A Quick Snapshot of Day 2
Hello everyone,
We are working on a more substantive game update for Monday, but we haven't had time to put all the finishing touches on it because it's been a wee bit busy around here lately. So tonight we just wanted to share a few highlights from the last two days (in no particular order):
1. Here's a map of hits on our website (which redirects to this KS page). We have a backer from almost every country shown here which is beyond cool. You guys are bringing the 8-bit RPG love from all corners of the world!
2. The Early Bird Collector's Edition box for C64 sold out early this morning!
3. Unknown Realm went from 25 - 45% funded, in one day. Amazing. Hopefully we can hit 50% by tomorrow.
4. We've been in touch with some amazing people who are interested in collaborations for art, music and other game-related stuff.
5. You guys are all so enthusiastic! We're really grateful for the outpouring of positivity and joy from the C64 community and retro RPG fans. It feels like this game is finding its home with exactly the right people. We were thinking of choosing a comment of the day, but there were too many good ones and we couldn't decide, so you all win.
6. Some kind words about Unknown Realm from Lord British himself.
This has been a whirlwind two days and we know things will settle down - a lot can happen in 32 days. The next 55% will be a lot harder climb than the first 45%. You guys seem to be spreading the word far and wide if our pledge traffic stats from Kickstarter are any indicator, thank you so much! Please keep sharing the love, we still have a ways to go before we can bring back the classic 80's RPG.
Have a great weekend!
Bruce & Laura
Character Sheet Sneak Peek
Good evening everyone!
Hope you all had a great weekend. We're excited to be 68% funded on Day 5 with almost 360 backers! Our goal is to reach 400 backers by tomorrow night, so tell all your friends! We want to share the joy and charm of 8-bit RPGs with as many people as we can.
And speaking of 8-bit RPGs: here's a sneak peek of the first half of our in-game player stats sheet inspired by a certain old school tabletop game some of you might recognize. This is what pops up when you press the Stats command, which will include your customizable character portrait from the initial character creation.
We'll show you the second half of the player sheet in a later update with all the nice skills and stats that you have in the game.
A quick housekeeping note: Some of you may have noticed we had to change two reward tiers earlier today. Our main collector's edition tiers seemed to be causing confusion for some potential backers. This was mainly due to the fact that we wrote the rewards in a sequential narrative order and didn't realize that Kickstarter drops sold out tiers to the bottom of the page. So once the Early Bird boxes sold out, the reward descriptions weren't flowing the way we initially intended them to, and the items included in the tier weren't listed.
We decided to close those tiers and list new ones to replace them. The rewards and price are EXACTLY the same, but the descriptions are hopefully more clear and the items that come in the Collector's Edition boxes are listed as they were in the early bird tiers.
One final item of interest we wanted to share, for those of you who are into computer history: Tomorrow the film Generation 8-Bit: The Commodore Wars will be released on Steam and VHX. The film features a rare interview with the great Jack Tramiel as well as Chuck Peddle and others. You can see the trailer here: http://bit.ly/2h29nNL and find more information at www.commodorewars.com For backers who aren't familiar with these names: they are the creators of the Commodore computer.
Based off of the comments here, we've decided it's clear we have the smartest and coolest backers ever (Rush fans + Old School RPG fans + Ultima fans + C64 fans!!). All the work we've put into this project over the last 4+ years already feels like it was so worth it just to see that this game is reaching the audience we made it for – which is you!
Thanks for your continued support and for spreading the word far and wide.
-Bruce and Laura
Character Sheet Part 2 - Stats & Skills
Hi Everyone,
It feels like this has been a fast, crazy week. Early this morning we reached 500 backers! Totally cool! 500 people and counting are craving a new 8-bit RPG and we're not even halfway through the campaign yet! We are so thrilled by this response.
Here's the second half of our Character Sheet...
