Hey guys, check out the Kickstarter for our upcoming old-school turn-based RPG Antharion:

Antharion Kickstarter Page

For some reasons, it reminds me of Ultima.

The Ultima series was one of the main sources of inspiration behind the game.

Can you elaborate more on the meaningful decisions? Perhaps just give an example of choices and consequences? Also regarding the skills system, I only saw 9 in the pitch video. Is that finalized, or do you plan to add more?

The game looks promising. I have some questions about your budget.

How did you come up with $15k? Roughly how do you plan to spend it (e.g. your composer is billing you for $5000)? In other words, can you show us both why you need $15k, and how you know that it will be enough?

You posted on your forums that you are aiming for June 2013, but in the pitch, you said that reaching your goal will help you finish the game much faster. Do you need the $15k to ship in June, or will the $15k help you ship earlier than June?

Thanks for your time. Your work is looking solid, I'm just angling for a little more detail on the business side.

Between this, Brenda Brathwaite and Tom Hall's KS, and Project Eternity, if I hear the words "Old School RPG" again I'll scream...

Oops, indeed. I watched the video first and I'm now reading the Overview.

Hey guys and thanks for your interest in the project.

Meaningful decisions - For one, your party has a reputation (kind of like Karma). Throughout the game you'll reach many forks in the road (for example, do I free all of the Orcs held in the slave camp or burn them alive as the quest giver asked me to?) - and the decisions you make will affect your reputation accordingly. Develop a horrible rep as a murderer and plunderer and you'll find that the local priest may not want to deal with you anymore. On the other hand, if your rep is too squeaky clean some of the more nefarious characters may not trust and want to deal with you. Also you'll be able to buy houses, kill local governer's and aquire all of their land and property, go inside any building and steal anything (though if you're seen then you might be in for a fight or have the guards called on you), and much more.

The skills you see are the working set we have now, though they may very well change (probably by adding to them).

15k was the lowest possible amount I thought we'd need to finish the project in a timely manner without any worries or hastle. I pay my pixel artist at least $500 a week and have been doing so for the last 2 months. Antharion has been totally self-funded by myself for the last year and the financial burden is starting to press on me - that's why I went to Kickstarter. 15k will remove this burden and allow me to speed up development significantly, depending on how well our campaign does Antharion could be completed well before June - the core engine and tools are all done so it's pretty much building the world and polishing the gameplay mechanics from here on out. Art is expensive and there are a lot of restrictions in place due to my limited budget. A successful Kickstarter means that I can have my artist make more and better art assets rather than the bare minimum, also we're hiring a composer and that alone should cost in the neighborhood of $5,000.00.

Ari
Antharion Team Leader
OrphicSoftware

What about translations to other languages?

Agreed.
Do developers even realize that "old school RPG" doesn't even mean anything, considering the diversity in what was considered an RPG in the 90s?

Personally, I dislike buzz words, marketing speak and name dropping in KS projects. I'd much rather have a clear description of what the game will be (although I'll admit this project is at least clearer on that point than Loot Drop or Obsidian's).

Thanks. You mentioned the iPad - is that part of the $15k, or above and beyond?

What will realistically happen to the project if you haven't completed it after spending the $15k?

Cool thanks for the reply Ari! DRM-free version, will there be?

I also noticed that you get the box in the $75 tier. What will it be like? $75 isn't very high, and it's possible printing all that stuff may cost more than what you get.

Translations are something we're currently considering and, if we exceed our Kickstarter goal by enough,it's safe to say we'll do it.

The iPad version is part of the 15k, yes. If we meet our goal there will definitely be an iPad version of Antharion released at the same time as the PC and Mac versions.

The PC and Mac versions will both be DRM-free, yes.

The $75 dollar version will include a full-fledged big box with full color box art and yes $75 is more than enough to cover the cost of the box, printing setup, and all of the rest.

Bummer to hear about the iPad version. I would have liked to see the team focusing on a PC and Mac version first. Nonetheless based off the gameplay shown in the trailer, you guys seem to know what you're doing, so props for that. All the best!

Aw come on. With this kind of gameplay and artstyle the interface wouldn't be that impacted. It'd be like saying I'd rather they focus on the PC version first before working on the Mac version. :P

About decisions you can make in the game: Is it more good/evil choices or are there some grey areas? Are there different factions you can interact with and possibly join?