UPDATE: This is most likely going to be PC, not tablet-based. See the discussion ITT starting from this post by Neal Hallford.
In case you don't already know, Neal Hallford is now thinking about making a new Betrayal at Krondor, though it might not be quite the game you think... as Neal writes on fb:
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So I've begun preliminary brainstorming on a new "Betrayal". It will not, I repeat NOT, be set in Feist's universe. Nor will it be set in the Antara universe (which neither I nor any of the rest of the original BAK team had anything to do with.) This will be an all new universe, using many of the play mechanics of the original game, but adding in a few new twists that take advantage of the advances in graphics and interfaces that have been made over the past twenty years.
What shape would this new "Betrayal" take? Here's where I'm starting:
* RPG - It can't be Betrayal if it isn't an RPG. Like the original it will be largely skill based, though we may add classes to the game as the player advances, giving them specific skill trees they can climb if they want to gain bonuses.
* STEAMPUNK UNIVERSE - This first adventure will be in a remote outpost of a Victorian-esque empire. It's not our Earth, but much of it will seem very familiar. It will be to Earth's Victorian era what J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth was to Medieval Europe.
* MAGIC and TECH - You betcha. We'll have both. Part of the appeal of this game is that you're a BUILDER. Inspired somewhat by the first-ever RPG I ever designed, you'll craft your tools, whether they are magical or mechanical. A big part of the fun in this game will be watching your "creations" come to life. If you go the steam route, you build increasingly cool mechanoids to serve you. If you go the magic route, then you're like Victor Frankenstein, using flesh warping capabilities to create your monstrous servants. One way or another, at one point or another, you get to scream "it's alive! alive!"
* A DEEP, RICH, AND EVOLVING STORY - If there's anything that most of you know about me, you can expect the same kind of great storytelling that we delivered in the original Betrayal. I was, afterall, the person who actually wrote the original storyline along with all the dialogues, so what you got from BAK, you'll find here as well. What will be different, aside from the Steampunk setting, is that this game will not be strictly linear.The player will have several choices in how the game evolves. Not necessarily choices between abstract ideas of "good or evil", but the player will develop factional relationships that will influence of the outcome of events in the game.
* HAVE A PARTY - In the first game, the player will start with one character who is the focal point of the story. They will then meet other characters that can join the party, or they can simply build up their golems or mechina to back them up in tight situations.
* TIME STOPPED OR TURN BASED COMBAT - I'll either go with the turn based combat of the original Betrayal, or I may go with something like the original Bard's Tale which allowed you to pause at any point during combat so you could actually plan your battles. The major upshot being that we allow the player to be as strategic in battle as they wish to be.
* OVER THE SHOULDER VIEW - Although the original game was a first person viewed game for exploration, I want the player to be able to see their character as they level up and get cool new gear. What's the fun in getting all that cool new stuff if you can't see your character wandering around in it?
* TABLET BASED - The first adventure will be created for iPad and Android based tablets. If the tablet version does well, then a sequel/expansion of the concept will be developed for PCs and/or Consoles.
* STEAM/LINUX/MAC/PLATFORM OF CHOICE - We are starting, as I said before with tablet, but there's nothing stopping us from delivering this to people's favorite platforms OTHER than the practical fact that it takes time to develop each SKU. If the first tablet concept works, then absolutely we'll expand to other places.
* PHASED DEVELOPMENT - The first step in Betrayal's development will be the creation of self-enclosed adventure that introduces the universe and some of the basic play mechanics. This will be a tablet based game. Because of the limitations of the tablet, we won't necessarily be able to get in all the features we want in the first title, but we should at least be able to begin to explore the ideas. Our first Kickstarter campaign will be to fund this first exploratory phase. If the tablet game is successful, and we get positive reactions from players, we will then advance to a full PC/Console title which will expand and elaborate on all the mechanics which were successful in the tablet version, plus taking us further into the world. The tablet version will likely just be the first act in the larger story that will be told through the PC/Console title.
* TIE INS - If people get sufficiently excited about it, we may also shoot for a tie in comic book, novella, or maybe even a web series. It'll be up to all of you to help me decide whether you want that stuff or not.
So...want to take this adventure? Would you be willing to back something along those lines? More to the point, would you like to help BUILD something like this? I'm going to need artists and programmers to help me make this happen, so if any of the above excites you, drop me samples/links/etc to neal@swordsandcircuitry.com. I'll need a dedicated team who can give me blood, sweat and tears for about a month so we can create the pitch materials for the Kickstarter campaign. I can't pay any of you for the pitch, but IF the campaign is successful, I'll have work for at least six to eight months for at least four to six people. Maybe more if we hit stretch goals. But first, I have to get funded. And to get funded, I need you.
Who's with me?
------------------------------------------------------
I'm in.
