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Underrail [PRE-RELEASE THREAD, GO TO NEW THREAD]

Styg

Stygian Software
Developer
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Messages
742
Location
Serbia
Last edited by a moderator:

Jaesun

Fabulous Ex-Moderator
Patron
Joined
May 14, 2004
Messages
37,241
Location
Seattle, WA USA
MCA
Dude! That actually looked quite interesting.

And then you lost me at real time with pause. The title is.... kind of gay. I can kind of understand what a timelapse vertigo is, just seems strange.

UI looks great. Lots of stats and skills.

Why real time with pause?
 

zeitgeist

Magister
Joined
Aug 12, 2010
Messages
1,444
Looks interesting. Find a competent artist.

Will there be a party or is this purely one-character-only? And yeah, I have to third the
Why real time with pause?
 

Zed

Codex Staff
Patron
Staff Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2002
Messages
17,068
Codex USB, 2014
This looks good.
Styg said:
Timelapse Vertigo
What made you decide to go for RTwP? Was it your plan from the start or did you consider TB or pseudo-TB/RT (like in Eschalon)?

What types of missions are there? Multiple ways to complete them?

I think the environment/monsters could use a little more variation but I guess that's stuff you'll get to later.

DramaticPopcorn said:
Tiles look quite good, but (sorry for being a dick) character models look like shit. I'm not really a graphix whore, but I just can't stand them.

If you bothered to actually read anything during the video you'd know character sprites are placeholders.
 

Garm

Learned
Joined
May 10, 2010
Messages
362
Location
'Merika
Looks interesting. Kinda reminded me of the SNES version of Shadowrun.
 

Prosper

Educated
Joined
May 30, 2010
Messages
278
I really like it.

These "Game Testers" have no advice that will help you. Fact is, programming the game is the first real accomplishment.

For success,

What will not work:
An artist who tries to make game content before having a game/engine to put it in.

What is overall smarter and more enjoyable:
Programming the game/engine first, and then focusing on the quality of art.

Yes it is possible to be a programmer, and later become an artist. Further, you can choose to be in-charge of the entire game design.

On the flip side: if you are fortunate enough to be a part of of people you admire, then that admiration can balance your emotional state of being in regard to loss of control. Production will be bolstered.
 

soggie

Educated
Joined
Aug 20, 2009
Messages
688
Location
Tyr
Prosper said:
I really like it.

These "Game Testers" have no advice that will help you. Fact is, programming the game is the first real accomplishment.

For success,

What will not work:
An artist who tries to make game content before having a game/engine to put it in.

What is overall smarter and more enjoyable:
Programming the game/engine first, and then focusing on the quality of art.

Yes it is possible to be a programmer, and later become an artist. Further, you can choose to be in-charge of the entire game design.

On the flip side: if you are fortunate enough to be a part of of people you admire, then that admiration can balance your emotional state of being in regard to loss of control. Production will be bolstered.

Are you going to show us more of those shiny waffles?
 

ookrish

Novice
Joined
Aug 20, 2010
Messages
3
The game is set in a distant future, when the life on the Earth’s surface has long since been made impossible and the remnants of humanity now dwell in the Underrail, a vast system of metro station-states that, it seems, are the last bastions of a fading race.

The player takes control of one of the denizens of such a station-state whose life is about to become all that much more interesting and dangerous, as our protagonist is caught amidst the conflicting factions of the Underrail as they secretly but violently struggle for the Humanity’s last gem of hope.
===========================

Insurance

|AccidentInsurance
 

soggie

Educated
Joined
Aug 20, 2009
Messages
688
Location
Tyr
ookrish said:
The game is set in a distant future, when the life on the Earth’s surface has long since been made impossible and the remnants of humanity now dwell in the Underrail, a vast system of metro station-states that, it seems, are the last bastions of a fading race.

The player takes control of one of the denizens of such a station-state whose life is about to become all that much more interesting and dangerous, as our protagonist is caught amidst the conflicting factions of the Underrail as they secretly but violently struggle for the Humanity’s last gem of hope.
===========================

Insurance

|AccidentInsurance

This is officially the most advanced spam bot I've ever seen.
 

