Arakion, a game similar to dungeon master on Kickstarter

[Lavidimus]

Hey, my name is Chris Taylor. Today I would like to present to you a project I’ve been working on called Arakion. While I'm not exactly sure whre this goes, the dungeon master players are my target audience so I figured I would post it here.

I've loved the dungeon master series since I was little and wanted to make a game that was similar in spirit to it as well as might and magic, so Arakion was born.

Arakion is a first person, group based RPG that includes extensive character customization, town building and adventuring in a story driven world. In the spirit of might and magic, it includes, a deep role-playing experience, there are forgotten dungeons to get lost in, plenty of puzzles and riddles to solve, vast open worlds to explore and a highly customizable character development system.

I’ve reached the stage in development where the core mechanics are essentially finished, the art style has been defined and I’m ready to move into full time development. This is why I have started a Kickstarter campaign. It would mean alot to me if you could take a second to view the the campaign, watch the video, learn all that Arakion has to offer and if you like it, consider funding!

Kickstarter Page

Early Dev Diary Videos
Developer Diary 1 :: Developer Diary 2

Images:






Around the web
Facebook :: Twitter :: Indie DB

[Gambit37]

HI! Welcome to the forum. Arakion looks very interesting, and with the recent release of Legend of Grimrock, there's a lot of interest in DM type games.

In fact, while we have an active community here, we're very small, so I'd suggest posting about it on the Grimrock forums: http://www.grimrock.net/forum/
(By the way, there are green blob enemies in Grimrock too... must be a RPG staple )

I'm personally not so much into the RPG aspects (what I love about these games is puzzle solving and exploration), but there's many players on this forum who I think would really welcome your style of game. Nice work on it so far too, looks very good. Good Luck!

[Ameena]

Ooh, looks interesting - I like chaarcter customisation, RP, and puzzle-solving so from your intro post, this sounds pretty good . I don't have time right this second to check out your Kickstarter links or anything, since I'm going out shortly, but I thought I'd post now to acknowledge that I think this game looks cool anyway . I'll check it out later if I have time, or possibly tomorrow evening when I get home.

[Lavidimus]

Thanks for the awesome replies. I'll try to post it to grimrock, it doesn't really have any wiggle room for where to post it though. I posted it on your particular forum because I"m trying to recreate the same feeling of those old RPGS, and you're that target audience. I appreciate you taking the time to check out the project.

[beowuuf]

I believe Darklord was quite active in the Grimlock community, and was also here, so hopefully if you message him he could place it somewhere visible for you over there?


Does look good, will check it out properly tomorrow. Hope you manage to get some good buzz going and start on the full production road!

[Lavidimus]

@beowuuf thanks for the early kudos, it's doing well so far almost up to 10%

[Bit]

Another fine looking project that surely demands a very good hardware. *sigh*
BEAUTIFUL graphics, indeed, love those landscapes! And - building up cities - a great idea.
Best wishes!

[Lavidimus]

@Bit it has low end settings. I can't guarantee it will run on the lowest of the low but as long as your computer is newer than 7 years old it should be good to go.

[Ameena]

Wow, I just watched the vid on the Kickstarter site. It looks like such a cool game! The character development thing sounds really cool, and new (which I suppose is kind of the point ) . Also, I noticed in an article on the main site, it says you're trying to base some of it on stuff like Might and Magic. That's cool - I love those games (well, I've only played VI-VIII but those were great fun ). I shall have to see about making a contribution on the Kickstarter...not sure which tier to go for yet but I suppose I have a while to decide .

[Lavidimus]

@Ameena: Thanks for the kind comments! Just let me know if you have any questions or there is something specific you're looking for and I'll get back to you as soon as I see it!

