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Indie Urtuk: The Desolation - open-world dark fantasy turn-based RPG

CryptRat

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
https://www.urtuk.com




https://af.gog.com/game/urtuk_the_desolation?as=1649904300

Link to the demo : https://madsheepstudios.itch.io/urtuk-the-desolation

Single player RPG
Open world
Tactical turn based
Story driven gameplay
For pc, max and linux


Detailed description :
About the game






image.axd


Key Features


  • Survival adventure RPG with tactical turn-based battles
  • Combat focused: hex-based, large battlefields with interactive environment
  • Dark, gritty low-fantasy world
  • Procedurally generated campaign map
  • Rougelite: survival & perma-death
  • Hand-drawn graphics, from the world-map to battlefield, along with all characters
  • For PC, Mac and Linux


Picture: tactical combat map

image.axd






image.axd


Battle mechanics


The game puts great focus on the core battle mechanics. Apart from hex map and speed (initiative) based turn order and elevated tiles, Urtuk features a couple of innovative mechanics to turn-based combat.


Focus mechanics
Each character in battle generates a special resource named 'Focus'. This is accumulated by doing or taking damage. When the Focus bar is filled up, the character spawns a special(and powerful) ability to "Focus pool". This focus ability can be used by player anytime when he is on turn for any character on battlefield. Also, there are other effects associated with the Focus reaching its maximum, for example, a character can heal a little or gains life-leeching strike for next attack.



Armour mechanics
The gear for each character is important. There are 4 types of gear - helmet, torso, shield and weapon a character can equip. Helmet, torso and shield provide an attribute called 'block chance'.
And this is how armour works - for any hit taken, there is a calculation for each gear where if that block chance is rolled successfully, the damage is decreased by 66%
and any negative incoming effect (bleeding, ..) is nullified. This is called a 'blocked attack'.
On the other hand, each weapon has an attribute 'Armour pierce chance'. When a 'blocked attack' occurs, this AP chance is rolled and when success, the blocked attack is pierced!
In that case, the damage gets normally through and any effect associated, will apply.


Support
When a melee attacker hits its target, any allied ranged unit may shoot right afterwards (when in range, LoS is not obscured, and no friendly fire is involved).
This is called 'ranged support'.
Another type of support is 'Shield Ally'. There are some abilities and traits which grant this effect. When shielding triggers, all damage is nullified.
'Attack assistance' is another kind of support. Some Focus abilities and traits guarantee, that when attacking a target, any adjacent melee ally will also strike him.


Criticals
In Urtuk, the critical hit only occurs when a specific condition is fulfilled.
Two cases when this happens:
- attack on slow or exhausted target
- attack from rear
A critical hit is always paired with some effect. For example, the Engager class will leech life on any critical hit.


Counterstrike
Counterstrike is a retaliation attack, which gets automatically executed each time a character blocks or nullifies damage.
This can be done either with the armour block or Aegis or shielding from an ally.









image.axd


Story background


The world in the game is a place of pain, suffering and darkness, set with (light) fantasy features. Urtuk is the name of main character. His story begins when he escaped from the Sanitarium, a place deep undergrounds, where medical experiments take place on common people. Urtuk's escape was successful thanks to his fellow old friend - Eldric.

Urtuk has suffered a mutation, a mortal disease, in the Sanitarium. With every day, his health condition worsens.. Now he searches for a cure in the world. It's only matter of time, when his mutation evolves to a level, when he finally dies.

Picture: Urtuk's portait concepts
image.axd




The world is set into dark, grimy theme. There are no classic fantasy beings like elfs, dwarfs or dragons, nor powerful magic, although there are some light magical features involved.

Many centuries ago, there were powerful Giants roaming the world. They lived peacefully with humans until an unknown lethal disease eradicated them completely to extinction.

Some years ago, a few librarians studied the bones and remains of the ancient Giants. They have done experiments and found out, they can extract a mystical fluid from their remains - Trilium. With this, they could add many beneficial elements into human body. Not known yet, what impact this mystical fluid on a human has, the experiments continue as of today.

