Wow, screencap looks great. Love the commander art. Looking forward to this. I understand the tight timeline and the terrain rules. As an avid tactical gamer, it's just going to be hard for me not to expect that cavalry in a forest is going to be at a disadvantage, or that troops in woods won't be better shielded from missile fire.
Really enjoyed watching the video. I really like everything about this game, expect for the still shots for the battle sequences. It's unfortunate you don't have an animator to put the fighting sequences on the battle field itself.
I know right! Was thinking the same thing. We're a dying breed, my friend! I had grandios ideas of things like forest ambushes and the likes. I think the only terrain thing we've maintained is that certain Elements can swim since it is intrinsic to their lore. We've made it part of a mission's mechanic too.
Heya Marcus, We're glad you enjoyed it! Since an animator would have been outsourced and rather expensive, we decided to make it a design choice and use beautifully painted stills instead. It allows us to flex our artistic muscles and challenges us to squeeze out as much as we can from each still. They're thought out carefully as we try to express the character of each Element.. well, that's what we hope, anyways!
Thank you all for the kind words so far! My team is excited and driven to give you all a polished product to play in November. Currently, we're putting in all the content for the mission to tell that grand story we keep talking about! For the while though, is there anything you guys would like to see more of?
That actually looks quite fantastic! You mentioned earlier in the thread that the coding for terrain modifiers was taken out - why not add a "Hardcore" button to the settings menu that the user can use to enable or disable at their own whim?
Can't really wait for this! Will probably end up being my favorite TBS with Battle For Wesnoth, Tactical Warrior and Squids
Not *only* does this look like a great game, but two of the devs have done most of the posting in this thread--now that's feedback I can appreciate! This game has piqued my interest, and I'll definitely look forward to hearing more. A great tactical game combined with a great story? I'm in heaven! Also, not that I'm sure you're ready to commit to a release date yet, but might we be seeing Ravenmark before the end of the year?
Heya Echoseven! While we can't do it at release, if Ravenmark does well at market I promise I will make it happen. Ello LOL, Cheers for the support! =D Cheers MrLova! Glad you like it! =) Cheers man, Avarid! We're geared for a November release actually, so you should be playing it in not too long a while!
I hope the story is not as confusing as Battle for Wesnoth. Squids should be releasing before mid-October if I remember right and I loved the simplistic, but still depth story i had that continued through each level. Does this have similar? If you don't knwo what I mean look at Squids when it's released cause its got a great story!
I doubt that'll be the case, since Brian (he uses the witchinghourSG account) and I have been working towards something that is streamlined and easy to comprehend while developing the various characters that populate Eclisse. I'll definitely check Squids when it's out! Looks like a blast to play, cheers for the suggestion! =)
Heya all! If you aren't aware, you can also check us out on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/RavenmarkSaga You can find screenshots of our current build and some concept art! Would be great if you could throw us a Like while you're at it! (Personally, I quite like the Sotran Ambush piece.. What do you guys think?)
Hi, it's Brian here. Let's talk about the story. *rolls sleeves up* The world of Eclisse where RAVENMARK takes place was conceived nearly 10 years ago, as a stage for many spell-binding Dungeons & Dragons adventures managed by Ian. RAVENMARK itself began life as a tabletop strategy boardgame - yes, multiplayer was actually there at its inception - but given the depth of the world that was presented, it seemed only fitting to weave a grand character-driven story campaign and turn this into something incredible. Let's just say that in writing the script for RAVENMARK, one of our major influences was George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones... We like our political intrigue and multiple plot threads. We understand that good writing should be relatively straightforward to follow, but our goal isn't to cook up a story like See Spot Run, if you know what we mean... From what I understand, Battle for Wesnoth was open source and had multiple writers handling the story, so it's possible that its narrative continuity might have been compromised. (Personally I didn't play Wesnoth, this is just what I hear.) There are only three writers involved in RAVENMARK, and we actively work together nearly all the time, so our lore and narrative ought to be more consistent, if that makes you feel better. ========= I sense that some of you guys are anxious to know the general gist of the story, so here is a quick synopsis of the first Arc of the story... By the by, if you're still hungry for more - please check out our Facebook page. We're going to put up the map of Eclisse there, so you can enjoy its sweet geography. You'll see a bunch of nations that sound totally unfamiliar, but hey... that'll be what we're doing next: Nation descriptions.
Hola! Today we'd like you to look at some screenshots of our in-battle dialogue scenes. Are they purty? We also will be putting a few shots of concept artwork that we'll be sharing at our Facebook page, so hop on over to http://www.facebook.com/RavenmarkSaga if you fancy that!
Opinions? Heya all, Seems like it's rather quiet here on in this thread. No matter, today I've actually got a question for veteran TBS players and casual gamers alike regarding unit (or as we call them, Elements) information. How much is too much information? Now, we've been having this discussion in the office for a coupla weeks and we'd like your opinion. Basically, as we're about to clean up and prettify the Codex for Ravenmark, we're still on the fence about how much information the player wants or needs. With all the exact information given, you get something like this: (Please excuse the rawness of the screenshots, they're mostly placeholders for now!) On the other hand, we could simplify the stats to be easier to grasp, like so: Mustered Militia Health: Low Movement: Low Melee Prowess: Sad Range Prowess: Non-existent Armour: Paper and Prays Also, if we just use numbers, could people gauge what's considered high or low? As a TBS player, I kinda like having the numbers, but I can understand how too many of such would overwhelm the player. What do you all think?
Well I think the simple is better tbh. Both are great, but if you can upgrade them, it'd be easier for the simple. Now, show us those abilities that are under the statistics
If combat damage is predictable, i.e., you will always or usually do exactly the same damage when you hit, then it's important to give the exact statistics, because 1 point more or less makes a big difference. But if combat damage is highly variable, then it's somewhat ok to just give a simplified summary. Still, exact range probably matters, since there's a big difference between being able to hit and being just out of range. Unless you allow firing even at longer than maximum range, with a penalty.
Why not have the default option as the "simple" and for those who are more advanced, add an "expand" button that will show all the specific stats?
Cheers for the suggestion. Always good to have more to chew on! With regards to the abilities.. here you go. =) Armoured Hallow Frog Devour (Dagger Ability) - Target Element will be eaten and destroyed immediately. (Great for those pesky armoured folk, like the Earthshield Veterans) Mustered Militia Fodder (Dagger Ability) - Upon the death of this Element in melee combat, the attacking Element that dealt the killing blow will be 'Slowed' for the 3 turns. 'Slowed' reduces the Element's movement points and initative. Armour Boost (Deuce Ability) - When this Element is in a Deuce, it gains +20 Melee Armour. Armour Boost (Trine Ability) - When this Element is in a Trine, it gains +20 Ranged Armour. Heya Daviddes! What about if the damage is constant across the board? For Ravenmark, all melee damage is 2, crit is +1 and advantage is +1.. it's the same for all Elements. We wanted players to think about getting a maximum attack bonus, but we didn't like the idea of random damage values. Perhaps it should just be mentioned at the tutorial? I do agree about the range though, that's a good point. I don't know, more buttons to push might annoy both parties. One of my guys mentioned that if we do that too much we might as well make two games - casual and core. One simplified and one a number cruncher's paradise. Not too keen on that really. I'm hoping for something that would appeal to both. Personally though, what would you prefer?
things like movement and range are important and should be specified but the rest can keep simple Mustered Militia, Armour: Paper and Prays was realy funny The armor for the frog could be steel plates and lots of goo
