Short development update for Seven Dragon Saga written by David Shelley:

RPGs and their words

We continue to move ahead on Seven Dragon Saga, working on different aspects of skill use in the wilderness and tactical maps. Doing a review of the magic system, and laying out enchantments to compliment.

I’ve been playing a bit of the Torment: Tides of Numenera beta, a game boasting a million plus words, and since they have had a lot of experienced writers involved, we can expect quality words. At more than twice the length of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, that is an impressive volume. I’m not far in, but I can already say that Torment will not be providing the same experience as a good novel, no matter how much I end up enjoying the game. Games are different animals, and use words in different ways.

Torment provides the player a character with a specific background, along with the a variant of temporary amnesia, plus a number of companions, many of whom knew a facet of the character from before the start of the game. The gimmicks provide the companions with plenty of specific things to say right from the start. The companions have internal moral rules, allowing them to react to the protagonist, based on player choice. They will undoubtedly leave, if the player offends them too much. I suspect there will be romantic options, though it is hard to say in the early portion of the game.

The game is rich in objects simply laying around, with rich descriptions and interaction options. And it appears the player will spend time inside the mind of the protagonist, possibly in cases of death, or similar events. Add in important NPCs and quests, and one can begin to see how Torment is likely to distribute its text. The experience appears to be one of exploration, of the world, and of the protagonist. Exploration is important in 7DS as well, but more oriented around the wilderness, and hidden tactical areas.

Seven Dragon Saga will not have as extensive a word count, as we allow the player to create their entire party, and use our Goals system to create backgrounds and personalities for all the members. The party should have a bit of chatter, and bring color to the individuals, but we have no plans for any player characters to leave the party in disgust, or profess love to another. Since 7DS has a focus on manipulating factions, much of our text is reserved for key NPCs, who have to react to the different choices the player makes. Each game seeks its own balance of story, action, exploration and advancement, and the industry is stronger for it.

Thanks daveyd!

TSI games have come out with a new update about Seven Dragon Saga. This time they talk about there world map goals.

The art team is beginning to shape the strategic map of the Firewind Coast, the setting for our first Seven Dragon Saga game. The water level is laid in, but not colored, and the rest of the color is just blocked in, but you should be able to see where we are headed. Harsh mountains, deadly badlands to the east, and sinister swamps to the far north will provide plenty of areas for exploration.

The lands are several hundred miles east to west, so there are plenty of places to discover ruins, stumble upon dangerous monsters, and uncover artifacts of power. Skills determine what you can discover, and how much effort it is to travel. Players can camp to rest and recover.

The game begins around the large bay in the north, the country of Aphelon, populated by the part draconic Feydri. They had belonged to a much larger, united kingdom, stretching well to the east, but their cousins, the Drakyri offended the dragons and paid the price. Now the mountains are awash in monsters, bandits and rebels, and the farther east is a parched badland, full of melted ruins, and shattered cities. The Drakyri themselves, cling to life deep underground, away from the keen sight and long memories of the dragons.

As we want exploration to be a big part of the game experience, it's exciting to see the land come to life. The engineers are already working on the underpinnings, so it will be great to see the work of the two departments come together. Should be a great year for Seven Dragon Saga.

At TSI they have been working on Seven Dragon Saga look and feel. As such they have some prototype ui elements and a look at a town environment complete with 3d camera.

We've been chattering about the re-release of some of our old SSI games, so we thought we'd show you some current images of Seven Dragon Saga, the new one we've been grinding on. As you can see above, the environments have significantly improved. The player can rotate and zoom the camera, so they can get a good feel of the world, spot NPCs, and enemies, and plan their missions. We use real time lighting, so the shadows are dynamic, and we can shift from day to night without issue.

Along the bottom of the screen is our main user interface, sans final icons. Each diamond would represent a possible action, color coded by the size of the action (characters get one big, one medium and one small action each turn.) Hover over an icon and it will describe the skill. The sword and shield icon allows for changing weapon sets, such as dual blades to a bow.These depict the rebellious and ungoverned Mann Highlands, east of the Feydri Homeland. Home to bandits, rebels, and the dangerous Slyth. These worn buildings were part of the greater Drakyi kingdom in the days before the dragons turned their greatest cities to glass, and drove them beneath the ground. The Empress and even the Feydri Queen have little sway here. You will have to survive on your wits and strength of arms.

In the lower left, we have a combat log, so players can review their results. Players can resize the panel to meet their needs, minimizing it if they don't care.

The Seven Dragon Saga team has come out with another update.

Concept image of Goals interface(repeated placeholder text)

Hello all! Lately the design team has been focusing on ways to imbue player made characters with personality, beyond their base stats and skills. Traditionally, most party based cRPG's either allow players to create custom characters that are little more than walking stat sheets, or they provide the player with pre made characters with rich back stories at the cost of player agency.

7DS takes a hybrid approach, by allowing players to create a party of custom characters with unique personalities which participate in the game's narrative elements by using our goals system.

During character creation, players answer a short series of questions, like the one above, to create a personality profile for the character along with their race, class, and specialization. Based on those answers, the character gains one of 13 goals.

