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Game News Grimrock devs reform as Ctrl Alt Ninja to create Druidstone, a procedurally generated turn-based RPG

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Tags: Ctrl Alt Ninja; Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest

It's been two and a half years since the release of the excellent Legend of Grimrock 2 by Finnish indie studio Almost Human. It's widely assumed that Grimrock 2 sold poorly compared to its predecessor, but we've known for a while now that it was at least successful enough to allow Almost Human to spend some time creating a new engine for their next project. Of course, that suggested that said project would not be Legend of Grimrock 3, and indeed it turns out that their new game is as far from Grimrock as you can get. In fact, it's not even being developed by the same studio. For unknown reasons, key developers from Almost Human have reformed under the banner of Ctrl Alt Ninja to develop Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest, a top-down, turn-based, single-character, story-driven and procedurally generated fantasy RPG. I'll quote the introduction post from the game's official website:

Introducing Druidstone

Welcome to the Druidstone dev blog! This blog is about the development of a fantasy roleplaying game called “Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest” which we have been working on since fall 2016.

In the world of Druidstone, the druids of the Menhir Forest possess a great power: the power of reincarnation. When a druid passes on, through some mysterious process his spirit is able to return from the great void back into the world of living and to his former self.

But with every reincarnation the world itself seems to change: where there was only a thicket of bushes in the forest before, there may be a trail or a shrine of stones now. The ancient ruins in the forest change place and the tunnels and their inhabitants beneath the ground are all different. Even stranger, the denizens of the forest do not seem to notice this at all.

Druidstone is set in a vast procedurally generated forest filled with exciting locations to explore and of course encounters, the meat of every RPG. You will meet interesting non-player characters such as the insane Red Priests who worship a being called Oghmu and the mysterious Traveller. You fight deadly bosses and explore ruins and dungeons in an open-world single-player game. Some of the encounters are friendly but many can lead into conflicts which are resolved using a tactical, turn-based battle system on a two-dimensional grid. The game features roguelike elements, so that when you die the game begins anew with different levels and encounters. Some of the encounters even react to you being reincarnated, so even by dying you can gain deeper understanding to the mysteries of the Menhir Forest.

Even though there are random elements in the game, at the heart of Druidstone is an overarching storyline and key encounters which give structure to the game and avoid it being just a gauntlet with random monsters to kill. In fact, we can’t wait to tell you the epic story we have in our mind! In addition, there are the stories you create as you explore the almost infinite space of procedurally generated content.

In the beginning there is an idea

Who were the druids? Did they build the Stonehenge, and why? These were the questions we asked ourselves when we started the design process for this game. After researching the subject we realized that even today relatively little is known about the druids. Apparently they were (are?) a group of mysterious men and women who had a special relationship with the nature and performed rituals at the sites of standing stones. Who knows, maybe they even possessed some magical powers?

This idea really stuck in our minds and began to evolve. We started seeing glimpses of the imaginary world of Druidstone, a world of ancient forests, massive standing stones, mist-clad shrines, and of a darkness that was coming. And of course of the druids, caretakers of the ancient stone spirits of the forest. The world began feeling more than imaginary to us… And thus the world of Druidstone and also the idea for this game was born.

In Druidstone you are one of the druids and you have just been reincarnated in front of the stone pillar with its pulsating runes. Who are you? How did you die? Your mind is foggy. The rustling of the leaves and the wind carries ominous whispers. The darkness is coming…

The game will be released on Windows but the release date has not been set yet. But that is getting ahead of ourselves. The road is long and there is so much to do and so many ideas to explore. Better get hammering that keyboard!

P.S. You can also follow the development of the game on Facebook and Twitter.
I imagine many people will be disappointed by this, but let's see how it turns out. Although there's no release date, the game is at an advanced enough stage of development that there are already several screenshots.
 

Valky

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Grimrock devs making new game
successful-winner-dancing-joy-17015750.jpg


Procedurally generated
38942336-Despair-businesswoman-holding-a-gun-near-head--Stock-Photo.jpg
 

Roguey

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Procedurally generated and story-driven don't strike me as two things that will go well together. :/
 

Father Foreskin

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This could be anything. However i have a distrust about game companies with the word ninja in their name due Metroid Other M. Also Annie Mitsoda refers to herself as an ineffectual ninja on her twitter. Wide shouldered women like her tend have a lot of pressure in their gastrointestinal systems due bodyshape so you can hear them take a shit in the bathroom during netflix and chill nights. Its allright though, were all human.
 

Lady_Error

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So basically a Nethack or ADOM with graphics? I always thought that somebody should take the core gameplay of rogue RPG's and give them better graphics and UI. Let's see if this one will live up to that.
 
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Trying to keep an open mind, but as a huge fan of the LoGs... yes, this is disappointing.

Also what the fuck weird drama happened to make a new studio? Can't wait to compare credits between LoG2 and Druidstone (which, by the way, is an even worse name than "Legend of Grimrock". Doesn't lend a tremendous amount of faith to their ability to write a narrative focused game).
 

