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[electrolyte]

Some of you will have already heard of Reprisal. It was a web based game I made and launched back in 2011, based in homage to Populous. At the time I was learning how to code in AS3 and I must confess it did have some bugs, but it was well received and later spawned a standalone desktop version.

Back then, and original screenshot of the web version!



In 2012 I decided to take a punt and put it on Green Light, not expecting much to happen. But somehow it got Green Lit which took me by surprise, gained a new community, and also spurred me on. I now had two choices - A. Release Reprisal as it was, or B. Sit down, have a think, go through all the feedback from players and re-write chunks to turn it into the game I always wanted.

I decided on option B. That was half way through last year.

I'm starting this post here to help me get out of a rut as I'm 80% finished and it's the last 20% of sorting out lose ends and polishing everything ready for a beta launch but I'm tending to get bogged down by the size of the project. This forum has been such a help over the years  



Introducing Reprisal Universe
Reprisal is now a lot bigger. It now spans across an online multi-user universe of planets with islands. All procedural generated and then hand tweaked with missions or objectives. The grand idea is to present a vast Universe for players to explore and share their discovery's. The game will include all the original Campaign islands and skirmish.

15 'Amulets' are lost and need to be found. Farther planets are reached by building up 'Influence' allowing you to travel further. 'Legacy' points are also scattered throughout the islands allowing you to craft islands once reprised for other players to compete on. I've also added a Class system to the totem powers and are upgraded the more XP you build.

Wonder points can be built up in game unlocking a new set of 5 powers. These wonder totems have big effects on islands, three are complete I need to think up and build the other two. The three I have are 'Heal' - that heals populants and burnt ground in an area. 'Earth Punch' - this punches holes into the land! 'Wonder Drift' - A giant moving head (Poseidon?) that chomps it's way through anything.

The entire UI has been updated and the game run's in a native 720HD mode. Grass now animated and all the sprites have been updated to run in 8 frames rather than 4. The AI for the CPU players has been completely rewritten. They play with exactly the same parameters as human players with manna costs to manage. It's been written for super granular level's so tribes can feel different across the many planets.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to and seems to be sucking all the free time I have. I'm trying my hardest to be realist and stop adding things! Apologies for the long post!



Above: The Universe with your 'Influence'



Above: Hero's are getting a make over with 4 different class for each of the three element hero's.







29.04.14 - Beta version ...

If you already have Reprisal through Desura, a beta version has been made available for Mac and PC.
Log into your account and you should see it listed :D

http://www.desura.com/games/reprisal

26 May 2014
If you would like to try out Reprisal Universe Beta please use the following link:

http://www.reprisaluniverse.com/beta/

[fylth]

Ah I remember playing this a long time ago, lots of fun and incredibly good looking, and judging by those screen shots it looks even better now!
By any chance could you go into more details on the multiplayer aspects?
Greatly anticipating the release!

[electrolyte]

Ha, glad you enjoyed it :D

Sure, just to expand on the multi-user side:

The universe data will be stored on a server which players will connect to. You'll be able to see how many other players are exploring different planets which will be persistent.

When you 'discover' an Amulet you will be given, I hope, the chance to share the discovery with the rest of the community and it will highlight this in the Universe screen.

If you leave a Legacy - Customising an islands - This will be save to the server meaning other players will compete on it. It will also tell other player when Legacy's were left and by who. Some Islands you will not be able to leave legacy's due to their mission and balancing.

Hope that explains things a little more ... it's all quite organic!

[mickmaus]

The last 20% of anything can be some of the toughest work you'll do. I'm psyched to see it's going to be on steam.

[InfiniteStateMachine]

The art is really cool and the depth of field actually looks good in this game.

Good luck on that last 20%. Always tough.

[rek]

Wonder points can be built up in game unlocking a new set of 5 powers. These wonder totems have big effects on islands, three are complete I need to think up and build the other two. The three I have are 'Heal' - that heals populants and burnt ground in an area. 'Earth Punch' - this punches holes into the land! 'Wonder Drift' - A giant moving head (Poseidon?) that chomps it's way through anything.

It seems you're missing a creation Wonder to balance the two (land-) destroying powers.

[retrostark]

This game is so beautiful, I had first seen it on IndieDB, glad to see you spreading the word! It looks great so far   

[ephoete]

The art is beautiful indeed yes. Never heard of this game before although I'm loitering here for a couple of years now.

[Rymdmetafor]

Oh this looks just beautiful. How I wish I was involved.

[electrolyte]

Thank you all for the comments and encouragement :D

This last 20% is a real battle! My aim is to put together a tiny beta universe and release a beta that plays around that. This will help to test balancing and the main features / interactions with the server. I've pencilled in mid April so let's see if I can hit it.

Juggling a full time day job with family and development is tough!

Wonder points can be built up in game unlocking a new set of 5 powers. These wonder totems have big effects on islands, three are complete I need to think up and build the other two. The three I have are 'Heal' - that heals populants and burnt ground in an area. 'Earth Punch' - this punches holes into the land! 'Wonder Drift' - A giant moving head (Poseidon?) that chomps it's way through anything.

It seems you're missing a creation Wonder to balance the two (land-) destroying powers.

That's a good point, I think another creation wonder would be good. I'm thinking the last wonder could almost be like a armageddon type huge crater with fire and stuff! I'm starting to think about some Greek gods but maybe that's a bit to close to the original Populous2 ...

[Ouren]

gosh it all looks so cool!

[nss_aries]

My only complain is about the "forced" pixelart for the UI, especially for the circles.
Beside this, it is so cool.

[NinthPower]

Love the browser version. Keep it up!

[electrolyte]

My only complain is about the "forced" pixelart for the UI, especially for the circles.
Beside this, it is so cool.

I'm not sure I want to mix pixels styles. I always find it a little odd when you see mixed rez together, like a two two with three or four. But I see your point about circles. The game is blittered so its in its nature

[electrolyte]

Hi all,

Has anyone got experience of the Steam / Green light sign up (getting ready to publish) process for companies outside the US?
I've been reading through it and all the tax forms and forms ... and forms are confusing me a bit! 

If you have, am I right in assuming it could take a couple of months to get the required tax numbers back for the paperwork?
Any help or ideas would be appreciated!

[wearepinata]

Great looking game! I love the little blur effect you have going on Also the colour palette is sweet!

[mirrorfish]

Very nice visually, congrats on getting green lit!

[eobet]

Ah, I remember this one! Lovely, lovely art style and since I love Populous I of course expected to love this. Sadly for me at least, that didn't turn out to be the case. I felt cramped by the lack of zoom and the lack of smooth panning with the mouse by dragging, like one has grown accustomed to in most modern games, and the lack of ability to resize the playfield. To me, it actually felt less polished than the original Populous!

So I'm very glad that development has continued, and I'm crossing my fingers that the new version will turn out great! 

[electrolyte]

Thanks for comments and feedback :D

Some updates, because the game now has a class system for the totem powers this means there are various levels of destruction each totem can dish out. Been working on a progressive scale and showing that visually. Here's the volcano updated ... with lava flows!



Also working on fire rain and lighting storms. These will expand their radius based on class, new animated ground clouds ...



I'm still confused with the steam green light forms, so been sort of ignoring them for the time being! Working to get a beta build of the campaign out shortly. Also been improving the universe generation, making sure things generate spaced out well  

[Ouren]

so coooooool