A character's goal awards bonus experience to that character when the player solves quests in a manner aligned with it. We also use goals to create conversations between characters. For example, a character with the Acclaim (seeking fame) goal, may chide a Compassion (helping others) focused character on how they try to help people, but always forget to trumpet the fact. The Compassion character could push back, about how being helpful is an end in itself, and worrying about what others think is stupid.

The game also tracks when events occur, and overall ratings of how the party solves issues. So, if the game recognizes that the player likes to slaughter his way out of problems, a character with the Sanctity goal (respect for all religions), might commiserate with the Compassion character on how their views are not being heard.

As the project progresses we'll be adding more depth to this system to enhance the characters personalities and provide more feedback to the player including camp events and romance options.

Folks at the office have snapped up the new official D&D cRPG, Sword Coast Legends, and ploughed a few hours into it. Nice to see more official games coming out. What do others think of it?

 

David Shelley - Lead Designer

 

Over at TSI Games work on the combat prototype is coming along.

The art team continues to move ahead. We have a white box version of our first environment in the prototype, and people are having fun using leap to bounce up to the tops of the lower towers. From there, they get the height advantage to shoot the Slyth and dark wizards patrolling below. We have the hooks in for dynamic lighting, but haven't started experimenting with setting different times of day.

Lee also passed on the current user interface pieces to Sebastian, and he's starting to overlay them onto the screen. So the blocky programmer art buttons dotting the screen should be gone, and we'll move a step closer to having the prototype look and feel more like the combat portion of Seven Dragon Saga.

Edwin and David are exploring the different ways players can complete the game. Noisy discussions on whether to have an ‘evil' ending, where the party switches sides, and wins one for the Dark Gods. On the one hand, it provides for more freedom of play. On the other hand, it's not heroic, and we're not quite sure how triumpful players would feel. If any of you would like to chime in on this, feel free to post comments on one of our social media pages.

Paul is taking another pass at the Borderlands concept, where the party can seize control of regions of the strategic map, and give them to factions they want to strengthen. The player can then convert them to Settled Lands by pacifying the area. This unlocks merchants who sell unique items, and safe resting areas. Still a lot of work to keep this mechanic fresh, and providing the proper level of reward.

- David Shelley, Lead Designer, Seven Dragon Saga

A development update from TSI Games:

Seven Dragon Saga moving ahead

Meet the Slyth Warden, one of the many dragonkin who vie for dominance in the mountains of the Firewind Coast. Suspicious of the empire, they are likely enemies, but with the right inducements, they could be powerful allies. It’s all a matter of player choice, as they adventure deep into the Drakelands, in service to their emperor.

We are proceeding along developing different elements of the game. In Engineering, we’ve been running various elements of combat and movement through prototyping. Checking out how best to implement multiple targets, area of effect attacks, and persistent things like zones. On the movement side, Seven Dragon Saga has a number of methods to move, and we want them to feel different and work clearly. Mystic Leap allows characters to leap up onto areas others can’t, and gain height advantage. Special thanks to junior engineer Sebastian for taking point on the prototype process.

Up next is how best for the game to recognize cover, then determine if it is half or full, and convey this in an intelligent manner to the players. Then there are Attacks of Opportunity and the Retaliate ability to work out. Lots of little details where frequent prototype iterations works wonders.

In design, we are creating flow charts for story progression, depending on which factions the player is aiding, and which he’s harming. David Shelley pushes a strategic vision, while Edwin McRae drives things from an NPC and story arc viewpoint. This all feeds into the locations we need, and hence the environmental art required.

In systems, Paul Murray and David Shelley are running through a first draft of the various crafting methods, beginning with Alchemy. Again, this affects other elements, such as the skills system, and especially the economy (meaning what players find as loot, as well as, in stores). While single player game economics has a bit more slop allowed than in multi-player games, we still need valuable items to feel valuable and achievable.  All the glittery things scattered on the ground after battle should have some meaning.

The art team is busy as ever, since we revamped under our new art director, Lee Dotson. The animation and rigging team is moving from player characters to the first batch of enemies. The new environments are moving from concept to implementation. And we’ve squeezed in a revision to our main user interface — with much discussion with the designers over what the scribbled wireframes really mean for functionality. Meetings can be noisy, but very positive.

David Shelley

TSI Games have an update available for Seven Dragon Saga, showing artwork for some of the Dragonkin and providing some information on them.

The world of Seven Dragon Saga is populated with a wide variety of beings; humans, humanoids, monsters, dragons and many strange creatures that defy categorization.  For instance, the Firewind Coast is noted for its dragonkin.

Dragonkin is a broad term that covers any living creature that has some proportion of dragon blood flowing in its veins.  Dragons are highly inquisitive beings, driven by brilliant intellect and strong passions.  They love to use their shapeshifting powers to mingle and breed with the humans, humanoids and beasts of the Firewind Coast.  As a result, they have spawned many a unique and often bizarre breed of creature.  Two such monstrous dragonkin are the Drakes and the Wyrms.  Drakes are airborne whilst Wyrms are earthbound, yet their individual strengths and weaknesses can vary dramatically depending on the concentration of dragon blood in their veins.

