Dungeons of the Amber Griffin

[1998]

This is getting along nicely, probably releasing in 2024. Grid-based, RT dungeon crawler.



With grid inventory...



...a diverse set of NPC's...



...and here is the dev

[rusty_shackleford]

Why are the developers of DRPGs obsessed with action combat?

[1998]

Probably because Grimrock (both) sold a **** tons more than comparable TB crawlers

[Frozengem-Studio]

Good morning, game developer from this site
In general, our game does not at all have more dynamic combat than it was in genre originals such as Eye of the Beholder 1-3. After all, in the third part of EoB, players started in a forest full of ghosts and the difficulty level was at a high level.

In my opinion, it was the combat in Legends of Grimrock that was very slowed down and simplified. Rather, we try to stick to the core grid-based genres that is Lands of Lore 1 and Eye of the Beholder, in which you had to prepare yourself before entering the dungeon.

It is possible that you have the impression of more Arcade combat because the game is being developed on Unreal Engine 5 and simply the visual effects add to that feeling.

Please don't look at the Music mode with Percival Schuttenbach music because it is actually Arcade mode. In the game's story mode, there will be more emphasis on story and quests than on combat.

Best regards!
Djinn,
Game Master

[1998]

New UE 5 trailer out. Don't see that releasing this year though.

[Rigwort]

There is a demo out on steam to play as well, in case anyone wants to give it a spin.

[1998]

At least a proper delay that gives them time to work on things, not only a few weeks for fake optimizations.

New Release Date: 2025

Hello,

I would like to share some information with you about our game.
Unfortunately, with great regret, we have to announce that the game’s release has been postponed to 2025 (Q2/Q3). This year, we did a lot of hard work, but we faced many challenges beyond our control.

Briefly, here’s what we’ve been dealing with:

First, we had many Unreal Engine 5 crashes, which required us to dig into the project from scratch to find the causes. Most of them have been fixed.

Implementing NPC Metahuman characters and linking their dialogues with quests took longer than expected. We managed to create a set of over 45 NPC characters, optimized 3D models with whom you can talk, trade, and explore the world of Magical Kashubia. Phew...

Optimizing the project to raise the graphics level while ensuring it would still run on older computers also took a long time.

We created many new stages – caves, dungeons, and mines. For this, we had to develop a lot of our own 3D assets, which unfortunately also consumed a lot of time.

During optimization, we had huge issues with vegetation and had to create many of our own plants, like trees, to give the game a more fantasy-like character. It’s not perfect, but it works

I could keep listing things...

On a positive note, the game's production has moved forward significantly, and we are happy to have overcome most of the obstacles.

In light of the upcoming Steam Halloween event, we will be showcasing the latest demo of the game. The story mode will not be included yet, as we will present it only when it is fully polished. We don’t want to reveal the story mode in a developer version.

We were supposed to launch a Kickstarter campaign a long time ago, but we’ve been so busy with game production that we simply don’t have time to think about it or the game’s marketing (I know this is a mistake, but the most important thing is to make a really cool game).

So, keep your fingers crossed, and we’ll see you soon with the new demo and a series of video streams showing the game’s production and story mode.

Best regards,
Djinn
Game Master

► Show Spoiler

[Tweed]

Westwood had practice with action combat

Lands of Lore 1 and Eye of the Beholder, in which you had to prepare yourself before entering the dungeon.

Not sure what you mean by prepare, in LoL there's no prebuffing, just you and whatever items you've collected thus far. Some of the equipment had hidden abilities or values that made it more powerful than it seemed and certain magical items were best kept in reserve (I.E. Guardian Orbs, Silver Chalices).

Lands of Lore is probably the best action combat blobber though. Westwood had practice going into making it from doing EoB 1 and 2. In LoL you don't need to grid dance, you stand and fight, heal when taking hits and retreat if you're losing handedly. In some cases you need to step out of the way of oncoming projectiles to avoid damage, but otherwise you're stationary. In EoB you must grid-dance or you will die, enemies hit too hard and the Vancian magic system puts an upper limit on heals. Grimrock incorporates grid dancing into the game as a full mechanic, you need to step out of the way of charging monsters and other matters or will you die.

Even other veterans of the genre like Dreamforge couldn't get this right. You have to do a lot of combat mambo in Anvil of Dawn mostly because magic regenerates too slowly and your supply of healing resources will dwindle too quickly if you use them all up early. AoD also has encumbrance and stamina which makes no sense because you're going to have to carry around a small mountain of rocks with you for all the **** pressure plate puzzles.

Newer games like Aeon of Sands don't even bother to try and tackle this problem. The dungeons are built like circular arenas.

[Luckmann]

This looks cool, looking forward to it. I am a huge fan of the old Eye of the Beholder games.

But what I really want is a proper successor to Wizardry 8.

[1998]

Celebrating polish constitution days with loads of new screens, still no release date.

Scenes are looking nice, but not much of a game in there

► Show Spoiler