Information Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox Now on Kickstarter

[Crooked Bee]

Tags: Kickstarter; Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox

Remember Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox, the game that did not make it at Indiegogo? (What game has made it at Indiegogo, though?) If you don't, let me remind you, via the game's Kickstarter description:

• The game is an homage to classic RPGs such as Eye of the Beholder, Might & Magic, Dungeon Master, Stonekeep, etc
• Movement is grid-based and turn-based
• It is set in an infinite, persistent world (yes, persistent, too!)
• The world is rich and full of dungeons, crypts, forests, cities, vast oceans and more
• World is NOT randomly generated, but it IS infinite, so you can share what you find with friends [The devs obviously mean procedural generation - CB]
• Items, weapons, quests, locations, maps, NPCs, even dialogue are generated by the game
• Even some graphics such as weapon images are generated procedurally
• The game is nearly finished, but we need some extra funds to add the final layer of polish to make the game as good as it can be

Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox is a game for all those fans of old-school first person RPG gaming. The movement is grid-based, but also turn-based, bringing back that old strategising element of games such as Might & Magic, there are an infinite number of items and weapons and armor to find, and an infinite number of quests to go on. That being said, however, the aim of this game isn't to make a game that you can play forever, that would just be silly. What we're making is an RPG that you can play for as long or as little as you want, and always have new places to find. Best of all, the in-game world is also persistent, so if you find something cool, you can share its location with your friends and they'll be able to find it, too!​

The goal is a rather humble $6,000, and $20 gets you a digital copy of the game to be released in December 2012. You can watch the video, have a look at some screenshots, and of course examine the tiers at Malevolence's Kickstarter page.

 

[Kz3r0]

Remember Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox, the game that did not make it at Indiegogo? (What game has made it at Indiegogo, though?)

Turf Battles is a game that incorporates the best elements of many games such as fast paced PvP and grinding that is fun.

http://www.indiegogo.com/turfbattles

Support video games for queer people and people of color!

http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Arkh-Project

Tribal Pride: Show your Pride, represent your Tribe!

Making ancient history 'effin awesome on FaceBook!

http://www.indiegogo.com/TribalPride

 

[Metro]

I like the fact that it's over a larger world with multiple dungeons versus something like Grimrock but I'm still just not a fan of the EOB/DM (sub) genre.

 

[Bulba]

I'm rather unsure about this game... the chances are it's going to be shallow and boring. Games with generated quest system tend to be very repetative and from reading about it's quest system they are going to be either kill a bunch of monsters or go ask around which monsters to kill and then kill them.

 

[mondblut]

I'm rather unsure about this game... the chances are it's going to be shallow and boring. Games with generated quest system tend to be very repetative and from reading about it's quest system they are going to be either kill a bunch of monsters or go ask around which monsters to kill and then kill them.

Yeah, they do get boring eventually. The catch is, by the time it happens, you have already played it for longer than any 3 non-procedurally generated games combined.

That reminds me of those fags who whined about Mount&Blade. "Baww, this game is *SO* boring and pointless without an Epic Story, can't play it any longer after the novelty of the first 200 hours has worn off". Ooookay.

As for the game itself, that sounds a bit too ambitious to be real for one guy asking for $6k. And wtf, no party? No party = no way. I still have Fate: Gates of Dawn to finish in my lifetime, and although it is not infinite, it gets fairly close to it.

 

[Brayko]

I did criticize M&B for lack of a centralized plotline, or at least some form of "plot guidance", since the beta days.

Having said that, if they could find ways to design better story archs for games designed with loads and loads of random number quests then we could see a brighter future in that regard.

Yes, storyfags gonna fag.

As for this particular game, I think it's worth keeping an eye on at the least.

 

[Mozgoëbstvo]

I did criticize M&B for lack of a centralized plotline, or at least some form of "plot guidance", since the beta days.

Having said that, if they could find ways to design better story archs for games designed with loads and loads of random number quests then we could see a brighter future in that regard.
Yes, storyfags gonna fag.