Very often, instead of improving the health condition of the target, an opposite effect would take place - a mutation or lethal disease. This was the case of Urtuk.





image.axd


Gameplay - world


Player takes Urtuk and his party under control in a procedurally generated world map. The traveling system is like in FTL, so you have various points of interest such as hideouts, camps, shops and these are interconnected with routes. The campaign has several biomes (zones,) and player needs to beat each zone until he reaches the final destination.

The ultimate goal of the game is to cure Urtuk from his disease by reaching the Ancient City in the last zone. Each zone has its specific environment and types of enemies. At the end of any given zone, the player needs to defeat the zone's boss.

While adventuring, the player can add or recruit other characters into his party by completing quests or as reward for beating a map location or recruit them at the shopkeeper node.

Urtuk's party can engage into various encounters or conflicts. At that point, the tactical battlefield map shows up.

There are friendly and enemy characters in the world. NPCs can help the player or aid him into new directions. We put big effort into the world locations for the player to explore and visit as it is the key to discover the path to Urtuk's ultimate cure!

When a battle takes place, any party member can get injured or killed. There is an injury system implemented, where when a member has fallen on battlefield, it first gets the status of 'injured'. This state can be removed by healing with medicine which is a game resource and can be purchased. When an injured member has fallen again in the battle, he is dead for good.

The game will end when all your party members are dead or when Urtuk is killed.

The world of Urtuk is dynamic, meaning for example, if you engage a scavengers camp and killed 3 out of 5 scavengers, then when the battle is over and you engage the same camp again, only the remaining 2 out of 5 will be present in the upcoming combat for you.

The characters in the game have classic RPG stats like level, abilities, skills, HP and so forth.. With each combat your party members gain experience and level up. There are many classes you can choose your member from, like tanks, damage dealers, supporters, disablers. We will discuss the class system in another section.

Each character can be equipped by gear like swords, plates, shields, helmets, etc.., so you can change that weaponry and armour. Some class restrictions apply here. You can get items as loot from combat or buy/find it in the world.

A unique aspect of the game is that after battle, the player can extract various traits and abilities from fallen enemies and use them to upgrade own members. This upgrading system is not character-persistent and so the player can switch the acquired traits/abilities between members as he likes. These special traits/abilities are wrapped into special items called mutators. Mutators can be used normally as equipment for characters. Up to 3 mutator slots are available for each character, which gives you lots of build options!

A mutator can for example add new effects to character attacks such as 'rooting' enemies to place, or causing bleeding, poison or other status effects.



image.axd


Gameplay - combat


image.axd


We have put a tremendous effort into combat mechanics and its gameplay design. The core of the game lies in the battlefield, so we added as much fun factor into it as possible :).

Our combat is turn based on a hexagonal map. The turn order is given by the "Speed" mechanics (Initiative in other games). Thus faster characters will act more often than slower ones.

Each character can move and then execute an available action. This can be attack or ability use.

The attack or ability use end the turn for current unit.

As for the combatants, we introduced the classic RPG class system.

For now, there are these classes in the game, player can choose from:

Guardian, Berserker, Spearman, Footman, Warmonk, BloodKnight, Priest, Hunter, Javelinman.

We are designing many more!

Each class has its own specific ability (or more) and possibly a passive skill. For example, Guardian has the 'Bash' ability, utilizing his shield to push enemy 2 hexes away.

The tactical map has environment objects, like rocks, spikes, muds which add some behavior if stepped over or bashed or pushed against. For example if the guardian bashes enemy against a rock, the enemy will be stunned.

Usage and proper utilization of the environment is the key for victory! We will talk about specific behaviors of the tiles later.

Other important feature of the combat system is flanking:

If your unit attacks an enemy, and he is rear flanked by one of yours, then the attacker will strike with automatic critical hit.

Also if a character is slowed or exhausted, any incoming hit becomes a critical hit.

With the critical hit mechanics, there are many associated 'after effects' when a target is hit.

