RAVENMARK: Scourge of Estellion – An epic turn-based strategy game

Tebius

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Hello everyone at RPGWatch! I'm Ian, the Creative Lead from Witching Hour Studios and I wanna share with you our first game, Ravenmark: Scourge of Estellion! It's turn based strategy game along the veins of classics like Final Fantasy: Tactics, Fire Emblem and Advance Wars.

Poster.png


One of the main reasons I'm posting here is that the game is built around a fully realised world. The writers and I come from a rpg playing background so it's really important to us that the world is a character unto itself. There's even an expansive Codex that comes with the game that I think you guys would really appreciate.

You would find things like Lore, Culture, Locales and all that hearty fluff any good RPG or TBS game would have in there!

Below includes some basic info about the game with some screenshots and videos. =D

A Giant Tale on A Pint-sized iPhone?

In a land known as Eclisse, where a great sun and three moons rule the azure skies, the ruling Empire of Estellion is beset by a great scourge from their past – the sun-eating mystics from the forgotten nation of Kaysan.

photo2.png


You’ll follow the stories of a host of conflicted characters under siege, as they struggle for survival under the weight of ruthless ambition and political intrigue. Each campaign in the game presents an account from a different side of the war, so this campaign’s dastardly villains may just become the next campaign’s heroes.

Story Preview Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXnu5tVaSwQ
(Gameplay footage is from an alpha build and does not reflect the final performance of the game.)

More about the world and its nations can be found at the bottom of this post:
http://www.witching-hour.net/?p=73

A Game of… Placements

Skirmishes from the story are fought on 2D isometric battlegrounds, where the player will command a host of warriors to defeat the enemy’s armies. These battles are essentially turn-based; players may key in battle commands for all of their controllable elements without timed pressure at the outset of a combat turn.

When the player is satisfied with the commands issued for that turn, hit START and watch the carnage unfold! The acting speed (or Initiative) of a combat element will determine the sequence of actions in a given turn… Players must carefully consider how the order of actions will play out on the battlefield, or risk annihilation!

Gameplay Preview Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B65TDRm27

Incisive, Effective Commanding with Standing Orders

Players can issue “Standing Orders” to their controllable elements; Standing Orders are A.I. assisted commands that repeat a certain type of action each turn without requiring the player to re-issue the order. Each unit can be given a basic set of standard actions such as moving forward and attacking the nearest enemy, or standing their ground and attacking any unit that comes within range.

Photo2-1.jpg


Formations – Boon or Bane?

Unique to Ravenmark is the “Formation” system, which allows you to bind together up to three identical player elements on the fly, in order to share abilities of attached Support elements, or gain new formation-only abilities! These abilities are often crucial to winning a battle. But be warned: Formations also leave your elements with greater chances of being flanked from the side or rear! A general must be careful when to create Formations and when to break them up…

photo-1.png




——————

A grand, rousing soundtrack accompanies this epic tale and its battles – it’s all scored by indie game music maestro Josh Whelchel, who’s also composing for bigwigs like Mojang (of Minecraft fame). The battle track in the trailer was done by him; check his other work out at www.jwmusic.org!

On 11 November (if all goes well), Ravenmark will be launched for the iPhone at a launch price of US$2.99.

——————

If you guys have any questions, I'd be happy to address them! Ah hell, if you managed to get to this point, it's the least I could do!
 
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Looks great actually. Only problem is that it's for the iphone. I would like to play this on the PC. That and the JRPG influence. It's not enough for me to pass on it, it is just a little annoying playing games like that sometimes. There are exceptions like Recettear, Puzzle Quest, Cute Knight and Grotesque Tactics. I can handle those games mostly because they're not full fledged RPGs. Maybe with the exception of Cute Knight. Though not really sure what category that game would be under.

Oh well, I have an iphone and will grab this game when it's released. Thanks for posting.

Love the formations btw.
 
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Well, I love this kind of gameplay, if it's like Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem and stuff. The only problem is that I don't own an iPhone. :/ Can you guys try releasing it to PC(especially to Steam) so that everyone, who don't own an iPhone, will try to buy this game and play it in PC?

There are a lot of quality games, which have passed in Steam Community, such as Recettear: An Item Shop Tale(I bought it and love it. It's also a comedy ones), Portal, etc.
 
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Looks great actually. Only problem is that it's for the iphone. I would like to play this on the PC.

Had almost exactly the same thought.
 
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I'm just another person without iPhone... And no I won't buy it (because of my personal morality dubioses about cheap labor).

But it looks nice definetly and I'll suggest it to my friends who do own iPhone.
 
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I'd try it if it were Android. I don't have an iPhone or iPad.

I'm really hoping Amazon's Kindle Fire gets enough pads out there to convince game more game developers to release for Android.

