Serpent in the Staglands update #17 is live now:

Faster Load times and optimization: version 17 now available!

In celebration of the Winter Solstice and Necholai’s worst after party, we’re ready to release update 17! We’ve been poking at Shroomers and Serpent for a while now to optimize a lot of the behind-the-scenes systems, especially load times. The engine has been updated and with some heavy optimization to art and loading structures we’re looking at 60-70% speed increase. Maps should load in at ~5 seconds, depending on your system or how large the map is.

Besides that we’ve had some other system updates for stability and content tweaks listed below.

We have some art and content for the expansion, A Banquet For Fools, that we’re planning on releasing next year. There is the perfect amount of monks, mead and illuminated manuscripts.

Merry Christmas!
Joe & Hannah

Update log:

System

• Load time optimization
• Revamped ammunition system — for fringe cases of some equipped ammo disappearing on game loads

UI

• Cursor can move off the edge of the screen in windowed mode in Windows

Gameplay

• Stabilized fringe cases of temporarily de-syncing party order in inventory screen when a member is removed in certain conversations
• Seraphim will allow you to retry to let him in your party after refusing him.
• Various dialogue and NPC inventory tweaks

This version is up on Steam, and GOG should be as soon as they push it live on their end. If the game was purchased on our site DRM free you can also re-download it from your purchases page — that's automatically updated with the latest version for you.

We're depreciating our old patching application, but if you prompt the download on startup it will instead contain an updated game you can swap with your existing one, there's some brief instructions in the folder if needed.

RPGamer has reviewed Serpent in the Staglands:

The Highest of the Highs and the Lowest of the Lows

Serpent in the Staglands is a game released in the recent past with all the trappings of an early 1990s cRPG, resolution included. Overall it offers a mixed experience, excelling in some areas while failing in others. The game's free approach to exploration is successfully realized and will strongly appeal to players who enjoy truly forging their own paths. However, the limited combat system, repetitive visuals and music, and abrupt end disappoint and may leave players dissatisfied.

Serpent in the Staglands tells the story of the moon god Necholai, opening with a mystical dream scene where the player sets up Necholai's history and personality. Unfortunately, on his annual visit to the land of Vol, his portal back to the moon disappears, leaving him stranded there in mortal form. With only brief guidance from Erlein, head cleric of Necholai's temple and Necholai's trusted friend, Necholai sets out to discover why the portal to the moon has closed and what can be done to reopen it.

[...]

Serpent in the Staglands offers an experience covering the full range from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. Its refreshing premise and great sense of exploration are very rewarding. Players are truly made to feel that they are exploring the world freely, not being led through it. The way pieces of the world, lore, and story slowly surface and come together into a dark fairytale-like experience makes the Staglands seem like a world with many stories of which Necholai's is only one, though perhaps one of the more significant ones. The graphics are a mixed bag touting great attention to detail and fluid animation but fidelity that is perhaps too low for modern-sized monitors. Unlike its lore, game areas lack visual and aural variety, and combined with the uninspired combat system and poor itemization can sometimes make the game feel somewhat bland. If you crave an exploration-heavy, open-ended, lore driven game Serpent in the Staglands will satisfy that craving like few other games today. But take care to brace yourself for the jarring impact that will bring it all crashing down in the end.

Score: 3/5

Deuce Traveler of the RPGCodex has reviewed the insiders' tip RPG Serpent in the Staglands:

Serpent in the Staglands is an indie RPG developed by a husband-and-wife team known as Whalenought Studios and released back in 2015. It's influenced by beloved classics such as Darklands and Baldur's Gate. Before I begin, I want to state up front that I'm quite impressed with what this small team of two was able to accomplish, and I have faith in Whalenought Studios' future endeavors. But the game had some issues that gave me much frustration, and an ending that I disliked for reasons which you might not expect.

[...]

So would I recommend Serpent in the Staglands, despite all of its faults? Yes, especially for the hardcore RPG fans here on the Codex. The issues I raged about in this review bother me because I can see how much better the game could have been, but its lack of handholding, numerous secrets, and hidden side quests make for a deep roleplaying experience with lots of replayability. Every person who plays this game is going to have a different story, with its wide variety of skills, spells, and party compositions. It's a challenging game full of lore and mystery, and those who play it will have much to talk about for years to come.

News about the free expansion "A Fool's Banquet" from Whalenought Studios:

Expansion News

What ho, backers!

We're back and excited to share some information with you about the free Serpent in the Staglands expansion! Titled "A Fool's Banquet," the expansion takes place in the Lachovinian Isles in the aftermath of the Moon Lord's journey through the Staglands.

A New Engine and Ruleset

As we began designing the campaign for A Fool's Banquet, we had a ton of ideas that we wanted to implement for the expansion and for future games set in this world. While we could have shoehorned some of these into the Staglands engine, we decided to do something drastic and create an entire new engine that was set up to handle all of the new really neat mechanics and optimizations we wanted to ad in. Thus decided, we started designing and have been spending the last few months building a new and improved engine that will have much faster loading times, better performance, has taken user feedback into account and will be able to support a lot of fun new features like larger maps and stealth systems as well as utilize the height of a 3d world. We have a feature list with some highlights listed below. The mechanics will be using a new ruleset that we think you'll love as well, but the atmosphere, lore, items, characters and, most importantly, your saved games will still be there.

A Fool’s Banquet began with one premise: authentic castles, and heists and infiltration within. Castles are fascinating, with mazes of corridors, intrigue, workers, gorgeous courtyards, and secrets waiting for a good crawl, and to adventure through all that the way we wanted, we've created a ton of new systems and put them in a neat package we're calling the Burning Candle ruleset.

The Burning Candle ruleset has been designed for the Serpent in the Staglands expansion, but will also be used on our new cyberpunk game, Copper Dreams, and you can see a preview of some of the mechanics and alpha art in action here. Right off the bat you might notice a few differences, one being the game is 3d. While we love pixel art, the move to 3d is necessary to create the interesting tactics that come from height and stealth, and opens up a lot mechanics that aren't available in a low resolution 2d game, like more accessibility in controls, UI and text. To keep the aesthetic as similar as possible and something we'll continue to enjoy working on, we've chosen a 3d style that utilizes the same filterless textures as pixel art, and are really happy with how it's turning out. We'll have some images throughout the year for you to check out the new Vol, now in full 3d!

[...]

Hey everyone!

I'm back with another exciting giveaway for you all. I'm celebrating 100 members on my Steam Group - Fluent's RPG World.

This time, you don't have to join my groups or tweet anything to enter. All you have to do is type in this thread on RPGWatch and let me know you would like to enter. 5 copies will be given away next Friday, so get your entries in!

Good luck to all!! 

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FluentsRPGWorld/discussions/0/520518688946454590/

Serpent in the Staglands - 100 Member Giveaway!

Hello everybody!

No, I won't be giving away 100 copies of Serpent in the Staglands (although, how cool would that be?!), but I will be putting 5 copies up for 5 lucky members to win! 

All you have to do to enter is post in this thread saying you're in. You have on week from today to join, and winners will be selected Friday the 11th of September.

Good luck to all and let's see lots of entries for this wonderful gem!! 

- Fluent

After an array of articles with Gamescom stuff about games that haven't been released and two articles on Original Sin 2 that isn't going to be released any time soon either, it is time to get back to an article that covers a game that you can get your hands on. Here is a review of Serpent in the Staglands, made by Lackblogger weeks ago.

The game's primary point of interest is the Open World map with unbarred freedom to explore any nook and cranny you want in any particular order. Your only barrier being your ability to defeat the level of monsters in that area, or rather your desire to keep yourself in safer combat zones. There's a linear plot that unravels as you explore, so it's the usual case of dipping in and out of the main plot mixed with random sidequests and casual wandering for the sake of wandering.