In case you don't already know, Neal Hallford is now thinking about making a new Betrayal at Krondor, though it might not be quite the game you think... as Neal writes on fb:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So I've begun preliminary brainstorming on a new "Betrayal". It will not, I repeat NOT, be set in Feist's universe. Nor will it be set in the Antara universe (which neither I nor any of the rest of the original BAK team had anything to do with.) This will be an all new universe, using many of the play mechanics of the original game, but adding in a few new twists that take advantage of the advances in graphics and interfaces that have been made over the past twenty years.
What shape would this new "Betrayal" take? Here's where I'm starting:
* RPG - It can't be Betrayal if it isn't an RPG. Like the original it will be largely skill based, though we may add classes to the game as the player advances, giving them specific skill trees they can climb if they want to gain bonuses.
* STEAMPUNK UNIVERSE - This first adventure will be in a remote outpost of a Victorian-esque empire. It's not our Earth, but much of it will seem very familiar. It will be to Earth's Victorian era what J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth was to Medieval Europe.
* MAGIC and TECH - You betcha. We'll have both. Part of the appeal of this game is that you're a BUILDER. Inspired somewhat by the first-ever RPG I ever designed, you'll craft your tools, whether they are magical or mechanical. A big part of the fun in this game will be watching your "creations" come to life. If you go the steam route, you build increasingly cool mechanoids to serve you. If you go the magic route, then you're like Victor Frankenstein, using flesh warping capabilities to create your monstrous servants. One way or another, at one point or another, you get to scream "it's alive! alive!"
* A DEEP, RICH, AND EVOLVING STORY - If there's anything that most of you know about me, you can expect the same kind of great storytelling that we delivered in the original Betrayal. I was, afterall, the person who actually wrote the original storyline along with all the dialogues, so what you got from BAK, you'll find here as well. What will be different, aside from the Steampunk setting, is that this game will not be strictly linear.The player will have several choices in how the game evolves. Not necessarily choices between abstract ideas of "good or evil", but the player will develop factional relationships that will influence of the outcome of events in the game.
* HAVE A PARTY - In the first game, the player will start with one character who is the focal point of the story. They will then meet other characters that can join the party, or they can simply build up their golems or mechina to back them up in tight situations.
* TIME STOPPED OR TURN BASED COMBAT - I'll either go with the turn based combat of the original Betrayal, or I may go with something like the original Bard's Tale which allowed you to pause at any point during combat so you could actually plan your battles. The major upshot being that we allow the player to be as strategic in battle as they wish to be.
* OVER THE SHOULDER VIEW - Although the original game was a first person viewed game for exploration, I want the player to be able to see their character as they level up and get cool new gear. What's the fun in getting all that cool new stuff if you can't see your character wandering around in it?
* TABLET BASED - The first adventure will be created for iPad and Android based tablets. If the tablet version does well, then a sequel/expansion of the concept will be developed for PCs and/or Consoles.
* STEAM/LINUX/MAC/PLATFORM OF CHOICE - We are starting, as I said before with tablet, but there's nothing stopping us from delivering this to people's favorite platforms OTHER than the practical fact that it takes time to develop each SKU. If the first tablet concept works, then absolutely we'll expand to other places.
* PHASED DEVELOPMENT - The first step in Betrayal's development will be the creation of self-enclosed adventure that introduces the universe and some of the basic play mechanics. This will be a tablet based game. Because of the limitations of the tablet, we won't necessarily be able to get in all the features we want in the first title, but we should at least be able to begin to explore the ideas. Our first Kickstarter campaign will be to fund this first exploratory phase. If the tablet game is successful, and we get positive reactions from players, we will then advance to a full PC/Console title which will expand and elaborate on all the mechanics which were successful in the tablet version, plus taking us further into the world. The tablet version will likely just be the first act in the larger story that will be told through the PC/Console title.
* TIE INS - If people get sufficiently excited about it, we may also shoot for a tie in comic book, novella, or maybe even a web series. It'll be up to all of you to help me decide whether you want that stuff or not.
So...want to take this adventure? Would you be willing to back something along those lines? More to the point, would you like to help BUILD something like this? I'm going to need artists and programmers to help me make this happen, so if any of the above excites you, drop me samples/links/etc to neal@swordsandcircuitry.com. I'll need a dedicated team who can give me blood, sweat and tears for about a month so we can create the pitch materials for the Kickstarter campaign. I can't pay any of you for the pitch, but IF the campaign is successful, I'll have work for at least six to eight months for at least four to six people. Maybe more if we hit stretch goals. But first, I have to get funded. And to get funded, I need you.
Who's with me?
------------------------------------------------------
I'm in.
Not that I don't believe you cannot make a good RPG on tablet (playing Tactics Ogre now on my smartphone), but the design decisions do not really fit the platform he is concentrating on.
