Archaelund News

• Fixed a "silent crash" that bugged the game after camping (triggered by Empty Hands quest). Saved game is unaffected, it'll work fine after the update.
• Fixed: Casting healing spells on dead party members crashes the game.
• Poison will now be removed from KO'ed party members.
• Scorching wave spell will no longer affect dead or KO'd characters.
• Fixed several "pits" in the Galeb's Bluffs where the player could become trapped.

No long textwall about gameplay today, because it's time for the game to speak for itself: Early Access release is scheduled for 18h GMT+1 (Noon EST).

So yes, this is a "random ramblings" post.

I'm both thrilled and humbled by the game's reception so far. Over 21,000 wishlists - that's a significant number, especially for an independent developer who has invested zero dollars in marketing. The level of anticipation has exceeded my expectations.

I'm eager for you to experience the beginning of this adventure. Remember that much more is to come soon. Please, don't hesitate to share your thoughts in the Steam discussions or on our official forums. I will read and consider every opinion given during Early Access, although I will of course follow my own vision for the game.

A special shoutout to the players and community of my first game, Exiled Kingdoms - your support has been incredible. And yes, one day I'll return to 2D isometric development to delve into more adventures.

I wish you a journey through Archaelund that, while certainly not safe, will be thrilling and enjoyable!

In yesterday's post I laid the groundwork for how a party is created and provided an overview of the playable races. Today, we'll delve a bit deeper into the character system.



The most determining choice when making a character is selecting a career. There are currently 15 "basic" careers in the game (more to come) that can be chosen at level 1.

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Let's go over some of the stats listed in the careers, below the box with the picture and description.

Career skills: these are the skills you can improve by spending Skill Points.

Magic disciplines: spellcasting careers will list here the disciplines they have access to, and can improve with Discipline Points. You can think of them as "spell lists" or "schools". Some disciplines are exclusive of one career, others can be found in multiple careers.

On All Levels: automatic benefits gained by a character on each level-up. This includes an increase on combat proficiencies (from +1% to +5% in weapon ones, and 0% to 2% in Critical and Dodge). Also how many skill points can be distributed, and how many Health Points (HP) are gained.

On Specific Levels: a different talent will be gained at specific levels, and in some cases an open talent may be chosen (more on talents below). Also some stats like Discipline Points and Armor Training have different gains at different levels.

Switching Careers: On level up, characters can switch to a different basic career assuming they meet the requirements, and have already completed three levels of the previous one. Any benefits you gained in the old career will remain: disciplines and spells, skills, talents, etc. But it is important to take into account that once you abandon a career, you can never gain new levels in it. If you move from Pikeman to Initiate, for instance, Athletics will no longer be one of your career skills.

Advanced careers will be added to the game in future updates, and will need to become unlocked with in-game actions, or will have very high requirements.




The seven traits represent the fundamental innate capabilities of a character, with a value of 4 being the human average. Traits will seldom see permanent increases throughout the game.


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I'll not list all the traits and their corresponding bonuses here to keep this article concise. You'll find this information within the game, and a comprehensive manual/wiki will soon be available. As you distribute trait points, you can monitor the top-right corner of the screen to see the impact on your character's stats. And you can hover your mouse over any such stats for more detailed explanations.

Generally, following your intuition when assigning traits should steer you in the right direction. Aspiring to create a towering Varannari Barbarian who masters the two-handed axe? Prioritize Strength and Endurance. Or perhaps a nimble burglar proficient with a bow? Dexterity and Awareness are your go-to traits. There aren't many pitfalls in trait assignment, it's prudent to invest in the traits that your character will rely on the most.




Talents are special abilities that characters gain on level-up. Characters always gain a talent when they gain a new level; if for some reason they had already gained that talent before, the character will be able to select an Open Talent instead.


Click on the thumbnails to expand

When browsing careers, it is a good idea to hover your mouse over talents and have a look at their descriptions. Some offer straightforward, passive bonuses. Others will grant special combat actions. But of course you don't need to "study" all the talents available, since most careers don't get to choose an Open Talent until level 3. By then you'll be far more familiar with game mechanics, and ready to make a meaningful choice.

When a talent is listed as "Expert Talent" instead of "Open", it means that the only way to gain that talent is by reaching that career level. Some expert talents are present in more than one career, while others are exclusive.




Skills are a simple aspect of the game and I decided not to make the post even longer by explaining them. And if your character is a spellcaster, you'll also need to choose one discipline (typically among three), and two spells (among four or five).

Well, I think that's enough to give you an idea about the character system. I am not sure I'll have the time to make another such complex post in the 27 hours left until the Early Access release, and certainly I won't have the time in the days after release, so for now you'll have to find the rest of the information in the game itself and the forums. Maybe tomorrow I'll make a brief heads up post before release, just to thank everyone for riding along.

See you tomorrow!

David

Before the adventure begins you need to do two things: create a party and choose a difficulty.



A standard party is formed by 4 adventurers. You are allowed to make a smaller party, but be warned... you'll get beaten. Badly. Later on, up to two companions can join your party. It doesn't matter if you have a smaller base party; you can never have more than 2 companions joining you.



The proccess of creating a character is straightforward. I don't like the games where you are forced to make a lot of uninformed decisions at the beginning, but of course this is still an RPG with a lot of depth, and some choices must be made. The good news is most of the choices will come later on, as you level up. And in character creation you can know how everything works by just hovering over stats.

If you're in a hurry to get into the game you might just create a random party with one click, which will automatically create a reasonably balanced party of four with at least one decent fighter, one decent healer and one spellcaster (other roles may vary). By "reasonably balanced" I mean exactly that: it can face the dangers ahead, but as you learn the ropes of the game you might probably do much better.

