Stones of the Ancients - Now on Steam Greenlight

forgottenlor said:
Fluent, the character portraits are NOT from Red Hand of Doom, but from Pioneer Valley Games, they are an asset that can be bought for 20$, I know I own them. That just means both Ellis and White Fish bought them from the same art asset creator that I did. You can see the graphics for yourself. Here are the Steam store links:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/249921/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/229751/
Click to expand...

Alright, that's fine, but what about the strikingly similar font used in combat log and in other text in the game? Even the "Missed" dialogue in combat was seen in their other games. I played Cave of Sorrows and the same exact font and style was used.

Next, the mismatched, slapped together UI. Very poor design, doesn't stand out from the background and there is no consistent art style. That is an Ellis Studios trademark.

The combat in the screenshots and videos. A bunch of skeletons, bats, rats and giant spiders in the middle of town. Uh, okay? Again, mismatched and thrown together. Some battles even have giant spiders teamed with skeletons. Lol.

The framerate in the videos looks like it's running at about 8 FPS. Any decent developer is not going to post or show such a video running at a ridiculously low framerate, and that is also something Ellis has done in the past with their games. Again, I presume it's because they don't have a powerful computer to run proper recording software.

Someone should look into Chess3D. Looks like it has a lot of RPG art assets as well, various RPG/fantasy-related characters as chess pieces, etc.. Also looks like it was made for Windows '85.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/599670/

And it was released in Nov, 2016? :D :D :D

I'm not touching this game.
 
Here's their cover art for the game, from the Steam page.

5hulkN9.jpg



It belongs to this artist. http://charroart.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/fantasy-tavern.html

Anybody want to bet they got proper permission to use that?
 
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Hahaha!! Wow.

Huh, I don't seem to see Whitefishgames on his Clients list. Maybe it's a placeholder. :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Wfg, can you please comment on this?
 
As for being on Steam Greenlight, their last game was banned from itch.io, which was their sales platform of choice. They may have been forced to look for other options.
 
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Bollocks. It's the third time I've fallen for this. :) Be interesting to see if Wfg respond.
Thanks Fluent and Ripper.
 
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forgottenlor said:
Fluent, the character portraits are NOT from Red Hand of Doom, but from Pioneer Valley Games, they are an asset that can be bought for 20$, I know I own them. That just means both Ellis and White Fish bought them from the same art asset creator that I did. You can see the graphics for yourself. Here are the Steam store links:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/249921/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/229751/
Click to expand...

That is interesting. Those packs are every Ellis Studios game thus far. I'm curious who makes these packs as well and sells them. I take it they are a legitimate source and all that? "Delgica" seems to develop and publish them.

The packs themselves are pretty decent, IMO. I wouldn't mind an actual, ya know, real RPG made with that art. :)
 
Hi there,

as already stated we are not associated with any other Studios. The trailer isn't perfect and doesn't show performance very well. It's currently running with 40-100 fps on a mediocre pc. By the way, the gamefont is a Windows Truetype Font called Cambria. The cover art used is indeed just a placeholder for the Greenlight Campaign.
Sorry that i have to leave this forum now, hope i could answer some of your questions.
 
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Fluent said:
Alright, that's fine, but what about the strikingly similar font used in combat log and in other text in the game? Even the "Missed" dialogue in combat was seen in their other games. I played Cave of Sorrows and the same exact font and style was used.

Next, the mismatched, slapped together UI. Very poor design, doesn't stand out from the background and there is no consistent art style. That is an Ellis Studios trademark.

The combat in the screenshots and videos. A bunch of skeletons, bats, rats and giant spiders in the middle of town. Uh, okay? Again, mismatched and thrown together. Some battles even have giant spiders teamed with skeletons. Lol.

The framerate in the videos looks like it's running at about 8 FPS. Any decent developer is not going to post or show such a video running at a ridiculously low framerate, and that is also something Ellis has done in the past with their games. Again, I presume it's because they don't have a powerful computer to run proper recording software.

Someone should look into Chess3D. Looks like it has a lot of RPG art assets as well, various RPG/fantasy-related characters as chess pieces, etc.. Also looks like it was made for Windows '85.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/599670/

And it was released in Nov, 2016? :D :D :D

I'm not touching this game.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. I don't know about the other things. You played Cave of Sorrows and I'll wait to see if it makes it through Greenlight, and what the reviews are like. I'm sure if you are correct, and its made by Ellis Studios, it will be sunken by negative reviews and accusations of theft.
 
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Fluent said:
That is interesting. Those packs are every Ellis Studios game thus far. I'm curious who makes these packs as well and sells them. I take it they are a legitimate source and all that? "Delgica" seems to develop and publish them.

The packs themselves are pretty decent, IMO. I wouldn't mind an actual, ya know, real RPG made with that art. :)
Click to expand...

Hi Fluent, if you are curious about the company (which is mainly one guy making art) Here is the Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/PioneerValleyGames/

He's also made a couple of rpgmaker games with his art.


Also other developers have made games using his art.

Atonement:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/385070/

City of Chains:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/412170/

and Crown Champion:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/527710/

have all been made using this art. The art company at least is a legitimate company that puts out quality products.
 
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Have another look at the Steam page.

Note: A DMCA Notice of Copyright Infringement has been filed on this item. Valve will review the complaint and reach out to the person who posted this item and provide details and information on the next steps.
Click to expand...

Oh, Ellis Studios...
 
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Once you've been bitten by Ellis Studios, thereafter you have the power to detect them as they approach. It's like a racial bonus.
 
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Ripper said:
Once you've been bitten by Ellis Studios, thereafter you have the power to detect them as they approach. It's like a racial bonus.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I keep failing my perception check with these guys...
 
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I'd make Fluent the ring-leader of my RPG police unit. The Copyright Hunters.
 
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luj1 said:
I'd make Fluent the ring-leader of my RPG police unit. The Copyright Hunters.
Click to expand...

I vote for Ripper as Chief Inspector and Fluent as the ace reporter ;)
 
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Ha! You have to admire their persistence though: they will and shall scam you, if not with this game then the next. :)
 
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