Here's the latest progress update for Wanderer:

September-October-November Progress Update

Greetings all. Yes, I'm still alive! A little weary maybe, but eager nontheless to share our progress and reflect on our first year of development as it comes to a close.

Let me start by saying I'm super sorry for the periods of unkosher radio silence, which I feel I can't say enough. I hate operating like that, and as you can tell by the length of these updates I really enjoy talking about the process of designing this game with you guys. I wish I had a spare million dollars and an extra five years to make this production leisurely, but under the current constraints the pressure and stress is killer. 

Wanderer continues to be a monster of a project, and it requires 110% of the mental resources I have in combination with some pretty unorthodox development tactics given our specific resource and manpower limitations to keep it under control.

[...]

In a lengthy development update for Wanderer more informationis provided on their activities in creating a vertical slice of the game, additions to the engine and features, including some videos.

So, It's been an extraordinarily hectic couple of months (which is turning out to be a running theme, I've discerned with the greatest of astuteness) as we've moved into properly constructing the game. Now that we're a good chunk of the way into it, I thought it would be apt to reflect a bit on the experience from my perspective thus far.

As intended, building our vertical slice continues to unlock a lot of insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the game's core design. It's direction continues to subtly grow and evolve, as we grind away at the ideas that aren't holding up under the scrutiny of testing. Those ideas are then redesigned, reapplied, and retested until (ideally) no glaring issues remain.

The good news is It's extremely encouraging to see a first glimpse of what the game is shaping up to be, and I'm happy to see that there's a lot of potential for something very cool in what we have coming together. But there's no denying that there's still a very healthy amount of lab-work and experimentation required before all the pieces of the puzzle are fitting together seamlessly, and that means there's still a relatively long road ahead for this vision to be fully realized.

Two weeks ago a new development update for Wanderer was made available.

90% of the work I've been doing over the past two months is on the story front. I've spent 100's of hours at this point writing and rewriting the flow of the narrative, becoming familiar and comfortable with the characters, and fleshing out the history and backstory of the world, and I'm very happy with the result and where the story has wound up going!

It's definitely been an incredibly intense experience thus far, as to stay on schedule we really need to be out of pre-production by the 1st of February, which means all the foundations need to be laid so I can switch gears and focus fully on producing visual assets and animations full time. I absolutely would not be comfortable moving forward on the foundation of a story that I didn't think was coming together like I wanted, so to put it lightly I've been feeling the pressure. Now that I can see the light at the end of tunnel I can feel the load lighten a little bit and it's definitely a relief! :)

At this point, there's not a whole lot I can reveal about the details of the story, because I intend a large part of the game to be going into the experience somewhat blind, much like Rook himself, and experiencing and learning things first hand rather than through exposition. However, I would like to officially reveal something we haven't talked much about yet, which is that Wanderer will feature a second playable character with her own separate story line! Meet VALE Special Investigator Akira Saionji.....

The Kickstarter page for Wanderer, shows a development update of the game.

In actual development news, we've been working like mad men to get things organized and reaffirm that all of our pipeline foundations are properly established and will make for mostly smooth sailing over the next ~nine months. Now that we're back to working full time on the game, everything is going great and we're already making solid progress!

So, just to give you a breakdown of what we're working on: in this super early phase of development what we're working towards is a short vertical slice of the game to function as a proof-of-concept for all of Wanderer's mechanics and systems. Our 'vertical slice' is a small sequence that involves a little bit of action and combat, a taste of exploration and puzzle solving, and a touch of dialogue and branching decisions, all wrapped up in the mood and atmosphere we're shooting for in the final game.

Getting this sequence up and running and playing successfully will give us a concrete sense that all the pieces of the puzzle are fitting together according to plan (or contrarily a sense of what needs to be adjusted/tweaked to get it where we need it to be). This in turn will give us the confidence in the design foundations of the game necessary to continue to build the rest of it upon said foundations.

Thanks Eye.

