It is the Year of Our Lord 2754…

You will never feel the sun’s warmth under a blue sky, never hear the wind in the branches of a tree, and never swim in the ocean, all because you had the misfortune to be born on the Ship, chained to a fate you didn’t choose. You have never seen Earth and you’ll never see Proxima Centauri either. You’re doomed to live and die on the Ship in the name of the Mission, like your father before you, like his father before him.

The Ship is old. She had already been twenty years in service when she was rechristened Starfarer - a pretty name for a retrofitted interplanetary freighter. No one is certain the Ship will actually reach its destination, and nobody much cares, since no one alive now will live to see it. Might as well get on with your life and try to make the best of it.


We proudly present COLONY SHIP - an isometric, party-based RPG inspired by Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky. Your character's world is a “generation ship,” a massive spacecraft on a centuries long voyage to colonize a distant planet. The Ship's original government has been disbanded following a violent mutiny and you must negotiate a treacherous path among your fellow passengers and the contentious factions striving to dominate the Ship. Your choices will determine who your friends and enemies are.







Would you like to know more?





https://store.steampowered.com/app/648410/Colony_Ship_A_PostEarth_Role_Playing_Game/

Bugfixes for Polish localization.

The title says it all - the AoD story can now be experienced in Polish, thanks to the tireless Polish community and their many months of work. If you always wanted street thugs to yell "Kurwa!" at you while in a knife fight, your dream just came true.
Use "Options -> Gameplay" menu to switch the language, and don't forget to check the credits screen to see who made this possible.

- Small resolution UI fixes;
- Updated localizations.

Our friends at Lost Pilgrims have just launched Vagrus - The Riven Realms into full release here on Steam.

Vagrus is a turn-based, open-world, dark fantasy RPG. The game moves out of Early Access with well over a hundred hours of playable content . Vagrus and its haunting world were born from decades of tabletop RPG campaigns played by the founders of Lost Pilgrims, which adds vastly to the game’s unique atmosphere and the richness of its setting.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/909660/Vagrus__The_Riven_Realms


Vagrus is an award-winning roleplaying game with a narrative focus, open-world exploration, and strong elements of strategy. The player takes the role of a vagrus - a caravan leader who strives to survive in a strange and dangerous dark fantasy world by leading a traveling company on all kinds of ventures.

• A DARK REALM
  A vast realm is yours to explore, filled with unique locations, strange factions, lurking dangers, and a slew of characters you can interact with.
  
  
  
• BRANCHING NARRATIVE
  A large selection of longer and shorter stories make up the game’s narrative in the form of events and quests. The choices you make in these can significantly affect the characters and the world around you.
  
  
  
• TURN-BASED COMBAT
  Take part in turn-based, tactical combat that involves your characters and a large variety of enemies, both humanoid and monstrous. Use a range of character skills and abilities to succeed. Fight against outlaws and monsters commanding your whole traveling company in pitched battles for resources.
  
  
  
• RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
  Most journeys have to be planned and prepared for carefully, lest they end in disaster. Manage your supplies, cargo, and crew effectively to survive. Take on contracts and follow rumors or trade opportunities.
  
  
  
• UNIQUE COMPANIONS
  A wide variety of companions can work for you in versatile caravan roles, such as scoutmaster, guard captain, treasure hunter, or beast handler. Each companion comes with unique combat skills, background stories, and personal quest lines that can upgrade them further when you complete them.
  
  
  
• POWERFUL FACTIONS
  Ally yourself with mighty factions that shape the Riven Realms with their influence on commerce, brutal wars, and constant scheming. From prosperous Trading Houses to criminal syndicates and religious organizations, these groups offer powerful rewards and boons to those loyal to their cause. But take heed - befriending a faction will more than likely antagonize others.
  

A special Centurion Edition of Vagrus released alongside the full game. This special edition includes the base game, the original soundtrack, and the Patronage Pack at a special launch price during launch week. Those who already own the base game can also purchase the DLCs individually.

