Kenshi (An open ended, squad-based Strategy RPG)

[Kildar]

Its scheduled to come out mid 2011 so that is only a few months away.

**Crossing my fingers**

From the website (http://www.lofigames.com/index.php):


Kenshi is a single player free-roaming Role Playing Game, with a Real-Time Strategy influence. Its squad-based, meaning you have a whole team of characters who can split up and go to different ends of the world. The game world is 400 square km of seamless terrain with a world map screen for fast-travel, Fallout style. You can play with one character, or with 50, and there are advantages to both. Combat is real-time and is based on swords and bows, action beat-em up style but with RPG stats influencing the outcome. No Magic. No fantasy cliches. Think of a combination of X-Com Apocalypse and Oblivion.

[Lizard_King]

Looks pretty good. I hope it makes it out.

[Kildar]

I've been taking a look at the available screens and the graphics look beautiful for an indie work.

[serling]

At first I was intrigued. After checking the site, I have no idea what to think of this. Looks interesting.

[farfrael]

You are not the chosen one. You're not great and powerful. You don't have more 'hitpoints' than everyone else. You are not the center of the universe, and you are not special.

Fuck yeah. Finally something different from the "boy-raised-as-a-peasant-on-a-small-farm-but-really-savior-of-the-world-at-the-most-convenient-time-possible"

Also:

Absolutely no Level-scaling. The world does not level up along with you, and the shops don't change their inventory to only items matching your level. At the start of the game almost everyone will be stronger than you, and survival will always be a struggle.

odds on them doing it properly are nil but kudos for at least trying. The guy is clearly very very talented but the scope is way too ambitious, even before I realised it's a 1-man band

[Fenris99]

You're not great and powerful.

Some of us are shleppers in real life, and play games to be great and powerful for a change. Just saying. :)

[Alstein]

You've got plenty of other games for that.

This game's fun factor is going to be determined by its AI. I'm sure of that.

I'm definitely interested, and this seems like a good idea.

[Kildar]

Been poking around the site and I discovered a link to a demo:

http://www.lofigames.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=143

Haven't downloaded it yet since my connection it crappy. Hopefully it'll give us a good taste of the actual game.

[sharaleo]

Been poking around the site and I discovered a link to a demo:


Hmm, all links to the actual files seem to be 404 at the moment...

[Murbella]

Putting aside that the links don't appear to work, wow they sure want you to download a lot of files.

"download this"
"now download this and overwrite"
"download this patch to improve frame rates"
"you may need this too"
"oh and this"

edit: the person i think is the developer explains on the second page that the demo is down but he no longer has the old demo files because he is working on a "big bad new demo."

[Oghier]

The list of features is more or less a list of "stuff I'd like to see in a game." Thanks for bringing this up, and I will definitely watch its development.

[Razgon]

RPS has a talk with the guys behind Kenshi (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/09/08/seven-hundred-samurai-kenshi/#more-72991), and shows some footage and man...this looks and sounds hot diggity damn awesome!

Mount & Blade style open world gaming with samurais, where you actually gain more xp for failing than for succeding? Now that is utterly brilliant!


“Think of a combination of X-Com Apocalypse and Oblivion.”

drools...

[Fenris99]

You are not the chosen one. You're not great and powerful. You don't have more 'hitpoints' than everyone else. You are not the center of the universe, and you are not special. We get to do this every day.

[MrCoffee]

But mommy said im special

[Teiman]

People that is not special want to be special, and people that is special want to be normal. We want what we can't have.

On games where is not well defines "who" is you, normally you play like a superbeing general floating over the battlefield using characters as peons. On Mount & Blade this is fixed by putting you as another dude in the battle. And you can die, and the only thing you will see of the battle from that point is the final combat stats.
I don't know how this game will avoid feeling like Populous or Powermonger (more like powermonger). But sounds extra double plus good.

[Brian Rucker]

Gah! I love it!

[Mitya]

Oh my word. I can't wait for this to come soon, I need to give these people money.

[Razgon]

Oh my word. I can't wait for this to come soon, I need to give these people money.

You can already, you know

[Sir Digby]

I don't really mind "becoming a hero", it's the whole "being a hero from the get go" that I find cliché and boring.