BethesdaLove

Arbiter
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
1,998
You havent seen the one with the asian female wanting a man or some shit. That was nice.
 

Styg

Stygian Software
Developer
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Messages
742
Location
Serbia
Thank you all for the feedback.

Zed said:
This looks good.
What made you decide to go for RTwP? Was it your plan from the start or did you consider TB or pseudo-TB/RT (like in Eschalon)?

I haven't seen Eschalon's system back when I was making this design decision, but it would not have made a difference (even though it's a cool way to go about it).

The main reason I decided to go RT is because I want things to happen simultaneously and I wanted characters to have to react to multiple events on the flight.

For example, you have to interrupt your enemy's psi invocation, but you still have to worry about turning on your shield emitter in time to avoid taking high damage from a grenade impact; or maybe you can avoid it, but you are rooted in place and have to break free first.

While this sort of stuff can arguably be implement in TB as well, I find it functioning much more fluidly in RT.

The pause is there to emphasize tactical aspect as opposed to who can click faster and more precisely (it's sometimes hard to invoke a character-targeted ability if your target is moving very fast).

Zed said:
What types of missions are there? Multiple ways to complete them?

A bit too early to list all the different mission types. There are practically no limits on what can be scripted in the engine so I'll try to make them diverse and more interesting than 'collect x of something'.

Yes, there will be different ways to complete some of them, but more often it will be the case of interacting with the environment in different ways in order to get to the same goal (e.g. lockpicking and stealthing through a mission vs finding secret passageways vs fighting head).

Zed said:
I think the environment/monsters could use a little more variation but I guess that's stuff you'll get to later.

I'm still in an early stage of content producing. I'm planning to add more details to the cavern tileset as well as create other environments.

DramaticPopcorn said:
Tiles look quite good, but (sorry for being a dick) character models look like shit. I'm not really a graphix whore, but I just can't stand them.

Me neither. These are just placeholders, though.

zeitgeist said:
Will there be a party or is this purely one-character-only?

One character only.

Cheers.
 

Zed

Codex Staff
Patron
Staff Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2002
Messages
17,068
Codex USB, 2014
Alright, thanks for answering the questions. This looks like it could be lots of fun.

Will you be selling the game or will you release it for free?
 

getter77

Augur
Joined
Oct 12, 2008
Messages
861
Location
GA, USA
Given how the item and exploration part is situated, any chance for a Random Side-Dungeon, or some such, for something of a Roguelike part to screw around in?

It would seem well at home, if a bit crazy, to have such an area with the emphasis you place on reaction to various events.

Are you intending to go solely direct sales or will you try to get along with the various DD outfits to get more visibility and such?


ALSO: Given the realtime, will we be able to Throw/Grab enemies in the Martial Arts skill context? Would be pretty handy to make use of a Melee enemy as a quick meat shield while some Ranged one is trying to blast away---then respond in kind by having said Melee enemy soar on back.
 

Styg

Stygian Software
Developer
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Messages
742
Location
Serbia
Sorry, I missed these questions the first time around.

getter77 said:
Given how the item and exploration part is situated, any chance for a Random Side-Dungeon, or some such, for something of a Roguelike part to screw around in?

This was the original intention, but I've abandoned this idea as I failed to come up with an idea for such a procedural generator that would be able to mix in (and balance!) all these different character and environment interactions I've implemented that wouldn't take years to program. :)

getter77 said:
Are you intending to go solely direct sales or will you try to get along with the various DD outfits to get more visibility and such?

I'll self-publish and see how it goes from there.

getter77 said:
ALSO: Given the realtime, will we be able to Throw/Grab enemies in the Martial Arts skill context? Would be pretty handy to make use of a Melee enemy as a quick meat shield while some Ranged one is trying to blast away---then respond in kind by having said Melee enemy soar on back.

No, but cool idea. :) Melee combat will have its place in the game however, it won't be just something I mindlessly throw on top because why not.
 

Styg

Stygian Software
Developer
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Messages
742
Location
Serbia
Sneaking.gif


Stealth

Like in many other RPGs, in Timelapse you'll also be able to sneak around by the use of Stealth skill.

