KickStarter Vigilantes: neo-noir, turn based tactical RPG

[HoboForEternity]

5: That's great news. I have tried to optimise the code and graphics as much as possible along the way. I'm guessing you've a pretty solid CPU? I tested it on my father's computer, it's a 2nd gen i5 with integrated, and 4GB, and it was giving around 30FPS, with the GPU being the limiting factor.

i use an i5 4670k, but not overclocked. it is at base clock @3.4 Ghz which is not really a high end cpu.

that's what confuse me lol. the other guy said it run pretty bad.

 

[ArchAngel]

Some of the most notable things about Xcom and JA2 was that you could lose people during combat and always find replacements. Will this game have that?
Even in Fallout there was a decent number of companions to replace fallen ones.

How easy is it to fail and die in missions? Will it provide any challenge to experienced Xcom and JA2 players?

 

[Timeslip]

i use an i5 4670k, but not overclocked. it is at base clock @3.4 Ghz which is not really a high end cpu.

that's what confuse me lol. the other guy said it run pretty bad.

Ah, similar to what's in my main PC. Vigilantes probably isn't as well optimised as a game from a really big studio, but I don't think it's a resource hog either, given the level of detail. Older hardware, maybe non gaming computers from 4+ years ago will likely struggle with it though.

 

[HoboForEternity]

optimised as a game from a really big studio

funny considering most big studios always scre up pc ports or even natively developed games for Pc (like xcom2 at launch)



but yeah, it isn't a resource hog

 

[Drowed]

Sorry to hear you've had these problems. 1, 2, 3 and 6 are worrying. I've had no problem saving the game, or with the portrait. Tactical repositioning is enabled in demo, and you should be able to move after performing an action. Due to the nature of PC gaming, with a lot of different hardware and software combinations, certain issues can arise on some computers. Has anyone else experienced these problems?

Dunno if it helps, but my specs are: i5-3450, 8GB RAM and a R9 280, Windows 10. I will try to reinstall the game later.

As to 4, I can speed up the line. I found the line continually drawing different paths on moving the mouse around distracting and it might cause performance issues on older hardware. It's something I could look at.

Look at how the movement is shown in Divinity: the line that describes the pathing of the character appears instantly, following the movement of the mouse. I think that it's a much more pleasant/elegant way of doing it. You could use a more discreet line (in Divinity's case, it's dotted). But of course, do as you find what works best - it's nothing terrible as it is.

If an enemy has a status, it will show in the box. Blue is critical, btw. There's definitely a balance between how much info to provide and the size of UI element. It's something I may need to work on some more.

Oh, as I didn't get to face any enemy with any kind of status, I didn't realize it. Good to know. As for the %, you could use a "To Hit": XX% "Crit": XX% to make it clear, I guess. Or maybe some small icon, whatever you consider best.

4: It's possible, but there are couple of problems with offering specific attacks, like elbow. The system weighs up a lot of possibilities to match an attack animation with an evade/impact pair, including orthagonal/diagonal, the weapon type of defender, obstructions on tiles adjacent to defender. The idea of special attacks, opened up by perks, with special effects is a good one, though, and will look into it.

Ah, you're speaking about the specific animations during combat, right? You can think of attacks that can use the same animation, or a very similar one (with perhaps only a slight visual effects to differentiate a common attack). Example, a "corkscrew blow" to have the stun effect. It's just a punch, after all. Another one could be, maybe, a "Roundhouse kick" to the head, as an "attack on the tympanum" (which would leave the opponent dizzy, with chance to miss his next attack). I'm sure you can think of attacks ideas that can take advantage of the moves that you've already implemented, perhaps adding a few particle effects or brightness on the impact to show any visual difference that represents the fact that it's a special attack.

6: I could change animation speed for movement, but the melee combat system effectively requires manual tuning. I have done this once already to speed up the attacks and improve the pacing. It could potentially be looked at again.

Oh, it's nothing serious. It's just that the speed of melee attacks seemed slightly slow, as if instead of a "real" fight it was a choreography. Still, the movements themselves are very well executed and better than in many other games made by major producers, I quite liked it. It's not even remotely a serious problem, just a nitpick.

 

[Timeslip]

Some of the most notable things about Xcom and JA2 was that you could lose people during combat and always find replacements. Will this game have that?
Even in Fallout there was a decent number of companions to replace fallen ones.

How easy is it to fail and die in missions? Will it provide any challenge to experienced Xcom and JA2 players?