[Ameena]

Can't think of anything specific...well, I suppose I'm wondering how detailed the backstory will be for this world. Will there be loads of fluff, all in books and NPC dialogue and stuff that you don't have to read, but which fills out the setting if you do? Like in the Elder Scrolls games (at least, from Morrowind onwards), there are books everywhere with stories and histories and stuff, and in Everquest you could go up to an NPC and hail them and have a massive long conversation in whicih they tell you some tale from the lore, or maybe describe something of the history of a city or its founder or something like that. I love writing stuff like that. And I like it when a game has extra stuff that's in no way mechanically important. It's like in Pagan (Ultima VIII, the only Ultima game I've played), where you can pick up pretty much anything that isn't actually an integral part of the world (walls, doors, the floor) or too big (tables, stalagmites, etc) and lug it around with you if you want - chairs, potted plants (I think), jewellry, clothing, cutlery, etc. You can open a drawer or a dresser in someone's house and it'll contain maybe a set of clothes and a hand mirror. And one in the kitchen will contain cutlery and crockery. And you can do this in every house in the city. And in any others you discover out in the wilds as well. And it's pretty much all useless junk!
I suppose that's rather a lot of effort for the game developer, to put in all that extra stuff. But it makes the world feel bigger, more "alive", rather than the only items lying around being ones that you need to complete the game. Or some random, silly stuff, easter eggs, hidden around, like you get in Morrowind (and as far as I can remember, Oblivion and Skyrim too). You even get a few subtle ones in the Might and Magic series, actually. Well, sort of - some character names are nods to other things, such as William Setag (MMVII), or Albert Newton (MMVI), but don't get in the way if you don't realise they're a reference to something else. That, I find annoying, if you find something in a game that blatantly goes "Hey, look at me! I'm a reference to something from popular culture!" even if I don't know what it is or where it's from. I'd much rather something subtle where the people who're gonna get it, get it, and the ones who don't are just oblivious . Divinity II is another one that does that kind of thing, an example being an NPC you meet who's two people stuck in the same body. One is an aggressive ruffian called Jackal, the other an intellectual professor-type called Clyde.
Anyway, been waffling on here for ages, about stuff that might not even be relevant to Arakion, lol. I'll post this and bugger off now .

[Zyx]

It looks promising! Can you elaborate on "building cities", or if the info already exists, give a link about it? Will it be multiplayer or solo?

[Lavidimus]

@Ameena:
There will be a lot of small pieces within the game that give you "fluff" as you say, from trinkets you pickup to talking stones, I've put a lot of effort designing the game into unlocking the story from certain view points as you play. One really cool point I like about the game at this stage, that adds replay time, is that depending on how you build your town and who you recruit, you'll hear their perspective of the history. Meaning that if you have a lot of torti, you'll mainly be hearing and learning about their experience throughout the history of Arakion, and how they got to the point they are. This helps eliminate a lot of that cut and dry story you usually get in games. I'll be putting as much in the world to make it feel as alive as possible.

@Zyx:
http://www.christopherjtaylor.com/araki ... /town.html hopefully that will answer your town question. As far as multi-player or solo, multi-player is planned but will only be integrated at a certain funding threshold!

[Bit]

Don't forget the zoo with the captured monsters

Where had that been - M&M or Wizardry?

[Ameena]

There's no zoo in any MM game that I've played so it must have been the Wizardry series, as I've never played (or even know much about) any of those .

[Lavidimus]

hahahah... the "Zoo" is more of my own creation, but I've taken inspiration from games have have had similar stuff, I'm from the view that you should add as much if not more meat to a game outside of combat as you have in combat so the player has a lot to do, in form of mini-games, puzzles, exploration, etc...

[Bit]

Chris, that are all wonderful ideas, and being a talented programmer, you probably have in no time the plot how to realize it.
Still - this all has to be hacked into the keyboard - until the muscles of the neck ache badly - don't underestimate this.
I'm also very curious if the kickstarter idea will give you the needed financial power.
Usually there are only two types of programmers - the stubborn idealistic ones who request time for themselves and don't have money at all, and those who sold their dreams and are enslaved. Take care!