The two stretch goals for Wanderer have been reached with the Kickstarter ending at $81K. In the first stretch goal a new mercenary was added. In the second stretch goal a new native was added.

Incredible...I didn't think we'd make it, but you guys proved me wrong. I'm happy to announce that both bonus characters are officially in the game! And I've got to add that I'm personally super excited, I really wanted Raikov and Arahi to make it in! :D

With 5 hours to go, it looks like we're probably not going to make it to $90,000 for our first console port stretch goal, but I just wanted to reiterate that that doesn't mean Wanderer won't make it to console platforms in the future! We definitely still want to get it to PS4/Vita and Xbox One, it will just take a little bit longer without the extra funds to work with from the start.

But as I said, 5 hours to go...who knows, maybe you guys can prove me wrong again. Spread the word for the last call!

And thanks again everyone, you're the best fans a couple of indie devs could ask for. :)

Thanks Eye.

With 49 hours still to go the Wanderer RPG got funded on Kickstarter - Congratulations!

Woah!! We're less than $1,000 away from our goal! Our target is just around the corner and we couldn't be more excited! It's absolutely mindblowing to see how far we've come. How far you've helped us come! A sincere, everlasting thank you to all our fans for the amazing support, we've got one last sprint until we can cross that finish line (and beyond?) together! :D

We've also seen some interest in additional add-ons, so take a look at the revised list below and see if there's anything new that catches your eye!

[...]

With 5 days to go and only $6K away from their goal of $70K, the Kickstarter campaign for Wanderer has a good chance of making it. They also release a new update, which is about the inventory system.

Today I wanted to briefly touch on the design of the inventory system in Wanderer. Of course, no adventure game or RPG is complete without a world full of shiny trinkets to swipe and lug around in your presumably bottomless pants pockets, and Wanderer is no exception! Items play a big part in filling out the identity of the world, and will serve multiple functions over the course of the adventure.

The inventory system takes inspiration from classic point and clicks, J/WRPGs, and even borrows a little from the survival horror philosophy in regards to item space management. To enhance the apocalyptic survivor vibe of the story, in Wanderer you'll have a limited carrying capacity and won't be able to magically carry around a planet's worth of odds and ends on your person at all times. Though you'll start with very limited inventory space, over the course of the game this can gradually be upgraded in various ways, allowing you to more efficiently scavenge items as you explore.

Limited space means you'll have to plan in advance to some degree for each expedition into the world. If you're not expecting much combat, than you can pop your excess ammo cells into storage and leave your pockets empty to make way for some new loot! But you best hope that you don't accidentally stumble into a den of mutant cannibal bandits...

Thanks Eye.

Two new characters from Wanderer have been revealed last weekend: Laika, the pirate and Mordecai, the hero.

Thanks Eye.

Eye noticed that a new Kickstarter update for Wanderer has been made available, which talks about the battle system and that the campaign has almost reached 60% of its funding goal.

In today's update I want to give a bit of a primer on the design of Wanderer's battle system. Keep in mind we're still in the process of fully prototyping the system, so various aspects of the system may very well be altered, adjusted, removed or added as we continue testing and balancing it's design. This is just our starting point!

Some key influences in Wanderer's combat system include:

Paper Mario series - Small damage/stat numbers, horizontal character layout, and action/timing commands that effect attack/defense effectiveness. I really enjoyed the battle system in these games, and I found there to be a lot of charm in it's relative simplicity. Wanderer's system is my attempt to expand upon it's basic structure by adding a few additional layers of complexity and cranking up the difficulty level a bit.

Chrono Cross/Xenogears - Stamina meter/points + multiple strengths of attack. Though it seems most agree these games had battle mechanics that ultimately left something to be desired (and I agree), I do think there were some interesting ideas and the multiple attacks per turn mechanic was one I always liked!

Rogue Galaxy - Real-time pacing, stamina meter, active guarding, and two weapons per character (melee and ranged) each with slightly different characteristics. Another really enjoyable system, and though it was more of a full on action-RPG it still had some hybrid elements reminiscent of a classic turn based system. Wanderer is has a very similar balance of dynamics, but on the other end of the spectrum (mostly turn-based but with elements of real time).

