Prometheus Wept: The new turn based RPG from the developer of Vigilantes

Hi!

Here's the development log for January 2022. The focus this month has been on creating and adding the content for act 1. In particular, an optional objective, to discover the source of the outbreak in the Drag, and the second mission for act 1 has been added.

Environment weapons have been re-introduced, including an energy cell, which can be wirelessly activated by the protagonist to damage nearby enemies, and the lethality system has been revised.

All the groundwork is in place for act 1 mission 3, including an extra map which was created earlier this week. Here are a couple of images for this map. The current intention is to add the third and fourth mission, and complete the cyberspace mission in the current demo, then release an updated demo.

As always, feedback and questions are welcome. Talk soon!

Daithi
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Messages
205
Location
Donegal, Ireland
Prometheus Wept Dev Log Feb/Mar 2022

Hi there,

Here's the development video for Feb/March, which focuses on the addition of act 1 mission 3, where you must negotiation a food shipment to ease the crisis in Sunny Pines.

Key Points:
- Act 1 Mission 3 is complete.
- Act 1 Mission 4 is designed in depth, with an initial draft of the writing
- Wolves have been enhanced with traits, and alpha wolves have a unique, activated skill
- Temporary allies can now be killed and permanently removed from the game
- Added a relationship system
- Created final versions of Sunny Pines Militia and Rebel character models
- Improved the code for saving characters, managing conversations,


As mentioned in the video, here are a number of links through which you can support Ukraine, if you wish to: Humble Bundle for Ukraine / Unity Bundle for Ukraine / Razom / International Rescue Committee

Thanks for reading / watching and if you have any questions or comments, please let me know!

All the best,

Daithi
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Messages
205
Location
Donegal, Ireland
Hi!

Below you will find the dev log for April 2022. I've made good progress on act 1 mission 4, where you must locate the missing Dr Kriesler by finding evidence, questioning people and searching for him. It's a big mission, which spans multiple locations and introduces two new outlaw gangs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf6jCYXBYaE

One of these gangs is the Blue Screen of Death Tribe. They believe the virus that wiped out all digital technology in the mid 21st century was a divine manifestation, which sought to free humanity from the shackles of technology.

wgd65aY.jpg


How you handle act 1 mission 4 has numerous consequences. Whether or not you can locate Kriesler will have repercussions. You will also have to choose which of two factions to support, which will in turn decide which of two potential allies will join your party.


Key Points:

- 2 out of 3 maps required for this mission are complete
- 4 out of 10 character models have been created, optimised and made game ready
- Started second draft of writing
- Added 2 new outlaw gangs
- Spent a fair bit of time on unavoidable company admin work :/
- The company admin work is finished now :)

Thanks for reading / watching and if you have any questions or comments, please let me know!

All the best,

Daithi
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Messages
205
Location
Donegal, Ireland
Hi there,

I hope you're having a good day. It's taken longer than I'd hoped, but Act 1, Mission 4 of Prometheus Wept is complete.

Here's the development video, and you'll find additional information below:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQJmsSLASjY


Act 1 Mission 4:
In Act 1 Mission4, you are charged with locating Dr. Kreisler, who has gone missing under unusual circumstances. You begin by visiting multiple locations in Sunny Pines, including Kriesler's house, to search for clues.

i9MpJpG.jpg


8gxTNXF.jpg


Once you've narrowed down the search area with clues, you get a number of search attempts to locate the missing doctor. Along the way, you'll encounter a number of unusual gangs, who have formed as a result of bizarre misunderstandings about the pre-virus world.

2tDCvtN.jpg


bZgyhE1.jpg

If you managed to find enough evidence, you will locate Kriesler. If not, Sunny Pines will have to do without him. Either way, you will encounter an usual entity with big plans for Sunny Pines, who will either join your party or serve as the primary antagonist of act 1, depending on your choices.

