Indie RPG Driftmoon: Give us your input, please!

Just had a bit of a go, couple hours worth of play — on the 4th 'map' from the world map now, built up some skills, done some exploration, think I'm 7th level or so now. Have to say it's great fun overall, definitely something I'll play to completion. It reminds me in an odd sort of way of a cross between Faery Tale and Times of Lore, though it's very much not either of those games (more like what I wanted ToL to be, and how FT felt when I was playing it).

Though I like being able to 'complete' a map there's part of me that wishes the world was just huge and seamless, like U6-U7. Failing that, I hope there are reasons to revisit old maps even after their initial batch of quests are completed — again, I like being able to complete a map, but needing to travel back between maps gives more of a 'whole world' feel.

I love the item detail — moveable chairs, recipes, ingredients and such. Right now I have 3 recipes — torches, arrows and health potions — but I'd love to have more than that, and maybe even a chance to master a recipe. Given the fact that a recipe takes up a bag slot I'm suspecting there aren't many, which would be a shame, but I feel like I'm pretty early into the game yet.

Love the autocombat that lets you move while firing but maintaining your target. Great idea there, lets you incorporate a lot more tactics in your battles. Wish there were other strategic options, maybe some mild magic, maybe some options your companions could bring to the table. Haven't played with environmental obstacles much but I suspect you could possibly overpower an encounter or two with clever use of barricades.

There haven't been any normal towns since I started off; I'm not sure if that changes later on, but I always enjoy the downtime of screwing around in a town, finding black markets, well-hidden quests and so on. If it's not that kind of game I'll still enjoy it.

All in all, I've registered. Hoping to see how this one ends up, and the fact that it supports user-generated content means thing may be interesting for a long time. Nice work.

Thanks morduun! Glad to hear you've had fun adventuring in Driftmoon! And thanks for the feedback, we're always glad to hear what people think! I think you'll be in for a nice surprise when you get your hands on our next alpha. I'll explain what I mean below.

Originally Posted by morduun
…I like being able to complete a map, but needing to travel back between maps gives more of a 'whole world' feel.

A little of that is already implemented in the next alpha, especially toward the end. We don't like to do a lot of backtracking in quests ourselves, so mostly quests in Driftmoon don't involve going back to previous areas - but it's definitely a nice touch if going back some things have changed, always makes the world seem more alive.

Originally Posted by morduun
I love the item detail — moveable chairs, recipes, ingredients and such. Right now I have 3 recipes — torches, arrows and health potions — but I'd love to have more…

In addition to many new details, you get a larger selection of recipes in the next alpha.

Originally Posted by morduun
Love the autocombat that lets you move while firing but maintaining your target. Wish there were other strategic options, maybe some mild magic…

This is probably the biggest change to come. We felt the same about wanting more combat options, and that's what we've spent a lot of time on, the past autumn. Your options for combat will multiply in the next alpha, your choises will matter more, and you'll have various different strategies to use. There are also many new monsters awaiting in the dungeons.

Originally Posted by morduun
There haven't been any normal towns since I started off; I'm not sure if that changes later on, but I always enjoy the downtime of screwing around in a town, finding black markets, well-hidden quests and so on. If it's not that kind of game I'll still enjoy it.

Wait till you get to the first new level in alpha 7. You'll meet many new, interesting people in the East Monastery, and you'll have the chance for A LOT of interaction with them. Not to mention the horrible murder mystery you'll be solving in the Abbey…

You might be wondering what's the current stage of the new alpha?
- Not bad at all. We're currently beta-testing the last two levels in it. If nothing major comes up, that means we're almost there!

Many of you have probably spotted this, but I wouldn't want to leave any of you in the dark, so here comes the big news:

Driftmoon Alpha 7 has just been released, more exactly on Monday the 9th!

Here's the link to our brand new trailer. Be sure to watch it in 1080p mode - you'll get a much better idea of it that way.

We're really happy ourselves that the 7th Alpha is finally opened!

This is what we wrote about it in our own blog:
We nearly completed all of the new areas last August. But when testing the whole game through back then, we discovered some areas of the game-play and the content, that we wanted to tune a bit further to make them just right. It was a relatively large and time-consuming task, but now that we've spent the last two weeks playing and replaying, we're really happy we decided to do it. Why? Simply because we ourselves have now had so much fun with our own beta-testing play-throughs. And if we've really enjoyed adventuring in Driftmoon ourselves (even though we know beforehand pretty much everything that'll happen), we have high hopes that you will too!

Next on our plate is to release a new trailer with some of the new features and areas (that's done now!), and a demo! After that we'll retreat to our secret chambers to make the final areas of the game. We'll release one more alpha version before the final release, so Driftmoon is not far from being completed!

PS. If you've got the previous alpha version, you should be able to update to the new alpha just by starting the game. We hope you can still give us plenty of feedback on where to improve the game, so don't hesitate to use the feedback button in the lower right corner of the game!

