.
2. How much of the narrative is ready.

The game does not need to be completed before EA but it should be stable, fun to play and offer enough content that you should be able to spend 20+ hours playing around with it.

Time will tell if that schedule holds. Just know that this game is getting all the love and care possible put into it and I can’t wait to get it out to you!

But for now: Go play the prologue (and remember to leave a review if you feel like it)!

As always, get in touch via the Discord or Twitter for all things Skald-related (I guess now you can also use the Steam and GOG forums).

AL

 

[AdolfSatan]

Loved every bit of it, great writing, exploration, music (nice job zz, you're killing it), and combat is very satisfying and punishing. And the grafix are cool as hell. Some UI/UX stuff can be improved, but it's quite good already. I take saves won't be transferrable? If so, I think I'll set it aside for now and wait for full release. Ye got my D1P.

 

[Andhaira]

Downloaded and messed around for a bit, will play the full demo over the weekend. But looks quite sweet. I hope character generation is much more in depth in the full game; also I hope we will start off with a player generated party rather than just one PC and recruit the rest later. This trope introduced by Baldur's Gate 1 really needs to die.

Question: Will the mage ever get enough mana to be able to cast Inferno in the demo??

Also, will there be more classes in the full game?

SkaldRPG

 

[AdolfSatan]

This trope introduced by Baldur's Gate 1 really needs to die.

You know this is literally how the party was built in Ultima IV, right? The game Skald is clearly inspired by?

 

[SkaldRPG]

Loved every bit of it, great writing, exploration, music (nice job zz, you're killing it), and combat is very satisfying and punishing. And the grafix are cool as hell. Some UI/UX stuff can be improved, but it's quite good already. I take saves won't be transferrable? If so, I think I'll set it aside for now and wait for full release. Ye got my D1P.

Glad you liked it Saves won't transfer so just wishlist the main game and start pulling out hair

Downloaded and messed around for a bit, will play the full demo over the weekend. But looks quite sweet. I hope character generation is much more in depth in the full game; also I hope we will start off with a player generated party rather than just one PC and recruit the rest later. This trope introduced by Baldur's Gate 1 really needs to die.

Question: Will the mage ever get enough mana to be able to cast Inferno in the demo??

Also, will there be more classes in the full game?

SkaldRPG

There will be tons of additional feats, spells and classes so fear not!

For the game's main narrative, you'll only create one character. You will however be able to recruit "mercenaries" at taverns that you can customize fully if you want other characters than the scripted ones.

Inferno might be a bit over-costed at 30 attunement. This means a level 5 Magos with 20 int can cast it once A bit too rare IMO

 

[Andhaira]

Loved every bit of it, great writing, exploration, music (nice job zz, you're killing it), and combat is very satisfying and punishing. And the grafix are cool as hell. Some UI/UX stuff can be improved, but it's quite good already. I take saves won't be transferrable? If so, I think I'll set it aside for now and wait for full release. Ye got my D1P.

Glad you liked it Saves won't transfer so just wishlist the main game and start pulling out hair

Downloaded and messed around for a bit, will play the full demo over the weekend. But looks quite sweet. I hope character generation is much more in depth in the full game; also I hope we will start off with a player generated party rather than just one PC and recruit the rest later. This trope introduced by Baldur's Gate 1 really needs to die.

Question: Will the mage ever get enough mana to be able to cast Inferno in the demo??

Also, will there be more classes in the full game?

SkaldRPG

There will be tons of additional feats, spells and classes so fear not!

Can you say what other classes there will be?

Also how do Magos and other casters gain new spells?

For the game's main narrative, you'll only create one character. You will however be able to recruit "mercenaries" at taverns that you can customize fully if you want other characters than the scripted ones.

Inferno might be a bit over-costed at 30 attunement. This means a level 5 Magos with 20 int can cast it once A bit too rare IMO

Can it be cast in the demo or not? Also, I get the feeling spellcasters are expected to conserve their attunement and only cast spells rarely...will there be a feat chain or so granting Magos an eldritch blast type of attack?

A few more q's:

How much interaction will there be with scripted Party members? How many r in the game total?

What is the total estimated play time of the full game?

Please don't skimp on spell graphics/animations!

 

[SkaldRPG]

Can it be cast in the demo or not? Also, I get the feeling spellcasters are expected to conserve their attunement and only cast spells rarely...will there be a feat chain or so granting Magos an eldritch blast type of attack?

A few more q's:

How much interaction will there be with scripted Party members? How many r in the game total?

What is the total estimated play time of the full game?

Please don't skimp on spell graphics/animations!

It can be cast as long as you get enough Attunement.
Note that spellcasters regain a lot of attunement after each encounter but you certainly need to conserve resources and optimize spell use. It never occured to me to include a "free" spell but that is a great idea
I hope to include around 10 scripted party members so you get a good variation in what kinds of classes you can have in the party. There should be plenty of interaction with them at camp and on certain events with custome dialogue.
I would say I'm aiming for 10+ hours of critical path content on normal difficulty but with dozens more hours of opt in side-content and exploration. My philisophy for RPG design is that I prefer a compact and interesting critical path with very little grinding etc. Around taht however, should be a large and interesting world where you can spend hours doing side-quests and storming dungeons.
Spell-animations (as well as more combat animations in general) are a big priority and will be added in as we go towards, and after early access.

