Epic Tavern: The first management-RPG where you rule the land from your Tavern. Recruit heroes, send them on quests, reap the rewards!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Tavern Scrawl #25: FAQ's, and getting artsy!
over 9 years ago
– Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 11:34:02 PM
Campaign Update
Missed our Kickstarter Campaign? Our tavern is always open! Every tier and reward is here, with the exception of those that were exclusive backer rewards for the Kickstarter Campaign (thank you again, KS backers!).
All pledges made through PayPal will help push us closer to achieving our remaining campaign goals. As of today, we are at $69,883. As you may know, our next stretch goal is the implementation of our mysteriously mystical Elves at $80K!
You ask - we answer! We wanted to take the opportunity to answer some of your FAQ’s:
Q: When is early access coming out? A: We’re working as hard as possible on it, and it is looking good. That said, we want to make sure it's one of the best Early Access experiences you've ever had, so we're putting in the extra work to make it awesome. We'll let you know when we're close to releasing it!
Q: What platforms will the game be available on? A: Initially, we are releasing through Steam for Windows-based PCs. We are excited to get the game out for other platforms and, depending on how the game does, we'll be looking forward to doing so!
Q: How will I be able to customize my tavern? A: The tavern is customizable in multiple ways. Some of these customizations are represented abstractly in the user interface, such as when a new room is added or when existing rooms are upgraded with decor catering to specific types of patrons.
Other customizations directly affect the look of your tavern. For example buying the Brewery expansion provides a steady supply of house ale each turn at no cost, and will place a nice big brewing apparatus somewhere on the tavern floor. Through early access and into full release, purely cosmetic tavern upgrades will also become available, allowing for the decor to be changed in an effort to attract patrons of certain races or social status. Another channel for affecting the look of your tavern will be the various trophies acquired by completing special quests or objectives. As trophies are collected they will show up on the walls and floor of the tavern.
For early access we'll have the ability to purchase additional rooms, as well as the Brewery expansion. We also plan on at least one quest trophy, and possibly some form of room upgrades.
Post early access launch we'll be adding the ability to purchase different forms of tavern decor, expansion of the tavern's floor space, as well as additional tavern upgrades that are represented visually on the tavern floor in a way similar to the Brewery. Along with all of this we'll be filling out the Room Upgrade feature and adding more trophies that can adorn your tavern's interior.
Finally, all these changes are reflected further in the types of patrons visiting the tavern. The patrons themselves tell much about the tavern's reputation across Beor, whether considered an inviting refuge for dwarven magic users, a raucous hangout for elite orcish warriors, or an eclectic meeting place for all the denizens of Beor.
Game Dev Update
This week we say “Bonjour” to our Art Director, Rémi Benoist, and see what the art team is conjuring up this week!
Bonjour Rémi! Alors, sur quoi travailles-tu cette semaine? (Hello Rémi! So, what are you working on this week?) Did I say that right?
Rémi: Yes! I just finished the new tavern layout and some new props. We are in the last stretch of our sprint and a lot of stuff is coming together. This means several things:
Checking what is left to be implemented
Making sure the new stuff doesn’t break the assets already in place
Pleading with people on sneaking some cool stuff in that isn’t on the schedule without getting noticed! (laughs manically)
Funny! Now I have to start at the beginning - Epic Tavern has such a specific stylized look from the characters to the tavern, etc., what was the inspiration for the look? This is definitely different than your past works.
Rémi: A big inspiration is whatever Laika Studios produces, those guys are geniuses.
Building a look is also what drove me to work on this project. It was an opportunity to do something different, to use new tools and setup an alternative pipeline. Altho Zbrush is the big cornerstone from which all the game assets are driven from, Substance Designer helped me build a PBR shader pipeline straight inside Unity with the variants we needed from a relatively small number of assets. I also picked up a beta of Akeytsu and was impressed with the clarity of the interface and the laser focused philosophy on rig/animation. This gave us the benefit of cutting down the number of tools and cost.
Fast-forwarding to today, has the design changed a lot from then to now, or has the look been pretty consistent throughout?