Try your hand at Vagrus to see if you can make profit while surviving in the wastelands!



https://store.steampowered.com/app/909660/Vagrus__The_Riven_Realms/?snr=1_5_1100__1100

If you are interested in getting a glimpse of Vagrus, check it out here.

- Added Simplified Chinese community localization by Momotall;
- Localization code and language switching improvements.

We've been working on Colony Ship for 5 long years, modifying the engine, building tools and systems (character, combat, stealth, dialogue, inventory, AI, pathfinding, etc), creating thousands of assets, and - finally - the first chapter of the game:



Turn-based combat with action points and different attack types with different pros and cons. Gather a party of adventurers or explore the Ship alone.



Turn-based stealth: action points, noise and alert meters, and takedowns.



Dialogues with various checks: stats, skills, reputation, items, deeds, etc.

---

You start the game in the Pit, a container town sitting in one of the Ship's cargo holds. From there you can travel to two nearby 'locations': the Armory and Hydroponics. These and other locations will change and evolve throughout the game.



The Pit. The Free City. Ever since you were a kid, this has been your home: a sprawling heap of vacant cargo containers slowly getting filled up with those who couldn't afford to stay in the Habitat or needed to get away from its bosses and factions. Out here, folks have lived free and died fast, with those who survive earning their keep by either "diving" into the wreckage of Mission Control and bringing back valuable relics of the past, or figuring out a way to make money off the fools who do the diving.



Your destination lies ahead – a triply reinforced door flanked by twin auto-cannons drawing on a seemingly inexhaustible power supply. No one made it past during the Mutiny, and no one's made it past since. Like the proverbial flaming sword outside of Eden, it sits as a guardian, a symbol of ancient strength, and a promise of marvels beyond.



The Hydroponic Division was originally conceived to adapt Terran plants to the anticipated environment of Proxima Centauri. Extensive gene-editing was employed to develop resistance to alien fungi and pests, and accelerated adaptation hacked into the plants' genetic code.

Like many other critical systems, Hydroponics was abandoned during the Mutiny. The carefully cultivated flora and fauna was left on its own in harsh environs designed to propagate rapid and brutal evolutionary cycles. When men returned to reclaim Hydroponics, they discovered an environment as wild and hostile as any Earth jungle.

---

Party members with personal quests, development arcs (reflected in changing portraits), agendas, and beliefs. The first chapter gives you 3 party members out of 10:



... and introduces a party member who might join you later:

---

Overall, the first chapter represents a design template (how things work) in every aspect, except for the main quest which will branch into different directions in chapter 2. Before we apply this design template to the new locations, we'd like to show it to our core audience and see what you think. So if you don't mind supporting games still in development, welcome aboard.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/648410/Colony_Ship_A_PostEarth_Role_Playing_Game/

Greetings to you, worthy friends! KotC 2 is the brilliant offspring of acclaimed computer role-playing game Knights of the Chalice (now available on Steam). The new game is intended to recreate the best aspects of past 2D D&D computer RPGs such as Baldur's Gate 2, Temple of Elemental Evil, Dark Sun Shattered Lands, Champions of Krynn and Planescape: Torment.

KotC 2 uses the OGL 3.5, the ruleset at the root of tabletop RPG Dungeons & Dragons 3.5. D&D 3.5 is well known for its tactical depth and the wealth of its character classes, feats and spells. KotC 2 expands the library of races, classes, feats, skills and spells in order to be even more Devious & Deadly than D&D!

KotC 2 comes with a powerful integrated editor giving YOU the opportunity to turn your own idea of the perfect RPG scenario into the reality that many players will enjoy in years to come. The best modules may also generate an income stream for you.

The graphic style for characters and monsters in KotC 2 has been the subject of many a debate. I say let this Kickstarter campaign be the judge of how complex the graphic style should be.