(btw: - another trap to lose time is ... be warned - we are addictive )

[Ameena]

Oh, I like games where there's more to do than just hack'n'slash/blowing shit up (although of course, blowing shit up is fun...just not if you do it all the time ), so exploration and puzzles sounds good . Sometimes I spend more time poking aronud in corners/admiring the view than I do actually killing anything. Depends on the game, of course . And if there's an option to employ Sneaky Bastard tactics, being stealthy and killing people before they know you're there, I'll take that option any time . Probably not the kind of thing you can put into a grid-based, DM-inspired game though . I also like riddles. And puzzles...though not if the solution is something really obscure you could only have guessed if you happened to know one particula fact about something really weird and obscure, or if it requires you to have thought of picking up one particular, insignificant item about five miles back through the game. less of an issue if the puzzle you're trying to solve is non-essential and only leads to some extra treasure or whatever. What's also good is if there's more than one way of getting past an area...in fact, there's a thread on this kind of thing, erm, I think it's in the "Custom Dungeons" section on this forum. And timed puzzles aren't great. I like to take my time over stuff, not rush through it 'cause I have to press certain buttons in a certain order fast enough or I can't continue with the game .
Anyway, all this extra stuff like building towns and stuff sounds really cool . Oh, I've thought of a question - will there be dialogue with NPCs and if so, how will this be handled?

[Lavidimus]

@Bit: Hahaha... I understand exactly what you mean! Which is why before the kickstarter went up, I already had all of the base coding finished. This way I know I would be able to finish the game within budget requested. I would really like to end up with 150k to make the full vision a reality, but you'll get an excellent game with 25k

@Ameena: While I haven't written out most the puzzles, I really try to avoid obscure stuff as much as possible, I think it's a disservice to the gamer to make them walk around looking for an answer for hours only to have it located in some tiny corner of the world they would have never looked for. That's not to say some puzzles wont be very difficult to solve, I'll just be sure to actually make them solvable. No stealthy killing, although it's a potential interesting idea. I agree with most of the rest of what you said so on to the question! Yes there will be dialogue with the NPCS, it will be individual and personalized based on which hero is talking to them. I can't say for sure the final setup, but at the moment in the base, depending on the individual heroes history he's presented options on how to converse with NPCS. A history with the rogue allowing subversion, a history of the charmer allowing swooning etc...

Hopefully that answers your questions and if you have anymore be sure to ask!

[Gambit37]

What happens if you don't reach your funding goal? Does that mean you won't be able to finish it? Does Kickstarter allow you to try again, or is it a "one shot deal"?

[Lavidimus]

Hey Gambit thanks for the question, has yet to be asked. I'm not sure if Kickstarter allows you a do-over so to speak. If it doesn't reach it's funding goals I'll be working on the game but putting it on the backburner, this means it either wont be finished or will be release 5+ years from now since I won't be able to work full time on it.

[Gambit37]

Right, well I really hope you get the investment you're looking for: it looks a cool game and deserves some serious attention. I've tweeted a link to the Kickstarter page, I don't have many twitter followers but every little helps

[Lavidimus]

Thanks a ton! I really appreciate it, just getting the word out really helps regardless of how many people it reaches. And here is hoping that it gets the funding it's aiming at. Momentum is starting to build so have my fingers crossed.

[Lavidimus]

Hey guys, just wanted to stop in to say thanks, the Kickstarter is over 35% on it's sixth day. Thanks to everyone that has taken the time to look through the Kickstarter and a big thanks if you pledged. I've received a lot of support from dungeon-master and as long as we keep this up, Arakion is going to be a great game for everyone to enjoy! If you like the game, remember to please tell your friends about it so we keep up momentum!

[beowuuf]

That's not too shabby a start! It will certainly be interesting to see how it gies in the coming weeks - fingers crossed!

[Gambit37]

Cool, good news. I made a pledge and as mentioned above, tweeted it too, so hopefully you'll get to your target. Good luck

[Lavidimus]

@beowwuf: Thanks, fingers crossed indeed, first things first we gotta get to the initial goal.

@Gambit37: Thanks a ton! I really appreciate the pledge it means a lot to me. Also any way you can spread word about the game helps, so I really appreciate you tweeting about it.

[beowuuf]

Cool, the music updates have landed!

[Lavidimus]

Yep, Mike really appreciates the response it's been getting so far. Be sure to toss him some kind words if you like it, in the comments.

[Gambit37]

Nearly there, just $500 to go!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lav ... rs-arakion