Oberon's Court,3D Real Time Strategy set in the Afterlife [universal]

Discussion in 'Upcoming iOS Games' started by Muppetpuppet, Sep 6, 2013.

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What would purchase price would you feel is value for money

Poll closed Sep 24, 2013.
  1. I'd rather not seen any In app purchases and an upfront app price (2.99)

    15 vote(s)
    83.3%
  2. In App purchase of new Campaigns (bout 5 maps+cutscenes) (89 cent)

    1 vote(s)
    5.6%
  3. In App purchase of additonal unit types for your Cabinet(army units) (89 cent)

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  4. In App purchase of Additional resources to upgrade your Units (89 cent)

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  5. I feel new Campaigns should be free, and only additional units and resources should be purchases

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  6. I feel I would pay for extra campaigns and story, but not for game boosting purchases such as units

    2 vote(s)
    11.1%
  7. I would not pay at all for this game, the way it looks now.

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  8. I prefer advertising and banners if the game is free.

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. Muppetpuppet

    Muppetpuppet Well-Known Member

    Sep 5, 2013
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    #1 Muppetpuppet, Sep 6, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2014



    [​IMG]



    [​IMG]
    Oberon's Court, Shadow Chains.


    news:
    PocketTactics.com recently did a really nice feature on Oberon's Court, check it out here:
    http://www.pockettactics.com/features/hell-is-other-pixels-tomas-sala-talks-rts-oberons-court/


    A 3D real-time strategy game coming to IOS (and Android/windows)
    [​IMG]
    In Oberon's court you'll take command of squads of restless souls that you have chained and bound to your will. Recover resources such as bone, blood, steel and essence to customize the shades you've claimed from their resting places.

    Game-play is Squad based, with individual commands such berserk, flee, vampirism and more per unit available on attack stages.

    The entire game is developed without the use of textures to create a unique visual style, and allow the 3D graphics to run on mobile devices. With a focus on fast paced combat, unit alchemy and resource detection.

    The initial release will focus on campaign based storytelling, following the player as he discovers the world of Oberon's Court and chains increasingly powerful souls, ranging from humble squires and foot soldiers to the souls of crusader knights and kings. Where the former will transform to low level units such as bodgers and hare knights, and the latter weavers and other powerful squad leaders.

    Each soul will be bound to the player's "cabinet" and improve persistently between maps and campaigns.

    Gameplay:


    Features:

    • [*]Fully 3D RTS/adventure for mobile devices
      [*]Created using 3d art without any textures, anywhere in the game
      [*]Fully Voiced Characters
      [*]First release will feature the "Shadow Chains" campaign, worth several hours of gameplay
      [*]Visit 3 unique settings in the first release, with many maps each
      [*]Enter any structure, keep or dungeon on the main maps to visit the dungeons of the elder shadows.
      [*]Upgrade your units and squads over time, persistant units throughout the [*]campaign
      [*]Upgrade your units with special abilities, such as beserk, Lightning spells, [*]Sacrifice and more
      [*]Capture lost souls on the battle field to supplement your army
      [*]Discover Oberon's true intentions, and the nature of the underworld
      [*]Non-linear campaign, backtrack and sidestep through directly connected maps​




    Art Album:
    http://forums.toucharcade.com/album.php?albumid=1631

    Release and practical data:
    Oberon's Court is planned for a Q1 2014 release.
    Premium app $4,99 all future updates and campaigns included in premium
    http://www.oberonscourt.com

    Devices supported:
    • Ipad2
    • Ipad3
    • Ipad Air
    • Ipad mini
    • Ipad mini 2
    • Ipod touch 5thgen
    • Android 4.3 and higher tablets and smartphones
    • PC/Mac

    Developer:
    The game is being development by Boof Games.
    [​IMG]

    Like and participate in development: http://www.facebook.com/oberonscourt

    View past news items and more in-depth info at IndieDB:
    http://www.indiedb.com/games/oberons-court

    Some news clippings:
    http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/04/10/oberons-court/
    http://www.indiegamemag.com/oberons-court-through-the-fire-and-flames/

     

    Attached Files:

  2. Muppetpuppet

    Muppetpuppet Well-Known Member

    Sep 5, 2013
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    Added a Poll, Really interested to know potential players thoughts on monetization.