No matter the style, you can be sure that KotC 2 adventures will always give priority to the quality of gameplay : the excitement of exploration and discovery, the satisfaction of using YOUR party and YOUR intelligence to overcome cunning enemy groups, the relief of surviving through gigantic traps only to become stronger, the sense of freedom and meaning experienced only when YOUR dialogue choices actually matter.

To me, RPGs are the most fascinating kind of video game. A good RPG maintains player interest by offering various activities that seem to flow naturally from one to the other:

• Character creation and improvement
  
• Exploration and world map navigation
  
• Tactical combat and survival
  
• Item collection and inventory management
  
• Riddle and puzzle resolution
  
• Coded message cryptography
  
• Story, quest and dialogue choices management

One of the hallmarks of a great RPG is the avoidance of the domination of any one of these activities over the others. For example, inventory management should not be overly time-consuming. KotC 2 addresses this issue by having enemies drop important items only, not their entire equipment.

Likewise, puzzles should not end up taking most of the player's time or become an endless source of frustration. Dialogue and story telling, while essential, are most effective when the opportunity of enjoying a substantial tactical combat challenge presents itself frequently to the player.

With the support of Kickstarter backers, we can transform KotC 2 from a single great game into an awesome series of adventure modules that will stand the test of time. KotC 2 was made on a shoestring budget without any support from banks, publishers or government, meaning that the game is a genuinely independent product.

A number of people generously donated their money, talent or time to the project. To these people I send a heartfelt Thank You, as this game could not exist in its present form without you!

With KS funding we can envision greater things for KotC 2. We can envision graphical environments and creatures on a par with Temple of Elemental Evil or Baldur's Gate 2. We can envision epic music on a par with that of Conan films or Neverwinter Nights 2 Storm of Zehir and Mask of the Betrayer.

We can envision a wealth of quests and companion interactions on a par with those of Baldur's Gate 2. We can envision a wealth of story telling and dialogue choices on a par with those of Planescape: Torment. We can envision the creation of new engrossing and challenging modules both by the developer and players for many years to come. With your help and support, let us turn this dream into a reality!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1848628223/knights-of-the-chalice-2-revolutionise-old-school-crpgs

Our dear Friends at Lost Pilgrims Studio have just released the Open-World main campaign for Vagrus - The Riven Realms.

Vagrus is a turn-based, open-world, dark fantasy RPG. The development team has been playing table-top RPGs (like DnD) on their home-brew setting, the Riven Realms, for over two decades, then based this game on it, so it has incredibly deep lore and immersive stories.

They have just posted a huge announcement on their Steam development blog about releasing the open-world main campaign of Vagrus to all their Crowdfunding Backers in preparation of bringing the game to Steam.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/909660/Vagrus__The_Riven_Realms





Vagrus is an award-winning Roleplaying Game with strategy elements, where the player takes the role of a vagrus - a sort of a caravan leader who makes a living on a strange and dangerous dark fantasy world by leading a traveling company on all kinds of ventures.

• A DARK CONTINENT
  A vast realm is yours to explore, filled with unique locations, strange factions, lurking dangers, and a slew of characters you can interact with.
  
  
  
• BRANCHING NARRATIVE
  A large selection of longer and shorter stories make up the game’s narrative in the form of events and quests. The choices you make in these can significantly affect the characters and the world around you.
  
  
  
• TURN-BASED COMBAT
  Take part in turn-based, tactical combat that involves your characters and a large variety of enemies, both humanoid and monstrous. Use a range of character skills and abilities to succeed. Fight against outlaws and monsters commanding your whole traveling company in pitched battles for resources.
  
  
  
• RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
  Most journeys have to be planned and prepared for carefully, lest they end in disaster. Manage your supplies, cargo, and crew effectively to survive. Take on contracts and follow rumors or trade opportunities.
  