Rémi: The art team is small but dedicated, we run a very tight schedule so we have to keep the look consistent. We look at each other’s stuff on a daily basis and keep a critical eye attached to a very loud mouth to point out any disparity.
Can you give us something to show our readers out there that they haven’t seen featured yet?
Rémi: I was talking about the tavern layout earlier, here is a sneak peek of where you can expect adventurers to get drunk and blurb out something about treasure. Our little art department here hope you like what you see and we cannot wait to give the tavern to the player’s hands! It’s just the beginning. We have more really cool stuff in store.
Maintenant pour nos amis français : j’espère que vous allez aimer le jeu, on commence juste, c’est le tout début mais c’est aussi la partie la plus excitante ! Je voudrais remercier Alexis Khouri d’ Allegorithmic et Aurélien Charrier de Nukeygara pour leur patience quand ils écoutent mes âneries et pour leurs petits coups de pouce bien appréciés !
Á très bientôt tout le monde !
Tavern Scrawl #24: Game Dev updates from Eric!
over 9 years ago
– Wed, Aug 03, 2016 at 05:12:24 PM
Campaign Update
We are excited to be approaching the $70k mark - thank you backers! Currently we are at $69,831. There is still time to get backer rewards and get to our goal in implementing tricksy little Elves into the game! Click here to back us on PayPal!
Game Dev Update
This week, we corresponded with our Lead Technical Designer, Eric Pavone. Hailing from New York State, Eric contributes rockin’ design concepts, technical design solutions, and wicked programming skills.
So Eric, you seem to be contributing all sorts of things for Epic Tavern - what do you have going on this week?
Eric: Lately I've been digging into various system and UI designs to flesh out the dirty details so they can be realized by art and code. This includes a late-coming feature we call the Tavern Register, which will be a great help in tracking the presence and status of all of the patrons currently in the tavern.
Very neat!
Eric: Over the next week I'll be working with Kate and Remi on designing an improved flow for the map's Quest and party assignment interfaces. I'll also be drifting back into code as I help implement some of the awesome UI assets Kate has been cooking up, specifically for the tavern's Adventurer Roster and Character Interaction interfaces.
I know that Sarah and yourself have been integrating sounds into the game, as well as some music from Neal Acree?
Eric: Yeah! On the audio front I'll be continuing to work with Sarah on finding the right sound effects, stings, and ambience for the tavern and then integrating them. The team and I are also working with Neal on various music tracks, and the results have been amazing. Neal's music really breathes life into the world of Epic Tavern.
And we are all very excited to hear! Do you find yourself doing more design or more programming for this game?
Eric: In the end it probably balances out, but it seems to be driven by whatever phase of the project we're in. After our initial conceptual design blitz late last year, we moved into the prototype phase where I was almost exclusively focused on code and creation of placeholder assets and interfaces. Recently, however, the focus has moved towards the final player experience, and any instances of design ambiguity become showstoppers at this point. So lately I've spent most of my time filling in the remaining systems and UI design gaps in an effort to stay out ahead of the rest of production. Now with most of the design catch-up out of the way, it looks like things are creeping towards more balance between code and design.
What is your favorite part about working on Epic Tavern?
Eric: My favorite part is that Epic Tavern's subject matter draws from the endearing cliches present in so many RPGs I grew up playing (and still do), while the design necessarily defies existing game genres in order to realize the concept. That's a pretty cool juxtaposition, and a rare opportunity. Doing all of this with a bunch of friends doesn't hurt either!
Wednesdays - Engineering @ 4p PST w/ Memige or Jack
Fridays - Art @ 1p PST w/ Gabby or Kate
Surprise Casts w/ Rich, Dave, or Tomo**
*Subject to change due to timey wimey things.
**The head honchos will pop in each week to play games and chat about Epic Tavern!
From everyone here at the Tavern,
CHEERS!
Tavern Scrawl #22: Casually Connecting and Programming Wizardry!
over 9 years ago
– Tue, Jul 19, 2016 at 11:28:39 PM
Campaign Update
Did your friends miss the campaign? The party's not over! Our Epic Tavern Afterparty is still as lively as ever! We are working towards our remaining stretch goal - pledges made through our PayPal page will help us get there! As of today, we are at $69,545. Grab a friend, grab ‘em a pint, and share the adventure!