Release Schedule:

The intention is to release an updated demo for Kickstarter backers in the coming months, to participate in the Steam Next Festival in February, and to release on early access in Q1/2 2023.

Work on Illustrations:
All of the 40+ character illustrations have been improved, as have some dozens of the item illustrations.

jhQfkID.png


H7nBOfH.png

rTYk7En.png


World Map
Code to implement the world map has been added, as has a provisional map for act 1.
Y635EgL.jpg


That's all for now - sorry this update was delayed - I appreciate your patience and will check in again next month :) As always, feedback is welcome!

Talk soon!
Daithi
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Messages
205
Location
Donegal, Ireland
Hi again-

I've just completed the work for the current update. The focus has been on content, wrapping up the crafting system and adding shopkeepers. Feel free to check out the video / text info on the update, and do let me know if you have any feedback or comments.


Content: Weapons, Crafting Recipes & Perks
Eight weapons, around 30 crafting recipes and 15 perks have been added to the game, which more or less completes the content required for the updated demo. My last game, Vigilantes had weapon tiers, and each new tier largely rendered the previous tier obsolete, or at least sub-optimal. This resulted in there being a handful of optimal weapon choices at any time. For Prometheus Wept, I'm aiming to make nearly all weapons viable for the entire game, and for weapons to have unique traits to differentiate them from one another.

j13HrPd.png

The cleaver provides greater bleeding damage, and additional damage against animals.

Diq8iJv.png

Baseball bats do high damage, and additional damage when targetting an enemy's head.


A scattering of perks have been added to the game, and the perk UI has been updated. Where possible, I've made perks more deterministic, so for example, rather than a 20% chance of a free attack, every 6th attack costs no action points.

9PLMcNg.png


Systems: Shopkeepers & Crafting

If you played Vigilantes, you may remember that there's a single, off-map shopkeeper in the game. Prometheus Wept requires multiple on-map shopkeepers, so I've added code to support this, to start the trade interaction, along with saving, loading and managing shopkeeper inventories. In Vigilantes, there were separate buy and sell screens for the shop and merged the old buy/sell interface into a single screen.

lRkYuzn.png


I've also worked on crafting system, improving the display of information and adding the ability to upgrade weapons and armour, after they have been crafted. Some layout and visual adjustments aside, this wraps up one of the more complex systems in the game.

The main parts of work to be completed for an updated demo are balancing and testing, which I'll start working on next. I'll keep you posted on progress, and if you have any questions or feedback, let me know!

All the best,

Daithi
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Messages
205
Location
Donegal, Ireland
Hi again!

Good news! A provisional release of an updated windows demo is on Indie DB, will be available on Steam in the coming days, and will participate in the Steam Next Festival next week. Mac and Linux versions will be available in the near future. Here's a dev log covering the demo, which you'll also find in written form below.


Demo Link: https://www.indiedb.com/games/prometheuswept/downloads
Forum Link: http://timeslipsoftworks.com/forum/index.php

Can you help with feedback?
If you have time to try it out, I'd really like to hear what you think. You're welcome to reach out any way, on Kickstarter, Steam, the forums, or email. With development entering the phase of public releases, I'm going to get the Timeslip Softworks forums going again, please consider signing up if you're interested in helping with feedback and testing. Just remember to drop me a message with the email you signed up with, as I need to manually activate the accounts to stop bots flooding into the forums.

307SFlX.jpg

The disappearances of the militia and the sudden migration to Sunny Pines. All the evidence points to this individual. Be they friend or foe?

About the Demo:
The demo showcases around 50% of the first act. It's close to feature complete, with the notable exception of breaking down weapons into components. Content wise, the main questline is fairly polished, but there's not much to do outside that yet. You can expect the addition of smaller encounters and conversations to develop the world and the characters in later releases.

WTLuQHa.jpg

The player team, kitted out with self crafted body armour and helmets.

