I was informed today by Whale Hammer Games their new RPG game Tahira: Echoes of the Astral Empire has just launched on Kickstatrer. and on Steam Greenlight.
More information.
Tahira - Kickstarter Launched & Greenlight
- Thread starter Couchpotato
- Start date
Whats wrong with Banner Saga as some of us enjoyed the game on this site?
I just knew you would say that. You have a point though as it wastes resources.
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Yes it appears we have different tastes in games we all do on this site. I was just curious why you don't like the game, but thanks for answering my question.
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- April 12, 2009
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I'm not saying I'm fair for avoiding projects with such thoughts. But so far none of projects I backed disapponted me.
When developing a multiplatform RPG first huge problem is UI - or how to make it good on touchscreens/kbm/gamepads.
Usually it fails with inventory and maps, File/Edit/View tree inventory UI on kbm is a garbage design and maps where you can't use mouse but have to select whatever with arrows is another example. One way to avoid those problems is to make both maps and inventory pretty irrelevant (as happened in ME2) but then... Is it really RPG then? Or another genre with RPG elements?
Also where multiplatform games can fail is different UI "standardization". The problem in recent jRPG ports from consoles to PC is exactly that. For whatever reason these ports force Backspace for menu exit instead of generally accepted ESC (The Last Remnant, Final Fantasy 13, Hyp. Neptunia) and while in some this can be remapped, in some it's not possible. Also inventory is usually not on "I" and map is not on "M" but on whatever other keys.
Then we have a horrible savepoints systems. This ZXspectrum/C64 design should have died decades ago. Today, when our machines are equipped with thousands of gigabytes capacity, there is no excuse for savegame points because of low storage space. At least not on PC and on some consoles. On phones? That excuse, sadly, is fair.
Before I dive too deep with this, I wanted to say it's not just resources I'm worried about, but the mental block. If you're developing a game on PC with touchscreens in mind, imagination gets pushed back because of inferior hardware limits.
The most important thing however is that on PC there is a freeware android emulator, Bluestacks, that runs any phonegame without problems. Thus IMO developers should go either PC game, phonegame or consolegame, not all.
Make a phonegame, okay. I still won't back it, but because I don't want phonegames. Those who want them will back it. But it's instantly playable on PC, there is no need to put it on Steam or port it on PC as it works from google appstore on emulator. Just don't make a phonegame and pretend it's a PC game. It's not.
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Banner Saga….. I really liked Banner Saga; if I knew this would be as good I would insta pledge.
The lowest tier, which includes the game, is just 10 aud ($8). I backed them.
I liked Banner Saga, and this appears to be similar. Even if it is just a string of turn-based combat held together by story (like Blackguards), I would like it. They are a new company, but the video footage suggests they do have much of the hard stuff working.
I liked Banner Saga, and this appears to be similar. Even if it is just a string of turn-based combat held together by story (like Blackguards), I would like it. They are a new company, but the video footage suggests they do have much of the hard stuff working.
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Note that it is only episode 1 no clue how long it is...
Probably10-15 hrs an episode depending on how you play. That's just a guess though so who knows, and I hope the developer is successful as I like the setting.
Another game like this was also successful on kickstarter called Bedlam.
Link - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/skyshinegames/bedlam
petercastle
Developer of Tahira
Hi everyone!
I'm one of the developers on Tahira. Sorry about the delay in replying, we had a little party for the launch and I decided It'd be best if I wasn't allowed on my computer till the next day.
I just replied to the questions about length and have updated the page. We're shooting for 4-5 hours for Episode One. That's with no real padding, just us telling you a story and you fighting the battles and talking to your companions.
Fire away if you have any other questions
I'm one of the developers on Tahira. Sorry about the delay in replying, we had a little party for the launch and I decided It'd be best if I wasn't allowed on my computer till the next day.
I just replied to the questions about length and have updated the page. We're shooting for 4-5 hours for Episode One. That's with no real padding, just us telling you a story and you fighting the battles and talking to your companions.
Fire away if you have any other questions
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Thank for you for the reply petercastle, and I do have a few questions.
- Will $68,000 be enough to make the first episode?
- Can you share more details on the combat as it sound interesting?
- Do you have an ETA for the next episodes of the game?