As you can see, it is extremely important to position your unit properly to maximize damage output.

The AI will attempt to do the exact same, so be vary ;)
 
Last edited by a moderator:

canakin

Cipher
Joined
May 15, 2011
Messages
421
Looks interesting indeeed. Bonus points for no crowdfunding faggotry. Art style reminds me of Darkest Dungeon which was about only good thing about that game. Open world is worrisome though, it may easily lead to a infuriating repetitiveness in this kind of game.
 
Joined
Nov 3, 2016
Messages
425
Location
Georgie's shitter
Its ok, I guess. I'm kind of wondering where the "story driven gameplay" comes in. Did not really see any of that in the trailer ... This title looks like a rip-off of Battle Brothers, to be quite frank.
 

CryptRat

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
I've been playing the demo and this is very promising. About what matters at this point I've got only positive things to say. :incline:
I like the combat system a lot. it is tactical, I especially like the support abilities, that you have to take environnement into account.
The classes of the player and enemy from the demo have some interesting abilities. By the way, if I were you, I'd change this description :
There are many classes you can choose your member from, like tanks, damage dealers, support, disabler.
Bloodknight, guardian, marksman and berserker are so much more appealing than damage dealers, tanks and other generic MMO terms. To be fair I wasn't sure about what I'd find in the game because of that part of the description, I was very pleasantly surprised so no problem, but once again you should really change that description.
I also like the comics look, the bloody death animations especially and the overall look of the battles with numbers and ability names poping.


There are some UI annoyances to mention in the demo, but they're just banal early version things which will be fixed :
- the battles are a little confused because you can't see the different abilites of the different characters unless you're going to use them, unless I missed something
- sometimes I unintentionally end the turn of a character when I want to select him (that must be presented otherwise I guess)
- I think the game probably misses an "undo movement" button, it's convenient to to see what you'll be able to do after you would have moved

Also I'm currently trying to win the last battle and there's no way to abandon and start over without quitting the game to gain some time when I'm obviously dead :).

Good luck, I'm going to follow the project closely.
 

MadSheepStudios

Mad Sheep Studios
Developer
Joined
Mar 23, 2017
Messages
135
Location
Bratislava, Slovakia
I've been playing the demo and this is very promising. About what matters at this point I've got only positive things to say. :incline:
I like the combat system a lot. it is tactical, I especially like the support abilities, that you have to take environnement into account.
The classes of the player and enemy from the demo have some interesting abilities. By the way, if I were you, I'd change this description :
There are many classes you can choose your member from, like tanks, damage dealers, support, disabler.
Bloodknight, guardian, marksman and berserker are so much more appealing than damage dealers, tanks and other generic MMO terms. To be fair I wasn't sure about what I'd find in the game because of that part of the description, I was very pleasantly surprised so no problem, but once again you should really change that description.
I also like the comics look, the bloody death animations especially and the overall look of the battles with numbers and ability names poping.


There are some UI annoyances to mention in the demo, but they're just banal early version things which will be fixed :
- the battles are a little confused because you can't see the different abilites of the different characters unless you're going to use them, unless I missed something
- sometimes I unintentionally end the turn of a character when I want to select him (that must be presented otherwise I guess)
- I think the game probably misses an "undo movement" button, it's convenient to to see what you'll be able to do after you would have moved

Also I'm currently trying to win the last battle and there's no way to abandon and start over without quitting the game to gain some time when I'm obviously dead :).

Good luck, I'm going to follow the project closely.


Thanks for you feedback!
Yes there are some UI things we will adjust for better. Also I want to incorporate a "unit info" window into the demo so you can see what abilities a unit has. I guess the UI is allways hard to create right in the first time ;)
 

hilfazer

Scholar
Joined
Jan 26, 2016
Messages
224
Does Spearwall work when i pull an enemy? I tried it twice but it didn't. It would be really cool if it did.

Pathfinding doesn't care if terrain is harmful or not.

Marksman deals no extra damage from swamps.

+1 for "undo movement".

I want to move camera with arrows.

