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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsArclands - RPG city builder on Kickstarter!
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Author Topic: Arclands - RPG city builder on Kickstarter!  (Read 7663 times)
JonKeller
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« on: September 06, 2018, 03:26:14 AM »


Arclands is now on Kickstarter - please consider backing it or sharing the campaign around!

Check out the campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jonkellerdev/arclands/?ref=kicktraq

Or watch the trailer here:








Being the Head Wizard of a settlement is not easy. Help your citizens to survive and thrive in the treacherous Arclands in this RPG city builder. Inspired by simple RTS and deep SIM games as well as classic RPGs.


Obviously everything that's shown is very, very early pre alpha footage and bound to change.








So what is this game about?

You're playing a wizard who got banished from his home because he rivaled the ruling wizard in power. What you gonna do, that's wizard rule right there. Banished citizens are sent to the Arclands - a treacherous collection of islands inhabited by monsters which are attracted to everything magic. That's kinda bad for you and your followers, so the only way to survive is to grow and fortify your village. You will see your village grow from a loose collection of rugged tents to a heavely fortified city, and probably fail a lot on the way. Obviously the Arclands also hold an ancient secret that is yours to discover.

But why?

This game is inspired by the feeling I got when exploring towns in old rpgs. I was always fascinated by them and wanted to stay in them a little longer than the game wanted me to. While most city builders can recapture the feeling of building a bustling city from nothing; I really wanted to give yourself a character to immerse yourself in the town your building and protecting. This is also partially inspired by playing hero driven RTS games. Playing games like this were always more fun to me if you had a hero progression... but those games barely exist anymore. If I had to name the biggest influences for this project, I'd say Dwarf Fortress, Banished, A Link to the Past and Warlods Battlecry III.

And now?

I'm constantly working on the game, but I'm a solo developer. That means progress is slow but steady. I want to refine the core loop of building & exploring and start a Kickstarter further down the line. Check this thread, itch.io or my twitter for updates. I'm really hoping you like what you see so far.

Thank you very much!

Devlog:

Devlog #0 - So what exactly is Arclands?
Devlog #1 - Death & Magic
Devlog #2 - Buildings & Citizens
« Last Edit: November 01, 2020, 06:47:04 AM by JonKeller » Logged
PetSkull
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« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2018, 04:15:17 AM »

I really like it. It has a nice athmosphere and I love your cute graphics. I'll follow along Smiley
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Vilanat
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« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2018, 01:35:01 PM »

Very charming. even if early, it's already detailed (rocks swinging upon being hit is a cute touch). i'll also tag along.
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jeb
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« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2018, 03:42:48 AM »

Looks great! Have you considered locking the controls to the wizard, similar to Factorio?
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JonKeller
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« Reply #4 on: September 11, 2018, 01:04:42 AM »

Thanks for all the kind words so far.

Looks great! Have you considered locking the controls to the wizard, similar to Factorio?

I have thought a lot about this because It's important to me that you feel a connection to your main player character. But since you need to be able to take control of your other units too, that idea fell flat pretty fast. Selecting your wizard is only a shortcut away though.
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cynicalsandel
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« Reply #5 on: September 15, 2018, 12:23:07 AM »

yes this is good
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MegaTiny
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« Reply #6 on: September 15, 2018, 07:18:04 AM »

Very cute. The graphics have a very Advance Wars feel about them to me, which is surprisingly rare given what a nice style it is.
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Jasmine
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« Reply #7 on: September 15, 2018, 07:42:11 AM »

This game is adorable! It's sounding (and looking) very good thus far!
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gornova
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« Reply #8 on: November 10, 2018, 08:06:32 AM »

I'm also looking forward it, looks nice and "feel" great so far. I'm curious about pacing of the game, is slow-paced? For example: you can search for action or stay in your city and build it only ?
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william.equal
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« Reply #9 on: November 11, 2018, 06:15:40 AM »

I really like the style of this game, looking forward to the development Smiley
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gornova
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« Reply #10 on: November 25, 2018, 02:57:11 AM »

hey any news ? :D
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Devilkay
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Hi! First game-dev experience!


