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General discussionRelease: Barony: Cursed Edition(186 posts)(186 posts)
(186 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted May 10, 2016
Just remember that death is not the end



<span class="bold">Barony: Cursed Edition</span>, a first-person dungeon-crawler that throws you inside a treacherous labyrinth, is now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, DRM-free on GOG.com, with a 30% launch discount.

If someone's been a pain in the backside while alive, you can bet they're going to be impossible after death. Such is the story of Baron Herx, who's come back as an undead lich, forcing your hero to dive into his lair and dispose of him for good. Thing is, the Baron is holed up inside a hardcore, procedurally-generated dungeon full of sinister traps and monsters, hidden passages, cryptic messages, and heaps of shiny loot. Frantically narrated perma-death lurks around every corner, but don't die alone - grab your friends and go about it in an up-to-4-player-co-op fashion.



Delve into an underground complex full of unpredictable dangers in <span class="bold">Barony: Cursed Edition</span>, DRM-free on GOG.com. The 30% discount ends May 17, 12:59 PM UTC.
Posted May 13, 2016
Barony is currently being streamed on the GOGcom twitch channel and the dev is answering questions in chat (TurningWheel).
https://www.twitch.tv/gogcom
:-)



Edit: Stream is over, VOD can be watched here:
https://www.twitch.tv/gogcom/v/66184767
Post edited May 13, 2016 by Piranjade
Posted May 14, 2016
Tried repainting a few textures - it works, but 800x800 pixel textures make the game choke when loading!
Attachments:
hd-stuff.jpg (122 Kb)
Posted May 14, 2016
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KasperHviid: Tried repainting a few textures - it works, but 800x800 pixel textures make the game choke when loading!
Wow, that looks really nice!
Posted May 14, 2016
Thanks! :) the bother with hd remakes is that you have to fix it ALL, or the stuff you leave will end up looking weird. I seem to be able to edit the .vox files too, but I'm a newbie to this voxel thing!
Posted May 14, 2016
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KasperHviid: Tried repainting a few textures - it works, but 800x800 pixel textures make the game choke when loading!
Woah. That's amazing. About how much time does it take you to make a texture like that?
Posted May 14, 2016
Oh, about half an hour - I just borrow the colors and basic shape from the original 32x32 px textures, so no brain work required :)
Posted May 14, 2016
Sheridan, I hope you're still reading this thread. After watching how much crap you have to put up with in various sites as a result of answering people's comments, I have to tell you:

Thank you for making this game.

I bought Barony yesterday and I'm already hooked. It may not be as pretty as Delver, but oozes detail and care. You should make clear in your advertising the amount of depth and tension it can deliver, so people stop categorizing it as a cheap ripoff. I for one believe that Barony is superior to Delver.
Posted May 14, 2016
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KasperHviid: Oh, about half an hour - I just borrow the colors and basic shape from the original 32x32 px textures, so no brain work required :)
Ah, gotcha. Well, I'm interested to see where this goes :)
Posted May 14, 2016
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KasperHviid: Thanks! :) the bother with hd remakes is that you have to fix it ALL, or the stuff you leave will end up looking weird. I seem to be able to edit the .vox files too, but I'm a newbie to this voxel thing!
You are 100% correct about that! When I first joined the project my goal was to redo all the [at the time] 16x16 tile textures so they matched the 32x cubic voxel resolution of the game's models. It soon became clear I'd have to redo all the voxel models to match my painting / illustration style of the tiles. Art consistency is important, even with a retro style game like this. People don't give it much credit but I guess that's my cross to bear.
Unfortunately, you won't be able to change the voxel model resolution to match your wall textures, so there always be some serious disconnect between the "HD" look of the walls, and the low-res look of the voxel models, even if you do decide to edit the voxel models. If you want to give it a shot, use Voxelshop. The creator BlackFlux was very supportive and I strongly recommend his (free) tool.
If / when Barony goes open-source, or if somebody comes up with an EXE hack to increase the voxel model resolution before then, you might be able to sidestep the resolution-disconnect-problem a bit, but high resolution voxel modeling becomes incredibly inefficient, both for system resources and art time. I'd say you're probably better off with traditional modeling techniques if you want to make HD models, but right now the engine doesn't support that. :-/
Whatever the case, let me know if you need any help figuring out how to modify the game's art!

