Zodd The Immure - A New Sci-Fi ARPG

Couchpotato

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I was just sent an e-mail about a new kickstarter called Zodd The Immure. The game is being developed by a studio called Abyss Studios, and the goal is $250,000.

Why Kickstarter?


We are an indie studio with a small team. For quite a while, we've been dedicating our time outside our normal jobs to developing ZODD THE IMMURE. Now we want to bring what we have developed to the Kickstarter gaming community and see if people are interested in our game.

We know that our stated goal of $250,000 is not enough to make ZODD THE IMMURE. But we've come to Kickstarter literally for a kick start. Making our Kickstarter goal will allow us to demonstrate to our investors that there is a real demand for our game. We'll also be able to build a prototype to show how the world of the game functions. Of course the more we raise past our goal, the less we'll be reliant on outside investment.
The game is described as the following.

ZODD THE IMMURE is a single-player sci-fi action RPG video game that combines space sim, sandbox, and mission-oriented gameplay. Think Freelancer meets Jak & Dexter.

Your character will be fully customizable. You will get your own ship and be able to explore space and investigate inhabited planets with alien societies. Key to your gameplay will be the ability to morph into alien species and use their strengths and infiltrate their societies.

Your gameplay choices will affect the larger storyline and determine how you will be able to react to it. The game will progress from open sandbox toward a series of world events that drive you down a more linear storyline to an epic ending.
I also have a video demo if anyone is interested.



More information.
 
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All I see is an endless amount of fetch quests that should be a base to get enough funds for transforming the game into a MMO.

As such, I'm not supporting this. Only if they cut out MMO thing and make that as a separate (spin-off) KS project I will pledge on this one as everything else looks very interesting. In 2.5 years one can make an epic singleplayer RPG. But when your thoughts are on MMO part, not only the game won't be epic, but everything will be watered down.

Or… Yes, there is or.
MMO part is PvP only. If it'll be MOBA, team vs team on a space/planet map, they can instantly take my money on exo-plant tier. Why?
Current MOBA games have heroes with fixed abilities. You can't remove an ability and put another one on your hero. This game promises an endless amount of posibilities on your hero's skills - and that's what MOBA genre needs desperately.
 
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Hey all! My name is Randolph Heard. I'm the writer for Zodd The Immure. First, thanks to Couchpotato for posting the info. Much appreciated! And then joxer — I had to write in because I was confused by your comment. I just worked for four years as a writer for MMOs. And I wrote the stuff that Couchpotato posted, and I'm wondering how that led you to believe that Zodd would ever become an MMO? We have never wanted to do that. It's been conceived as a single-player from the beginning. We added on the possibility of multiplayer as a stretch goal. MOBA could be interesting, and of course we'd love to have your money, but it doesn't really fit the story of the game. There is a huge combat element that we haven't really mentioned because it gives away too much of the story, but it's not MOBA. (Although MOBA's fun) Anyway, just curious how I gave the impression it was an MMO. I love them. I'd love to work on again. But this isn't it.
 
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I like the interesting use of audio in the action sequence, reminds me Another World. Good luck, i'll be interested if the game gets released.
 
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Surprisingly good in-engine lighting on the planet and nice animation. Most of it is visually interesting. Heroine resembles to April somewhat so the game reads Longest Journey in Space to me with RPG elements added.

Intriguing pitch, but there is a huge problem with this: on the scale it is introduced I estimate 5 years till it could be conceivably done. This is just too complicated for an indie team. You should do a lot shorter RPG in this world first with a smaller scope.
 
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cptbarkley - I loved Another World.

mercy - I hear you about scale. The other folks in the studio feel it can be done. We've got kind of a modular production path for it. Do you think that's a problem with our Kickstarter? -- people looking and thinking that we're biting off more than we can chew, therefore why I should pledge because maybe they won't deliver?