There's a scattering of weapons, items, crafting options and perks. There will be many more in the final game. I've completed multiple balancing passes and combat should be manageable on normal difficulty. Crafting and dialogue checks are less tuned, but if there's time before the Steam Festival, I'll have another look at these. I'm also in the process of negotiating more music for the game to improve the musical variety.

There were a couple of things I didn't get to, particularly improving automatic camera control, and some usability improvements, but it would be too high risk to try to deal with these now.

I look forward to hearing what you think!

All the best,
Daithi
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Messages
205
Location
Donegal, Ireland
Hi again,

The demo has been updated twice in the meantime, focusing on adding more musical variety, fixing bugs and improving usability, and is now available as part of the steam next festival. I'm running a video playthrough of the demo content on the steam page, and answering any questions about the game, if you'd like to drop in :)
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Messages
205
Location
Donegal, Ireland
Hi there,

I hope you're doing well! I've finally wrapped up “Whispers of the Old World” in which you investigate a mysterious old world bunker, and run afoul of its guardian, Hec8. Here's a brief development video covering recent work on the game, and more information can be found below.


The Mission
Whispers of the Old World is a more story focused mission, with a number of routes through a hostile environment controlled by a deranged artificial intelligence. As such, there's a ton of scripted events, and a boss fight which can be approached in a number of ways. These two factors accounted for the majority of the time spent working on the game.

bVpOpnv.png


The Boss
To defeat Hec8, you can either face it solo in cyberspace, while your allies protect you in the physical world, or overcome the automated security, and destroy the servers on which it resides. You can also opt for a simultaneous attack on both fronts. The battles on the cyberspace and physical layers are interconnected, so if you destroy a server, it affects Hec8 and any automated security, while damage to Hec8 debuffs automated security.

FxrUpHZ.png


I wanted to avoid the boss battle being determined by the character with the highest stats, so Hec8 goes through a number of phases of attack, utilising special abilities which can be countered with your own cyberspace scripts.

Script Lab
To make this work, I added an interface, much like the crafting screen, which allows you to create and upgrade cyberspace abilities using the software engineering skill. The file size of the scripts increases as you develop better versions of them, and the number of scripts you can load is determined by the amount of RAM in your data warfare suite.

MTm3zRb.png


Combat Drones
Combat Drones have been added to supplement the static defenses provided by sentry guns. These are hard hitting units, which hover, and are thus unaffected by any tile affects, such as fire.

6C1plxE.png


What's Next?
I'm currently working on the food convoy mission. This is the first mission which can be played from two sides, that is, supporting either the rebels or the militia. It's likely to take longer than a regular missions but it's unlikely to be as time consuming as Whispers of the Old World.

As always, please feel free to ask any questions, or share your thoughts on the game. Have a good day!
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Messages
205
Location
Donegal, Ireland
Hi guys, - sorry I missed your posts - gmail has gone back to moving email notifications from here into the spam box :mad:

@ Carnifex: Thanks! Sometimes I kick myself for the ambition (and the amount of time required to realize it, especially with that last mission), but hopefully it will all end up in a better game.

@ JDR13: Yeah, that last mission took absolutely ages, but I'd say there's around 4 hours of gameplay now. The plan is to release when act 1 is complete. That leaves the current mission, which is going a lot more smoothly, and the act finale, which is going to be a complicated beast. I'd be hesistant to launch without adding some more events to the town hub maps, they're too bare right now, and give off a strong empty world vibe. It's ill advised to launch too late in the year, so if I can get this all done before mid Oct, will launch then. I'd really like this to happen, but if it doesn't it'll be early next year.
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Messages
205
Location
Donegal, Ireland
Hi again!

I've wrapped up the food convoy mission, as played from the militia side. This mission puts you in charge of a small unit of Sunny Pines militia tasked with transporting a desperately needed food shipment to Sunny Pines. Below, you will find a brief summary and a dev video, should you want more details.

j0970Xoh.jpg


The Mission:
Aware of a hostile group are trying to overthrow the leadership of Sunny Pines, and running out of food, you are tasked with escorting the food convoy from Rawlston Farm to Sunny Pines. This is a combat focused mission, with three battles. The first battle introduces the vehicle escort mission type, while the latter two focus on modifying the battlefield to your advantage (through destroying bridges, placing sandbags or mines) to better defend a stationary truck from attacks.

