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

[Tweed]

Of course he's interested, he needs to make sure not to release the same month the remaster does in 2026.

 

[Lyre Mors]

To be fair, he did re-qualify in regards to Oblivion.

 

[Tweed]

I would say by now they should be able to make people who look like people, but Starfield proved that they're only getting worse at that.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Morgoth]

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://www.skaldrpg.com/2023/09/project-update-let-there-be-light/

Project Update: Let There Be Light​

Hello there one and all!

Dance with the Moonlit Knight
In classic AL fashion I’m long overdue with another project update! That means there is sooo much to show off and talk about. So much in fact that I’m not even going to try. Instead, today I’ll focus on one of the flashier updates: An improved lighting system!

The Issue​

There is a lot of level-design and building going on at the moment. Company is doing good as well and I’ve been able to get a lot more professional art assets in the last year without having to worry about cost (see some of the gorgeous environments below).

The issue I was running into however, was that I wasn’t able to fully convey the mood of the the environments I was making with the tools I had at the start of 2023. For a game that aims to have a bit of a darker tone, this was actually kind of a big deal.

The dilemma I was wrestling with was that I had committed to a 16 color palette; Adding a more complex lighting system would result in more than 16 colors being shown on screen at any given time.

None the less, I was feeling pretty strongly that something had to change so I set aside two weeks in April, cracked my knuckles and went into a coding frenzy! Turns out there are some advantages to having such a large proprietary code-base. Since I know every in and out of my draw pipeline it was surprisingly easy to set up what I needed.

As for the result, I’ll let this image speak for itself:

I dear say one of these is slightly more ambient than the other?

The Solution​

The first thing to keep in mind is that Skald is built as an “engine inside an engine”. In other words, the Skald engine lives inside Unity but it is 99% self-contained. For instance, it draws its graphics by baking sprites at run-time, completely independently of Unity. Once all the drawing operations are done and the complete screen image is baked, it makes a Unity texture and lets the Unity camera “photograph” it.

The advantage here is that it’s very easy to perform very precise operations on individual pixels. In other words, we can do pretty cool stuff that is still 100% “authentic” pixel art.

We leverage this in the lighting system: A lighting value is calculated for each 16×16 tile and based on this, the sprite for that tile is shaded with a bluish tint (pixel per pixel). As you can see on the floor inside the cabin above, this means the lighting is overtly tiled but in my opinion, this works beautifully with the tile-based nature of the game.




That is not all however! Light-emitters also have pre-baked “auras. These can have different shapes and colors: Note how the ritual candles in the GIF above have a green and purple tint. It also allows me to do stuff like god-rays.



Anyways, I’m pretty proud of the system and the result. It’s changed how I make levels and my only regret is not making it sooner. If you have questions about the system or its implementation, feel free to DM me!

In Other News​

As I said initially, I have so much to show off that I don’t know where to begin. However, the finish-line is coming into view so for what it’s worth, you’ll all be playing the game pretty soon. That also means, stay posted for a release-date announcement.

Feat Trees (missing icons)!

Unity​

Many of you will have noticed that Unity has been going through dire straits the last weeks. The engine revealed a new pricing model a few weeks ago that was extremely controversial and caused a mass-exodus of players.

For a lot of companies, this had the potential to be catastrophic. Skald was however, never in any direct danger due to the game’s pricing model etc.

That being said, it also appears Unity has rolled back their updated policies in the recent days. In other words: Skald was and still is, 100% safe.

The Lost Sector​

I did an interview with Chris Freeman last week for the Lost Sector Youtube channel! I love the Lost Sector and if you’re reading this, so will you!

We talk Skald, retro-gaming and Unity (if you want to understand more deeply why the pricing change was so controversial). Chris also has a loop of the updated game build running in the background so if you want to see the new lighting-system in action, here’s a chance for a sneak preview of a very rough production build (Chris twisted my arm)!

---

That’s it for now! I’ll do my best to keep you posted but I also need to make a game so if you don’t hear from me for a while, it’s because I’m making cool stuff.

To stay posted, be sure to follow the Skald Twitter and Discord and wishlist on Steam if you haven’t already!

Much love,



AL

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

I don't know. I don't really like the way this game develops. I'm mildly regretting having backed it. The classic look seems to fade away more with every update. I also wonder if release will happen in the next 10 years. Oh well. Maybe I'm wrong, we'll see.

 

[Morgoth]

THIS WILL BE BETTER THAN BALDURS GAY 3!!

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

THIS WILL BE BETTER THAN BALDURS GAY 3!!

Needs dozen or so graphics overhauls for that.

 

[Infinitron]

I said this last year:

At this point SKALD looks like a 1990 RPG. Very little of the 80s 8-bit look is left.

Forget 1990, it looks like a mid-1990s SNES RPG now.

 

[Melan]

He had one job: polish up the second demo with content and release it. But here we are.

 

[Sacibengala]

Skald dev is apparently a big fan of Oblivion.

If this releases before his game, "maybe" the game will be slightly delayed. We can't deal with a delay, can we?

 

[Tyranicon]

Personally, all the vivid colors make it really hard for me to parse what is happening, especially in the outdoor shots.

Also, this is the game that "inspired" me to have a font selection setting in my future projects.

 

[Abu Antar]

I liked the way the first demo played. He should have just gone with that and expanded upon it.

Oh well, I paid $8, so it isn't a hurtful ripoff.

 

[Lyre Mors]

His first mistake was abandoning the codex forever. His second mistake was over-developing the aesthetic. His third mistake was never releasing the game.

Let's keep in mind this is supposed to be a 10 hour adventure, and I'd imagine one with very little in the way of C&C or build variety. When was this project announced? 4-5 years ago?

Thank goodness we have people like Kamaz who will not only stick it out through the abuse, but also actually release his game. And with a potential 40-50 hours of gameplay with different builds and approaches.

 

[zapotec]

How is called this Kamaz's game?

 

[Strange Fellow]

I still believe

 

[Lyre Mors]

How is called this Kamaz's game?

Sorry, should have said. It's Space Wreck, coming out on October 10th.

 

[agris]

Am I the only one who really dislikes his dynamic fog of war / line of sight system? Functionally it just makes the edges of the screen amorphous black blobs, doubly so with this new lighting system

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

The fidelity to an archaic aesthetic is irrelevant. The point of a game like this is the capture the intangible spirit of a thing. That said, it's clear that this guy is a charlatan. He's strung along something for 4 years which he had already made. His own pontificating over how easily he can modify features of a proprietary engine he developed demonstrates that it isn't progressing because he chooses for it not to. I enjoyed the demo. Many enjoyed prior editions of the demo years before I had. It remains a demo for 4 years. This is a hobbyist dangling a carrot. A nerd version of an Instagram attention-whore. I throw the gauntlet.

 

[Denim Destroyer]

Skald has consistently been near the top of my wishlist for years ever since my initial encounter with its artwork. In this time not only has the games scope changed dramatically but so has the art direction I fell in love with. At this point, if the game releases, I expect to find an overhyped product that fails to encapsulate the ethos of its source material. Just like so many other retro inspired indie games.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

At the end it will be a game with typical mobile style graphics.

 

[Sacibengala]

At the end it will be a game with typical mobile style graphics.

In b4 changing to voxel.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

At the end it will be a game with typical mobile style graphics.

In b4 changing to voxel.

Before or after cell shading?

 

[Sacibengala]

Before or after cell shading?

Both at the same time!