The world is large and full of variety and includes dungeon crawling, town politics, puzzles, small shrine/ruin areas and huge overland monster infested wastelands, varying in landscape with each location, such as snow, marshland, forest, farmland, plains etc etc. Some locations will disappoint you with their seeming lack of relevance and activities while other areas will be knee deep in monsters/puzzles/quests and all sorts of this's and that's.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun takes a look at Serpent in the Staglands and complain about it missing a 'getting started' guide as it is a good RPG but the path to finding that good RPG is frustrating.

It’s this layer of character that carries the game through the needlessly frustrating opening, which largely assumes you’re coming to the game from things like Dungeons and Dragons with clarifications like “Strength gives a natural bonus to hit damage for melee and range fighters. Phys Damage: (above base)Strength/2 + equipped weapon damage + item/skill mods.” There’s a lot to juggle in both the raw rules, from that, to the different skill trees that handle basic stats and skills and Aptitudes, which give additional options in certain situations, to the point that I ended picking up most of it by sheer accident. There’s an early quest for instance where a farmer wants you to get rid of a fox from his field, and it was only in the ‘I defeated the foul beast’ options that I saw the option indicating that had I put a point into the right Aptitude, I could talk to it and persuade it to leave.

Carl Batchelor (Niche Gamer) has reviewed Serpent in the Staglands - some snippets:

Serpent In The Staglands Review – This Snake Doesn’t Scale To Your Level

It’s reached the point where using the term “old school” while describing an RPG means about as much as the  New England Patriots winning the Super Bowl. Having lost a lot of its effectiveness as a term of splendor and awe, being old school doesn’t seem to mean as much as it once did. With Kickstarter, the indie revival, and Steam Greenlight still going strong, it’s hard to play the “we don’t get enough of these games” card.

That being said, there are still games out there that can use the moniker, it’s just that in this writer’s opinion, they have to go the extra mile to earn it. Simply having pixel graphics, turn-based combat and a deep statistical underpinning isn’t enough. Perhaps the developers behind Serpent in the Staglands were aware of this, because if any game out there deserves to use the term, it’s this one.

Serpent in the Staglands, which I’ll be calling Staglands from here on out, first attracted me to it by showing off those slick Ultima 7 inspired visuals. Though I’m not fond of the old and decrepit pixelated graphics these games embrace, I was impressed that the developers aped the style from one of my favorite classic DOS era CRPGs instead of just throwing together something low-fi while hiding their inability to do world design within the wide umbrella of nostalgia. (...)

Like any good European CRPG, Staglands isn’t looking to hold your hand or babysit you. It may pit you against hordes of non-leveled foes, but it does at least give you plenty of powers. Matter of fact, the powers it gives you access to are pretty robust for an indie game developed by a very small studio with little game development experience. The skill system, which is divided into three sub sections, contains over 50 different disciplines to specialize in.

Split between aptitudes, skills, and spells, the game gives you plenty of ways to craft a unique combatant in what is a completely classless system. While skills are the typical “Increase critical rate” or “Bash an enemy for 1d3 damage with a shield” sort of thing, the spell and aptitude part of it is a bit more exciting.

Spells are not held back by mana points or cooldown rates like in most other RPGs. In Staglands, a spell can be fired off as many times and for as long as you so desire. This helps a lot, since magic is extremely powerful in the game and having at least two dedicated casters in your group is an absolute must. Though there are only three levels of spells (a 4th will be introduced in the upcoming expansion), you do get a very wide variety of incantations within each of those levels.

The real beauty is in the aptitude section of the skills, where occupational abilities come into play. Including abilities woodwise, linguistics, nobility, herbology, philosophy and harbinger, the aptitude part of the game’s character creation system is the most important one to master.

It’s also the most difficult, since the real uses of these skills are hidden and not talked about in either the manual or their in-game descriptions. (...)

Verdict 8.0

Pros:

• Beautiful looking world, even with the pixels
• Highly non-linear
• Deep character creation & customization
• long quest, lots of content for an indie game

Cons:

• Combat feels lopsided, AI can be tricked very easily
• No quest journal, easy to lose track of goals
• Overall lack of user-friendliness

The Greek site RageQuit has reviewed Serpent in the Staglands (Google Translation) - some snippets:

The Serpent in the Staglands places us in the fantasy world of Vol borrowed several elements from Transylvania Middle Ages. We take the role of a god named Necholai, who decides to take mortal form and participate in the celebrations of mortals for moonlit festival. But when it comes time to return to the world of the gods, an insurmountable wall magic prevents the passage through the portal he had created. Our ally is the Erlein, the priest of the temple (dedicated to us please!) Where we are, and also the only one who knows our real existence. After our evacuation and proposes some loyal allies leaves us with our mortal form on a trip to Staglands for the discovery of truth. As a simple trader and a fragile body, stranger among strangers, we begin an adventure with no return ...

(...)

Initially it will create a special impression lack log and quest book that recorded information and quests. Instead we have available at any time a journal in which you can make notes. The game leaves us completely alone. He takes us by the hand to show us who NPC gave us the quest, we should go and what we must do. You will find notes, maps with directions, hidden messages ... from there but the search and finding the next step is purely our own case. The journal (or even better a piece of paper and a pencil!) Will become our second nature. It may sound unreal perhaps even "primitive" - ​​especially for the younger players, but personally loved this particular mechanism.

The "deficiencies" does not end here. In the Serpent in the Staglands there is neither map (okay laddie gamer who melt in your computer with the Witcher and Dragon Age, you can stop here reading this article). In the areas we move the party we simply can not do a rudimentary zoom while moving from one area to another is through the world map by click on the numbered square that desire. Naturally these numbered squares do not know what because the corresponding map has names and suggestions. The information we acquire are and our unique compass: Corem learn that the city is in the south but not to what the map is square. Then we find a treasure map with a huge X bit further north from Corem. We estimate about falling and begin exploring. The feel of a real open game world was never, ever as unique as here.

(...)

The game is huge and requires full dedication and use of information that we discover. Every new place we visit which has something to offer: a new enemy, an original object, a special NPC to hire our team. There is no right or wrong way to play the Serpent in the Staglands. Even the "special" building a character will never bring us to a dead end since there are more than one solutions to address situations and obstacles. Can we pull enemies into the city to help us battle the guards (with the risk of dying forever unlucky various NPCs ... death is permanent in the world of Vol!), Kill characters that appear to us suspects discovering strange notes on their corpses to place traps, play gambling winning money, take part in competitions between guilds ... the Serpent in the Staglands offers a wonderful and free world to move and act! I can write tens of hours or more small details I discovered the game during my involvement with it. To mention enemies brought very smart diving into holes to occur later in other, neighboring or strange prostitutes I met in a brothel and asked to pay for their freedom in return offer the exceptional rogue-like abilities? Every corner of the Serpent in the Staglands hides secrets you discover and difficult decisions that need will receive. For every decision, however there is the implication ... do not forget it ever!

(...)

Final Score: 90/100

Good:

• Huge, magical and truly open world.
• Long duration.
• Excellent rule system in the development of the characters, the magic and combat.
• Real hardcore old school RPG ...

Bad:

• ... That automatically means that younger players should stay away!
• Several bugs (thankfully corrected very soon).

Whalenought Studios developers Hannah & Joe posted an update about their Transylvanian inspired party-based CRPG Serpent in the Staglands on their Kickstarter page. The contents:

• A video
• Marketing without an easy button
• Expansion announcement -- apparently the expansion it will be automatically added with a big update
• Art book is finished
• The Future, in which they will try to get community members on board earlier

Here's a snippet about the difficulty they face in trying to get the press to review their game:

While we've had and cherished a modest amount of user reviews, marketing continues to be a bit tough — it’s a game without an easy mode, and journalists can’t just jump in and make quick impressions, and we think that makes it difficult to get those early impressions reviews. We hear of a few folks that attempted that and got whiplashed with a learning curve like they haven't seen in years, which though kind of humorous to hear about, does filter the reviewers down to gamers that have patience, which is of course an incredibly slimming population. But learning to play and learning the world is part of the game, and a part we're really proud of.

There's also a demo available for Windows, Mac and Linux, for those of you who want to try before they buy.

Serpent in the Staglands got a big update on June 7:

Update 8 went live earlier today, with the following additions and fixes to known issues. Included in this is enemies mid and late game with more challenging abilities and harder hitting attacks to match a savvier, more powerful Spicer and company. We’ve updated some spells and skills that needed it as well, and have listed them in the bottom section. We’ll continue to balance as we hear and see is needed to prep the high-level expansion starting areas down the road. *Note that some economy or world-changes such as that will only affect a new game, and not disrupt places you’ve already been to or anything.

Steam and our patches area available since this morning, and if you’re waiting for GOG we’ll be sending that to them tonight when they get into the office. Our new downloadable builds will be up in ~6 hours.

Additionally, the long awaited manual update and downloadable version is going to ready today, and we’ll announce when that is up! It will be packaged at GOG as well downloadable from the current Online Manual page.

_______________________

• Ending scenario which can cause characters not to move fixed
• repeated tombstone in Lumen Targ fixed
• Its Cale Moon Lord Shrine layering issue resolved
• Camp water layering issue resolved
• Fire imp random encounter now spawns correct enemies in the West
• Re-entering areas through different entrances set you in correct position
• Economy adjustment for sell prices and merchant purses
• Lebez cellar exit easier to navigate to
• During confrontation in Lebez someone could spawn over an object, resolved
• Its Cale dresser that was bugged with trying to spawn dialogue now fixed
• Bruul island raft now saves correctly visually
• Bruul dialogue update
• Kyrrilu from Emerald Mines now sells as intended
• Mines superintendent now closes dialogue properly
• Enemies will not cast Shimmering Scales on your party
• Enemy spells could start in wrong location visually, fixed
• Iele could be frozen when hit in some scenarios, fixed
• Fuldea Mare layering issue on tower
• Returning spice mission from Lev now grants reward
• Untouchable objects in Lumen Cave near fields fixed
• 2 chests found in Lebez that were not clickable now open as expected
• Grigore of Rumin now sells wares via dialogue
• Imps now have their attacking sounds in all scenarios
• A few art layering issues in Corem resolved
• Catalina convo may get interrupted in Ista Cale, fixed
• When someone is walking toward you to commence dialogue, you cannot pause or quick save
  

  UI:
  _____________

• Item description update to show stats on top.
• Small portrait update
• Emerald Mines map navigation map error resolved
• progression to get from 3 to 4+ WPN Prof made smaller
• WPN Prof reaching 9 stars now shows correctly
• updated minimap FOW to display cleaner
• Moving units now stop when paused
• Margarita now conducts conversation when intended
• Mod numbers for CS properly reflect item deduction/enhancements
• Mod numbers for CS go to shorter decimal now
• Meads and torches in early areas may not stack, fixed
• Dressers in Lumen Targ that were inoperable should now in all circumstances
• Gems: removed numbers next to them in inventory
• Two low-tier wands averrable have updated descriptions with more info
• Can now open the Incantation Book from the quick-inventory
• Can now cast spells when targeting portraits right when you enter a level
• A handful of map’s camera boundaries for the overworld map were too wide, fixed

Skills/Spells:
_____________

• resolved issue with pausing during spell-proc and having cast speed set to 0
• Skill Strafe: no longer shows up in their hover description if they recently took damage from it
• Skill Poison Weapon: appropriate damage reduction
• Spell Arcane Attack: increased damage output
• Spell Eclipse: reduction, online tables being updated soon with newest information
• Skill Shield Bash: applies item AC to damage appropriately in all scenarios now
• Skill Concentrate: no lunger duplicated in character sheet
• Disabled traps turn into disabled trap art, instead of just disappearing now
• Wolf Form doing intended damage now
• Some de-buff incantations resolved when it could land on caster instead of target
• Imp stolen stats now count towards unlocking tiers of Spell and War books

The long wait is over - Serpent in the Staglands launches today:

What ho, Bog Shroomers!

And at long last, Serpent in the Staglands is complete. We are extremely proud of the result of one adventurous year of learning and development. You helped us make this happen, and we are thrilled with how the game shaped up. You need but look at the original Kickstarter video to see how far the game has come. We think it’s pretty remarkable.

I would have said there really isn’t an opportunity for a 2-person team to make a niche game like this beyond being a hobby project, but with Kickstarter and you all wonderful folks that was made possible. We’re so grateful to have had the opportunity to make this game and we hope you get a sense for the type of experience we were trying to make the moment you start to boot it up. We’ve said Serpent in the Staglands is a 90s CRPG in everything but the release date, and we meant it. No handholding, fun puzzles, and we tried to make every element and feature in the game fun first and foremost — we think you’ll love it.

A special thanks to all our backers who provided their mugs for the game — they brought a ton of character and atmosphere to the game.

As we’ve mentioned before, do read The Manual prior to playing. You start the game proper right out the gate, so your tutorial is in that text. We’ll be getting it packaged up for GOG and the folks with Accounts with us a standalone soon, and Steam folks will be able to download it from the link above.

-> Demo

-> Shop

Serpent in the Staglands is scheduled for releas eon the 28th of May and Whalenought Studios are showing of the launch trailer because of that.

They also inform us that they have signed an agreement with GOG, so it will be available their and at the Humble Store. Next to that the update also shows how in a classless system can result in more interesting builds and they are raffling a hand-bound leather journal, which you can win by commenting on their video.

Thanks Nephologist.

The release date of Serpent in the Staglands is coming closer: 28. May 2015

An updated manual is available and some new character portraits as well.

We’re finishing up with the last of the portraits for companions and character generation and wanted to show off another preview of some new faces! No Lachovinians or Ameythevians in this one, but have some dashing Pasaarans, Varuchovs and Taratoriths (4 of whom are backers portraits!)

Total there are 50 character generation portraits to choose from, and 30 companions able to be put through the grinder.

The Varuchov male featured is actually the most powerful companion you can find, and is one of the rare surface dwelling Vykins within the Staglands (Vykins are the equivalent of our historic knights — honored in ceremony, monsters in reality). He’s quite difficult to obtain, but I’m sure the savviest of Spicers out there can manage.

Whalenought Studios announced this week the physical journals are being shipped.

We’re both sad to see our children journals go so soon, but excited for everyone to get their hands on them. Break open that seal and do some homework, your faithful servant Erlein’s stream of consciousness will undoubtedly hold lots of secrets and clues for your journey next month!

We asked the portrait-level tier of backers to change any address information if it’s changed since their survey last May, so if that’s you get us those changes by tomorrow! People in the continental US should start receiving them by the end of the week, and international hopefully soon after!

If you're in the mood to read another preview of Serpent in the Staglands then head-on over to a WordPress blog called Pixelated Paradise who published one this week.

I’d like to think I’m not the kind of person that’s susceptible to hype. I tend to avoid reading about upcoming games, not because I don’t want to get excited about something intangible, but because I don’t really see the benefit. It’s hard to justify lusting after something I can’t have for months when my backlog contains so many untouched titles that deserve attention instead.

Well, that’s my typical stance anyway. During the daily touring of the newly-listed Steam titles to build a comprehensive wishlist, I came across Whalenought Studios’ Serpent in the Staglands and my willpower abandoned me.

Having now had a chance to play some of the game myself, I can only say that it meets and then exceeds every hope and expectation I had for it.

We had another chance to talk with Joe & Hannah from Whalenought Studios who were gracious enough to answer a few more of my questions this month.

Couchpotato: Welcome back to RPGWatch I believe it has almost a year since we last talked. So how have you been since our last interview?

