Atonement: Scourge of Time

[Matseb2611]

 ​

Developed by: Astronomic Games

Published and distributed by: New Reality Games

General Features:

• A large, decadent, dark fantasy world with a new take on concepts of angels and demons
• Two different protagonist teams, each one with its own point of view on the same story. Their paths repeatedly converge and diverge as they attempt to accomplish their own goals, occasionally antagonizing one another.
• 10+ hours of gameplay in total - roughly 5-7 hours for each team's story arc.
• Unconventional way of unlocking new skills: each character possesses all of their special abilities from the start. However, many are locked by high energy cost. Increase max Energy by any means necessary to get access to those skills.
• Strategically manage your energy in battles: use lots of low cost skills in a row, or use a high cost skill and wait for the overall energy to recharge.
• Two difficulty modes: Normal and Challenging. Normal is streamlined so to allow most people to complete the game and witness the story. Challenging is for those seeking blood, sweat, sorrow, and death.
• A variety of boss fights which require strategy to be beaten, especially in Challenging mode.

​

The game has been released!

Buy here:

 On Steam. £5.99 ($9.99)

 At New Reality Games website. £5.99

 At Indie Game Stand. $9.99

 At Aldorlea Games. $9.99

 At Green Man Gaming £5.99

 At Itch.io £5.99

Website:

http://www.astronomicgames.com/atonement-scourge-of-time.html

Known Bugs:

Spoiler

Hey guys. I've had a player mention a problem with saving the game (probably a Win8 issue) when it's installed in Program Files folder. The game has a script included that puts save files in the AppData/Roaming folder on the computer, but seems it can still give issues on some computers. If you're experiencing this problem, try moving the game folder from Program Files to another location, like My Documents or My Games. It should sort things out. Cheers

Screenshots:

Story:

The last king was killed over 400 years ago and the global rule of the land ceased to exist. Slowly over the years the law and order started to subside, people began to divide amongst themselves, big cities were gradually gone and replaced with smaller settlements, and the whole land started to slowly degrade. Many believe it’s because the angel kind have abandoned it.

Now the bandits roam the roads and wild animals roam the fields. The only safety can be found in smaller villages, where groups of people have banded to work together in order to survive. The relations between the different sentient races are very marginal and fragile. Some have been at long conflicts with one another, at times erupting into full blown wars. A holy Order of Atonement has been trying to keep the people together, but even their influence is limited to a handful of villages. And to top it all off, many believe a “vindicator” will walk the land one day as a punisher of all the sins and bring forth a swift end upon it.

That day has come.

Characters:

The story is split into two different teams of protagonists, each one following its own path.

The first team

Name: Nail

Age: 25

Race: Human

Weapons: Two short swords

Bio: A nomad by nature, Nail refuses to settle down in any of the villages and believes that he can accomplish a lot more if he simply fended for himself. Often aimless in his pursuits, Nail prefers to live each day separately and doesn’t think there’s much future beyond the rewards of the present day.

Name: Anrid

Age: 22

Race: Human

Weapon: Long sword and a shield

Bio: A highly reliable paladin with firm moral values who often supports and carries out tasks for the Order of Atonement. Apart from being a fighter, Anrid also knows how to use healing and supportive magic in battles.

Name: Kanden

Age: 28

Race: Human

Weapon: Big hammer

Bio: Nail’s older brother. Unlike Nail, Kanden prefers a simpler life in a village with his girlfriend, doing regular guard duty and helping to keep the village in peace. He’s a skilled fighter and is highly respected by other guards.

Name: Meya

Age: 25

Race: Athekan

Weapon: Long staff

Bio: A rather introverted and nerdy scholar. Meya likes to learn things, especially those that are related to magic. Often very soft-spoken and doesn’t like conflict.

The second team

Name: Elleria

Age: 24

Race: Human

Weapon: Occult Blade (can be enchanted)

Bio: A cynical sorceress with a dark humour who is always after more power and magic. Largely disliked and shunned away by most Humans, Elleria has to use cunning and trickery to get things her way.

