Update on the failed Kickstarter project Mooncrest:

C’est La Vie

Well, this isn’t the follow up update to the combat system unveiling we were planning on. Since the closing of our Kickstarter over 2 months ago development on Mooncrest has not progressed in a manner that we are happy with. When we brought the project to Kickstarter we didn’t have any plans in place or talk about what steps we would take if the campaign had failed. As we discussed elsewhere, there were problems with the way we chose to present the game and everything didn’t come together the way we envisioned.

Afterward, we decided a playable version of Mooncrest would be the best way to convey our vision of the game. The past 8 weeks we have been working toward a second Kickstarter with a modest goal of $40,000 where we planned to deliver a vertical slice to our backers. A vertical slice, for those not familiar with the term, is a playable proof of concept. It’s not the same as a prototype or pre-alpha as it looks and plays like the final product. With a playable version of the game and a better project video it would have addressed all of the concerns of our previous campaign. Also, it would have made it easier to be greenlit on Steam.

While we feel we were finally going in the right direction, the harsh reality is economically we can’t continue the development of Mooncrest at this time. The project has been self funded from the beginning and we are at the point we are beginning to scramble to make ends meet. We had a short window to get the second Kickstarter up and running due to the fast approaching holiday season (when Kickstarters don’t have a high success rate) and we found ourselves making decisions to make the deadline that would have again lead us to another subpar campaign. That was something we decided wasn’t fair to us, our families, our friends, and most of all, to you, all of our amazing supporters out there. After some soul searching we decided our best course of action was to put the project on indefinite hiatus. [...]

Spotted by Eye.

While preparing for their second Kickstarter attempt for Mooncrest, Eye spotted that on their site, they are showing some animations related to what the combat will look like in Mooncrest.

These are all animated GIFs, which I don't want to place on the front page, so click the link if you are interested.

Knight Major interviewed one of their own at the official Mooncrest site. It is Art Director Jeffrey Visgaitis who talks about himself and what he is going to do for Mooncrest.

What are your inspirations for Mooncrest?

I love Game of Thrones and there are so many bad ass female characters in the series to draw inspiration from for our two protagonists like Daenerys Targaryen, Brienne of Tarth, Ygritte, and Arya Stark to name just a few. Outside of the characters, I like how the show carefully introduced people to the setting so they weren’t overwhelmed. It started as more of a period piece and gradually added more to the mythos as the series went on. Now we have dragons, flaming swords, people rising from the dead, blood magic, wraiths, giants, ice zombies, etc. Even with all of these fantastic elements the series is grounded in realism which is important as it makes the world more believable.

From the pen-and-paper side of things I’m inspired by classic D&D settings like Planescape and Greyhawk. There are multiple dimensions that players will get to explore in Mooncrest and nothing serves as a better model for dimension hopping than Planescape. As for Greyhawk, I always preferred it over Forgotten Realms. I’m a big Realms fan, don’t get me wrong, but there are so many super powerful NPCs walking around like Drizzt and Elminster and magic is too prominent for my tastes. Living in the Realms is akin to running end game content in World of Warcraft and I prefer things a bit more down to earth and gritty. Greyhawk is better than the Realms in that regard.

A new update has appeared for the recently canceled Kickstarter campaign of Mooncrest. In this update they talk about the work that has been done to prepare better for their next Kickstarter campaign.

It’s been about a week or so since we cancelled our Kickstarter campaign. While we’ve been a bit quiet on the public side of things, we’ve been continuing to work toward our next Kickstarter campaign. It took us a bit of time to decompress and focus on things going forward. Mooncrest is totally self funded and contrary to popular belief we don’t have someone waiting in the wings with a fat wad of cash burning a hole in their pocket ready to invest in our game (if you are that person, let’s talk!).

Truthfully, we didn’t give a lot of thought to what steps we were going to take if the Kickstarter failed so we’re trying to sort everything out. Rest assured, we aren’t giving up, we are just determining our best course of action at this point. I know there are quite a few emails and comments where people are waiting for a response from us. We’ll be getting to all of them over the weekend. Sorry for the delays and we appreciate your patience.

On the development side, we are working on concepting out the Paladin Temple which will serve as a base of operations for players and where the adventure will begin. Here’s a few pieces from one of our concept artists, Raph Lomotan. We’ll be moving back to a regular update schedule next week and we’ll have a Q&A on Raph and his artwork then, so don’t miss it.

The update features some images and animated gif's showing combat.

Thanks Christoph.

The Kickstarter campaign for Mooncrest has been canceled.

Almost 1,400 backers, $48K raised, and 11% toward our goal is great and we’re extremely thankful to all of the people that believed in us and wanted to see this succeed. Sadly it’s a long way from what we needed to be successful. This past weekend, we came to the realization that we weren’t going to make it and we felt canceling was our best course of action.

We described Mooncrest as a game designed in a way that you would own your victories and own your failures. This is something we were all excited about in starting up an indie company and not having to answer to a publisher. At the end of the day there were a lot of missteps along the way, and we got nobody to blame but ourselves.

Coming out of the gate things looked great, but a weak project video, coupled with poor messaging, and no ingame footage was the death of us. I planned on doing a full postmortem on our experiences with Kickstarter, but at this point we’ve examined and re-examined everything so many times I'd rather focus on the positive and move on. There was a ton of information we learned from running this Kickstarter, and if there are people out there who are interested in knowing more we may revisit that at a future date as I'm sure it would be of help anyone who wants to run a campaign.

Our future plans are to lick our wounds, address all of the criticisms/complaints we received, and move forward with another Kickstarter once we’re ready. Our focus will be on having a pitch video that actually, ya know, pitches the game, having ingame footage to show, and just going more in depth on what we have in place to see this game through production and to release.

We will see you all again soon! To keep up with our progress, you can like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, sign up for our newsletter, or visit our website. Thanks again for all the support and well wishes. Much love goes out to all our backers out there.

–KnightMayor

“The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.”
–Robert Green Ingersol

Thanks Christoph

Mooncrest-Kickstarter Update #3:

We’ve received a lot of feedback on our reward tiers and we are implementing a few changes. First off, we greatly underestimated the desire for a physical copy of a game. Thanks to your feedback, we are now offering the Knight of Renown tier at $65 for those of you that want a physical copy of Mooncrest. This also includes the previous tier, so it does come with a digital copy of the game.

KNIGHT OF RENOWN
Everything from the Knight Commander reward level plus a physical copy of the game for Windows PC. Does include the digital download from the previous tier, so you are getting 2 copies of the game! Shipping is paid for separately.

There was also feedback on the rewards for Enemy Detection and Pirotase’s Quiver at the $125 and above tiers. We’re currently exploring options on how to address this and we should have an update soon.

Regarding the state of our campaign, we’e in a tough spot and it’s an uphill climb, but this is a marathon not a sprint and we are working furiously to get more visibility and provide a new project video and more ingame footage. We have a few interviews in the pipeline and some other things going on behind the scenes that will help increase awareness.

Thanks for keeping the faith and sticking with us. Together we’ll see this through.

The Kickstarter campaign for Mooncrest has started:

What is Mooncrest?

After generations of peace, whispers of an ominous threat are heard on the streets of Mooncrest. Can a mismatched pair of heroines overcome the challenges of their enemies and each other or will all end in ruin?

Mooncrest is a single-player, story-based fantasy RPG, with a focus on real-time tactical combat, cinematic conversations, and challenging puzzles. KnightMayor’s premiere title features:

• A Story of Sisterhood: An immersive story of fellowship where the interactions with your wayward companion propel you on an adventure of intrigue.
• "Souls-style" Combat: Engage in real-time combat where your wits will matter as much as your reflexes.
• Challenging Puzzle Solving: Tease your brain with puzzles that favor logic and reward your cleverness.

Mooncrest is brought to you by a seasoned team of former BioWare and pen-and-paper game designers. We have more than 20 years of combined game development experience and our goal is to bring back the single player, story-driven experiences we loved in the past.

