After a lot of thought I've decided to retire Roun while I work on it's as yet unnamed successor.
Roun mutated a bit during development and then had to change radically after launch when performance issues made it clear the initial concept of a fully online, multiplayer game was unrealistic given my skills and resources. It morphed into a single player game with local database server and I was never very happy with that approach.
The local database server was problematic for several reasons, greatly complicating installation and troubleshooting. There were also some dependencies on external web resources left over from the original design that couldn't really be removed without a thorough rebuilding.
In the almost two years since launch I have naturally imagined many gameplay improvements and feel there is now a better game within me. So the time has come to take down Roun's external dependencies and begin work on a successor with the following goals in mind:
Gameplay
Purely single player.
Emphasis on avatar development whilst retaining the concept of improvable followers joining the party but on a more of a temporary, swapping in and out basis.
Redesigned core combat, removing limitations carried over from the original online concept. Combat rounds will be conducted on a party, not character basis.
Surrender mechanic removed and replaced with quest driven way of temporarily recruiting non human followers.
Deeper crafting system with no random elements.
Development
New game engine for faster development and easier maintenance.
No dependency on local (or other) database server.
No web dependencies other than cloud saves.
Roun's successor will, like the original, be free to play.
I don't know the exact date yet when the current game will be removed from the Steam store but I have submitted a request for it to be taken down. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Steam, without which Roun would likely have never seen the light of day.
Backend Overhaul And Referral System
After a long time away I'm finally back to working on Roun. Some changes have been made in the last couple of weeks.
Roun's backend has been completely replaced. The old web service, which was built back when Roun was a totally online game, is gone. All server side functionality now runs completely on serverless functions. So the backend is easier to maintain and monthly hosting costs have been very drastically reduced.
A new referral system has been implemented. Want more fortune cards? Visit Faturna's temple and the Lady of Fortune's acolytes will share a secret code with you. Have a friend quote that code and you will both be rewarded with tokens of the Lady's favour. The temple can entered by clicking the appropriate button on the party selection (campfire) screen.
With the backend service redevelopment out of the way expect more content additions soon.
Out of early access!
Roun is coming out of early access today!
I think it's at a point where the new single player version is stable and there's enough content to hopefully keep people happy for quite a while.
It's been some time since the last news again. A big change has been it is now possible to recruit non human characters into your party. It's not easy though. The prospective recruit needs to surrender to you during battle. This can only happen under certain conditions (things have to be going really badly for them) and even when those conditions are met the chances of them having a surrender card in their hand is pretty slim.
Once in your party the new member can learn and equip ability cards appropriate to their skills just like their human compatriots. They cannot however use equipment other than one use cards. I'm hoping this adds a bit of a new dimension. Sick of having cards you can't use like Bite played against you? Get a Wolf into your party and suddenly those Bite cards become desirable!
Tier three trials are in! Visit locations such as Hidden Lake, East Duskmoor and West Marwich to prove your mettle and be rewarded with tier three ability cards!
The foul depths of Spitefang Burrow are now a little deeper. Adventurers familiar with this location should return and explore the lair of the Milk Mother herself.
As ever there is still more to do. Coming priorites are:
New heroic encounters for those locations that lack them.
New named encounters with tier two and above special weapon drops.
More ability card and random item quests.
More tier three and four locations.
Sequel neck item quests for their glowing and shining versions.
Always happy to hear other suggestions, drop by the steam community page and let me know.
Autonext, battle reports and a couple of new locations
It's been a little while since the last announcement. Here's what's been happening.
A new setting called AutoNext has been added which you can toggle off and on in the settings screen. By default it is on, meaning that you do not have to click the Next button to progress through turn results, instead you will automatically be progressed after a short pause. Want to see a record of everything that happened during a battle from start to finish? A new report button now appears on completion. Click it to see everything that happened from go to woah.
The patcher has had a bit of an overhaul. Hopefully it looks a bit better now and actually gives feedback on what it's doing. It also now has the ability to modify the structure of the client side database, giving me much more flexibility for adding new features in the future.
Two new tier five locations have been added to the game.
Have you plumbed the cursed catacombs beneath Mason's Rest? Well now you can plumb a little deeper. Vampires, Lichs and assorted possessed clergymen are waiting on your visit.
Far beneath the surface of seemingly peaceful Nagoa Lake a hidden grotto is populated by giant crustaceans known as Marcanium. Be especially wary of their shell backed pets, the deadly Marcannons!
Maximum party size
You can now recruit all six possible character types into your party. There is a restriction though in that only four party member may be 'active' and able to participate in battle.
This is managed by dropping character in and out of the group whilst in town using the new 'Manage' screen which also incorporates the old 'Order' screen functionality. Feel like you made a wrong choice with one of your recruitments but your group is full? Give one member a rest and hire another! Dropped characters retain all of their cards and can be picked up again from any town whenever you wish exactly as they were.
