A tactical RPG where all players' choices come together to drive a living story, created by a AAA veteran and a chart-topping author.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
City of the Shroud on the Radio!
about 8 years ago
– Sun, Apr 17, 2016 at 01:05:25 PM
Hi Everyone! City of the Shroud was on the radio... on the Internet!
Keaton did an interview with WASD radio host Sam Skatch. We talk about the origins of Abyssal Arts, City of the Shroud, and our goals for the game. Give the show a listen!
I (Keaton) am a sucker for cartoon-style graphics, 2d platformers, and local co-op, so when a game came along that hit all three buttons, I was pretty excited. The game has a charming art style, promising gameplay footage, and a solid team behind it. They're also on Steam Greenlight, so go vote for them if you like the look of the game :)
Team Q&A Responses
about 8 years ago
– Sat, Apr 16, 2016 at 02:41:07 PM
Hi Everyone! I hope your weekend is off to a great start. We're calming down from the rush of being funded and are preparing for the nearly 3 whole weeks left on the campaign - it's time to work towards those stretch goals!
In the meantime, we have some answers to the questions we've gotten from you!
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What's your favorite old-school video game, and how has it influenced City of the Shroud?
Ryan (Lead Designer/Programmer): My favorite old school game is Final Fantasy Tactics, and it has heavily influenced City of the Shroud's design. One of the great things about FFT was that you had a ton of different classes to choose from, which gave you a lot of different configurations and options for replaying the game. In City of the Shroud, we don't have as many classes, but there is a lot more freedom within each class to customize their playstyle. There will be a bunch of different ways to play each class, and something as simple as swapping out a single ability can have a dramatic impact on how a character plays. FFT is a high bar, but we're shooting for a similar level of customization overall.
What’s one of your favorite novels, and how has it influenced your writing?
Moira: One of my absolute favorite authors is Robin McKinley, and her book Beauty is always on my reread list for rainy days. In Beauty, McKinley weaves an immersive and compelling story with humor, compassion, fully-realized characters, and only the details she needs. I strive to emulate its elegant simplicity in my work!
How do you make a living as an indie game developer?
Keaton: I was actually interviewed for an article that explores this topic about a year ago - you can read it on Gamasutra here. I left Capcom to go indie partially because it would give me the flexibility to live in the same place as my partner. A lot of us doing the indie thing use contract work to support ourselves and our games; in my case, I do freelance Japanese-English translation. That lets me earn enough not to be a dead weight, and I can also support the game when needed!
Of course, there are a lots of ways to do it - I’ve met indie developers who are skilled enough and have enough of a following that they can release multiple titles a year. Those games aren’t super big, but the quality and frequency of releases means that the developer is able to do it full time. There are a ton of options available, and we all have our own way of making it work!
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Your questions have been a lot of fun to answer - if you think of any more, send them our way!
First Stretch Goal Announced: New Game+!
about 8 years ago
– Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 04:31:20 PM
It’s time to announce our first stretch goal! If we can hit $17,500, we’ll introduce New Game+!
Once all the episodes are finished, you’ll be able to go back and play through the story again from all the different perspectives while holding on to your ability and stat gems. But don’t think that’ll make it a walk in the park! We’ll crank up the AI to give you a challenge fitting a second (or third, or fourth…) play-through.
We’ll also be putting funding towards new Gunner animations to make her movements awesome to watch and easy to understand. Backflips, incoming!
What do you think? Is there anything you’d like to see in a return run-through of the game?
WE'RE FUNDED!!! THANK YOU!!!
about 8 years ago
– Thu, Apr 14, 2016 at 11:30:42 PM
Dear All,
It's midnight here in England, but we didn't want to wait on this news: WE'RE FUNDED!
Thank you so, so much for helping us accomplish this. We are eternally grateful to those of you who have been here from the very beginning, who have joined us for this campaign - you've given us invaluable feedback, and you made this campaign a huge success - fully funded in just 9 days!
We'll have more updates for you tomorrow. For now: thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Sincerely,
The Abyssal Arts Team: Keaton, Ryan, Moira, Chris, Jon, Samogon, and Grant
We Are Nearly There - Spread the Word!!
about 8 years ago
– Thu, Apr 14, 2016 at 02:57:05 PM
Hi Everyone!
We’re almost there! Only $153 to go until City of the Shroud is funded- please share the campaign, reach out to gamer friends, and let’s hit that goal!
We are so, so excited and grateful to each and every one of you for supporting us. We have come so far in just a single week. We could not do this without you, and we cannot wait to share this game with you. Your support means the world to us.
We’ve been making rounds in the news and on YouTube lately and wanted to share some of the highlights:
