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Vapourware Unknown Realm: The Siege Perilous - an 8-bit RPG for PC and Commodore 64

Bumvelcrow

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How they have linux as such a high stretch goal is beyond me.
For a game like this, there should be almost 0 difference between Windows and linux code.

They're using their own engine, so if they started off thinking Windows-only then linuxifying at this late stage may be a big task, although I agree the goal is surely way too high for the work involved.

I still haven't had a reply to my question about how they can economically make a C64 version (presumably in assembler) and a PC version (presumably in pretty much anything given the graphics) and what a waste of effort it would be given the limited C64 run. Unless the PC version was running under some kind of 6510 emulator, which would presumably make a linux port easier. I agree with aweigh - there's been an awful lot of surface detail around this kickstarter with very little informational meat. If they even explained how the gameplay worked, or something about the plot, then I'd back it. Just something to show there's an actual well thought out game under there and not just a retro technical exercise.
 

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The reason they've gotten this big pile of money in the first place is the limited C64 run. If you don't get it, then you don't get it.
 

Bumvelcrow

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The reason they've gotten this big pile of money in the first place is the limited C64 run. If you don't get it, then you don't get it.

Yes, I agree - but that amount of work to write a C64 game in assembler (2MB cartridge I think they said), and then they explicitly said there'll be no further opportunity to download it to run on an emulator. That's just a baffling waste of resources. It surely is much harder work to write the C64 version than the PC version, and then they're just throwing it away. That's why I thought there must be some shared code as well as shared assets, particularly when there are open source emulators widely available.
 

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1,246 backers pledged $126,343 to help bring this project to life.

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...bit-rpg-for-pc-and-commodore-64/posts/1786491

5 hours to Midnight!! Action Items!

Hey everyone! What an amazing day!

Only 5 hours left until the end of this campaign. We are SO close to that next stretch goal for more songs by Chris Huelsbeck plus the “making of” book! We can do this!!

Here are some ways you can help make it happen:

  • If you have backed at $19 consider increasing your pledge to the $34 Digital Knight level. You will get your name credit in the manual, digital copies of the hint book and bestiary, plus a digital copy of the soundtrack featuring music by Chris Huelsbeck! You can also increase your pledge to one of the higher all-digital tiers if you would like an in-game item such as a tombstone, mountain or NPC portrait.
  • If you have backed for the Ziplock bag consider increasing your pledge by $7 to add-on a quest journal or $9 for a physical copy of the soundtrack disc with that super retro floppy-style sleeve.
  • If you have the Collector's edition we have a number of tiers for you can upgrade to for in-game content such as Collector's Edition + Tombstone, Collector's + NPC Portrait, Jester, Bard, Barfly or Outlaw.
You guys are incredible! People are literally watching in disbelief that a C64, 8-bit game can be such a hit in this day and age!

One final action item: If you haven't already, please sign up for updates on our website, especially if you are waiting for a Paypal pledge option. Our project is not live yet on Megafounder (we are waiting for them to transfer it from Kickstarter) so there may be a delay in getting the link for that up here. Once the campaign closes, we will be able to edit our “Back this Project” button on our main campaign page to redirect people to Megafounder, but it may take another day or two before that link is up. We will notify people via update here and our email newsletter when that Megafounder link is live.

So much gratitude to each and every one of you who are making this dream a reality! We'll update again at the close of the campaign around midnight tonight PST. :)

-Laura (and Bruce)

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...bit-rpg-for-pc-and-commodore-64/posts/1787260

We did it!!

Wow! What a crazy finish to this campaign!

1,246 backers, over 500 comments, countless messages, tweets, Facebook and forum posts. You made this happen! Together we accomplished more than anyone thought was possible. Knowing that we are making this game for YOU will help us get through any challenges that lie ahead!

The immediate plan for us now is to get Megafounder up and running for our Paypal and late backers. We are hoping this will be done in the next day or two and we will update when it is.

This incredible part of the journey has come to a close but the adventure is just beginning! Now the real work starts. We are so honored by the support you have given to this project and we cannot wait to deliver this experience to you! We look forward to sharing our progress with you along the way!

And now maybe we can catch up on a little sleep for the first time in weeks! :)

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

-Bruce & Laura

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Bumvelcrow

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Well, shame but not surprising that they didn't make the $150k+ goals. Surprising hemispheres didn't drop by to answer more questions. I appreciate they're busy but the Codex must make a sizeable amount of their potential fanbase.