Another blog update for Seven Dragon Saga was released this week from Tactical Simulations Interactive that continues the last update, but focuses on story telling.

What follows is the Narrative Design method that I aim to apply to Seven Dragon Saga, and every other RPG I work on for that matter.

In a nutshell, Jigsaw Storytelling involves the baking of lots of little narrative goodies that a player ‘consumes and digests’ in any order.  In this way, we whet the players appetite for story without cramming it down their throats in ‘storytelling sessions’…like this.

Yes, we’re throwing traditional plot structure out the window.  No ‘Hero’s Journeys’ here!  What we get in return is a ‘Story Experience’ rather than a ‘Story Telling’.

Tactical Simulations Interactive posted a new blog entry about Plot vs. Narrative.

The word ‘story’ can be very misleading when it comes to designing RPGs.  It’s often confused with the word ‘Plot’.

Plot = “the main events of a play, novel, film, or similar work, devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence.”

Plot is basically…this happens, and then this happens because that happened, and now this is happening because those other two things happened, one after the other…and so on!

But what’s the ‘story’ when we mess with the sequence like we can do in RPGs. What occurs when you can experience the events in any order you wish?

TSI sent the first  post-kickstarter update to subscribers of their newsletter. It had information of a new development post from Narrative Designer Edwin McRae.

Less than 24 hours have passed since we made the difficult decision to cancel the Kickstarter campaign. Emails and comments have been coming in acknowledging it was a tough choice, but expressing a tremendous amount of confidence and support for TSI. The response to our overall design choices has been really encouraging and reinforces our belief that we’re building something worthwhile.  As we informed our backers, we remain committed to Seven Dragon Saga and will be making regular updates on our website.

Edwin McRae, our Narrative Designer, has already posted a few thoughts on “How to get Players to Roleplay”

As we forge ahead, expect us to talk more about RPG’s, our approach, and how we plan to create a great game that resonates with our fanbase.

In the next and final kickstarter update for Seven Dragon Saga Tactical Simulations Interactive says they have cancelled the campaign to relaunch again at a later date.

We’re postponing our Kickstarter campaign. No, TSI is NOT giving up on Seven Dragon Saga! Quite the contrary. We’ve done some serious reflection and come to the conclusion that we can’t create the level of RPG today that we know we’ll be able to create tomorrow. 

Given its heritage, SDS needs to set a new standard for the RPG genre. Not a style over substance’ AAA standard. A standard that delivers a fresh, compelling and truly satisfying RPG experience. SDS deserves no less. And that goes for you too, our wonderful, loyal supporters. 

We launched this campaign at "veteran difficulty" (what some call "a high funding goal") because wanted to be sure that we would do SDS justice. We knew there would be a lot of you that remembered the classics or would appreciate our efforts to build a fresh RPG, but we underestimated how much new content we'd need to show in the middle of the campaign to engage people that were less familiar with the older games. 

We'd thought we could talk about core mechanics when it is clear that you want to actually see those mechanics in action. We need to show off more than we had ready right now. There came a point where it became more tell than show. 

We've had incredibly positive results from this Kickstarter. The press awareness, fan response, and community feedback has been tremendous. We're taking that feedback and what we've learned to refine our work further. We'll be coming back as soon as humanly possible, with a better, more refined Kickstarter, and some code you'll actually be able to play, along with killer videos and artwork. 

Once again, we are extremely grateful for all of your encouragement and support. We will continue to follow our progress by signing up for our newsletter on our website: http://www.tsi-games.com/ and by following us on social media. This way, you can hear about our Kickstarter re-launch when it happens. And it WILL happen!

Paul Murray of Tactical Simulations Interactive talks about how the action system of
Seven Dragon Saga works in the games latest kickstarter update this week.

 The Action System

In case you haven’t already, we invite you to sign up for the TSI newsletter on our website to learn more about the team’s history at SSI and receive all the latest information about Seven Dragon Saga: http://www.tsi-games.com/

 Paul Murray on how actions work in combat

A lot of combat in games involves what you allow the characters to do each turn. There are various ways to restrict this: from the simple, “one move, one attack”, to the action points systems where everything has a cost. In Seven Dragon Saga we chose a flexible middle ground. One move, one attack, provides minimal choice for the player, while an action point system tends to favor a more static battle -- most players choose to use points to attack as often as possible, sacrificing movement.

Each turn, the character has three actions of differing size: Unique (most attacks), Standard (most movements), and Minor (quick spells and abilities). The player may substitute a smaller action for a bigger one, so a Turn could consist of two Standards and a Minor, or three Minors.

Here is the next update from Tactical Simulations Interactive with information about character goals, and they reposed the link from yesterday since it was garbled.

 Repost of Specialty Details

We’ve passed $100K heading into the weekend! 

A glitch ate our formatting in the previous post, so we posted it again on our website. http://www.tsi-games.com/details-on-specialties/

David Shelley, details on Goals

During character creation, the game asks three questions about personal motivation, and then asks the player to select a final Goal. Goals are part of the character advancement, but also method to give each character a bit more personality than a pool of abilities. Even a poorly chosen goal will not cripple a character, so the choice shouldn't be high stakes. 