I'd like to do any size RPG in this world! And thanks MRMAN_Rocky1983
 
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Elite Dangerous/Star citizens combined with Elder Scrolls and the kitchen sink. Just looks too much of a stretch for an Indie project and would be ambitious to do all these genres justice in one game with even a AAA budget. And I don't believe for a minute you'll even get the basic 250k for a prototype on Kickstarter. Get real guys!
 
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Wow! That's actually kind of a compliment. All those games are great. But we aren't an MMO. It's single-player unless we make those stretch goals. We won't support Oculus Rift. We're not on CryEngine. More likely Unity. And we're not a trading and combat simulator.

It's true it's very ambitious.I think that maybe my writeup doesn't capture the scale that we're actually thinking about, which is nowhere near those other games.

I do appreciate hearing your response, because I'm sure you are not alone. But we don't have to get real, Roq. Reality will get us!
 
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I'm not really sure just what will be going on in this game. When I'm exploring a planet, I'll be in a third person, over the shoulder view. OK, great, but that doesn't tell me a whole lot. Am I going to be battling enemies every step of the way or just rarely? Will the planets be wide open, will I be confined to roads/zones on the planets? Is this an isometric game or a full, 3D world?

And what about space? I'll go into space with my ship. Fine, but how is that implemented? I've gone into space in full 3D, isometrics, vector graphics, and even a text adventure or two. Is it going to be like in the video?

"In ZODD THE IMMURE you’ll have to role-play inside a role-playing game. You’ll need to be able to pass as an alien in a culture that you know little about."

This I like! Sounds like somebody has been reading some Jack Chalker. It really does sounds like a fun place to play around in. Ah, and I can get a copy (why would I want more than one?) for just $20! Cheap is always good. Backed.
 
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3D on a planet, 3D in space. Like in the video, but over the shoulder as a character. Same POV in space but only seeing your ship, not your character.

Planets are wide open. As we mention in the Kickstarter writeup, we're stylizing them so that they are smaller so that we can actually build the entire surface and make explorable. No doubt there'll end up begin some natural pathing, just like you would encounter if you were walking around in reality.

Battling will happen, yes. But depending on what alien guise you choose, you might be able to avoid battle. You might not want to avoid it.

I haven't read Jack Chalker. Just looked him up, and he sounds awesome.

I'm a big fan of Clifford Simak, Jack Vance, Alastair Reynolds, Robert Charles Wilson -- just finishing reading the Culture series by Ian Banks. Hated it at first, now I love it. I like a lot of classic stuff, always looking for new. Thanks for the tip on Chalkers.

The transformation thing I just got from wondering how we could take role-playing and go one better in a sci fi context. And I've always wanted to create aliens that were truly alien -- not just like bipedal reptile guys who want to capture or destroy our world or kill us. This stuff has been thoroughly explored in sf novels but not in movies or games.

Thanks for backing us! This is our first Kickstarter, our first game. We are coming at this with the purest intentions, and the crew has a lot of talent. I'm a little older than everybody else. You can google me -- Randolph Heard -- and probably see what I've been up to.
 
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I see a lot of buzzwords, and to me it doesn't look as if right now you have a coherent picture of what the game will actually be like.
Also, your kickstarter goal is not very appealing, imho - as you admit that you wouldn't be able to do the game with 250k, it's just sort of "we want you to give us money to prove that we can get money from you". What will happen if you do reach your kickstarter goal, but will be unable to get additional funding, which is, by your own estimate, more than 10 times that?
 
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That's my problem with this project also. It's a little like Kingdom Come, where the KS's main purpose was to show the investor that there's an interest in the game. But Warhorse already had an investor who would fund them for sure if the KS succeeded.

But as Strashila said, noone knows what happens to your project after a successful KS, if you won't find an investor afterwards.

I think as a newcomer studio you have to ask for $100k for a smaller, but complete game, not for $250k for a prototype. You just need to realize a smaller project first to get known. After that you'll have an easier time to get backers or investors.