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Hollyhock: You should make clear in your advertising the amount of depth and tension it can deliver, so people stop categorizing it as a cheap ripoff. I for one believe that Barony is superior to Delver.
This guy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VclxnSP3U0) did a really good job covering what makes Barony unique - I agree that a similar official video could help communicate the value of the game.
Post edited May 15, 2016 by mistersneak
Posted May 15, 2016
high rated
Thanks a lot dudes! The hate we've received is really nothing new, anytime the game gets a decent amount of exposure there's a fresh crop of people who deride the game as a cheap Minecraft clone or something. We dealt with the same garbage when the game was released on Steam, and it hurts because you know they're not being fair, but I have personally learned a few tactics when it comes to showing people that you made a genuine effort and that they should give you the benefit of an honest judgment before throwing your work in the trash.

To be honest I probably feel the worst for mistersneak in all of this since the art obviously gets most of the flak when people criticize the game, even though I know the game art is really skillfully done for the most part. You just can't escape the Minecraft comparisons when you do low-res 3D pixel art like this these days. It's one of the reasons we're seeking a different style for the next game we make.

btw @KasperHviid, that HD texture work is pretty sick. Keep it up!
Post edited May 15, 2016 by sheridanr
Posted May 15, 2016
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sheridanr: Thanks a lot dudes! The hate we've received is really nothing new, anytime the game gets a decent amount of exposure there's a fresh crop of people who deride the game as a cheap Minecraft clone or something. We dealt with the same garbage when the game was released on Steam, and it hurts because you know they're not being fair, but I have personally learned a few tactics when it comes to showing people that you made a genuine effort and that they should give you the benefit of an honest judgment before throwing your work in the trash.

To be honest I probably feel the worst for mistersneak in all of this since the art obviously gets most of the flak when people criticize the game, even though I know the game art is really skillfully done for the most part. You just can't escape the Minecraft comparisons when you do low-res 3D pixel art like this these days. It's one of the reasons we're seeking a different style for the next game we make.

btw @KasperHviid, that HD texture work is pretty sick. Keep it up!
The game does have that aesthetic going for it. But as I said before I was going to give it a fair chance by watching the stream. It interested me so I got it. Thanks for sticking around for that stream. A dev who communicates with his audience always hits a soft spot and is an extra incentive for me to buy the game. :)
Post edited May 15, 2016 by Senteria
Posted May 15, 2016
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sheridanr: Thanks a lot dudes! The hate we've received is really nothing new, anytime the game gets a decent amount of exposure there's a fresh crop of people who deride the game as a cheap Minecraft clone or something. We dealt with the same garbage when the game was released on Steam, and it hurts because you know they're not being fair, but I have personally learned a few tactics when it comes to showing people that you made a genuine effort and that they should give you the benefit of an honest judgment before throwing your work in the trash.

To be honest I probably feel the worst for mistersneak in all of this since the art obviously gets most of the flak when people criticize the game, even though I know the game art is really skillfully done for the most part. You just can't escape the Minecraft comparisons when you do low-res 3D pixel art like this these days. It's one of the reasons we're seeking a different style for the next game we make.

btw @KasperHviid, that HD texture work is pretty sick. Keep it up!
I think the reason why people is a bit up in arms is because there was a lot of minecraft clones on steam in a row after minecrafts sucess so people kinda got fed up with it.
Imagine if you had to eat the same food every day even if the food is prepared difrent each time, you woud get wery sick of it.
But that argument does not make a lot of sense here on GoG though since there arent that many minecraft clones that came out in a short window here yet.

Personally i think the art style is just fine, allthough you cant please all since art is a matter of personal taste.
For what its worth il wishlist the game for later buy.
Post edited May 15, 2016 by Lodium
Posted May 15, 2016
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sheridanr: btw @KasperHviid, that HD texture work is pretty sick. Keep it up!
Thanks! Feel free to PM if you need some 2D for that new game!

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mistersneak: You are 100% correct about that! When I first joined the project my goal was to redo all the [at the time] 16x16 tile textures so they matched the 32x cubic voxel resolution of the game's models. It soon became clear I'd have to redo all the voxel models to match my painting / illustration style of the tiles. Art consistency is important, even with a retro style game like this. People don't give it much credit but I guess that's my cross to bear.
True, pixelart is the most underappreciated art form. Like bw lineart, it simply doesn't have the same impact as your average digital painting. But I also think that the humble, low-brow nature is one of its greatest strengths.

I considered if the disconnect between HD texture and low-res voxels could be turned to an advantage, some sorta juxtaposition thing. Or maybe a HD environment will make the world more solid in a way that overshadows the disconnect. But I kind of fear that HD will simply just make the game less good. My experience with HD minecraft texture maps is that they are impressive pieces of work, but that they grind uncomfortably against the games artistic vision.
I also tried replacing the low-res texture with another style of 'low' (see attachments.)

