Frayed Knights - Escapes Greenlight Limbo

Couchpotato

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The Rampant Coyote has new post on his blog where he expresses his happiness that his RPG game Frayed Knights has finally been Greenlit on Steam.

I gotta admit, there were times where I had almost given up hope. Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon has turned into one of those “cult favorites,” I guess. A game that won some awards and some critical praise from the places that mattered, but has largely been off the radar of about everyone else. I still hear from people who discover it for the first time, who say things like, “Wow! Why isn’t this game on Steam already?”

There are a lot of reasons, and not all were factors outside of my control (although perhaps some were a little out of my depth).

Better late than never, I guess.

It’s funny – after spending pretty much my whole career involved in the video game business in one capacity or another, there’s still a ton I don’t know. I learn every day how much I don’t really know. It can be brutal on one’s self-esteem at times.

What I do know is I love being the guy who makes these little games. And I know that I’ve got people in the community who give me tons of support in all kinds of ways that I couldn’t have imagined. Even the “Frayed Knights” logo was done by a member of the community, Boro Milanovik, who took pity on my graphic design skills. You guys are super awesome, incredibly supportive, and really have your act together – better than I do. You guys rock.

I just wanted to take this time to thank all of you for offering your help, support, cheering, and votes. My voice doesn’t carry very far on its own – you guys added your own, and it has made a difference on every milestone we’ve achieved, including this one.

I hope this will lead to Frayed Knights finding a wider audience. These days Steam may no longer the “golden ticket” it once was, but it is still a valuable opportunity. I really hope the sequel will benefit, also. Now comes some additional work to get this game ready for Steam, in addition to getting the sequel ready for the big show in September. So I guess I need to finish writing this blog post and get back to work.
More information.
 
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Congrats, Rampant. That's a pretty big deal. Hope it makes you some cash.
 
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Nice to see a game that truly deserves to be there get there. I wouldn't go so far as to call Frayed Knights a niche game per se, pretty much if you liked old school rpg's, you'll like FK. I gifted 3 around Christmas and all 3 people that played loved it. I'll be one of the first on line for the sequel.
 
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While I didn't play FK very far, it had its moments. I couldn't get over the "game designer picks your party" aspect. I prefer to make my own characters and couldn't get invested in the party. They weren't anything like a party I would have created.

Will play FK2 if character creation exists this time. If not, I still may pick it up on a sale, just to float a few bucks to the dev.
 
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A game well deserving of success. :)

Daniel.
 
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While I didn't play FK very far, it had its moments. I couldn't get over the "game designer picks your party" aspect. I prefer to make my own characters and couldn't get invested in the party. They weren't anything like a party I would have created.

Will play FK2 if character creation exists this time. If not, I still may pick it up on a sale, just to float a few bucks to the dev.

For me, that would spoil what makes FK's great. The party all chatting together in weird and wacky ways was great fun. Still if Rampant Coyote can achieve both then that would be cool. :)

Daniel.
 
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Congrats. I really enjoyed your game and wish you much financial success.
 
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For me, that would spoil what makes FK's great. The party all chatting together in weird and wacky ways was great fun. Still if Rampant Coyote can achieve both then that would be cool. :)

Daniel.

Yep, I think you either get Rampant's idea of humor or you don't. I didn't :) I couldn't really stand any of the protagonists.
 
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I made two serious attempts to play this game, and stopped at the same place both times due to being frustrated at party wipes from random encounters that were twice as hard as the fixed encounters. I still don't understand that design philosophy...
 
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I played it through 3 times and loved it each time. The banter at the beginning of the game is just SO like the banter we have during our regular DDO sessions that you just know that Jay has been a part of similar groups!!
 
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There's no plans for FK to create your own party members, sorry. Though I have some future plans, if I can get these two games (plus the Steam release of FK1) out the door. I ain't getting any younger.

I know the humor / style isn't for everyone. And I appreciate the people who gave it a shot. You guys are awesome.

There were a couple of spots (especially the Tower of Almost Certain Death and the Hobgoblin Barracks) where things got a little too tough, particularly when dealing with unplanned encounters. I definitely wanted it to be challenging, but sometimes it gets hard to judge when you've played through everything so many times. Part of it is just that if enemies have certain special abilities (which make things interesting... plain ol' smacking with claws or swords gets old fast), they WILL take advantage of it. And can get nasty at it. I'm not sure that's something I want to try to address for the Steam release... but since I'm looking into other changes, I'll take a peek.
 
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Watered down Steam or not, I'm glad it got on for you. You still have the problem of being discovered, but even the slightest increased chances I hope works out for you.
 
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Gratz! :party:
 
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Better late than never. I'd probably give it a shot but I am leary of a humorous RPG, though superhero league of hoboken was great.
 
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