JXteuYKh.jpg


xrjIwjZh.jpg


Early Access Release:

I've tried increasing my working hours over the past two months, to see if it would be possible to release before the end of the year. Unfortunately, no matter how many hours I throw at it, it just won't be possible. If you've been patiently waiting on the game, I'm sorry to disappoint you. My expectation is to release around Apr - May of 2024, which is further explained in the video.


Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions or comments, do let me know!

All the best,
Daithi
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Messages
205
Location
Donegal, Ireland
Hello again!

I've wrapped up the rebel side of the food convoy mission. Here, you will ambush and attempt to capture a food convoy destined for Sunny Pines. Below, you'll find the dev log in video and text format.


The Mission:
This scenario is comprised of three battles. In the first, assisted by rebels, you must halt the convoy and incapacitate as many guards as possible before it flees the map. You can carry out a variety of beneficial actions, such as chopping down a tree onto the convoy's path to occupy some of the guards in clearing it, or making caltrops to slow the truck. Any guards not incapacitated will join the defenders of the next encounter.

YhVFncp.jpg

Using Time Units to chop down a tree in the convoy's path will force some of the escorts to focus on clearing it, rather than on you.

The second battle tasks you with assaulting an entrenched enemy at the militia outpost the convoy has retreated to. You will be joined by Gordina, the awakened, old world postal robot, who is a skilled tactician and very durable, but cannot be repaired in combat. The defenders have destroyed the bridge and your options will include searching for traps, building pontoon bridges to de-risk the river crossing, and sneaking some troops across the river bed.

piLN2QU.jpg

Having an awakened old world postal robot on your side isn't going to hurt!

The militia have more firearms, but you have access to an off-map smoke launcher, which can deploy smoke at no cost, once per turn. After defeating the militia, your departure will be interrupted by a final attack, where you will lose the convoy if defeated. Failing to capture the convoy, or losing it will have a substantial impact on the act finale.

xx4HHhU.jpg

You have a number of options at your disposal to crack the militia outpost's defenses!

Additions:
From the start, I've operated on the belief that gameplay variety is one way to elevate the game experience. To facilitate continual gameplay variation, minor and major, a number of new features have been added.

The convoy type mission, which can be played as escort and ambusher is the most significant addition. These missions appear occasionally through the game, and will play a significant role in act 2. Changes to AI behaviour were required for computer controlled characters to balance maintaining a distance to the convoy and attacking.

tLilLmh.jpg

The convoy's militia are much better equipped than your rebel troops

Time Units, a resource which allows you to manipulate the battlefield in your favour were also introduced. This facilitates a series of choices, rather than a single choice, being made to shape the upcoming combat, and greatly improves tactical depth. Some of the choices available in the convoy missions include blocking the convoy with an obstruction, destroying bridges, creating them, placing sandbags, placing traps and detecting them.

There are now two ways to deploy your troops prior to combat. When you have map control, dialogue options may allow you to move your characters X number of tiles before combat begins. In cases where you lack map control, or are preparing an ambush, you can use skills to unlock new tiles to deploy to – for example, by using lockpicking to gain access to a building, you can open up more advantageous deployment slots for your troops.

mg1L6Ps.jpg


These recent additions all contribute to a deeper bag of tricks I can use to improve gameplay variety. It's a time consuming approach... hopefully the results will merit the effort :)

That's it for this dev log. I'm going to start working on the finale for act 1, and worldbuilding, and will check in again in the near future. Thanks for reading/watching, and if you have any questions or comments, do let me know!
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Messages
205
Location
Donegal, Ireland
Hey @Carnifex - sorry I missed your message. The notifications from here don't always get to my email. I'm also using the time units for actions which boost your chosen faction - you can use them to recruit members, craft items to improve faction loadout, and perform acts of sabotage on the enemy. You can also use the faction's money, which your actions throughout the act will influence to buy better equipment for them.