    We all have to make a living. I'm in the lucky position that I'm free to decide how Oberon's court should work commercially.

    Now the easiest way is just to load it up with timed gameplay and such, which as a gamer I really hate, so that's never going to happen.

    What I'd prefer is to create episodal content in the shape of new campaigns. And offer these campaigns as In app purchases. Each campaign would be 4-6 maps, strung together with realtime cutscenes and ingame dialogue.

    Initially the game would then be free with the first or first few campaigns included, as well as potentially a random skirmish map(to train your shades, and upgrade them.

    Somehow that seems the least obnoxious way of seeing some returns on this game. However there is also the possibility to add In app purchase for other stuff, and here I'm thinking about unique new unit types and simple resource boosts and special abilities. (that otherwise would have to be earned in combat).

    Now the nature of Oberon's court is that a new unit type would just be a shell for the player to fill in and customize, but resource boosts would actually be a way to boost your playing speed. Which for me is a bit of a no-go(as you would lose the natural and designed player progression and gameflow).

    How do you as a potential player feel about any of this. Now is the time to speak up and make your mark. Its just me over here and I am paying attention to what everyone would want most.

    Cheers
    Tomas
     
  3. Alister

    Alister Well-Known Member

    Jul 1, 2012
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    Nice looking game here..Kinda reminds me of Don't Starve by KLEI..


    Good luck with everything..Especially the release.
     
  4. Nullzone

    Nullzone 👮 Spam Police 🚓

    Jul 12, 2013
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    Very interesting graphics look.
    RTS isn't that much of my thing anymore (getting too slow), but guess I'll give this a try anyways.

    Question for the Muppet:
    Why realtime and not the more relaxed turnbased?

    Also, you forgot "none of the above" in your poll ;)
    As a firm believer in good prices, I'd range this at 10€ for the base game, and - I don't know - 5€+ for campaign expansions and extra content packs (e.g. a new set of units).
    A lite version to give it a try for an hour or so would be appreciated then.
     
  5. Muppetpuppet

    Muppetpuppet Well-Known Member

    Sep 5, 2013
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    #5 Muppetpuppet, Sep 10, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2013
    Hi guys,

    The reason for not going turn based was basically threefold,
    A) I preferred to design and animate something with a smooth feel to it, Turn based sort of limits your options design-wise.
    B)There's a lot of turn based strategy already out there in the apps-store.
    c)It's a design challenge to myself to see if I can make Real-time easily to control and and flow smoothly.

    One of the core goals was to make combat feel more like a joust, and not your typical RTS slugfest. ALways find it strange when units are hacking away each others lifepoints. In real-life melee combat, its usually decided in one or two seconds, which guys is left standing and which guy is going down.

    Especially if you'r using a stats based system underneath, why wait for the end-result, the outcome has already been decided, and 9 out of ten times you won't or can't retreat your units anyway..

    So Probably on the same page as you, speed is where its at. ;)
    But actually I started out with a Turn-Based System (the levels are build up from hexes).
    But found that with the combat I had in mind (basically instant outcomes) Turn based wasn't required, and took away some of the urgency.

    In conclusion, I'd also say RTS perhaps doesn't cover the load very well, as you'r controlling squads, and there's no expansive base building. (there is resource gathering though). But control wise, the squad approach, with a single leader, gives a bit of a DOTA feel. But without any multiplayer in the first release, I can only call it a RTS offcourse.

    BTW, impressed with your pricing, but I feel that would be too high, I think as a fairly unknown name in the app-store the game should be priced aggressively, to even stand a chance.

    On the other hand I often find myself skipping 2.99 or free titles as I assume these would be too casual or cheaply made for my tastes, is this something you guys also have?

    cheers
    tomas
     
  6. Nullzone

    Nullzone 👮 Spam Police 🚓

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    #6 Nullzone, Sep 11, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2013
    Thanks for taking the time to answer, much appreciated.
    And squad-based sounds less hectic than your usual RTS , much better for slow folks like me.
    No idea what you'd call that officially, Real Time Tactics maybe?