As you can see here, Unknown Realm will use a classless character system that focuses on skills or abilities. This sheet displays the skills that will be available to you in the game. When you start out, you get a set number of points to distribute between the skills based on your gameplay interests. The skills go from 0 to 9. These skills modify your ability to do various actions in the game. For example, an increased language skill will allow you to do things such as read cryptic runes or communicate with certain monsters. Increased stealth skill will allow you to be more successful at pick-pocketing other NPCs, lock-picking and other “stealthy” things. You can earn more skill points in the game when you “level up” and you will be able to distribute them as you see fit. You will also earn more skill points when you complete various quests that exercise a particular skill. When your skill points improve, you may find that you can do tasks that you weren't able to do before, such as go back and read an ancient book or inscription that you couldn't decipher earlier, which in turn will help unlock new clues regarding quests.
Keep in mind, since the game is technically in a pre-alpha state, some of these features are not fully set in stone yet, and may change during playtesting. The most important thing to us about these skills is that they have a recognizable impact on gameplay actions and that the player knows it. Many games from this age just gave lip service to skill types and players had no idea what cause and effect relationship they had on gameplay. We instead decided to make a smaller core set of skills that directly relate to gameplay actions. If it turns out that the player is not connecting the dots to the effect of a particular skill during playtesting, we will modify or drop it accordingly.
Another thing you may have noticed about the stats here is that this game will have a max gold carry. The max gold carry will go up with your “level” and will also increase depending on what companion you have with you at the time. There will also be ways to “deposit” excess gold in the game in personal chests at a bank, or on a ship...if you have one. Which we'll talk about in another update.
Next week we should be close to funded and ready to reveal to some cool but modest stretch goals!
Happy Holidays to each and every one of you! Thank you for all of your kind words, support, and infectious enthusiasm!
- Bruce & Laura
Ahoy Mateys! Death and Sailing in Unknown Realm...
Hey Everyone! What a day! We've hit 96% funded and almost 570 backers! We are pretty excited about those numbers because we know people are on vacation and this is a slow time of the year. We continue to be amazed by how much zeal and passion our backers have shown in spreading the word about Unknown Realm and the rebirth of the 8-bit RPG.
Today we're highlighting two game features you'll find in Unknown Realm: Death and Sailing.
Death in Unknown Realm is a bit different than other games. Instead of dying and having to start over each time, we wanted death to be an exciting, unpredictable adventure and part of the story itself. So in Unknown Realm, when you “die,” you never know what might happen or where you might wake up!
Instead of killing you outright, most of the monsters in Unknown Realm will leave you for dead, even though you're actually just unconscious. Where you die in the world, will affect what happens to you. If you die in a relatively safe place, you might get lucky and no one will come and loot your body or steal any of your supplies before you awake.
If beasts happen to attack you while you're unconscious, they will most likely eat your food. If bandits come across your body, they will probably steal your gold. There are also traveling healers who are sworn to aid people on the road, so you might find yourself in the care of the local healers upon waking. If you “die” in a hostile territory (where you may be considered a wanted outlaw), you could awake to find yourself in a prison.
There might be some instances where you can "really" die, but we'll let those be a surprise.
The main point is this: instead of harshly penalizing someone for dying in the game and having them start over, we want to roll that event into your story as you play. We think its more interesting this way and allows us to incorporate your death into the story. Although there are some penalties for dying (such as loss of gold, supplies or food), we've made sure those penalties aren't too steep (such as losing important quest items or weapons). There will also be ways to protect your gold stash by depositing it in banks or personal chests on your very own ship.
Which brings us to ships and sailing in Unknown Realm...
Inspired by another one of our favorite games, Sid Meier's Pirates!, we wanted to make sailing a more developed mode of gameplay.
In order to sail, you must first purchase your own ship and crew. There are various ships and upgrades that you can obtain in the game and they each have their own strengths and weaknesses.
Your crew is a resource that you have to gather in the game. Your ability to recruit a crew is also tied to your reputation or fame in the game. The moral character of the crew you recruit will be a reflection of your character in the game. As captain of your ship, you will have to maintain your crew in good standing to avoid mutiny; keeping them happy with gold and grog. During ship battles and other events, you can lose crew members.
If you're the piratey type, you can make a nice living on the high seas attacking merchant ships and plundering their cargo. You can also run supply quests to deliver goods between locations.