X-COM series - Limited amount of resources that make every choice count, and a lot of emphasis placed on making risk vs. reward choices. This one's more of a loose conceptual influence than a direct mechanical one, but I really like how in X-COM every decision holds a lot of weight and every battle is one that could potentially be lost if you become too reckless, so I've tried to emulate some of that philosophy here.

Eye spotted this update for the Wanderer Kickstarter about the primary setting of the game: The alien ruins of earth.

Today I wanted to share a little bit more about the primary setting of Wanderer: the alien ruins of our very own home planet Earth. Taking place in a world that will be comfortable and familiar to any fans of post-apocalyptic fiction, we hope to non-the-less put a slight spin on the ordinary 'end of the world' scenario by making the context of the apocalypse a bit more extraordinary than average.

As the designer of the setting, I tried to draw visual and conceptual inspiration from varied places in keeping in line with the collage concept at the heart of Wanderer's design. The result is something aesthetically influenced as equally by the settings of sources like Fallout and Bioshock as it is by sources such as Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. I tried to stay away from using too much of the rusty metal and piles of rubble you might expect in an apocalyptic story in favor of a more more ethereal, stylized look. No one said the apocalypse couldn't be beautiful, ha! :D

At the beginning of the game's story, Rook finds himself stranded on the Earth, a world left abandoned after an unexplained catastrophic disaster in the 22nd century has turned it into a planet sized exclusion zone. Blanketed with constantly shifting pockets of a deadly, poison mist, infested with parasitic creatures of seemingly alien origin, and teeming with an otherworldly form of radiation that has bizarre effects on space and time, humanity can do little but watch from a distance and regretfully shrug its collective shoulders as its birthplace is engulfed in irreversible ruin.

Eye spotted Kickstarter update #5 for Wanderer:

Greenlit + Stretch Goals

Hey there everybody!

Just a quick update today to make a few announcements. First off, as we start to move towards the end of week 2 I'm excited to announce we're getting close to the 40% funded mark! Thank you all again for helping us come such a long way! We're making great progress, but we've still got a long way to go, and we really want to get over that halfway milestone, so remember to keep spreading the word if you can. We've got to keep that mid-campaign momentum up! :D

And just as a reminder for those in the 15$ tier who aren't particularly interested in early beta access to the game, also keep in mind the $25+ tier additionally grants access to our private member forum. Members of that community will play a significant role in development by giving us feedback along the way and helping us create and shape the content in the final game. At heart, Wanderer is a game for the people, and our little community will be a great way for us to communicate with you guys on a one-on-one level!

In other news, I'd like to give a big shout-out to everyone who's showed their love on Greenlight! Thanks to the overwhelming support we managed to get Wanderer greenlit on Steam in just a week. Amazing work guys!

I also wanted to let everyone know that we've unveiled our initial stretch goals just in case you missed it on the main page. We know there's a lot of Vita fans out there, so we really want to make that happen! Aim for the stars! :)

[...]

The RPG platformer The Wanderer, bring us the second part of their design philosophy and inspirations in this Kickstarter update.

So, in part 1 we left off with a cross between a cinematic platformer and a point and click adventure. A simple, solid foundation for a game, and an efficient delivery system for content. But from a design perspective, something to point out is neither genre is known necessarily for the scope or length of the stories they tell. With Wanderer, we're looking to take players on an adventure spanning numerous episodes. To sustain interest from beginning to end, some internal systems offering a bit more depth to our foundation would go a long way.

We want the player to feel they've grown, that they've become stronger and more capable as they advance through the narrative and explore the world. We want them to be able to have an impact on that world via their actions and the choices that they make. And what's a grand adventure without some friends to come along for the ride? Character progression, branching decisions, and party members - for the design of those systems, we can look to the RPG genre for inspiration.