Of course, I would also give it a shot if it were for the PC. I'm definitely up for indie games.

Anyhow, sorry to stray the topic, it looks like a great game. I wish you luck on the sales.
 
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Looks great actually. Only problem is that it's for the iphone. I would like to play this on the PC. That and the JRPG influence. It's not enough for me to pass on it, it is just a little annoying playing games like that sometimes. There are exceptions like Recettear, Puzzle Quest, Cute Knight and Grotesque Tactics. I can handle those games mostly because they're not full fledged RPGs. Maybe with the exception of Cute Knight. Though not really sure what category that game would be under.

Oh well, I have an iphone and will grab this game when it's released. Thanks for posting.

Love the formations btw.

Cheers man, I'm glad it's piqued your interest! =)

We're an indie outfit working out of an attic, so iOS was the way to go with what resources we had. We'd love to expand out towards different platforms once the opportunity is open to us!

Might I ask where do you feel the JRPG influence coming from? The portraits? Style of play? The way dialogue is shown? I've been more of a WRPG player myself so I'm surprised that JRPG was mentioned. =P My business partner is huge into JRPGs, so perhaps that's where some of it is coming from. Shrugs.

Annoyingly, there's no multiquote option that I can find here, so.. to avoid posting too much since I'm posting some character stuff after this I'll try to address everything here.

Tanno, Alrik and Vidder:
We do have plans to port to Steam.. but on the Mac side, since the structure between iOS and OSX is simple enough to port. If we do well enough, I really wouldn't mind porting to PC. I'd love to share Ravenmark with more people. =)

Joxer:
I respect your decision, and thank you for sharing. =)

Motoki:
I'm really sorry. I think the main reason developers are so afraid of android is that piracy is rampant and developer support is really poor. It's even more daunting for indie set ups like us.. we really can't afford to get burnt.

Thanks for the well wishes either way! It's much appreciated! =)
 
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Yep, so, here are some characters I'd like to introduce to you guys. =)

Harper.png


Calius.png


Thaddeus.png


Dresius.png
 
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The characters do have a slight JRPG feel to their portraits, though it's hard to put my finger on it. I enjoy JRPGs though so that's not an issue for me. The game looks pretty interesting so I definitely may have to check it out. My only concern is whether there may be too much going on at once on such a small screen, but I'm willing to give it a try to find out.
 
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Tanno, Alrik and Vidder:
We do have plans to port to Steam.. but on the Mac side, since the structure between iOS and OSX is simple enough to port. If we do well enough, I really wouldn't mind porting to PC. I'd love to share Ravenmark with more people. =)

I see... There's another way. Since you're trying to release it into PC, but what of those who own Windows 7? I have both OS(MacOS and Win 7 64-bit professional). Could you guys try making a DLC-type buyouts for this game, so that I can download the full game and move it to my MacOS in my Macintosh laptop? Every indle company did it, even Frictional Games(The creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descend and Penumbra trilogy). :)

Speaking of your question if noticing the J-RPG feel, that's because the way how you created the sprites and the way how you drew your characters are most likely of the J-RPG feel. The W-RPG goes only for HD and 3D games, such as The Witcher, Baldur's Gate: Shadows of Amn, etc. ^^
 
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Cheers man, I'm glad it's piqued your interest! =)

We're an indie outfit working out of an attic, so iOS was the way to go with what resources we had. We'd love to expand out towards different platforms once the opportunity is open to us!

Might I ask where do you feel the JRPG influence coming from? The portraits? Style of play? The way dialogue is shown? I've been more of a WRPG player myself so I'm surprised that JRPG was mentioned. =P My business partner is huge into JRPGs, so perhaps that's where some of it is coming from. Shrugs.

Annoyingly, there's no multiquote option that I can find here, so.. to avoid posting too much since I'm posting some character stuff after this I'll try to address everything here.

The art for the characters and dialogue style. Once I saw that my brain automatically clicked to JRPG. That and you mentioned Final Fantasy Tactics. I have a deep seeded hatred for anything Final Fantasy. I've tried to like that dang series twice now and each time it blew my mind how boring it was. I don't understand the attraction to that series.

However. the actual ingame art made me think of MoM. God I miss that game and that's reason I'll be picking up this game whenever you release it.

BTW, if you want to multi-quote just "quote" the people you want in another window and cut & paste.
 
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The characters do have a slight JRPG feel to their portraits, though it's hard to put my finger on it. I enjoy JRPGs though so that's not an issue for me. The game looks pretty interesting so I definitely may have to check it out. My only concern is whether there may be too much going on at once on such a small screen, but I'm willing to give it a try to find out.

I guess, yeah, there's a distinct JRPG feel to things. Heh, my artist tend to err on that side as much as I keep telling them to avoid it. If you're referring to the gameplay trailer, I think that's mostly because Brian cut it that way. It's really not too bad each round.

