FRONTIERS: Elder Scrolls inspired game on Project Greenlight

[Railboy]

Hey guys - I'm new here so forgive me if this breaks the spam rule.

I've been working on a Daggerfall-inspired game called FRONTIERS for a while now, and while I'm also doing the mass-broadcast thing I've picked a few Elder Scrolls forums to announce this to directly. (See I have this hunch that you're my ideal audience. )

The official description is *clears throat*:

FRONTIERS blends the feel of first-person RPG classics like Daggerfall with the relaxing tempo & simplicity of a point-and-click adventure. Discover ancient mysteries, live off the land & fight deadly creatures, all in a beautiful open world.

Now if you're like me your first question is why bother? What sets FRONTIERS apart is its focus: exploration. Instead of trying to deliver a full-featured ES RPG (which is pretty much impossible for a one man shop) I've tried to deliver the openness and exploration of an Elder Scrolls game without trying to recreate the hardcore RPG mechanics. So if you dig exploration you'll probably get a kick out FRONTIERS. (And if you dig hardcore RPG mechanics, well... in all honesty you should probably stay away, haha)

If you're wondering why I'm posting NOW, it's because on Saturday JUNE 1ST I'm launching an IndieGoGo campaign to fund the last 6 months of development. That way I can eat and live in a house in addition to developing the game, so I'm stoked. (This event will be plastered all over the official FRONTIERS Greenlight page come Saturday so it'll be hard to miss.)

Anyway, I hope you'll check it out - there's an open discussion on Greenlight about what kinds of survival mechanics people like / don't like, so if you want to push this game in one direction or another, now's your chance. Some decent ideas have been floated out there but I'd love to hear what Elder Scrolls fans in particular have to say.

Cheers!

(Fiddlesticks - I was going to close with some links but apparently I'm not authorized to post any, haha! Well no worries if you search Steam Greenlight for the name it'll pop up. And the trailer's on youtube, just head to watch?v=fUOImZi1jlc and you'll be good to go.)

Youtube Trailer
Steam Greenlight
Frontiers Indiegogo

[AKB]

As this looks neat, here are the links.

Youtube Trailer
Steam Greenlight

[Railboy]

Thanks for posting the links, much appreciated!

[Fiar]

Looks interesting, I'll have to sub to keep up on this project.

[The SheoDovah]

Doesn't this break the advertising rule? And shouldn't it be in Multimedia?

Anyway, make sure to include horses that can walk up mountains, NPCs clipping through floors, crashing to the desktop, lag and other typical ES bugs. Point and click games don't really appeal to me unless there is a decent plot to it due to the nature of the gameplay but the Dovah wishes you luck with your game.

[Generalno1]

Advertising applies to self promotion. Though it should be in multimedia.

[DikaSmausha]

This is neat. You are taking the best part out of RPG's and focusing on it.

[Railboy]

Anyway, make sure to include horses that can walk up mountains, NPCs clipping through floors, crashing to the desktop, lag and other typical ES bugs.

I'm on it. I'll also make sure to add getting stuck inside horses, lots of disappearing quest items, and floating paintbrushes.

Point and click games don't really appeal to me unless

You're in luck - I'm only mean the pace & tone of point-and-click games, not the actual mechanics. (Unless that's what you were talking about too, in which case you're boned.) Hopefully the plot will entertain folks regardless. So far writing has sucked up most of the development time.

[The SheoDovah]

Don't forget flying dragons and broken quests. Every game has a different pace so i usually don't make judgement on the pacing untill i've played it long enough. Haven't played point and click games unless you count Fallout but that's just an RPG with a point and click combat system.

[Fiar]

Owner should also try getting this game on GoG, I generally avoid Steam, if I can get a game DRM-free.

[POMC S117]

Do you have any ideas about pricing or what it takes to run the game, or is it too early? The game looks really cool, but my computer is quite old.

[Abel]

Saw this game already on RockPaperShotgun and Reddit (I'm not sure, but are you a member of /r/gamedev? I think I saw your game in Feedback Friday/Screenshot Saturday), looks really cool! Definitely keeping an eye on this one.

[Kerr]

Looks neat. I'll keep an eye out for more news on it. Will there be any DRM free way to get it?

