Age of Decadence

[baby arm]

Vault Dweller, aka Serge or Vince D. Weller, is one of the wacky staff members at the RPG Codex. He's also the head of Iron Tower, an indie studio developing Age of Decadence. AoD is a turn-based RPG influenced by Fallout, Arcanum, and Planescape: Torment. Here's the description from the main site:

 

The Age of Decadence is an isometric, turn-based, single-player 3D role-playing game set in a low magic, post-apocalyptic fantasy world, inspired by the fall of the Roman Empire. The game features a detailed skill-based character system, non-linear gameplay, multiple skill-based ways to handle quests, choices & consequences, and extensive dialogue trees.

 

There's been a few interviews in the press, like this one at RPG Vault.

 

Jonric: What range of play will it offer, and for what kind of gamer will it have the greatest appeal? Can you comment on the duration and replayability?

 

Vince D. Weller: You can play The Age of Decadence in many different ways - fight your way through the game; walk in shadows, looking for less traveled roads like rooftops, walls, and locked doors; use the power of persuasion and personal magnetism; let your faction open doors for you - "Why didn't you tell me you were with the Corleone family?"; or play as a con artist, impersonating other people and preying upon the gullible.

 

What kind of gamer will it appeal to? Most likely to those who feel that role-playing games could use some role-playing these days, and that there are other things one should be able to do in an RPG other than killing things that exist for no other reasons but to be killed.

 

And to answer the last question, I'd say the length is about 30 to 40 hours, and as for replayability, due to the non-linear and multiple-solutions nature of the game, you can replay quite a few times without repeating what you did before.

 

There's also interviews at RPGDot and NMA.

 

So yeah, I'm basically pimping a friend's project, but it's one I believe in and will happily fork over my $25 for it when it's released. And if it sucks, at least I know where the guy who made it works.

[Matri]

Oooh, me like!

 

I suspect the interface will turn most people off, but I play Crossfire, so what do I know?

[Slaughter]

You are indeed a shameless baby! Sounds interesting, I'll check it out closer.

[Slaughter]

Sounds very right from the interview! I'll keep my eyes open, as Falllout is in a good #2 spot after X-COM

[baby arm]

Here's a new interview at GameBanshee with some new, nicer looking screenshots.

Snippet:

GB: The game will feature 22 specific locations. Can you give us some background information for a few of these locations?

 

Vince: Sure, here's one. An arcane tower was buried under sands during the war. Protective energies still emanating from the tower attracted people crossing the desert, and soon a small village was built around the broken top of the tower - the holy place. The village, being isolated from what's left from the society, regressed to an almost tribal state, worshipping he-who-dwells-in-the-darkness, and sacrificing visitors and occasional villagers by dropping them into the aforementioned darkness below.

 

Why visit such a friendly place? Other than the obvious "loot the tower" (good luck with that) idea, the tribe, being a closed group, has preserved the knowledge of the early post-war days in their myths, which may conflict with several official versions of the events.

[Azrael Strife]

Finally a game I can look forward to

[Kernel]

Hmm... interesting.

But any game where your character has that many stats scares me.

[Gimli]

Well it only means you'll have more variety with characters, resulting in higher replayability, which is always good.

 

baby arm, keep us posted. (I also noticed your blatant advertizing on Manifesto )

[baby arm]

There's a new interview at Clan DLAN.

I'd say the game was designed from the endings. I knew how and in what ways I wanted the game to end, and I built it from there. Let's say, a game should have a peaceful option or two. Obviously, it should be more than "[persuasion] leave us alone, you big meanie", so there should be some factors that might change the final character's position, give him something else to consider. Stuff like that can't appear out of nowhere and should be presented in the game naturally, should be a part of the lore, the setting; some events should lead it it, etc. Or let's say, you favor a military option, but lack skills to do it yourself. How would that be possible? And so on, and so on.

The Spanish version has a few screens showing off the new lighting and textures.

[baby arm]

Here's yet another article at RPG Vault, this time giving examples of quests.

