Roadwarden - an RPG / Visual Novel / Text Adventure fantasy hybrid (demo available)

Humans try to mark their presence in the world, but their memories and tales dwindle, their bodies wither away, their homes and statues turn into dust.

The wilderness prevails, indifferent like time.

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The Foggy Lake tavern is one of the younger shelters that the roadwarden can visit during their patrols. It used to be a single hut used by the hunters and woodcutters from the nearby village, but quickly proved to be useful for trading. It provided the locals with a spot to barter or, once the palisade was raised, to spend a night and feast.

Foggy, a huntress and a fisher, has decided to invest into a more durable building, and then moved in as the keeper. She hopes to turn this place into a large inn, or maybe even a new settlement, though so far it’s a distant dream. While the nearby wilderness is rather gentle and the beasts keep their distance, the open access to the lake remains a threat to the dwellers. They leave this place at the end of every fall, moving back in the early thaw. The won’t risk being cut away from their old home for months.

The actual lake doesn’t have a name, but Foggy is a bit vain. Since she knows a lot about the settlements in the North, it may be better to stay on her good side.

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I'm usually a stickler for good graphics but this is game looks very interesting.:x
 
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I'm usually a stickler for good graphics but this is game looks very interesting.:x

Haha, thanks! I'm more than ready to admit that my illustrations are amateurish, though I keep learning new things. : P
 
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I’m having a crazy month, but I’ve managed to test some new things.

1) The new d6 icon, that both makes it clear that a choice has a random chance attached to it, and allows me to alter some of the older choices to make them more interesting. It’s especially useful in combat - and gambling.
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2) The new “wait” option, a quality-of-life addition to the UI.
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3) A WIP illustration. I’m struggling to find a balance between the chaos and emptiness of the wilderness. I'll need to rework it, but I think it's an interesting attempt.
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October will be one of the loosest months I’ll have in 2020, so I’ll be able to finally focus on the game’s development. I can’t even express how happy I am. ^^
 
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Three inns, three different opportunities to hide from the creatures of the night.

The obvious differences are the room prices, HP restoration values, and the “breakfast included” service. But there’s more - sleeping in some spots involves unique encounters and conversations, and the prices and benefits change as the player befriends the owners of these places.

There are also other areas in the game where the player can find a shelter, but they usually involve a more effort before they get unlocked.

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Nice! I really enjoy these kind of random encounters in these kind of games.
 
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One of the things that I really like about the game’s fantasy setting is its almost-post-apocalyptic feel. The overgrowing roads, the abandoned ruins, the secluded settlements, terrifying nights, and the scarcity of resources... Yet it’s not a result of a divine will, a random cataclysm, or of some plan orchestrated by an evil overlord. It’s just a harsh place to live in, and it shapes those who try to do so.



The roadwarden is not an almighty hero. While their journeys connect the few tamed scraps of the land, they keep fighting to survive and to achieve their goals, not to conquer the world or to change the “natural” order. There could be thousands of people like them alive, the realm would still struggle. It’s up to you to decide if you’re going to accept it.



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When your role-playing choice may be used to manipulate an NPC so you can get on their good side… What do you do? Stay honest, or tell them what they want to hear?

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Hm. Is 'staying honest' possibly any of these options based on the context?

And, for a second there I thought Asterion keyword, which is emphasized, is a sort of wiki-like entry. Like, if I hovered over, it would give me additional context in a tooltip.

P.S. Minor gripe unrelated to the game but more with the quirks of this forum: unfortunately, at least for me, these screenshots here, embedded in forum post, are too small to comfortably read the text. And at this resolution the text/bg colour contrast is not helping.
 
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I'm sorry the resolution is an issue for you. I also have to zoom in to see the screenshots better on this forum, and I'm sure not everyone is willing to do so, but I'm afraid I don't have tools to bypass this, other than cutting a screenshot into smaller parts and, for example, posting enlarged text by itself... I just don't know if it really helps when the first impression is already ruined.