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« Reply #11 on: November 25, 2018, 03:22:16 AM »

oh, very simply style! I like it! it's so rare to find rpg so cute Smiley
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JonKeller
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« Reply #12 on: December 11, 2018, 02:46:31 AM »

Oof, turns out working on a game takes a lot of time away from talking about your game. Droop

I'm also looking forward it, looks nice and "feel" great so far. I'm curious about pacing of the game, is slow-paced? For example: you can search for action or stay in your city and build it only ?

I'm definitely trying to make this a slow paced game with short bursts of action. When your village gets attacked and you have insufficient defenses you'll definitely have some "NONONONO"-moments but most of the game is pretty chill. Wink

I just wrote a little more about Arclands on jonkeller.itch.io/arclands and I'll post here to:


DevLog #0 - So what exactly is Arclands?

Welcome to the first DevLog of Arclands! Information on what you actually do in Arclands has been sparse so I want to rectify this with this gameplay breakdown.

Arclands is a game about creating a buzzing village and becoming a powerful enough wizard to defend it. But what exactly does that mean? The gameplay of Arclands can be divided into three interwoven Pillars: Building/Managing, Exploring and Defending.

Building  & Managing
When you're arriving in the Arclands you've got nothing but your little tent - it provides a place to sleep for you and a few citizens, but is in dire need for upgrading. This represents the core goal in Arclands - upgrading your keep so that your settlement can grow. A better uprgraded keep means more citizens, more buildings and more diverse jobs. All citizens joining your settlement are basic workers at first - they can do manual labor, collect resources, build stuff  and generally do what you tell them. With a more upgraded settlement your citizens can also take up more specialized jobs, such as farmer, forester, herbalist, potion seller...



It's a start!


To upgrade your keep you need an ever increasing amount of different resources. Most of these can be collected by basic citizens – but there are important resources only found deeper in the Arclands. To harvest precious Wizstone for example you have to venture out into the wilderness yourself. Be sure to be prepared though!

Exploring
There are many more things found outside of your little city – you can find treasure, artifacts and all sorts of interesting people and dark, ancient secrets.



Artifacts can be aquired through various ways.


Artifacts are the greatest treasure waiting for you in the Arclands. These are special items you can find in the wilderness, which you can put on display on altars in your city. Once they are placed on an altar they unveil their magic power – some may heal nearby citizens, others may summon the undead to work your farms or shoot lightning at enemies.



This artifact heals your units.


Defending

The creatures inhabiting the Arclands are attracted by the magic power emitted by your settlement. Thats why you were banished here - because it's a damn bad place for wizards to live. If you grow your village to fast without thinking about how you're defending it you're gonna have a bad time.



A little settlement under attack!


When your keep is destroyed you loose - but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  Depending on how big you grew your village you get Experience Points to spend on new magic abilities. You also get to scavenge some of your artifacts, citizens and resources so you can progress your next settlement faster.

I hope this little overview gives u a little more understanding about what you're going to do in Arclands! Looking forward to sharing more information with y'all soon.

« Last Edit: December 11, 2018, 02:54:50 AM by JonKeller » Logged
mochakingup
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« Reply #13 on: December 13, 2018, 06:08:26 AM »

ooh came across this on itch and twitter.
love the art style and the color palette, gameplay is looking swell too.
looking forward to this!
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ashtonmorris
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« Reply #14 on: December 13, 2018, 06:46:16 AM »

This looks extremely pleasant to me  Smiley
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Ashton Morris - Composer & Sound Designer

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Zireael
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« Reply #15 on: December 13, 2018, 07:34:25 AM »

The art style is really neat and cute!
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EJlol
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« Reply #16 on: December 14, 2018, 01:06:13 AM »

Love the artstyle. Can't wait to read some more devlogs.
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StormsInJuly
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« Reply #17 on: December 14, 2018, 02:20:33 AM »

This looks like my jam Smiley
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StoneTide
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« Reply #18 on: December 14, 2018, 05:57:40 AM »

Very nice man
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JonKeller
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« Reply #19 on: January 10, 2019, 09:52:43 AM »

Thank all you for your kind words.  Embarrassed

I've set up a newsletter over at www.arclands.de to have a more direct communication tool for everyone who is interested. If you don't want to miss a thing you should probably join.

« Last Edit: January 10, 2019, 03:37:05 PM by JonKeller » Logged
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