Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates - steampunk RPG set in flooded New York

[Lacrymas]

Are they new in the industry? If yes, how did they make a whole game all hush-hush, with, I assume, no budget and literally announcing it 3 months before release?

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.empyrethegame.com/news/empyre-story-trailer-released



https://www.gamasutra.com/view/pres...ates_Surges_Forth_with_a_New_StoryTrailer.php

Auburn, New Hampshire – September 12, 2017 – Coin Operated Games today released a new story trailer for its upcoming Neo-Victorian RPG Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates. The game will be coming to PC via Steam on October 4, 2017. Developed by a team of industry veterans from such influential companies as Crytek, Creative Assembly, Codemasters and Digital Reality, Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates is a top-down isometric RPG that takes place in an alternate industrial New York circa 1911.

… water is everywhere but none of it to drink…

Gaming fans can celebrate National Video Game Day with a new trailer featuring a story we’re sure you’ve never seen before! Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates tells the tale of a troubled New York which toward the end of the 19 th Century is experiencing the tail-end of a technological and industrial boom the likes of which the world has never seen. Sprinting to a population of more than five million, New York becomes the biggest and one of the most advanced cities in the world… now give a big Empire City greeting to the Great Flood of 1899. New York then meets the new century by being submerged under raging waters, the source of which are unknown. The only thing that is certain is this… the entire city is flooded by rising oceans and the citizens now face a new threat: the fresh water pipes have stopped and there is no water to drink!

Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates features an original story penned by renowned writer/comic artist Paul Noth, a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker magazine, where his work has appeared regularly since 2004. He created the Emmy-nominated animated series "Pale Force" for Late Night with Conan O’Brien and was animation consultant for Saturday Night Live. He's also developed shows for Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Nickelodeon, and his trilogy of middle-grade novels will be published by Bloomsbury, starting in April of 2018 with “How to Sell Your Family to the Aliens."

In the game, players will experience a New York City that has been divided into several varying City States, all vying for control of the city. There’s a colorful cast of characters to encounter – some will be your allies and some will be rivals – as you make your way across New York in an effort to discover a solution to the city’s new water problem, as the fresh water pipes running to the city have mysteriously stopped flowing.

Currently in development by Coin Operated Games, Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates will be available via Steam on October 4, 2017. More information will be shared in the coming weeks once the waters die down…

 

[MRY]

The marvels never cease with this game.

(1) "original story penned by renowned writer/comic artist Paul Noth, a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker magazine, where his work has appeared regularly since 2004." A lot of his cartoons are really funny: https://twitter.com/paulnoth?lang=en I particularly like the duck-rabbit Wittgenstein ones.

(2) "By 1889, New York's population had exploded to over 5 million, making it the largest city the world had ever known." London's population in 1891 was 5.6 million. :D (Not sure what it was in 1889 since there wasn't a census for that year, but....)

(3) Shouldn't it be "borough-states" not "city-states"?

The whole thing feels like it came from an alternate reality itself. Honestly, I'm kind of excited.

 

[daveyd]

I'm intrigued by the setting, but 'tis too bad the combat sounds like shitty RTwP.

 

[LESS T_T]

Some previews on small sites, sound not good. Yeah, it was apparent from the trailers this isn't a pretty or polished game but even more...:

http://cogconnected.com/preview/empyre-lords-sea-gates-preview/

What soon followed after this compelling intro was nothing like what was marketed. Empyre starts out not with a customizable character creation, but a tutorial that features four characters, each with their own strength. You know the drill: shooting, stabbing, sneaking, tinkering–these characters speak to each kind of player imaginable. And if they don’t, well tough luck, because you have to choose one of these four characters as your main PC.

It really didn’t matter, as I came to realize that my character was just the piece on the board I would move from Point A to Point B to Point C, and on and on. Interacting with NPCs was like reading from an instruction manual, so I didn’t really care who I was in this world. One such interaction that affirmed my indifference was with my little sister, who would probably be the closest relationship the character has in the game. My mission instruction read as follows: Go say goodbye to your little sister. Okay, easy enough. When I arrived in her cookie-cutter apartment, guess what her name was? Little Sister. She patted me on the back and wished me luck on the journey ahead. Then, I left.