Trailer is interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXcuZV77UJY

[Marcin]

This looks fascinating, although for a super powerful guy wielding a giant shovel sword, your guy sure gets hit and staggered a lot. :P

The rest looks great and somehow hooks me in a way Overgrowth (for some reason the two feel similar to me) hasn't yet, for some reason. I guess there's more of a game there already, whereas the Overgrowth guys are *vastly* invested into crafting their overall systems into the best ones there can be to the detriment of game making ...

[JoshV]

It's interesting, reminds me of Mount and Blade a little. Is it a homebrew engine of the developers own design, or did he use one of the free ones out there?

[Eric Majkut]

This looks like Mount and Blade meets Final Fantasy Tactics. I'm not huge on RPGs these days, but this sounds unique enough that it grabbed my attention. When's it coming out?! :P

[farfrael]

So the solution for this I have decided is to switch to a new pathfinder library (called recast (http://code.google.com/p/recastnavigation/)). This will not only fix the loading times, but will fix the buggy pathfinding system currently in place (which is another problem). Again this is a big job that will take a month or two, and I really don't want to do it, so my plan is to wait until Kenshi is making enough sales and I'll hire another programmer to do it for me.

I want this game to succeed so badly but ... wtf. Don't expect any money from me at this stage.

[Sepiche]

Yeah, I'm intrigued and have nothing against throwing a little money at a game in development, but there needs to be a little more there before I'm willing to commit.

[Marcin]

Yeah, there are several caveats in there like that that make me wary. If this is his only source of income and he's relying on the pre-alpha to bring in enough money ... I suspect he'll be looking for a real job pretty soon and this will be suspended indefinitely.

[Nikolaj]

Yeah, there are several caveats in there like that that make me wary. If this is his only source of income and he's relying on the pre-alpha to bring in enough money ... I suspect he'll be looking for a real job pretty soon and this will be suspended indefinitely.

It's been in development for years, so I'm assuming he must have some other source of income. Still, I don't think I'll jump on board either, until it gets a bit further down the line.

[Razgon]

I honestly don't remember how far along Mount & Blade was when I bought it, but that was what...8 years ago or so? Thats the deal he's going for - Get the people who believe in him to pay now to continue development support and deliver up in the end.
The missing sound though, is a big thing to me, and how much seems to be not in the game yet.

If he asked 5 dollars now - sure, but 10? Its weird, but thats too much.

[Eric Majkut]

Was thinking about writing a little article for the magazine about this, but unfortunately the guy can't be bothered to list contact info anywhere on the website. Sucks for him I guess.

[Razgon]

Was thinking about writing a little article for the magazine about this, but unfortunately the guy can't be bothered to list contact info anywhere on the website. Sucks for him I guess.

I was totally going to prove you wrong, but he has hidden whatever contact info there may be on him pretty damn well! Weird!

[Teiman]

Was thinking about writing a little article for the magazine about this, but unfortunately the guy can't be bothered to list contact info anywhere on the website. Sucks for him I guess.

The team list seems here (need registration):
http://www.lofigames.com/phpBB3/memberlist.php?mode=leaders

I think you can send a message to "captain deathbeard" here
http://www.indiedb.com/messages/compose?to=captain_deathbeard#compose

but you will need a register account in indiedb/moddb.

[KiloOhm]

I don't really mind "becoming a hero", it's the whole "being a hero from the get go" that I find cliché and boring.

Trailer is interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXcuZV77UJY

I actually said "wow" out loud watching that demo. Looks like it's right up my alley.

[Aeon221]

I bought m&b back when it was just river pirates and Zendar, and I remember raging pretty hard when they added black knights and I got my ass creamed by them. Now that I think about it, it probably sounded pretty racist to the uninitiated when I was doing that.

But back then it was like five bucks. Which was more than fair. If this game is at a similar stage of dev, well, ten bucks seems high.

I do like the idea of rewarding the player for failure. M&B punishes you by taking random gear, which sucks donkey nuts and encourages the player to avoid close fights in favor of more lopsided engagements.

Anyway I'll poke around and see what's up with it.

