About
Child of XCOM and Bloodborne that was raised by Darkest Dungeon.
Alder’s Blood, a fresh take on the tactial genre, which raises the tactical decisions of the player over the mere luck of RNG rolls.
Lead the group of legendary monster slayers in the dark, twisted remnants of civilization. Gear up, scout ahead and hunt throughout putrid forests, forsaken castles, corrupted hamlets and cursed coves. Battle feral monsters and the Darkness itself, the corrupting force of the entire land.
We consider Steam as a first platform we hit, then GOG. We do not deny other platforms in the future (PS4, Switch).
- no RNG system in the base mechanics; forget all the missed shots fired just 1 meter in front of your enemy;
- Darkness System can surprise you by changing the rules on the game in the middle of the fight;
- Stamina System - fail miserably just by losing your breath during combat;
- Senses System - monsters can hear and SMELL you! Beware of the wind;
- Strategy - a second gameplay layer, where you can research new gear, craft items and prepare for the next encouter;
- Boss fights - track down and face challenging enemies in storyline missions.
Alder's Blood is a 2D fuse of tactical and strategy game mixed with a few twists and fresh approach to the genre. We removed the RNG systems from core mechanics of the combat, as we believe that we can provide interesting and surprising experience without implementing the dice rolls.
On the strategy layer, you will prepare for a specific mission by conducting research, crafting Hunter's equipment and scouting the terrain by sending your henchmen. We also include a reactive quest system where NPCs can be turned into monsters, deranged or die. The story arcs are heavily connected to the player’s actions. Actions, quests and story can be quite different in every playthrough.
In Alder’s Blood, tactical combat is a turn-based battle that takes place on the hex map. Every mission has its own objective (eliminate the enemies, steal an item, escort or defend civilians), which can be obtained only by the wise usage of our characters’ skills. Battles take place in the dark, so the visibility is limited. Only a good strategy will allow us to survive and fulfill the purpose of the mission.
Every action costs Action Points - each character has two of them - and Stamina Points (number of them depends on character). Stamina will partially replenish at the start of your next turn. Use your resources wisely; there are lots of enemies lurking in the night. A smart Hunter is always vigilant and feel the presence of sharp claws in the darkness. Observe the stamina pool - be careful. Do not waste it all on one enemy. Exhausted Hunter (with no stamina left) is completely defenceless and can be knocked down easily even by the weak ones.
Cooperation is an important word that you need to be familiar with. Combine your characters' abilities to prepare a solid team, able to overcome even the strongest creatures. Remember that lonely Hunter is – mostly - a dead Hunter. There are a few different classes of Hunters. Every class has its strengths and weaknesses. Classes have their own, unique sets of usable weapons and skills. Hunter will be able to overcome raw and unpredictable habits of the Nature combining skills and weapons. There's no one universal way of doing it.
Some abilities can inflict special effects on different targets. This factor affects both hunters and enemies. The combinations of special effects can be highly effective when eliminating beasts or - on the other hand - crushingly devastating to your team.
In Alder's Blood, you need to hide from the beasts' sight. Treat with caution; don’t make any sounds, otherwise you will alarm your foes. Observe the wind; your smell can lure your adversaries to you. The enemies can smell your natural odor. Different environments will affect the smell in different ways. A strong wind can be a great advantage during one mission, in other one - it can bring damages to your team.
Every Hunter produces scent that can be picked up by a beast to track him down. Wind will affect the scent by spreading it on the battlefield. Player will have to plan accordingly to the surroundings and stay not only in the dark places but also deal with windward.
The Hunter can use the smell to his advantage by preparing an ambush using baited traps, luring the beasts and attacking them when the time is right.
The curse that shrouds the land with its omnipresence, twisting everything into hideous forms. Darkness, in its entirety, is able to lock down a part of the map in the dark, summon enemies or turn the beasts into even more dangerous forms. It also spawns the Pawns of Darkness - thralls that fear nothing, made only for one purpose: to kill.
The Darkness system will provide diversity and intensity to the encounters. Players actions will affect the Darkness directly. Every Hunter carries a shard of dark gaze inside. Hunter can unleash impressive powers by using it, but at the same time he feeds the Darkness and provokes it to hurt him and his bretheren even more.
Strategy map is divided into regions. Every region got it's own, unique story to be revealed. Your actions will affect these stories and people that play special roles in a specific story. Will you save the attacked village risking life of your hunters? Will you stop caring about innocent lives by choosing much safer scenario for your team?
Discover forbidden knowledge, study your enemies’ corpses to perform better in combat. Craft gear, that will fit the Hunter's needs precisely and bring havoc towards your enemies. Prepare yourself: THIS world is not forgiving.
The main goal of our Hunters is to find the source responsible for the madness surrounding them. To accomplish that, they need to track down the Emissaries that roams lands of Alder's Blood. Every Emissary is a challenging opponent; also locating every each one of them can be challenging. Using the strategic view, you will be able to send out hired agents in order to look for clues and intel telling a bit more about these monstrous enemies.
Agents can be used to scout missions for you, providing life-saving insight before the battle. They can quicken the process of your item production research. They can also seek for more hunters that will join your cause. Remember: don’t be too demanding, they are as weak and fragile as ordinary people. They can lose their life or mental health quickly facing a difficult task.
The Moon shines on the murky sky perpetually as a sign of the curse that fell on the world. The influence of the Moon is noticeable and no one actually knows how it works. A wise Hunter should be aware of it. Every phase of the Moon has different effect on all kinds of creatures. Some monsters feed on the Full Moon, as it affects their strength. Other ones lurk in the dark craters of the New Moon, because the presence of their master is clearer than ever.
