Frayed Knights - Save Me!
More on the development of the indie RPG of high fantasy and low humor, Frayed Knights.

This week I came to the end of the day job's "crunch mode." I'm still in something of a recovery state. Unfortunately, the two weeks of crunch pretty much threw off FK's schedule by a similar amount. I'm still cranking away at getting alpha 3 out this weekend, but there won't be enough time to test it in order to make an April 1 public release.

Please, Save My Game!
But it was time to crank up the blues on iTunes (in this case, John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom,"), roll up the sleeves, and get back to work making up for lost time. My focus has been on certain top complaints from testers. The lack of saved games topped the list.

Saved Games are working - finally. And fully. I think. I've had to make some changes to properly allow for all the other zones the game is about to incorporate beyond the pilot. One thing that IS massing is map information right now. Gotta work on that.

Which leads to a whole new headache, actually. Multiple headaches. The automap needs serious fixing, and won't be working right in the next alpha. One more reason why it won't be ready on April 1st.

Some Other Changes
Two more top complaints from testers has been mouse inconsistency between dialogs, and the spell screen not retaining it's previous settings for casters and targets. I got that fixed. One thing testers may not be so pleased with is some of my changes to combat - specifically, armor and weapon restrictions and limitations. Yeah, before you could throw chain mail on Chloe without a problem. Now, she won't wear it without having a feat (hey, it's heavy, and chaffs!) to do so, and even if she does have the light armor feat (yeah, chainmail counts as "light armor" in Frayed Knights), it will penalize her spellcasting and increase the likelihood of a fizzle.

I'm making a few more changes to combat to make it behave a little more clearly (I hope). And for the alpha 3 release, I'm trying to balance out experience point and drama point awards a little better.

On the art front, James has been frantically coming up with improved visuals for the trap / lock screen, some concept-ish art, and some new skins for some of the NPCs. Kevin's been cranking away on a farmhouse-with-a-secret. And I've also been working on some miscellaneous dialogs and story text.

Interview, Attention, and Drama Stars
The big news this week was the Frayed Knights interview at RPGWatch. This has been picked up all over the place, and possibly brought even more attention on it than I'm fully comfortable with at this point. Sure, I want a nice cross-section of players trying out the pilot in April and providing me with feedback on issues. But I really don't want people playing it with a belief that it's a full demo for the final game. It's like... a prequel. Well, really, it's like a pilot. Hence the name.

A lot of focus from various sites has been on the drama star system. That is something I really AM comfortable with. Hopefully with the alpha 3 build, I'll get some more feedback on the drama stars based on some of the improved balance (hint: When you are fighting the BOSS ENCOUNTER, you should get more than a single drama point...). I've been playing with it a little myself, and while I am sure (by design!) it won't replace the use of reloading a saved game to recover from disaster, I think it works nicely enough to reduce trivial reloads.

One of the tougher questions that gets brought up is near and dear to my heart: What about those of us gamers who have a real life and can't devote enough time to a single session to really build up a fabulous collection of drama stars capable of "resurrecting" the entire party from the brink of a TPK (Total Party Kill)? Those of us who play in little twenty-minute increments and then must save and quit? Is that unfair?

Well, yes and no. Yes, you may not often get the full benefit of the drama star system. But - if you are going to quit and know it, you can go ahead and commit your drama stars before you exit - clear off a couple of curses or reduce the long-term fatigue on Benjamin before you exit. So you can use 'em before you lose 'em.

Alpha Testers - I'm gonna have EVERYBODY on the alpha test list added for alpha 3 this time around, so if you have already signed up, be sure and check out the forums.

Forum Discussion

(Vaguely) Related Stuff:
* Frayed Knights: When One Door Closes...
* Frayed Knights: Solving the Saved Game Problem
* Ye Olde Saved Game Debate

Labels: Frayed Knights, Roleplaying Games

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