Did anyone here back it and get more inside info?
 

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Did anyone here back it and get more inside info?
I backed it but I'm not sure what "inside info" you're looking for? It's pretty obvious it's going to be an homage to old Ultimas with some additions and tweaks here and there. Combat was never the main strength of the Ultimas, so I'm not sure why people are expecting much in that regard.

If it's about the C64 vs PC version issue you seem to have, does it really matter? They funded, they're making the game now, and they seem to know what they're doing.

Anyway I'm really glad this funded and to such a high level.
 
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Yes, but so far they haven't even assued us that its mechanics will even be "Ultima level", regardless of whether or not Ultima-level combat is "complex".

They've said nothing.

All they have to do is show a simple mini-video of 1 battle. They have not. That is worrying.

As for the game making its money solely because it is a blatant attempt to sucker retro collectionists into paying money for a new game on an dead system? I think that's fine, but I'd rather the focus was on making (and showing us) good gameplay... not just on posting pics of how sweet the cartridge will be like, or whatever the fuck.

Real gamers care about gameplay; collectionists care about it coming out on C64. One thing is not like the other...!
 

Bumvelcrow

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Combat was never the main strength of the Ultimas, so I'm not sure why people are expecting much in that regard.

Because they have an opportunity to do it better rather than slavishly copy a system that just about everybody, even you, agree is inadequate.

Edit: Okay, that's probably overstating it, but the combat could certainly be improved. Even at the time I remember Ultima combat being a bit of a boring grind after a point.

If it's about the C64 vs PC version issue you seem to have, does it really matter?

Well, no, it doesn't matter - I'm just curious from a technical perspective. Given that the whole weight of this campaign has been behind showing off the C64 version I thought they'd actually provide some information rather than showing us how pretty the cartridge looks.
 
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Infinitron

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not just on posting pics of how sweet the cartridge will be like, or whatever the fuck.

I thought they'd actually provide some information rather than showing us how pretty the cartridge looks.

You must not have been paying attention if you think that's all they've posted. As I implied earlier, the draw of this take on the retro formula is on the scope rather than "depth" of gameplay, and there were plenty of updates about that.

I think the kind of Whalenought Studios/Josh Sawyer-style "mechanics dump" updates you're looking for could actually have turned off this game's intended audience.

It's an Ultima thing. Maybe you had to be there to understand it.
 

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I think the kind of Whalenought Studios/Josh Sawyer-style "mechanics dumps" you're looking for could actually turn off this game's intended audience.

Perhaps, but as a longtime Ultima fan and former C64 owner I thought I'd be bullseye on their target audience radar, but they didn't say what I wanted to hear.
 

oldmanpaco

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They never talked about party/henchmen mechanics so I didn't back. Still not sure why they would do a single person Ultima game (like the 4 worst Ultimas) unless they know they cannot balance combat/skills.

That being said I'm glad they got funded and at such a high level. Will buy game 50% off on steam in three years.
 

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They never talked about party/henchmen mechanics so I didn't back. Still not sure why they would do a single person Ultima game (like the 4 worst Ultimas) unless they know they cannot balance combat/skills.

I don't think they care in the slightest about combat. This is going to be an exploration & talking game with a good plot of we're lucky. Basically a top down adventure.
 

oldmanpaco

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They never talked about party/henchmen mechanics so I didn't back. Still not sure why they would do a single person Ultima game (like the 4 worst Ultimas) unless they know they cannot balance combat/skills.

I don't think they care in the slightest about combat. This is going to be an exploration & talking game with a good plot of we're lucky. Basically a top down adventure.

Yeah that makes sense. But if you are going to do a spiritual successor to Ultima (3-5 specifically) how do you not include a party? Combat was never Ultims's "thing" but goddamn I loved those NPCs.
 

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https://www.kickstarter.com/project...bit-rpg-for-pc-and-commodore-64/posts/1789207

Late Backer / Paypal Option is Live!

Hey everyone!

Unknown Realm is live on Megafounder now! If you are just hearing about Unknown Realm or were waiting for a PayPal option, this is your chance. The “Late Backer” button on the main page will direct backers to the Megafounder page.