The dialogue was bare-bones, saltine, and even error-ridden. I’m not a grammar Nazi, but the fact that these interactions were so boring and without character made the mistakes that much more noticeable. RPGs, regardless of sub-genre, thrive on the ability to make the player feel like they’re having an impact on the world in which they exist. The world-building is key to making the player want to have an impact, and without interesting characters, that goal is unmet almost always.

Bad NPCs aside, the other part of making the player feel like they’re making a difference is actually giving them decisions to make. While I cannot say that Empyre is without A/B decisions, there is no consequence to either side of them. Choosing to go for boring choices like causing a distraction without explaining to the player what that may mean, the developers missed some places where fun decisions could have been made.

The squad-based combat in Empyre has the needed effect. While time is stopped, the player can move characters to strategic locations to best inflict damage upon enemies, but the actions feel disjointed at times. Ultimately, what I played showed that the job can get done, you just may need to rely on items heavily. There are healing items that can fully regenerate your character’s health, even in the middle of combat, so every fight can be won if you fall back to your resources accordingly. Playing without them, I found myself in more treacherous situations.

However, the lasting bad taste I have in my mouth is the sound, which by the end of my experience was pure silence. The voice-over work at the beginning was the only voice you’ll hear in the entire experience. There is ambiance, but it’s the creaking of boards and the cawing of gulls. I understand that voice talent is expensive, but you’re telling me the biggest American city, even in disarray, can’t have some hustle and bustle to it? And I can’t say there’s not music, but what music there is can only be described as elevator bossa nova. It’s not fitting of the environment and ultimately led to me muting Empyre entirely.

http://www.gamingtarget.com/article.php?artid=17222

One of the mechanics that disappointed me the most with this game was the combat. It presents a significant challenge, one of that will take quite a while to master for newcomers to the genre with the combat manipulation where the player utilizes the spacebar to pause the action and select a series of moves that then will play out once the action is resumed. However, from the pre release version of this game I had the opportunity to play, once the combat was mastered to a certain degree, most battle felt repetitive, and the AI rarely adapted to my play style. I began to feel as though the major battles served more as an obstacle in my progress through the story, rather than meaty experiences I was looking forward to.

I was also disappointed with most of the environments in the game. With a game that is so heavily inspired by the steampunk style (an art style that immediately grabbed my interest to take a look at this game), I felt that most of the environments around the flooded version of New York were unpolished and uninspiring. This is something I hope will be fixed with the final release of the game at the beginning of October, as steampunk tends to be a difficult style to pull off (and I don’t remember in recent memory an isometric RPG that strived to achieve it). It helps that 1911 New York lends itself so naturally to the steampunk aesthetic.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.heypoorplayer.com/2017/09/17/empyre-lords-sea-gates/

EMPYRE: LORDS OF THE SEA GATES PREVIEW
It’s not steampunk, it’s Neo-Victorian!

Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates is a trip into an alternate history New York of 1911 where the rising sea levels have flooded the city. In the resulting chaos, the city divides into city-states where scarcity has the competing factions increasingly at eachother’s throats. Empyre drops the player into the heart of the chaos as an enforcer in the Grand Tower faction. In something of a callback to Fallout 2’sstoryline, you’re sent to find and fix the issues with the cities’ malfunctioning water system. Empyre’sstoryline really does define the hopeless old saying : “Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink”.

Empyre is a promising looking title with a unique aesthetic. There are a great many isometric RPGs stuck in development hell, but Empyre seems worthy of being pushed through. Right away I felt very absorbed in this idiosyncratic world of rickety creaking bridges criss-crossing rooftops, with every street below a river. There’s a lot of attention to detail in making this world Neo-Victorian, from the cog-riddled elevators to the olde-tyme rapiers equipped by the characters.

Getting caught out in the open can be dangerous with gun-oting mobsters about.