The first question derives from the Race of the character, asking about her youth. The second comes from the Class selected, and the third from the Specialty. Together they provide an abbreviated background for that character. 

We have over a dozen Goals charted out, but expect to tweak this as we layout the different quests. Our plan is for players to get equal opportunities to choose each Goal, and that no Goal gets allied only to ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ solutions to quests. 

So at creation, the player must decide how he will apportion the Goals. Will she strive to match all the characters’ Goal as closely as possible? If so, then when she reaches a solution to a quest that matches, all the characters benefit. But the long term consequences might not be what the player wishes. Also no quest has possible solutions which match every Goal, So a narrow selection of Goal removes the possibility of rewards in the majority of quests.

It has now been two weeks since the Seven Dragon Saga kickstarter has launched, and the game has barely made $98,329 of the games $450,000 goal.

Anyway here is the next update from Lead Designer David Shelley.

Welcome to week two of the campaign. We’re taking all your comments seriously, and looking at ways to improve the campaign, based on your feedback. We really appreciate your dedication!

Where Race give shape to the character, innate toughness, mobility, senses, and link to the mystical; and Class defined the character’s core features; Specialty gives it a final direction. Experimenting with the three pieces is quick and fun, and generates interesting synergies. Here is an overview of the Specialties.

TSI posted another update for Seven Dragon Saga with some new  backers tiers to help fund the game, and David Shelley shares more details about Classes.

 New Tiers, info on Classes

We are seven days into the campaign, and we've had a great deal of support come in from fans as well as industry veterans that believe in our work, and thought we’d share another great example, this one from someone you'll likely recognize if you enjoyed the recent Civilization games:

“I have great memories of playing the Gold Box games on my Amiga while growing up. I loved the mixture of tactical combat, D&D party building, and a strong narrative. I'm looking forward to TSI's work continuing in that spirit.” Soren Johnson, Co-founder, CEO, Creative Director - Mohawk Games (Offworld Trading Company)

New Tiers!

Backers who pledge at the Immortal Bard level ($500) or higher can contact us after the campaign and substitute physical versions of the digital rewards (game box, etc.). We’re sorry this was not made clear before now.

We’ve added a couple new tiers

1. Hall of Fallen Heroes. $250, hidden in ancient ruins, this great hall, full of heroic statues, includes a roll call of ancient greats, including your name.
2. Immortal Visage. $350, Send us a picture of yourself and we will adapt the portrait of an NPC in the game to resemble you.

Well another day and we have another kickstarter update from TSI. This time Paul Murray talks about combat, and  David Shelley adds a bit of information as well.

Paul Murray, Systems Designer, On Tactical Combat  

Ever since my earliest days at SSI with games like Wizards Crown, I've sought to make party composition matter. With SDS I'm working to achieve that in a couple of different ways. First, the ability systems allows players to create a wide variety of characters, providing the option of creating specialists, such as front line warriors, or creating generalists who can deal with more situation. Allowing players to choose and experiment with character types, party composition and tactical strategies is a key goal. In addition, we're working on bringing tactical options to the environment, and enemy AI. 

David Shelley, Lead Designer, Follow up to Paul  

Just some quick additional notes. Some of the features Paul talks about in reference to tactical combat, also apply to exploration of the zones. While we will see that no specific movement or other ability is required to complete key quests, we will look to using the terrain and mobility options to provide benefits for those who have characters with the special movements, have useful skills, or simply like to poke into unusual places.  

Also, we are looking at ways to alter a given zone in a strategic manner. For instance, the party might anger an earth spirit, who then causes an entire underground region to erupt to the surface, collapsing some areas and making it into a jumbled maze. The more options we can provide the players to make a real impact, the happier we will be.

TSI released the seventh kickstarter update today for Seven Dragon Saga with more information on the games magic system with Lead Designer David Shelley.

Magic and More

Backers continue to arrive and our totals are climbing. Keep putting out the word! Our Lead Designer has a piece discussing some of the details of the Magic System for SDS.

David Shelley, The Elements of Magic

Characters start with magic by selecting the Wizard Class, or one of the elemental Specialties. Spells each belong to one of the elements, and have a level from one to four. Each character starts with some spells of the levels they can cast, and can find additional spells while adventuring.  

There are several types of magic in the world, but only the Touched (the player characters) can draw from the energies of Chaos, with its power and instability. We can talk about the sorts of magic which enemies and allies may use at a later time.   

As for funding the game has made $75,023 of $450,000 goal.

TSI released the sixth kickstarter update for Seven Dragon Saga with more information on classes & races from Edwin McRae & David Shelley. The game is now 15% funded. 

 More on Classes and Races

Congratulations, we have filled in the first side of a six sided die -- we have passed 15% of our goal!

Edwin McRae, Narrative Designer, on the Kralik Pitfighter

In the damp forests and jagged valleys of Kralik, the tribes have always fought and bled for survival and the approval of their War Gods. It's said that Kralik children are born with a blade in their hand and that they thirst not for their mother's milk, but for blood and glory! And legends have it that those favoured by the wild Kralik gods can see as keenly as the jungle hawk, move as subtly as the black panther, and sense danger as acutely as the most skittish shadow monkeys.