We're bringing Mooncrest to Kickstarter because we suspect we're not the only ones that miss this kind of game. We want to involve you in the development process; your feedback is necessary in making Mooncrest the best game that it can possibly be.

A Compelling Story

Compassion is fundamental to becoming a paladin and none show greater promise or embody the virtues of the ancient order more than Sera. Raised in Mooncrest at the paladin temple from a young age, her perspective is idealistic yet naive. Having completed her trials, Sera has become a full fledged paladin when she sets out into the world for the first time.

Crossing paths with Pirotase–a streetsmart outcast–makes her question the dogmatic views of her order. While not the cause of all the troubles in Mooncrest, Pirotase sets Sera on a path that challenges her beliefs as they unveil a conspiracy that puts all of the city at risk.

Character Driven Story

At the heart of Mooncrest is an engaging story told through characters in the BioWare style. Instead of playing with an array of shallow companions, players will journey with Pirotase for the entirety of the story. This allows players to explore more depth with Pirotase’s character and develop a more intimate relationship with her.

Sera is noble yet callow while Pirotase is more worldly and chaotic. Despite obvious disparities in their personalities neither will be able to complete their agendas without the other’s assistance. Your interactions with Pirotase are key to the unfolding narrative and players will spend time navigating their conflicting personalities. Players will engage with Pirotase and the other characters through cinematic conversations.

[...]

Q&A with Mooncrest artists Simon Kopp and Max Degen:

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what are you contributing to Mooncrest?

Simon: My name is Simon Kopp. I’m originally from and currently live in Germany. I am a freelance concept artist and illustrator. I mostly work for the games industry, but also do some advertising work from time to time. My main focus is clearly environment concept art and marketing illustration. I have done character concept art and the key art illustration for Mooncrest. It’s been very cool to work on an epic piece like the key art. I always love longer projects with a large painting rounding out the work.

Max: My name is Maximilian Degen. I am a concept artist and illustrator working 5 years professionally in the industry and I am lucky enough to have worked on a variety of different projects. I focus mainly on environment art and character creation. On Mooncrest I helped to flesh out the look of Pirotase.

What projects have you worked on previously?

Simon: I already worked on several other projects, mostly fantasy themed games. I painted the first marketing artwork for Albion Online back in 2012 for Sandbox Interactive from Berlin, Germany. Since then I worked on several smaller projects, mostly on environment concept artwork. In May 2014, I joined the art team at Moon Studios and we finished and released Ori and the Blind Forest in March this year. It has become a great success and players love both the gameplay and art. The artstyle was fundamentaly set up by Maximilian Degen, another artist working on Mooncrest. He has done an amazing job on this!

Max: My previous (and also biggest project) was Ori and the Blind Forest. I created a lot of the in-game art and also helped with the cinematics and countless in-game action sequences that you experience while playing the game. Before that I was happy enough to do some freelancing while I was still studying illustration. I worked a little bit for a special fx company in Berlin called Pixomondo doing pre-visualisation for a number of feature films. A bit earlier I created trading card illustrations for Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) and Fantasy Flight Games.

What made you interested in working on Mooncrest?

Simon: The Art Director working on Mooncrest came to both Maximilian and I wanting to work with us. I really liked the project and the theme, because I also loved playing the old Baldurs Gate and Neverwinter Nights games back when I was a kid. It’s a really back to the roots fantasy style and I liked the approach they wanted to go with Mooncrest. They asked me to deliver concept art for characters and a key art illustration. I do both of those types of works less then environment concept art which was also a big draw into the project. Variety in my work really keeps me going and motivated.

Max: Mainly my love for RPGs and fantasy worlds.

Can you explain your process when creating a piece of art?

Simon: I created both character concept art and a key art marketing illustration for Mooncrest, but the approach is generally the same. I always begin with a few sketches to show the client the rough direction I’ll be going in. I’ll ask the client to chose an image that is the most suitable for the project. After this I’ll go in and get more references and define the concept/base sketch more. After a certain point it’s working to render and detail everything to an equal level of quality.

