KickStarter Vigilantes: neo-noir, turn based tactical RPG

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Timeslip]

Update notes for version 28. Quite a few of the changes came with a high risk of causing bugs (system to more reliably serve up dialogue encounters, changes to enemy start/spawn/flee areas, changes to upgrade system (made worse by working around breaking saves), deployment system) so testing took longer than usual. Still likely that V30 will be the release version and that release will be in the first two weeks of October.

[Features]
+ You can now choose whether to deploy close, or further away from enemies in patrols. Based on highest party surveillance and bypass skills. Failure results in being ambushed, meaning you will start in a disadvantageous position.

[Content]
+ New Perk: Lead Finger (Special Attack: Fire a 4x burst with an SMG for 7AP)
+ New Perk: Weak Spot (Activated: All attacks made with a handgun this turn bypass armour)
+ New Perk: Gunslinger (+20% damage and critical chance with handguns & SMGs)
+ New Perk: Firing Position (-1AP for attacks with precision rifles if character has not moved this turn)
+ New Perk: Sniper (+15% damage, +10% critical chance, +10% chance to hit body parts with precision rifles)
+ New Perk: Destroyer (+20% damage, +20% critical chance with unarmed, bladed and blunt attacks)
+ New Perk: Buckshot Storm (+20% damage with shotguns)
+ New Map: Old Industrial Train Station
+ New Map: Motel. This is the 46th and likely final map to be added.
+ New non combat encounter: Amateur Hour
+ New non combat encounter: Lost and Found
+ New non combat encounter: Spare change
+ Added post combat dialogue for Dilettant, Insurance Claim, Meltdown, The Hit, Grave Diggers
+ New Utility Item: Lightweight Footwear (+1 Move AP)
+ New Utility Item: Lockpick Kit (+5 Bypass)
+ New crafting recipes: Lockpick Kit, Nobuki Samurai +, Katana +
+ Improved Grand Theology Auto encounter with multiple choices and ally dialogue
+ Added extra ally dialogue to a number of encounters

[Balance]
+ Made a number of adjustments to how enemies scale over time, to maintain difficulty level of game over time.
+ Sam begins with intel on 3 danger level 1 tiles.
+ Provisionally set max character level at 35, max skill at 125, max stat at 15
+ Reduced upgrades per weapon to 7. Previously, there were up to 14. Upgrades now focus on enhancing the weapons' strengths and retaining distinctions between weapon classes.
+ Melee weapon special attack (bleeding, concussion, winded) chance and armour damage can now be upgraded.
+ Know Thine Enemy Perk now reveals armour condition of enemies, types of equipment carried, and number of enemy reinforcements.
+ Increased Church of the Final Exodus Fleetness and Toughness Stats.
+ Increased critical chance of bladed weapons
+ Adjusted start, spawn, and flee positions for players and enemies for all patrol maps
+ Choosing a to deploy close to enemies provides a +1 initiative bonus
+ Enemies gain an initiative and ap bonus at hardboiled and hero difficulty.
+ Shop will always refresh stock with at least 1 weapon upgrade parts, gunpowder and medical supplies.
+ Gang leaders will ambush at level 9+ now, but will react more quickly to your attacks on districts.

[Improvements]
+ The maps missions take place in are now linked to the city tile they are launched from
+ Dialogue encounters now occur more frequently
+ Additional enemies can now be spawned as a result of a dialogue choice
+ Players can sustain an injury as a result of a dialogue choice
+ Enemies can be removed from play as a result of dialogue choices.
+ Improved crafting interface for weapon and armour stat upgrades.
+ Improved crafting interface for general crafting and item/armour type upgrades.
+ All dialogue options are now shown regardless if they are available or not.

[Quality of Life]
+ The number of upgrades a weapon or armour has are now displayed.
+ The quantity of items crafted can now be increased.
+ Added reload button to firearms at home.
+ A character's, or your entire team's items can be repaired with a single click.

[Fixes]
+ Fixed cancelling body part targetting preventing character from ending turn until another action is carried out
+ Fixed incorrect text being displayed on the city map wealth tooltip (Murkki017)
+ Fixed upgrading a single weapon upgrading multiple weapons of that type. (liessahl, Nomad, Ushas, Snobby)
+ Fixed an issue where items could be duplicated by dragging placing them in the shopping cart, and dragging them back. (FiniteThrills)
+ Fixed an issue where rapidly changing equipped item could cause issues with hand positioning.
+ Fixed melee interrupt on a thrown attack sometimes causing game to freeze.

 

[Lhynn]

A lot of those abilities smell like cooldown based, is this what the game is using?

 

[Timeslip]

A lot of those abilities smell like cooldown based, is this what the game is using?

Of the 7 new perks, 1 (Weak Spot) has a cooldown. The rest are passive. That said, most of the perks which unlock activated abilities, with the exception of perks which unlock special, weapon specific, attacks have cooldowns and AP costs.

 

[Lhynn]

Ever thought of changing cooldown for a more interesting kind of resource management?