Wanderer's RPG influences are very broad, borrowing and merging bit and pieces of ideas and systems from both classic and modern Western RPGs (including Bioware's Mass Effect series, Bethesda's Fallout 3, and Black Isle Studio's Planescape: Torment) and Japanese RPGs (including Intelligent System's Paper Mario series, Square's Chrono Trigger and FromSoftwares Dark Souls). Always keeping in mind the philosophy of doing as much as possible with as little as possible, and being sure to make each design choice count in a significant way towards the scope and variety of overall content in the final game, we can begin to layer these elements on top of our previously established foundation.

Thanks Eye.

In Kickstarter update #3 Red Cloack Games tells us about the Design Philosophy and Inspirations of Wanderer:

Happy Friday all!

As we move towards the end of Week 1, we have not yet ceased to be amazed by all the momentum our awesome fans continue to generate for the project. We've pulled past 20% funded, and our humble, weird little game is starting to get coverage on all corners of the internet, including Destructoid and Kotaku! On top of that, we're almost in the top 20 games on Steam Greenlight! Wow. On behalf of Serge and myself, another massive 'thank you!' to everyone who's helped get us here. I'm sorry guys, the gratitude isn't going to stop anytime soon. Our love for you is endless.

Before we begin to take a closer look at the individual mechanics and their implementation, in today's update I want to take a small step back and speak a little bit about the genesis of Wanderer, as well as briefly explain some of the rationale behind key design decisions. It's a bit of an odd hybrid of ideas, so I just want to take a moment and walk you through the thought process behind it and the inspirations that have shaped it from a game design perspective.

If I were to craft a clumsy and slightly pretentious metaphor (and I will in fact be doing so, precisely at this very moment), I would liken the project to a carefully, delicately layered video game 'collage'. Wanderer is made up of ideas and mechanics from my favorite games and fiction both classic and modern, all tactfully assembled into a love letter that pays homage to all of it's inspirations while at the same time leveraging the synergy between those inspirations to become something unique in it's own right.

Of course, while simply taking every 'totally rad' idea you can find and throwing it into a blender might create some cool concepts in theory, 'theory' and 'reality' are two different things. We're a small team with big dreams. Dreaming big is a good thing, but if you can't actualize it then it doesn't do anyone a whole lot of good. That's why the driving force behind every design choice from top to bottom in Wanderer, from the art style to the structure of each mechanic, is about working smart and not just hard. With that in mind, let's walk through some of the thought process behind Wanderer's design.

At it's heart, and at it's very core, Wanderer owes its existence to Éric Chahi's classic gaming masterpiece 'Another World'. Another World is a huge inspiration for the project as beyond simply being a fantastic game that was way ahead of its time, it serves as a masterclass in how to do a lot with a little. As a game development team consisting of two core developers, that philosophy is extremely important, and Mr. Chahi's accomplishment (made with such limited resources and comparatively primitive tools) is astonishing and incredibly inspiring to us.  [...]

Thanks Eye!

Red Cloak Games started a Kickstarter campaign for Wanderer:

An episodic 2D adventure game blending cinematic platformer and RPG into an immersive and beautiful lo-fi sci-fi universe.

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Wanderer tells the tale of a man called Rook, a greying convict who wakes from cold sleep aboard a massive orbital prison facility to find that it's crash landed on the ruins of an abandoned Earth. With the guidance of a hacker named Jin and the aid of a ragtag group of survivors he recruits along the way, Rook must locate and explore the nine cell blocks which have detached from the prison's central tower and scattered across Earth's ghostly wasteland.

Along his mission, Rook will run into allies and adversaries in the form of dangerous fellow prisoners and bizarre parasitic extradimensional beasts that haunt the dead planet. Core gameplay fuses platforming, pseudo-turn based combat, puzzle solving, and interactive dialogue/decision making into a story driven, atmospheric experience. Tying it all together is a unique visual aesthetic that merges lo-res pixel art characters with a lovingly hand-painted world.

You can vote for the game on Steam Greenlight.