Sinatar

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Been in development since "Fall 2016", so this has only been in development for 6ish months. So pure conjecture, Almost Human were working on something (Grimrock 3 or something else entirely), some folks on the team got fed up and split off to make this.

So that might mean that Almost Human still exists in some form.

EDIT: Actually they have a FAQ on their site that says this:

What happened to Almost Human?

Druidstone is developed by Ctrl Alt Ninja, who share many people from Almost Human. Almost Human is still alive but no new games are currently being developed. It is possible that Almost Human returns with another game some day, but meanwhile the Ctrl Alt Ninja team is fully focused on Druidstone. Technically we are a different studio (the ownership and structure of the companies are different). Think of us like members of a band who enjoy this so much that we have a dual membership in another band.
 

Lady_Error

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After seeing the screenshots, I'm more sceptical. Not a big fan of the closely zoomed in NWN-style 3D:

screenshots_04-1024x576.jpg


screenshots_03-1024x576.jpg


screenshots_01-1024x576.jpg


screenshots_02-1024x576.jpg
 

Darth Roxor

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After seeing the screenshots, I'm more sceptical. Not a big fan of the closely zoomed in NWN-style 3D:

It's p. obvious that it's the Grimrock engine/assets, just zoomed out and viewed from above. The walls in the first pic are a dead giveaway.

Not that I'm complaining, recycling is a noble endeavour.

Actually, from this perspective the dunjin level looks like it would look really neat-o for a Dungeon Keeper game.
 

Western

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After seeing the screenshots, I'm more sceptical. Not a big fan of the closely zoomed in NWN-style 3D:

It's p. obvious that it's the Grimrock engine/assets, just zoomed out and viewed from above. The walls in the first pic are a dead giveaway.

Not that I'm complaining, recycling is a noble endeavour.

Actually, from this perspective the dunjin level looks like it would look really neat-o for a Dungeon Keeper game.

Dungeon Keeper style game where Druids keep pesky interlopers from travelling through their woods?
 

Severian Silk

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Camera angle looks too wide. A real isometric game shouldn't be like that. Also shouldn't lock on character.
 

Darth Roxor

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After seeing the screenshots, I'm more sceptical. Not a big fan of the closely zoomed in NWN-style 3D:

It's p. obvious that it's the Grimrock engine/assets, just zoomed out and viewed from above. The walls in the first pic are a dead giveaway.

Not that I'm complaining, recycling is a noble endeavour.

Actually, from this perspective the dunjin level looks like it would look really neat-o for a Dungeon Keeper game.

Dungeon Keeper style game where Druids keep pesky interlopers from travelling through their woods?

Forest Caretaker - It's Not Easy Being Green.

Chopping down trees to make space for new rooms would feel somewhat counterintuitive tho
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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Been in development since "Fall 2016", so this has only been in development for 6ish months. So pure conjecture, Almost Human were working on something (Grimrock 3 or something else entirely), some folks on the team got fed up and split off to make this.

So that might mean that Almost Human still exists in some form.

EDIT: Actually they have a FAQ on their site that says this:

What happened to Almost Human?

Druidstone is developed by Ctrl Alt Ninja, who share many people from Almost Human. Almost Human is still alive but no new games are currently being developed. It is possible that Almost Human returns with another game some day, but meanwhile the Ctrl Alt Ninja team is fully focused on Druidstone. Technically we are a different studio (the ownership and structure of the companies are different). Think of us like members of a band who enjoy this so much that we have a dual membership in another band.
Company Ctrl Alt Ninja was already registered during March 2015 (https://www.kauppalehti.fi/yritykset/yritys/ctrl+alt+ninja+oy/26816366 source in Finnish), so this has been cooking a little bit longer.

BTW. Here is some publicly available fiscal info (those sources also in Finnish) about Almost Human:
https://www.kauppalehti.fi/yritykset/yritys/almost+human+oy/23902218
https://www.finder.fi/Suunnittelutoimistoja/Almost+Human+Oy/Espoo/yhteystiedot/2504644
 

Hellraiser

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I have a very strong dislike for seeing hearts as a health meter. It reeks of consoles and thus simplification or, more recently, of yet another rogue-lite.

However it looks interesting, but I am sceptical how story driven a procedural game can be. Well Diablo II did have a story, but did anyone treat it as more than an excuse plot for dungeon romping/min-maxing?
 

commie

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So they make some procedurally generated top down thing as TB when it's obvious that they are 'this close' to being able to make a Might and Magic given what they did previously? Why, GOD why?
 

Darkzone

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I looks good, but the procedurally generated is a off switch.
I have yet to see a good procedurally generated dungeons in game. I have tried some of the only ( without treasures and monsters) autogenerating dungeon makers and they all were not that good. Could have made one myself, but i don't play that much so the cost outweight the benefits. Yes i know i'm selfish. Hmmm ... if i would stop posting on the Codex i would have enough spare time to make one.
 

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