We are using Megafounder for two reasons. The first is to provide an opportunity for people that could not back through Kickstarter to support this project (via Paypal). The second is so we can continue to work towards the full Chris Huelsbeck Soundtrack and German Version stretch goals! Please spread the word about the Megafounder campaign to help us reach those goals!

Going forward, we intend to start posting development related updates here at least once a month or when there's something important to share. As always, you can reach us directly via email (hello@stirringdragon.games) or message us here on Kickstarter.

We would also appreciate it if you would continue to promote and share the link for our Steam Greenlight campaign:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=838572011

Thank you all again for your support, kind words, and useful feedback! We're very excited to get back into full production mode on Unknown Realm and out of the crowdfunding phase. :)

- Bruce & Laura

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...bit-rpg-for-pc-and-commodore-64/posts/1791497

Steam Greenlight + Megafounder Update

Hey Everyone!

We received some great news today! After about two weeks on Steam Greenlight, Unknown Realm has officially been Greenlit by the Steam Community! We are really excited to bring the first 8-bit RPG to Steam! We will also continue to pursue the GOG option when the time comes, but for now, we are excited to be approved on Steam and have the opportunity to bring something a little different to the audience there.

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The Megafounder campaign is going okay so far. We've had a few glitches with the website, and pledges not going through, rewards tiers mysteriously losing their unit limits, etc. It looks like those things are fixed for now, so we will see how it goes for at least the next month and then reassess the campaign at that point.

Please continue to share the Megafounder link. We have some Outlaw reward tiers available and a special Ziplock bag edition there that includes the Soundtrack CD w/ that cool floppy-style sleeve.

That's all for now, we mostly wanted to share the good news about Steam! :)

-Bruce and Laura
 

hitfan

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I would love to buy a copy but money is quite tight these days. It's quite hard especially considering that I'm pretty much the target market for this type of game.
 

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https://www.kickstarter.com/project...bit-rpg-for-pc-and-commodore-64/posts/1819488

February Update

Greetings everyone!
This month has flown by! We have finally recovered from the post-Kickstarter shell shock we felt the first few weeks after the campaign closed. It still feels a little strange to not be interacting with all of you on a daily basis.

First month after Kickstarter

Things are moving along nicely here at Stirring Dragon Games. This month we've been doing some of the unavoidable administrative tasks that come with the territory of running a business such as taxes, setting up contracts, finalizing our production schedule and placing orders for some of the physical components for the game. We also have a lot of PR requests in the queue and we're trying to balance those things against the real work. We should have one interview coming out this week and will post that here when it goes live. We're trying to keep these to a minimum until we're closer to our ship date because they do take some time away from development; however, we have a few interviews we agreed to do during Kickstarter and we want to get those out of the way in the near future.

Second Chance Tavern Owner!

We received the funds from Kickstarter earlier this month without any hiccups. Thankfully backers were mostly great about fixing errored pledges within the seven day time limit. When the dust settled we lost a little under $2000 to failed pledges. Unfortunately, one of those failed pledges was a Tavern owner, so we have decided to list the extra tavern on Megafounder as a one-time only offer. This reward will still include the option of choosing between the PC or C64 Collector's Edition. The Second Chance Tavern Owner will be up on Megafounder by tomorrow.

C64 Wait List

We are still receiving emails from people asking for more C64 Collector's Editions. While we are completely sold out of these, we have a wait list for people who missed out. We already planned to manufacture some extra units (about 5% over) to cover items that get damaged or lost during shipping, so the wait list will be activated if we have any of those units left over after shipping. If you happened to miss out on Kickstarter and would like to be included on the wait list for the C64 Collector's Edition, please send us an email (hello@stirringdragon.games). There are no guarantees, but if we have any extras we will make them available on a first come, first serve basis to our wait list.

Megafounder Updates

After a little over a month on Megafounder, we have raised around $5,000 towards our stretch goals. There are still some PC Collector's Editions left, as well as the Digital Knight and two Ziplock-bag options, including the Ziplock Bag + Physical Soundtrack Disc featuring music by Chris Huelsbeck. We are still getting emails from people who didn't hear about the campaign while it was on Kickstarter and we do have a few interviews coming out in the next few weeks so we're going to leave the Megafounder campaign up for now and let it run at least through March. We aren't actively promoting it in the way we did with Kickstarter because crowdfunding is really a full time job and we want to focus our efforts on finishing the game. :)

Backer Surveys

A few people have also asked about backer surveys. Kickstarter only allows us to send out backer surveys once per tier, so we will not be sending these out for most tiers until we are much closer to shipping time. The main purpose of Backer Surveys for us is to get address information for sending out rewards and we've learned from other Kickstarter creators that doing this too early can cause headaches because mailing addresses end up being outdated by the time you ship your product. For those of you who have custom in-game content, we will be contacting you directly via email when we are ready to start adding that content into the game.