A good thing about random parties is they can be edited. You can go through the characters one by one and adjust some details, or completely redesign the characters.



In this version of EA, you can choose among five races to create your characters. (Two more races will be added in future versions, and it's also planned to add separate human cultures). The race selection screen displays all the information you need to make a choice.


I'll post here the game information about the non-human races, so you can get a little familiar with them.

[h3]Varannari[/h3]

Tall and athletic natives from the primeval forests of Varannar are easily recognizable by their green skin and strong, long limbs. Varannari are brave, likeable and loyal, but prideful and temperamental.

In Archaelund: some Varannari were brought to Archaelund by the Mercians as slaves, but escaped into the forests to form nomadic clans and live once more according to their ancient ways. Most of them, however, are part of human society and have come as colonists or adventurers.

• Trait bonuses: +1 Strength, +1 Endurance
  
• Trait penalties: -1 Intellect, -1 Self-Control
  
• Special abilities: Varannari gain a +15 bonus to the Survival and Athletic skills.
  

[h3]Goblin[/h3]

In the civilized Exiled Kingdoms, goblins are considered monsters due to their renowned wickedness, and attacked on sight. The Archaelund Marches, however, can’t afford any available force to go to waste, and some goblins a tad less psychotic than their brethren can make a career as scouts and archers. Some of them become jesters for one of the Lords of the Marches, although their awful jokes are often more painful than their dented blades.

In Archaelund: Goblins are a common sight in the largest cities, where they live assimilated into human society. But many others are dangerous outlaws, sometimes led by shamans of their dark religion.

• Trait bonuses: +1 Dexterity, +1 Awareness
  
• Trait penalties: -1 Strength, -1 Self-Control
  
• Special abilities: +1 Movement Point. They have innate resistance to fire (+25%) but are vulnerable to cold and shock damage (-25%)
  

[h3]Minotaur[/h3]

In ancient times a wise and prosper people, nowadays turned into bloodthirsty monsters, roaming ancient mazes built by their ancestors while oblivious to their meaning. A few of them, however, are intelligent enough to become civilized (under a very generous use of the term) and make a living through their fighting abilities. Minotaurs are large, incredibly strong and aggressive, but often simple-minded and fearful of sorcery or the undead.

In Archaelund: Minotaurs are rare, and sometimes frowned upon. They are often front-line fighters in adventuring parties, or lead bandit groups. However there are exceptions and a small number of Minotaurs insist upon unveiling their ancient past and recover the wisdom of their ancestors.

• Trait bonuses: +2 Strength, +1 Endurance
  
• Trait penalties: -1 Dexterity, -1 Personality, -1 Intellect, -1 Self-Control
  
• Special abilities: Minotaurs need two rations per rest. They don't have a 'Feet' slot, and can't wear boots or shoes. They are also unable to wear most helms.
  

[h3]Batrax[/h3]

Batrax are small amphibious humanoids, nimble and dexterous, intelligent and innately adept in the magical arts. Unpredictable in the extreme, they can be equally violent or sociable when met in the wildlands.

In Archaelund: wild Batrax are feared in the coastlands, where they often ambush their victims with sharp harpoons and deadly magic. Some of them, however, claim human ancestry and wish to live among humans and learn their ways, citing a fabulous tale about a human adventurer who spent a night of passion with a Batrax princess. Unlikely as this tale may be, their abilities as scouts or sorcerers are undisputed and has earned them a place in Archaelund.

• Trait bonuses: +1 Dexterity, +1 Personality, +1 Intellect
  
• Trait penalties: -1 Strength, -2 Endurance
  
• Special abilities: Batrax can hold their breath longer than other races. Vulnerable to fire (-50% to resistance). Batrax don't have a 'feet' slot and can't wear boots or shoes.
  

After your party is created, and before you can begin your adventure, you must select a difficulty for the game. This can't be changed later. Once again, hovering over each difficulty will give you all the details, but it might be hard for you to determine how relevant are the listed changes.

My advice would be to go with New School difficulty, unless you truly enjoy challenges. As in many RPGs, the game becomes easier as you learn the ropes. For people with experience in old RPGs, Old School might be more enjoyable. It will force you to be more careful. The other two available difficulties (Explorer and Cruel) are for people that want a more gentle or an extremely ungentle experience. Iron Man mode is not available yet.

That's all for this write-up, in the next one I'll explain some aspects of the rest of character creation aspects (careers, skills, magic)

I'm pleased to announce that in two months from today (by january 8th if all goes according to plan) we will press the magic button and release the Early Access version of Archaelund on the Steam Store.

This first release will feature the initial chapter of the Archaelund's main quest, plus a large region to explore freely with plenty of side-quests, dialogues, challenges and secrets. By our estimates, this means 12-15 hours of content.

We look forward to add more of the beautiful areas we've been working on, and let you explore all the secrets of Archaelund, but we believe it is better to limit the initial content until the areas have been properly tested and given the detail they deserve. Of course, once you purchase the Early Access version, you will get all the future updates of the game at no extra cost.

The Early Access already includes a good measure of Archaelund's rule system. There are five playable races, fifteen careers, fourteen skills, over 60 Talents (unique abilities), and over 50 spells. All of this to cover just the early levels of character development.

I'm immensely excited to share Archaelund with the players, and we count on you to make this game better. Don't hesitate to ask any questions in the Steam Discussions, or at our forums.

For more infomation, you can read our Early Access FAQ.

Thank you!

David
4 Dimension Games

NOTE: we originally announced December 21st, but Valve advised us to delay the release past the Winter Sale.