Winterfall, open-world RPG

FabMariani

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Hello folks,
I'm Fab, lead on Winterfall, a grand-scale journey-based RPG some of you might have heard of. Here's the little teaser we've put together:



Winterfall is set in an ancient world where civilization has faded and it'll be up to you to venture through the wilderness, through places of memory, to recall things that once were. Whether you try to rebuild what used to be or bring knowledge home and save it for future generations will be up to you.

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Winterfall is exploration-heavy and based on personality simulation systems where things react to one another and create gameplay situations for you to deal with (if you choose to). Rather than dealing with loot and exp primarily, you will deal with emotions and use them to build your character, create objects, develop relationships and influence the world.

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I've described Winterfall as the game I've always wanted to play and that nobody's making. It still holds truer than ever as we keep delving into the concept and developing our core systems. The goal was always to make as much real stuff as possible before really going public, because we've all been disappointed way too many times over the past few years by overhyped games that failed to deliver.

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I'll be happy to tell you more or answer questions if you're interested, and you can go to the website or twitter from the links below to find out more:

www.winterfallgame.com
www.twitter.com/willyouovercome

Cheers!
 
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So, is this a parkour game or an rpg? The combat looked arcadey too. Anyone check into it? The graphics look okay-ish. I didn't see any screens with stats/skills/traits/perks etc, so I'm wondering where this steps away from a medieval sims. I forgot the most important question: Is there a magic system?
 
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Hi Fabmariani. Another question - your website talks about it being a "solo or multiplayer rpg experience". How is multiplayer integrated, and which is the more important in terms of development?
 
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Which engine are you using?
 
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Unity

Their Devblog appears to have much more info. Lots of good stuff in there (although I have a weird habit of enjoying reading about development rather than playing the actual games).

https://www.winterfallgame.com/blog

Thanks. I've also become more interested in tinkering and development than actually playing the damn games!
 
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Well, color me intrigued. Kind of GoT meets Zelda? I'd slow combat a bit, more clear telegraphing and get rid/tone down visual effects.
Can you tell us more about this "emotions" system? How far you're in development?
 
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Hey folks,

First off, thanks a lot for the interest, it's always invigorating, especially after spending so long working on this in the dark.

Winterfall comes from my personal frustration of not finding the game I always wanted to play. So I figured I should go and make it myself rather than wait agonizingly for someone else to make it. I am fully independent (at great cost) so that I can focus on building the game as opposed to selling it with hype and empty promises. If I say something is in the game or is going to be in the game, that's because I want it there and consider it core and have solved the matter of getting it done either to the extent that it works, or that it's in the works.

RPG and then some
Its influences and inspirations are many. At heart it's an rpg in the sense that you play a character that isn't you (the character has its own personality, that you will have more than a say in shaping up), in a world that isn't ours (it's somewhere between late antiquity and early dark ages, with a dip in european fantasy) and that you'll be building stats and values and legacies along the way as one of the metrics of your progress. It does have a fair bit of "action" to its gameplay, so I guess ARPG makes sense. But it's also got a lot of Life sim to it, so, what, "open world ARPG life sim"? If I put it that way it sounds exactly like a crazy project that's going to collapse under its own weight. So I mostly say "open world RPG", which is heavy enough.

Emotions
Everything is based on the fact that entities, starting with your character, have a personality structure and react, with emotions, to events. As those emotions build up, you can use them in different ways (it's all on the blog) or let them accumulate until the character needs to evacuate them. Up to you then to manage those drives and outlets.

In that sense, Emotions are the currency and building blocks of the game. You will wander through immense environments in the remains of a faded kingdom, exploring, journeying, surviving, fighting and recalling things as they were (that is the "rebuilding" aspect of the game).

What's Done and Getting Done
We focused first on getting the core systems done, that is the more innovative or challenging stuff: virtual personality, interactions, remembrance, bot combat personality, camping, as well as, of course, combat. Right now, there's more than enough done for an actual game experience (or several actually) but it's time for us to shape all those systems up into actual gameplay loops. In other words, the majority of the things we describe are developed and functional, just not integrated into full gameplay.

Multiplayer
Multiplayer is a goal, but not a condition. In other words, if we have to sacrifice multiplayer at first to ensure that solo makes it, we will. But in the long run, multiplayer will feature for one simple reason: I started Winterfall, as I said, to play the game I always wanted to play (and that many people apparently wanted to play too). That includes playing it with my friends and offering people the opportunity to do so as well.

MMO isn't the focus, nor is some kind of "everyone on the same server and figure it out!". Winterfall is set in a largely depopulated wilderness, it has to be immersive in that way, so ultimately giving the option to players who WANT to play with a lot of other folks is a thing, but the default way of experiencing the game will be more about solo or co-op.

