Kickstarter - Arakion

Dhruin

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Arakion is a "first person, group based RPG that includes extensive character customization, town building and adventuring in a story driven world". The art style is certainly different. Chris Taylor (no, not that one; not that one, either) is looking for $25k,with around $2k having been raised in the last couple of days. There's a thread here on our forums, or check out the Kickstarter.
Arakion is a modern take on a classic RPG formula. You're put in control of three heroes trying to survive a world devastated by war. Adventuring in Arakion will take you across open land, into deep dungeons and even put you in control of rebuilding a desolated town.
  • Character Customization! Character customization in Arakion is a refreshing take on the RPG Level-Up formula. Instead of skills and stats after X experience, your choices throughout the game affect your heroes. From the weapons you choose to forge, to the add-ons you choose for their housing, every decision has an impact on your heroes.
  • You did what with my weapon?! Each character only starts with one weapon, one set of armor and four skills. You'll use the materials you find in the world to shape and morph your characters in to the heroes they'll become. Every decision you make has a permanent and lasting impact on your hero which resonates in the manner they play and interact with the world.
  • Town Building! Using building blueprints you find, the people you rescue, along with the help of a mysterious stranger, you'll use ancient devices to rebuild a lost town. You'll have to choose wisely however, as some building decisions permanently prevent other choices.
  • Combat! Combat in Arakion allows you to choose real-time, turn-based or a unique blend of both. The core system of Arakion takes two old school styles of gameplay and merging them into one seamless combat experience.
  • Adventure! You'll adventure through dozens of dungeons, castles and open world areas while finding hidden passageways, collecting materials and crushing your foes.
  • Story! The game features a deep and engaging story-line that spans generations. As you play through the game you'll learn about the history of Arakion and your heroes, as well as taking a part in shaping your heroes past with the unique trait system.
More information.
 
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Sounds more like a console RPG. From the character art, to the town building, to the monster raising. I think i'll pass.
 
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Interesting ideas. December 2013 though... Will monitor how it developps as it goes with a big milestone to really deliver.
 
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Just a bit concerned about how a US resident plans to finish such a project with just $25000 while working on it full time and hiring help. And the apparent three character limitation. Also curious how no leveling will work out.
 
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Hey guys thanks for the questions and comments. I really appreciate you taking the time to look through the Kickstarter.

@Bedwyr: No it just happens that it's an extremely common name.

@bjon045: Not really sure what you mean, but if you have any questions let me know.

@ChienAboyeur: I'm taking the time to develop a good fleshed out game for you guys, not gonna rush it.

@Charles-cgr: For your money concern, initially the amount is so I can work on it full time for a year, for the hiring part I have a few friends that work professionally that will be potentially joining me at an extremely reduced cost (they want to really make a game like this as well). As far as the three members to a group, let me re-post something from somewhere else as it's a common question.

"Because of how the character development system is setup, you can't really min max in the traditional sense. I went with a party of three because it makes your choices matter more. I always found in games where you have 6 party members I had a few worthless characters that were there, but not really substantial, and I always ended up with 1 powerhouse character that didn't really need the rest of the group.

With three each decision has a heavier impact and all three characters feel like powerhouses throughout the game, relying on each other and specialized in multiple roles. Also because of how characters develop in the game, each character "should" develop at a constant rate in relation to the other characters."
 
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Each character only starts with one weapon, one set of armor and four skills. You'll use the materials you find in the world to shape and morph your characters in to the heroes they'll become.

I like that approach. I think this is new.

Only having 1 weapon and use found materials to work with it sounds like something I'd like to do.

And, by the way, this is quite the opposite to "item collecting" ...

This time, it would be "craftable parts collecting" or so ? I don't know.
 
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@Alrik Fassbauer: Hey I'm really glad you like the item system. I think that the finding hidden treasure system has been overdone a lot so I'm trying to put a spin on it

@Bedwyr: Hahaha... no worries it just gets commented about a lot and some people take a serious offense that I'm using my name, sorry if I sounded a little cold there it was unintentional

I appreciate you guys taking time to ask questions and learn about the game so if you have anymore just let me know and I'll answer them as soon as I see them.
 
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My threshold for Kickstarters is very high, and in fact I've only contributed to a couple of the big ones that really got me excited (but I did so in a pretty significant way). But this is the first indie game that almost has me pulling the trigger.

The only thing holding me back, ironically enough, is the small amount asked for. I'm also having a hard time reconciling the math of a year's living expenses + Kickstarter/Amazon fees + extras (hardcover art book? really?) + hiring others + additional software tool purchases, and having it add up to only $25k. I'm fearful that this project is set up for failure, and thus I'm hesitant to support it.

It may sound silly, but if the funding threshold were set at more like $100k, I would probably be in in a heartbeat. I think that what you have to show is worth asking for such an amount.. As it is, I may wait until the funding grows to a somewhat-more-realistc ~$50k level before considering a pledge.

With all that said, I think you've got some really great ideas on character development that could inject some fresh air into the genre, and yet I can also see how the constant advancement pull would be maintained that keeps us all starting up RPG's again and again. It does seem like a difficult system to balance, however (if only because it's so new), which leads me back again to my concern about the amount of resources you'll have to get this balance right while still building everything you need for a good game.

