Indie Vampire Syndicate: Gangs of MoonFall - Semi-Isometric Cyberpunk Vampire RPG

[The Wall]

Devs and programmers in the 90s competed who would be the first one to succesfully lower the camera to first person and connect it with gameplay systems. It was and remains huge selling point. I personally like all camera angles. Depends on mood

 

[Luka-boy]

Well fuck me and suck me dry.

I sure wasn't expecting THAT. You're one hell of an interesting dev, that much I can say

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Nigga! I can't stop laughing. Your "bewilderment" that people actually prefer FPP when most played games are either FPP or close up TPP is so funny

I’m not bewildered. I’m disappointed.

Video games allow for so much creativity, but humans discard it for stupid reasons.

 

[The Wall]

Nigga! I can't stop laughing. Your "bewilderment" that people actually prefer FPP when most played games are either FPP or close up TPP is so funny

I’m not bewildered. I’m disappointed.

Video games allow for so much creativity, but humans discard it for stupid reasons.

Agreed

Isometric games from 90s and early 2000s grew so much on me. Grand strategies as well. Young me would never give them my time of day. Most people never grow their taste for beauty & fun. 0 curiosity

 

[The Wall]

Well fuck me and suck me dry.

I sure wasn't expecting THAT. You're one hell of an interesting dev, that much I can say

Rockstar Indie Dev. Only one today true to original meaning of word Rockstar: "music/art, women, money". Well, he's for the time being missing the last part but 66.6% Rockstar is not bad!

 

[Lord_Potato]

I applaud the change of engine Tyranicon . I felt like Memoirs were already trying to break the limits imposed by RPGMaker, that you were trying to create a richer experience than the one allowed by it. I think moving to Unreal or Unity would allow you to spread your wings wider and free yourself from low limit of animation frames or a rigid division between exploration and combat phases.

However... moving into FPP is a risky move. What you showed in this sneak peek looks absolutely fantastic, but I'm afraid for the possibility of delivering a whole game in this style, being a solodev of modest means. Isometric view allows you to keep a lower level of visual fidelity, because the camera is more distant from the action.

I can only wish you luck on this journey and hope you'll make the right decisions. I enjoyed Memoirs very much, despite the obvious limitations and hope to one day play Vampire Syndicate.

 

[Spectral Pontifex]

I applaud the change of engine Tyranicon . I felt like Memoirs were already trying to break the limits imposed by RPGMaker, that you were trying to create a richer experience than the one allowed by it. I think moving to Unreal or Unity would allow you to spread your wings wider and free yourself from low limit of animation frames or a rigid division between exploration and combat phases.

However... moving into FPP is a risky move. What you showed in this sneak peek looks absolutely fantastic, but I'm afraid for the possibility of delivering a whole game in this style, being a solodev of modest means. Isometric view allows you to keep a lower level of visual fidelity, because the camera is more distant from the action.

Agreed. You suddenly have to pay way more attention to visual fidelity, including animations and stuff.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

You could try going the cartoony anime route with the character models in order to offset the increased attention to detail.

How do you feel about using AI voice filters?

 

[Tyranicon]

WTF My Dude? Which engine and programming language is this?

Don't go full first person. Mix perspectives like Archaelund[...]

Unreal 5 and C++. I avoided it for the longest time because Unreal is highly complex and a little too beastly for a solodev. But after spending a few weeks in it, it's honestly much easier than I remember. I think it's just 'cause my brain has rewired itself to know how certain things work.

Also yes, the basic format of this game is similiar to Archaelund. That explains why I was asking some questions regarding FPP/overhead turn-based hybrids a while back.

However... moving into FPP is a risky move. What you showed in this sneak peek looks absolutely fantastic, but I'm afraid for the possibility of delivering a whole game in this style, being a solodev of modest means. Isometric view allows you to keep a lower level of visual fidelity, because the camera is more distant from the action.

Yes, but not as much of a change as you'd think.

1. I clearly use marketplace assets. There's no way I'd ever have the time or talent to do 3D modelling myself, although if I get the budget I will hire out for some custom work.
2. The previous isometric maps were built in DAZ, which is more or less the same way that I'll build maps in Unreal. Actually it's much easier in Unreal because the amount of tools and plugins available.

Although you can't see it, the isometric maps in the old demos and screen shots are at an acceptable quality for FPP. I just didn't have an engine to showcase it.

How do you feel about using AI voice filters?

I'm currently trying it in my BG3 parody and to be frank, I think AI still has a way to go before it'll lose its uncanny valley status, which means it's only usable for droids/robots/ai, etc.

Which means the alternative is hiring real human VO for any voicework, and I don't currently have the bandwidth or the budget to handle that.

Although, I think my budget problems may be alleviated soon, because a high-quality, turn-based RPG in this style, from a semi-reputable developer... I think that is a recipe for success.

I was hoping this is going to be my breakout hit.

 

[Mortmal]

If you're saying "holy shit" I'm right there with you.

Is this April Fools? This is quite a drastic change from isometric view to FPP with a strong cyberpunky feel. Wouldn't the latter mean more work? What's going on? Why the sudden change?

I'm not ready to fully announce/commit on it, but the honest answer is that the deeper I try to break the RPGmaker engine to do what I need to do, the more frustrated I am with it. And the version of the engine I'm using is basically impossible for anyone else to understand but me, with a thousand different bandaid solutions.

So I am contemplating switching engines.

There will still be isometric (well, overhead free camera) perspectives, especially during combat.

Yes, it's a lot of work.

Yes, it's insane.

I'm not in this line of work because it's easy or because I'm altogether sane.

And this will bring the game much more in line with my vision than RPGmaker ever will.

The demo looks good for sure, but it's madness; you can't pull off a whole RPG in 3D like that alone. It's far too ambitious. There's an easier way to tackle this. Look at all the successful Kickstarter campaigns; RPG books are gathering ten times more money and faster than a game like Swordhaven, which is already not so easy to make for a small team. What is the reason for their success? They are selling pretty pictures and dreams. You could more easily manage a 2D CYOA like cyberpunk game with some RPG elements and good story. Unless you have a team behind you and unlimited cash, it's unreasonable and you are running into a wall.