Sir Bob: Squire for Hire (by the makers of Heroine's Quest)

[Fizzii]

In the legends of King Arthur, meet Sir Launcelot the Brave! Sir Sagramore the Just! And Sir... Bob... who I'm sure has a great personality!

Take the role of the eager but clumsy squire Bob; as nobles, soldiers, and the Lady of the Lake all say you're too wimpy to become a Knight. Can you prove them wrong?

This lighthearted adventure game features well-known and lesser-known characters from the King Arthur legend, taking inspiration from the famous classics and offering fun for all ages. Any similarity to any person actually named Bob, or for that matter Launcelot, is purely coincidental.

Radiant and I have been slowly working on this project for the last year or so. Most of the art is there - it's basically additional animations that are left (hence the trailer is still a draft). In the meantime, we have gotten a Store Page up on Steam, so if you are interested in keeping track of this project, please wishlist it here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1765410/Sir_Bob_Squire_for_Hire/

 

[Hoaxmetal]

 

[Darth Roxor]

Any similarity to any person actually named Bob, or for that matter Launcelot, is purely coincidental.

I will be the first one to point out the elephant in the room and say that this is a pretty lame excuse for having Lady Moorgana in the game, even if it seems like she isn't even human (at least judging by her character sprite rather than the portrait - is her hair literally on fire or something). I liked all your previous games I played quite a lot so I'll be following this with interest, but I find this particular thing pretty disrespectful to the source material (which I happen to be a big enthusiast of), and it's also just another example of a trend that is overall becoming increasingly tiresome to me.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Is this going to have any light-RPG elements like HQ, or is it a pure point and click like AToTK?

Looking forward regardless.

 

[Azalin]

-Legend of King Arthur

-Clicks play on the trailer

-Half the characters in it are niggers

-Fuck this woke shit, I hope they go broke

 

[Gandalf]

Am kind of surprised too about skin colours, but other than that it looks nice to be honest. Yeah, people complain about brown, but seeing blue Lady of the Lake is fine.

 

[Darkozric]

Such a beautiful game for cuckholds

 

[negator2vc]

Yikes! Did the team changed artists?
There is no way the people that made the excellent Heroine's Quest are behind this!
Especially the characters and their portraits are pure crap!

 

[Gandalf]

Such a beautiful game for cuckholds

Trying to scare me or something with

? Oh shiet, that's amazing. Don't stop champ, entertain me more.

 

[Alex]

Is this game going to feature combat like Heroine's Quest?

 

[Fizzii]

Is this going to have any light-RPG elements like HQ, or is it a pure point and click like AToTK?

Looking forward regardless.

It is a pure point and click like ATOTK, and should have a good amount of replayability to it. No combat. I haven't actually played enough of the game to know where it all goes, but it should be good fun.

With regards to the skin colours, well, Morgana can look like however she wants (she is after all, either a goddess, a faerie shapeshifter, or a powerful enchantress, depending on the source material). Arthurian legend also has had characters from various ethnicities in it.

Yikes! Did the team changed artists?
There is no way the people that made the excellent Heroine's Quest are behind this!
Especially the characters and their portraits are pure crap!

Thanks for the feedback, I'll spend another five years improving the art while I skill up some more.

 

[negator2vc]

With regards to the skin colours, well, Morgana can look like however she wants (she is after all, either a goddess, a faerie shapeshifter, or a powerful enchantress, depending on the source material). Arthurian legend also has had characters from various ethnicities in it.

This seriously looks like a choice for "modern audiences".
If this by chance was just a creative choice and had nothing to do with that
it's still a bad choice these days considering people start to get really annoyed with all this modern crap.
You will only damage your game. After all adventure games are a niche genre.
Can you really afford to lose gamers?

Yikes! Did the team changed artists?
There is no way the people that made the excellent Heroine's Quest are behind this!
Especially the characters and their portraits are pure crap!

Thanks for the feedback, I'll spend another five years improving the art while I skill up some more.

You could remove for example the portraits since the do the most "visual damage" while improving your skills.
You could still have perfectly fine dialog box with just the speaker name and the dialog text.
At a later time much improved portraits could be added for ex. for a few key characters.

 

[Fizzii]

With regards to the skin colours, well, Morgana can look like however she wants (she is after all, either a goddess, a faerie shapeshifter, or a powerful enchantress, depending on the source material). Arthurian legend also has had characters from various ethnicities in it.

This seriously looks like a choice for "modern audiences".
If this by chance was just a creative choice and had nothing to do with that
it's still a bad choice these days considering people start to get really annoyed with all this modern crap.
You will only damage your game. After all adventure games are a niche genre.
Can you really afford to lose gamers?

Actually yes, we can. Because we don't make games for a living, we make games for fun. In terms of how much we've made from games all these years... it's really been pittance.

And I get it; I don't like tokenism. I work in a male dominated industry where most people are white middle aged males... and I'll often be the only female in a meeting of 10 people. There has been the odd occasion where I've been asked to do a photoshoot, where I can tell they are specifically looking for a female with coloured skin to promote that it's a diverse company. I actually take exception to being singled out like that, as the focus is then on the appearance rather than who I am as a person.