Joe & Hannah: I believe the last time we interviewed we were just starting the Kickstarter! We hit the ground running since after that, and it’s gone by quite quickly for the two of us. Happy to be emerging from the rock we’ve been under since development began full time and to be finally be releasing soon.

Whalenought Studios latest post-funding kickstarter update for Serpent in the Staglands announces the games release date, and gives a preview of the Harvesters.

Firstly, for those who may have missed it (and need to brush up on Linguistics skills), Serpent in the Staglands release date is May 28th! Prior to that we'll be getting you all uploaded into the accounts page on our website where you’ll be able to get either your game-key or game package directly to download! We’ll announce to you all when you’re in the system to login, and you’ll be receiving an email as well detailing this process.

Check back on Wednesday for a new interview I did last week with the developer.

Well Fluent is back with more videos today for Serpent in the Staglands, but this time he takes a look at character stats, mechanics, world interaction and much more. 

Hello everyone! Thanks for tuning in. In this video I take a deeper look at the core mechanics of Serpent in the Staglands, such as the stat system, inventory, combat skills, spells, aptitudes, world interactivity and more!

In this video I explore a bit of the starting temple area, and in the next episode I will venture into the world and explore the countryside, while showing off the combat system and other important features.

So, I hope you enjoy! If you do, please take a moment and press the Like button, leave a comment, subscribe to my channel for more and share this video everywhere! It would mean a lot!

His second video  gives everyone a look at Exploration.

Hello! In this episode, I take a look at how exploration in the game works, and I generally stumble about, die often, and make mistakes! Since this is early footage of me playing the game, this is to be expected. It is highly recommended that you (and I) read the manual more before jumping in!

This is also not a real Let's Play, just a bit of me playing the game for the first time and trying to get my feet wet with some exploration. I show off what you can expect to find by wandering about, and generally get myself into some mischief, as I explore the countryside around the starting temple area and find some unique things.

Staff member Fluent released a new thirteen minute video preview for Serpent in the Staglands that gives everyone a look at how the game handles Character Creation.

Hello everyone! Thanks for tuning in. Today, we take a look at the character creation for the old-school, "hardcore" RPG, Serpent in the Staglands!

The game is an isometric RPG currently in beta, and it's been created by Whalenought Studios, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign. In the game, you create a character or an entire party if you like, and you go about your adventure. You are a Moon God trapped in mortal form, and the choice of which mortal body you want to inhabit is up to you. You have to figure out how to return to your moon, and you will encounter companions along the way to help you.

So, we will look at the character creation in the game. Stay tuned for more videos coming soon that will showcase more aspects of the game.

Whalenought Studios next forum update has news that Beta patch 2.3 is available.

Beta 2.3 is available in the links from before, along with the same password.

This beta will need to reset your saves. After generating a Necholai and any avatars, you can talk to someone in the courtyard on the way to Lumen Targ that can teleport you to the Bridge and get your party up to level 5 with a bunch of emeralds. This is to get you up to speed for testing Emerald Metalis.

One of the more devious puzzles of the game is located here, along with the consil and some other regions to sink your teeth into. While we haven’t done the final rounds of item-placement and dialogue placement in these areas (we still need to go through Orfs Bridge, as well), we’re hoping to get your feedback on the general flow of the region and of the Hallowed Doors puzzle proper.

The Linguistics aptitude will help, and there is an NPC in the Consil there that you could employ which has it, or put points in it yourself. The puzzles are certainly doable without it, just be sure to write things down. It’s supposed to be a level 4 – 6 area. **Harvesters need to be knocked down to be damaged at these levels, their AC and SR is immensely high otherwise. There are numerous ways to do that!**

There are a lot of other small tweaks unlisted dealing with AI, balancing with difficulty and EXP reward and combat, but some bigger ones are available in the beta patch log here.

PCGamer published a short article this week for Serpent in the Staglands. Don't forget to read the last kickstarter update for more infomation, and the latest gameplay trailer.

One of the bullet pointy inter-titles in the above, new trailer promises that you can "fill your satchel with interactive items", which is how you know we're in old-fashioned PC RPG territory. Serpent in the Staglands is a retro-flavoured, party-based RPG that raised some money on the Kickstarters last year. Rather than merely paying lip service to the classics, it really bloody looks the part, with scrumptious pixel art and interface elements that would look right at home in some obscure German RPG on GOG. (Specifically, Darklands, from which devs Whalenought Games appear to have taken a healthy dose of inspiration.)

Whalenought Studios posted a new post-funding update for Serpent in the Staglands that has a new video trailer, and talks about a few other game updates.

One location we didn’t feature in the preview trailer was Tratis Saltis, a favorite due to the very different environment it brings. The area’s subsurface is an expanse of hot springs like veins breathing heat from depths below, and it gives some variety to the usually snow blasted peninsula. The persistently wet ground has made the few surviving settlers here build above surface level upon giant trees and mushrooms, and you wade through a dangerous bog below to traverse the district. Vol is an "eye ball" planet, and in the perpetually cold regions like the Staglands heated places like these are hard to come by and usually cherished for what vegetation and life they provide. Regrettably for these settlers, some of that is quite dangerous.

We'll be showing this location off in a future update more in-depth!

Sorry about the late post as Whalenought Studios has released two new Beta patches for Serpent in the Staglands this month. Here is information about the latest patch.

Beta 2.01 is up! V-Sync options and Spell hotkeys are some updates to note.

Download instructions in the last email if you missed it, otherwise Windows can just be opened and patched.

Another update this week on Steam has information from the games developer Whalenought Studios about a new audio interview with Fragments of Silicon.

Adam Dayton had us as a guests on his podcast, and had fun talking about some previous work, designing Serpent in the Staglands, the lost art of crpgs in modern games and finding power armor in Fallout.

Really nice guys, check it out!

Available on iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fragments-of-silicon/id747215884?mt=2

And web player here (we start ~8:30 mark):

http://t.co/DuQp3QoiLh

Whalenought Studios posted a new update on Steam with information on the
Skills & Spells for Serpent in the Staglands. The game keeps getting interesting.

A good CRPG lives or dies by its combat system, and ours revolves around the strengths of realtime with pause: strategy, planning, and controlling the chaos. A good tactic for playing might be:

• Pre-buff to infinity
• Activate items like horns to summon aid or lay down traps
• Make your 3 active skills compliment one another or your team
• Casters hold their spells - play the right spell when combat starts as the beginning can be perilous
• Control the battlefield with utility combat skills and spells
• Micromanage as needed

Our classless-based character system outfits players with over 100 skills, spells and aptitude to build their own 5 characters out of. Create powerful casters, whip users that are made for wizard hunting, arrow and bolt machinegunners, elixir throwers that corrode groups with unblockable damage, or morph into a wolf and maul your enemies.

Or any combination you can think of, though tactical usefulness may vary. We think highly enough of you to figure out good tactics!

Whalenought Studios posted a new update this week for Serpent in the Staglands.

Mechanics, updates, pit fights and news sightings

Progress at Whalenought continues smoothly as we’re rounding out the end content for the game. In the meantime we wanted to share an update with what we've been working these past few weeks.

Account Downloads

We’ve updated the website a bit and our store page now has more information on what the digital boxes purchased through us will contain (what you all backed). The website will also house where, for those of you who want the game DRM-free, can download it at will upon release if you sign into your account. We'll be creating accounts with backer email addresses in this new system in the next month, with your reward listed, so expect an email notifying you about it at some point soon. We'll also be sending Steam Keys via email upon release.

Beta Patch 2.0

We’ve been focusing some of our time into increasing marketing efforts, mainly split between finishing up some remaining items for the beta 2.0 patch and continuing to complete the last of the maps. Beta 2.0 will include and be the culmination of a lot of updated mechanics, UI, items, and locations that are all coming together to really start to show the final product, and we’re thrilled to be getting it out to you beta testers soon. We were planning on getting it out earlier but wanted to polish up all the grade 2 skills and spells and finish some lingering bugs, so it will be a big update.