Rewards and Loot!!

We're sending out our first rewards this week for our “Pizza Fund” backers. They should be receiving their commemorative bookmarks by next week!

As an additional thank you, we've decided that we're going to start monthly drawings to select ten winners to receive small prizes. After all, who doesn't love a little surprise loot? We'll select our first winners randomly from our mailing list on March 15 and notify them via email. Prizes will be sent out by the end of March. If you haven't signed up for our mailing list on our website, now is the time to do so if you want to be included in these monthly drawings!

We are so grateful for all of your support, kind words and enthusiasm for this project! It is truly exciting to see Unknown Realm hit home for so many people and we feel privileged to be making this game for you.

Bruce & Laura
 

Infinitron

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https://www.gameraven.com/indie/unknown-realm-indiescussion

UNKNOWN REALM IS INDIESCUSSION

The click and clunk of loading a tape, that distinct winding sound. Even in 2017, there are very few feelings quite like watching a Commodore 64 in full flow. Unknown Realm is a one big love letter to those days, complete with that distinct visual flair. Bruce Gottlieb, a veteran of the industry and creator of Unknown Realm, and his business partner Laura Gottlieb spent some time talking about the creative process behind the game.


Sean: What’s the story behind how Unknown Realm’s concept was formed?

Bruce: The original concept for Unknown Realm came out of some frustrations I had with the direction RPGs were taking during the late 1980’s while I was still in high school. They started becoming focused on simulation aspects and less enjoyable to me. I wanted to do more exploring and discovering things, and less combat, simulation, and story grind. I always felt there was huge potential for this type of RPG to tell a story and keep the player’s imagination engaged at every step of the journey, but it requires the right balance otherwise, the game can quickly become a monotonous waste of the players time and intelligence.

Bruce: A big test for me as a game designer is whether the player actually finishes your game. Many players I know never finished RPGs they started because the games became too long, tedious, or generally less engaging. In my opinion, this is like an author writing a novel that is so boring or hard to read that the reader puts it down after a few chapters and doesn’t feel compelled to finish. A good RPG, like a good story, should be so engaging that the player cannot help but finish it because they are enjoying the experience at every step and can’t wait to see what happens next. Scope and pacing are very important for an RPG.

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Bruce: A concept I formulated long ago is that games should be an abstraction of reality, not a simulation thereof. I think one game designer who understood this concept well was Sid Meier. His game Pirates! is just one example of what I consider great reality abstraction in a game and it influenced me greatly as a game designer. Better graphics and more realistic physics can never fix a bad game design.

Bruce: A lot the design choices that went into Unknown Realm came out of my D&D tabletop days in the 80’s. For instance, I dislike the idea that a role-playing game should have multiple players that you control. All the D&D players I knew only role-played with one character. This is why in Unknown Realm you only control yourself. Any companions in the game are computer-controlled. While I know many will disagree with me on this, I do not consider a game where you control multiple characters in a party to be a true RPG.

screenshot-05.gif




Bruce: I think of those games as more god-mode or strategy games, and less as true role-playing games. To me, it’s important that a player is 100% focused on role-playing only his or her own character in an RPG. Having to break character and jump from one role to the next is not immersive and quite schizophrenic in my book. I always try to avoid anything that breaks the immersion in my RPG designs. Even though I also learned many valuable concepts during my years working in the game industry, these core principles formed during the concept stage for Unknown Realm have stuck with me to this day.

Laura: Bruce has been talking about making an 8-bit RPG literally since our first date 14+ years ago. Several years ago, we made the choice to focus on this project full time. We took a pretty big risk on it to be honest, but the process of designing this game together has been really rewarding. The story of the game and the vision for the full release with the physical boxed editions has been a full creative collaboration between the two of us. It’s been really exciting to see it evolve over the last few years with roots firmly planted back in Bruce’s concept from the 80’s and both of us bringing our individual perspectives as gamers to the project.