Name: Gashrun

Age: Unknown

Race: Karmit

Weapon: Curved blade and a gauntlet

Bio: A Karmit bodyguard summoned by Elleria. Just as others of his species, Gashrun is a proficient fighter and is absolutely obedient, but there’s always a degree of mystery to him and his intentions.

Name: Kizu

Age: 19

Race: Teglan

Weapon: Short staff

Bio: A skilled and somewhat talkative mage. Kizu seems to always have something to say about anything and often enjoys sharing his knowledge of magic and the creatures of the land.

Name: Habach

Age: Unknown

Race: Unknown

Weapon: FISTS!

Bio: Nobody knows who or what Habach is. He is a wild, untamed monster of some never heard of species, but at the same time he displays obvious signs of sentience and can even speak.

Soundtrack:

Composed by Benjamin 'Scythuz' Carr:

https://soundcloud.com/scythuz/sets/project-atonement

Credits:

Spoiler

DEVELOPED BY:
Matthew Ashworth (Matseb2611)

SOFTWARE:
RPG maker VX Ace
by Enterbrain

ART:
PVGames
Enterbrain
Ehcs
Tokumei No

Adellie

MUSIC:
Benjamin 'Scythuz' Carr
Jewelbeat.com
PVGames

SOUND FX:
Enterbrain
TunerAudio (Audiojungle)
FxProSound (Audiojungle)
NH-Concept-Art (Audiojungle)
Maxtecb (Audiojungle)
Abloom_Audio (Audiojungle)

SCRIPTING:
Yanfly
Dekita
Galv
Modern Algebra
Neon Black
Shaz

Jet

STORY and CHARACTERS:
Matthew Ashworth

TESTERS and SUPPORTERS:
Rick Ashworth
Benjamin 'Scythuz' Carr
The Stranger
Dalph
Alkorri
Cabfe
Palladinthug
Milennin
 

 

[The Stranger]

I've enjoyed all of your games to date, so I'm looking forward to giving this a go. 

I hope everything goes well. I'll be keeping my eyes open for future updates.

 

[Dalph]

Matseb the RM development machine...insanely fast in making games.

 

[Matseb2611]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the support. This game has already been demanding quite a fair bit of work and this is only the beginning, but I do love working on it very very much.

 

[Matseb2611]

Just a little update. I've got some good news and some good news.

The first good news is that most script-related problems have pretty much been solved.

The second good news is I've got a bunch of screenshots for you all of the next area that I've been working on (which will be the final area of the demo section of the game). Welcome to Herseras Wood - a wood that grew on blood that was spilled in a huge battle many decades prior to the game's events. Because it grew on blood, many plants in it are unusual. Some have nasty self-defence mechanisms, whilst others have developed an appetite for flesh.

 

[Matseb2611]

A small announcement. Since the development lately has been going faster than I thought, the demo will be released sooner than planned. I am now expecting to release it sometime in the next week. Watch this space.

 

[Scythuz]

I look forward to playing it!

 

[Dalph]

^ What the totally stranger guy above me just said (this stranger not The Stranger! I mean...ok, let's quote both).

*Dalph is confused now*

 

[zrk03]

Looks like it could be an interesting twists to an rpg

 

[Matseb2611]

Thank you guys. And now...

Act 1 Demo has been released!!!

The main download link is HERE (~146 M, which includes all the necessary RTP components to play the game (in order to keep the file size down, it's not the whole RTP, but only the stuff that's needed).

Alternatively, if you've got VX Ace RTP, you can go HERE (~93 M for the smaller file size.

I really appreciate all the support so far and am hoping to hear plenty of feedback on this demo. The demo includes the entire Act 1 of the game for BOTH teams. There's approximately 1 hour of gameplay for each team, making a total of around 2 hours.

Some possible topics for feedback:

 - Did you enjoy the game so far? What was good about it? What was bad?

 - Any bugs, errors, and crashes?

 - Any reasonable improvements that can be done on the presentation and the UI?

 - Is combat well-balanced? Is it actually hard enough on Challenging difficulty? Be warned that I've been attempting to make Challenging difficulty in this game HARDER than it was in Incitement 2.

And finally, I shall also leave you with character drawings by Ehcs of two main characters, Nail and Elleria.