Anyway, thanks for recommending Voxelshop! I didn't knew what editor that was the right choice, but this one looks quite good, and once I picked voxlap .vox, it exported perfectly! can you remember what the different values in limbs.txt means?

How about .png, is there anything I should be aware of when saving? Bit depths that make things go awry or something?
Attachments:
just-trying-1.jpg (122 Kb)
just-trying-2.jpg (100 Kb)
Post edited May 15, 2016 by KasperHviid
Posted May 15, 2016
Does anyone know if there's a way to keep your entire stack of torches stay put in the hotbar? Whenever a torch runs out, it replaces the stack in the hotbar with the broken torch and I have to mess around with my inventory to put the useful torches back. Also, speaking of stacks, is there any way to split a stack of items?

EDIT: By the way, I feel like the controls could use some work. It's very easy to accidentally use an item when you're trying to do something else with it, since a single right-click uses it and you have to hold right-click to choose what to do with it. Having the right-click menu select an action when you release the button can be tricky as well. I also wish there was an option to have the inventory show up when holding Tab rather than being toggled by it. Control improvements and more options for how the controls work would be really nice.

EDIT 2: Oh, and an option to pause the game in single-player when the inventory is open could be good to have as well.

EDIT 3: While I'm giving feedback, I think it would be nice if the save system was changed to save exactly where you are instead of resetting you to the beginning of a floor. Not only would it be more convenient, but right now it's pretty easy to abuse the save system by simply choosing to "save and quit" right before you die.

EDIT 4: Speaking of saves, I think there might be an issue with them and followers. I'm pretty sure I just had a follower (maybe two, I can't remember, it was all of the ones I had) disappear after loading my save. By the way, I hope this post doesn't come across as too negative. I really am enjoying the game so far, and for what it's worth I think the art is very nicely done!

EDIT 5: It would also be good to have more information stored in the statistics page for high scores. Being able to view skill levels, for example, would be nice.
Post edited May 16, 2016 by Marioface5
Posted May 16, 2016
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Marioface5: Does anyone know if there's a way to keep your entire stack of torches stay put in the hotbar? Whenever a torch runs out, it replaces the stack in the hotbar with the broken torch and I have to mess around with my inventory to put the useful torches back. Also, speaking of stacks, is there any way to split a stack of items?

EDIT: By the way, I feel like the controls could use some work. It's very easy to accidentally use an item when you're trying to do something else with it, since a single right-click uses it and you have to hold right-click to choose what to do with it. Having the right-click menu select an action when you release the button can be tricky as well. I also wish there was an option to have the inventory show up when holding Tab rather than being toggled by it. Control improvements and more options for how the controls work would be really nice.

EDIT 2: Oh, and an option to pause the game in single-player when the inventory is open could be good to have as well.

EDIT 3: While I'm giving feedback, I think it would be nice if the save system was changed to save exactly where you are instead of resetting you to the beginning of a floor. Not only would it be more convenient, but right now it's pretty easy to abuse the save system by simply choosing to "save and quit" right before you die.

EDIT 4: Speaking of saves, I think there might be an issue with them and followers. I'm pretty sure I just had a follower (maybe two, I can't remember, it was all of the ones I had) disappear after loading my save. By the way, I hope this post doesn't come across as too negative. I really am enjoying the game so far, and for what it's worth I think the art is very nicely done!

EDIT 5: It would also be good to have more information stored in the statistics page for high scores. Being able to view skill levels, for example, would be nice.
I agree with the right-click thing. Right-click should open the item submenu and then you should click "use" or "equip" to actually use the item. A single right-click for using an item is too risky and leads to unintentionally used items.

Opening your inventory should not pause the game. No adventurer should have the benefit of being totally safe when sorting his items. If you want to read a book, go find a safe spot. This is the way to go on real-time dungeoncrawling.

The saving system can be exploited and that is very bad. Saving should only be possible during floor transitions, after exiting a level and before entering the next one (just a menu: "save&quit" or "continue"). Autosaving should be disabled, as any means of saving without quitting. If this cannot be achieved, it would be best to disable saving at all, thus avoiding the exploit, than keeping an exploitable saving system.

Also, this is a minor issue, but I think shops should have more variety. Items sold by each shop are too specific (gems only, wands only, spells only...). Something like "weapons&armor", "magic" and "miscellaneous" would work better and give more value to your money. One of my characters starved to death in front of a miscellaneous shopkeeper, unable to buy any food from him. That felt so stupid.

Oh, and items you buy should be 100% identified. It's normally not an issue because by the time you find a shop you tend to be quite good at appraising, but it would be nice to know what items do before spending your money in them.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionRelease: Barony: Cursed Edition(186 posts)(186 posts)
(186 posts)