Hello all, I'm very pleased to announce Guardian Saga, first game from 9th Bit Games. Guardian Saga is a retro 2D roleplaying game for iPhone/iPod Touch. The game is influenced by Nintendo era RPGs and has a authentic retro feel. My brother and I have been developing the game over a 3 month period. The design was born by our desire to recapture the feeling of playing our first RPGs when we were younger. Everything from the graphics to sound to the user interface was created to invoke that feeling of nostalgia while inserting the appropriate level of "modern sensibilities" (you won't find an outrageous amount of grinding that was so typical of old RPGs). Features: - Old school look and feel - First person, turn-based battles - 5 exciting dungeons, and plenty of optional dungeons filled with powerful equipment - Retro 2D graphics, and hand drawn enemies. - Nostalgic chip-tune music and sound effects. - English and Japanese localization. - Quick save feature for gaming on the go! Gameplay Trailer: Screenshots: We're really close to finishing things up, and expect to be submitting to Apple in two weeks. We're extremely excited about the game and we hope you all will enjoy the game as much as we do. I'll be providing further updates to this thread over the next couple weeks with new screenshots and videos, so please check back often!
Wow... this game looks like a home run; if it plays anything like it looks I've got it at the top of my most anticipated games list. Glad to see more turn based RPG material on App Store. Good luck with the submission and sales. This looks top notch. With nice homage details like the window design and artwork this is obviously made by someone with a good working knowledge of classic RPGs. Just looking at these screenshots brings me back to the "good old days" of NES RPGs.
Nice. This game looks great. I'm tired of all the samey Action RPGs on the Appstore. I welcome more turn based fare.
You and me both bro. I love retro, pixel art games Love RPG's Love classic turn-based style Love iOS gaming Mmm, looks like I might lurrrve Guardian Saga huh!
Thanks for the positive feedback! I'm glad to see there's still plenty of fans of old school turn-based RPGs. My fastest playthrough was about 6 hours. Average playtime is probably around 7-8 hours. Longer if you explore the extra dungeons, hit the level cap, and collect the best gear.
this is what true rpg gamers want we care about gameplay not all these over the top graphics and 3D and movie cut scenes bring back that old dragon warrior style
Oh come on. Imagine how much more you would enjoy Dragon Warrior if it had amazing 3d graphics and cutscenes. Unless you're really that big of a sucker for nostalgia.
Nice. I love it when they're short enough for me to actually finish. I don't have the patience I used to for grindfests.
Are you still on target with the submission timeframe (eta submission 06/26/11)? How about some more screenshots?
We're still making really good progress, but we've lost a few days due to unexpected bugs, waiting for localization, and an unexpected house guest. So, we've pushed out the submission date a bit, but we till expect to submit to Apple before the end of the month. Ask and you shall receive! I've update the first post with new screenshots showing of the title screen, the games inventory UI, and one of the game's bosses. I'm gonna try to put together a video in the next few days to give you all a look at the game in action.
It does look excellent in its glorious retro-aesthetic and the choice of genre (complete with relatively short quests) should work fine on the iPhone. The only thing I'm not particularly happy with are the fonts; then again, this could simply be me...
Will it be possible to use items during battle? One of the criticisms of similarily retro game RPG Quest - Minimae was the combat was not varied enough (Minimae had attack only). I am curious to see what magics will provide. Thanks for the screen shots. No more delays.
I'm really picky about fonts too, so I can kinda see where you're coming from. Anything in particular about the font that you don't like? You can only use items outside of battle. Earlier in development we did have the ability to use items during battle, but we decided - due to the relatively simple nature of the 1 player vs. 1 monster type of battles - that using items during battle actually added nothing to the gameplay, and in fact, made it a bit too easy. However, you will have a fair arsenal of offensive and curative spells at your disposal during battles.
I think your game looks great! I think he means that the font is too smooth and it looks out of place with the retro graphics. Dafonts has hundreds of bitmap fonts that are free to use. Maybe you can find one that fits with the theme of your game. Best of luck to you.