Sean: Is there a challenge in truly recreating the 8bit look and feel to ensure it’s authenticity?

Bruce: With Unknown Realm, there was really no challenge to recreate the 8-bit look and feel because it is authentically 8-bit and made for the Commodore 64! We have no choice but to be authentic because we are working with the actual 8-bit hardware constraints of the C64. Even though the PC version of the game has its own unique enhancements, for the most part, players still will get the same authentic C64 8-bit look and feel. As a designer, I’m a bit of a purist. I think each individual gaming platform or medium has its own set of characteristics that make it special.

screenshot-07.gif


Bruce: The challenge for the designer is to understand those characteristics before you pick the platform for your game. The C64 to me was the perfect platform to create the ultimate 8-bit RPG. I always like to pick the best medium to fit the game, not the other way around. Sure you may be able to sell a few extra copies of your PC game if you port it to a tablet platform, but that would most likely be at the risk of diluting the original experience you intended to deliver.



Sean: The Commodore 64 remains as one of the most iconic, yet curious in retrospect, systems ever. When approaching the development process, did you spend any time studying the development cycles of games from that time period?

Bruce: Yes, I was already familiar with the development cycles of some famous C64 8-bit RPGs of the 80’s. There has been a lot published from well know C64 RPG developers about their development process and how long RPGs took to make on the C64. Making any RPG from scratch on an 8-bit system is always going to take much more time than the same type of game on a modern system where you can take advantage of tools like off the shelf game engines and plentiful memory and processing power. It amazes me that people underestimate the amount of time and effort that even an 8-bit game takes to develop. There are no shortcuts in software development when you are starting from scratch.

Sean: Can we expect Commodore 64 quirks within the game? e.g. tape sounds when loading the game etc?

Bruce: I guess the fact that this is an actual 8-bit game running in 1Mhz and 64k could be considered a quirk in and of itself. In reality, the game is designed to give nearly the same experience on PC as it does on the C64. The C64 version will have its own custom cartridge, which makes loading times practically instantaneous so there is no need to fake tape or floppy loading sounds on the PC version. However, the PC version does let you select various retro options, such as CRT modes, retro palettes and retro or modern soundtrack.

Sean: Does creating a game that imitates older technology reduce or increase development costs?

Bruce: I think making any game on older tech definitely increases development time and costs. You may have more modern tools and cross-compilers available, but you still need to work within the limitations of the older tech. The processor speed and memory available doesn’t change. Most programmers these days use modern languages and compared to an 8-bit platform, they basically have unlimited speed and memory at their disposal.

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Bruce: Modern programming methods don’t work for developing a game on an 8-bit system which requires assembly language and the constraints of a 1Mhz CPU and 64k of memory. You almost need to become one with the hardware and understand it at very low levels. It’s not that people can’t learn the skills needed to do it, it’s just that you need to have a lot of persistence and vision to develop a commercial 8-bit RPG.

Sean: How much freedom will the player have over their character?

Bruce: Unknown Realm is all about freedom. It’s totally open-world and non-linear, so you can basically decide to not listen to anyone or follow any plot and go running off into the forest naked to pick mushrooms if you wish. That might not help you much in solving the game, but if that’s your thing, the game won’t stop you. You will not be restricted to unlocking levels before you can go somewhere else. That’s not to say there won’t be barriers to overcome, but once you figure those out you are free to explore what’s beyond them.

Bruce: As far as the main character, you will get to create a character based on the skills and abilities that you would like him/her to have. There are no classes or restrictions on the types of weapons or armor your character can use. If you are not powerful enough to use them yet, you just need to get more powerful first. This game is about role-playing, so if you want to play as a grumpy old mage that likes to wield a sword from time to time, there is nothing to stop you.

Sean: Was there any temptation in trying to add modern elements into the game to make it more conventionally ‘fun’?

Bruce: I think many modern elements and things considered “conventional” in RPGs these days are not that much fun at all. This game is about taking a different approach. Many RPGs today are about the grind and the western RPG has definitely become too influenced by JRPGs in my opinion. The player spends 80% of their time in combat grind. If you took that away, you’d be left with a bunch of long cutscenes, lots of running around, and a few dozen button clicks.

screenshot-03.png


Bruce: The good news is that there has been a resurgence of the western RPG over the last few years, and it even looks like the new Zelda will have more traditional, open-world, western RPG elements to it. That said, in the interest of convenience, there are some modern conventions we have adopted for Unknown Realm, such as automapping, auto-journal, mini-games, NPC portraits, and a cleaner, simplified interface. We really wanted to create an RPG that you could play for short or long periods of time and easily pick up later without being totally lost.