    I have a very specific taste in games, so almost 100% of the Appstore do not interest me at all anyways ;)
    Most of the games I consider great quality also have "high" (well, for iOS) prices, e.g. XCOM, Baldur's Gate, anything from Spiderweb, gamebooks, you name it.
    In the Roleplaying and Strategy sections of the Appstore, high price is almost always a high quality mark, so I look for those first. Free stuff I almost completely ignore, most of those aren't down my alley anyways.

    And yes, I firmly believe in good prices for good quality. Working in enterprise IT for quite a few years now, where prices can easily have 4+ digits (before the comma, mind you), not to mention full price PC and console games, I have a different outlook on pricing than your average "I wait till it's on sale!" customer :p
     
  7. Muppetpuppet

    Muppetpuppet Well-Known Member

    Sep 5, 2013
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    I see where you'r coming from, and I'm the same way. Maybe I'll do it at 5.99 that's a nice mid-range price. I'll have to make sure that the campaigns are longer to give a good value for money.. I think I simply prefer the up-front pay to play model, and I can take the added risk. I don't have to live of the income from the game.

    I will still have to add some In app purchase, just to redeem some income from android, perhaps a token 79 cents for added campaigns..

    I'm wondering if apple will approve giving away the same IAP in a paid version for free, and having it for 79 cents in the free version.. (basically making sure paid up users, get better value for money)

    What I really would like to do is add a pre-funding IAP, where you can choose to invest X amount in an IAP that will unlock once its developed and funded. Like a mini Kickstarter.
    .But that's not allowed by apple sadly.

    Still I notice you play Ravenmark, their campaigns offer great value for money, and I don't think i'll be able to produce the sheer amount of content as they did per campaign.
    But its a model I really liked, and happily sank in some cash..

    anyway, musing bout it..Thanks for the reply as well. Gotta keep up the solo pre-marketing effort, so any action is appreciated.
     
  8. Nullzone

    Nullzone 👮 Spam Police 🚓

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    #8 Nullzone, Sep 12, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2013
    Okay, Warhammer is an established brand so the situation is quite different, but have a look at their pricing model: all the add-ons together cost way more than the core game, ending up at a decent price. Baldur's Gate did something similar.
    Maybe that is something for you, but on a lower tier.
    Say, 2-5€ per content pack (campaign/characters/etc.), depending on its size / added value compared to the core game.

    Ravenmark is quite different in terms of (back)story:
    As far as I know, they had a ton of material already, because it originally was their pen&paper setting & campaign for years. One of them even produced a boardgame version prototype that looked ready to ship on the pictures.
    Cannot remember exact details, but originally they had the additional campaigns as IAP add-ons as well. If you want to know more how they did it, send them an email; they are very friendly and helpful guys.

    And if you can match them in terms of impressing me, I will drink a few beers to your health ;)
    Because then you did an incredible job.
    You will share some very lofty heights with a few other games in my all-time hall of fame; namely Ravenmark, Master of Magic, the Avernum iOS games, and Planescape:Torment (which holds top spot for as long as I can remember).

    No idea how things work with Apple. The different priced IAPs might work, if Apple treats the full and light version as two separate games.
    As for the funding IAP: you could offer a small content pack, and expand that one later for free. Or add a donation option. Solomon's Boneyard has that, so apparently it is alright with Apple to do so.
     
  9. Muppetpuppet

    Muppetpuppet Well-Known Member

    Sep 5, 2013
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    Hmm, good points, I'm going to see if I can verify Apple allowing some donation types. Would be more inline with the soft approach i'm after.

    And I'm currently working my ass off getting the game to a state where its impressive. Next post I'll add some footage with a touch indicator to show where i'm at currently. but still a long ways to go.. Knee deep in deciding if I want a classic resources model, or an in between map levelling/rewards resource model. I'm thinking on an an Ipad or iphone resource gathering the classic way and upgrading units will just be to fidgety.

    So for now my idea is the following.