You will have the ability to name your vessel. And a ship provides a home away from home where you can safely store additional gold (unless, of course, it sinks...oops).
When sailing, you'll need to be careful to avoid hazards such as running aground or hitting coral reefs which can damage your hull. You can repair your ships hull yourself using wood or have it repaired at a shipwright.
Sailing is not all swashbuckling adventure though. Beware of pirates, including the most dreaded of all: the Blacksail Pirates and their powerful cannons. And don't forget to watch out for those nasty sea monsters!
Stretch goals are coming soon...Please continue to put the word out and thank you for bringing so much love and energy to this project!
Good call I forgot about that. Losing XP usually just got me to reload thoughMost of the core Ultima games resurrected you at Lord British's throne (with some experience loss) when you died.
This is probably inspired by that, but more complex/context-dependent.
Well maybe we are looking at it differently. From a realism standpoint I get what your saying. I am thinking more from a stopping save scumming when you die. If the penalty is too harsh then people will just reload anyway. I like how mount & blade did it where you lost gold, a couple of items and you were captured for a few days. That might not work in this kind of game though.Funny, that's the part where I nearly ragequit reading Infinitron's latest update! :D If I'm defeated by monsters I want to die, damnit! Getting an attack of the vapours and being pickpocketed whilst asleep is so implausible it takes me immediately out of the game.
Perhaps I've gone casual in my old age.
Lots of us old grognards out there eh?This is insane! This game is doing much better than some RPGs with modern 3d graphics. Looks like easily available Unity3d, Unreal etc really devalued meaning of 3d graphics
101% Funded + Extra Goodies and Stretch Goals!
Woot!! We've reached 101% of our base funding goal and over 600 backers! It's been a crazy two weeks and there are still 18 days left! We're so excited to reach this first big milestone and it’s all thanks to each and every one of you. At the risk of sounding like a broken record: we have the BEST backers. We love how pumped you are about Unknown Realm and we feel truly honored to have your support and encouragement.
Now for some goodies…
C64 Ziplock Bag Editions!
We've had a lot of requests for bringing back the C64 Ziplock Bag Edition tier. Some of you have managed to pick up strays as they become available from time to time due to pledge adjustments, but we really wanted to find a way to open this tier up again for at least a few more people who may not be able to get the C64 version otherwise.
Our budget is for a fixed production run of cartridges and we can't produce more without breaking that budget. That said, we did reserve some C64 cartridge units for Ziplock Bag add-ons because we wanted backers to have the option of adding on an extra version or going in with a friend for a second copy to save on shipping.
We've decided to take most of those add-on reserves and use them to open up the $89 tier again as a one-time thing. We'll still hold back a few extras for add-ons, but that number will be much lower now, so if you were thinking of adding on an extra C64 Ziplock, you might want to do that soon. Once those add-on units are gone, we'll remove that option from the list of add-ons in the rewards section. If you don't see it listed there, that means they're no longer available as add-ons.
To give people time to plan ahead, we are not opening this tier immediately. This limited “last chance” C64 Ziplock Bag tier will go live at 12:00 am PST on Monday, January 2, 2017. If you know anyone who hasn't backed yet and really wants the C64 cart but can't spring for the Collector's Edition, please send them this update as a Happy New Year's present. ;-)
And now on to Stretch Goals!
Those of you following the comments know we've been hesitant about the whole idea of stretch goals. Like we said a few days ago, this entire project * is * a stretch goal and we didn't want to produce it by half measures.
That said, raising funds beyond our base goal will expand our ability to hire additional artists, writers, and musical talent to make this game even better. Plus, surpassing our base goal provides a safety net for development, which is important, especially in projects like this where there are significant testing, manufacturing, and shipping costs involved. There are always unforeseen expenses that come up with Kickstarters, so it helps to have some extra padding for those as well.
We’ve posted our first two stretch goals! These will add some additional content to the game without expanding the scope of the project too much. You can check those out on the front page now! As we unlock these stretch goals – or, as we are able to coordinate with potential collaborators - we'll unveil additional goals.