Among the hundreds of new things in this version, we have two new large areas (and another smaller area), a murder mystery, new enemy types, boss fights, tons of new quests, and as a whole a much more polished experience. To put it plain, there's a lot more to play, and the bits we already had, we've made better. See the changelog for more details.

New areas: Monastery and Crypt, along with a mystery of treason, murder and theft! The quests and the many characters you can meet and chat with are the part we've spent most of our time with, but unfortunately we cannot tell you much about them without giving away too much.







New companions: Velvet the Queen Panther, Stone Dwarf, Stone Giant and Stone Titan. The stone-faced guy is a summon you gain early on, and it keeps getting more powerful (and bigger) as you progress.


Combat enhancements:
We worked on making new enemy types and enhancing our existing ones for weeks. We made sure each enemy type adds to the combat in unique ways, making each fight different depending on what kinds of monsters are involved. You can even use the enemies against each other! We also have critical hits, new combat skills, a system for mana, the list goes on.

And btw: If you haven't preordered yet, you can still get your copy for 20% off, and at the same time show us your support! If you'd rather wait until Driftmoon is ready, why not sign up to be notified when the game is released?




You're very welcome to the world of Driftmoon! Based on the feedback we've gotten from our players, we're quite optimistic you'll have fun. And please, do tell us what you think, both based on reading this & watching the trailer, and especially after playing Driftmoon (there's also a handy feedback button in the game). We warmly welcome your comments and ideas!

A suggestion f or driftmoon, look at porting it over to an IPAD release…I think you would have a huge audience for a game like this.

Originally Posted by rune_74
A suggestion f or driftmoon, look at porting it over to an IPAD release…I think you would have a huge audience for a game like this.

Thanks for the idea rune_74! It's probably true that IPAD could be a good venue for Driftmoon. We don't know whether it'll happen, but we'll surely think long and hard about porting Driftmoon once we get the game finished!

Hey, I almost forgot to tell you:

The Driftmoon preorder discount of 20% ends on the 25th of January (in it's current form)! But no, that doesn't mean we're starting a bigger discount after this one. If you've been thinking about trying out Driftmoon, and supporting our development, now is as good a time as any.

We're planning on releasing a little update to our Alpha 7 in a few days. From what we've heard from our preorderers, the current version has upwards of 5 hours of playing time - with more coming when we complete the game. And what's possibly bigger news for many of you, the first official Driftmoon demo is just around the corner!

Edit: The estimate of at least 5 hours is derived from players who've already played the previous alpha versions of the game. So these are veteran Driftmoon players.

Plopped down my coin today for this. I'm looking forward to digging in later this afternoon!! Been sitting on the fence for a bit but the look of this game was just too much to ignore.


-Carn

I'm not sure what 11.99E translates into in American money, but the whole game is only 5-6 hours long, right? I'm still not seeing the allure of such a tiny game…If you like it, it's over before you even get started.

I think it was 16 bucks for me, in USD. Hey, if I get 5 hrs of fun outta that, I've more than gotten my money's worth, imo. I've paid 40 bucks or so for big titles that have totally let me down in the past, DA2 quickly comes to mind.


-Carn

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Plopped down my coin today for this. I'm looking forward to digging in later this afternoon!! Been sitting on the fence for a bit but the look of this game was just too much to ignore.

-Carn

Great to hear, Carnifex! Have fun, and remember to send us feedback with the feedback button on the lower right corner of the game.

Originally Posted by crpgnut
I'm not sure what 11.99E translates into in American money, but the whole game is only 5-6 hours long, right? I'm still not seeing the allure of such a tiny game…If you like it, it's over before you even get started.

Thanks for the comment, crpgnut. Actually, the whole game is not five to six hours long. The current alpha is at least 5 hours long (that's what it's taken some players, who have already played the previous alphas - so they really know what they're doing already). The current game is actually more like 5-10 hours, depending on how you play it, and whether you've played it before. In addition there's still hours of adventure coming in the future versions of the game.

There's a lot of optional dialogue and things to see and find, so if you actually play through most of the nice optional things, you'll naturally spend a considerably longer time in the world of Driftmoon. And as a nice, little addition, we already have a few user mods that you can try after you've played through the adventure in Driftmoon.

I agree that a game should give you enough bang for your buck, a good playing time is important especially for roleplaying games. With Driftmoon we're really focusing on making it a fun experience for the whole of the time you spend with the game. Basically, we think it's worth it, but that's always a matter of opinion of course.

Hi there!
As you might have noticed at the news page, Driftmoon has now reached Alpha 8. If you've already preordered Driftmoon, the new version will be offered to you automatically when you start the game.

Also, to our pleasant surprise, we just spotted the first preview of Driftmoon on the web. It's by Richard Jacklin at LazyAssGamer.

He seems to have liked what he played, here's how he starts out:

"Driftmoon is the Little Engine that Could of the video game industry. As an independently developed top down hack-and-slash RPG, it has quite the mountain to climb if it wants to be accepted by the average gamer. Instead of endlessly repeating the mantra of “I think I can! I think I can!”, the game instead delivers an eye-opening amount of classic dialogue quips and addicting gameplay in order to get this train up, over, and into the hearts of players. This game isn’t your typical RPG, that is for sure. Instead this game is a charming adventure that will have players shouting “I know it can! I know it can!” as it is destined to climb to success and become a favourite of many."