Whalenought Studios released information about the lastest patch for the Beta version of Serpent in the Staglands. Once again here are the details from the forums.

GAMEPLAY

• Various balancing in database for enemies
• Consumables now proc health over time, only usable while unpaused
• Footsteps sounds balanced, louder
• Enemy casters have spell-balls linger when killed and casting fixed
• Lumen Targ entrance point from overworld map updated
• Traps (from inventory) z-axis placement fixed
• Companions you gather have appropriate health boosts from stats
• Fane and Witch loot drops fixed, creatures drop less consumables
• Movement speeds of companions different on the map you get them from original map you get them on than usual (database issue) fixed
• Camera bounds in Lebez Inn larger, snow effect fixed
• Ionel’s contract now leaves inventory appropriately when bartering for him
• Characters were able to get over-killed with negative health and remain alive, fixed
• Shroomer bombers could do multiple damage rolls, now just do the one before dying
• Game briefly unpaused after selected a destination to go to in overworld map in previous area (meaning you could take damage/die). will remove this pause

UI

• loot list menu has a space on top of list when you close and open it again
• distributing stat points in the spell book has incorrect sounds
• Updated and added items, including Arbiter shields and maces
• Gamefeed now has close toggle to turn it on and off
• Overworld map marker for Lebez (when leaving) fixed
• Overworld map markers after leaving Lumen Targ fixed
• Inventory items equipped can now be directly thrown on ground
• Aborting conversation with NPC while on-route to talk to him no longer still opens conversation if you get close enough, fixed so if you do a new action or move to a new location it stops convo states

Skill/Spell

• Various effect updates and loops, Rally less bright
• Racial attribute Citrone no longer affects other party members
• Spell waves fully reach target now, shader issue

Whalenought Studios latest post-funding update for Serpent in the Staglands gives a look at the games journal, and  goes into detail about the next Beta patch.

JOURNALS

Yesterday we got 2 beautiful hides from a tannery to make the journal covers from and they are fantastic.

We still have a bit of copy for the journal to write as we finish up content for the game, but it should be a wonderful guide and adventuring companion. The digital version will have some specific changes and omissions (medium aside), but will have similar content. We’re receiving the great paper we're printing on, threading, sealing wax and insignia needed for the seal soon as well, and will get some pictures up when we do! The end product will be an authentic leather journal suitable for some bronze age adventuring, with some blank note pages for yourself (for those puzzles that are more easily sketched out than written in the in-game journal).

PATCH 

** Patching system seems to be having some issues, and we'll just send out another email this (hopefully) last time. Will be starting builds shortly for reindeer distribution. **

For those who have beta access, or maybe haven’t played since some of the earlier builds, we encourage you to download the newest patch and take a look. We’ve tackled the majority of the UI functionally, added lots of small polish items, and have finally implemented the prime NPC database, which completely rebalances the combat difficulty. This is what we’ve been using to test later game scenarios and individual enemies, and thought it would be a good time to introduce it into the beta and have you all test what the actual game difficulty was designed to be. I’d go into the details, but it would probably be best just played. If you were quick saving a lot before due to bugs, we’d advise you do so now instead for the amped up difficulty across the board, especially during the early areas you're testing. Wildlife, acolytes, and even chicken goblins can 1-hit-kill an unarmored character if the rng god wills it.

The december update for Serpents in the Staglands informaiton is provided on the development, release schedules, late game balancing, itemization and work being done on the release.

For the next few months we’ll be to polishing, bug testing and implementing the remainder of the content, as well as implementing the high grade skill/spell beta area for late-game combat tests.

We’re very excited not to have had to cut any maps or content that we originally had planned in April, managed to get some of our personal add-on-features implemented, and are not too far off our proposed timeline. Our designated time for testing won’t be fruitless, we’ll be able to devote a lot of time to making sure everything is smooth, balanced, and as polished as possible for the launch, and we have some brilliant testers helping figure out obscure bugs in the systems. Their efforts thus far have been a fantastic contribution to the polish of the game, and their feedback has been terrific. The priests in Lumen Forten toast to the lot of them for their efforts in making sure the game is what you all backed.

Thanks m00n1ight

Serpent in the Staglands has a new teaser trailer and is slated for release early in 2015.

A new teaser trailer for Whalenought Studios' Kickstarter-funded real-time with pause CRPG Serpent in the Staglands has been released on YouTube. Interestingly, it mentions that the game is going to come out in early 2015, though no hard date is provided:

More information.

Whalenought Studios shared a few new posts on Twitter with information on the development of Serpent in the Staglands. The first post is about a new update.

Also beta 1.3 and Kickstarter update showing some new areas, spells, and puzzles coming soon! Beta update megalist will be on the forums

Happy to announce that Serpent in the Staglands will be available on Steam on release. Thanks everyone for voting for us through Steamland!

Whalenought Studios released information about the lastest patch for the Beta version of Serpent in the Staglands. Here are the details from the forums.

Hey everyone, for the 1.1 update in adapting a lot of new systems (some below) and fixing others, we’ve stumbled across a small domino effect of bugs that we want to tackle before sending it out. Apologies on the delay, we are sure it will be worth the wait playing again with a smoother build. Aiming at next weekend, will keep you posted if earlier

YouTube user Sijunzi has also posted four videos this week that once again shows over two hours of game footage this time of the Beta version of Serpent in the Staglands.

Here is the first video to get you all started.

Serpent in the Staglands is a new isometric, real-time party-based action / tactical RPG with an iconic graphical style and a huge dose of lovely nostalgia on the hard-core computer RPGs of old. Developed by Whalenought Studios. Currently in backer beta phase 1.

Here are the links for Part #2, Part #3, and Part #4.

Whalenought Studios released information the Beta is available now, but it's only readable for backers, but don't fret they have more information on the forums.

This is updated in our Kickstarter for anyone who didn’t see it on known bugs and what will be in the next update:

For the initial beta we’re asking to just get your feedback on the general overview of all the systems. This would include anything concerning layout, combat, spells, dialogue, inventory use and equipment, to moving around and exploring.

We had some last minute issues with the Mac and Windows builds differing from one another, and while patching that up caused a few other problems to arise. Some of these will be addressed below, but this is part of the reason we’d like this to remain a general overview of all the beta systems. We’ll finish fixing things up and drop you a cleaner build to tackle the more detailed aspects of the gameplay in a smoother (less buggy) environment soon. This will include any of your suggestions as well. When we get that out for discussion and feedback proper, the more detailed gameplay fixes we can get from you can be used for the entirety of the game and all the maps outside the beta, which is going to make a tremendous difference in polish.

Whalenought Studios released information the backer Beta will be available October 11th. I can't wait to give it a try and see if the game lives up to the hype.

Backer Beta October 11th

We’re very excited to announce that we’ll be releasing the beta to specific backer tiers next weekend, so put on your Spicer boots, grab a torch, and get ready for some adventuring. The initial beta will be for Windows and Mac and will include all the main features in the game to be tested. These maps will have the (beta-stage) version of questing, encounters, town folk, and battles we’ve set up for testing.

It will be primarily low level content for the first grade of skills/spells and aptitude abilities, and we’ll be updating the beta down the road with the second grade of skills/spells for a new content area. We’re aiming to not spoil any of the main quest pick-ups in this combat beta, so we’ve changed certain NPCs and removed some random special encounters. Bandits, Iele gangs, flying imps, possessed children, Padurii and more are all awaiting a beating.

It will be primarily low level content for the first grade of skills/spells and aptitude abilities, and we’ll be updating the beta down the road with the second grade of skills/spells for a new content area. We’re aiming to not spoil any of the main quest information in this combat beta, so we’ve changed certain NPCs and removed some random special encounters. Bandits, Iele gangs, flying imps, possessed children, Padurii and more are all awaiting a beating.