Ain't gonna happen any soon with the size of their team. Plus look at their last product... after the beautiful W/ fire & sword thay release a multiplayer only DLC based off the most popular multiplayer warband mod - Mount & musket. So, yeah, better story...

 

[taxalot]

So it's like a turn-based version of Daggerfall, except not as good?

 

[Morkar Left]

I did criticize M&B for lack of a centralized plotline, or at least some form of "plot guidance", since the beta days.

Having said that, if they could find ways to design better story archs for games designed with loads and loads of random number quests then we could see a brighter future in that regard.
Yes, storyfags gonna fag.

Ain't gonna happen any soon with the size of their team. Plus look at their last product... after the beautiful W/ fire & sword thay release a multiplayer only DLC based off the most popular multiplayer warband mod - Mount & musket. So, yeah, better story...

As far as I know neither With Fire And Sword nor the Mount & Musket DLC are made from taleworks. Both are licensed products that use the M&B engine and get distributed/published by taleworks/Paradox.

 

[Mozgoëbstvo]

I did criticize M&B for lack of a centralized plotline, or at least some form of "plot guidance", since the beta days.

Having said that, if they could find ways to design better story archs for games designed with loads and loads of random number quests then we could see a brighter future in that regard.
Yes, storyfags gonna fag.

Ain't gonna happen any soon with the size of their team. Plus look at their last product... after the beautiful W/ fire & sword thay release a multiplayer only DLC based off the most popular multiplayer warband mod - Mount & musket. So, yeah, better story...

As far as I know neither With Fire And Sword nor the Mount & Musket DLC are made from taleworks. Both are licensed products that use the M&B engine and get distributed/published by taleworks/Paradox.

That makes it even worse!

But it also explains why WF&S was so more enjoyable than warband.

 

[Morkar Left]

Mozgoëbstvo
Why does it make things worse? I think it's a good thing they encourage modding by allowing them to sell good ones. The modders get some money for their efforts, the community gets a more polished mod and the franchise stays more attractive till the real sequel is finished. It's a win-win situation for me.

 

[Bulba]

I'm rather unsure about this game... the chances are it's going to be shallow and boring. Games with generated quest system tend to be very repetative and from reading about it's quest system they are going to be either kill a bunch of monsters or go ask around which monsters to kill and then kill them.

Yeah, they do get boring eventually. The catch is, by the time it happens, you have already played it for longer than any 3 non-procedurally generated games combined.

That reminds me of those fags who whined about Mount&Blade. "Baww, this game is *SO* boring and pointless without an Epic Story, can't play it any longer after the novelty of the first 200 hours has worn off". Ooookay.

As for the game itself, that sounds a bit too ambitious to be real for one guy asking for $6k. And wtf, no party? No party = no way. I still have Fate: Gates of Dawn to finish in my lifetime, and although it is not infinite, it gets fairly close to it.

Doesn't m&b have a final goal? I thought it said somewhere at the beginning that the goal is to unite everyone

 

[mondblut]

Doesn't m&b have a final goal? I thought it said somewhere at the beginning that the goal is to unite everyone

Not really.

Technically you can "conquer the world", but that's awfully long, boring and ultimately meaningless.

That's the beauty of sandbox games. You don't "complete" them, you just keep playing for as long as it remains entertaining - which is typically a far longer period than anything with a "win game" animation. Too bad a certain market base who cannot into games without said animation keeps demanding one because, uh, it is supposedly boring without it. Ehm...

 

[Mortmal]

Again, why going turn based if its 3D exploration with only one character ? I dont see why it refers to eye of beholder or dungeon master , it has nothing in common with them except the fantasy setting.Daggerfall, lesss good and turn based i think ill pass.I dont think it will be boring cause its procedural generation, you need a few good seeds for a main quest and random quests grafting on it , it will be boring cause of the turn based to kill filler encounters after filler encounters.If you want to do that you should go the diablo way.

 

[Metro]

So it's like a turn-based version of Daggerfall, except not as good?

Yeah I don't get this. I thought for sure it would be party based given the EOB style. Why not just make it real time combat?