Empyre is a pause-and-play RPG in the style of the Baldur’s Gate games. What’s more distinctive about Empyre’s battle system is that it’s grid-based, making is something of a hybrid. It recalls X-Com in how it’s based around a system of waist high walls to duck under and walls to peek around. However, Empyre’s combat system is far more amenable to slugging it out in melee combat. Perhaps too amenable at times.

There’s some polish needed for enemy AI. Early on, I was breaking a cowardly doctor out of prison and was instructed to kill all the guards in the courtyard before proceeding. What was oddly evident was how easy it was to lure guards behind walls and just bundle on them with melee attacks while their allies just stubbornly refused to help. The way stealth worked also seemed somewhat inconsistent, as I was firing off guns wily nily with nearby guards not seeming to notice. Though the tutorial seemed to advertise stealth being a crucial aspect to the game, the most viable strategy always seemed to be tempting lone enemies down cul-de-sacs.

A classic barroom brawl, but with guns!


The social interaction element of Empyre shows some promise. During encounters you’re allowed to choose responses from any member of your party, and it’s up to you to choose which one seems most apt. When I encountered a gang of ruffians in a godforsaken rooftop district, I was able to select the towering, bald-headed hardman of the group to threaten them. This made their leader run off so the ensuing battle was much easier.

Unfortunately, dialogue in Empyre tends to be quite perfunctory and utilitarian. Once you’ve got a quest or resolved an encounter with most characters, you can’t go back and chat with them again. Similarly, there’s sadly no option to have a quick natter with your companions about their backstories either (don’t expect detailed life stories like in Mass Effect). It keeps the plot moving forward at a steady pace, but doesn’t do much to situate things. When I encountered a city state ruled by Italian American gangsters, I was really looking forward to being able to immerse myself in the flavour and history of the setting, but annoyingly I found that beyond sending me out to do questy type things, none of the characters had any interest in shooting the breeze with me.

When discussions with overzealous mobsters go awry, you end up in a shootout amongst the crates and barrels.


It was on one of the questy type things I was sent on for the mobsters that I discovered another interesting new mechanic Empyre adds to the mix. One of the PCs you’ll meet early on as an amusingly Mary Poppins type lady who wears a lovely frock and fights with her umbrella. I was sent on a tutorial sort of mission where I was meant to use a stun grenade to make some rebellious capos woozy, but then capture them alive using handcuffs. Oddly though, the handcuffs didn’t seem to work on the cantankerous criminals unless I used two stun grenades in quick succession, and there was no sort of readout to help me determine whether I was being successful in my cuffing attempts. This required quite a bit of trial and error and wasted time to figure out and hopefully this sort of annoyance will be ironed out in the full release with some UI improvements.

I had mixed feelings about Empyre. The battles have an element of tactics to them even if they tend to devolve into prison-style beatings in proverbial back alleys. It felt a little too combat-focused and light on dialogue to be a true classic CRPG, but its unique setting has made me curious enough that I am eagerly anticipating the full release. Look forward to a full review of Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates when it emerges Cthulu-like onto the teeming shores of Steam on October 4th.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Ho boy.

 

[Infinitron]

Spotted this on the site that interviewed Hannah Williams from Whalenought: https://www.indiegraze.com/2017/09/14/interview-empyre-lords-of-the-sea-gates-john-randall/

Interview: Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates’ John Randall
on September 14, 2017

Any fan of isometric games should take notice that Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates releases soon, an alternate reality title taking place in an industrial 1911 experiencing environmental distress. I chatted with Creative Director John Randall for insight into his goals and process, concealing no small amount of excitement for the Coin Operated Games release.


Erik Meyer: Empyre drops players into the tumult of a flooded Neo-Victorian New York City filled with adventure. Regarding the environment and the universe you’re creating, what do you see as the highlights that set it apart from other historical fiction taking place in a similar period?

