YAR: Forgotten Throne News

Hello everyone! I hope you're doing well. I think it's time to update you on the progress of our development. Since all aspects are being worked on simultaneously, I can't show them in an unfinished state. Therefore, I'll keep you informed through text so you understand what's going on.

As I mentioned before, all aspects of the game are actively under development. Regarding the single-player mode, this includes the plot and quests. The focus is on creating a free demo of the game, planned to last at least an hour, maybe even 2-3. You'll be able to visit the first village in the game and complete local tasks.

There's a lot of work with text; we're trying not to create primitive tasks. Even simple quests like "kill and fetch" are being developed into something more significant. What may seem like a straightforward quest at first could lead you into a non-standard chain of events.

Many details of the game are being worked on, including convenience in interfaces, controls, and the addition of various features. There are so many features that it's hard for me to name them all.

Characteristics (strength, agility, intelligence, endurance, luck) are being polished and actively used in the game, quests, and gameplay. Various weaknesses, types of damage, attack speed parameters, and much more are being added.

Skill teachers, numerous new monsters, new possibilities, and transformations into different creatures are being introduced. Level design, placement of gameplay objects, and NPCs are in full swing.

Clothing and armor for NPCs and the main character are being modeled. Game interfaces, inventory, crafting, journals, and more are being designed. Item icons and NPC avatars are being drawn, and the game is being voiced.

A life simulation system for NPCs is being developed. Depending on the time of day, each NPC will be engaged in different activities. NPCs will work during the day and sleep at night, communicate on the streets, and move around.

Asset models are gradually being replaced with our own; many will remain, but many will be ours. Monster and human animations are being created. Environmental sounds, monster sounds, weather sounds, and more are being implemented.

A Bestiary is being written. All of this is done meticulously and carefully, considering our capabilities to avoid extending development for years. The pace of work is extremely high; we rarely take breaks and focus solely on the game. In my estimation, 60% of the game is ready. The main plot is already written and programmed. Personally, I've become a fan of this game; there's a moment when being in it, testing, and fighting is genuinely enjoyable. It's a good sign because I am honest about my projects, and if they are not as good as they need to be, I won't be satisfied. After all, we are doing this for fans of role-playing games like ourselves.

This project doesn't prioritize profit; otherwise, it would be a completely different game already in release. Therefore, your support is crucial. Promote the game wherever you can, recommend it to friends, ask them to add it to their wishlist; it will greatly help us. It's essential that our efforts do not go in vain. There haven't been many large-scale games, especially RPGs, in a Slavic setting for many years, and there is a great responsibility on us.

As for the multiplayer survival mode, its own world is being developed with crafting and resource gradation, bosses, and balancing of monsters. Many aspects from the single-player mode will be relevant in this mode as well.

The multiplayer will be released slightly later than the release to avoid confusing different audiences. Since we essentially have two different games in one, we will launch them sequentially on one Steam page. The RPG will be released first, and after some time, there will be an update for the multiplayer survival mode.

Greetings!

During development, it turned out that the single-player and multiplayer modes are two completely different games, even different genres.

The single-player is a full-fledged open-world role-playing game with plots, quests, an engaging storyline, numerous additional tasks, and mini-plots besides the main story. Think of it as a Slavic Witcher/Gothic/TES, blending RPG elements with survival, construction, farming, crafting, and more. These elements are intertwined with the story, progressing alongside it, making it distinct from games like Valheim.

The multiplayer is more of a strategic survival game with tower defense elements, focusing on the defense and fortification of Russian settlements, followed by attacks on the fortifications of Lizards. It's a cooperative sandbox where players, through joint efforts, defend against opponents' attacks, develop their base, fortify villages, build structures, defeat bosses in the open world, explore dungeons for artifacts, and eventually gather an army to attack the Lizards fort. This mode is more akin to Valheim but with its own unique features.

Initially, this wasn't planned. We wanted to create a cooperative playthrough of the single-player with friends, but it proved impossible for various reasons, primarily due to multiplayer significantly limiting the creation of interesting, flexible, and cool quests within our budget constraints. Prioritizing game quality, story, and content, we decided to detach the RPG from multiplayer and make the multiplayer more of a classic survival experience, devoid of a specific narrative but rich in building options and mechanics for multiple players.

To keep the game's price reasonable and not overcharge those interested in only one direction, we're considering splitting the games into two pages on Steam. This way, the game would be cheaper than if both modes were in one. Many players would then come either for the online component or for the single-player RPG aspect, avoiding unnecessary expenses.

I have three questions for you:

1. Which mode personally interests you more?
2. Would you prefer a combined multiplayer+single-player game at a higher price, or separate games at a lower cost?
3. Estimate a price range you would consider worthy for each game separately. Assume approximately 50-100 hours of RPG gameplay and difficulty progression for multiplayer, resembling roguelikes, where each playthrough becomes more challenging, allowing for constant setting of new records and competition with other players.
This is not a simple question, considering you have limited information on the final game quality, but base on what's available in the trailer, Steam description, and my explanation here.