 

[V_K]

I would say I'm aiming for 10+ hours of critical path content on normal difficulty but with dozens more hours of opt in side-content and exploration. My philisophy for RPG design is that I prefer a compact and interesting critical path with very little grinding etc. Around taht however, should be a large and interesting world where you can spend hours doing side-quests and storming dungeons.

How are you going to balance it though? I would assume that either a character who does a lot of sidequests will be heavily overpowerd and stomp over MQ, or MQ would be unfinishable without engaging in side quests.

 

[Luzur]

will there be soil-erosion, horse armor and Radiant AI?

 

[SkaldRPG]

I would say I'm aiming for 10+ hours of critical path content on normal difficulty but with dozens more hours of opt in side-content and exploration. My philisophy for RPG design is that I prefer a compact and interesting critical path with very little grinding etc. Around taht however, should be a large and interesting world where you can spend hours doing side-quests and storming dungeons.

How are you going to balance it though? I would assume that either a character who does a lot of sidequests will be heavily overpowerd and stomp over MQ, or MQ would be unfinishable without engaging in side quests.

I have a few ideas in mind. There are quite a few dymanic difficulty balancing tools in the engine (not active in the demo) that I feel confident will be able to balance the difficulty dynamically for the main path.

 

[SkaldRPG]

will there be soil-erosion, horse armor and Radiant AI?

Why stop there?

 

[Luzur]

Also, brothels, and gender-fluid romances

capisce

 

[asper]

Spent some time with the demo yesterday, and had a blast. The music and art are really good! Loved how the story unfolds. Looking forward to the full release, day one buy for me.
Really enjoyed the story art in the C64 palette. Great choice and well executed project, with lots of attention to detail. Thanks for making this! It is appreciated

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Downloaded and messed around for a bit, will play the full demo over the weekend. But looks quite sweet. I hope character generation is much more in depth in the full game; also I hope we will start off with a player generated party rather than just one PC and recruit the rest later. This trope introduced by Baldur's Gate 1 really needs to die.

Didn't Ultima IV come a bit earlier than BG1?

 

[Sinatar]

Downloaded and messed around for a bit, will play the full demo over the weekend. But looks quite sweet. I hope character generation is much more in depth in the full game; also I hope we will start off with a player generated party rather than just one PC and recruit the rest later. This trope introduced by Baldur's Gate 1 really needs to die.

Didn't Ultima IV come a bit earlier than BG1?

Nah they came out at the same time give or take 12 years.

 

[Andhaira]

Small Hotfix/Patch (from Steam):

Skald Prologue Patch 1.0
Based on the first round of feedback, I've made a few updates:

- Fixes a ton of typos.
- Fixes the bug where pressing the torch-hotkey will pass a turn
- Fixes the "naming bug"
- Fixes a bug that sometimes caused certain monsters to not spawn
- Fixed not being able to use the inventory properly

There will be more patches over the weekend.

Cheers,

AL

Downloaded and messed around for a bit, will play the full demo over the weekend. But looks quite sweet. I hope character generation is much more in depth in the full game; also I hope we will start off with a player generated party rather than just one PC and recruit the rest later. This trope introduced by Baldur's Gate 1 really needs to die.

Didn't Ultima IV come a bit earlier than BG1?

Nah they came out at the same time give or take 12 years.

Ok sue me, I forgot the Ultima's. I never played Ultima 4, only got into Ultima's at Ultima 6 but yes they were the ones to have you recruit companions. However Bladur's Gate really took that idea and ran with it; with the Ultima's it kind of made sense in that the avatar was from earth and needed someone to explain Britannia to him and stuffies. Baldur's Gate had no such excuse. Neither does this game, but I guess it's too late to change now. Hope the scripted companions will be worth it and have nice dialogues, reactions and quests.

 

[Ysaye]

Small Hotfix/Patch (from Steam):

Skald Prologue Patch 1.0
Based on the first round of feedback, I've made a few updates:

- Fixes a ton of typos.
- Fixes the bug where pressing the torch-hotkey will pass a turn
- Fixes the "naming bug"
- Fixes a bug that sometimes caused certain monsters to not spawn
- Fixed not being able to use the inventory properly

There will be more patches over the weekend.

Cheers,

AL

Downloaded and messed around for a bit, will play the full demo over the weekend. But looks quite sweet. I hope character generation is much more in depth in the full game; also I hope we will start off with a player generated party rather than just one PC and recruit the rest later. This trope introduced by Baldur's Gate 1 really needs to die.

Didn't Ultima IV come a bit earlier than BG1?

Nah they came out at the same time give or take 12 years.

Ok sue me, I forgot the Ultima's. I never played Ultima 4, only got into Ultima's at Ultima 6 but yes they were the ones to have you recruit companions. However Bladur's Gate really took that idea and ran with it; with the Ultima's it kind of made sense in that the avatar was from earth and needed someone to explain Britannia to him and stuffies. Baldur's Gate had no such excuse. Neither does this game, but I guess it's too late to change now. Hope the scripted companions will be worth it and have nice dialogues, reactions and quests.

Magic Candle (1989) and it's successors also had recruitable companions - I believe this game is trying to in a way be like that game.