 

[Timeslip]

What did you have in mind?

 

[Lhynn]

Cooldowns encourage the same pattern of gameplay in every encounter. Especially when said skills are objectively better than your basic moves and in most cases they are.

Limited uses per fight for example, mean the characters wont get renewable resources so the skill usage becomes far more tactical. It tends to make the player plan around their optimal usage. Creates a puzzle where they try to create a fight in which said skills wont be needed after you are done using them.

Another option is a resource pool. Tho this has the downside of making players just default to the most efficient skill when it comes to cost/benefit and will become the go to move by default. Its better than cooldowns tho and it doesnt feel as gamey.

Also just to-hit/Ap/Iniciative/defense/damage/evasion/etc penalties work really well to balance most skills. Remember that in reality every course of action has an actual cost, spending more time shooting makes you a more attractive target for those you arent trying to murder at the time. Spend too much time aiming and you are an easy prey, and its time you wont get to spend actually firing. You could just fire at someone to keep them from firing back with no real intention of hitting them. Performing complex or extraordinary skills may increase the stress your characters go through, penalizing for the duration of the fight. This is the method that is the most interactive with the player, it requires the players input at all times, and every action counts.
Everything should be a compromise.

 

[Timeslip]

Definitely a few things to think about here. Activated abilities usually have an AP cost, so there is an element of compromise, though granted, it's not as subtle as some of the options you've outlined. Controlled Breathing gives a positive CTH buff in round 1, and a negative penalty in round 2. Have been thinking about the resource pool idea on an off, but not sure there are enough activated abilities in the game to merit the time to implement it. Hopefully will get a chance to take some time to add a few more activated abilities and do some more work on the existing ones.

 

[Timeslip]

Will likely get in touch with GOG soon to see if they would be interested in distributing Vigilantes. If anyone would like to see it on GOG, there's a wishlist set up for it here

 

[Timeslip]

Currently working on adding dialogue. This is going to be the biggest update in that regard, with 8 encounters added so far, including the boss encounters, and 4 lieutenant encounters. This is slow and tedious work, and have been doing it for around 10 hours a day all this week. Have added some extra options for the outcomes which can occur from dialogue, one of which is the ability to challenge enemies to a 1 on 1 duel, or extra enemies appearing. Few more days and should be nearly done with this part of the work.

 

[ArchAngel]

One day this game will be finished and I can finally play it

 

[Timeslip]

One day this game will be finished and I can finally play it

No one's looking forward to that day more than I am Expectation is that should still be good for first half of October.

 

[Alienman]

Then the production of Vigilantes 2 starts!

 

[Timeslip]

Then the production of Vigilantes 2 starts!

Ha, we'll see. Four years is a long time to work on one thing, so would be more interested in working on something new. Would like to stay in the same area genre wise, but switch up the setting and place more emphasis on the RPG side. Too early to say what will happen yet, won't really have a clear idea of the next move until after Vigilantes launches.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Space pirate rpg! *yarr in vacuum*

 

[Strange Fellow]

In space, no one can hear you yarr!

 

[Alienman]

Viglantes 2: 30% more vigilante.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/545600/announcements/detail/1684796856692530695

Version 29: Testing has begun!
Vigilantes - Timeslip
Hi everyone,

Testing has begun on version 29, which is the single biggest content update so far. The update will add over 20 items (including unique items, which can only be found by defeating gang leaders, and high end, craft only weapons), over 10 new encounters, along with a number of newspaper articles and diary entries.

The expectation is that testing will be complete in around 1 week. You can get more information on the update here . The expectation that Vigilantes will release in early October stands.

Also, the price of Vigilantes will increase to its release price over the next few days (otherwise, it won't be possible to offer a launch discount). I'd be interested to hear your opinions on a fair release price!

Finally, a creator studio page has been set up here if you'd like to stay in touch!

Thanks for reading!
Daithi

 

[Timeslip]

Links seem to have been severed, so here's the update notes and the link to the developer homepage. Crunch has begun in earnest at this point. This week, outside sleeping, eating and a bit of exercise the entire day has been taken up with work. Hitting around 11 hours per day. Not fun, but it's par for the course. Roll on October....

 

[Timeslip]

Any thoughts on final release price? Currently $11.99

 

[Strange Fellow]

Any thoughts on final release price? Currently $11.99

I would suggest a special $11,50 discount for Codexers.

 

[santino27]

Any thoughts on final release price? Currently $11.99

19.99 or 24.99, I'd say. Don't want to go too much higher than the latter imo, but I'm not sure what your expectations are.

I think 19.99 would sell better than 24.99, but who knows if the volume would make up for the discount.

 

[BEvers]

I don't see a big difference between 11.99 or 14.99 psychologically.

 

[agris]

Or blow everyones’ minds by dropping the .99 douchebaggetry and just call it $12

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Or blow everyones’ minds by dropping the .99 douchebaggetry and just call it $12

Watch it mate, you'd start a revolution with that kinda talk.