Laura: It might not be a modern element, but one of the unique aspects of this game is that we are bringing back the old school, big box “feelies” that used to be a major part of the PC RPG experience. We feel like this was one of the most fun things about old school RPGs, where you could have a fully integrated game experience with physical elements like a cloth map and paper manuals and feelies that are incorporated into the actual gameplay. You can, of course, enjoy the full game experience with the digital only version, but the physical versions really enhance the experience.

Sean: Unknown Realm was successful on both Steam Greenlight and Kickstarter. When it comes to crowd funding, how do you decide which platform to use?

Laura: Kickstarter was the obvious choice because of its proven track record for indie game developers. There are a growing number of options out there for crowdfunding and we’re excited to see other possibilities, such as Fig. However, we knew we had a good chance of connecting with our audience on Kickstarter because we had already backed several C64-related projects over the years, in addition to major western RPG projects like Bards Tale IV and Shroud of the Avatar.

screenshot-02.png


Laura: We’ve been a part of the Kickstarter community for several years and we’ve observed that being actively involved in supporting other projects before launching your own makes a difference for creators in terms of success. Plus there’s a little karma at work there – supporting others often comes back in good ways when you launch your own project.

Sean: Did you feel any additional pressure after seeing your Kickstarter goal exceeded?

Laura: Yes! There was a definite shift that happened after we met our goal. We took an unorthodox approach to our campaign in that we did almost zero marketing in the lead up to our launch. When we launched, we had to hustle hard for every single pledge. There was a lot of disbelief on the various game forums about what we were doing and we heard a lot of comments telling us that our goal was unrealistically high. To go from that, to fully funded in two weeks was pretty satisfying and we felt like it was a really special thing we shared with the backers who came in early and supported the project.

Laura: They fought with us (and for us) to make the project successful and we felt a great sense of common cause with our backers because of this. Once we got closer to our base funding goal, the talk about stretch goals started. This shifts the momentum and can be a turn off to some backers. The people who come in early because they love the main idea get a little nervous because they don’t want to see a project they’re excited about getting hijacked by a bunch of secondary goals. To be honest, we weren’t interested in stretch goals at all and planned very few of them before we launched.

screenshot-12.png


Laura: We had some extra “wish list” items that we wanted to implement, but we were focused on making sure we could deliver the main project well and don’t want to get sidetracked. We found ourselves having to say “no” to a lot of suggested stretch goal ideas from our backers because we knew they would be distractions from us delivering our core game.

Laura: So yes, there is pressure when you meet your goal, especially earlier in the campaign. You don’t want to lose sight of what got you there in the first place, but you also want to keep the momentum going because development is very costly and more funding helps with any unforeseen problems that may arise during production.

Sean: Steam Greenlight has garnered something of a bad name for itself. The lack of quality control allows for asset flips and barely there games to be put on the platform. As both an indie developer and user, do you feel Greenlight needs to be addressed by Valve?

Laura: First off, running a Steam Greenlight felt like a cakewalk compared to Kickstarter. We opted to launch that campaign mid-Kickstarter and it worked well for us because our project was already funded by the time our Greenlight campaign went live. We took a gamble doing it this way because if we hadn’t been successful early on with the Kickstarter campaign, this approach may have backfired on us. We were greenlit in about two weeks, so despite our frustrations with the platform, the process does work (from our perspective anyway).

screenshot-13.png


Laura: Steam Direct was announced soon after our project was greenlit. While I think it’s a step in the right direction, I would still like to see the Greenlight voting process preserved in some way, at least for first-time publishers on Steam. That kind of community building activity is important, especially for unknown indie devs. I think a fair solution would be something along the lines of a $1000 fee per game, plus 1000 yes votes to establish that there is some kind of demand for the game. Ideally, Valve wouldn’t take their percentage out of sales until the dev recoups their $1000 fee. Overall, I think (so far) Steam Direct sounds like a step in the right direction.

Sean: The indie development scene has grown rapidly in the last few years. Do you feel we’re in the golden age of indies? Or are we heading towards a crash?

