Gordian Quest News

Introducing Hero #3 - Bertram the Ranger

Hey Heroes,

This week, we focus on a hero who's a master of ranged combat, and can also provide a unique value to the party by constructing turrets and traps.

Bertram the Ranger
Bertram is a ranger of the wild. Being a expert tracker and a highly adaptable survivalist, he is often called upon for hunting and scouting missions. His skills make him uniquely suited for leading expedition groups through unfamiliar terrains.

Starting Talents
Bertram is not as physically hardy as other heroes, but he makes up for it by having highly versatile ability schools that let him be as proactive or reactive to situations as needed. He can be a threat from anywhere on the field, and a deadly one if left unchecked.

Nature Lore - Has a +2 bonus when dealing with challenges involving nature.
Observant - Has a +2 bonus in tests of perception.
Proficiency : Small Blades - Can use daggers and swords.
Proficiency : Bows - Can use bows.
Proficiency : Crossbows - Can use crossbows.
Proficiency : Medium Armor - Can use medium armor.

Skill Schools
Every school has around 20-30 unique skills. Shown below is a small sample of the kind of skills Bertram can obtain over the course of his adventures...

Sharpshooter - Sharpshooter skills focus on mastery of different arrow types and bow techniques to take out foes at any distance.
Trapper - Trapper skills focus on controlling and defeating enemies through the use of traps.
Sentry - Sentry skills focus on the construction of automated field weapons to turn the tide of battle.

Skill Previews
Here are a couple of preview shots of select skills in action!

Rain of Arrows

Cross Hatch

Sentry Turret

Build Potentials
Bertram has strong range potential, so keeping him in the back row and away from danger is the way to go. With that said, a portion of his abilities also reward him for maneuvering about the battlefield to gain circumstantial boosts, or to set up his abilities in the right places. He is a flexible fighter who can ramp up his damage output if he is unchallenged.

Sharpshooter - An unmatched marksman who takes out foes from a distance.
Trapper - A trapper who dominates the battlefield with dangerous traps, luring enemies into them.
Sentry - An engineer who constructs turrets to lay waste to the battlefield.
Sharpshooter + Trapper - A versatile marksman who lures their foes to their demise, and picks them off.
Sharpshooter + Sentry - A commander who can provide key supporting fire to their allies.
Trapper + Sentry - A tactician who requires set up time, but revels in unbridled destruction when their devices are in place.

This is just a taste of what we have to show for our Early Access. We'll be working on this and even more amazing content as we go on!

If you've missed out on our previous posts, here is all the teasers we've shown - this list will be growing as we go along!

If any of the above gets you excited, you'll be absolutely in for a treat with Gordian Quest. We can't wait to show you more, stay tuned!

Drop us a comment, wishlist our game and tell your friends about it :)

Sincerely,
The Gordian Quest Team

Introducing Hero #2 - Alphonse The Scoundrel

Hey Heroes,

Next in the lineup is one who has no qualms about stabbing his enemies in the back.

Alphonse the Scoundrel
Alphonse is a scoundrel who has spent time among the best of the worst - honorable thieves, unscrupulous cutthroats, and deadly assassins. The world is his playground, and he intends to stay alive with his wits and cunning.

Starting Talents
Being a rogue, Alphonse has a very focused proficiency set revolving around small blades and medium armor. He has other talents that keep him at the forefront of battle, as well as making him more likely to avoid and survive traps in random events.

Alert - Retains initiative bonus when ambushed.
Dual Wield Mastery - Can equip weapons in his offhand.
Lightfooted - Has a +2 bonus in events vs traps.
Proficiency : Small Blades - Can use daggers and swords.
Proficiency : Medium Armor - Can use medium armor.

Skill Schools
Every school has around 20-30 unique skills. Shown below is a small sample of the kind of skills Alphonse can obtain over the course of his adventures...

Assassin - Assassin skills focus on potent single target damage, and the mastery of poison.
Sabotage - Sabotage skills focus on controlling the battlefield through implements and traps.
Subterfuge - Subterfuge skills focus on sowing chaos among enemies through deception and illusion.

Skill Previews
Here are a couple of preview shots of select skills in action!

Stab

Noxious Bomb

Backup Plan

Build Potentials
Alphonse is considered an advance hero to play and has strong damage potential no matter how you build him. While he is naturally more fragile than more combat-oriented heroes, he can make up for it with smart positioning and clever control of the battlefield.

Assassin - An assassin geared around annihilating high value targets.
Sabotage - A trapper who lays traps to kill, hinder, and harass your foes.
Subterfuge - A highly elusive agent of the shadows, who strikes at opportune moments.
Assassin+ Sabotage - A versatile assassin who uses traps to create confusion, and expose weakness on their targets.
Assassin+ Subterfuge - An assassin who dances in and out of the danger zone with a backup plan ready.
Sabotage+ Subterfuge - A scheming trapper who uses traps in both offensive and defensive capacity.