Casual Connect 2016!
Rich, Dave, Tomo, and Joe have been busy-busy at this year’s Casual Connect in San Francisco! Sharing experience and knowledge within the game development community is one of the foundational principles of Hyperkinetic, so we’re always honored to be given the opportunity to do so.
Game Dev UpdateGame Dev Update
This week, we sat down with our Programming wizard, Jack Beh-John, and got the low-down on what’s bubbling on his side of the cauldron.
Things are ramping up at the Epic Tavern office, eh?
Jack: Yeah! I mean, we’re getting busy in preparation for our Early Access Build, and I’m squashing bugs and lining up features!
What are you working on this week?
Jack: We just started our next sprint, so getting lots of UI integrated and art assets integrated into the game currently.
From what I can see, the programmers seem to be the ones who interact the most with the rest of the departments - is this true?
Jack: I wouldn’t say we’re social butterflies! (laughs) We talk to a lot of people to get their stuff into the game - audio, design, art, you name it. So in turn we do interact with all of the departments in some way. With that being said, we also create pipelines and templates so integration is more streamlined for the other departments.
What example would you have as far as a template?
Jack: Well for quest integration, for example, we have a formatted spreadsheet that is loaded directly into our program, and plugs that information in where we need it. This gives those writing quests a way to easily implement their ideas into the game without having to know how to manually put it into the programs we are using. This makes it easy to implement changes as well.
So, since the project’s needs change, even on a daily basis, what are you equipped with to adapt to those changes on the fly besides those templates?
Jack: We just converted to JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), which sped up our loading times by 8x. It’s great that we get the designers an ability to see the work they contribute right away and make the changes needed instead of waiting.
With an ever-changing and fast-moving production, I’m sure the designers appreciate that!
Wednesdays - Engineering @ 4p PST w/ Memige or Jack
Fridays - Art @ 1p PST w/ Gabby or Kate
Surprise Casts w/ Rich, Dave, or Tomo**
*Subject to change due to timey wimey things.
**The head honchos will pop in each week to play games and chat about Epic Tavern!
From everyone here at the Tavern,
CHEERS!
Tavern Scrawl #21: Campaign Update, and a Moment with Gabby!
over 9 years ago
– Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 07:03:00 PM
Campaign Update
Hello, Taverneers!! As mentioned in our last update, pledges made through our PayPal page will help push us closer to achieving our remaining campaign goals. As of today, we are at $69,403. With your help in spreading the word, we could unlock our next campaign goal of implementing the proud, mysterious Elf race into the game!
Game Dev Update
This week, we sat down with our 3D artist and animator, Gabriela Montes, to gain some insight in regard to her creative process for animating the adventurers in Epic Tavern!
Hey Gabby! We saw your YouTube featurette video about the creative process in adding movement to the adventurers of Epic Tavern. What animations/rigging are you working on this week?
Gabby: I am working on our first Orc female - she will be a sneaky class, but a very big powerful character!
Tell us more about the orc female!
Gabby: Inspiration for the Orc female...haven’t started animating her yet, so I am currently looking for reference for her. But I imagine that I will probably be looking at a lot of sports athletes, as I know she will be built! (laughs) I get that kind of vibe from her.
Very cool! Since you don’t find fantasy characters in the real world (unfortunately!), what kind of references do you refer to when rigging a fantasy character like this?
Gabby: For any character, I get reference from any kind of movement! The first thing I actually do is record myself moving around as that character. I often use YouTube to find characters similar to the movements that I acted out. So, for the human fighty, I was looking up references of Marion Ravenwood from Raiders of the Lost Ark, for instance.
So really, is it the movement you look for, the body shape, or the character?
Gabby: A combination of all of the above! If they’re feminine, or big, or angry or powerful - all of these things affect the movement and the overall character. How they carry themselves is determined by who they are.
What do we have to look forward to for the Orc female that is different than the other characters?
Gabby: For the Orc female, she’s going to be more masculine than the other females. I’m still building her, so she will evolve.
Looking forward to seeing the Orc female - she sounds badass!