  
  
• UNIQUE COMPANIONS
  The player can recruit fully-developed characters into the caravan to serve in versatile roles, such as scoutmaster, guard captain, spellweaver, or slavedriver. Each of them comes with their own background and personal quests lines.
  

Wishlist and follow Vagrus

for up-to-date information about its development milestones, upcoming features, and ultimately to get notified about its release when the time comes.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/648410/Colony_Ship_A_PostEarth_Role_Playing_Game/

As the title says, the hopefully long-awaited combat demo will be released tomorrow. A public release, even if it's only a combat beta, is a big milestone, as it's the foundation on which the rest of the game will be built. All the key features are there: the character system, increase-by-use skills, the combat system and AI, party mechanics, dialogue, inventory, pathfinding, etc. It's a game in itself, which is why it took so long to get to this stage.

I can talk some more about this journey and its emotional impacts, but instead let's talk about something that really matters - how are you going to survive in the demo? I know, I know. Just the other day you killed three dragons and fifty two ogres, so why should you worry about some malnourished humans coveting what little you have? Well, I think you should, so here are some friendly tips:

• You'll die. A lot. If that's a deal breaker to you, do yourself a favor and walk away. There's plenty of stress in real life, why add more?
  
  
• The tyranny of numbers: stats, skills, derived stats, feats, weapon stats, attack types, armor, range - anything that has some kinda number scribbled next to it - matter a lot, so choose them with care. If you don't like paying attention to numbers, there's a good chance you won't do well in combat.
  
  
• Your enemies use the exact same system, so if you see something that works well for them, it will work well for you too. Learn from your enemies because at this point they understand the system (via the combat AI) better than you do. Then (and only then) can you have your revenge.
  
  
• Different weapons require different tactics, feats, and gear. If your melee fighter blindly charges at five enemies with machine guns, don't be surprised if they promptly turn your character into Swiss cheese. You need high Evasion, boosted by a Distortion Field generator, you need smoke grenades (ranged penalty is much higher than melee penalty) and ideally thermal vision goggles. They can't hit what they can't see. Keep in mind that your rangers might find themselves on the receiving end one day.
  
  
• Even within the same class, different weapons are designed for different things. Long barrel pistols are designed for range and marksmanship. Revolvers for speed and reaction fire. Multi-barrel pistols are for double shots. So using a multi-barrel pistol in single-fire mode over some range would be a mistake whereas using it to deal with people who tend to get in your face would be a perfectly fine choice.
  
  
• Your THC (to-hit chance) will be low at first. We strongly suggest grabbing a specialization feat to raise your to-hit chance by 10 as soon as possible. It's not a mandatory feat but it will make things easier while you're struggling to survive. Pressing ALT while aiming will expand the targeting info and show the THC breakdown. The five main components that make your enemies hard to hit are:
  
  • their evasion ability (skill modified by feats, implants, and armor)
    
  • cover (either flank them or flush them out with poison grenades)
    
  • gadget (distortion field will make them very hard to hit but the effect doesn't last long)
    
  • your weapon's range (you lose accuracy with each tile beyond the effective range)
    
  • penalties inflicted upon your character via aimed attacks, smoke or flashbang grenades (better gear will help you reduce these penalties).
• There are no difficulty modes but there are 3 different ways to generate Random Numbers used to determine if you hit or miss: truly random (anything goes), lightly adjusted (numbers are drawn like cards from a deck, meaning you can't draw the same number twice under the deck is reshuffled), and heavily adjusted (the number of consecutive misses in a row is limited based on your THC, so no more missing 3 times in a row if your THC is 80%). Keep in mind that your enemies will use the same RNG too and would enjoy hitting the target more often.
  
  
• When in doubt about something, check the tooltips. We did a good job explaining the mechanics and values in tooltips, so if you wonder, for example, why your character has only 15 action points instead of 17 he or she is supposed to have, hover your mouse over the stat in question and you'll see that the armor penalty has reduced your AP by 2 points.

Good luck tomorrow. Looking forward to your feedback.