Laura: People will always want to play games and there’s almost always room in the market for a good product that is creative and interesting. We are doing something with our project that hasn’t been done on this scale in about 30 years, which is bringing back the classic 8-bit RPG release, with a physical box of feelies. This strikes a nerve with a particular kind of gamer who’s really been overlooked for awhile by the game industry. No one has made a game like this with the physical release so carefully integrated with what’s going on in the game, versus just throwing a few trinkets or art cards in a box and calling them feelies.

screenshot-01.png


Laura: We’re offering an all-new adventure for these gamers because that’s what we’ve been craving and we knew there were others out there like us. To us, the whole question of “golden age” or “crash” isn’t something we’re terribly concerned about because we’re not trying to keep up with gaming trends. We’re just happy to see our game connect with the people we made it for and excited to see its potential to reach a new audience on places like Steam and GOG. And hopefully, we can convince some younger gamers to see what they’ve been missing with the traditional RPG game box experience.

Sean: After conquering the Commodore 64, what’s next? Can we expect to see a Magnavox Odyssey game?

Laura: Sorry to disappoint, it’s safe to say we will not be making a Magnavox Odyssey game. We love the C64 and would love to continue making C64 games, but Stirring Dragon Games also has some other surprises up our sleeve. You’ll just have to stay tuned!

You can find more information on Unknown Realm on Stirring Dragon’s official website. Late backers can still place a pledge via the Kickstarter page. Twitter users can also find regular updates on the official feed.
 

Bumvelcrow

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This might actually worth creating a twitter account for so I can pester the developers about how they're writing the C64 version.

I wanted to do more exploring and discovering things, and less combat, simulation, and story grind.

For me this is the crux of the problem. Back in the mists of time when 8-bit machines roamed the Earth exploring a tile-based world genuinely was a fascinating experience. I can still remember the wonder of roaming Britannia in Ultima IV and imagining the things potentially going on in this forest or that mountain, or this small village. But it was almost entirely imagination - Ultima IV the game was extremely basic by the standards of tile-based games that came even a couple of years later, and a lot of the appeal was due to what players thought might be there, rather than what was actually there. To their credit, Origin kept creating worlds so deep that this feeling persisted even into Ultima 7 and (arguably) even Ultima 8.
But that was more than thirty years ago. It's still possible to play ancient games with good mechanics just as it's still possible to play thousand year old games of dice, because there is inherently a challenge to keep the player interested. The early Ultimas captured ignorance in a bottle - the lack of understanding of how little a C64 could actually do and how much of the game was actually in the player's head. I just don't think it's possible to recapture that sense of wonderment in an 8-bit tile-based format any more. I would love to be proved wrong.

Also, I can't find it in that text now but the author says that the C64 is the ideal platform for a game like this. Again, I remember the slow loading times (not a problem on a cartridge), the general slowness of movement, and the 40-column text, and wonder if his nostalgia goggles could do with a bit of a clean.

Still might buy it, though! I really did love Ultima. :P
 

Infinitron

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https://www.kickstarter.com/project...bit-rpg-for-pc-and-commodore-64/posts/1847185

Unknown Realm March Update!

Hello Backers!

It's time for a quick monthly update about the game and our progress...

First up this month, we have a few press clippings to share:

  • Our interview with Game Raven came out earlier this month, if you haven't read it already you can check it out here.
  • We are setting trends you guys! Some of you may not be familiar with Jamey Stegmaier and the Stonemaier Games website, but those who are will probably appreciate how excited we were when we discovered that Jamey included Unknown Realm in his newsletter last week about “5 Unique Tactics Used by Recent Crowdfunding Projects.” Over the years, we have learned so much from Jamey’s insights on Kickstarter. He is basically the go-to resource for crowdfunding wisdom, so we were thrilled to see that he liked the approach we took with Unknown Realm.
On the game dev front, things have been moving along nicely.

Production/Manufacturing:

As you know, this game has a lot of custom made physical feelies that are being produced alongside the game itself. This includes 1600 wooden tavern dice that need to be manufactured for the collector's editions. Coordinating production and quality control of these items is more challenging that you'd expect, so we started on some of these items sooner rather than later. So far, we have about half of the custom engraved tavern dice completed and we expect the rest to be finished by May. We are also working closely with our manufacturers to begin production on several other physical feelies.