There is a new tier five location to explore. Venture to central Duskmoor and visit the lovely historical attraction of Shadowhearth Manor. A dedicated staff of delightful shadow demons are waiting to greet (eat) you.
The alien creatures that infest Leviathan Strand have been tweaked a little and are the first practitioners of a brand new skill, Nightmare, which causes the target the target to suffer effect damage whenever they hold.
Archers finally have a neck item quest. If you''ve established a business relationship with Nassini, the leatherworker in Birchwood, you should return there. A wild looking stranger has a job for you.
Witherthorn and the new content delivery system
The first new location post the single player patch has been added. Witherthorn, a new tier five location, is waiting to be discovered north of the Perregrine Grasslands. Enter this haunted wood to confront an insidious coven of Briar Witches and their unnatural abominations.
Now that the new content delivery system which doesn't require patching via Steam has been sorted you can expect new locations and enemies to start appearing on a regular basis. In the meantime bug fixes continue. For instance you may have noticed that enemies are sometimes targeting already dead party members, which is rather poor form. Your own parties may have also engaged in such unchivalrous behaviour when in auto battle mode. Common decency will be restored soon.
I had hoped to get the Archer neck quest implemented along with Witherthorn but wasn't able to get it all done in time. It is coming though.
Single player patch rolls out tomorrow!
The single player update is finally ready and, if everything goes to plan, it'll be available for download tomorrow around midday (AEST).
I previously suggested the current game would come down and a new one be put up. It turned out to be easier to patch the existing one. This should mean you don't really have to do anything. Just download the patch and launch the game. You will see an installation prompt for local database drivers appear (which for the life of me I couldn't find a good way to supress). Just click yes to that and you should be good to go.
Is it faster?
Yes! Much faster.
Is it still free to play?
Yes! I think it's better this way. The old store is available again if you'd like to purchase one use cards or increase your bank space.
If the data sits client side now couldn't I just hack the database and get all the cards I want?
Yes, you could and I won't judge you for it. I'll just say that it'd be easier to make a small payment and help fund future development. But it's your call.
What happens to my old parties?
I'm afraid all the old server side data will not be accessible once you patch. I'm sorry about that but hope you'll find the much faster speed of play worth it.
Was it only the multiplayer aspects that were removed?
Yes. Just the Arena and Duelling features no longer exist.
Will they be back?
Probably down the track but in a very different form. That won't really be my focus for now though.
Will new content still be added now the data's client side?
Yes and that's what I'm working on now. I intend to add a lot of new locations, quests, enemies, loots and equipments before Roun leaves Early Access. This won't require patches via Steam. New content updates will automatically be downloaded when you start the game.
Thanks again for your patience and feedback everybody. The initial version ran much slower than I anticipated once multiple players were on; this one is much more like the Roun I wanted you to see.
Please let me know about any bugs you encounter and any ideas or comments you have.
Too slow? An offline single player version is on the way!
Firstly, thanks for all the feedback. Most people seem to be saying that they like the game mechanics but don't feel it's as fun as it should be due to the long delay when performing most actions.
I've talked about this on a discussion thread but here's a quick recap. Roun was intended to be an online only game, playable without interacting with other players if you wanted but also containing synchronous and asynchronous pvp elements. Due to the online nature all data sits server side and every action the player takes requires an interaction with the server. Unfortunately once it came out in Early Access last week the server side code just didn't cut it, making the game too slow for most people to really enjoy.
I've gotten feedback on this from current players and over the last three days I've chatted face to face with many people at a local convention (Cancon) about it.
There seems to be wide support for re-releasing as a purely single player, offline game with online pvp to be added later. As of today that's what I'm focussing on.
What does that mean for the current game?
It'll stay up for now but probably won't come out of Early Access and will be removed from the store once the single player game is done. I'm also going to drop the server support back to where it was originally (it's been scaled up to alleviate the worst of the slowness over the last few days). This means it's probably going to get slower but I just don't have the resources to keep the servers scaled up indefinitely.
Today I will also remove the store button from the settings screen so that microtransactions can't be made. It doesn't seem right to leave them in there if this version is not going to continue on to a full release.
I won't be adding new content to the current game, instead focussing on moving everything over to the single player one.
How will the single player version be different?
All data will sit client side with a server side currency check made once during startup. This will allow me to continue to push new content (locations, quests, tweaks etc) once the game is single player.
There will initially be no pvp elements in the single player version. I do intend to reintroduce online pvp as an optional feature later.
Everything other than pvp should be in the single player game exactly as it is in the current one.
Will it still be free-to-play?
I'm afraid not. The single player version will not have the same scope for microtransactions so will have to come with a purchase price. I don't know yet what that will be but I'll make it competitive with other indie RPGs on steam. There may also be additional dlc for purchase down the track.
How long will it take to make the single player game?
I'm not really sure. Theoretically it shouldn't be that difficult to make the conversion but I wouldn't want to put a timeframe on it. I'll post here when it starts getting close.
Thanks very much for your patience everybody and I hope, minus the speed issues, you have enjoyed what you've played so far.
