KickStarter Vampire Syndicate: Gangs of MoonFall

[GentlemanCthulhu]

>1% of the population
That leaves you with something like 80 million vampires.

 

[Storyfag]

vampires can now go out in the sun

I urge you to rethink this design choice too.

 

[Tyranicon]

>1% of the population
That leaves you with something like 80 million vampires.

Way, way less than 1%.

Also something I should probably add to first page, but there will be very limited VO. My games are known for lots and lots of text.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

>1% of the population
That leaves you with something like 80 million vampires.

Way, way less than 1%.

Also something I should probably add to first page, but there will be very limited VO. My games are known for lots and lots of text.

Good idea. I also think vampires should not be immune to the sun. It's the classical vampire enemy. I think a good compromise is vampires that don't die under sunlight but who are instead heavily weakened.

 

[Tyranicon]

Good idea. I also think vampires should not be immune to the sun. It's the classical vampire enemy. I think a good compromise is vampires that don't die under sunlight but who are instead heavily weakened.

I urge you to rethink this design choice too.

Yeah, they're not completely immune, they do rack up fatigue in sunlight but at least they're not bursting into flames.

It also helps me tackle a design choice: as the player transitions from a familiar to a vampire, I feel like they shouldn't be hampered. Not being able to go out in sunlight (half the game essentially) is a huge burden. But being weakened in daytime would introduce more mechanics and clearly differentiate the two states, which is .

 

[Delterius]

The idea that by having vampires of your world be crime syndicates you're 'stealing' the Giovanni from WoD is insane. You are at most wielding the same general premise as VtM, which is mafia politicking by vampires. And you cannot copyright sub-genres like that.

 

[Harthwain]

Not being able to go out in sunlight (half the game essentially) is a huge burden.

Sounds like a design issue to me. The way I see it you have two ways of dealing with it:

1) Not being able to go out into the sunlight isn't a problem if the whole action takes place during the night.

2) Alternatively, you could introduce ways to reduce the impact of the sunlight. Redemption had one section in which you had to use shadows, otherwise you would sustain severe damage in the sun, which made the level more interesting than usual. Or you could use the light part of the day for some in-house activities (similarly to how vampire hunters try to avoid hunting vampires at night). Or delegate minions for certain tasks. That is, if you really want or need your game to take place in the sunlight. How important it really is in the gameplay sense?

 

[Tacgnol]

The idea that by having vampires of your world be crime syndicates you're 'stealing' the Giovanni from WoD is insane. You are at most wielding the same general premise as VtM, which is mafia politicking by vampires. And you cannot copyright sub-genres like that.

Besides, at this point, I don't think there is a single vampire trope you can use which hasn't already been done by someone else.

Might as well just do whatever you like the feel of and focus on doing it well, rather than worrying whether you're ripping something off.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Being unable to go out in the day sounds like a good justification for having your own familiars, ghouls, and such to do your day work.

 

[Storyfag]

Anyway, since the vampires in your setting are a collection of unrelated supernatural species, why not exchange some of the lineages for non-vampires? Make them cannibalistic werewolves or ghouls, or soul-sucking undead that do NOT prey on blood but create zombies each time they feed on a soul? All parts of the happy supernatural society dabbling in organised crime.

 

[Tyranicon]

Sounds like a design issue to me. The way I see it you have two ways of dealing with it:

1) Not being able to go out into the sunlight isn't a problem if the whole action takes place during the night.

2) Alternatively, you could introduce ways to reduce the impact of the sunlight. Redemption had one section in which you had to use shadows, otherwise you would sustain severe damage in the sun, which made the level more interesting than usual. Or you could use the light part of the day for some in-house activities (similarly to how vampire hunters try to avoid hunting vampires at night). Or delegate minions for certain tasks. That is, if you really want or need your game to take place in the sunlight. How important it really is in the gameplay sense?

Being unable to go out in the day sounds like a good justification for having your own familiars, ghouls, and such to do your day work.

I probably worded it wrong. I meant that preventing the player from being in sunlight would be a huge burden, so I'm not doing that. What I'm thinking of is a Fatigue mechanic that limits a vampire's time in broad daylight. When it expires, there will be a number of penalties applied.

It's a worthy tradeoff for the huge stat boost, portfolio of powers and Respect increase that becoming a vampire gives the player. But each lineage has other weaknesses besides sunlight.

The game takes place with a full day night cycle because you start as a human familiar.

Anyway, since the vampires in your setting are a collection of unrelated supernatural species, why not exchange some of the lineages for non-vampires? Make them cannibalistic werewolves or ghouls, or soul-sucking undead that do NOT prey on blood but create zombies each time they feed on a soul? All parts of the happy supernatural society dabbling in organised crime.

They're not unrelated. The source of vampirism is a common ancestor curse. However, the lineages are different "flavors" of that same curse.

Setting is cyberpunk fantasy kitchen sink. There will be werewolves and undead. And lovecraftian horrors with their deep one worshippers.


A Chthonian Delvespawn:

Spoiler

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Reminder that werewolves are chads and should always beat beta vamps in a fight.

 

[Ismaul]

All this talk about The Masquerade copyright is moot, since it's based on real life.

