KickStarter Vampire Syndicate: Gangs of MoonFall

[Tyranicon]

What about a Slayer being turned either unintentionally or on purpose and then going deep undercover with the leech people.

There's already the undercover route for a Mandate agent, and the Slayers as an organization are opposed to tactics such as infiltration, even if they recognize its usefulness. Turning a human into a vampire in the setting is also a ritualized process rather than a viral/magic bite, so it's hard to have accidental turnings.

Vampires as organised crime and a vampire hunter going undercover sounds a bit like the Blade TV-series.

 

[Tyranicon]

Not sure if I mentioned it, but the alpha demo will be broken up into two parts: one for sex and one for combat.

The sex demo is coming (ayy) first because it's easier and I need opinions on the most, so it'll be released soon for... "workshopping."

The combat demo, as expected, will take longer because a lot of things are being custom scripted. I'm also making a lot of changes on a system level that should make combat more interesting.

With my previous system, way too much emphasis was placed on turn 1 nuking through bonus action features. Which, is kind of cool, but led to a much lower difficulty curve.

Also this game I will attempt to make a compromise between

1. Encounters don't scale to your level
2. There are renewable encounters you can repeat
3. Game can still be very hard with the proper difficulty settings

Difficulty levels won't be the standard +% HP buff to mobs, but changes to both battle and longterm management resources, like how Hit Points get replenished.

 

[Tyranicon]

Meet the INS Foundation of Heaven, a fuckheug VTOL mobile command base and force projection asset.

The Slayer Order has requisitioned quarters on the ship and will be deploying from it as a home base. My thought is that it's similar to Marvel's helicarriers or that ominous corpo warship in CP2077. The Slayer Order doesn't own it, it's part of the

Spoiler

mainland occupation force that annexed the city in the last game

and they're just tagging along.

Speaking of player homes, I think I will go into more detail with this game and allow various purchasable/upgradable player homes, leading eventually to a fortified compound requiring guards and stuff. Y'know, things that befit a vampire lord.

Similarly, players who go the Slayer route will requisition better lodgings on the ship and safehouses in the city. Maybe I'll even add a feature to use that fancy rail-gun artillery on the ship.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

leading eventually to a fortified compound requiring guards and stuff

Or have a completely mobile home as an alternative.

 

[Tyranicon]

leading eventually to a fortified compound requiring guards and stuff

Or have a completely mobile home as an alternative.

Yeah, one of the interesting things I'm looking forward to working out is how the player's life is steadily more threatened as they climb the vampire ladder.

As a familiar, you're still a relative nobody and although people are going to try to kill you, they're not going to waste too many resources doing so.

But as a vampire lord, people are actually going to get serious about it, and when your enemies are

1. Other vampire lords
2. A SCP Foundation stand-in
3. A hyper-rich religious organization with the resources of a global power
4. Possibly, maybe the global conspiracy that actually puppetmasters everyone else

You're gonna need ways to protect yourself.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

As a familiar, you're still a relative nobody

I guess you can say they're a bit... unfamiliar.

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

There I was, just searching for shitty porn VNs, and...

https://f95zone.to/threads/vampire-syndicate-gangs-of-moonfall-0-1-0-a-memory-of-eternity.149063/

 

[Tyranicon]

There I was, just searching for shitty porn VNs, and...

https://f95zone.to/threads/vampire-syndicate-gangs-of-moonfall-0-1-0-a-memory-of-eternity.149063/

Wow that was quick. You even beat the F95 uploaders to it.

But yeah, the barebones sex demo is available. Here's an itch link for those who don't want to tread the sticky floors of a porn forum: https://amemoryofeternity.itch.io/vampire-syndicate-gangs-of-moonfall

Apparently I can't set the recommended donation under $2, which is a weird oversight on itchio's part. But you can of course, download it for free normally. Don't pay me.

Also let me know what you think. The sex scene is FFFM or FFFF depending on your gender choice.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

1. Really progressive and long-winded way to spell male and female :D. I imagine some people might fight lack of penis + breasts combination very offensive and discriminatory.
2. The blue "!" markers don't fit the environment style, look too much like a sprite. I imagine a low-poly, mostly translucent exclamation mark, that fits more with the room geometry would look better. Very minor thing really, as functionally it's perfect.
3. Text seems a little bit blurry at 1440p resolution fullscreen. At it's usual window size looks perfect.
4. Is the PC walking animation a placeholder? It looks very stiff (few frames). On the other hand, if that's the style everything will move, it's fine.
5. Yay for having something on screen that could be source code instead of bunch of html :D
6. Bed interaction doesn't change after you took the weapons. Immersion broken, unplayable
7. I really like your dev commentary on how the full game will differ. Good stuff!
8. Characters are a bit of uncanny valley for me, but consistent style. Good.
9. Glamour thing is mostly for lore or so that you can get away with assets coming from different sources / being reused?
10. Sex in games doesn't really do it for me, but I liked bits of vampire lore you could get during it. Otherwise I think it's ok, especially if the game can be completed without it.