It is implemented in such a way that when you enter the Stealth Mode you are actively attempting to hide from every other character in the vicinity separately, and each of them is trying to detect you separately. What I mean by this is that there's a separate indicator of how well you are hidden from each of the characters that appears above them when you enter the stealth mode.

This eye shaped indicator keeps filling up if you are being detected and empties out if you are well hidden to a point where the detection level of that particular character changes. The four detection levels are:

- Oblivious (green) – enemy is totally unaware of your presence;

- Suspicious (yellow) – enemy suspects that someone might be around, but is not sure exactly where;

- Alert (orange) – enemy is certain that there is someone stalking them (or they have seen and fought you but you've managed to restealth somehow). The enemy will also have a general sense of the stalker's location;

- Aware (red) – enemy can see you (you are a valid target now).

Different enemies may react differently to each of these states. For instance, if a 'civilian' finds out he is being stalked he might panic and run, while on the other hand an experience soldier might throw a stun grenade in your general direction in order to pull you out of stealth. That is how you are destealthed, by the way, by suffering some hostile action such as taking damage or being stunned.

The speed at which these detection levels will rise or fall in your enemies as you sneak past them depends your stealth skill and their detection (which is derived mainly from their perception stat), but also on illumination, distance and engagement angle (being behind your opponent is much safer, while being directly a few feet in front of your opponent will almost always result in them detecting you no matter how good at sneaking you are).



Also, you cannot start hiding from someone who has you in their sight. You'll need to dodge behind a wall or use one of these:

Flashbang.gif



However, stealth in TLV is not just a (situational) utility. Investing in stealth skill will also affect different aspects of combat (such as increasing damage of your stealth attacks and providing new defensive mechanisms), but more on this some other time.

Snipe.gif
ShadowTricks.gif
 

Shemar

Educated
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
260
Jaesun said:
And then you lost me at real time with pause.

You also lost me when I read this. Turn based combat is 90% of the reason I play indie games.
 

7hm

Scholar
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
644
This looks really good.

How far away do you think you are from the playable alpha demo?
 

acolyte

Educated
Joined
Jan 24, 2010
Messages
107
Very nice! Hope it goes well for you!

I'm curious about the technology you use:
You're using XNA I gather? (C# ?). And you list Windows as compatible platforms, which makes sense. But, couldn't XNA apps run on top of Mono or something? (I honestly don't know)
 

Styg

Stygian Software
Developer
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Messages
742
Location
Serbia
Thank you for support, guys.

7hm said:
How far away do you think you are from the playable alpha demo?
I hope I didn't misguide anyone by calling it 'alpha' as I use that term quite liberally; it's more in pre-alpha stage currently. Most of the features are done, but the work on the content is still in early phases.

I originally planned to release something for the public with about what I have now, but I've since changed my mind and want to add some more content to demonstrate all the different features.

acolyte said:
You're using XNA I gather? (C# ?). And you list Windows as compatible platforms, which makes sense. But, couldn't XNA apps run on top of Mono or something? (I honestly don't know)
Yes, C# and XNA 4.0 which runs on .NET 4.0. I've never used Mono so I have no idea either. I'll look into this sometime.
 

denizsi

Arcane
Joined
Nov 24, 2005
Messages
9,927
Location
bosphorus
I love reading about this and love looking at the pics but real time is a real deal breaker. RT better work good!
 

7hm

Scholar
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
644
Styg said:
Thank you for support, guys.

7hm said:
How far away do you think you are from the playable alpha demo?
I hope I didn't misguide anyone by calling it 'alpha' as I use that term quite liberally; it's more in pre-alpha stage currently. Most of the features are done, but the work on the content is still in early phases.

I originally planned to release something for the public with about what I have now, but I've since changed my mind and want to add some more content to demonstrate all the different features.

That's what I assumed you meant. Alpha is usually content less / content light. I'm just curious to see what you've got there.

Anyway keep it up. Looks solid. RT / TB makes no difference to me. I prefer TB but there are bad TB systems out there, if the system is done well it doesn't matter what style you're using.
 

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