Here's a quick summary of some recent activities, and you can find more detail below:
  • Completed the Homestead Heights map for Sunny Pines.
  • Rebel pre-finale is virtually complete.
  • Militia pre-finale will require less work, and will be started next.
Homestead Heights Map:
I've added the last of the five districts of Sunny Pines, Homestead Heights. This is the seat of manufacturing in Sunny Pines. It houses most of the worker population and the Shaded Pine, the local pub. It's a little depopulated at the moment, but you can get the idea.
vW1gEPy.jpg


jrnA835.jpg


Pre-finales & Finales:
I've broken down the work on the act 1 finale into 4 parts. For each side, there's a pre-finale (recruitment, purchasing/crafting faction, sabotage) and a finale, where the fighting plays out.
pK8ZCpv.jpg


I'm on the cusp of completing the rebel pre-finale. Just one act of sabotage is left to be scripted. The militia pre-finale will be quicker to complete as much of the code to interact with the faction (equipment, troops) is already in place. After that, work will begin on the finales, which will be 3-5 large scale battles for control of Sunny Pines.

Prometheus Wept Coverage:
I missed the coverage of Prometheus Wept by let's players Wee Hours Games and Vlodril at the time, but have since caught up on it. If you like more chilled let's players, they're good ones to check out.


Developing Prometheus Wept the way I envisioned it has proved more difficult and time consuming than imagined, so thank you for all your patience and support. There are times in development when the hill feels more steep and the rock, heavier, but that's a passing thing. Thankfully, an early access release, which will be great for motivation, isn't too far away.

Development will slow down, but not stop over Christmas, and I'll check in again around the end of January. On that note, I'd like to wish you a nice time over the Christmas holiday :)

All the best,
Daithi
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Messages
205
Location
Donegal, Ireland
TLDR: The militia pre-finale is complete, and includes an optional combat mission which takes place on a new map, against new enemies. You can wishlist or find out more about Prometheus Wept on Steam.


Hello, and welcome to the January dev log for Prometheus Wept. I've wrapped up the militia pre-finale, where you will prime Sunny Pine's militia for confrontation with the rebels. This includes improving the militia's equipment through trade and crafting, recruiting new members, improving morale.

dupg0As.jpg

In the militia pre-finale, you must decide how to best allocate your faction's cash and time.

You can also attempt to convince the mayor to print extra currency to be used in the war effort, or follow up on intel received about a rebels arms deal, in an optional combat-focused encounter. Doing so will briefly bring you in contact with one of the main factions of act 2. Each faction has preferences for the weapons they use, so there is an opportunity to get your hands on some new items here.

zcCfMeK.jpg

Attack, approach, sneak or observe. The choice is yours.

This encounter required a new map, which has been completed and is the final map for act 1. There are a number of options for handling the encounter, such as observing the group, approaching them, or attacking. If you approach them, you will discover that their goal is to deliver a crate of merchandise to you, which raises further questions on what exactly is going on.

MSob2rM.jpg


Up Next: Militia Finale & Minor encounters
Moving on to what's coming next. The focus for the next number of weeks will be two-fold. Firstly, I'll be working on the series of combat focused encounters which make up the militia finale. It's a fairly big piece of work, likely in the ballpark of 6 weeks. Second, I'm going to start addressing what I see as Prometheus Wept's biggest current weakness, namely, a lack of things to do outside the main questline. The goal here isn't to add large side-quests, but rather to focus on getting a decent number of smaller encounters, which breathes life into the world, and develops the characters.

That's it for now, thank you for watching/reading. I'll check back in next month, and if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, I'd be happy to hear from you!
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Messages
205
Location
Donegal, Ireland
Back
Top Bottom