Max: I have a variety of approaches to get to a final result. Most often I start out with a very rough linedrawing just to find the general idea of the painting. That helps a lot to get a feel for the pose of the character or image composition for an environment piece. From that point on I either start to paint with color directly or I keep refining the drawing. I try to always keep my eyes fresh and I’m not afraid of doing drastic changes even if I already spent a considerable amount of time on the painting. In the end the result is what really matters in my opinion.

Where do you draw inspiration from for your art?

Simon: I mostly draw inspiration from everything around me and my own fields of interest. When I get the job to design a character with specific characteristics I tend to gather a lot of references. I also don’t shy away from looking at other artists artwork which helps to get me inspired. You often just don’t think about certain things or the other artist has already seen stuff you haven’t.

Max: My biggest inspirations are movies, the artwork of amazing artists, and travelling. Since I am primarily doing environment art, it helps a lot to see all of the variety in nature around the globe.

What projects are you working on now?

Simon: I’m working on a few unannounced titles at the moment. That’s kind of the bad part of being concept artist. You can’t really ever talk about what you’re actually working on at the moment.

Max: Nothing I can talk about at the moment. Sorry.

Do you have any private projects you work on in your free time?

Simon: I have two big projects I tend to go back to when I have some spare time. First of all there is Airborn–Pino’s Journey. This was supposed to be a game, but it never really made it that far. A few friends of mine and I have been developing a world that has crumbled into bits and now only consists of a planet’s core surrounded by clouds and broken earth. Huge islands are floating around in the sky. I love to go back to it from time to time, because it’s just such a nice world. If you want to know more about Airborn, we have a little Facebook page you can check out.
My second project is also a worldbuilding project. It’s not supposed to be a game or anything, it’s just a world set around 1,000 years into the future. The human race is no longer the leading force on earth. We got replaced by a huge, planet spanning artificial intelligence. I started this years ago and then made 10 big illustrations for my bachelor thesis in 2014. I made a big presentational website where you can check out the illustrations and learn more about the world and its inhabitants. Feel free to visit the homepage.

Max: So far I haven’t started developing a project just for myself. I have a few ideas in the back of my head, but nothing I want to put out there yet. When I paint in my sparetime I am just trying to relax and go with the flow. Nonetheless, I do create finished personal illustrations or character concepts regularly, but they don’t serve a deeper purpose besides having fun and getting better.

Where can people go to see more of your art?

Simon: I have several portfolios online. My own homepage is sadly not very up to date, so you’ll find my most recent stuff either on DeviantArt, Tumblr or Artstation.

Max: I regularly post my art on Facebook (feel free to follow me) and on Artstation.

Big thanks to Simon and Max for their incredible work on Mooncrest and for taking time out of their busy schedules to talk to us today. If you haven’t had a chance yet, pick your jaw back up off the floor and visit their Artstation websites for even more awesome art. With some luck, we’ll get to collaborate with Simon and Max on Mooncrest again in the future.

A new game - Mooncrest - is in the making and maybe a new Kickstarter is coming - former Bioware devs are involved:

Mooncrest

After generations of peace, whispers of an ominous threat are heard on the streets of Mooncrest. Can a mismatched pair of heroines overcome the challenges of their enemies and each other or will all end in ruin?

Mooncrest–the premier RPG from KnightMayor–is an action adventure game featuring:

• A Story of Sisterhood: An immersive story of fellowship where the interactions with your wayward companion propel you on an adventure of intrigue.
• "Souls-style" Combat: Engage in tactical, real-time combat where your wits will matter as much as your reflexes.
• Challenging Puzzle Solving: Tease your brain with intuitive puzzles that favor logic and reward your cleverness.

Mooncrest is brought to you by a seasoned team of former BioWare and pen-and-paper game designers. We have more than 20 years of combined game development experience and our goal is to bring back the single player, story-driven experiences we loved in the past.

A Compelling Story

Compassion is fundamental to becoming a paladin and none show greater promise or embody the virtues of the ancient order more than Sera. Raised in Mooncrest at the paladin temple from a young age, her perspective is idealistic yet naive. Having completed her trials, Sera has become a full fledged paladin where she sets out into the world for the first time.