I will likely contribute a pre-order amount just to support a good idea, but will consider it a pure speculation play. If I had more confidence in the project's success, I would probably pledge quite a bit more...

Good luck, at any rate...
 
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@turian: Thanks I really appreciate it!

@Fantasm: First off thanks for the kind words and the potential pledging. I don't want to scare away any backer so I'm gonna go into full detail here.

In regards to the money concern I understand where you're coming from, and I appreciate any pledge you're willing to make. I'm currently asking for the bare minimum to get the game done with funds I've also stashed away. The initial amount allows me to work full time for a year as well as three additional people (1 musician, 1 coder and 1 artist). This doesn't mean my ultimate target goal is 25k, if you look at the stretch goals I'd like to get 100k+. That's not to say 25k means it will be a bad game, it's going to be badass and hopefully re-invirgorate the RPG and old school genre as I think the rehashed and reused systems are becoming a bit stale.

The first and foremost benefit is I am using a engine called Unity, which allows me to get a lot done in a very short amount of time. Everything you see done so far, is me working on Arakion in my spare time as a side project over a few months, so I'll just do the numbers out.

20 hours or so a week, over the course of 4 months. If the projects makes its initial amount the twenty hours becomes 80 hours (how much I currently work all together, I put in these hours because I'm passionate about what I do). So 4 months just became 1 month.

Achieved so far
12 characters finished (they will be animated after the Kickstarter as I'll be setting up a motion capture room)
Full base coding finished, although it still needs worked on (combat, town building, character development, etc…)
Four environment sets fully finished (forest, snow, dungeon, desert)
A couple hundred area objects finished (lamps, doors, keys, materials)
Full GDD finished
3 dungeons completely done
1 open area finished

Generically speaking lets add the three people at 40 hours a week that's 120 more hours to round out to about 200 hours a week. This essentially gives me 10x as much working power as I currently have.

So as you can see it's not unreasonable to finish a great game for the price I'm asking for, it would just be a shoestring budget, and I would work my ass off to get it done properly because I expect no less of myself and am willing to give you no less as a supporter.

If there is anything else you would like to know feel free to ask, I want to make you as comfortable as possible about your pledge.
 
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I have a hard time relating to characters that don't look human. Are there any purely human characters in the game?

Can you go into more detail on items in general? While your system sounds okay, it also sound minimalist in the types of treasure to be found.

I'm not into town building at all, so I'll hope that this doesn't take up much time or there is a way to automate it. If all I do is find plans and hire someone to build, that's not too bad.

I'd love more details on the magic system(s).
 
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There is a human race, girl on the right in the preview. Check out the races here. The treasures you find in the game at least as far as items are concerned are materials, you'll find metals, ores and all that fun stuff, you'll in turn use those to construct items. It's actually quite open ended, customizeable and non-minimalistic, you just wont be finding [insert random first name here] Sword of [Insert random final name].

You can spend a lot of time on town building or a extremely small amount of time, really it's up to you, but you wont' be penalized for rushing the town building so it should cater to your need there. As far as the magic system, lemme repost something.

Each character has 4 skills, each of these skills are extremely customize-able. The skills essentially work on a grid system, so lets say you have a monk that has a heal. Every monk starts out with a base heal, you'll then be able to upgrade it through your choices throughout the game adding group healing, armor buffs, damage buffs, status cure, increased capacity, more heals per dungeon etc... depending on what you group needs. At the same time there isn't' a cost penalty for upgrading. This eliminates redundancy so you have 1 skill instead of 6 similar skills and it gives you the freedom to build your skills around what your characters and group need. While it still needs a little balancing so far in testing it's been super fun for people.

Hopefully that answers your questions, if you have anymore please don't hesitate to ask.
 
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I pledged, looks good enough and hope it makes it. I have a question about skill use, specially like magic. When you say each character has 4 skills, how do you use them in combat if you're not playing turn-based or pausable (I'll most probably play turn-based, but think I read you can play it real-time). If a caster has 4 spells, how do you select which spell to cast while at the same time selecting the other 2 characters' skill to use at any given time? That's why I like turn-based, gives me time to think what skill to use for which character, but real-time you usually just click-fest your way around things in real-time games.
 
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@wolfing: Well you basically answered yourself, which is the reason why there are the three game modes, real time, turn based and the blend. Real time tends to be a click fest in most any game, I'm trying to tone that down a little bit in Arakion but at present it's still like that a little. Basically, at the moment, you either have to click the skill or press the corresponding hotkey. This is an excellent question though and I'll be sure to make an update or video regarding it.
 
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When you say each character has 4 skills, how do you use them in combat if you're not playing turn-based or pausable (I'll most probably play turn-based, but think I read you can play it real-time). If a caster has 4 spells, how do you select which spell to cast while at the same time selecting the other 2 characters' skill to use at any given time?

You simply wouldn't do it at the same time. Have you played Legend of Grimrock? I had no problem managing a party of four and casting spells in real time. I assume the real-time mode in Arakion will be similar.
 
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Just a bit concerned about how a US resident plans to finish such a project with just $25000 while working on it full time and hiring help. And the apparent three character limitation. Also curious how no leveling will work out.

The target of the KS more looks like the big milestone than the 25k entry.

With the entry, you'll probably get the smallest of the vision of the game designer.

The 150k milestone is probably the required funding to get the game as it is envisioned.
 
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