Gordian Quest News

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!

• An Introduction To Gordian Quest
• Introducing Gordian Quest's Procedural World

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

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

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

Hey Heroes,

We want to share two pieces of news.

1. First is a re-calibration of our initially mentioned launch date.
2. The second is the start of our weekly posts leading up to the launch, that will reveal more about the various parts of the game!

We initially bumped the release date by a month, but after much deliberation we feel that it is not enough to do the game justice. There are a few mechanics that we want to spend more time polishing, as we want the first experience of Gordian Quest to be as perfect as any game can be. While we could release it first and gradually change these mechanics as part of the Early Access process, we think it will be putting the wrong foot forward.

Our re-revised EA date will be the 27th of March, and we will do our best to not embarrass ourselves another time.

Please accept our humble and sincere apologies for having to do this.

In the meantime, we want to begin showcasing what the game is all about. This week, it is about the introduction to the world of Gordian Quest.



So what kind of game is Gordian Quest?

Gordian Quest is best described as an old school RPG, rethought with the trappings of modern roguelikes, deckbuilders, dungeon crawlers, and action RPGs.

There is a timeless charm to the age old formula of forming a ragtag team of heroes, struggling to survive a world that offers both threat and treasure alike, and watching them grow in power to match the world-ending threat that reveals itself.

In Gordian Quest, we have put together the best elements of these turn-based, old-school, Gold Box era games – made better and fronted by more modern concepts such as deckbuilding, a flexible skill grid system, crafting systems, procedural maps and the ability to develop team abilities by forging bonds among your heroes.



Our inspirations, and vision for the game

We take inspirations from both digital games, and the pen and paper games that spawned them in the very first place! Dungeons & Dragons has fired up our imaginations since we were kids, and these days, we look to titles like Darkest Dungeon, Slay the Spire and Path of Exile.

As for our vision, we want to provide the answer to these two questions :
- What if action RPGs like Diablo came in a turn-based, card battle format?
- What if the magic of old school RPGs could be recaptured in modern form?

And as per our ethics when it comes to developing a game :
- What do you, the player, want to add to this mix?

As always, we welcome you to join in the discussion on our subreddit subreddit or Discord to make your voice heard.



How big will the game be ultimately?

We're aiming for Gordian Quest to be a grand adventure. In our Early Access build, we introduce the first of four Acts, set in the land of Westmire.

This is a complete adventure by itself that should offer hours of playtime and also serves as an introduction to the mechanics and lore of Gordian Quest. By the time we exit EA, we will have 4 Acts that will truly test your tactical combat and resource management skills.



Each Act will be set in a different region of the world and will introduce a new mechanic or subsystem to the game. A never-ending dungeon that pushes you to your limit; A rolling fog of war that conceals nodes in the overworld; units that make their move in the world when you do; these will come with a bevy of all new skills, heroes, NPCs, items, events as part of our roadmap for the future.

These new mechanics will eventually all be rolled into an Endless Adventure mode, where you will be able to venture the many worlds in an interconnected manner and experience a unique take on everything the game has to offer, a true rogue-like game.



Key features

We see the following as the key features of Gordian Quest, which we aim to implement over the course of Early Access, with more post-launch content to follow.

- Tactical turn based combat
- An extensive card system that allows for deep combos
- A highly customizable skill grid system
- Procedurally generated maps and dungeons
- Strong itemization and crafting systems
- Use both strategy and luck to mitigate the threat, and maximize the rewards of of random events and challenges
- An emergent relationship system among heroes

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

Hey Heroes,

We've been hard at work on Gordian Quest since our last alpha release in July - and we're absolutely looking forward to showcasing all the changes and improvements, but after some thought we've decided to give it a bit more shine and polish before we release the very first public Early Access.

Initially we were gunning for 19th December 2019.

The new revised date is 20th January 2020.

Our sincere apologies for the 1 month postponement.

A delay? Bummer.

No one likes delays, but we think this is only right as we are driven by two very simple philosophies.

- We are 100% committed to making Gordian Quest the best deck-building rogue-like game possible, and that means taking the extra time to make sure everything is as perfect (as Early Access titles go) as can be. This will allow you, the player, to be able to give us feedback on the things that really matter, rather than be stuck on teething issues figuring out how things work.

- We respect you as the customer. We aren't here to make a quick buck, and we want to ensure that the dollars you spend supporting us when we do release is well spent, and will be worth its value a dozen times over when we bring this game to completion.

This better be worth the wait. So... what's new?

- Great question. And one we're happy to show and tell. In the weeks leading up to our Early Access release, we will be posting tidbits and snippets of the game in action, focusing on the various mechanics. We hope that these will give you better insight into our production process, a glimpse at the bigger vision we have, and whet your appetite for some crunchy tactical action.

What can I expect from Gordian Quest, again?

- Ah yes, the elevator pitch. We call it an epic roguelike that combines the best elements of deckbuilding, tactical combat and strategic decision-making. You lead and manage heroes on grueling missions, forging bonds and discovering new skills among them. Your aim is to unravel curses laid upon the lands and defeat the ultimate evil at the heart of it all.

- It's a four-parter (EA will contain Act 1) that will bring you across various cities and environments, and we'll be expanding that with more heroes, skills, and items as the game grows. "Epic" isn't in the description for show.

- If you enjoy tabletop RPGs, action RPGs, card games, tactical RPGs, or dungeon crawlers, you'll find a little of everything in here, and a potent mix at that. If that doesn't excite you, we don't know what will!

- For more info, do visit this webpage - http://mixedrealms.com/gordianquest/

Sounds sweet!

We hope so! With your feedback and support, we aspire to make Gordian Quest into one of the greats. Thank you so much for reading this, and keep your eyes peeled for incoming updates! And sorry for the delay!

Sincerely,
The Gordian Quest Team