We all know there's a group of bloodsuckers out there, with their own culture distinct from the rest of the world yet infiltrated in all spheres of power, that pass as members of the culture they're exploiting and uses propaganda to hide their influence and unwitting self-reveals. They're also very focussed on their lineage, and clans have formed within the group that have opposing political views and compete for power amongst themselves, yet cooperate still against the masses. They're also very keen on acting via proxy, and have their ghouls, zombies, golems, or whatever you want to call it, do their bidding while they are far removed from immediate scrutiny and blame. One thing they cannot tolerate is being found out for what they are, they hate mirrors, abhor being revealed in the light, and suffer at the sight of Christian symbols. Etc. etc.

 

[Tyranicon]

A note about time:

Dev is currently in [Conceptual Phase]. I'm very quick and I'm very experienced with small-team dev, but a game of this size will take time. Even if this game gets funded and goes on full dev track, it will take years to build. Fortunately, I do not have a history of spending 8+ years on a game.

My previously published games:

1+ hr long "RPG" - took two months to make
10+ hr long linear RPG with limited C&C and environment - took one year to make
50++ hr non-linear RPG with lots of content - will probably be 2.5 years in total dev time when finished

This is my biggest project. Adjust your expectations appropriately.

 

[The Wall]

All this talk about The Masquerade copyright is moot, since it's based on real life.

We all know there's a group of bloodsuckers out there, with their own culture distinct from the rest of the world yet infiltrated in all spheres of power, that pass as members of the culture they're exploiting and uses propaganda to hide their influence and unwitting self-reveals. They're also very focussed on their lineage, and clans have formed within the group that have opposing political views and compete for power amongst themselves, yet cooperate still against the masses. They're also very keen on acting via proxy, and have their ghouls, zombies, golems, or whatever you want to call it, do their bidding while they are far removed from immediate scrutiny and blame. One thing they cannot tolerate is being found out for what they are, they hate mirrors, abhor being revealed in the light, and suffer at the sight of Christian symbols. Etc. etc.

Ridiculous[!]
JEWS are nothing alike, Vampires don't wear small hats

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

SCP Foundation-like organization with access to memetic technology

Do you mean anti-mnestics or actual anti-memetic tech, something to make the mere knowledge of vampires into an idea that self-erases from anyone's mind on its own? Anyway, I think very few people know about memes in that sense. When reading it, they'll go "huh, memes? well I know memes... what the hell is anti-memes?"

Anyway, introducing anti-memetic tech is opening a pandora's box and making the whole thing about something else entirely. Or you'll have to ignore all the implications in a contrived, lame way.

Not that I care, mind you. I think your project will never achieve good visual quality on the engine of your choosing. Nor do I have any reason to believe you can write.

 

[Vincente]

If magic users are on the hide or have to work in secret, maybe you can have a mage supremacist/terrorist faction that wants to bring magic back? Kind of like Dark Elves from Arcanum.

Anyway, looks cool. Watching.

 

[Tyranicon]

SCP Foundation-like organization with access to memetic technology

Do you mean anti-mnestics or actual anti-memetic tech, something to make the mere knowledge itself of vampires self-erasing from the mind? Anyway, I think very few people know about memes in that sense. When reading it, they'll go "huh, memes? well I know memes... what the hell is anti-memes?"

Aren't mnestics in SCP lore specifically to combat memetics? But the memetics in my setting aren't 1:1 with SCP lore, I'm using it as an umbrella term.

If magic users are on the hide or have to work in secret, maybe you can have a mage supremacist/terrorist faction that wants to bring magic back? Kind of like Dark Elves from Arcanum.

Anyway, looks cool. Watching.

My current game covers this and it'll have major implications for Vampire Gangs. A large portion of the magic-worshipping Shaper Cults are united in venerating powerful mages (who are all dead), in a somewhat vain hope that they can replicate past successes and bring magic back to its former glory.

In one of the questlines for Memoirs of a Battle Brothel,

Spoiler

one of these uber mages come back

.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

SCP is megagay and has been since Reddit got its claws on it years and years ago. Please stay away from it.

 

[Caim]

Katana is so boring, why do westerners not like jitte?

Because it's banned outside of anything that's not the munchkin den of Legacy, Vintage and Commander.

 

[Anonymous Wife Scholar]

Memoirs of a Battle Brothel

What!

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I'm watching with interest. Keep it up.

 

[Tyranicon]

Memoirs of a Battle Brothel

What!

Weeb quarantine: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...nk-srpg-now-available-on-early-access.130459/

 

[EvilWolf]

tell me more about the vampire waifus pls

There's gon be a lot of vampire waifus. I don't judge if that's your thing. Hell, that's probably everybody's thing.

Have an egyptian flavored one (I'm keeping images SFW for now):

Spoiler

Sorry if I missed any questions, there was a lot of spaz on this thread.

Dios mio... As an aside I can't seem to find the Steam store page.

 

[Tyranicon]

tell me more about the vampire waifus pls

There's gon be a lot of vampire waifus. I don't judge if that's your thing. Hell, that's probably everybody's thing.

Have an egyptian flavored one (I'm keeping images SFW for now):

Spoiler

Sorry if I missed any questions, there was a lot of spaz on this thread.

Dios mio... As an aside I can't seem to find the Steam store page.

Steam page's been approved but I'm waiting for some final assets before launching. It's just a marketing page for wishlisting, so we're not missing much.