Lair of the Leviathan - a turn based RPG in a hand crafted open world

[NostalgicRealms]

Hi, I'm the developer of Lair of the Leviathan.

I guess I should start by linking my Steam page here SteamPage

I try and post updates there regularly and also on My Twitter

It seems that a lot of RPGs these days are either procedurally generated maps and dungeons or include things like roguelike or deckbuilding. I don't know if it's just me but I was missing more straight forward old school RPGs. So I started making one!
I grew up playing RPGs in the 80s and 90s and am trying to create a similar kind of RPG. A big open world, no railroading into following one path through the world, no procedural generation or level scaling. A this stage even no quest markers that players just hop from one to the other rather than exploring the world. (I suspect this might be unpopular)

This is a link to my teaser trailer. It shows off a bit of what combat and exploration is like.

I included a few screenshots below as well.

https://imgur.com/v6VtW25

https://imgur.com/qsdZ0df

I'm really happy to answer questions or if anyone also has suggestions about the kind of things they want to see in games but developers aren't making any more I'd love to hear it.

 

[Corwin]

Welcome to the Watch where we like to help and support Indie developers.

 

[Stingray]

Graphics look great, but not a lot of gameplay info in the trailer. What's the expected/estimated release date?

 

[daveyd]

The game looks fantastic, I'm really looking forward to it. I certainly don't mind not having quest markers, but I hope we'll get hints about where to go from talking with NPCs.

Are you planning on implementing difficulty settings?

One thing I tend to find lacking in a lot of modern RPGs is challenge. They're often too easy even on the highest difficulty setting. I like "hard" to actually be hard (requiring smart tactics not simply grinding or reloading until I get lucky).

 

[Carnifex]

Looks really good to me, thanks for the update and welcome to the forums!

 

[Hastar]

That outdoor map looks fantastic. No deck building makes me interested right away. Personal things I enjoy in this kind of game would be, a large world, many magic items, plenty of foes, and meaningful exploration with secrets and special encounters.

 

[daveyd]

Mostly agree with @Hastar except I'm not so sure regarding "many magic items". I strongly prefer unique / handcrafted loot that has history and lore. I'm not a fan of when RPGs have you stumbling upon a gazillion swords of fire +1.93% and make inventory management tedious and looting a chore.

So I'd say I prefer magic items be somewhat rare / special. Baldur's Gate games have pretty great itemization, I don't like how loot was in Divinity Original Sin.

 

[NostalgicRealms]

Welcome to the Watch where we like to help and support Indie developers.

I'm glad it was suggested to me. It seems like a really positive place.

Graphics look great, but not a lot of gameplay info in the trailer. What's the expected/estimated release date?

It's just a little teaser. I took most of the UI out for the video but there should be way more info on the steam page. I'm slowly working through posts outlining gameplay specifically as I go.

It is still a little while off but I hope a demo is released soon.

The game looks fantastic, I'm really looking forward to it. I certainly don't mind not having quest markers, but I hope we'll get hints about where to go from talking with NPCs.

Are you planning on implementing difficulty settings?

One thing I tend to find lacking in a lot of modern RPGs is challenge. They're often too easy even on the highest difficulty setting. I like "hard" to actually be hard (requiring smart tactics not simply grinding or reloading until I get lucky).

Thanks! I know most people expect quest markers, but one thing I think happens then is players just end up doing quest marker fetch rather than actually going out exploring, looking for clues on their own and finding random events or locations.

No difficult settings. There's no level scaling though so I guess the difficult setting would be spend less time levelling up and just go to more difficult regions underlevelled. You could also go for less party members in your party. I get what you mean. I start to lose interest in RPGs once you get to that point where battles are a cakewalk. I'm keeping that in mind that's for sure.

That outdoor map looks fantastic. No deck building makes me interested right away. Personal things I enjoy in this kind of game would be, a large world, many magic items, plenty of foes, and meaningful exploration with secrets and special encounters.

That sounds like exactly what I'm going for! The exploration in particular I think is something that is a bit lost there days.

Mostly agree with @Hastar except I'm not so sure regarding "many magic items". I strongly prefer unique / handcrafted loot that has history and lore. I'm not a fan of when RPGs have you stumbling upon a gazillion swords of fire +1.93% and make inventory management tedious and looting a chore.

So I'd say I prefer magic items be somewhat rare / special. Baldur's Gate games have pretty great itemization, I don't like how loot was in Divinity Original Sin.

I kind of agree! You end up collecting a lot of 'junk' items. My weapon system in particular is a bit different. Each character only has a handful of weapons but you spend resources upgrading them as you play and choose between a small pool without ever getting rid of them. Each one completely changes your characters playstyle so it's kind of like choosing a 'subclass'. I'm hoping it gets fun finding new weapon and wondering what 'subclass' it might unlock if you invest resources into it rather than just ok, this has better stats I'm dumping my old weapon.

 

[Hastar]

Mostly agree with @Hastar except I'm not so sure regarding "many magic items". I strongly prefer unique / handcrafted loot that has history and lore. I'm not a fan of when RPGs have you stumbling upon a gazillion swords of fire +1.93% and make inventory management tedious and looting a chore.

So I'd say I prefer magic items be somewhat rare / special. Baldur's Gate games have pretty great itemization, I don't like how loot was in Divinity Original Sin.

Yeah by many I meant a large variety like in D&D games. Amors, weapons, rings, amulets, and misc. items. I didn't mean Diablo-style loot, variety not quantity.