Whether there is more than an ounce truth to these tales or not, it matters little. The proof is in the witnessing. By their thirteenth year, most Kralik men and women have taken a life in battle. And should they live to their thirtieth year (and few do), a Kralik is truly a martial force to be feared! 

Hence they make such superb candidates for the fighting pits of the capital. And what better manner in which to reveal those ferocious Kralik warriors that have been 'touched' by the forces of chaos. What better way to ensure that our Emperor is gifted only the finest of killers? -

Tatzuki, Chronicler of the Empire

David Shelley, Lead Designer, on Races

Our Lead Designer has written up a piece about the technical details of the races of Seven Dragon Saga, to compliment our Narrative Designer's Lore on the Karlik and the Pitfighter.

Tactical Simulations Interactive posted two more kickstarter updates today for Seven Dragon Saga. As for funding the game has now made $61,808 of the $450,000 goal.

Here are the new updates.

Another milestone... Two in one day! We've surpassed 1,000 backers!

A big thanks to our friends at Richard Garriott's Portalarium. As you are aware, they invited us to participate in a cross promotion for an in-game item- The DragonShroud Blade.

Who says no to Lord British??? They've been extremely supportive of our work and have also sent out news of our campaign in this weeks Shroud of the Avatar Update. As for what we'll be including in their game, well, we're going to keep that as a surprise for now.

For an upcoming update, we're compiling your questions and David Shelley will be sharing details about character creation in the game. There are exciting times ahead as we welcome new backers. We continue to rely on you, our fans, to promote Seven Dragon Saga and humbly acknowledge all your support. We all want this to be a success and the type of adventure you want to play!

David Shelley, Lead Designer on Character Creation

You may have have noticed some bits on character creation in the KS video, and I wanted to expand on some aspects. At its heart, SDS is a points based system with about 80 abilities each having ranks and costs. To create a character, players choose a Race, a Class and a Specialty. Each of these is a container of abilities, with each Class containing the same number of points as each other Class.

Tactical Simulations Interactive posted the third kickstarter update for Seven Dragon Saga with news the game is now 10% funded with thirty one days left.

Tactical Simulations Interactive posted the second kickstarter update for Seven Dragon Saga with news about the second day. The game has managed to earn $38,791.

Hello and thanks for a second day of our Kickstarter for Seven Dragon Saga. Your support is appreciated greatly, and we hope you will continue to spread the word with friends, family and in online communities. 

Back in the day, anyone that played computer games knew SSI (or Strategic Simulations Inc. for those that don't remember). And when we say "back in the day" - we're talking C-64/128, Apple II, Atari 800/ST, Amiga, and the MS-DOS era of the PC. In those days, SSI was born out of a love of strategy and RPG PnP/board games and was responsible for games like: Wizard’s Crown, Phantasie, and Questron before winning the Dungeons and Dragons license against heavyweights such as: EA, Sierra, and Origin. They went on to publish titles across multiple settings: The Forgotten Realms, The Dragonlance series in Mystara, Dark Sun, and Ravenloft. Today, fanboys and industry veterans alike were shaped by those early classics. Members of the Seven Dragon Saga team are proud to have helped craft those amazing games, and we're really excited to bring back that era of RPG goodness beginning with Seven Dragon Saga.

Tactical Simulations Interactive posted the first kickstarter update for Seven Dragon Saga with news about the first day. The game has managed to earn $20,319.

Launch day is becoming launch night and we could not be more thankful for this tremendous show of support. What you all have demonstrated is a clear demand for quality, fun experiences and with your help that's exactly what we'll deliver for Seven Dragon Saga!

We've received some excellent questions over the last few hours and here are our answers to some of the most common questions thus far-

• Yes: we plan to add support for other languages, the exact mix is still under discussion, so we’ll be monitoring the backers to see where demand is greatest. 
•  Yes: We plan to release the game for PC/Mac/Linux (Steam and DRM free) 
• Pricing. A few people inquired about our decision to price the game for $25, which is tied to the larger number of hours of gameplay we plan to deliver! Much like the Gold Box games of yore.

Though we accomplished a great deal today, the Kickstarter marathon has just begun. So we ask that you continue to share this project with your friends and colleagues, send us questions and post your feedback. With all of that and your support, we're sure to create a role-playing adventure you will love to play. 

 Over the next weeks we will be providing a steady stream of design explanations. We allude to many design choices on our page, but the limited space prevents us from fleshing out the details. Keep letting us know what features excite you the most, or that you’d like more information on.

After a few technical problems TSI have also launched their kickstarter today for Seven Dragon Saga asking for a large amount of $450,000 to fund the game.

Seven Dragon Saga, the epic RPG debut title from Tactical Simulations Interactive formed by SSI alumni.

The Empire's Elite

The Touched, chosen elite of the emperor, able to wield powers of Chaos both awesome and terrifying. A band of six martial specialists charged with removing the greatest threats to the empire from even the farthest flung corners of the known world.

How they choose to remove these threats is up to you!

Seven Dragon Saga. It's been far too long since you played an RPG like this!  

