Kickstarter

The Game:

Cleave will be the first game developed by Wolves of Ragnarok Studios and seeks to meld two established genres into a single game. Select where you wish to attack on a tactical map of Silver Vale then engage in tower defence battles to determine who will control that segment of land.

With three separate factions, thirty maps and sixty characters, Cleave will have a lot of variety without ever deviating from its simple and fun formula.

Pre-battle mini-games will introduce buffs or debuffs to make each match different while single use heroes provide a level of strategy to turn the tide of battle if used effectively. 

As well as the gameplay there will be ample lore and stories to flesh out the world and characters that can be unlocked as you play. 

We would like your support in order to take the game to the next level, to build upon the solid structure that we have already established and make it as good as we can. Extra features and extra polish are our main goals at this point but enough support could see new modes, better functions and even multiplayer.

We plan to sell the finished game digitally for £7.99 so by showing us your support with this Kickstarter you actually get access to the game at a discounted price as a gesture of our thanks. While we intend to release the core game in September 2016, depending on which goals are met on Kickstarter, extra features such as multiplayer may be released as patches at a later date. The mobile version would also be released later once the Steam version is fully completed. We can firmly say that the game will be in its final state within the first half of 2017.

How it Plays:

Cleave is a simple concept that merges tower defence with turn-based conquest. At the start of the game the player will choose which of the three factions they wish to use. Each has ten unique units to use in battle and has its own character driven story to tell. 

There will be a map of war showing the thirty individual territories of Silver Vale that are split between the three factions. The player will pick an enemy territory adjacent to one of their own to attack. They can then choose whether to be the attacking or defending side. There will be a small minigame based on observation or reaction which will determine any bonuses or disadvantages in the coming battle to make each game more varied.

The battle will begin and the player can place their units limited only by their number of Supplies, the game’s resource. Defenders gain additional Supplies every set amount of seconds from Supply Chest positioned behind each lane and need to prevent Attackers from reaching them. Attackers gain Supplies from killing defending units or taking chests while wanting to get warriors past the Defender line to win the game.

Each unit has a powerful leader that can be placed once each battle. They have higher stats than the standard unit and offer strong effects to buff their units. Leaders create a wider sense of strategy and can turn the tide of a battle if used correctly.

At the end of the battle the winning side will take control of the territory. Each faction will take their turn to attack. The goal is to capture every territory and rule over Silver Vale.

Lore:

Silver Vale was once ruled by the kingdom of Haleran until a crystalline meteor fell from the sky and crashed into the northern section of the continent. Clouds of toxic dust filled the air and corrupted the minds of anything exposed to it. This was known as the Insanity Incident.

The king boarded off the inner kingdom and left those on the edge of the crisis to find for themselves. Madmen emerged from the dust seeking only blood. A resistance was formed which elected a blacksmith called Dane Steel to lead them. Steel won back much of the lost land and kept the people safe but refused to return the lands once the king finally reopened the border.

This was the start of the Steel Rebellion which only grew fiercer when Steel himself was assassinated. The rebellion grew both in size and strength until it officially branded itself as The Order of Steel. By this point The Order controlled the entirety of the southwest lands.

Meanwhile in the north, the dust faded but the damage done to the population was irreversible. Madness of all kinds consumed their minds, making most little better than battle-crazed raiders. Intelligence was still there though and leaders rose up to provide some measure of society. Insanity, as the land was now know, is less a united force and more a collection of tribes who are just as willing to fight amongst themselves as they are against the southern factions. Occasionally though, an individual comes along who can pull the tribes together and threaten to destroy the rules of Haleran and The Order.

Three powerful armies at each other’s doorsteps, each wanting to control it all. Tensions are high and war is inevitable. Silver Vale has always belonged beneath a single crown and will do so again. Whose head the crown sits upon is in the hands of fate...

The Inspiration: 

Cleave is the product of my fascination with the games industry and a yearning to get involved in it. My main goal was to create something simple and fun that could be enjoyed by people from all walks of life. 

The thing that sparked the idea of Cleave in my head was my mother's sudden obsession with Plants Vs Zombies. Being a person who never plays games I was surprised when she started to spend hours a day on a game that I actually liked. The simple game mechanics made it enjoyable for both gamers and non-gamers alike. 

With that Idea in mind I wanted to create a fantasy oriented game with the simple but fun mechanics of a grid-based tower defence. I wanted a way to link those random matches together though and found that a map based conquest mode provided I narrative thread to string battles together while also adding a fresh mechanic.

Investing my own money I assembled a small team with the intent to create something that was basic yet enjoyable. Things came together quickly and we soon had a few characters and maps to throw into battle.

The Team:

Matthew Roys (Lead Designer/Writer) - That is me. I created the game's concept, funded the initial development, created all of the characters and settings and wrote any text in game. I also manage the studio's social media and am the one running this campaign so if you have any questions or feedback then I'm your man.

William Whittaker (Programmer, 3D Environment/Character Artist, Animator) - The miracle worker. While I deal with the bigger picture, Will is the brain and brawn of the operation. He takes my ideas and translates them into character models, environments and gameplay. 

Jenna Whittaker (Concept Artist) - Jenna provides us with awesome art for all elements of the game, including the beautiful logo. 

Elijah Archibald (Sound Designer/Composer) - Our master of sounds. Elijah provides us with all of the games SFX and the awesome score. 

Joshua Clark (Character Artist) - Responsible for designing several of our characters.

Stretch Goals:

• £5,500 - Multiplayer Mode. We will impliment the means to play online in either simple head to head battles or whole faction campaigns. This means that three friends could play against each other to control Silver Vale.
• £8,000 - 2D Mobile Version. Play Cleave on the go on your phone or tablet. This goal would allow us to alter the game to best work on portable devices which would open it up to a whole new potential audience.
• £9,000 - 6 new maps and 12 new characters. More territories to conquer, more maps to fight on and more units and leaders to choose from and learn about. 
• £10,500 - Unity Pro Licence. A simple upgrade to our software that will allow us access to more tools to better polish up the game.