The Sundered Anvil

[fire_lizard]

Looks great, looking forward to buy and play it!

[Saxon1974]

Excellent, looking forward to this. There are a lot of these types of games now so quite a bit of competition...definitely will be looking forward to this!

Glad to have you back Thomas!

[Prismatic Maelstrom]

Has the camping mechanic been changed or updated in TSA? In the Eschalon series you can avoid encounters by camping, cancelling and then recamping every four hours.

With no alchemy skill visible, does that mean there is no crafting in TSA?

Has the thrown weapons skill been merged into daggers and polearms or has it been removed?

Two screenshots show a name, race, class and level for a character but no gender. Do you still pick your gender at character creation or has that been removed along with the gender bonuses from Eschalon: Book II and III?

[BasiliskWrangler]

Has the camping mechanic been changed or updated in TSA? In the Eschalon series you can avoid encounters by camping, cancelling and then recamping every four hours.

Camping works similar to old Might & Magic games: Resting recharges HP/MP but uses 4 rations (I scrapped the food/water aspect of Eschalon), and of course there are conditions that would prevent the party from resting. Failure to rest regularly will impose penalties due to your party being fatigued.

With no alchemy skill visible, does that mean there is no crafting in TSA?

Correct, as of right now, I am not including Alchemy as it was one of the least used Skills in Eschalon. However, weapon and armor crafting could be possible because of the way the system already internally "crafts" these kinds of items to provide uniquely random/rare loot. My goal is to get the game content finished and then I can consider additional gameplay features, including the possibility to craft custom gear.

I've always made games based on what people want, and if enough people really want alchemy in there, it could certainly be added.

Has the thrown weapons skill been merged into daggers and polearms or has it been removed?

Removed. Ranged fighting is done via Archery which covers both Bows and Crossbows (these do not require separate skills) and Polearms, which can attack and pin enemies a full grid space away from the party.

Two screenshots show a name, race, class and level for a character but no gender. Do you still pick your gender at character creation or has that been removed along with the gender bonuses from Eschalon: Book II and III?

No, there is no selectable gender, although the portraits will allow you to pick an appearance that has gender-coded characteristics. Since I've moved away from purely humanoid character options, the gender bonuses don't make sense as sexual dimorphism presents differently across non-humanoid species.

TSA features 8 racial choices, each with a starting bonus to one of the 8 attributes.

[Prismatic Maelstrom]

Thank you for answering my questions, it is appreciated.

[BasiliskWrangler]

Thank you for answering my questions, it is appreciated.

Thank you for the great questions!

[Painted Lady]

As long as we are asking questions:
The title page shows a protagonist on a horse. Will horses be an option for our heroes?

Also, while Eschalon doesn't have a difficulty dial, there are starting options that can make the game more challenging. Will there be any of those with the new game?

A couple of side comments:
I found Thrown weapons to be too heavy to be really useful - so I certainly won't miss them. And, I also usually bypassed Alchemy in favor of other skills that helped with combat or survival.

[blatherbeard]

Some of the screenshots remind me of my friend Alex's game Malevolence-Sword of Ahkronox but more upgraded and his was single player non party based. Its my most played game with over 900hrs on steam and several hundred if not a few thousand hours as i became one of the lead testers after kickstarting it and also am the bartender in every bar you come across in game.

Also kinda gives me Wizardry (the newest one) vibes which i also love.

Cant wait to have it in my scruffy hands.

[BasiliskWrangler]

The title page shows a protagonist on a horse. Will horses be an option for our heroes?

Horses will not be in the game as a travel option. This kind of engine simply doesn't support that kind of feature. But like Eschalon, quick-travel between unlocked location markers will be possible.

Also, while Eschalon doesn't have a difficulty dial, there are starting options that can make the game more challenging. Will there be any of those with
the new game?

Probably! Most testing right now involves pre-leveled characters within isolated zones. The overall difficulty will be determined when I can actually run a Level 1 party from the start and see how each area/dungeon feels with a naturally developed party, at which point I can add a difficulty setting to the game's options.

Likewise (as previously mentioned) you could reduce your party size which will make the game notably more difficult.

[skeever]

I'm really looking forward to it.

Is the experience from battles shared among the party?
It'll probably take longer as the party gets smaller.

[BasiliskWrangler]

I'm really looking forward to it.

Is the experience from battles shared among the party?
It'll probably take longer as the party gets smaller.

During battle, every party member gets a share of the XP based on how much they contribute. A successful strike = 1 share. A killing blow = 2 shares. Healing another member during battle = 2 shares, etc. At the end of battle, everyone gets their share of the total XP purse.

Fewer party members means more XP per individual, since fewer shares are issued but the XP remains the same.

The value of an XP share = (total XP purse / total shares issued during battle)

XP earned through quest completion is always split evenly between all party members.

[blatherbeard]

What about level caps? Will it be possible to level one guy and eventually get any skills you want or will it be capped(like temple of elemental evil) so it doesnt really make sense to even bother just having one character?

or at least will multi classing be something thats actually feasible?

thanks!

[Kreador Freeaxe]

or at least will multi classing be something thats actually feasible?

Following on this, will character development stay Eschalon style, with no fixed class trees? Will it be the same open character development, allowing us to create a wide variety of PCs?

[BasiliskWrangler]

What about level caps? Will it be possible to level one guy and eventually get any skills you want or will it be capped(like temple of elemental evil) so it doesnt really make sense to even bother just having one character?

or at least will multi classing be something thats actually feasible?

thanks!

No hard level caps, though you'll likely run out of game content before you achieve a "master of everything" set of skills. Add-on content could extend gameplay if it sells well enough.

The game world itself has a robust backstory, and sequels or other RPG plot lines could easily be made from the world material.

Following on this, will character development stay Eschalon style, with no fixed class trees? Will it be the same open character development, allowing us to create a wide variety of PCs?

Correct, no class limitations on skills, but no multi-classing.

There are 8 races and 8 class archetypes, and at level 10 you can choose between two specialist titles derived from your original archetype choice. However, like in Eschalon, there are no class limitations that would prevent you from building a wizard who wears heavy armor, wields a Grand Battle Axe, and is also a master at picking locks...they just wouldn't be as powerful magickally as a wizard who focused exclusively on class-aligned skills.

[voyager39]

Great news and good luck. Looking forward to it.

It would help if game works on Windows 10 also (if possible) and not just Windows 11.