Crossing paths with Pirotase–a streetsmart outcast–makes her question the dogmatic views of her order. While not the cause of all the troubles in Mooncrest, Pirotase sets Sera on a path that challenges her beliefs as they unveil a conspiracy that puts all of the city at risk.

Character Driven Story

At the heart of Mooncrest is an engaging story told through characters in the BioWare style. Instead of playing with an array of shallow companions, players will journey with Pirotase for the entirety of the story. This allows players to explore more depth with Pirotase's character and develop a more intimate relationship with her.

Sera is noble yet callow while Pirotase is more worldly and chaotic. Despite obvious disparities in their personalities neither will be able to complete their agendas without the other's assistance. Your interactions with Pirotase are key to the unfolding narrative and players will spend time navigating their conflicting personalities. Players will engage with Pirotase and the other characters through cinematic conversations.

Cinematic Conversations

While interacting with other characters in Mooncrest, conversations will provide a cinematic experience in which you will make choices that control the tone and flow of dialogue.

These choices, governed by Sera's internal thought processes, help to reveal the breadth of her own character. The decisions you make will also shape and direct Pirotase's growth as a student of the paladin order. The measure of her Discipline and Compassion are directly affected by decisions you make in conversations  which influences her capabilities on the field of battle.

Real Time Action Combat

The world of Nocturne can be a dangerous place. It will take more than quick reflexes to survive your enemies; you'll need wits, courage, and the ability to adapt on the field of battle. Mindlessly hacking and slashing away at your foes will accomplish little in a system that rewards measured action. Inspired by the Souls series style of combat, those that carefully consider their movements will survive while the impetuous and short-sighted will earn only a place amongst the dead.

Moment to Moment Tactics

Combat in Mooncrest is driven heavily by the use of a stamina gauge. Most combat actions will drain a portion of it and, though it is constantly recovering, you'll have to plot your actions and movements with your stamina in mind. Careless attacks can leave you unprepared to defend against an enemy's renewed assault.

While the best defense may be a good offense, you will eventually find yourself in a situation where self-defense is the more prudent course of action. You can stop most damage from an attack with your own weapon and timing the deflection correctly will result in a more effective blocking action and may buy you an opening to strike back. If an attack looks to dangerous to stop, you always have the option of quickly evading past or through it to position yourself for a lethal follow-up!

Weapons of the Order

As a paladin, Sera is trained in the use of the longsword, mace, and axe. You'll need to learn the ins and outs of all three if you want to survive the coming evils. They each different move sets, strengths, and weaknesses in combat; whereas the long sword is fast and has the advantage of reach, the mace is heavy, slow, and capable of staggering an opponent more easily. Choose the right weapon for the right job and crush those that stand before you.

Making Combat Your Own

In addition to developing your own approach to combat, you'll gain skill points that allow you to unlock new active and passive abilities to further support your personal style when waging war. Interested in improving your blocking capabilities? Want to evade more effectively? Maybe you just want to break faces faster than before. There's a skill for that.

Two Heads are Better than One

The way forward will be dangerous, but you won't have to face your challenges alone! Pirotase is skilled with a bow and she'll have your back, supporting with cover fire and snarky commentary about the state of the battle and providing insight into your enemies weaknesses. Timed carefully, you can also call shots to stagger your foes and leave them wide open for a crushing counterattack.

Your influence over Pirotase's senses of Discipline and Compassion will also feed into her combat skills, making her an even more deadly archer than she already is.

Adventure Game Style Puzzles

It will take more than a sharp sword to unlock the deepest mysteries of Mooncrest. From guilds using trials to test the mettle of new recruits, to the affluent guarding their valuables with devious traps, to the machinations of a mad tinkerer who creates mind-bending challenges for his own amusement, there are plenty of secrets for you to uncover.

Mooncrest focuses on logic puzzles offering new twists on classic experiences as well as unique challenges. Our supplementary puzzles draw inspiration from adventure games by rewarding exploration. Rounding out the puzzle content are mini-games designed to bring variation to the gameplay. Puzzles are an aspect of gameplay that we feel has been lacking in current games and we are happy to be introducing puzzles to a new generation of players.