A six-character party of heroines and heroes of your design, under your complete control.  

An empire that exists to unify and defend civilization against the primeval forces that seek to destroy it.  

A breed of adventurer, The 'Chaos' Touched, who exist to ensure the survival of the empire by any means necessary.  

The power to change the world!

In this first installment of Seven Dragon Saga you shape the wild and dangerous Drakelands with your choices. Impress with noble deeds. Coerce with threats and violence. Or simply lay waste to the empire's enemies without mercy or regret.  

Tactical, turn-based combat.  

A dramatic central storyline to follow with side quests and explorations aplenty.  

Wilderness and ruins.  

Savage clans and diabolical beasts.  

Swords and sorcery and secrets.  

Seven Dragon Saga, an empire of RPG immersion.

Tactical Simulations Interactive announced today on Twitter they will be launching their new kickstarter for Seven Dragon Saga this Wednesday March 11th.

Gold Box fans rejoice! TSI is launching our Kickstarter this Wednesday, March 11th. Show support for our RPG: Seven Dragon Saga!

So look forward to more information later this week.

Tactical Simulations Interactive posted a new update on Facebook with a link to a new article about  the developers new cross-game import/export gateway syatem.

This is the type of thing we've been dying to share with community. TSI can finally talk about our "Gateway" initiative kicking off with inXile and HBS: http://venturebeat.com/…/ex-ssi-gold-box-devs-go-back-to-t…/

Tactical Simulations Interactive announced a new system called the "Gateway" that will allow players to transfer different characters across different RPGs.

TSI Partners with RPG Developers in Cross-Game Character Import/Export Initiative

RPG players will be able to transfer characters between RPGs via Tactical Simulations Interactive's "Gateway" initiative - First games include Shadowrun:Hong Kong and Torment: Tides of Numenera

March 2, 2015 - Los Angeles - Tactical Simulations Interactive (TSI) today unveiled "Gateway" – a system that allows players to transfer their favorite characters across supported RPGs. The initiative will be rolled out in TSI’s debut title, Seven Dragon Saga – an original fantasy RPG for PC, Mac and Linux, based upon an original pen and paper role-playing system designed by former Strategic Simulations Interactive (SSI) alumni Keith Brors and David Shelley. Developers inXile and Harebrained Schemes have also announced support for Gateway, with more set to sign on in the coming months.

With Gateway, TSI is inviting RPG developers to take part in an initiative that hearkens back to the days of classic RPGs like The Bard’s Tale, Ultima and Wizardry - a time when players could fully transfer their characters and parties into different games, without having to create them from scratch for each game. 

"Gateway goes beyond being an import/export feature - it represents a development philosophy that I enthusiastically endorse. By proposing and developing a data standard for game characters, TSI is establishing a stepping stone for independent CRPG developers to collaborate and share content and expertise. It is very much in the spirit of crowd funding and independent game development. As a fan of SSI's titles, I'm thrilled at their return through Seven Dragon Saga and am excited they are spearheading this initiative through Gateway,” said Kevin Saunders, Project Director, Torment: Tides of Numenera - inXile. 

"I think there are a lot of gamers out there who've put a lot of time and effort into building their RPG characters and would love Gateway's export so they can continue their relationship," said Mitch Gitelman, Co-Founder, Studio Manager - Harebrained Schemes.

“We are really excited about the initial reaction to Gateway from the development community and, as gamers ourselves, we love the idea of carrying across our characters and adventuring parties into different RPGs," said David Shelley, Producer/Lead Designer, Seven Dragon Saga. "From a technical standpoint, we are proposing an independent app that avoids any issues with an existing game's user interface and makes it a quick process for developers to add to their games."

Thanks to Gamebanshee I have new information to share from Tactical Simulations Interactive who sent out a newsletter about the history of the games setting.

Few written records predate the founding of the Empire of the Seven Dragons, and the crowing of Emperor Sithu I. So it falls to the Chanters of the Court to retain and tell the stories of the founding of the world, and the precarious victory over the great enemy, the Malloi.

It was this victory which led the Seven Dragons of Heaven to descend and anoint the seven founding Houses as the eventual rulers and guardians of the entire world. This duty has come down through the thousand years of the Imperial dynasty, and rests upon the hearts of every citizen of the Empire.

The Chanters of the Court commune with the ancestral souls, and help provide the Emperor with their accumulated wisdom. It is through the memories of such ancient spirits that modern men understand the origins of this world.

Over five thousand years ago, this world (along with many others) formed. Created like froth from a stormy sea of Chaos itself. Within this celestial sphere rose five groups.

TSI Games posted a new update on Facebook with information on the goal system. If you are a member of the Seven Dragon Saga website you can view it there also.

As Paul touched on in his recent review, Seven Dragon Saga allows players to create their entire six man party. We chose this to give the player far more control over how they balance their party, and creatively build their team without the pressure to drag an NPC specialist with them that they are not fond of. However, we also intend to take some steps to give personality to the individual characters, preventing them from becoming simply “Thief toolbox” and “High damage dealer”.

