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The Age of Decadence

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The Age of Decadence
Logo for Age of Decadence
Developer(s)Iron Tower Studio
Publisher(s)Iron Tower Studio
EngineTorque 3D
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Linux
ReleaseTBA
Genre(s)Role-playing video game
Mode(s)Single-player

The Age of Decadence is an upcoming pseudo-isometric 3D turn-based role-playing game for Windows, Macintosh OS X and Linux by Iron Tower Studio, led by the pseudonymous "Vince D. Weller".[1] Set in a low-magic, post-apocalyptic world inspired by the fall of the Roman Empire, The Age of Decadence aims to return to the 'golden era' of RPGs by emphasizing choices and consequences and providing a comprehensive skill set, multiple solutions to quests, and extensive dialogue trees.[2]

Development

The Iron Tower Studio team started work on the game in March 2004.[3] The team is developing for Microsoft Windows using the Torque Game Engine.[2] They plan to port the game to OS X and Linux, which Torque 3D also supports, unless they "run into serious problems with Torque".[4]

Software releases began with a combat demo in December 2009.[5] Two later releases of the combat demo fixed bugs and addressed issues like game balance.

In March 2012, Iron Tower Studios released a public beta (version 0.8.6) of the game[6] which is feature-complete except for Alchemy[7] but only has one town.[citation needed]

Story

The story in The Age of Decadence explores several themes: the dangers of a post-apocalyptic world, the thin line between historical fact and fiction, and the competition among political factions.[8]

According to the Imperial Scrolls, the wicked kingdom of Q'antaar and the Empire were locked in a bloody magical war that devastated much of the known world. Each side called upon powers both arcane and divine, summoning Gods and other beings of immense power, whose contest ultimately destroyed both sides. Cities of the once glorious Empire lay in ruin, and bodies of the dead were strewn across the land. Centuries later, the world still suffers from the shadow of civilization's collapse. Where there once was unity, there are now factions struggling for dominance in the ruined world. Where there was once knowledge, there is ignorance of both science and magic. Where there was once chivalry and honor, there is only pettiness and betrayal. And it is in this uneasy divided land of myth and fable that the player discovers an ancient map offering a hint to the Empire's true past.[9]

The player's character has an active role in shaping the plot of AoD, which is nonlinear.[10] The world reacts dynamically to the player's actions. Players can choose from among 7 factions,[11] play them off against each other, or even reject them all. The game is purported to have seven endings, only two of which involve mortal combat.[12]

Gameplay

Character

Players choose from 8 backgrounds/professions at the start of the game.[13] These range from the honor-bound knight to the crafty grifter. Players can also choose, alternatively, to start with no background at all. Different backgrounds result in very different gameplay styles. A background determines a character's initial relationship to various factions. A thief, for example, starts as a member of the Thieves Guild and gets reputation bonuses with other thieves but reputation penalties with enemies. Backgrounds are not classes. They do not restrict or guide a character's future attributes or skills. The Age of Decadence uses a skill-based system, not a class-based system. Characters do not gain levels, but they gain skill points by completing quests or defeating enemies.[14]

AoD supports some customization. Players may choose their appearance (e.g. skin color and hair style) and gender. The choice of gender affects gameplay. Some quests are only available to males or females, and character can receive bonuses to some skills depending on their gender (e.g. males get bonuses to intimidate.)[15]

Characters in AoD have several primary stats: strength (affects damage), dexterity (affects action points), constitution (affects hitpoints), perception (affects chance to hit), intelligence (affects skill point bonuses), and charisma (affects NPC reactions). Stats range from 4 to 10 and characters who achieve 10 can gain bonus traits.[16]

Skills

AoD features 23 distinct skills. These range from those pertaining to combat (e.g. Critical Strike) to those that meet miscellaneous needs (e.g. Disguise and Lore).[17]

AoD is purported to have a detailed crafting and alchemy system. These skills can be used to melt old items and forge new ones, poison weapons, create acid, etc.

Combat

Combat in AoD is turn-based and focuses heavily on tactical options. The options available partially depend on the attributes, skills, and equipment of the character. For instance, hammers allow a character to knock down enemies, axes can split shields, swords can disarm opponents, daggers ignore armor, and so on.[18] Characters can aim for specific body parts.

AoD does not have party-based combat, i.e. unlike Arcanum for instance the main character does not have any "followers." However, in some situations a character will receive aid from guards, from members of his own faction, etc. These NPCs are controlled by the game AI and by scripts, not the player.[19]

Combat in AoD is realistic in difficulty—even the best fighters are only capable of taking on a few people at the same time. Furthermore, healing potions cannot be used to recover hitpoints during combat.

Dialog

AoD features extensive dialog trees. Certain dialog options require skill checks. In AoD, these skill checks are against set numbers. There is no rolling.

Quests

There will be allegedly more than 100 quests in AoD and they will have multiple solutions, including options for pacifism and diplomacy.[20] Each quest can be handled in a variety of ways, depending on the character's skills, reputation, and connections to different factions. Furthermore, different quest solutions have different consequences, some of which will be dramatic.

In AoD, there are no plot-critical NPCs. There is always more than one way to acquire plot-critical information. Thus, unlike in some other games, players are not restricted from killing (or at least attempting to kill) certain 'special' NPCs.[21]

References

  1. ^ Kieron Gillen (February 1st, 2008). "Against RPG Decadence: Vince D. Weller Interview". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b Turner, Brian (June 2, 2006). "The Age of Decadence - An Interview". RPGdot.com. (via the Internet Archive
  3. ^ "The Age of Decadence Interview - Part 1". IGN. June 26, 2006.
  4. ^ "Unofficial Age of Decadence FAQ". August 17, 2011.
  5. ^ "Age of Decadence - Combat Demo Released". December 26, 2009.
  6. ^ "Download Links! AoD Public Beta Release". Iron Tower Studio. March 22, 2012.
  7. ^ "AoD public beta survival guide". Iron Tower Studio. March 15, 2012.
  8. ^ Age of Decadence Themes
  9. ^ Age of Decadence World
  10. ^ Age of Decadence Story
  11. ^ Age of Decadence Factions
  12. ^ 10 Gnomish Questions Interview
  13. ^ Age of Decadence Characters
  14. ^ Unofficial FAQ-- Character
  15. ^ NMA AoD Setting Interview
  16. ^ RPGWatch Let's play AoD
  17. ^ Age of Decadence Skills
  18. ^ RPGCodex
  19. ^ RPGCodex
  20. ^ Age of Decadence Feature List
  21. ^ Iron Tower AoD Unofficial FAQ
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