Naturally, the Imperial Guards - a very powerful ex-army organization - would be very, very upset about you killing the Commander, so be prepared to be put either on a shit list or on a "kill with extreme prejudice" list, depending on your current standing with them. Again, if you expected to kill people who exist in the gameworld only to be killed and you've just realized your mistake, we'll offer you a fantastic double cross opportunity. Kill your partner and explain the situation to the Commander. Almost a happy ending, except for the dead partner, pissed off assassin guild (nobody likes to screw up a big client's order), and a disappointed client who placed the order. Almost a chain reaction, eh? Kinda makes you think twice, which is how we want you to play the game.

[FullAuto]

Sounds excellent, but I think a lot of people will complain. In the vast majority of RPGs, many decisions which should upset one or more factions and put you on their shit list, are in fact consequenceless. I think it'll be a rather rude wake up call for some gamers to find that no, they cannot rip everyone off without repercussions.

[Matri]

You don't need to see our identification. These aren't the assassins you are looking for. We can go about our business. Move along.

 

Wonder if that'll show up as an option

Frankly speaking, I welcome changes like this. It actually gives weight to all of your actions, instead of most games which make these kind of choices more like "Mmmyehh whatever, anyway..."

[Gimli]

Finally got to read the article, and this game keeps getting better, my expectations are rising very high. I hope it will deliver, and I really like what they're doing with choices&consequences.

[baby arm]

Here's some recent combat screenshots.

Note the new and improved interface.

 

https://www.irontowerstudio.com/images/combat00028.jpg

[Slaughter]

Looking good . How far along are they? Would be useful with some screens showing tooltips for the various buttons however...

[FullAuto]

Looking good! Title still sounds like a medieval brothel simulator, though.

 

Would be useful with some screens showing tooltips for the various buttons however...

 

Top row, from left to right: summon Errol Flynn, put in contacts, riverdance, catch frisbee, open umbrella, slap on cuffs, read mail, drown sorrows, use toilet roll, produce corkscrew, and fetch clean underwear. Or am I mistaken?

[Slaughter]

[Slaughter]

Another peek at RPGVault

[baby arm]

Yep, and there's a gameplay video at the end.

[Slaughter]

I liked the animation when the bowman was hit by the spear

 

The sword combat animations were sort of uninspiring however, and the sword disappeared when the "hero" did this hopeless "try to fall backwards" dodge.

 

These are minor things that may very well be temporary however. I like what he writes (and find his sarcasm amusing, if a bit obvious), and hope they can pull it off. Interesting story, extreme open-ended ness, good dialogue and a well tested and robust combat system should make for an interesting game!

[baby arm]

Age of Decadence Scenic Tour

The next item of interest is this "archeological" site. In the AoD world new discoveries aren't made in labs, they are dug out from ancient ruins and old battle sites. So when this ancient arc decorated by the long forgotten cuneiform symbols (that would be the ancient Sumerian written language, one of the first known to men) was discovered, it attracted many factions' attention. The arc is tied to the main quest, but it's an optional "item". You can beat the game without paying any attention to it or you can use it to influence the final events. You'd have to know how to power it up first, which requires skills and specific "how to" knowledge.

[baby arm]

The second Age of Decadence video is out. Grab the 3 minute clip here.

[baby arm]

As Gimli already knows, there's an entertaining AOD interview up at Rock Paper Shotgun.

[FullAuto]

Christ, he has actual opinions. When was the last time a dev expressed those?

 

"Oh no, can't talk about that, my publisher will sue me..."

 

Liked the video, it's looking good. Loved the bit where the legionnaire clutched his face and fell over after catching the warhammer in the mush. Kerlassic.

[Gimli]

What??!?! That wasn't me. It was my evil twin, Fimli.

 

OK, now that I have taken another look at the combat I realize what had been bothering me about it. I thought at first that the music was going too fast in comparison to the combat and with that being out of sync, but it really isn't so. The problem was mentioned before, it's not that the combat is slow, it's just the attack animations. But if I understood things right, nothing can be done at this point? Still, not all of it is like that, the warhammer to the face was quite good, and the one where the opponent flies a few meters away after being hit was also good.

Meh, I don't care either way, I've put up with far worse things. I do hope the game will make more use of tactical combat than Fallout, there's certainly room for enough improvement.

On the other hand is there a point where you have too much of it? Meaning a point where there's too much emphasis on combat in comparison to other, non-violent ways of going through the game.

 

By the way, why didn't he try contacting Gamecock? I have a feeling that would be a pretty good choice for a publisher. I can provide some useful links.