 

[Dalph]

I'll probably play it in a couple of hours or so and submit my thoughts about it tomorrow (after work).

Congratulations for finishing the demo Matseb! Looks great so far.

 

[Matseb2611]

Thanks Dalph. I hope you like it. Your feedback has been very helpful on my previous games so far, so I'd love to hear what you think of this demo.  

 

[zrk03]

Ima gonna download it now ill post feedback after im done playing (then i have to work on my game )

 

[zrk03]

Ok i played the first bit. Either tho i really really suck at rpgs or this was extremely hard on normal.

 

[Matseb2611]

Heya Zrk03. Thanks for trying out the demo. Which part of the game have you played through so far? Is it the first dungeon or the bit after? Also, whose team are you playing as at the moment? Nail's or Elleria's? I did try to make the battles a bit more strategic than with my previous games, because I didn't want the players to spam-attack through the battles. So using the special skills is highly advised. The energy regenerates, so don't be afraid to use those skills frequently.

 

[Dalph]

Ok i played the first bit. Either tho i really really suck at rpgs or this was extremely hard on normal.

What?!? No way in hell man, the game was even on the easy side sometimes on normal difficulty...trust me.

@Matseb:

Spoiler

I admit I'm not really a fan of these materials but you did a very good job with this game, also the whole thing is surprisingly polished (I haven't found any major problems, seriously) but to be 100% sure I have to play it again.

I finished a playthrough with Nail on normal and the difficulty was pretty much bang on (so normal, even on the easy side sometimes as I said), all the battles are pretty balanced, I only had a bit of troubles against Makkon and the Mage Guards (I had to grind till level 7 to deal with them). Needless to say that I liked a lot the music (those gothic-dark medieval themes are awesome), the possibility to play from two different points of view and the conflict between Nail and Elleria, I will play as her now and maybe try an higher difficulty level too.

Dunno why but Nail reminds me about Shepard from Mass Effect (from his appearance)...ahahahah

I don't think you should change much from what I saw, if I spot anything wrong I'll be sure to warn you.

Good job so far, it was enjoyable.

 

[Matseb2611]

Thanks Dalph. I am pleased to hear you've enjoyed the experience so far. Since I know you like a good challenge most of the time, would you say the normal difficulty is doable for people who are more into the story side of things and less into combat? It is slightly harder than normal difficulty in Incitement 2, but that's because from the feedback I got, many players thought Incitement 2's random battles had too much of an attack-spam, so I was hoping to change that and to make battles more strategic.

Spoiler

Yeah, level 7 is ideal for Makkon boss fight. Just hoping I haven't made it too hard on normal and that the players would quickly figure out to deal with the mages first before fighting Makkon himself since they can cast heal and all that (plus they instantly cure Makkon off poison if at least one of them is still standing when you apply it).

And lol. I haven't thought that Nail looked like Shepard. Haha. I can see the resemblance now though.

Elleria's team has more mages in it, so hopefully that gives a bit of a different gameplay style than Nail's team, who are mostly fighters. And Challenging difficulty mostly adds some new skills to the enemies and ramps up boss stats slightly.

 

[Fernyfer775]

Going to be downloading this today after class and give it a go, I will give you my feedback when I am done! ^_^

 

[zrk03]

Heya Zrk03. Thanks for trying out the demo. Which part of the game have you played through so far? Is it the first dungeon or the bit after? Also, whose team are you playing as at the moment? Nail's or Elleria's? I did try to make the battles a bit more strategic than with my previous games, because I didn't want the players to spam-attack through the battles. So using the special skills is highly advised. The energy regenerates, so don't be afraid to use those skills frequently.

My first time i played through i played as Elleria.

 

[Matseb2611]

My first time i played through i played as Elleria.

Aha, I see. Don't worry too much about the first boss fight (the one against Nail and Anrid). You can still continue even if you lose it (the only thing is you don't get the XP reward, which isn't big anyway). I realised since it was a 2 on 1 fight and right at the start of the game, it wouldn't be fair to give the player a game over if they lost it. Or is it the enemies in the dungeon that are giving you problems?