John Randall: Our divergent path really kicks in before the flood with a world we like to call Neo-Victorian. It is similar to Steampunk in its reliance on Steam Technology but it is less Dystopian. The World’s Fairs that occurred in the 19th Century really brought a highly optimistic view of the future to the people. This is something we wanted to exaggerate with tech like Sky Trains in order to make the fall (the flood) more dramatic. At the same time, we currently live in a world where the specter of our coastal cities flooding hangs over us. So we wanted to bring that element into the back story as well.

EM: The gameplay user interface lays out in a similar fashion to other isometric RPGs, but I’m curious what special considerations you’ve been making in this area, in terms of how elements contribute to game flow, ease of access, and user intuition? What is your philosophy behind menu layout and giving players access to the things they need?

JR: We were fortunate to have a UI specialist work with us to create an optimal interface for our gameplay. Even then, we had a few reworks to improve it. Technically, we worked on the things you mentioned: ease of use, trying to keep the UI as familiar and comfortable as possible for the player and minimizing the effort required to perform whatever actions the player wishes. Beyond that, there is also fitting that UI into your game space in a way that is not jarring to the player. How it presents itself to the player and how well it blends into the game itself is also important.

EM: Regarding 2D art, 3D assets, and features like audio and menus, what considerations do you give to an overall consistent tone and feel within the narrative experience? How do the developers within your team maintain a unified voice, and what does that process look like for you, as a studio?

JR: For us it is mainly about quantification of influences and simplifying the art direction that goes out to all the artists. So the base for us was Victorian first with a sprinkling of Steampunk and a chunk of 1970’s funk where appropriate. To give the game an unique style, the 1970’s was a good fit for us. Big cars meets big steam vehicles etc.

EM: As one aspect influencing character development, players and companions each have a Profession. What went into mechanizing options such as choosing a vocation, and how deeply do you, as developers, want these kinds of customizations to impact play?

JR: Professions came into the game through the Story Treatment provided by our amazing writer, Paul Noth. Having a character who was once a Sandhog (the men who dug tunnels under New York City) is such a great way to express who your party members are. In terms of mechanization, we did not want to have structured character classes. So Professions was the perfect way to define the skills and other abilities that a character has and how his chosen vocation has offered him certain advantages and disadvantages. In the game, these Professions have had a major impact. For instance, Sandhogs have training in the use of demolitions.

EM: A number of the combat examples in the game trailer show large-scale brawls taking place. As you’ve developed the combat system, and with respect to the isometric RPGs of yesteryear, what do you see as strengths of turn-based combat, and what kinds of challenges come with it, both from a developer and a game flow perspective?

JR: Just to clarify, our game has a planning phase and then a simultaneous execution of actions. So it is not strictly turn-based but does offer you many of the tactical benefits of turn-based combat. To us, the tactical/strategic planning element in turn-based combat is the most important part. How you spend your Action points. In our game, you do not spend Action points but instead spend your time in seconds (each action costing you a set number of seconds to perform). This was our way of allowing the player to allocate resources (in this case, Time) and develop a plan of action. The challenge for our programmers and designers to innovate a system where multiple entities move, fire and perform other actions based on the player’s instructions is quite substantial. What happens when two entities want to enter the same tile at the same time? Or what happens when a targeted enemy moves out of sight or range? And there were many more questions like that which needed to be addressed. However, the end result was worth it and we are certainly pleased with how it turned out.

EM: Part of the fun of alternate histories is filling the game world with quirky stuff and the period-specific objects of ages past. On a granular level, what kinds of things have made you smile in accomplishing this goal, and what do you see as integral, from a research and implementation point of view?

JR: There is no better feeling than rummaging through “The Gangs of New York” or “Professional Criminals of America” and getting hit by a Eureka moment. The Victorians loved scandals and loved stories. So the wealth of material to pull from is awe-inspiring. It also is quite funny. There seemed to be an awful lot of gun fights in New York yet very few casualties: thirty guys hiding behind barrels blazing away at each other and the end result is two or three fellas with light wounds. In terms of its importance, I don’t think you can create an authentic experience for a player without this kind of research.