Hey Archangel. In terms of the full campaign, not everything is tied down yet, but I can tell you what's likely to happen. There will be multiple difficulty levels, which will require increasingly optimised approaches to the game. At higher levels, combat will be very difficult, and money will be scarce. As to losing companions, I wouldn't see this happening, except perhaps in the hardest difficult level, because there won't be a huge roster of companions (6-8). They will be more developed as characters than X-Com and arguably JA, though. If they are downed, they will be unavailable for a period of time, with possibility of permanent debuffs. This presents a problem, as the number of companions determines the engagement size, and the amount of damage you do to the gangs membership. Meanwhile, gangs will be training their members and acquiring better equipment, so if you don't keep undermining them, you may well find yourself in a situation where battles are effectively unwinnable.

 

[Timeslip]

Dunno if it helps, but my specs are: i5-3450, 8GB RAM and a R9 280, Windows 10. I will try to reinstall the game later.

Thanks. That's useful.

 

[Timeslip]

funny considering most big studios always scre up pc ports or even natively developed games for Pc (like xcom2 at launch)



but yeah, it isn't a resource hog

Yeah, there have been some incredibly high profile mess ups over the last few years. Can I ask what OS you are running on?

 

[Alienman]

Being able to lose people is pretty crucial for me. It add so much instead of having to save and reload before every encounter.

 

[HoboForEternity]

funny considering most big studios always scre up pc ports or even natively developed games for Pc (like xcom2 at launch)



but yeah, it isn't a resource hog

Yeah, there have been some incredibly high profile mess ups over the last few years. Can I ask what OS you are running on?

windows 10

 

[Timeslip]

Look at how the movement is shown in Divinity: the line that describes the pathing of the character appears instantly, following the movement of the mouse. I think that it's a much more pleasant/elegant way of doing it. You could use a more discreet line (in Divinity's case, it's dotted). But of course, do as you find what works best - it's nothing terrible as it is.

Have played Divinity some time ago. Will check out how they handled it. Cheers.

Ah, you're speaking about the specific animations during combat, right? You can think of attacks that can use the same animation, or a very similar one (with perhaps only a slight visual effects to differentiate a common attack). Example, a "corkscrew blow" to have the stun effect. It's just a punch, after all. Another one could be, maybe, a "Roundhouse kick" to the head, as an "attack on the tympanum" (which would leave the opponent dizzy, with chance to miss his next attack). I'm sure you can think of attacks ideas that can take advantage of the moves that you've already implemented, perhaps adding a few particle effects or brightness on the impact to show any visual difference that represents the fact that it's a special attack.

Yeah, certain animations only work in certain situations, but in a similar vein to your suggestion, more general special attacks could be looked at, like heavy attack, etc, which could be unlocked by perks.

Oh, it's nothing serious. It's just that the speed of melee attacks seemed slightly slow, as if instead of a "real" fight it was a choreography. Still, the movements themselves are very well executed and better than in many other games made by major producers, I quite liked it. It's not even remotely a serious problem, just a nitpick.

Glad you don't see it as a major flaw. I boosted the animation speed in the 6th alpha, to improve the pacing. Melee combat is one aspect of the game I'm pretty happy with, and share your view about it not being a major emphasis in a lot of RPGs. Hopefully it will be one area which helps Vigilantes stand out. Cheers for the feedback!

 

[Timeslip]

windows 10

Thanks, good to know!

Being able to lose people is pretty crucial for me. It add so much instead of having to save and reload before every encounter.

Can understand how higher stakes can rack up the tension. Permanent companion death wouldn't be a default, given the number of companions, but will look into the possibility of including it as an option when you start the game.

 

[Alienman]

I mean, being able to continue after losing a few guys, instead of having to reload. The option itself don't matter that much, if the game isn't balanced around it. I hope you understand

Like X-com and JA2. In both those games you could take a couple of failed missions and casualties, but still finish it.

 

[Timeslip]

I mean, being able to continue after losing a few guys, instead of having to reload. The option itself don't matter that much, if the game isn't balanced around it. I hope you understand

Like X-com and JA2. In both those games you could take a couple of failed missions and casualties, but still finish it.

Ah, I think I misunderstood you

With the default setting (where characters would be out of action for some time, but not killed, if their HP is reduced to 0) you would be able to lose missions, and not reload/restart. This would cost you time, which would allow the gangs to become stronger. So you would be able to fail mission and still win. If an option was added to allow companions to be killed (perhaps if HP < 0, there would be a % chance they are killed), there would be a much smaller margin for failing missions.