Adapting to the Moon cycles is the key to survive. Confront the monsters during their weakest shape and pick the right moment to strike. Sometimes you will have to face a difficult decision. The world, as you already know – is not forgiving. Will you fight the blind-fury, moon-driven creatures to save people? Or will you leave them for a certain death and take care of the beasts when the Moon will assist you? The choice is yours.
The world is covered in constant dusk. “Day” and “night” are no longer a thing. The lunar light of the Moon ceaselessly illuminates the dark like a grim reminder of the curse. The God is no longer with us and the Nature is now the main enemy for the mankind. Crowded cities are filled with people, as these places are the last bastions of hope. Citizens still wait for a certain death, having an illusion of security and safety. Constant waves of dark creatures destroyed most of the Civilization’s work.
However, even in the darkest night, there is always a glimmer of hope. Due to the response to the latest events, Hunters reunited once again. After regaining their forces, they will lead the last fight in the name of human.
Hunters have many tools and talents at their disposal when hunting their prey, each special to the particular hunter. Jaeger is using his old weapons of war to bring down monsters with heavy bullets from his rifle. Antiquarian brings to the fight artifacts from the Age of Chivalry: silver swords, stell armors and sacred relicts. Each Hunter has his own, unique playstyle. Combine skills of different Hunters to form the most efficient combat party, ready for every type of danger.
During peace, some Hunters were hiding their true identity; some of them served lords in their private, minor armies; other Hunters decided to study about the nature of the creatures just in case next flood of monsters. Some of Hunters hit the rock bottom becoming alcoholics, bandits and grasants. Up against the wall, they abandoned their former lives and teamed up to defend last bastions of mankind.
Often called “The Filth of Earth” or “Nature’s Wrath”. People faced monsters for the first time during the first flood of beasts. This cataclysm was remembered as the greatest thread that ever happened to mankind. These deadly creatures are always hungry for human flesh: they will hunt down anyone who is foolish enough to approach wilderness without preparations.
Player will have to face different creatures in each Province of the world. Every "faction" of monsters is characterized by it's looks, but above all it's play style.
- Werewolves are the apex predators in Putrid Grooves, with their raw strenght and abnormal sence of smell.
- Freeholds are home to mutated villagers, fused with flesh of their livestock.
- Icy pick of Valley of Faces are ruled by stealthy vampiric enemies, each one of them a strong enemy even for a whole party of hunters.
- And lastly the Salty Lock, a dried up laguna is haunted by the spirits of forgotten victims of a hidden crime.
Once in a while, the Hunters will face the real struggle. Bigger, known for centuries, terrifying creatures grew their power on the flesh of countless victims. Those unholy elders are called The Apostles.
Touched by the Darkness itself, these enemies are a challenge of its own. Every each Apostle has to be tracked down firstly. Hunter will gain the insight and will look for clues in the area to find a lair or nest of the Apostle. The team has to be prepared for a gruelling duel, as the defeat of the Apostle is the only chance of tracking down the source of the corruption.
The idea of making music for Alder's Blood came from mixing dark and drone ambient sounds with sound spectrum created with classical victorian instruments. Adam plans to focus on the "feeling" instead of catchy melodies, which will "click" with historical times and world itself. Try to think more about sound that made SunnO))) recognizable than classical victorian opera or bards playing in taverns. Our game will be grim and scary, so the music also has to give specific amount of goosebumps. The player will be able to feel emotions that we can compare to loneliness. Read the whole story about Adam's approach to his music on our blog - here.
The most important thing for us, just as important as the game itself, are you - the players. We’re doing our best focusing on our work – we try to deliver a finished and polished product as soon as possible, so we are doing everything to keep our minds clear of thoughts about other part-time jobs. In this situation, it's really tough to bring Alder’s Blood together with preparing and sending non-digital rewards, such as merchandise etc.
In the world of Alder's Blood, the promise means nothing, In our world – the world of Shockwork Games – promise means a lot.
That's why we had to pick a safe solution and prepare only digital packages for you. Really fun digital packages, we hope!
Oh, and because this game is full of blood, we thought that at the end of the campaign it would be cool to donate our own blood to the local Blood Donation Centre, no matter what results this project may bring. We do it often anyways. You guys should do it too. Our real world needs real blood, not for the monsters living only in fantasy area, but for people that needs it every day.
First of all, we are an indie studio from a little town. We’re all a bunch of friends; not just co-workers. We "cook" Alder’s Blood mostly from our homes (we don't have our own office yet).
We need Kickstarter more than anything to deliver you a good, polished and quality game with every detail prepared with care. These are all important parts of a full product, that should be and will be 100% ready for the release. We hope that this campaign provide us opportunities we did not considered at first and these will wrap up the game itself when it will be finally ready for a premiere for you guys.
We have to hire testers, improve the animations, hire proffessional voice actors. The most important thing for us is to focus entirely on the project. Some of us do freelancer jobs during weekends to "survive". With your help, our weekends will be full of Alder’s Blood, not any of this other-life-things nonsense.
Risks and challenges
Being an indie developer is an exciting and incredible feeling. Making your own game is fun, but responsibility comes with a number of risks and challenges.
Financial risk: We’ve already invested in Alder’s Blood ourselves. We did it by dividing our daily time, but also by bringing our own money to the table. We are very attached to the project and it’s a big part of our lifes right now. We’ve put so much love, hope and energy into Alder’s Blood, that we believe it deserves to finally see the daylight… And hopefully it will, with your help!
Schedule risk: Delays are the big issue in game development. Something unexpected always could happen. The delay can happen in this kind of work, especially when you think about a small team doing everything they possibly can.
With the factor of implementing new features, it’s really hard to predict an exact date of completing this task. We’ll do our best to release the game in the first quarter of 2019 and if something unpredicted happens, we’ll always let you know.
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Funding period
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