Our first effort to make the characters feel unique is the Race, Class, Specialty selection system, which provides distinctive weapon and ability optimizations. These choices create different looks and different feels in combat. At this stage of development, we are taking rough cuts at keeping the choices both distinct and balanced. Each ability has its own point cost, and we have to watch for combinations which might provide too much synergy.

As the player creates each character, the game prompts them to choose a Goal for that character. Goals then provide the natural inclination and motivating force for that character. During play, various quests will allow multiple methods for successful completion. However, if the player chooses a solution which matches the Goal of one or more characters, those characters gain rewards such as bonus build points – used to improve and customize that character.

TSI Games posted a new update on Facebook with information on what the developer has been up-to, and introduces us to Paul Murray the team's Systems Designer.

Since we last gave an update, we've made design changes to our art style and achieved some terrific progress.

Paul Murray is our team's Systems Designer, focused on the algorithms to make the world balanced and tactical combat challenging. He was the first engineer at SSI in the early 80s and stayed with that company well into the 90s finishing up with the extremely successful Panzer General series. We asked Paul to comment on some recent games, to help give our fans some insight in what he seeks out in play and, by extension, what items he will emphasize in Seven Dragon Saga.

TSI Games shared news on Twitter the Kickstarter for Seven Dragon Saga will be delayed to next year.Well I can wait, and I'm very interested in the game.

Exciting new developments for Seven Dragon Saga. The planned Kickstarter is being moved until next year as a result. All positive stuff!

I was sent a link to new interview for TSI Games new RPG Seven Dragon Saga being hosted on the RPG Codex. So go ahead and read it if you dare.

​There were early speculations of Seven Dragon Saga becoming another crowdfunded title, but you recently confirmed that the game will be publisher/investor-backed. Could you provide any details about the financial workings? For instance, what kind of budget will you be working with – something like the average Kickstarter? Also, could this partnership exclude a DRM-free distribution option?

Until recently we wished to keep our options open between the two models, but now we have chosen to go the crowdfunding route, seeking funds similar in scale to comparable titles. We definitely intend to be DRM-free on release.​

Birthed from the concept of “stretch-goals” in crowdfunding campaigns, many recent or upcoming RPGs feature guest writers, artists and musicians. With Unity in mind, there has also been some sharing of tech solutions (rendering, conversation systems, et cetera) and other collaborative efforts between studios. Are these types of guest appearances and collaborations anything you would be open to, even though you've decided on not crowdfunding?

We welcome opportunities for feature guests to act as collaborators, though we have no specifics to announce at this time. When key personnel have a previous relationship from working closely together on past projects, such as inXile and Obsidian, there's a connection both with the people and the IP. That allows for a closer collaboration between different studios. In our case, we're fortunate to have our peers provide a great deal of support around our efforts. ​

Developers seem very optimistic when it comes to their development time and milestones. InXile said Wasteland 2 would be done in one-and-a-half years, but it took them an additional year to wrap up the release candidate. You've said that you want to see Seven Dragon Saga in the first quarter of 2016. Do you think that's enough time to create a complex RPG – one like Seven Dragon Saga?

We don't have a hard deadline we have to hit. Obviously, things changes during game development and what's important is shipping a product that everybody can be proud of. Like any other project we do have to work within the constraints of our production budget. When you look at something like Wasteland 2 or Pillars of Eternity there's the base game and then you factor in stretch goals and the final working budget. What everybody really wants is to ship a game when it is ready.​

Where do you see TSI heading after Seven Dragon Saga? Will you continue to feed the old-school nostalgiacs and deliver more GoldBox throwbacks? What are your hopes for the company, games, and market?

We love the Gold Box games and we're inspired by all the support we've received since forming the company. Big publishers had shied away from making these types of games but we know there's an audience. Right now we're definitely focused on creating RPG's that allow you to PLAY YOUR WAY. That means allowing full customization and control over the party and tailoring things to your style of play. Ultimately, we'd like to do a blend of original and licensed IP. Game development today shouldn't be done in isolation away from the community. Going forward, we'll be able to engage our audience to shape the direction of our work and with the proper level of support we'll be able to do it for years to come.​

Matt Barton interviews David Shelley, and Laura Bowen about their new game Seven Dragon Saga. He also has news about his upcoming Gold Box Special episode.

The Gold Box games are making a comeback--at least, if David Shelley, Laura Bowen, and other SSI veterans have their way. Their company, TSI, will soon be launching a Kickstarter to fund their "Seven Dragon Saga," a martial arts themed CRPG with good ol' turn-based combat. In this interview, Dave and Laura discuss and answer questions about the game. I end by quizzing these masters on their own games (thanks to a trivia card I found in my Pools of Darkness box!)

Kotaku has a new interview with TSI's David Shelley. It seems Seven Dragon Saga will not be crowd-funded, and has a release date of sometime in 2016.

TSI’s President David Klein reached out to Shelley when he was founding the company, hoping to bring on board established RPG talent to make something new. “I was really encouraged by the success of some of the great games that are getting made...the times have changed a little bit, right?” he says. “There are opportunities for digital distribution, there’s some terrific middleware that allows you to take an engine off the shelf–things that weren’t present even five years ago.”