I was hoping to add such keywords to the game, but it turned out to be more difficult than I could handle. Right now, the characters have their own journal entries which allow the player to recap what the player has learned about them, so I hope it's going to help memorize who is who. : )

I'd say that the context is more likely to be a part of the player's vision of their own character than, for example, a character sheet that says why do you want to do Things. There are other scenarios when characters try to understand the PC's motivations and goals, and you can kind of see how your answers may be cohesive, or vary depending on who's asking. (And there are clues in the game which hint what an NPC would like to hear.)
 
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Icon update! After almost two years of thinking there's "something" wrong with them, I believe that's a good step. ^^

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It took me a full month, but I’m finished with the Foggy Lake tavern, one of the last large areas in Roadwarden - well, at least when it comes to the things the PC can do here, not its “actual” size. ; ) The keeper of this place knows more about the peninsula than anyone in the North, but she rarely shares her knowledge for free.

I was missing this feeling - during the previous few months I was focused on small content chunks and little areas, and now I was able to truly explore this place and the personalities of its dwellers. I’m quite happy with all the unique interactions you’ll find here, inventing them was such a pleasure. I can see how my XP grind affects the structure of specific scenes, as well as the overall quality of writing. It’s been going great, and I’m learning so much!

This place is especially unique since some players will reach it after maybe and hour and a half of playtime (or a minute of speedrunning), encountering it as a first large shelter in the game and the introduction to the “civilized” part of the world, while for others it’s going to be a spot reached after 10+ hours, and in such a case its impact will be very different. I had to take both of these scenarios into consideration, and well, I can’t wait to show you the results. ^^


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The new title screen, with a slightly altered prologue. I think it looks pretty good, and I still love the music.

 
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There’s been many changes in Roadwarden’s UI, what’s also tied to the way the game is played. Here you can see the completely changed magic system, the new trading menus, and the redesigned world map. There have been many more changes, and but I’ll save the explanations for the upcoming devlog.

All this while I’m also writing new content. This autumn has been great for the game, and no wonder - it synergizes with the color palette I use. ; )

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I hesitate to share the new visuals from the game since many of them would ruin a few surprises I’ve prepared for you, but as I get better at placing pixels, I sometimes have to take a step back and update this and that. Icons, UI, illustrations.

Here are two examples. The first one is the camp from the game’s opening section - the second picture ever finished for the project. Some of the mistakes I fixed now are a bit embarrassing.

The second one used to be a generic mountain road, just a background displayed as the player rides through the highlands. Now it’s not only adapted to the new visual style of the game, it’s also an actual in-game area, a place which can be explored and interacted with.

A year ago I wouldn’t be able to just make this bridge and figure out how to add it to the picture... But here it is. I’m happy. : )

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Here goes the new Roadwarden devlog!

I cover the UI changes, the updated visuals, new tools for the players, the redesigned magic system... I tried to keep it short, but in general, autumn was great for the game, and I have high hopes for the winter season.
 
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Creeks is the youngest and the smallest settlement in the peninsula, started by a group of refugees who fled from the war only twenty five years ago. At first supported by the locals, they had to quickly find a new home. They raised their settlement among the unclaimed hills, trying to tame the forest and its infertile soil, but with little success. The inexperienced newcomers, most of which used to be townsfolk, struggled to efficiently utilize the available resources. Cramped in small huts, forced to forage and hunt to survive, they lost many souls to hunger and beasts before the end of the first decade.

Those who survived grew close to one another, and the new generation considers the entire village to be a single, large family, where everyone is obliged to support all the other members of the community. Their humble crops are not enough to keep them healthy, but they do their best to master the art of carpentry, hoping to replace their dangerous hunting trips with trade.

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i didn't get into the specifics but the premise in the first post alone makes me interested. love the art style, too, so i'll be looking at this when it's done and ready to play! :party:
 
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