We’ve set up some additional information on gameplay specifics on the game site here you can check out. The forums have been set up with a few specific pages for bugs/suggestions from testers as well, so sign up there to give any feedback, as it will be a hub for general communication.

The night/day system will be included in the beta areas, and will affect a few things including change what enemies dwell in certain areas (bandits during the day could be replaced with a coven at night). Random encounters will also be included in overworld-map travel. These have some pretty heavy quest elements later on in the game that we’ll introduce in the second stage of the beta, but for now are limited to battle encounters.

We will be setting up the beta for download on either platform and will email all the beta backers and paypal backers of that tier with where and how to download. Looking forward to next weekend!

Whalenought Studios has a new forum post about a new website for Serpent in the Staglands, and share some information about the games beta version.

We’ve updated the site to include data on the skills and spells available at the beginning of the beta, which is limited to grade 1. In-game you only see data for your current skill level and what you’ll get with an additional point put in, so this was a convenient location for looking at it whole. We’ll be updating those as we balance throughout the beta, along with adding in grade 2 down the road.

We’re expecting the beta to open up to backers next weekend, and to start will include a small group of areas in Orf’s Bridge at the beginning of the game. More details on that when we release.

As the beta is progressing, we’ll be releasing updates responding to any bugs and your suggestions, and eventually add in the second half of the beta content and grade 2 of skills to test. We’re aiming on not releasing any of the major plot oriented discoveries, which for as open as the game is can be a challenge, so we’re changing a few things for the beta builds. Everything is feature complete, so you can test everything that will be in the game in a low-level setting.

Whalenought Studios has posted a lengthty update on the games kickstarter page with information on the beta version, and included a new video with the update.

Pre-Beta and Beta Testing

As we prep the rest of the beta areas, we were hoping to get some help in the form of us sending out our original vertical slice, augmented with all the polish up to this point, to get a few folks thoughts on controls and layout. We’ll pick a few backers at random for this, so if you’re interested in playing around with mechanics, leave a comment letting us know and include the operating system you’re using. Much obliged in advance!

We know we said that the beta would be ready around end of summer, but we decided to re-arrange our timeline a bit and move some polishing and testing to before the beta, so that the game and it's many features would be fully functional and included. With this change, our testers would get the best representation of the game possible for testing the things we'd like them to and what they'd like to give feedback on. Primarily that would be skills, balance, and how many ways they can find to OP their party. This means we'll ultimately have less polish to do down the road than originally planned, and hopefully the beta delay won't affect the release plans by much. 

We’ll also be doing a website update and prepping those previously mentioned forums so beta folks can have an easy point of discussion with us closer to the beta release date.

We have a lot more to show off as we get closer to that beta, including the new areas for the crystalized Emerald Metalis and icy bogs of Tratis Saltis, and more spells and skills. We just finished up a high-level portal spell where you can deposit creatures/people to a marked location if they run over it. Phasing a pack of wolves into the middle of a village is delightful. Needs testing.

Whalenought Studios latest blog update for Serpent in the Staglands has more information about the HUD they talked about in the last kickstarter update.

The HUD Makes a Room

We wanted to do a small post digging deeper into the change of UI resolution seen in our last Kickstarter Update. We’ve created a much more graphically consistent game and wanted to share some of the thought processes behind getting it there.

As we’ve recently reconfigured our camera to display the game at a particular pixel size, we had to update most of the UI and Menu art to accommodate the smaller space. We’re keeping all these designs functional for a minimum size resolution, so the end result will simply center align itself on its respective side of the screen as they get larger (allotting more game scene space). Fortunately the HUD functions identically to the original designs, so not much changed there besides ensuring button and text size differences were accommodated. Crude mock-ups to follow:

Since everything was a little cluttered in the original setup (Display/Menu HUD on bottom and Character HUD on right with time-stop button), we first wanted to see what it would look like if we just made the portraits tall, replaced them with the game feed, and kept the bottom as is. We also detached the movement/character buttons and added them to a top ‘name/health’ tool on top of the screen, potentially replacing the tooltip you’d get after hovering over an object or enemy.

Whalenought Studioshas posted the next kickstarter update for Serpent in the Staglands. This time they talk about the new UI, settlers, and how death works.

UI, Settlers & Death

Hey backers! Since last month’s update we took some time to polish some of the visual elements for an easier beta play experience, added some more art and enemies, put character generation in, more eastern maps, have a nice auto-paused prompt system set up, and are getting back to implementing more skills/spells for testing. We wanted to do an update showing some of those and some new features.

Steam Greenlight & GOG

We’re doing well on Steam Greenlight, and just wanted to ask those who haven’t voted to help us out as we inch toward the finish line!

And as we said before we’ll be sending a refined build of the game off to GOG in the fall for their approval.

Read the link for the full article with images, and new videos.

Whalenought Studios has a new development blog update for Serpent in the Staglands with new information on whips, and the games overworld map.

The overworld map has come a long way since our last one.

In the latest post-funding update for Serpent in the Staglands we get news on the games nobility, light system, town tunes,and a new armor poll.

Nobility, lights, town tunes and another armor poll!

Hello noble backers! We’ve been busy the last month cranking up development for the beta release later this summer. We’re on schedule and excited about all the new content and progress! We wanted to share some of the main things we've been working on lately.

Beta Areas

The eastern districts of Orf’s Bridge, Emerald Metalis, and Tratis Saltis will be where the initial beta will take place, so we’ve been focusing on getting the content completed for these districts first. It's a pretty sizable area of the game. Because of the game’s open-ended nature, the beta won’t have an obvious endpoint, but will be more of an exploration with the first options of the primary story to uncover if you choose and are able to discover them. Like in Darklands, the gameplay experience involves uncovering the story via your own exploration, with the addition of actually having a goal and a few (uncertain) leads to begin with.

The first tier of all combat and spells will be available, and we are planning to include the second tier in for additional testing after the initial beta launch.

General Progress:

Systems

We wrote a dev blog post pertaining to some of the content additions we’ve been working on, and we also have some images below of some of the newer system/visual features, located in the first scene we showed from the Kickstarter video in Erlein’s temple. System wise, we’ve optimized saving and loading, finished off what was needed for the write-your-own-journal notes system, added in a great fog of war solution and some visual enhancements for environment art.

Moving forward we’re continuing to focus on dialogue content, level design, and scripting spells and skills.

Art

Art has been and will continue to be a progression with map/area art and monster/people sprite sheets. We finished the latest poll-winner armor set (leather armor 1 of 2), and made some clips of it in action! 

Poll #2

Since you all made a great choice before, we wanted to follow up with another armor set poll! We’ll be whipping some more up later this month and we’d like your vote on a heavy armor set! There isn’t a system of knighthood in the Staglands, but some fighters favor heavier armor (more protection, less speed). The first one we designed is more of a chain-mail and plate-armored arm pieces, and this one we wanted to get in a suit of splint mail or a full metal cuirass to make it distinctive

Whalenought Studios has a new development blog update for Serpent in the Staglands with new information on the games maps, cloaks, and quests.

We’ve been hard at work the past few weeks and wanted to share some of the things we’ve been focusing on, mainly completing character sprite sheets, more creatures, the main world map, polishing the main systems and finishing the designs of landscapes, quests and characters that will fill the beta areas. We’re still steady on our scheduled path and aim to have the beta out by end of summer.

Whalenought Studios has posted the first post-funding update for Serpent in the Staglands about the game being funded, and information on what to expect next.

We have gathered our party.

We’ve surpassed our goal by getting over 280% funded and having 1092 Backers through Kickstarter — this is an amazing feat and we can’t thank all of you enough! With our current PayPal backers our total funds raised for the project, as of this update, is $30,038.