This is just a taste of what we have to show for our Early Access. We'll be working on this and even more amazing content as we go on!

If you've missed out on our previous posts, here is all the teasers we've shown - this list will be growing as we go along!

Introducing Hero #1 - Lucius the Swordhand

Hey Heroes,

In this week and the coming weeks, we'll be previewing each of the 6 heroes that will be present in the Early Access version of Gordian Quest. Each of these heroes are differentiated by their personalities, starting talents, and skill schools. Today, we'll be covering Lucius, the Swordhand.

Lucius, The Swordhand
Lucius is a former soldier who now wanders the realm as a free agent, helping those in need. He is an expert combatant, and possesses strong battle instincts which makes him a natural leader on the field.

Starting Talents
Being an ex-military man, Lucius has proficiency in a wide array of weapon and armor choices at the start, allowing him flexibility when it comes to choosing equipment to complement his skills.

Dual Wield Mastery - Can equip weapons in his offhand.
Proficiency : Blunt Weapons - Can use maces and flails.
Proficiency : Small Blades - Can use daggers and swords.
Proficiency : Large Blades - Can use two-handed swords.
Proficiency : Medium Armor - Can use medium armor.
Proficiency : Heavy Armor - Can use heavy armor.
Proficiency : Shields - Can use shields.

Skill Schools
Every school has around 20-30 unique skills. Shown below is a small sample of the kind of skills Lucius can obtain over the course of his adventures...

Swordsmanship - Swordsmanship skills focus strongly on one-on-one fighting prowess.
Warrior - Warrior skills focus on general combat ability and crowd control.
Leadership - Leadership skills focus on buffing yourself and allies.

Skill Previews
Here are a couple of preview shots of select skills in action!

Blast Wave

Phantom Edge

Show of Force

Build Potentials
Lucius is a highly versatile front line hero, who can also act as a cornerstone of any team with his strong supporting skills. Build him in the following ways!

Swordsmanship - Excellent single target duelist, for taking down tougher foes.
Warrior - Take on multiple foes at once without breaking a sweat.
Leadership - A commander who directs his team and executes strategic plays to win battles.
Swordsmanship + Warrior - A well balanced warrior who can switch between a fighter and tank role easily.
Swordsmanship + Leadership - A fighter who creates opportunities for himself by placing his team in strong formations.
Warrior + Leadership - A commander who leads the front line, bringing down weaker foes to expose high value targets.

This is just a taste of what we have to show for our Early Access. We'll be working on this and even more amazing content as we go on!

If you've missed out on our previous posts, here is all the teasers we've shown - this list will be growing as we go along!

Introducing The Battle System

Hey Heroes,

This week's topic is Gordian Quests's battle system. If the map system is the lifeblood of the game, the battle system is the meat and bones. Our goal with the combat system to provide the following :

Turn-based gameplay
A highly tactical experience where every action counts
An almost puzzle-like aspect when examining enemy actions and reactions
Satisfying synergy and combos from items and party members

Let's delve into it.

Roll for initiative!
The age-old clarion call to battle - rolling for initiative. As the battle is turned based, every unit has their turn in the pecking order of when to act. Everyone's position in this queue is automatically determined behind the scenes by rolling 3 six-sided dice and adding the unit's Initiative score.

Every hero has a base Initiative score - agile and lightweight heroes tend to be able to act first. This score is then modified by skills and items. Remember that Initiative is fluid, and various status effects like Speed Up and Slow Down can influence the flow of battle.

And .... action!

Every unit acts can use a number of skills based off their AP (Action Points). All heroes start with 3 AP, with various skills costing a range of AP from 0 to 4 or more. AP can be increased through skills or items.

What's your intention?
There is value to being the first to act in battle - at a glance, you can view the intent of all units that have not acted. This means that you have the advantage of planning a strategy to counter your foes.

This means that if an enemy acts faster than you, you will need to play more defensively as you are unable to determine their next action. With that said ... read on.

Enemy intentions are fluid. They change if they they are unable to target anyone with their current skill - in other words, they switch to using the next available card in their hand. Use this knowledge to optimize how you spend your action points - avoid a powerful attack by moving to another lane, or take the heat off an ally by stepping into an enemy's sight.

Studying and outsmarting your enemies is key to winning battles unscathed. With the above information in mind, here are the rules of engagement when fighting enemies.

Every enemy has a specific deck (the simplest enemies have 3 cards, while tougher opponents can have twice that)
Enemies will draw and hold 2-3 cards in their hand per turn
Enemies will pick the first valid card, from left to right
Enemies will play 1 action from their hand per turn
Powerful monsters can have 1 or more passive abilities that change up the battlefield, or knock players around. Be on guard!