Next week we have some exciting developments coming out so stay tuned! This adventure is just beginning! Thank you all for your continued support – we are so thrilled to start 2017 with all of you as our companions on this quest!
We wish you all a safe and Happy New Year!!
-Laura & Bruce
Incoming Unity-made 2d games that use C64's color palette and resolution and require 8 gigs of RAM and 900 series Geforce and run at 12 FPS.Lots of us old grognards out there eh?This is insane! This game is doing much better than some RPGs with modern 3d graphics. Looks like easily available Unity3d, Unreal etc really devalued meaning of 3d graphics
14 Days Left!! Hours of Play + Cartridge Details
Hey Everyone! There's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes as we work on some exciting developments for the final weeks of the campaign. Thanks to all of your support, we are getting closer to unlocking that second stretch goal! Tomorrow we will post another update talking about how we intend to use those additional tilesets and seasonal FX to enhance gameplay!
Apologies for the wall of text that follows, we really wanted to address a couple questions that we keep getting…
First, how many hours of gameplay will this game offer? We estimate this game will have about 40+ hours of gameplay to complete the main plot. This doesn't include exploring side quests or going back and playing with different characters and skill sets, which will add additional hours of gameplay. The game will also have multiple endings that players can explore.
Second, a lot of our C64 backers have had questions about the cartridge, and specifically, save game functionality. For our PC backers that don’t care about the C64 cartridge you don’t need to read any further. We'll have a juicy gameplay update tomorrow.
In the comments section, some of you have wished for save-to-cartridge as a stretch goal. We love that you guys think this is a stretch goal, because it’s true, it does cost us more time/money to implement. In some respects, save-to-cart would make an excellent stretch goal because it is a desirable extra feature and vastly improves the user experience.
BUT...When we told you “this whole project IS a stretch goal” we weren't kidding. That is why save-to-cartridge is NOT a stretch goal. It is already part of the final design for our custom Book of Lore cartridge. No disk drives needed. Designing the cartridge halfway just isn't the way we do things around here.
And while we're talking about the cartridge, here's a little back-story on how that came to be part of Unknown Realm…
The cartridge evolved out of the design of the game, which originally started as a floppy-based game. Really, the cartridge was just a means to an end once Bruce realized how much data and disk swapping this game would require to bring his vision to life. A floppy based game of this size would require 12 floppy disk sides on the C64 and involve a ton of disk swapping. In comparison, Ultima VI on the C64 had 6 floppy sides. Everyone who experienced playing these games on their C64’s in the 80's remembers how painful is was dealing with load times and floppy swapping every few minutes. In fact, doing simple things like entering and exiting towns would involve load times upwards of 45 seconds.
We just couldn’t expect modern gamers to wait 45 seconds to load up a town (even though, oddly enough, some modern games still take that long!) - our game loads up a town in about 2 seconds flat thanks to this cartridge.
We initially looked at other cartridge options that were available at the time for the C64 (such as EasyFlash) and quickly ruled those out because they didn't have the capacity or features to accomplish what we needed for Unknown Realm.
With the size and scope of this game, it became clear the only real solution was to design our own cartridge. Consequently, the design of our cartridge has been integrally linked with our game engine from early on and is not intended to be a general-purpose game cartridge. In fact, the game engine itself has no concept of floppies (or disk swapping) and uses a proprietary file system designed specifically to work with our cartridge.
The basic specs on our cartridge are:
One last thing to keep in mind regarding the C64 version of Unknown Realm: our budget only covers a limited run of these cartridges and they are offered as a Kickstarter exclusive. We have no plans to manufacture additional cartridges later or maintain an inventory to sell after Kickstarter rewards ship.
- Capacity is 16Mbits (2MB)
- Cartridge will ship with save to cart function
- Fast load times! The game itself boots up in about 6 seconds
- One of a kind "Book of Lore" case
If you have any additional technical questions about the cartridge, please send us a message or email and we'll be happy to discuss it further.
We are so grateful for your input and support and look forward to seeing what we can accomplish in the next two weeks!
- Bruce & Laura