[Otagan]

If there's one thing I love more than games, it's spending money on games I'll never get to play. If I'm going to drop money on a game, though, I want at least a reasonable assurance that there will be a product there when all is said and done.

Give me that assurance, Mr. Lone Developer, and I'm all over this. Until then, not gonna do it.

[Demon G Sides]

I like the base building and faction growing concept a lot.

[Quitch]

It says explore, then shows you running along the most boring terrain known to man. Why would I want to explore that?

[Fenris99]

I like the "flee" part of the video.

[Razgon]

It says explore, then shows you running along the most boring terrain known to man. Why would I want to explore that?

Do you think this is the final game?

[Razgon]

I bought m&b back when it was just river pirates and Zendar, and I remember raging pretty hard when they added black knights and I got my ass creamed by them. Now that I think about it, it probably sounded pretty racist to the uninitiated when I was doing that.

But back then it was like five bucks. Which was more than fair. If this game is at a similar stage of dev, well, ten bucks seems high.

I do like the idea of rewarding the player for failure. M&B punishes you by taking random gear, which sucks donkey nuts and encourages the player to avoid close fights in favor of more lopsided engagements.

Anyway I'll poke around and see what's up with it.

If you paid 5 bucks for M&B, its about 10 years ago - I think the value of your moeny has decreased significantly since then ;-)

I did the same - although I think I paid 7 dollars, actually.

[Fenris99]

Having watched the video, I am more favorably disposed to this game.

[Quitch]

Do you think this is the final game?

Sorry, I didn't realise we were discussing a potential game, rather one that's available for purchasing now.

<some time later>

Woah, I came back from the future and sweet Jesus is this game sweet. Seriously guys, get in your time machines and go play a game that doesn't exist yet, it's amazing!

[Brian Rucker]

Yeah, I kind of agree. The terrain looks bland and the architecture, maybe I'm missing something, but it doesn't look particularly Japanese either. The graphical differentiation between characters in the party seems very basic too. Obviously the portraits aren't in yet but the movement styles/builds of a couple characters seemed identical as did their gear. Not a huge problem in M&B because the companion NPCs aren't particularly a crucial element. They're useful and add color but you don't spend a whole lot of time looking at them. In Kenshi it looks like I'll be spending lots, and lots, and lots of time staring at 'em.

Is there a strategic travel mode, are there mounts, or are we really going to be hoofing it everywhere?

That aside the idea of the game sits very well with me but I'm going to be in wait and see mode for now.

[Teiman]

Yeah, I kind of agree. The terrain looks bland and the architecture, maybe I'm missing something, but it doesn't look particularly Japanese either.

If the artist is creating a alternate world, it don't need to be japanese. It can be interesting to re-use everything interesting from the japan culture, but make his own thing with his own style.

Deserts are places with few details, but are nice because the elegance of the curves of the dunes, the sound of the wind,... are rather big and interesting places. Sure, are almost empty, and may look bland to the untrained eyes.

[Razgon]

Sorry, I didn't realise we were discussing a potential game, rather one that's available for purchasing now.

<some time later>

Woah, I came back from the future and sweet Jesus is this game sweet. Seriously guys, get in your time machines and go play a game that doesn't exist yet, it's amazing!

I get what you are saying, but since the game lacks so many things right now, it's hard to look at much more than its potential.

If I had to buy it now, of course the game would be horrible, no matter its potential. But if I look at it like for instance the M&B purchase I made around 8 years ago, it looks bloody brilliant.

[Brian Rucker]

Let's just say I'm glad people are investing money in this. I'd like to see how it turns out. I too threw money at the early betas, maybe not the earliest, of M&B and it blew me away even in those very crude stages because the combat system was so visceral and fun. The strategic layer...really wasn't yet.

Looking at the Kenshi combat I'm not so certain it looks very entertaining on its own merits. The animation is clunky and unconvincing and it seems to be more RPG than action style. Yes, it's an indie game. Yes, it's early days. But there needs to be a kernel of a game that's engrossing before I'm ready to invest and cross my fingers it turns out well long term.