You're up next
On your hero's turn, you're going to have to make some choices. Here's a simplified loop :

Need to reposition yourself? This costs 1AP per cell moved.
In a tight situation? Use a consumable. Each hero can only carry 2 into battle, but they cost no AP to use.
Play a card in your hand. Discover synergies between certain cards that can grant additional effects, or let you play more cards on your turn.
Out of AP? End the turn.

Sounds simple enough - but remember that every action counts. One wrong move can expose a weakness in your strategy, and your party will be punished for it.

There is no I in Teamwork
Heroes are strong by themselves, but that won't do when going up against more powerful elites. By working in unison, heroes can trigger supplementary attacks and effects that can boost their effectiveness. These skills are called Trigger skills, and are labelled as such.

Trigger skills are all about positioning. By keeping in the same lane, row, or any other position as described, a hero can activate other heroes in the same turn for a free action. Heroes can only be triggered once per round in this way.

As such, every Action Point matters. Weigh the use of it to change the enemy's intent, to get into the correct formation, to avoid danger, or to get in range for an attack. There are going to be some hard decisions to make.

Advanced strategies
There's more to the battle system, but that is outside the scope of this post. Utilize the many status effects to your advantage, all while deftly trying to take as little damage as possible. Here are a couple of unique ones to look out for ...

Knockback - Push a target backwards in their lane (swap if they hit someone else)
Channel - Every point of Channel will reduce the AP cost of certain spells by 1
Burn - Every point of Burn will inflict 2 damage on the target's turn
Frozen - Will lock up a random card in the target's hand
Burning Ground - Units take damage when stepping into this cell
... and more!

This is just a taste of what we have to show for our Early Access. We'll be working on this and even more amazing content as we go on!

If you've missed out on our previous posts, here is all the teasers we've shown - this list will be growing as we go along!

Introducing Gordian Quest's Procedural World

Hey Heroes,

This week's topic is Gordian Quests's map system. As gamers ourselves, we believe procedurally generated maps are the lifeblood of any roguelike or roguelite - our end goal, the Adventure Mode, is to create a world that can be played for as long as you like past certain key world events, and will constantly be refreshed with new quests, sights, sounds, and events.

In the meantime, our first Act is a stepping stone towards that. As we aim for it to be an introductory experience, only a portion of it will have semi-random elements. While the above graphics may be changed in the final version, this is a good representation of what the world of Act 1 will look like. Let's go more in depth into it!

Set in the region of Westmire, the plot focuses around Silverkeep, a city under siege by undead. Caught in the chaos, you must find refuge in garrison hastily set up by Captain Rodrick, who leads the city's militia.

You're on the back foot, and danger comes from both the undead and local gangs eager to take advantage of the chaos. Chart your path through the hazardous city streets to complete key objectives given by Captain Rodrick. As the world changes on every run, so must your tactics if you are to survive and adapt.

That's not all. You'll come across all manners of side areas and dungeons as the adventure progresses, some that stretch multiple levels deep and will require careful planning if you are to survive, especially if you're playing on roguelike mode, which means permanent death should any of your heroes fall.

With that said, fully completing a side area yields bonus rewards, so steel yourself and make the right decisions!

Every node is a promise of something new, strange, exciting, and challenging. There are many different kinds of encounters, and these are just the very basic few.

Towns - Towns are a safe zone, a place to pick up quests and trade for items. There is only one town in Act 1, but will feature more strongly in future acts, and be a procedural element in Adventure Mode on release.
Battles - A great way to earn resources and items, but a quick way to end your run if you aren't careful.
Elite Battles - These encounters are even tougher than normal, and you'll encounter enemies with modifiers that shake up the battlefield. They drop better rewards.
Events - These events can be bite-sized, or mini epics that take you through a scenario where decisions have to be made. These include challenges, a battle of dices to overcome a certain threat or obstacle.
Dungeons - These are connectors to side areas, that hold the promise of great wealth... or certain demise.
Waypoints - These are fast travel points, allowing you quick access to different regions of the map. You must first activate them by reaching them for the first time.
Rewards - These are reward caches, far and few within, but always worth aiming for.
Shrines - These are pylons of power, put up in service to the gods long forgotten. Their powers have not faded, however, and activating them can modify regions of the map to become more rewarding, yet more deadly.
Camps - These act as safe grounds for you to camp. Camping is a good opportunity to rest, train, or make banter among your heroes. Camping will play a much bigger role in the future.

This is just a taste of what we have to show for our Early Access. We'll be working on this and even more amazing content as we go on!

If you've missed out on our previous posts, here is all the teasers we've shown - this list will be growing as we go along!

An Introduction To Gordian Quest