We’re continuing to get back into normal development now that the campaign is over, and are excited to show you all more progress in future posts and videos! Please let us know if there’s anything or any system you’d like to know about in a future update that we can go into more detail in.

We’ll continue to keep you all posted with backer-only details and polls, but will also be doing regular development blog posts that will continue to feature high-level game mechanics, art progress, and skill demonstrations. As always, if anyone has suggestions or feedback, drop us a comment in the updates or our email (whalenoughtstudios@gmail.com). Though we intend to get back to a normal sleep schedule, we'll continue to try to get back to you as soon as we can.

Portrait level and Monster level backers: We’ll be contacting you in the near future to get your information and start brainstorming with you for your creatures or get your portraits going for the game!

Beta+ Backers: Once we’re further along and sending builds out, we’ll be updating the forums and asking our testers specifically to commune there for any discussion and getting in touch with us about the game’s development.

Thank you again everyone for supporting us through the entirety of the campaign, you’ve all been terrific and genuine sources of +20 Morale on a daily basis. Time to order a pallet drop of coffee.

Whalenought Studios posted the next update for Serpent in the Staglands with a reminder the project is nearing its end, and shares some new game information.

Here at the end of all things & what lurks in the shadows of the Staglands

The last 2 days are upon us, and we’re thrilled with all of your support, encouragement, and excitement about Serpent in the Staglands. We’ve surpassed our goal and are over 200% funded — this is an amazing feat and it’s all thanks to you.

PayPal

Some folks have asked about PayPal funds going towards the next stretch goal, and they definitely are. With a very impressive fundraiser from the prestigious magazine/forum RPG Codex, our PayPal sum (as of now) is sitting at $1803, so we're very close to the next stretch goal! We'll keep this number updated on the main page, and will keep the special rewards available for few months before making it pre-order only.

Whalenought Studios has posted the next update for Serpent in the Staglands with more information about the games map, monsters, and share a new combat video.

Maps, Monsters, and Combat Skills

THE LAST WEEK!

You all did a fantastic job helping us spread the word so far, and hopefully we can make it to the next stretch goal! We were interviewed recently by Cliqist and were asked some fun questions — check it out!

We wanted to give you all some more details on combat, and made another video previewing it like we did with Aptitudes. We are playing around with a lot of the art for effects and still putting in the skill images. We plan to showcase more of these skills in future updates and on our dev-blog as we are implementing them.

Cliqist interviews Joe Williams Of Whalenought Studios to discuss his successfully funded Kickstarter Serpent in the Staglands.

Cliqist : How does this game differ from your previous RPG, Isle of Bxnes? technically, artistically, and gameplay wise)

Joe Williams : Isle of Bxnes was an ARPG, it was designed with action in mind for its entirety. Serpent in the Staglands holds many situations that are able to be completely avoidable with an array of skills and conversation options. It’s also more about exploration of your mostly open world, whereas Isle of Bxnes focused on traveling island to island, conquering each challenge within, and just trying to survive. The art has been evolutionary for us, we’ve been able to increase the scope of it since we’re developing for the PC exclusively now. In a similar style to Isle of Bxnes, we’re hand-animating 8-directional isometric sprites.

Cliqist : So you’re not doing a game with ultra high end graphics supporting Oculus Rift. How can you hope to succeed?

Joe Williams : We’re just happy there remains an audience for the traditional CRPG that is interested in Serpent in the Staglands. We could have made the graphics different, but we stuck to our gut and what we thought fit the gameplay and atmosphere best, despite knowing that wouldn’t necessarily attract a mainstream audience. VR/Facebook adoption to be looked into.

Cliqist : Are you surprised by the success of your campaign?

Joe Williams : We were completely taken off guard when we were funded in just 4 days. Our community has been absolutely fantastic and shown a lot of excitement for the game and world. There have been a ton of great questions and discussions on core mechanics and we’re grateful we have such an awesome audience that knows their stuff.

Whalenought Studios has a new update for it's funded RPG Serpent in the Staglands with a new poll about leather armor, giant wolves, and what’s coming next.

Leather armor poll, giant wolves, and what’s coming next

Thanks everyone, we’re on our way to the first expansion stretch goal! We’ve been hard at work marketing and working on the game and wanted to update you on a few things.

We put up these videos of our new pathfinding and movement speed on the main page (we’re still tweaking it, but it shows a great deal of improvement from the previous videos and plays very smoothly). There are also some additional combat notifications when hovering above enemies. You’ll see more of that in the combat video, along with some new animations. We’re in the middle of finalizing some more combat skills we’d like to show off before that, and also get in a creature! We’re finishing up with implementing non-humanoids, with completely different skillsets, and are excited to show them in action. Up to the sword first: giant wolves!

                       

Also, polls! In our timeline we’re in the stage of finishing art assets and skill/spell code implementation. You’ve seen a very basic armor set we’re using for some commoners, and we have 2 main types of armor for each armor grade (so there are 2 heavy plate mails, 2 chains, 2 leather, etc.) your characters can equip. This adds a nice amount of variation, but with customized colors for specific armors and cloak lining/interior/exterior colors they can really distinguish themselves. We’ll be showing off more of these armors, helmets, monsters and weapons in the future, and we’d like to get your feedback on which models you like the best. Each set is hand-drawn and animated with a few hundred frames, so if we are having trouble committing between some, we’re hoping you can help!

To get things started, we have some examples on the left, but on the right we need a secondary leather armor. The first leather armor we’ve chosen isn’t shown, but these three are all very different from it, and we’d like to see any of them in action. They are all wearing the same cloak and the colors are the same. A, B or C, if you have a preference, lets hear it in the comments!

Also, reminder for anyone who hasn’t, Steam Greenlight votes! If you’d like that as a platform for Serpent in the Staglands to be released on, we'll need as many votes as we can in the months to come.

Whalenought Studios has another kickstarter update for Serpent in the Staglands with news about the second stretch goal, Steam Greenlight, and DRM-free distribution.

Second Stretch Goal Met! Also: DRM-free Distribution plans and Greenlight!

Hey Everyone! Second stretch goal has been met, and we’re on our way to the islands expansion! Fantastic! 

We’re in the middle of getting some new content put together, but wanted to give a few announcements about the site, future community support, and distribution.

We will be submitting something to GOG in a beta stage of the game, as they need a few hours worth of gameplay to determine if it is going on their site, and we want to have something with a maximum amount of polish. Regardless if the game gets on there, we will use another network (and/or our own site) to provide DRM-free copies of the game.

In the meantime, to help with visibility and growing the community, we’ve just launched a Steam Greenlight campaign! The more backers we get to help give it the ol thumbs up the better — more visibility on there could mean more stretch goals and free expansions! We're not sure if it’s our audience, but we’ll see how it goes.

We’ve just added a forums section to the website where, post campaign, people can folks to give us ideas and feedback through development. It will also be a hub for those backers who chose to help with beta testing. We’ll be updating our website soon with the algorithms and designs of our stat system, and begin to showcase each spell/skill and their synergies, modifiers, procs, and visuals. This will house all the information that an adventurer of Vol might need to prep some build ideas!

Whalenought Studios shares a few images about the games portraits in the next update for Serpent in the Staglands. Funding has slowed down though,but that is normal.

Portraits!

Hey everyone! At the time of this writing we have $300 to go until the second stretch goal! So awesome, thank you everyone for spreading the word and backing! We're doing fantastic! 

We wanted to share with you some portraits that we've started on from some of the early $100 dollar backers. Hopefully it gives you an idea of the direction we're going in for the style of characters and races. Represented below are a Pasaaran, Lachovian, and Taratorith respectively.

Whalenought Studios has posted the third update for their funded RPG Serpent in the Staglands with information about aptitudes, soul binding, and battle drums.

Here is the new video that goes along with the update.