TL;DR: good stuff, really want combat/exploration demo.

 

[Tyranicon]

1. Really progressive and long-winded way to spell male and female :D. I imagine some people might fight lack of penis + breasts combination very offensive and discriminatory.
2. The blue "!" markers don't fit the environment style, look too much like a sprite. I imagine a low-poly, mostly translucent exclamation mark, that fits more with the room geometry would look better. Very minor thing really, as functionally it's perfect.
3. Text seems a little bit blurry at 1440p resolution fullscreen. At it's usual window size looks perfect.
4. Is the PC walking animation a placeholder? It looks very stiff (few frames). On the other hand, if that's the style everything will move, it's fine.
5. Yay for having something on screen that could be source code instead of bunch of html :D
6. Bed interaction doesn't change after you took the weapons. Immersion broken, unplayable
7. I really like your dev commentary on how the full game will differ. Good stuff!
8. Characters are a bit of uncanny valley for me, but consistent style. Good.
9. Glamour thing is mostly for lore or so that you can get away with assets coming from different sources / being reused?
10. Sex in games doesn't really do it for me, but I liked bits of vampire lore you could get during it. Otherwise I think it's ok, especially if the game can be completed without it.

TL;DR: good stuff, really want combat/exploration demo.

Thanks! Responding to a few of your points below:

1. Lol. Yeah I got called out on not being PC/inclusive enough in my last game. The real answer is just because I'm too lazy to render all different types of anatomy combinations. It's a huge time sink and I'm just one person, so I'm not doing it. Perk of being your own boss, you get to call 100% of the shots. There will be only male and female body types in the game.

2. Noted. These are just placeholders for now.

3. Hmm weird. But yeah it's locked to 1920x1080 resolution. That's an engine limitation.

4. Animation is not a placeholder. Unfortunately it takes a lot of work to coax the old RPGM engine into providing more animation frames, and so it'll probably capped at what it currently is (combat animations may have more frames).

6. Yeah I thought about that too lol.

8. Daz3d models all have that characteristic look, but it should work well enough.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

4. Animation is not a placeholder. Unfortunately it takes a lot of work to coax the old RPGM engine into providing more animation frames, and so it'll probably capped at what it currently is (combat animations may have more frames).

Huh, didn't even notice it's in RPG Maker! I always associate that engine with SNES-style graphics for some reason. Now is not the time for an engine change of course, but did you consider using something more modern? I think Iron Tower guys were very happy when they moved of Torque (or whatever used in Age of Decadence) to modern Unreal for Colony Ship.

 

[Tyranicon]

4. Animation is not a placeholder. Unfortunately it takes a lot of work to coax the old RPGM engine into providing more animation frames, and so it'll probably capped at what it currently is (combat animations may have more frames).

Huh, didn't even notice it's in RPG Maker! I always associate that engine with SNES-style graphics for some reason. Now is not the time for an engine change of course, but did you consider using something more modern? I think Iron Tower guys were very happy when they moved of Torque (or whatever used in Age of Decadence) to modern Unreal for Colony Ship.

Yeah, I tinkered around with Unity (I can practically hear the boos) for a bit.

The thing is, something around 80% of the framework for this game is being lifted straight from my previous one, and I'm not spending the time investment to remake it in Unity. I'm one of those idiots who achieved the not very coveted "expert in this JRPG shovelware engine" title. I know how it works, inside and out. Mostly.

Plus, this game will run on basically a potato, which is not something I can say for Unity either.

 

[santino27]

Most indie Unity porn games I've tried have ludicrous on-screen UI/UX lag, so anything that runs fast and smoothly is an improvement imo.

 

[Peachcurl]

Some details:

1. I hope a failed skill check in the kitchen leads to an early demise of the player character. GOTY criterion.
2. When looking through the door cam, the perspective of the corridor is not the same as for the visitors. Not a big deal, but looks odd. Maybe also view the corridor in isometric, similar to how the visitors are overlayed when entering the room? Or else, shift the corridor perspective? so that the camera is roughly at head level?
3. The visible selection of dialog items could be a bit misleading. Maybe highlight the selected line above and below, instead of just below? Or change background color of selected lines? So as not to confuse which line is selected.
4. When you watch the interaction of Faustine and Lore, Faustine turns to you, kneeling on the bed. Her face looks fairly odd in that lighting. Older.
5. When I restarted the demo (without leaving the game, at the end of the demo), it started with the vampires already inside the room (before checking on Min in the bathroom).
6. Maybe have another text color whenever the player character is speaking, to distinguish from NPC talk? (example: the formal greeting at the door)
7. Have you considered to use a darker color for the player character's silhouette? White may be a bit glaring.