It’s these changes that have enabled the return of the CRPG: digital distribution, crowd-funding, tools, the diminishing importance of publishers when it comes to getting a game in people’s hands. Seven Dragon Saga isn’t going the crowdfunding route, but it will doubtless benefit from the revitalising effect that games like Wasteland 2 and Divinity: Original Sin are having on the old-school role-playing game. But given that both those games were crowd-funded, I wonder whether the audience for the CRPG is almost entirely people who played things like Baldur’s Gate or the old Dungeons and Dragons games 20 or even 30 years ago, and who miss them. Are modern CRPGs bringing in a new, younger audience, too?

“I think it’s a combination of both,” Shelley reckons. “If people’s first experiences were with the classic games they’re certainly going think of a lot of the aspects of them in a positive light. At the same time, with the advent of the new technologies and new distributions, it’s easier to put something in the same style out again and bring it forward to a new generation. Obviously, art cost has somewhat gone up from the little pixel-pushing days, but it gives us a chance to create much better experiences. We don’t have the memory limitations that we had back in the day, so you can approach the same classic style in a different way that makes it interesting, I think, to even a much younger audience who didn’t have the chance to experience those early games.

Digitally Downloaded notified me of an interview on their website with Producer David Shelley, and Lead Designer to talk about the Seven Dragon Saga.

A couple of weeks ago, we saw the very exciting news that a small development team of SSI veterans had formed a new company with the express purpose of recapturing the kind of gameplay that made SSI games so appealing to a generation of players.

The company, TSI, is currently hard at work at its first game, Seven Dragon Saga. We haven't seen much by way of screenshots as yet, but what we do know is that the game is clearly in the spirit of classic Dungeons & Dragons adventures such as Eye of the Beholder and Wake of the Ravager. As big fans of the classic SSI approach to game design, it's something that we have felt has been missing in recent years, and as such we're very excited to be following the development of this particular game.

I had a sit down with David Shelley, the Producer and Lead Designer of Seven Dragon Saga, to talk about what it's like coming back to the SSI mindset so many years after the company folded shop, as well as to get a feel for the kind of game that Seven Dragon Saga might turn out to be.

Combo Breaker posted a new interview with Tactical Simulations Interactive president David Klein, and provided a translation for English readers.

So read the google document since I can't post a preview of it.

Tactical Simulations Interactive sent over a new press release that officially announces their new RPG game called the Seven Dragon Saga. Here are the details.

Seven Dragon Saga – the epic RPG debut title from Tactical Simulations Interactive

New independent video games studio formed by SSI alumni, updates “Gold Box” RPG experience with modern tech and new core gaming system

September 2, 2014 - Los Angeles, USA /… Tactical Simulations Interactive (TSI) is excited to officially announce Seven Dragon Saga – an original RPG for PC, Mac, and Linux, based upon an original pen and paper role-playing system designed by former Strategic Simulations Interactive (SSI) alumni Keith Brors and David Shelley.  

Seven Dragon Saga takes place in a high-powered fantasy universe, revolving around the Empire of the Seven Dragons. Eschewing traditional RPG tropes, Seven Dragon Saga provides the player with effective heroes right from the start, with TSI aiming to provide the next step in meaningful player experiences in the same way that SSI's ‘Gold Box’ titles did during the 1980s and 1990s. 

This is not a tale of farmers or aspiring novices learning how to swing a sword; Seven Dragon Saga is a tale about the use of power. Players will need to assemble a brave troupe of adventurers “touched by the winds of the chaos”. Known as the Touched, these brave adventurers will face the unknown, and embark on a quest to discover hidden truths and determine the fate of the Empire.

It is the Emperor’s role to proclaim.  

It is the Dragons’ role to command.  

It is the role of the Touched to act, without hesitation and without regret.

David Shelley, Producer/Lead Designer, Seven Dragon Saga, said:
“Seven Dragon Saga provides a robust rules system and fresh campaign setting for us to draw from. We’re adapting the pen and paper system as the seed to develop a compelling game experience, creating the type of strategy fantasy game our team is known for.”

Seven Dragon Saga sets a new standard for intricate turn-based combat that can be adapted to your party's strengths. Explore a new high fantasy realm, recruit powerful NPCs, and craft useful items during your party's quest to discover lost secrets and transform the world. Key features include:

• Classic RPG / Modern Gameplay: Create a full party under your total control right from the start. Venture forth to uncover lost secrets in an original fantasy setting.

• Strategic Combat: Face challenges in turn-based tactical combat, updated with modern design philosophies. Carefully maneuver your party taking advantage of terrain and destructible environments.

• Weigh Your Decisions: One group’s ally is another faction’s enemy. Make meaningful social/political choices that directly impact the world around you. Will you pursue duty and honor or choose riches and adventure with little concern for the consequences?

• Proven Technology: Seven Dragon Saga is built using the Unity3D engine (Shadowrun Returns, Wasteland 2, Shroud of the Avatar).

Tactical Simulations Interactive will reveal more details about Seven Dragon Saga in the near future. To keep updated, visit:

Homepage: http://TSI-Games.com
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/TSIGames
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TSIGames