- Who came up with the idea for the retro 80 mode for backers?
- How would you respond to Joxers comments above about Multi-platforms?
petercastle
Developer of Tahira
No worries Couchpotato
1) Yeah absolutely. We budgeted our living costs for the next year and the costs of our sound designer and composer into the $68,000, not to mention the cut that Kickstarter takes. That gives us some extra months to work with in case we need to delay to add more polish.
2) We're still experimenting with the system, but the basic idea is to put rules in place that add realism to the combat. One of the coolest things we're playing with is having multiple combat grids in some of the biggest fights. Say you're defending a fort, you have combat grids on two sections of wall and at the gate. Each of those grids has its own turn queue, but all of those turn queues are synced to the game's internal time (so you can never get too far ahead in one section). You can reinforce units between the different grids, but it takes some time. The thing we're looking at now is how to manage how many turns you can take in one combat grid before you're forced to move over to another one. It really lets us increase the scale of the fights and makes you plan ahead a bit more than you'd have to otherwise.
We're planning an update video of us playing through a combat scenario during the campaign.
3) We're tentatively aiming to release one episode a year after we release the first one. With all of the systems built and a good core group of characters already animated, it will be a lot easier to build new episodes. But ultimately it will come down to how long it takes to get the story telling and combat scenarios to a quality bar we're happy with.
4) Haha, I think that was really a group effort. Tahira's a pretty serious game (though it does have its funny moments) and there is definitely a part of all of us working on the game that wants to make something a bit sillier. We were sitting around brainstorming something fun we could do as in-game content and once that one popped up we thought it would be lots of fun to make and to play.
5) I absolutely agree with Joxers's comments. We've honestly not put any thought into getting it working on consoles and tablets, other than thinking "hey that would be cool". Everything about the game is designed for PC and one of the reasons we're not going to promise people ports is because we've done no testing or research about how well the game runs on other hardware.
1) Yeah absolutely. We budgeted our living costs for the next year and the costs of our sound designer and composer into the $68,000, not to mention the cut that Kickstarter takes. That gives us some extra months to work with in case we need to delay to add more polish.
2) We're still experimenting with the system, but the basic idea is to put rules in place that add realism to the combat. One of the coolest things we're playing with is having multiple combat grids in some of the biggest fights. Say you're defending a fort, you have combat grids on two sections of wall and at the gate. Each of those grids has its own turn queue, but all of those turn queues are synced to the game's internal time (so you can never get too far ahead in one section). You can reinforce units between the different grids, but it takes some time. The thing we're looking at now is how to manage how many turns you can take in one combat grid before you're forced to move over to another one. It really lets us increase the scale of the fights and makes you plan ahead a bit more than you'd have to otherwise.
We're planning an update video of us playing through a combat scenario during the campaign.
3) We're tentatively aiming to release one episode a year after we release the first one. With all of the systems built and a good core group of characters already animated, it will be a lot easier to build new episodes. But ultimately it will come down to how long it takes to get the story telling and combat scenarios to a quality bar we're happy with.
4) Haha, I think that was really a group effort. Tahira's a pretty serious game (though it does have its funny moments) and there is definitely a part of all of us working on the game that wants to make something a bit sillier. We were sitting around brainstorming something fun we could do as in-game content and once that one popped up we thought it would be lots of fun to make and to play.
5) I absolutely agree with Joxers's comments. We've honestly not put any thought into getting it working on consoles and tablets, other than thinking "hey that would be cool". Everything about the game is designed for PC and one of the reasons we're not going to promise people ports is because we've done no testing or research about how well the game runs on other hardware.
Once again thanks for the answers.
Would you guys be interested in doing a new interview? I believe you already have my personal e-mail address, if not I'll send my contact details to you again.
Would you guys be interested in doing a new interview? I believe you already have my personal e-mail address, if not I'll send my contact details to you again.
I sent the questions and used a few you answerd here to make it easier.Yeah we'd love to and I do. I just sent you an email.
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Dean
Sentinel
Always like it when devs. come here to answer questions, and support their games.
Thanks petercastle for taking time out of your busy schedule to personally answer our questions.
Thanks petercastle for taking time out of your busy schedule to personally answer our questions.