EM: Games often struggle to balance combat versus story, dialogue versus quests, etc. Some players reject too many conversations or complicated quests, and others don’t want to grind through long dungeons. As developers, how do you see this balance taking place within your project, and what kinds of criteria and experiences take priority?

JR: This really comes down to the writer you have. We were extremely lucky to have Paul because he delivered what we needed. A great story simply told without an excess of text. What he wrote is very entertaining with great characters and colorful dialogue. Our goal was to keep the player focused on his goal throughout the game. So we put in some side quests and flavor dialogues, but none of it was designed to drag the player off course for too long. For combat, we tried to create as much variety as possible and break it up with non-combat encounters, too, so the player does not get bored. If you don’t do this, the player can sometimes forget or get lost trying to remember what he is playing the game for. It also allows you to keep the tension of the main quest sustained over the course of the game.

EM: For most studios, having a clear view of what constitutes success is key, as is limiting the scope of a project to essential must-have elements. In your case, what do you see as vital to Empyre, from an implementation standpoint, and what things have had to go by the wayside?

JR: The most important elements of the game from the beginning were the story and the setting. The other keys were to create a fun, easy to manage combat system with strategic elements and to make it an RPG. So every feature and design decision centered around delivering those core elements to the player. There were some things that did go by the wayside but those are earmarked for sequels. So it is more a matter of when than if regarding cut features. It also gives us the opportunity to evolve our line of games in a predetermined fashion in the future.

 

[Infinitron]

Uh, this is out I think:

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.empyrethegame.com/news/we-are-officially-launched

WE ARE OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED
Find us on Steam.

Goggles Polished and Sky Train Ticket in Hand, Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates Surges Onto Steam

Indie Developer Coin Operated Games to Rekindle Old-School RPG Fans’ Nostalgia with Classic, Neo-Victorian Story-Driven Action Experience; Now Available for PC

Auburn, New Hampshire – October 4, 2017 – Coin Operated Games announces today that its Neo-Victorian RPG Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates, has launched on PC via Steam at a SRP of $29.99. Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates is a top-down isometric RPG that takes place in an alternate industrial New York circa 1911, and features an original story penned by renowned writer/comic artist Paul Noth, a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker magazine where his work has appeared regularly since 2004. Created by a team of industry veterans, the game serves as the inaugural title of the indie development studio, and aims to recapture the feeling of classic RPG’s with a fresh setting and immersive storyline.

… water is everywhere but none of it to drink…

Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates depicts a troubled New York in which the entire city is flooded by rising oceans and the citizens now face a new threat: the fresh water pipes have stopped and there is no water to drink! Following the collapse of governments when the waters began to rise, New Yorkers found themselves in a temporary period of anarchy and chaos before more localized groups began to take control and form smaller city-states that they ruled with complete authority. Led by pirates, mafia families and a renegade Prussian naval commander to name a few, these warring city-states provide a violent and colorful cast of characters to meet and fight with/against as players seek to solve the water crisis facing the city.

Although set in a fictional, alternate history the game also authentically reflects scenes and locations from New York circa 1900, while tying the storyline to current day themes such as global warming and the rising of the oceans. Players will experience an early 20th century version of New York built upon the ruins of the submerged “old city” and plagued by warring city-states.

The game’s combat will feel familiar to veteran RPG players, however there is a new twist in that the game uses a hybrid Real Time/Turn-based combat system. Players can enter a “Planning Mode” where they choose actions for each character in their party to plan their strategies while combat is paused. When entering into the “Action Mode” all characters will perform simultaneously, giving players complete control over their party while presenting a streamlined combat system that allows players to be as strategic, or direct, as they choose.

“We are beyond thrilled to be sharing Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates with gamers from around the world,” said John Randall, Creative Director of Empyre. “We strove to keep our games setting and themes recognizable but unique so that we could really let the story from our fantastic writer, Paul Noth, shine. We can’t wait for both old-school gamers looking to relive their 90’s RPG experiences and the next generation of gamers to get their hands on the game. We have so many more stories to tell in this alternate reality, this is just our first chapter!”