 

[Alienman]

Yeah, I'm okay with them being knocked out, just so it isn't game over if you lose a guy on a mission forcing you to reload when it happens.

 

[ArchAngel]

Them being knocked out and need to recover for longer periods would be a good replacement. They should also lose out on XP in that time. That should be enough of penalty for playing badly and should give players that don't like to load a save game in these kind of games a feeling they need to do their best during missions.
Don't be afraid to put a very hard difficulty were players will need to start over a lot until they can finally finish the game, is what made both old and new Xcom famous.

 

[Timeslip]

Don't be afraid to put a very hard difficulty were players will need to start over a lot until they can finally finish the game, is what made both old and new Xcom famous.

That's a good idea. Thinking about it, messing up a few times in Xcom made progressing feel very satisfying.

I'm a bit late setting up a Thunderclap for the Kickstarter, so if anyone would like to help me out by adding their twitter voice to it, it would be a big help. Need 99 more people! In case you aren't familiar with Thunderclap, it sends out a tweet on everyone's account that supported the campaign at the same time, which should give the kickstarter a welcome boost!

https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/47275-vigilantes-save-reiker-city

 

[Timeslip]

Hey all. One thing I'm curious about. What did you think of the trailer? Did any part of it jump out at you? Is it fairly engaging? I know it's posted elsewhere in the thread, so posting here again for convenience. Cheers!

 

[Neanderthal]

Hey all. One thing I'm curious about. What did you think of the trailer? Did any part of it jump out at you? Is it fairly engaging? I know it's posted elsewhere in the thread, so posting here again for convenience. Cheers!

The aria at the end choreographed to the violence obviously stood out to me. Personally i'd make the trailer black screen to start with, deep voice over despairing the plight of the city, cut in on the artwork as narrator describes various depravities to be found there*, and then launch into your action montage wi that operatic music as crescendo an finale. Perhaps a witty parting line or maybe even a famous Noir quote.

*Could you perhaps have your protagonist just walking hands in pocket, trilby tipped down through a large city map or several, Taxi Driver style, watching as pros offer emsens, thugs beat a man in an alley, gangsters clutch guns under their coats, junkies lie senseless in gutters. Rain beating down, neon flashing, trash heaped up, gutters steaming, all usual mood evocation. Have artwork o pros, mobsters an whatnot flash up as he walks past each?

Gi it that Raymond Chandler/Blade Runner feel.

 

[Timeslip]

Thanks Neanderthal. I'm guessing I'm in the company of another Raymond Chandler fan? : )

The aria at the end choreographed to the violence obviously stood out to me. Personally i'd make the trailer black screen to start with, deep voice over despairing the plight of the city, cut in on the artwork as narrator describes various depravities to be found there*, and then launch into your action montage wi that operatic music as crescendo an finale. Perhaps a witty parting line or maybe even a famous Noir quote.

*Could you perhaps have your protagonist just walking hands in pocket, trilby tipped down through a large city map or several, Taxi Driver style, watching as pros offer emsens, thugs beat a man in an alley, gangsters clutch guns under their coats, junkies lie senseless in gutters. Rain beating down, neon flashing, trash heaped up, gutters steaming, all usual mood evocation. Have artwork o pros, mobsters an whatnot flash up as he walks past each?

Gi it that Raymond Chandler/Blade Runner feel.

The scene you have described is really catchy. I can see it. It's too late to do anything major with this trailer in the few days, but am considering improving and upgrading it for the final release. I really like cut scenes and will try to have as many delivered in the hardboiled style as possible.

 

[Timeslip]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the interest in Vigilantes. Release time is as exciting as it is terrifying and it was very re-assuring to see interest in Vigilantes, and talk to you at what is a very uncertain time for a developer. The Greenlight and Kickstarter campaigns have just gone live for Vigilantes, I've included the links below. If you have any questions, comments, or observations, I'd be happy to talk to you! Thanks!

Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=746883233
Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/958692255/vigilantes-a-crime-themed-turn-based-tactical-rpg

 

[Infinitron]

 

[ArchAngel]

This looks like a interesting little game, worth the KS price. I will probably back it and I hope your KS succeeds.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Backed. Good luck.

 

[udm]

A decent artist who isn't a hipster and is hot to boot?

Also, backed.