Tales of Illyria is an unique episodic party-based role playing experience that simulates the experience of playing a pen and paper role playing game.
The RPG aspect of the game is played somewhat like the good old classic Darklands, and the combat is like Disciples 2 but in platform view.
But unlike Disciples 2, you can equip your party with armor and weapons.
The graphic is 2D and each character change it’s avatar depends on what armor/items he has.
The development stage is very advanced, the game engine is already complete and the first episode could be out in several months, if funded.
If you pledge $20, you will get all the future episodes (3 are currently planned) of the series.
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Tales of Illyria borrows the dark fantasy tone of Game of Thrones and mixes it with the high fantasy elements found in Lord or the Rings and role playing games such as The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim.
The lands of Illyria are split into disparate kingdoms on the verge of a civil war. The kingdom of Hysperia, which rules the rest of Illyria, has its allies and its enemies. The player steps into the role of Elric, who is brought in by the lord of Hysperia’s greatest enemy to bring down the tyrannical rule of King Gareth and allow the kingdoms of Illyria to rule on their own in peace.
The story is wrapped in an engaging soundtrack, with music composed specifically for this game. Nearly a hundred individual tracks set the mood in places such as taverns and towns, as well as quicken the pulse in battle.
The story is full of developed characters – not just your party members, but also characters you come across in your journey show a great deal of personality. All characters have different loyalties, alignments, morale, and reputations, keeping the cast diverse and believable. As you travel, you will be engaged in many conversations, in which the characters show their true personalities.
Illyria is not only populated by humans. Elves, ogres, and even sea people dot the landscape, while far more intimidating monsters lurk in the darkness of caves. These non-human people are accepted as equals in some communities, such as the more tribal kingdom of Kourmar, but are shunned and considered monsters in others.
Travel the World
One of our main sources of inspiration is Oregon Trail. Like Oregon Trail, you are on an epic journey. Your party is subject to all the dangers of pre-modern era travel. The weather, disease, access to food and water, and bandits provide a constant threat to your party and mission. As the party travels, seasons change. Each season brings a new challenge, be it from different monsters that are active, or from different challenges the weather brings.
The travel screen features parallax scrolling, helping to submerge the player into the richly developed world. As with all of the art, each layer of the environment was carefully painted to make the world feel real.
Dangers of Illyria
We have developed a very unique feeling real-time order based combat system. As the battle commences, each party member can be selected and commanded to perform an action, be it cast a spell, use a skill, or simply attack. The characters will continue that action until told to do otherwise. The characters aren’t completely helpless without you, however. As enemies fall, your party members will shift into better position to damage the enemy.
The party battle area has two rows: a front row, for your main melee attacks, and a back row for ranged attacks and spells. If a party member in the back row can’t act, and there is a space in front of them, they will move into position to better face the threat at hand.
With battle comes arms and armor, and Tales of Illyria makes sure the player has plenty to choose from. Players can choose from a wide range of helmets, armor, swords, axes, and even horses to help them in their journey. Each weapon type has a different way it damages, some ignoring armor at the cost of speed, while others being quick but less effective against heavily armored opponents.
Equipped armors will change the character’s appearance appropriately, in their talking portraits, travel animations, and battle animations. We have created over 5,000 unique images to reflect the individual appearance of each piece of equipment.
Battles aren’t the only danger in Tales of Illyria. Party members can be stricken with disease from drinking spoiled water, or break a limb while hunting. These status ailments will impact the party member’s ability to perform well in combat and in their skill-based actions.
Skills, Karma, and Reputation
There are many non-battle events that the player will come across in the game that will require the characters to rely on specific skills, rather than physical prowess, to succeed in. Characters can increase these skills by using them in events, as well as by visiting different guild halls.
The decisions the player makes while playing the game makes a large impact in how other characters react to them. We have developed Karma and Reputation systems, which will determine how not only people you pass act, but also your party members. Do too much evil, and you will lose the morale of your good characters. Act to purely, and your evil party members won’t be happy.
Your decisions will also affect your reputation with the different kingdoms. If you harass too many people or cause too much trouble in a kingdom, you will find that people are less willing to work with you, and you may have more trouble with guards. That said, causing trouble in a kingdom can raise your reputation with that kingdom’s enemies.
Not Vaporware
Tales of Illyria has been in the works for two years. Our team is small, but dedicated, and we want to be able to share our project with the world. If we are able to be funded, we will be able to cut the release date back from over a year to mere months.
As this is just the first chapter in a much longer saga, we have developed a unique game engine that handles everything from travel to random events, as well as a complete battle engine that engages the player while allowing the characters to behave semi-autonomously.
Features
• Over 5,000 unique sprites for full character customization
• Passage of time & seasons
• Cinematic Parallax travel
• Epic story
• Food & water, attrition of goods
• Interacting characters
• Diverse land with individually developed kingdoms
• Event based Dungeon Master system
• Real-time order based combat
• Weapon and armor weaknesses
• Alignment, Morale, Karma & Reputation systems
• Custom music – Include full intro music, Text
• Game Engine Complete – Video & Text
• Tools & Technology fully developed – Video & Text
• Translated into different languages – Realtime Google Translation
• Not vaporware: Once funded, the game could be completed in mere months
Thanks for taking an interest in our project. Stay tuned for updates.
Check out our other games, too: ‘Legends Arcana’, and our free game ‘The Ultimate Bad-Ass Game of All Time’, both on the Android platform.