Aptitudes, Soul Binding, and Battle Drums

We’re so excited to have almost reached our second stretch goal! Thank you so much everyone for spreading the word, we’ve had an awesome response during this campaign and hope we can keep it going with more frequent updates to come.

For this update we wanted to do a small demonstration of some of the dialogue and Aptitude options, so we put together a video of a tavern scene in Orf’s Bridge. (As a caveat: we’re in the middle of updating the pathfinding, so future videos will have much improved character navigation than what’s going on in this video.) We’re also just starting to put more art in from all of our placeholders, so this area is still very early along. We’ve increased the size of the text in menus after hearing they were difficult to read in the trailer.

Serpent in the Staglands is a new kickstarter RPG from a small Indie developer called Whalenought Studios. The studio is mostly known for releasing a few mobile RPGs.

They described the game as the following.

An isometric, RTWP, party-based CRPG set in the icy Staglands, where a trapped god and chosen company embark on a perilous quest.

The goal of the project was $10,000 and the game has already been funded in just four days. The next step is to get more money to expand the game, and add more areas.

You can check out the stretch goals in the following image.

I decided to get in contact with the developer.  So here is a little chat where I asked a few questions by email. I hope you enjoy reading it, and decide to back the game.

Whalenought Studios has posted the second kickstarter update for Serpent in the Staglands with news the game has been completely funded four days.

Funded!

You did it! Thank you so much everyone, Serpent in the Staglands has been funded in just 4 days!

We’re so excited with all the feedback and interesting questions thus far, and hope we can reach some of our exciting stretch goals! We’ve spent some time in the last couple days reorganizing the stretch goals based off the community feedback we’ve been getting, and were able to add in some of the content that we originally couldn’t fit in our scope.

The first few goals include a full soundtrack, which we have another example of in the works, and additional resources for more sounds and writing. Sailing, the Spirit Realm, the North region and Gladiator spire, and Underground cities are all parts of the free expansions for your characters to adventure through if we hit the later goals! Additionally, we’d have a massively expanded creature compendium, tons of new armor sets and party members. More info about all these on the main page!

Though we’ve been fairly slammed answers emails, questions and comments, we’re currently working on one of the two main settlements in Orf’s Bridge, a town of caravans and sellswords off the main northern road. We’ll have videos showing off more non-combat role playing elements in general here.

Also stay tuned for some polls, more details about the setting, and deeper combat explanations.

Thanks again everyone for making this possible!

Hannah & Joe

RPG Codex interviewed Whalenought Studios about their RPG Serpent in the Staglands. Also if you haven't backed the kickstarter make sure you give it a look.

RPG CODEX: You are no strangers to indie games development, but Serpent in the Staglands marks your first foray into PC RPGs. What made you want to create this game, and at this time?

WHALENOUGHT: As huge crpg fans, this game is one we both have dreamed and started planning since the start of our studio. We both know our strengths lie in fantasy, adventure, and enticing narratives, and we’re confident that we’ll do the Staglands and the genre justice.​

Graphically, I would have a hard time trying to imagine a game looking more like a cross between Darklands and Baldur's Gate than Serpent in the Staglands. However, you cite these games as influences for the game's innards rather than how it looks. Let's start with Darklands. What have you drawn from this game?

Thank you! That was absolutely what we were going for (and budgeted for). We’re keeping the art gritty and ground in some amount of realism.

Similar to their classless skill system, our system involves building your character by selecting any combat, spell or aptitude skills you’d like. This allows for a vast amount of customization and personality — rewarding creativity with your own custom build types. The Darklands combat is frenetic and pretty ruthless and we’re trying to capture that as well. Nothing was more satisfyingly demoralizing than failing to best some bandits and getting told they stole all your equipment and money and left you for dead. Their story scenes were the original inspiration for our Aptitude creation and uses outside combat.​

Where do you see Whalenought heading with Serpent in the Staglands? It's a certainly a departure from your earlier, perhaps more accessible, mobile games. Are you looking to become the next Spiderweb Software or Basilisk Games, focusing on throwback CRPGs?

Our plan is to continue to explore the world of Vol (where the Staglands lies) in future games. We have a lot planned for other continents to explore and are excited to continue unraveling the lore in other campaigns.​

A few recent CRPGs such as Wasteland 2, Dead State and UnderRail (and a gazillion other games) have Early Access versions for sale on Steam. In the Kickstarter, you mention your goal to release the game in Winter 2014, while also adding that you have no intentions of releasing anything but a finished and polished product. It sounds like you could be among the developers who are skeptical towards Early Access? What are your thoughts on this trend?

For Serpent in the Staglands, we’re going with a closed beta from our Kickstarter community. We want to reward them for supporting us early and are excited to have a group of people who are already enthusiastic about offering critique and suggestions.We’re aiming firstly to get on GoG, both because we love their site and to support the DRM-free distribution of games. We’ll be using Greenlight thereafter to also try to get on Steam! We think early access can certainly be beneficial for some developers, but believe our narrative-driven game is best experienced in it’s finished form for players to engross themselves in, so we will be sticking with closed beta testing. We’ll definitely be sharing updates throughout the rest of the development process though!​

Whalenought Studios has posted the first kickstarter update for Serpent in the Staglands with news about the game rewards, Paypal, the spirit realm, and spells.

Rewards, Paypal, the Spirit Realm & Spells.

First of all, we just want to thank everyone who has backed us. We’re overwhelmed by your generosity and are really excited about your excitement. Thank you for helping us make Serpent in the Staglands a reality, we're off to a fantastic start! 

A Peak Into One of the Stretch Goals

An area that we’d love to be able to add into the game but is too large for our current scope is the Spirit Realm. The dwellers of the Spirit Realm have no interest in the doings of the Staglands, except when a brave but stupid mortal descends into one of their glowing chasms that are scattered throughout the land. Once inside the chasm, adventurers can explore a wealth of tunnels and caverns filled with oversized vegetation and vicious spirits like this fellow here. Unlike humanoids, monsters all have special skills or features that require different battle tactics. For instance, this spirit’s heart explodes on death and deals an uncomfortable amount of damage. He’s also not opposed to throwing his heart and other vitals like a grenade if desperate.

New Rewards

Although we originally wanted to keep our rewards as streamlined as possible, we’ve been hearing interest for some more interesting options, so we’re adding in two new rewards:

•$20: Previous reward, plus a digital copy of Erlein's Handbook, containing detailed maps, creature compendium, advice on secrets, riddles and lock knowledge, and pertinent history of the peninsula's political history. You'll be listed in the credits as a Sailor's Guild member.

•$75: All previous rewards, plus a hardcover copy of Erlein's Handbook, containing detailed maps, creature compendium, advice on secrets, riddles and lock knowledge, and pertinent history of the peninsula's political history. Wonderfully accessible reference guide while playing, full of beautifully rendered art, sketches and journal entries from Erlein. You'll be listed in the credits as a Cartographer's Guild member.

Paypal

For those who can’t contribute via Kickstarter, we’ve set up paypal on our site with the same unlimited reward options. You can access it here: http://serpentinthestaglands.com/#preorder

Serpent in the Staglands is a new isometric party-based CRPG being developed by Whalenought Studios. They are asking for $10,000 on Kickstarter. 

The good news is the game is already half-funded with twenty eight days left. Now here is the usual pitch video below, and a short description of the game.

The vision for Serpent in the Staglands is a mix of the addictive build customization of ARPGs and party control and role-playing elements of games like Baldur's Gate and Darklands. A throwback to cRPGs of the past with fresh new role playing designs and combat mechanics.

During your search as a god's mortal avatar, you'll plunge into the Stagland's deep combat and open world exploration. Skills, spells, and aptitudes can be individually customized for up to five different party members of your choosing. With an expansive variety of build options and branching paths to choose from, the game will offer significant personalization and replayability.