 

[Stabwound]

The general idea is cool, but as brought up in the last thread, single-character blobber? Not such a great idea.

And really, what is $6000 going to accomplish in the development any game? That's a pittance.

 

[Metro]

Well they've basically already developed it and this is to put the 'finishing touches on it' or some such nonsense. Code for giving the developers money for hookers and blow.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Mozgoëbstvo
Why does it make things worse? I think it's a good thing they encourage modding by allowing them to sell good ones. The modders get some money for their efforts, the community gets a more polished mod and the franchise stays more attractive till the real sequel is finished. It's a win-win situation for me.

I also don't get it.

We see it very often that a good game gets expansions made by 3rd parties, or if you want to, professional "modders".
Then a lot of people go "baaaahhhh expansion X suck and they never patched it".

In the strategy/tcancer forum I'm gettin tired pointing out to people that if 6 titles are relased under the same brand name, it doesn't always mean you can expect the same from them.

Having said that, where is any news of M&B 2? It was half announced a looooong time ago.

 

[Burning Bridges]

The Malevolence guy sounds much less like a retard now, compared to when they were at indiegogo.

Besides, they will get much more than 6K. What a clever funding goal indeed. I must always laugh when people set a 300K goal and get 10, while others set a 10K goal and get 300 (as will probably happen in this case).

But I still don't get a lot about this game. Some things about it look great, but wtf, no party? Also, there is still realtime combat in every video, yet they call it turn based, do people even care?

 

[Shannow]

While I wish the game all the best (especially in the hope of more TB dungeoncrawlers being made); single character, TB combat that doesn't seem to give a choice of several tactical options and a character system that flat out runs against my OCD needs of stats going up and staying up (and lack of auto-mini-map) all make this a no no for me.

 

[Mozgoëbstvo]

Mozgoëbstvo
Why does it make things worse? I think it's a good thing they encourage modding by allowing them to sell good ones. The modders get some money for their efforts, the community gets a more polished mod and the franchise stays more attractive till the real sequel is finished. It's a win-win situation for me.

and, perchance, would anyone know when said sequel is coming, or how well the latest DLC will be able to keep them afloat?

 

[Bulba]

The Malevolence guy sounds much less like a retard now, compared to when they were at indiegogo.

Besides, they will get much more than 6K. What a clever funding goal indeed. I must always laugh when people set a 300K goal and get 10, while others set a 10K goal and get 300 (as will probably happen in this case).

But I still don't get a lot about this game. Some things about it look great, but wtf, no party? Also, there is still realtime combat in every video, yet they call it turn based, do people even care?

300 k? are you serious? they will be lucky to hit their goal

 

[Hobo Elf]

Infinite quests, infinite items and infinite dungeons, but what about the infinite dragons?

 

[Kz3r0]

For anyone interested, funded.

 

[cutterjohn]

I kicked in for $50... I NEVER EVER had a problem with Daggerfall's procedurually generated shit and random dungeons, so man, I'm all in on this even if their dev skills are lacking a bit...

(Pssst: They seem to be using Dark Basic and their 3D engine partially as far as I can tell from what they've released, but still their demo vids look to be kickass... just hoping for the 10k level personally as tha sounds sweet v. 8k and the tier above 10k stretch IMNHO...)

The dimwit with the Evochron(overpriced) games is what put me off on "procedural" "generation" as said dimwit made it sound like he invented this shit and made it so AWESOME when his games were SO FUCKING INCREDIBLY BORING excepting for multiplayer but he kept spewing out "new" games which made MP for his "old" games useless... sorry offtrack/derailing but WTF... his games were realistically ONLY about MP...)

I just hope that they have some sort of way of modding: DISCLAIMERZ I DIDZ NOTZ READZORZ 111 commentz in the kickstarter comment thingy.

Hoping for beta game keys to play early.

BTW: checkout townsgame.com I picked this one up pseudo by accident for another but found it to be MUCH MORE FUN than the one that I wanted in an indieroyale pack... Those guys REALLY need a kickstarter...