Music:

At the beginning of March, we had the pleasure of having dinner with Chris Huelsbeck while he was in San Francisco for GDC. It was so cool to meet him in person, unfortunately we forgot to take any pictures! Chris just sent us the first sample track for our soundtrack two days ago and it's going to be really exciting to start putting finished music into the game!

In-Game Content:

If you have in-game content with your pledge, we will be getting in touch with you when the time comes. A lot of those things are a bit further down the line in our development schedule, but don’t worry. We will be contacting you via email soon.

Prizes:

One final reminder – we will be having occasional prize drawings from our email list – so if you would like to be included, sign up on our website www.stirringdragon.games. We picked the first lucky winners earlier this month and we’ll be sending out their prizes soon.

As always, you can get in touch with us via email hello@stirringdragon.games or by messaging us here on Kickstarter. These are the two best ways to contact us if you ever have questions.

Thank you all for your support, we will continue to post updates about once a month (as we mentioned in our January 21 update) or when there is important news to share.

Have a great month!

- Laura & Bruce
 

Infinitron

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https://www.kickstarter.com/project...bit-rpg-for-pc-and-commodore-64/posts/1873049

Unknown Realm April Update

Hi guys! Time for another quick update on the progress we're making with your game!

Production/Manufacturing:

Lots of work on physical feelies this month. Quest journals are now in production and expected to be finished by the end of May. Same goes for the remaining tavern dice and Realm Stones. Manufacturing and dealing with suppliers and logistics is definitely the more tedious side of this project, but we know the end result will be well worth it!

Artwork:

Our illustrator, Raf, is busy working on finishing up the remaining monster illustrations needed for our pen & ink bestiary. These will be completed over the course of the next several months and then the final manual can go to print. Here are two sample illustrations from his latest batch (Brainoid and Giant Wasp) along with one of our all-time favorites (Drunken Tavern Rats) which we shared via twitter before but are posting here for all our backers:

55adbb36b1b8454b33d65a0eb22ea9d9_original.jpg

Bestiary Illustrations: Tavern Rats, Giant Wasps, and Brainoids.

Music:

Right after we posted last month's update, Chris Huelsbeck sent us some new songs he was developing for Unknown Realm and wow! We are now more confident than ever that he was the right choice for this game. We think this soundtrack is going to be something special not only for fans of Chris, but also for fans of that highly melodic, old school RPG music that sticks in your head even when you are away from the game. This is exactly the kind of sound we were dreaming of for Unknown Realm and it's exciting to see it materialize thanks to Chris's magic. Just a reminder, you can support Chris and some of his other music on Patreon.

In-Game Backer Content:

Speaking of music, we also have in-game backer Bards! This month we started talking to our Bard level backers about creating music for their in-game NPCs. These guys are so great! It has been really fun working with them so far and they have taken to the task with great enthusiasm. We look forward to hearing what they come up with and putting their music into the Taverns of the Realm.

While going over Bard-related game dev, we've realized that we could actually use one more Bard because we wanted a roughly equal number of backer-created Bards & Tavern Owners - on that note, we have a surprise...

We're opening up an extra Bard tier on Megafounder! We will post it tomorrow (05/01/2017) on Megafounder around 3pm PST. Just like the Tavern which came up in February, it will be a one-off, first-come, first-serve, so get it while it's hot. :)

Megafounder Update:

Speaking of Megafounder, along with the PC Ziplock Bag and the Ziplock Bag + Soundtrack options, there are only 19 PC Collector's Editions left and then those will be completely sold out. We plan to close the campaign on Megafounder around the end of May so we can gather our final manufacturing and backer numbers. If you, or anyone you know are still hoping to get a Collector's Edition - this is your official last chance. We will not be selling these boxed collector's editions with all the feelies after the game is released.

That's all for now. As always, thank you for all your support, this game would not be possible without it!

Until next time,
-Bruce & Laura
 

Bumvelcrow

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Art style is very reminiscent of the Ultima 4-6 manuals. In fact, I had to check to make sure the wasp wasn't a direct copy. But brainoids? They really need to change the name. I presume they're the equivalent of gazers.
 

MRY

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Brainoids are amazing and seem totally era appropriate. The whole thing seems like a pitch-perfect imitation of games from back then, for better and worse.
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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I was going to offer gremlins from Ultima IV manual.
Ultima VI manual has even worse version of gremlins.
 

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