    Each of the three squad can summon a relic (if the current location has one hidden so to speak).. The first squad(dragon/weaver) will gain immediate combat buffs for every friendly unit in the relic's radius of influence (this squad can only raise steel(attack) and bone(defense) relics, once it leaves the relic's radius, the relic crumbles and that resource location is depleted)

    if the second squad(denmother/big ass badger) raises a relic it will grant health(blood) and stamina(essence) buffs to units in the radius, Same as the first squad, squad leaves resources are depleted

    third squad (spider) will raise a relic of any of the 4 types but as long as the squad is around the resources get harvested to your inventory, to be used for unit purchases and end-level rewards (to level up your army in between maps)

    Its a simplified model, but it has the great advantage of visualizing friendly effects. Plus it will give an immediate status visualization of an enemy squad (are they gathered around a bone totem, better get some offensive units or raise a steel totem nearby)

    I'm sort of obsessing about visualizing as much of the tactical state of things with a minimum of interface or stats in view..

    anyway, great feedback, hope to have some more visuals soon. Here's a wallpaper just for kicks , Image links to hires source.

    [​IMG]
     
  10. Muppetpuppet

    Muppetpuppet Well-Known Member

    Sep 5, 2013
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    So need some help here, I'm running up against the UI wall here. I Still feel you need to be able to summon up some basic unit stats.

    So I've decided that a static long press down, will summon up stats on units., but I'd only like to display as little as possible. So here's where I need some help, I've put some design thoughts I've got in this image. Is there a winner among this bunch? let me know?

    [​IMG]
     
  11. Nullzone

    Nullzone 👮 Spam Police 🚓

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    #11 Nullzone, Sep 19, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2013
    How long is long? Does not sound like a good solution for an RTS when you have to push down for like 2 seconds.

    Of the images, number 3 wins. Easy enough to grasp in a pinch, and information is conveyed by color and by the numbers. The icons could be a bit bigger, though: use the whole circle, including the broad black border, and only leave a very thin black border around them.
    I know next to nothing about cognition theory, so I cannot say if e.g. using different shapes as well is a good idea, or if it is too much to process immediately.

    What you have in the top picture might work as well, if you make the circles larger. But I found I need to spend a second or so to really look and compare the relative sizes of the circles. Not good in realtime action.

    2nd picture is a total no-go: small shapes that you need to count, and in different layout. Looks good though, could work on a non-realtime screen. But I'd prefer something larger and more easily discernible for that; say, a small central circle with 1-5 big spikes extruding from it.

    On the last picture the ovals look distorted, and the numbers as if you placed them wrong by accident, too close to the upper edge. And they are a bit too small to be read easily.

    Nitpick: There is no Roman numeral IIV. If you meant 4, it is IV.
     
  12. Muppetpuppet

    Muppetpuppet Well-Known Member

    Sep 5, 2013
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    Good call on the IIV , its been a decade or so since my last latin lessons. ;)

    I actually had the same thoughts about spikes, So i'm gonna try out a 4 spiked approach with a sort of stacked triangles shape to indicate strength. (sort of spiked variation of 1)

    I'll post a shot when I have it working,

    The long press, should be less than 1 second. so a tap is just a tap, that sets your targeting pointer. keep it pressed for longer than a tap, and stats appear.

    Thanks for the feedback, really starting to question myself, doing a project solo really requires brute strength determination to break through your own tunnel-vision sometimes.
     
  13. Muppetpuppet

    Muppetpuppet Well-Known Member

    Sep 5, 2013
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    A new Alpha gameplay video

    So a new video , its been a while, but I've been busy with wrapping up the core gameplay loop. So although the video contains no Audio or mission narrative, it does contain unit summoning, resource harvesting from a relic, buffing units from a relic, and then summoning more units and off course clearing out enemy units from their relics. Plus a slew of interface changes.

    Again the video is grabbed from PC so don't mind the near lightspeed FPS, and minor hickups as my Code tries to deal with fps spikes up to 1000+fps..
    (Ipad mini perfomance should be in the 50-60fps range, but probably will be capped at 30 for less battery drain)

    Audio design and voice recording is scheduled for the next few weeks soon,and as soon as that's implemented a Proper Gameplay trailer should be upcoming.

     
  14. YekNoM

    YekNoM Member

    Oct 10, 2012
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    Hi,

    I didn't understand all of the written(no native English)but I want to share my thoughts about this game.

