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Game News Telepath Tactics Released

Infinitron

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Tags: Craig Stern; Sinister Design; Telepath Tactics

Telepath Tactics, Craig Stern's tactical RPG inspired by Japanese classic Fire Emblem, was released today, two years after the conclusion of its second Kickstarter campaign (and around two and a half since its unsuccessful original one). Here's the game's release trailer, which lives up to the title, and the description from its Steam page:



The indie lovechild of Fire Emblem and Super Smash Brothers, Telepath Tactics is a strategy RPG with destructible battlefields, bridge- and barricade-building, and the ability to fling enemies off cliffs and into lava.

Play through a story-driven campaign with dozens of unique characters in a steampunk fantasy universe filled with telepathic generals, tribes of bipedal komodo dragons, and knights who ride atop giant, armored praying mantises:

It was deep winter when young Emma and Sabrina Strider fled slavery in the mines of Kovit. Exhausted and on the verge of starvation, they were found and taken in by a tribe of Lissit, reptilian warriors, who raised the sisters as their own. Now Emma trains tirelessly, bent on revenge and the prospect of rescuing their ailing father from bondage. But the years are never kind to a miner, and time grows desperately short. The sisters will need all of their wits—and the help of some unlikely allies—if they are to succeed…
  • Shove enemies off of cliffs! Fling enemies into environmental hazards like traps, water, and lava!
  • Destroy walls, freeze water, build bridges and lay explosives, changing the face of the battlefield to your advantage!
  • Build an army from among 23 different classes; learn more than 110 distinct attacks as you level up your characters, then promote those characters to powerful prestige classes!
  • Deal with merchants to keep your army well-supplied; make hard choices about your priorities both on and off the battlefield.
  • Play with friends in 2-6 player hotseat multiplayer matches with randomized item drops, multiple play modes, and support for army alliances!
  • Use the Telepath Tactics map editor to build your own campaigns, and download other peoples’ creations to play!

One of the interesting things about the game is Craig Stern's deterministic approach to RPG combat; you can read more about it here.

In a blog post on his company's website, Craig tells the story of the game's creation, which has been going on for longer than you might think:

Finally, let’s cap this off with some perspective on the history of Telepath Tactics’s development. I first started working on Telepath Tactics back in March 2009 during my last couple of months of law school. In between studying for final exams and working on Telepath RPG: Servants of God, I was tinkering with the basics of an engine that would come to be the basis for the game you now see.

Telepath RPG: Servants of God released in February 2012, at which point I was able to give Telepath Tactics my full attention. A little more than a year after that, I successfully Kickstarted Telepath Tactics to the tune of $41,259–all of which (and a good deal more!) went into making the game.

Now, a whopping 6 years after I first began work on it, Telepath Tactics is finally getting released. I’m a solo developer, and it’s been quite challenging to create this game while holding down a day job. Regardless, I think I’ve accomplished something special here: a tactical RPG on PC with a large cast of charming, well-written characters, mod support, and unparalleled tactical depth. I hope you enjoy playing the game as much as I’ve enjoyed making it for you!​

Congratulations, Craig, and thanks for the amusing email! Telepath Tactics is now available for the price of $15 on Steam, GOG, or directly from Sinister Design, with a 10% discount on the first two until next week.
 
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Xenich

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I find it amazing how a solo developer working a day job can make what appears to be a well thought out and detailed game system and environment while major studios spend tens to hundreds of millions with hundreds on staff specifically hired to do such and yet still end up producing shallow garbage.

My hat goes off to you Craig, and all like you!
 
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mindx2

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I think this'll be my first J-RPG.
It's my first "Tactics" style game but it certainly isn't jRPG in the sense that's it's Final Fantasy or weeaboo story oriented. It plays (story-wise) as a fairly straight forward western fantasy. Craig was a bro and sent me a review copy a couple of weeks ago but I'm ashamed to say I barely had any time to put into it. I definitely haven't played this style of cRPG before and kept getting my butt kicked early on... I should just try the llama campaign for awhile until I get better... :oops:

Regardless of my ineptitude so far I've had a blast with it! Great job Craig Stern!!! I promise to put more time into this next week!!
 

4249

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The link to buy directly from Sinister Design takes me to GoG :(
 

Crooked Bee

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The link to buy directly from Sinister Design takes me to GoG :(

Yeah, it's weird. I noticed that and edited the newspost, but then it ate up the direct link again... Must be some kind of bug feature.

I've edited it again now. Let's see how long it holds up.
 

Anthedon

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It was either this or GTA V.

SjEQPgD.jpg
 

Craig Stern

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I definitely haven't played this style of cRPG before and kept getting my butt kicked early on... I should just try the llama campaign for awhile until I get better... :oops:

Heh. The llama campaign is actually fairly difficult once you get past the first couple of battles! This post may be for you. :)
 
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Achiman

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Soon as I saw that backflip over and backstab in the video I was sold.
Only problem (and it's a good one) is that there is too much good shit out now for me to play.

hux4EKp.jpg


Unless I quit my job and study

  • :troll:
 

Mustawd

Guest
Craig's discussion on deterministic mechanics was quite interesting. Does he have something similar on how the AI works?


IT was a good, well thought out read.

The only thing that I think is sometimes missing in these random vs non-random discussions is the essence of risk: In other words...even if you have 90% chance of killing Orc A, you should not assume it's always 100%. And as a result, you should plan accordingly, or live with the risk/reward relationship.


People don't get "screwed by the RNG"; actually, they're screwing themselves by their own actions. It's just that they don't understand that every action they take includes some kind of risk. So stop acting like it doesn't. If anything, the control to rush an opponent with a single character (for example) versus two is completely, 100% in your control. You're taking that risk. No one made you run over there and swing an ax to that dude's head.

/rant.


But agree with Achiman. Too many damn good games for me to even keep up with anymore.
 

Mustawd

Guest
I definitely haven't played this style of cRPG before and kept getting my butt kicked early on... I should just try the llama campaign for awhile until I get better... :oops:

Heh. The llama campaign is actually fairly difficult once you get past the first couple of battles! This post may be for you. :)



Sorry for being lazy and not looking it up, but are there any plans to porting this to tablets? Sad to say that I only have been doing bathroom gaming for the past 6 months, so anything not on my iPad gets put on the "too play later" list.
 

Rpgsaurus Rex

Guest
Does it have a speedup feature (or something like disable animations etc.)?
 

Apexeon

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I find it amazing how a solo developer working a day job can make what appears to be a well thought out and detailed game system and environment while major studios spend tens to hundreds of millions with hundreds on staff specifically hired to do such and yet still end up producing shallow garbage.

My hat goes off to you Craig, and all like you!

Not really design is about design decisions and paying millions of dollars does not make someone who makes the design decisions smarter. Also if your after a "mass market appeal" the design decisions become clear (which means dumb down).

Intelligent gamming and design is a niche market.
 

Slimu

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Not really design is about design decisions and paying millions of dollars does not make someone who makes the design decisions smarter. Also if your after a "mass market appeal" the design decisions become clear (which means dumb down).

Intelligent gamming and design is a niche market.

Sir, you just earned a brofist from me! This year has so many good games (TT, Underrail, Serpent in the Staglands, AoD) it's a shame I don't have time to play them all. In the following months I'll buy your game since this month left me without jew money for games.
 

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