Otherwise, looks pretty great. Dope music.

Questions:
- Is the optional choice between "realistic" and "anime" look still planned? Not that it is needed.
- How much voice over is planned? Just some narrator snippets like in the Demo, or consistently all narration text? Characters?

If you plan more voice over for the narrator, here's to options I'd probably prefer:
A) Internal narrator (I instead of you). Obviously has the issue of needing both male and female voice.
B) External, third person. Like someone who tells this story a few years after it happened.

External "you do this, you do that" is always a bit odd to me, since it's spoken by a character that doesn't exist.

 

[Tyranicon]

Questions:
- Is the optional choice between "realistic" and "anime" look still planned? Not that it is needed.
- How much voice over is planned? Just some narrator snippets like in the Demo, or consistently all narration text? Characters?

Yes, there is an "anime" look planned but it's basically just for the dialogue sprites. The player can toggle between the 3D renders and the hand-drawn versions.

Originally I didn't have any voice over planned, but with the startling progress of AI tech, that may change. I also might get custom stuff for the actual sex scenes.

5. Oops, sequence breaking bug. They'll be the most common type of bug, but easy to fix.
6. I should do something like that.
7. Thinking of more of a grey color. I dunno. White is the standard hentai color, so that's what I went with, but it's pretty bright.

 

[Twiglard]

Yeah I got called out on not being PC/inclusive enough in my last game.

What now, you're putting wokeness into character creation?

 

[Tyranicon]

Yeah I got called out on not being PC/inclusive enough in my last game.

What now, you're putting wokeness into character creation?

You can decide for yourself.

Edit: Full character creation isn't in this version of the demo. But lol, no, I'd have to be pretty tone-deaf to advertise a "woke" game on the codex of all places. My games don't have modern culture war shit.

 

[Delterius]

The sex demo is coming (ayy) first because it's easier and I need opinions on the most, so it'll be released soon for... "workshopping."

wise beyond your years aren't ya

 

[Mauman]

I assume the "white blob character" is a placeholder and will be replaced with some decent looking presets?

Otherwise, I thought it was fine.

 

[Tyranicon]

Got a lot of good feedback from the first demo. Aside from the placeholders, people seem to like it a lot.

Will move forward with story + full party combat demo. I'd expect it will be ready possibly sometime next month.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Turning a human into a vampire in the setting is also a ritualized process rather than a viral/magic bite, so it's hard to have accidental turnings.

Magic rituals to turn people into vampires? I give you credit for novelty! I haven't seen that done very often even in prose fiction. The only situation I remember off the top of my head is a book about a vampire huntress who underwent the ritual but escaped before the ritual murder step, but she's always at risk of rising as a vampire if she dies. But I can't even remember the title.

 

[Tyranicon]

Turning a human into a vampire in the setting is also a ritualized process rather than a viral/magic bite, so it's hard to have accidental turnings.

Magic rituals to turn people into vampires? I give you credit for novelty! I haven't seen that done very often even in prose fiction. The only situation I remember off the top of my head is a book about a vampire huntress who underwent the ritual but escaped before the ritual murder step, but she's always at risk of rising as a vampire if she dies. But I can't even remember the title.

So, not exactly spoilers, but it won't be revealed until somewhat later in the game.

Origins of Vampires in the setting:

Spoiler

All modern vampire lineages trace their origins back to the Ur Drucah, a group of sorcerer-cultists in barely remembered antiquity. Their purpose was to replicate the True Immortality of a being known as the Blessed Tyrant. Through long years of study and experimentation with foul magic, they eventually were able to produce a form of life eternal, but at a very steep price.

The reason that each lineage has their own ritual is because the "pure" ritual of the Ur Drucah is either lost to the mists of time, or cannot be performed even if somebody knows the process. So the lineages, who originated in different places of the world, came up with their own methods based on the original ritual. Each comes with unique powers and unique weaknesses, but they share common traits.

The ritual confers typical vampire characteristics, such as needing to feed on blood and weakness to sunlight, but the Vampiric Curse also permanently ties your soul to the world, like the souls of elves from LoTR. This means when vampires die, it's theorized they either meet oblivion, or they stay on Earth as ghosts that you can't interact with. Nobody knows.

 

[Vincente]

All modern vampire lineages trace their origins back to the Ur Drucah, a group of sorcerer-cultists in barely remembered antiquity. Their purpose was to replicate the True Immortality of a being known as the Blessed Tyrant. Through long years of study and experimentation with foul magic, they eventually were able to produce a form of life eternal, but at a very steep price.

Tremere approves, my dear sir.

 

[Harthwain]

Tremere approves, my dear sir.

Why quoting without keeping the spoiler intact?

 

[Tyranicon]

The Taggert QuadSentry, one of the enemies you'll be fighting in the demo. Also the demo mission is a hit on a rogue vampire, should be interesting.