    1. I really like the visuals. Reminds me a bit of Badland(my favorite iOS game). The animations are great.

    2. The mix of rts and even moba mechanics is promising, I'm looking forward to the new gameplay video.

    3. As a customer & gamer I would prefer a premium app with enough content to play a couple of hours...it would be ok for me if new campaigns come in as iAP. What I would not like are special units or boost iAPs. Maybe new units/abilitys with the campaign updates.

    This is really the kind of game I want to play on my iPad. Looking foreword to it :)
     
  15. Muppetpuppet

    Muppetpuppet Well-Known Member

    Sep 5, 2013
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    So what about audio?

    thanks for the response, I have a question for you all.

    If you play on your ipad, are you playing most often with the sound off, or muted or using headphones. Since the game hopefully will be quite audio heavy, its important what to optimize for, headphones, or speakers, or no -audio with more visual feedback, and emphasis on subtitles and such

    just let me know, so I can make the game better,
     
  16. Muppetpuppet

    Muppetpuppet Well-Known Member

    Sep 5, 2013
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    To 60fps or not?

    To 60fps or not?


    So today was a shocking day, after developing for several months on my new nexus 7(2013) and being used to averaging 60-100fps, I decided to spend a few hours doing the annoying task of making a new IOS build.

    As the only device I had handy was an old Ipad 2, I was shocked to see framerates around 60fps , peaking at 80 fps, not much below the android quadcore. Now the build I was testing was the latest build which is only missing final combat audio, the new special abilities and the cutscene/dialogue system.

    [​IMG]

    So its safe to assume perfomance will drop a bit, but not a lot. But it brings a dillema, what to do with 60fps. We're talking a RTS here, so 60fps is excessive, although it feels soooo smooth.

    The main choices are.
    1. keep it at 60 fps, and present 60fps gaming on a mobile device, but it will drain as much battery power as any other hi-performance mobile game, which is usually very annoying. (it 'll run through my nexus's power in less than 2 hours)
    2. cap it at 30fps, and have a nice stable framerate, but it won't tax your battery as much. (no idea on the actual gains, but it will be less than 50%, probably 25-30 % less drain, perhaps someone with more hardware knowledge can chip in here)
    3. add some stuff, more objects, more units on screen , anti-aliasing etc etc.

    Now the top two can be made user controlled, (in a settings menu), but the bottom one, will definetly tax your device more, and once level design/campaign design starts there's no going back on the unit-cap.

    So what's your general feel, worth improving visuals and gameplay, or cap it and save some battery time?


    In Production

    So currently I've found a great voice actor do most of the voice acting and narration. That means hopefully the game will be fully voiced soon. Also the general music and audio is coming along nicely.

    The final game-play coding to be implemented are , the special abilities. These come down to the following abilities a unit might gain in combat and that can be deployed as part of the player's strategy.
    Sacrifice, Unit goes boom on combat
    Vampirism, Unit gains health from combat with weaker units
    Berserk, Unit sacrifices stamina and health to deal a single lethal blow
    First Strike, Unit receives no damage, if enemy is killed
    Intimidation, weaker units have chance of fleeing
    Taunt , enemy units are drawn in towards the unit

    Campaigns and dialogue.
    The last part of development before beta will be the dialogue system, which will feature animated portraits and narration by Oberon himself. And like mentioned voice recording is underway. Once that's done I'll start working on the first campaign and placeholder cut scenes. So the end is insight, and a Christmas release is probably in the stars..

    Cheers
    Tomas Sala
     
  17. Muppetpuppet

    Muppetpuppet Well-Known Member

    Sep 5, 2013
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    Some App icon Choices, any favorites between these two?
    Which do you prefer?

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  18. PresidentZer0

    PresidentZer0 Well-Known Member

    Dec 7, 2012
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    The one on the bottom
     
  19. kenken11

    kenken11 Well-Known Member

    Sep 29, 2012
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    Bottom one
     
  20. Muppetpuppet

    Muppetpuppet Well-Known Member

    Sep 5, 2013
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    Clear cut answer. I was partial to using the top one perhaps only for the itunes 2x artwork, or the slightly bigger icons in the appstore.. But perhaps its best to keep it consistent
     

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