[DikaSmausha]

Point and click games don't really appeal to me unless there is a decent plot to it due to the nature of the gameplay but the Dovah wishes you luck with your game.

The Walking Dead is exactly that point and click game.

[Railboy]

are you a member of /r/gamedev?

I am! Freakin' awesome community. I wouldn't be posting the game out in the open if it weren't for their support. (BTW if you're in those game-related subreddits you'll probably be inundated with FRONTIERS posts on Saturday when I launch the campaign - sorry in advance.)

Will there be any DRM free way to get it?

All copies will be DRM free. I understand the arguments for it but I can't stand DRM myself. [edit]: Just occurred to me that I should clarify - I don't consider Steam to be DRM. I always forget that this is sort of a minority opinion. So I'll say this instead - if I can make it available somewhere other than Steam I will - Fiar mentioned GoG and I really like them - and when you get it from them it will be DRM free. If you get it on Steam you'll still have to deal with the Steam-DRM thing. But that aside, I won't be installing a key or an unlocking system or any of that crap. You buy it you own it.

Clear as mud? Good, glad that's settled.

Do you have any ideas about pricing

In the campaign pledging $15 will get you a copy. Fifteen bucks feels about right to me. When it's (hopefully) on Steam or some other online store they may sell it for less due to sales or whatever. I don't think I'll have control over that, they're all really tight-lipped about pricing.

my computer is quite old.

I feel your pain - thankfully as you can see the game isn't a state-of-the-art Crytek monster or anything. The most intensive part is the sky & clouds, and that scales really well. So my totally unofficial, totally untested claim is that any machine that could run Oblivion well should be able to run FRONTIERS just fine.

[POMC S117]

Oh, that's good. I'll most likely get it as soon as it comes out, then. It looks really cool. I've been looking for a game like FRONTIERS for a while for my PC.

[Railboy]

Oh, that's good. I'll most likely get it as soon as it comes out, then. It looks really cool. I've been looking for a game like FRONTIERS for a while for my PC.

I swear I'll never get tired of hearing that other people want a game like this too. It's such a relief to hear after working on it for so long.

As for buying a copy when it comes out, I don't want to sound dramatic or anything, but consider dropping by and pledging for an advance copy when the campaign goes live on Saturday.

Because if I can't raise the dough...
*dramatic pause*
...it may NEVER COME OUT AT ALL DUN DUN DUN
*crashing thunder*

(Good pitch? I felt good about it.)

[AddictedtoMorrowind]

How much are you trying to raise?

[Railboy]

How much are you trying to raise?

I'm shooting for 80k. That'll let me bring on some more artists and programmers for specific tasks and (more importantly) enable me shelve my day job for the next six months so I'm not constantly having to shelve the game over and over every few weeks. (Sorry, bit of frustration leakage. I try to stay positive.)

I think I've got a good shot - the game's doing great on Greenlight and people generally like what they see - but who can really tell? What I wouldn't give for some of Uriel's mojo... one prophetic dream that's all I ask!

[dzio]

I wish you good luck and I will definitely contribute. Not much, unfortunately, because I'm pretty much broke at the moment, but the videos you posted look awesome and if my few bucks can help make this game happen, then I can live happily without them.

[Kerr]

Well you don't own your steam games. It's right there in the user agreement when you join. You just get a licence to play them for an unspecified period of time.

Anyway good luck making it.

[Railboy]

Well you don't own your steam games. It's right there in the user agreement when you join. You just get a licence to play them for an unspecified period of time.

*sigh* I guess that's inarguable. I really just need to stop trying to keep Steam on the other side of the DRM fence. It's pretty much an indefensible position. The only reason I bother to try is that despite hating DRM I actually like Steam. But that doesn't make it 'not DRM,' it just makes it 'DRM that doesn't annoy the hell out of me.'

[Railboy]

Hey guys - the IndieGoGo campaign is live!

It just went up a few hours ago, only a few forums know about it for now. (I'm not officially announcing it until later.)

You can check it out at IndieGoGo url + /projects/frontiers/x/3357595 (since I am but a Layman and cannot post links)

Cheers!

[Fiar]

I'll check it out when I get paid! = )

[Abel]

Contributed 5 bucks. I know it's not much, but I'll probably contribute some more when I receive some more money. Best of luck with the campagin!