Mount & Blade is rather fascinating, to me, because it's just about the only game I got all hyper-excited and optimistic about early on that actually turned out great in the long run. It developed exactly as I imagined it should, as I wanted it to, and now it's a classic. That never happens. I usually get hyper-excited about an idea in some game, imagine the awesome directions it could evolve in, and then...pfft. The game dies or just veers off into some development ditch that I didn't see, or maybe didn't want to see, coming.

[Aeon221]

I like the desert aesthetic. Too few games are set in deserts, and of those games even fewer really try to capture the unique nature and difficulties of desert existence. So the bleak, sandy landscape is a huge draw for me.

Plus I always have Planet Caravan in my head when I see a game with trade and deserts, even though there's absolutely zero association there, so it massively ups the experience for me!

I've been playing a ton of mb:Wfas recently, and I love the new caravan model they added, where you can pay for guards or accompany and protect the caravan yourself. It's not as profitable as the older exploitable system, but fits better and has, for the first time in an m&b game, gotten me into trade. My only complaint is the lack of multiple caravans simultaneously, so I'm probably going to mod that in when I get home and enjoy creating a mercantile empire.

If this game captures the feel of trading in a desert I will spend stupid amounts of money on it.

[BiggerBoat]

Yeah, I kind of agree. The terrain looks bland and the architecture, maybe I'm missing something, but it doesn't look particularly Japanese either.

On the web site he says that the art is placeholder, including the environment and the duplicated character art. He plans to hire an artist with money gained from the pre-release.

And, yeah, there's way too many caveats at this stage for me to jump in. By the sound of things, it's not really a game and won't be for at least several months--and then only if the pre-release is successful enough to bring on additional staff.

I'll keep an eye on it, though.

[Marcin]

But there needs to be a kernel of a game that's engrossing before I'm ready to invest and cross my fingers it turns out well long term.


This is what I was trying to communicate, yeah. Zomboid has enough gameplay to give money to. M&B at 6 bucks (what I paid) had the chewy combat center to go off of, even if the world was very sparse. Overgrowth, despite the lack of a "game", has enough going on in it (and tools to spare) to warrant the price.

This, I'm not seeing it. Clunky looking combat, caveats about framerate/NPC presence and count and other stuff, and very barren (although admittedly original) world. There's no hook (for me) yet.

[Nikolaj]

The developer just released a demo of the first public alpha, in case anyone's interested: http://www.lofigames.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=224&Itemid=65

It will be available for purchase, both on the developer site and Desura, as soon as Desura approves the build.

I haven't tried the demo yet, but I think I might just jump on the alpha bandwagon, just to support the development, and to give myself a future present. :)

[Pogo]

This looks like the type of game I'll play up until the point I get ambushed and be in an unwinnable situation, only to flee at 2mph and walk 3 miles to the nearest place to rest or get patched up.

At which point I will uninstall.

[SamS]

I just picked this up on gamersgate because it was cheap and looked cool.

It is definitely an 'alpha' build. But I hired a guy, beat up some bandits. Ran away from other bandits, who in turn got beat up by town guards. Looted them and bought some shit from a trader. Kinda fun.

Will keep an eye on it, it seems promising.

[TurinTur]

I am reading the web and it's hilarious how the "planned features" part. It's bigger than the "already done features" part and some of them are generic and far-reaching

"Lots more factions and complexity to the world, improvements to the AI".
"Ability to join factions and do dynamic missions for them. AI factions will also give missions to other factions and NPCs, not just you."
"You will be able to build buildings out in the desert, and start your own outpost or fortress, possibly towns."
"Building and town siege warfare."
"The world map will be a lot bigger. Towns will be procedurally generated, meaning I can fill the whole world single-handed and it will be different every time you start a new game."
"Dialog system that will be linked into the AI. Characters will say things at times based on their intentions, motivations, opinions and events."
"More races are planned, other than just humans."

It almost means "yeah, we still have to do the fuckin' game!". It reads like as wish list for his ideal game of some amateur dude which doesn't seems to know the amount of work and talent needed to do all that.

[corkeh]

Keys from Gamersgate can now be activated on Steam. You might need to install the steam beta to do it.

[amandachen]

Keys from Gamersgate can now be activated on Steam. You might need to install the steam beta to do it.

Ah thanks. Got it.