Developed and self-published by Coin Operated Games, Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates is now available for download on Steam for a MSRP of $29.99. A new launch trailer can be viewed here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa0y8wAxC9s

For more product information, visit www.empyrethegame.com, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Empyrethegame-272522026282358/, Twitter at https://twitter.com/EmpyreTheGame #nowatertodrink and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/EmpyreTheGame

From October 4, 2017, there is #nowatertodrink

 

[Heretic]

And just like that, the game is out.


Not sure why they didn't turn on antialiasing for the new trailer footage or why they didn't show more of the gameplay, character screen, inventory...

Anyway, if it's not too bad, I might try it out once it goes on sale.

 

[Sinatar]

Looks cool but $30 is too much to jump in blind.

 

[Urthor]

Alright team who's going to be first...

 

[YES!]

So far so so. There is no chargen and should be. You choose between 4 pregenerated characters that all are very not very optimized. It would be way better without stupid twirly 3d cameras. When will people get their shit together and demand fixed camera and no wasted filler 3d spin shit for kids?

Chardev is decent. Combat is bad like all rtwp systems. This one reminds me of the UFO series (aftermath, afterlight, etc). Dialogue is a bit weird since the dialogue appears on the character icon on the upper left of the screen, the person talking to is on the right, and any dialogue responses are in the center bottom.

The controls are a bit off and must be recorded for an uncivilized keyboard as it decides the I selected is something else, but still works for what it is on civilized keyboards. For instance the game things f5 is f6 and f9 is f10, but f5 and f9 work when set but display the other value. ZXC are right, something like k for v, and b is right. Just as an example. There are also some display issues for rebound keys. But all these interface issues are minor.

As for the content so far, the char dev system has promise. I wish there were more equipment slots but the items and itemization isn't bad. The first area before the first mission did not have a shop I could find, but had a vending machine with one consumable I could buy. I could not sell to the vending machine.

My first companion was forced on me for the mission as his specialty is needed for it. I would far prefer to make my own party. So far the story has been the central theme, as well as the setting.

This isn't my type of game for the most part, but I do not plan on returning. I can't exactly explain why I like it but I do. I do not feel gipped at $30 and feel completely this game is way better than any console focused game ever made, but way worse than my favorite rpgs which have the correct focuses and mechanics I like.

You can tell a small team really pored a lot of love into this and only a huge dick would pirate it. Buy it now or wait for a sale. This isn't shit for retards and kids, but is aimed at what this site calls a "storyfag" or settingfag with decent and more in-depth systems to satisfy real rpg fans.

 

[fantadomat]

I just played it.Sadly the combat is shit,also the resolution is shit and the font is shit.I have to poke my nose in the monitor to read some of the shit in the game.After hour of play i decided to quit because my eyes were bleeding.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

How is Sherlock Holmes neo-Victorian? How about...Victorian?

 

[LESS T_T]

Apparently they're working on another game: http://steamcommunity.com/app/696810/discussions/0/1620599015867431290/

Well, it would make a bigger and better impression for potential new customers if the game wouldn't look abandoned after release ...

We certainly do not want to give that impression. But we have no more patches to make at the moment as we have no bug reports. We had a professional testing company do a very thorough job so the bug reports that came in initially after the release have already been taken care of.

Aside from that we're not too inclined to add DLC in this game. We shipped it with everything we wanted to give the player for a full release. We didn't hold anything back to charge players more.

I visit these forums pretty regularly and try to answer any questions that come up. So I would hope that potential customers would not come here and find an ignored (by the Developers) community.

I suppose we could put up some fluff update news but I'm not sure if that would help any.

At the moment we are working on our 2nd game and I'm happy to report we're not going anywhere and the 2nd game is looking great already.

What a low key business.

 

[LESS T_T]

From the same thread, posts in April:

For god's sake man, do something, ANYTHING, draw in customers, if all people see in the news line is 2 updates and 7 reviews (because this games so obscure), NOONE is going to want to buy it.