Stats, etc and Magic
There are stats and so on, of course, at the moment we're just keeping everything out of the picture because the UI work is in its most basic shape. At the same time, while we do have complex systems at work (and lots of stats), we want to keep the experience simple and direct, free from endless character sheets with lots of % and stuff. There is no magic per se in the game as it's not that kind of setting. However, the effects of skills may go beyond strict immediate use (for instance you could go from reading the weather to influencing it), and the Personality mechanics will enable you to influence some things around you through force of personality. No fireballs and lighting bolts, no healing spells and all in all no mages…

Combat
Combat can be slowed down. There's a %speed value currently in the game. I like to keep mine high but it can be slowed down (or sped up) drastically. Visual effects are ultimately to be a toggle as well. Combat itself is based on personality, in that bots have various personality values that determine how they are likely to fight (how defensive or aggressive, how active or passive, how likely to combo or not, blocker, dodger, etc). A component of combat ultimately deals with figuring out what kind of fighter you're dealing with and pushing its buttons so that it fights on your terms.

I've kept Winterfall in the dark for years and have just this year started to publish more meaty content. I basically don't want to pull off a Molyneux, where I get carried off by the enthusiasm, and I rather focus on building things than talking about them. Hence I talk about them when they work or are well on their way to being playable.

I'm very happy to answer any question so don't hesitate.
 
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Thanks for the magic response. While the game won't be for me personally, I think it has enough elements to keep folks here interested. I'm more of the tried-and-true classic high fantasy gamer. I also play survival types here recently since there is a dearth of good fantasy right now.
 
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State of Decay one of major influence-s? It had something of a personality system for npc's, but it didn't really go far enough with it.
Sounds a bit like Mount and Blade, but more focused on personal struggle/survival.
 
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Thank you for the interest still, crpgnut. Who knows what untold surprises Winterfall may hold for a "tried and true" fantasy gamer? I started this as the game I wanted to play and wanted my friends to enjoy as well; I have all kinds of gamer friends so the idea is that they find the game welcoming whether they're into fast paced, slow paced, exploration, action, management gameplays.

So rather than try to do everything at once, it's mostly that the game offers possibilities and it's up to one to go for what they like most. Mind you, I'm very cautious about not pulling out a Molyneux so I am a bit guarded in terms of the game's features and content until people can eventually see for themselves.

And indeed, Bobo, State of Decay definitely didn't go far enough, but structurally the concept suggested that a lot could be done. So it's not that the game itself is an influence, but more like what the game could have been. So in Winterfall, you get the three axioms that:
- Characters have a dynamic personality and emotions to manage,
- There is a vast open world to venture through
- There is a House (in the dynastic sense) to develop and survival matters to solve

And then some more.
 
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Hey!

Wow - the game looks really good. I can't find any information how big is your team? Is it only you? Because I see that the scope is pretty big so I wonder if we'll ever see this game shipped :)

Good luck!
 
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I'm guessing it's using a lot of premade assets. It would be a very tall order to create all this from scratch. I don't see that as a bad thing - I think it's the way to go if you're trying to make a game in this style with limited resources. With good writing and design, you could get good results.
 
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Wow the combat already looks better than ScamOftheAvatar.. also in unity. Looking forward to seeing this develop.
 
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What language is that in trailer? Will that go in game?Love the ye-le-le stuff.

Regarding the dynamic personality thingie, sort of like Darkest Dungeon? How you resolve issues, affects character stats/play but you have to keep in mind it can have negative consequences?
 
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Hello all of you, and thanks again for the interest!

Sprajt - The team is pretty small. There's 6-8 people gravitating around the project depending on availability and need. At any given time for now, there are 1-3 active people. We'll be seeking to expand in the near future. The scope is indeed very large but we've focused first and foremost on the complex stuff to make sure it could actually all be pulled off without needing to raise 500k or something. Now that we've finally got a clear core, we'll progress towards UI and UX and general playability to go towards availability of an alpha version in a few months.

Ripper - We're indeed using a lot of premade 3d assets, as well as our own in-house ones, because at this point in time, it's the smartest way to go for an indie and there's tons of quality assets out there now. Not to mention that it's not that hard to customize them.

Wisdom - Thank you. As an old time Ultima 7-8 and UO fan, I was very disappointed in SotA, which I backed on Kickstarter. On paper, when it was presented, it looked exactly like I was trying to make with Winterfall. Imagine the distress at the time! I was new to game dev and suddenly, the man who made the games that inspired me most makes his return and presents a game project that sounds exactly like mine! But time went on, the projects naturally differentiated themselves to the point they have nothing in common anymore. Let's say that Winterfall, I'm not forgetting that it is a game and that it needs to have good, modern gameplay first and foremost, that it must be fun to watch and PLAY.

Bobo - Language is Corsican and it will be the universal language in the game. It sounds and works way better than some gibberish would and much more setting-appropriate than english or other familiar languages would. It should also allow us ultimately, through some clever little tricks, to voice the game fully at a fraction of what it would normally cost to do so. As for personality, let's say Darkest Dungeon is an interesting example but extremely simplistic compared to what we're doing. Darkest Dungeon is ultimately value management. Scores increase and you've got to keep them low in various ways, mostly by pushing UI buttons every now and then. In Winterfall, those scores fluctuate, opening up gameplay alleys. Emotions are at the same time (to sum it up crudely) exp, loot, event triggers, crafting materials, gameplay unlocks, in-game currency. We've got a blog post dealing with the topic, if you care to take a look! https://www.winterfallgame.com/sing...tional-Survival-Conditions-Homecoming-Camping

I'll resume updating this thread with screenshots and video material as soon as possible, life is being a slight bit hectic at the moment!
 
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