But in this case, this is just a game with its own story telling... and I trust that Radiant would have developed the characters enough that it fits the story and isn't just a character that has been given a different skin colour. Radiant is always very particular about details and that all feeds into the way he designs the story, setting and characters.

As for the portraits, you'd need to be more specific about what you don't like about them. I can't really improve anything without specific constructive feedback.

Arthurian legend also has had characters from various ethnicities in it.

I don't know how legit this claim is, what are your sources?

Unless this is meant to be a parody.

It's a comedy and has a bit of a Monty Python feel to it. I haven't read the full legends myself (though Radiant has), but a quick Google supports that other races were noted and known of in the Arthurian legends (i.e. there were characters of colour written into the stories).

From a historical viewpoint, the Middle Ages arose after the fall of the Roman empire, and the crusades occurred in the Middle East. The Roman Empire itself spanned a huge breadth in its heyday, and so if the Romans knew about Africa and the Middle East, then surely the author(s) of the Arthurian legends knew too.

 

[Gandalf]

Just made this quick visualisation for fun. This isn't meant to mock or anything.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Arthurian legend also has had characters from various ethnicities in it.

Please tell me your source isn't the movie starring Clive Owen

 

[Vlajdermen]

Just made this quick visualisation for fun. This isn't meant to mock or anything.

Still kinda ugly

 

[Alex]

Just made this quick visualisation for fun. This isn't meant to mock or anything.

Still kinda ugly

Well... she is a witch.

 

[negator2vc]

Actually yes, we can. Because we don't make games for a living, we make games for fun. In terms of how much we've made from games all these years... it's really been pittance.

But you still need players to .... you know ... play the game!
But the way as a gamer that bought both Tale of Two kingdoms (on itchio) and the Heroine Quest (Heroine's Quest: Developer Appreciation Package on gog) I really think the low price does more damage than good considering both games have good amount of gameplay.

And I get it; I don't like tokenism. I work in a male dominated industry where most people are white middle aged males... and I'll often be the only female in a meeting of 10 people. There has been the odd occasion where I've been asked to do a photoshoot, where I can tell they are specifically looking for a female with coloured skin to promote that it's a diverse company. I actually take exception to being singled out like that, as the focus is then on the appearance rather than who I am as a person.

But in this case, this is just a game with its own story telling... and I trust that Radiant would have developed the characters enough that it fits the story and isn't just a character that has been given a different skin colour. Radiant is always very particular about details and that all feeds into the way he designs the story, setting and characters.

Sorry but your own comment that start with "male dominated industry... white middle aged males ..." speak volume about the reasons behind the "color" changes especially when it's about already established characters.
In the end as a gamer I care about the game even though I am also a, hobbyist for now, game developer.

You may not like about their color choices of characters but it is what it is. Making changes to them is what is commonly know these days as raceswap and nothing more especially since they are in your promotion material (aka trailer, screenshots, etc...).
If you want to introduce character of different skin colour (as you said) you could easily introduce new characters while keeping the original, as they are already established, in the background.
And just because is a parody don't focus the humor on a specific demographic (another thing that starting to annoy people these days) but spread it around.

I will answer the rest of your post in my next post

 

[Darkozric]

But you still need players

No she doesn't, go make your own game to play.

 

[negator2vc]

But you still need players

No she doesn't, go make your own game to play.

already do

 

[Fizzii]

But you still need players to .... you know ... play the game!
But the way as a gamer that bought both Tale of Two kingdoms (on itchio) and the Heroine Quest (Heroine's Quest: Developer Appreciation Package on gog) I really think the low price does more damage than good considering both games have good amount of gameplay.

There will still be players that will play . Tbh, the games haven't sold in droves simply because of a lack of marketing, which I don't have much time for.

Sorry but your own comment that start with "male dominated industry... white middle aged males ..." speak volume about the reasons behind the "color" changes especially when it's about already established characters.
In the end as a gamer I care about the game even though I am also a, hobbyist for now, game developer.

You may not like about their color choices of characters but it is what it is. Making changes to them is what is commonly know these days as raceswap and nothing more especially since they are in your promotion material (aka trailer, screenshots, etc...).
If you want to introduce character of different skin colour (as you said) you could easily introduce new characters while keeping the original, as they are already established, in the background.
And just because is a parody don't focus the humor on a specific demographic (another thing that starting to annoy people these days) but spread it around.

I will answer the rest of your post in my next post

I didn't actually have input into the character races (also, what I was trying to say is that I don't like tokenism in the form of "let's chuck in this ethnic person as an extra"). Radiant comes up with the character briefs; I draw and paint them to try to match what he's after. The brief he wrote didn't make it out to "Let's just make her black for inclusions sake", therefore I didn't feel like it was forced. As I already said - Morgana can look like how she likes. Even the myths aren't perfectly consistent with who she is as a character.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Even the myths aren't perfectly consistent with who she is as a character.

Other than her being a person originating from somewhere in the Isles, surely?