No point blank penalties for ranged weapons. Intended?

A typo
"Support abilities are special. The can grant"

Some units can engage others and get attack of opportunities. That's OK because giving this option to everyone would cause "OMG engagement system sucks!" reaction like it was the case with PoE.

I dig Darkest Dungeony art direction and flanking oriented combat. Good work.
 

MadSheepStudios

Mad Sheep Studios
Developer
Joined
Mar 23, 2017
Messages
135
Location
Bratislava, Slovakia
Does Spearwall work when i pull an enemy? I tried it twice but it didn't. It would be really cool if it did.

Pathfinding doesn't care if terrain is harmful or not.

Marksman deals no extra damage from swamps.

+1 for "undo movement".

I want to move camera with arrows.

No point blank penalties for ranged weapons. Intended?

A typo
"Support abilities are special. The can grant"

Some units can engage others and get attack of opportunities. That's OK because giving this option to everyone would cause "OMG engagement system sucks!" reaction like it was the case with PoE.

I dig Darkest Dungeony art direction and flanking oriented combat. Good work.

Hi, thanks a lot for feedback!
Right now, there is no point blank penalty, but we'll add it, giving something like -50% accuracy or so.. Swamps should give damage bonus for ranged attacks -> bug :)
Spearwall wont work on grabbed units, as designed. Reason is : sometimes you just really want to pull enemy to specifc location. Spearwall does work on charging enemy however.
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
28,234
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
If we're not gonna field the main bloke in combat, how're we developing him? And is there any way to customize player party instead of relying on people you find?
 

MadSheepStudios

Mad Sheep Studios
Developer
Joined
Mar 23, 2017
Messages
135
Location
Bratislava, Slovakia
If we're not gonna field the main bloke in combat, how're we developing him? And is there any way to customize player party instead of relying on people you find?
Sorry dont get the 1.question :(
About the second: we will add another game mechanics where besides normal "recruitment" you can also "capture" an enemy directly in battle and then "persuade" him to fight for your cause.
 

MadSheepStudios

Mad Sheep Studios
Developer
Joined
Mar 23, 2017
Messages
135
Location
Bratislava, Slovakia
Hi guys!

I'd like to share some information about this upcoming turn-based RPG title.

Features

  • Single player RPG game with focus on combat and world exploration in a dark fantasy world
  • Huge open world, procedurally generated, free to explore, and access, with no restrictions!
  • Capture and recruit enemies to fight for your cause
  • Tactical turn based combat with large maps, and environmental tactical options and carefully throughout class/skill system where units' positions matter
  • Story driven progress of main character - Urtuk, with main story quests and many side quests
  • Random events and encounters, based on time and area and party constellation
  • Hand-drawn graphical assets, from the world-map to battlefield, along with all characters and map objects!
  • Challenging gameplay with permadeath (turnable on/off)
  • For PC, Mac and Linux
image.axd

4D7jUY.jpg


There is already a DEMO released (pre-alpha, combat only for now):

https://madsheepstudios.itch.io/urtuk-the-desolation

Let me know what you think about the concept & combat mechanics!
 
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Norfleet

Moderator
Joined
Jun 3, 2005
Messages
12,250
I think I've seen far too much vaporware at this point. I see a new thread about a game I've never heard of before, and go, "Huh, I wonder what that is, I've never heard of that." And it invariably ends up being some vaporware that will never materialize.

Your movie looks cute, but maybe you should have put your development time and effort into ACTUALLY MAKING A GAME instead of producing fake demos.

So, you know, cool story, now go and actually make it.
 

Alienman

Retro-Fascist
Patron
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
17,040
Location
Mars
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Looks really cool. Reminds me of Battle Brothers.

Those cock mushrooms though :D

I will keeping an eye on your project & good luck!
 

Ludovic

Valravn Games
Developer
Joined
Mar 7, 2016
Messages
71
Location
The Cold North
Very interesting and grats on making it this far. Good luck with the project. The art style looks a lot like Darkest Dungeon - is it the same artist?
 

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