Seven Dragon Saga - Development Update

Short development update for Seven Dragon Saga written by David Shelley:

RPGs and their words

We continue to move ahead on Seven Dragon Saga, working on different aspects of skill use in the wilderness and tactical maps. Doing a review of the magic system, and laying out enchantments to compliment.

I’ve been playing a bit of the Torment: Tides of Numenera beta, a game boasting a million plus words, and since they have had a lot of experienced writers involved, we can expect quality words. At more than twice the length of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, that is an impressive volume. I’m not far in, but I can already say that Torment will not be providing the same experience as a good novel, no matter how much I end up enjoying the game. Games are different animals, and use words in different ways.

Torment provides the player a character with a specific background, along with the a variant of temporary amnesia, plus a number of companions, many of whom knew a facet of the character from before the start of the game. The gimmicks provide the companions with plenty of specific things to say right from the start. The companions have internal moral rules, allowing them to react to the protagonist, based on player choice. They will undoubtedly leave, if the player offends them too much. I suspect there will be romantic options, though it is hard to say in the early portion of the game.

The game is rich in objects simply laying around, with rich descriptions and interaction options. And it appears the player will spend time inside the mind of the protagonist, possibly in cases of death, or similar events. Add in important NPCs and quests, and one can begin to see how Torment is likely to distribute its text. The experience appears to be one of exploration, of the world, and of the protagonist. Exploration is important in 7DS as well, but more oriented around the wilderness, and hidden tactical areas.

Seven Dragon Saga will not have as extensive a word count, as we allow the player to create their entire party, and use our Goals system to create backgrounds and personalities for all the members. The party should have a bit of chatter, and bring color to the individuals, but we have no plans for any player characters to leave the party in disgust, or profess love to another. Since 7DS has a focus on manipulating factions, much of our text is reserved for key NPCs, who have to react to the different choices the player makes. Each game seeks its own balance of story, action, exploration and advancement, and the industry is stronger for it.

Thanks daveyd!

More information.

I was hoping for more after all this time.

Originally Posted by Silver
I was hoping for more after all this time.

Me too. I backed the Kickstarter. It feels like this is never coming out.

Originally Posted by Lynchden
Me too. I backed the Kickstarter. It feels like this is never coming out.

Because it probably isn't.

But if it does, it would be a nice surprise in 2021 or whatever.

A lot of yapping about other games, nothing abut their own. Depressing.

Originally Posted by Lynchden
Me too. I backed the Kickstarter. It feels like this is never coming out.

Didn't KS fail?
If they got no money then they need to work on this in their spare time which will take ages.

Originally Posted by Archangel
Didn't KS fail?
If they got no money then they need to work on this in their spare time which will take ages.

The Kickstarter did fail but I believe the developer found funding with other investors. I have no clue how much was given, and I doubt they even have a release date planned.

I'm also inclined to believe the game hasn't progressed much in the last year either.

Less yapping is fine by me, as long as it has a halfway decent story.

This project sounded promising on paper, but I've found it rather underwhelming so far. The updates usually consist of waffle.

In five years they might be halfway there, at this pace. Rather disappointing I'll say.

Dave Shelley and TSI can take all the time they like and need as far as I'm concerned - they've earned it over the years. My backlog is sufficiently long enough that I'm unlikely to notice. Let the ideas germinate and allow the project to take shape naturally.

I also think the Torment discussion is relevant inasmuch as it is useful to make a comparative points about Seven Dragon Saga's proposed story-telling style and to get a sense of these systems direction. In any case, I'm going to maintain some perspective and try to remain optimistic.

Thanks for the post!

Originally Posted by Pessimeister
Dave Shelley and TSI can take all the time they like and need as far as I'm concerned - they've earned it over the years.

I hear you. I played the hell of many of their (TSI being comprised of former SSI folks) games back in the day. Man, they made some awesome games. Much love.

Originally Posted by Pessimeister
I also think the Torment discussion is relevant inasmuch as it is useful to make a comparative points about Seven Dragon Saga's proposed story-telling style and to get a sense of these systems direction. In any case, I'm going to maintain some perspective and try to remain optimistic.

I hear ya again, particularly about the optimism. However, it does sound a lot like the guy is just sitting around playing the Torment beta.

Originally Posted by Capt. Huggy Face
I hear ya again, particularly about the optimism. However, it does sound a lot like the guy is just sitting around playing the Torment beta.

It's a good way to learn game building techniques and garner new ideas. Even noticing the design mistakes can be helpful.

This is the guy who has designed some of the most memorable and richly detailed locations within the constraints of a primitive restrictive engine i.e. gold-box. The first Maelstrom Rider sequence in Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday would be an excellent example of his work. I can't wait to see what he can do with a modern engine.

I'm (wishfully) thinking that they may have made more progress than this / other recent updates indicate. Perhaps they just aren't ready to show any gameplay footage just yet… IIRC they showed a video of early gameplay footage during the Kickstarter, and many people nitpicked it to death; "The (placeholder) UI is bad", "the animations suck", etc. , because people always ignore that something is pre-alpha.

But I'm not sure if they actually found investors to fund the game or if they're still planning to return to Kickstarter at some point (which would also explain why they haven't shown any videos / many screenshots recently).