Just have a look at KS history. Has there been a single successful project of an indie newcomer studio, which had a similar financial scope and as little to show at campaign start as you have?
You have some concept art, something like a cinematic trailer and ideas, of which some are great indeed. Roleplaying-aliens-in-an-RPG-inception is outstanding! But (for me) that's just not enough.
 
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I am sorry to say this but I think this kickstarter would not suceed based on the info and goals.
 
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Interesting concept, but I think you're asking for too much money - considering the obscure nature of it.
 
The idea is interesting but will like to see more things like combat, NPC interaction or even the other races , not only as concept art
 
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Strashila wants to scare some crows off the field. ;)

I've stated my opinion and didn't plan to return to this thread but for whatever reason clicked…
So Randolph. Why do I think we're looking at MMO here.

sandbox, and mission-oriented gameplay
To some grinding is fun. To some sandbox is fun. To me it's the most annoying game design ever made as it was never made properly. While a few missions, or quests, can be different, after a while they repeat and eventually turn into pure boredom. But I'm the minority who hated that part of Skyrim.
Did I say Skyrim? Yea… They've tested the endless fetch quests system in it, and after 99% of players praising that game, they moved to MMO. 99% who can forgive things. I can't.
And that's exactly what you plan to do, but without making a singleplayeronly game first. My opinion.

The game will progress from open sandbox toward a series of world events that drive you down a more linear storyline to an epic ending.
This means I'm wrong? No.
Every MMO has a story and story missions besides grinding content. Okay, not every MMO… Innogames' The West has only setting based quests, but not a major story.

Next thing, the pic:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets...35d2b8c39c604aa581fa9d6e_large.png?1393788770

If you check other projects, goals are usually in different order, the first one on the top, the last one on the bottom. Are they crazy or what? No. They know that what's on the top or near the top ppl tend to understand as the most important thing.
Here, on the top is what? Under the title (and titles are always completely bold).
MMO goal.

—-

Unlike others, my only problem with this project is the MMO part. I can't be persuaded into thinking it's something that's easy to incorporate into a singleplayer game. It is easier to incorporate into a sandbox game than into a story driven RPG. But still it's not easy. And honestly, I believe all 3 millions if you get them, will go into developing only MMO part, there will be no funds left for the singleplayer part.

—-

Finally, MOBA. If you played at least one MOBA game you know the drill.
Pick a hero, team with a few others, join a fight, kick some arse.
The hero is yucky, pick another, play more. Then another. And another. Hero.
Every single one has it's specific skillset and you can't change it by any means. And instead of unlocking skills to combine on your hero, you have to unlock heroes one by one trying to find that one who'd be exactly what you want to play with.

You on the other hand plan to have this:
HOST4 will give you the ability to physically transform your human body into that of an alien species. You will have the abilities and weaknesses particular to that species. You’ll also have an extra sense unique to them that humans do not have. And you’ll be able to use their technology.
That allows players to do what? To put on their hero those skills they want. And then team up and go enjoy 5vs5 map. To me it'd be a dream come true.
 
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Wow, extremely ambitious designs for a small indie company. Of course, if they can pull this off it can be amazing. Like others here I question if this can be done and how long it would take. It seems the failure of many of these indie companies with kickstarter campaigns is not being able to realize their ambitious goals.
 
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The concept is excellent. Exploring space is, for some strange reason, rarely possible in games. It's usually either a full blown sim (Freelancer, X-series, etc) or too narrow (ME2 and 3). ME1 struck a decent balance, but the exploration aspect was somewhat lacking (planet exploration was an interesting idea, but could've used some tweaking).

I do think it'll be hard to get that kind of sum, but I will certainly keep an eye on it.
 
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I only donate to fantasy crpgs, but this doesn't have a prayer. There needs to be quite a bit of self-funded development to prove the skillsets exist to make this game. This is super-vague for the money asked.
 
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