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Barony
Sheridan Sep 3, 2014
Hi, my name is Sheridan. I'm the leader of a small team of independent game developers, and for over a year we've been developing a game called Barony.
View video on youtube.com

Barony is a 3D, first-person RPG featuring cooperative multiplayer, dungeon-crawling mechanics, roguelike elements, and real-time action. The goal of the game is to destroy an undead lich named Baron Herx, who terrorized the world above in a previous life and is now holding out in a vast subterranean complex known as the Devil's Bastion. The game fully supports cooperative multiplayer for up to four players, meaning you can experience this adventure by yourself or with a few friends over LAN or the internet.

Looks like Minecraft!
It's not. When you think of Minecraft, you probably think of vast, blocky landscapes punctuated by creatively designed buildings and populated with friendly sheep, pigs, or occasionally the mischievous creeper. Not so with Barony. In Barony, you can expect the average scene to be dark, cramped, and very, VERY hostile. At your best, you might be eking by with the food and equipment you've found littered around the dungeon; at your worst, you may find yourself starving, blind, and helpless as an equally hungry rat chews on your sorry and defenseless butt.

Minecraft is a creative adventure game; Barony is a hard-boiled roguelike.

What are the primary influences, then?
To put it simply:
  • Nethack

  • The Ultima Series (including Ultima Underworld)

  • System Shock 1/2

  • Daggerfall


If you have fond memories of these games, you may be pretty pleased to see what our game has to offer.

Where can I get it?
Right here!

For the past few months we've been releasing alpha builds of the game for free on the game's official website. Each build contains binaries for both Windows AND Linux, and we intend to officially support Macs in the future as well.

Please try our game and tell us what you think of it! If you like it, share it with your friends, too. If you run into technical difficulties or have any other questions, comments, or criticism, please post those here as well. We want your feedback!
Sheridan Sep 4, 2014
Excellent feedback, thank you! I'll address some of your concerns:

Tile graphics: I agree about this - we haven't put an awful amount of work into that because we haven't managed to locate any dedicated tile artist... hmm. I'll raise the issue again with my team and see what we can do.

Font size and other minor GUI irritations: This is something many, many people have brought up with us... it's definitely on our todo. We'll get to it eventually! :)

Music: Most people seem to like the music, but I had a sense it was too repetitive and you're one of the few who have come out and said it. I'll make sure to bring this up the next time I'm with our team.

Lighting: You're probably the only person who's ever noticed that! Yes, light is tile based rather than edge/vertex based, so some anomalies like that can be spotted once in a while. I may change this sometime in the future, but the current method is very fast even if it's not perfectly accurate so I might not. We'll see.

Game Over: A "you are dead" screen which lists all of your achievements and gives you the option to restart has been planned forever but it's always been one of those things that we'll just get to eventually... it can be thrown on the pile with leaderboards and other things that make the game feel much more *complete* in general.

Difficulty: Generally speaking, most of the game's difficulty is intentional, but since the game is still in alpha we're open about changing things that are determined to be simply not fun or downright frustrating. That said, the general principle that certain things may kill if you don't have the experience and foresight is pretty integral to roguelikes in general and is not going away, but other people have suggested we do things such as add directional indicators to damage so players can know where they're being hit and that's definitely something we're going to add in the future. A tutorial of some kind that teaches the player the rules of the game and gives them some helpful advice is something else that we eventually have planned - it seems everybody gets stuck on the whole "right click to use" thing. :)

Now for some general tips:
  • Check out the README. Seriously, it's not long and fills in for the tutorial we do not have in many ways.

  • If you think the game is too dark, either turn up the brightness setting or equip a torch. Most classes start with tools that can provide light in some way.

  • Towels, though somewhat uncommon, can be used to bind bleeding wounds.

  • Be careful not to let yourself be overpowered. Just two goblins can easily kill low-level players, and some characters can't even survive head-on confrontations with one. Approach all situations carefully!

  • Your characters can only withstand some abuse before they become weak and must recover for a time, and health regenerates quite slowly. If you enter every battle gung-ho, you will die very quickly.

  • Health potions do exist - healers start with a small personal collection and you can buy more in some shops, but otherwise they are somewhat uncommon.

  • Fountains can do dozens of different things depending upon the circumstances. Some may refresh or heal you, but many others will do odd or even downright detrimental things to you.

  • Food does not replenish health. It reduces hunger. But if you eat too much, your character will grow sick and likely vomit. This is bad news because you will lose nutrition and a great deal of food will be wasted. That said, pay attention to the messages you get and try not to overeat if you want to keep your stomach. :)

  • The lower the condition of an item the less good it is at whatever it does. Old food has an intrinsic chance of making you vomit. Worn weapons are less potent and worn armor is less protective. Replace broken equipment with good equipment to improve your status!

  • This is the rule to rule all rules: if you die, remember what killed you so that you can anticipate it next time and improve!

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