Even the illusion of activity (to a small degree) can help if the talent is there.

Ok. I had a look at Pillars of Eternity. I wanted to get an idea of what you guys are talking about. Their updates are patches, new content and the announcement of Deadfire.

I would love to post a few relevant topics for our game. But we really have no bug reports. So no patches. Murphy's law dictates that there has to be one somewhere. But we spent so much time and energy along with Whyttest to deliver a quality product.

We have a team of professional game developers. These guys have worked at Crytek, Creative Assembly etc. and almost all of them have 10+ years of experience in the industry. We have a writer (Paul Noth) who is an extraordinary wordsmith with all the credentials to back it up.

But, we are not big. We don't have the resources to create free packs of extra content and test them properly in the game.

As for announcing our next game, the official word is still too far off.

So I'm stuck and looking for suggestions if you have them. What to put in an update. We'll jump on any bugs we find when we learn of them.

As for reviews, we have some official ones. Some are good, some are average and some are bad. Some are also ludicrously wrong but that is another story. We have very few player reviews and it would be great to have some more. But I am not comfortable soliciting player reviews. It gets a little ethically murky. They really have to come from you guys. I can't write them for you (well I could but... :D).

We're full steam ahead (pun intended) on our next game devoting all of our limited resources to getting you guys a quality game to play in an unique setting.

So, really if there is something of substance to put in an update to give it some relevance, I would be happy to listen to your ideas.

We will do some work reaching out to different communities who like RPGs and want to explore something different from orcs, wizards or laser guns. But in terms of activity here, the player reviews are beyond my control.

I understand your delimma and I appreciate your desire to stay out of murky waters, it's a good thing. Price is a little steep for me right now, but if it goes on sale or my situation changes I might consider picking this up.

That would be great and I hope you enjoy it! Also, if you guys know of communities and places where RPG's are loved and the Steampunk/Neo-Victorian genre is appreciated, please post them here. I'd be happy to visit them. Really anywhere where you can find curious, interesting and intelligent people who play games.

Well, do you guys love RPGs?

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Wow, why is this game so unpopular?
Maybe its not rpgcodex material, but surely the plebs should still love it -> it's rtwp, neovictorian ("-punk"), has alright graphics...

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Wow, why is this game so unpopular?
Maybe its not rpgcodex material, but surely the plebs should still love it -> it's rtwp, neovictorian ("-punk"), has alright graphics...

Probably the $30 pricetag for a game from an unknown company with little to no reviews.

 

[LESS T_T]

Infinitron's mention of this game in the newspost reminded me... this game never did a discount since the release. That makes me wonder the purpose of releasing a game.

 

[Urthor]

The controls, interface and engine of this game are absolutely despicable. There are very good reason to dislike this game when playing even the first level is like pulling teeth

 

[aweigh]

Is there any etymological pedigree relevant to spelling the word empire as 'Empyre'? Or did they spell it that way because they're morons who think misspelling words is cool?

Whether or not I continue looking into this game depends entirely on the answer to the above!

 

[RNGsus]

No.

But as you're expending all your faith pretending this is a good game, maybe pyre is an allusion to the fires of industry, and the empire is one of industry, so empyre.

 

[CryptRat]

They are weird in an almost fascinating way.

I also understand where we are in a business sense which I guess would surprise you as we're not jumping on the sales bandwagon like all sensible developers do.

Believe it or not, we actually do have a strategy and a plan. But it requires a certain amount of finesse and orchestration to make it succeed.

[...]50+ people worked on this game in some capacity.

[...]Would reducing the price and joining sales increase the number of units sold? Absolutely. Some of the Wishlist people would jump on board. But we wouldn't be on the front page at any time, anywhere in the world. That's not acceptable. So we have to do better than that.

If we are going to truly compete than it will take more than a discount in a sale to do it.

We are ok financially and we did pretty well so far

[...]I'm trying my best to let you guys know that we have a plan and do know about sales and their effects (how the system works).

Source is still the same thread that was being talked about.