Archaelund News

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.


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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.

Archaelund's Magic System has been functional for several months, but in the last weeks we have nearly finished the implementation of the spells that will be included in the Early Access release, as well as some other key features such as spell trainers.



Careers grant access to disciplines, which a character improves to a certain rank in order to learn new spells. A strong spellcasting career such as Apprentice or Initiate can learn several disciplines, and on each new level gained the player has to decide which of them to improve, thus accessing new spells, but also being more efficient at casting spells of that discipline. A spellcaster can focus on one discipline to specialize, or raise ranks in different disciplines, to become more versatile. Early Access will include 9 disciplines with around 45 spells in total (up to rank III for now), and eventually the full system will include much more.



Attack spells are not only about damage: you can mesmerize enemies, put them to sleep, charm them, paralyze them... and of course, spellcasting enemies can do the same to you! And of course not all spells are offensive, and some spells can be cast out of combat for multiple purposes.





We decided to share a few random gameplay clips from the Internal Testing since the trailer is already over a year old; please keep in mind it has not been edited nor "staged" as a trailer usually is, because that takes time, and also we cut it short and avoided dialogues or journal peeks to avoid spoiling too much, so this is really not capturing some of the most important aspects of the game. Still you can see the magic system in action, a complete battle and some exploration from the early areas.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



The latest testing has been very positive. Exploration, quests, combat, dialogues... all of it worked well, and the game is very stable. Archaelund is already a playable game, even if a short one until content is completed.

Even if there is still much work ahead, all the complex systems and the main elements of the game are finally in place and working. Our current target is releasing the Early Access in 4 to 6 months. We work hard to reward your patience with a marvellous game, which we can enjoy together for the years to come.

Greetings everyone! No pretty pictures on this update I am afraid, since we have already revealed too many environments and we want all the rest to be a surprise.

Archaelund internal testing revealed that some core mechanics that sounded like great ideas on paper, turned out to be more hassle than fun.

For instance, I implemented Stamina and Fatigue as a limiting resource for the adventuring party capabilities, and in particular magic. I wanted magic to "take a toll" on spellcasters, making them more frail and exhausted when they cast spells instead of using other well-known systems such as spell slots, "mana", etc. My idea was that spellcasters fell sicker and more vulnerable the more they cast.

But testing revealed that this idea, which can be interesting from a narrative or "realistic" point of view, did not work well in a combat-oriented roleplaying game such as Archaelund, where you explore huge dungeons and large wild regions, while involved in many fights. "Stamina" and "Fatigue" mechanics were quickly becoming a burden, instead of providing interesting choices.

Furthermore, too many game mechanics were tied to Stamina (special abilities, magic or even regular attacks), which also caused character progression and itemization to feel wrong, since increasing Endurance trait (from which Stamina derived) quickly became the "right choice" for most builds, be it warriors or mages. All of this required deep changes in the ruleset. After much consideration I found a way to preserve my original intent (magic takes its toll on the caster) but in a way that no longer disrupts playability. Instead of Stamina, magic and some special abilities will now spend "Willpower". Willpower is derived from mental Traits, and is helpful to resist fear, insanity, and mind control. It can also be spent as a boost during battles. This means a depleted willpower can be, situationally, very bad; but it is not as limiting as Stamina was, nor it is linked with physical endurance and doesn't result in beefed-up wizard apprentices. Fatigue still has a place in the game, as a special status, but it is not so central anymore.

Besides this, several other minor adjustments were needed, regarding things like avoidance and armor, or Trait distribution. Together with the removal of an "attack options" system that was extremely confusing and didn't provide the variety it was supposed to. After a redesign of the rules, all seems to have "clicked" in place; it will take a few weeks to have all the new mechanics working and then they will be internally tested again. Eventually testing will involve more people, when we are ready for Alpha and Beta phases. All of this will be announced in due time.

I know what you're thinking. This means more delays for the release. But wait, it gets worse!

Since Willpower was added I got a few great ideas about new additions to the game mechanics, which I am currently implementing. And more quest ideas for the early areas popped in and I am writing them now. What can I do? I just can't pass up on making the game better. Let's hope the world doesn't end before I run out of ideas.

As for release estimates, I just can't provide them at this point. We want to release the Early Access as soon as possible, but it's clear we still need at least a few months of development, plus some testing time. If testing reveals issues, we may decide to delay the release. I am ready to concede on certain things, like not including some areas in the first release if they're not ready yet; but essential game mechanics must feel right. The priority is to give you the best role-playing game we're able to produce, and we will give it all to get there as soon as we can.

I'll try to make another post on December to keep everyone updated. Thanks for all the support, wishlist additions, and encouraging messages! And a special thanks to all the Exiled Kingdoms players.