I see… There's another way. Since you're trying to release it into PC, but what of those who own Windows 7? I have both OS(MacOS and Win 7 64-bit professional). Could you guys try making a DLC-type buyouts for this game, so that I can download the full game and move it to my MacOS in my Macintosh laptop? Every indle company did it, even Frictional Games(The creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descend and Penumbra trilogy). :)

Speaking of your question if noticing the J-RPG feel, that's because the way how you created the sprites and the way how you drew your characters are most likely of the J-RPG feel. The W-RPG goes only for HD and 3D games, such as The Witcher, Baldur's Gate: Shadows of Amn, etc. ^^

I'm not certain of what you mean, to be honest. Steam runs on Macs right now so I'm not sure why you need to transfer it over..

Strange as it may sound.. the design direction I gave for the sprites were with Baldur's Gate in mind, along with Masters of Magic - the idea of having an army in one box. Ah, I miss Baldur's Gate.. it had so much character. I've always been one for 2D rather than 3D.

The art for the characters and dialogue style. Once I saw that my brain automatically clicked to JRPG. That and you mentioned Final Fantasy Tactics. I have a deep seeded hatred for anything Final Fantasy. I've tried to like that dang series twice now and each time it blew my mind how boring it was. I don't understand the attraction to that series.

However. the actual ingame art made me think of MoM. God I miss that game and that's reason I'll be picking up this game whenever you release it.

BTW, if you want to multi-quote just "quote" the people you want in another window and cut & paste.

To be honest... I really don't like the whole franchise, save Tactics. Found most of it ridiculous. I only enjoyed Tactics for its gameplay and DIFFERENCE from the usual FF stuff.

Heh. Masters of Magic. Awesome.

Cheers for the tip! =)
 
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I'm not certain of what you mean, to be honest. Steam runs on Macs right now so I'm not sure why you need to transfer it over..

Strange as it may sound.. the design direction I gave for the sprites were with Baldur's Gate in mind, along with Masters of Magic - the idea of having an army in one box. Ah, I miss Baldur's Gate.. it had so much character. I've always been one for 2D rather than 3D.

I mean that I have 1 PC and 1 laptop. To avoid the viruses I don't have internet connection in my Mac laptop and MacOS, so I want to download the full game here from this PC, which I have internet connection and Windows 7, and to transfer it to my MacOS. Get it? :)

I usually watch or do my jobs with this laptop, even in my bed. So I'd love to try out a new style. Bed-gaming, ehich means I 'd love to try playing, while I rest up in my bed. :p
 
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I mean that I have 1 PC and 1 laptop. To avoid the viruses I don't have internet connection in my Mac laptop and MacOS, so I want to download the full game here from this PC, which I have internet connection and Windows 7, and to transfer it to my MacOS. Get it? :)

I usually watch or do my jobs with this laptop, even in my bed. So I'd love to try out a new style. Bed-gaming, ehich means I 'd love to try playing, while I rest up in my bed. :p

Ah, I see. =)

I would've thought you'd do it the other way around! Considering Windows is more inclined to viruses. It's something to think about I guess? Either way it's gonna be some time before we port it to Mac to be honest. There's still lots to do since we have a huge story to tell.. I think we have penned down four Arcs with about 2-3 Campaigns in each and we wanna figure out hotseat play as well.

Heh, to me bed-gaming = iPhone/iPad. =)
 
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Looks interesting, too bad it's only for iDevices. Don't have any. A PC or Android version would be appreciated.

That and you mentioned Final Fantasy Tactics. I have a deep seeded hatred for anything Final Fantasy. I've tried to like that dang series twice now and each time it blew my mind how boring it was. I don't understand the attraction to that series.
Same here. I've never understood what's the big deal about the FF games. That said, however, FF Tactics is actually a whole different style of game. Instead of being a (boring and quirky) JRPG, it is a quite good turn-based tactical combat game with RPG elements. I got it cheap for my PSP quite some time ago and, to my surprise, found out I really like it. Sure, I would change a few things about it, like the slightly weird (to me) slotting of skills and swapping classes, but all in all, it's a good game and anything in the same vein as FFT would be something I'd look forward to.
 
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I love FFTactics, as well as some of the rpgs. Protip: The earlier FF rpgs suck. They are extremely limited. Play FFX, and maybe XII. They are the best of the bunch, X especially.
 
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Yeah individual FF games are frequently very different from each other, they do not share a common rule set, and about the only thing all the games have in common is the name of some spells and consumable items. You can love one and hate another. In general the later ones are very well made, as long as we pretend that the abomination that was FF XIII never existed.
 
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Would be neat, if it wasn't for phones. :/
 
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