Exodus Of The Machine Teaser 1

[Panopticon]

I was just kidding about the naming your characters thing, It's not a super important thing to me at all. Although I have had some fun online with people streaming Super Amazing Wagon Adventure and naming the wagoneers after different people in the chat and so on has been pretty funny stuff. There's like zero story to that game though, it's just an old school arcade send up of Oregon Trail with a ton of hilarious video game hyperbole. But yeah, it's something that people tend to enjoy in the various Let's Plays and streaming sessions that all the hip kids are doing these days.

The mention of character backstory and history and the art style leads me to believe that you are worried the perception will be that this is a visual novel. So yeah, you want to highlight the strategic and planning aspects to avoid that situation if that's the case.

[chemical_art]

The mention of character backstory and history and the art style leads me to believe that you are worried the perception will be that this is a visual novel. So yeah, you want to highlight the strategic and planning aspects to avoid that situation if that's the case.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhotot.

That makes sense.

[keith.lamothe]

...Roguelike...

In the sense that consequences for actions are permanent, yes, and it's turn based, but there's no top-down-2d-grid like every roguelike I'm familiar with would have.  Nor does it have the usual Tolkien and/or D&D-like tropes I normally associate with roguelikes.

[mrhanman]

It looks like a genre that isn't well received on steam, but isn't.  Hmm.

It's software to balance your budget!  With roguelike elements!

[keith.lamothe]

It's software to balance your budget!  With roguelike elements!

I'm pretty sure budgeting is inherently roguelike.

[Billick]

I'm now incredibly curious what genre this looks like (but isn't). 

[Panopticon]

Sci Fi roguelikes do exist. Just recently Kerberos just put out a roguelike set in their Sword of the Stars game setting and I've been hearing good things about it. And when I saw what Sword of the Stars: The Pit was, I instantly wished that it was an Arcen game set in the AI War universe.

The fact that you guys are taking AI War and expanding the universe with a new game with totally different gameplay is just as exciting to me though. And it's something I'd honestly love to see you do more with that particular setting. Sequel after sequel to a series is definitely old hat, but taking a setting and using it to explore new angles is something that doesn't happen a lot.

edit: I'm also super intrigued by the diplomacy you guys say will be in the game. Just out of curiosity, has any of you played Depths of Peril? I thought the diplomacy side of that game was pretty cool stuff and would enjoy something organic like that. I love how you can influence the entire power struggle in Depths of Peril with subtle shifts of support and some skulduggery.

[chemical_art]

Yep, money is going into VN being the culprit.

Just look at the first page art.

A richly detailed backround, combined with a character with very different art. Could you not imagine a the 1/3 of the screen being a differen shade where text could be? Classic VN.

Keith not saying a word after Chris saying "don't reveal it!" when he talks about all the other potential ideas...

hmmm....

[Panopticon]

Heh, Arcen forumers favorite game; tickle as much info out of Keith and Chris as possible on new projects.

[Coppermantis]

The VN theory sounds very plausible. I can't see it looking like a Match 3 or other such "casual" game, and standard genres like RPG, RTS and FPS have less or no fear of being poorly received based on genre.

[LaughingThesaurus]

Heh, Arcen forumers favorite game; tickle as much info out of Keith and Chris as possible on new projects.

It's not particularly difficult to do when they're just as excited about the games as we are.

[keith.lamothe]

As for my silence, part of it is that I was out of the house at dinner.

But yes, VN is what we were concerned about.

I went with this idea for a new project, knowing that the approach to the graphics (going for beautiful handdrawn backdrops and anime characters) was VN-ish, though the gameplay was totally different. About 3-4 weeks after that was informed that VNs basically don't sell at all.  I might have chosen differently had I known that   But here we are, and the game idea itself is quite compelling to many people.

[Echo35]

Dysentery Nukes.

I might make that a CaH card...

[x4000]

And for the record, I think that parts of the interface are the only thing that are VN-like.  But even the general tone of the interface, and the fact that there are all these stats and combat-themed icons, is not VN-like at all.  Also it isn't dripping with dialogue, and it has no romance or "sexy anime." I think the Smugglers series is a good example of something that isn't a VN, but sort of looks like one.  It's really nothing like this game, either, but still.  What we have is an immediate-first-impression problem, not a remotely-what-this-is problem.

Perhaps now my thoughts about showing no interface and the thing "You have died of dysentery... and robots" now makes more sense.  Then show the game and show the text about the real hooks.  It hopefully helps to overcome that first (incorrect) knee-jerk reaction.

[keith.lamothe]

Actually I don't think the main gameplay GUI looks VN at all, at least no VN I've played (and that's a number of them).  It's the storyboard cutscenes with dialogue that make me think VN.