Wow is what we thought, when we read the review! It's a pretty lengthy review, based on our Alpha 7 (the version just before the current one), so there's also been a few improvements, fixes and new quirks to Driftmoon since.

A little heads-up: If, like me, you can't see the re/preview linked above try a different browser. In IE9 I couldn't see it, Firefox works just fine.

looks interesting but I can't do that camera angle. if there was an isometric option I'd give be all over it.

Originally Posted by GhanBuriGhan
A little heads-up: If, like me, you can't see the re/preview linked above try a different browser. In IE9 I couldn't see it, Firefox works just fine.

Thanks for the tip!

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002
looks interesting but I can't do that camera angle. if there was an isometric option I'd give be all over it.

Or, if you're feeling brave, you can still try the demo, when it comes out. Who knows, you might find out you're more versatile than you give yourself credit for.
And to quote myself: I think of Driftmoon not only as a fun game, but also a fantastic way to cure my fear of heights!

Weeeeee, downloading the new version asap!! Already feel like I got my moneys' worth )


-Carn

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Weeeeee, downloading the new version asap!! Already feel like I got my moneys' worth )

-Carn

Glad to hear that, Carnifex! Remember to use the in-game feedback button (lower right corner), if you catch something bizarre, or get any ideas you want to present to us.

I have good news, everyone:

The first official Driftmoon demo has just been released!

Our relatively long demo comes with a powerful editor & mod-sharing system, along with all of the currently released mods. The current full alpha (no. 8) of the game already includes about five to ten hours of quality playtime, and more is coming! The rest of the adventure will be finished in the following few months.

So, if you haven't preordered (and thus, tried the game) yet, now is your chance to download the Driftmoon demo, and embark on a good-hearted and unique adventure, quite unlike any other RPG you've played before. I hope you have a great adventure!

Fix the camera angle

I don't see what the fuss is about camera angles, play it for like 2 minutes and you'll adjust. It's not like every single game out there uses one camera perspective. There are 1-2 that I prefer, but the camera style implemented is never going to be a deciding factor for me on a game.


-Carn

Carnifex is entirely right about the camera angle, guys.

@anne.monkkonen:

I enjoyed the demo a lot, but the thing that I felt was most unpolished was the character advancement, particularly the skill tree. I'd love to know if you have anything planned for it—a quick search the Instant Kingdom blog didn't turn anything up, but I may have missed something.

My issues more specifically, if you have time and the inclination:

1) I'm not sure how balanced the skills felt. Obviously, I had Whirlwind, Shield Bash, and Alchemy open to me until level six. Of those, Whirlwind and Shield Bash were insanely useful (on very hard, at least) and I imagine will continue to be—their damage output is a reflection of character strength and equipment. Meanwhile, Alchemy felt pretty weak, except in one short spot in the demo. Worse, Alchemy dead ends—it isn't a prerequisite skill for anything, though the others are. I mean, something that enhanced the duration of many consumables would feel more on par with Whirlwind and Shield Bash in utility, and any dead end skill should be more powerful than skills that serve as prerequisites.

2) It seems counter intuitive that higher mastery in a particular level of skills is open before other skills. It means that you must generalize/there's no specialized character building. This is related to 3, so let me just talk about it there…

3) It feels like the prerequisite skills aren't entirely logical. You need to have Whirlwind, a melee skill, to unlock an archery skill? And I need to buy that to eventually get a skill like Wrath? I appreciate that they're both crowd control type skills, but if I only had the resources to really pump up my melee or my ranged combat abilities (like through char point investment and equipment), I'm going to feel like one of those skills was an utter waste. So 2 and 3 together force you to take a pretty generalist, jack of all trades approach—you have to invest a lot of points in an extremely small pool of skills, because of the small number open to choose from, and because you have to buy 'useless' skills to get the ones you want.

Obviously, the solution is to add 47 additional skills.

A smaller, more realistic order might be this:
1. Reorganize the skill tree. Off the top of my head, a 'offensive melee,' 'defensive' and 'support' line, with miscellaneous skills (that should be powerful to make up for being dead-enders), might suit what you have in place nicely.
2. Lower the requirements to gain new skills, put level requirements on Advanced and Master level investments.
3. I'd like to see Alchemy rebalanced, please!
4. This is small, but… failing all the other potential revisions, could you make it so that we can hoard skill points? It seemed like I had to spend my skill point to make it out of the level up screen. Let me hoard them so I have a chance to specialise the way I want, please!

Anyway, thanks for reading. I was pretty pleased with the game—I thought the dungeon design, though a little linear for my tastes, was really well polished and a pleasure to play. I also liked the handling of the sort of investigation sequence at the beginning of the demo. Looking forward to the game's eventual full release!