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We are now on Kickstarter, if you like the game please support us, every little helps make this game reality.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1832653738/border

We are now on Greenlight!
If you find the game interesting, please drop us a Vote.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=243049592

Welcome to Border, my dream.

I have a dream world and story i have spent almost 8 years now on developing.
Its a world of decay, of passing and ruled by the irreversible nature of time and one`s actions.

Its a world of extinct Gods, nature twisted, and humanity at its most efficient systematic cruelty.

While I could talk days upon day about the lore (and I will)
I rather just present the demo i made for the game, it represents the tone of the game perfectly.

Border is Manapunk, imagine Steampunk but the world is not centered around steam, but Mana, and magic, if you think that's interesting you might like the Lore of this world.

The gameplay is lead by Logic, and I mean this!
What we don`t have, and never will!

-No nonsense! (the world have its rules and laws and everything works accordingly)
-No hand holding! (no quest makers, no heavy handed directions, etc.)
-No treasure chests. (no treasure chests in forests or places anyone could have gotten them.)
-No fetch quests. (no kill x amount, get x amount, take this there.)
-No nonsensical puzzles in dungeons. (no complex block pushing or pulling levers, who resets these anyway?)
-No money on monsters. (why would monsters carry money?)
-No nonsensical loot. (potions they never use? weapons they never use? plus where do they keep them?)
-No childish sexism! (no weak, damsels in distress, overly sexualised female characters.)
-No R.O.U.S. (rodents of unusual size, no rats, slimes, etc.)
-No cheap bosses. (no bosses with 20 times the maximum hp parameter.)
-No heals/revives (someone is wounded in battle or knocked out? too bad.)
-No silly weapons (no whips, boomerangs, toys, etc)
-No elementals! (no fire,earth,water, holy, dark etc)
-No binary choices (no black and white morality with colour coded choices.)
-No stereotypical villains. (No emo mommas boys, no "the world is sad so I just destroy it" motives, etc)
-No 4th wall breaking.
-No killing 200.000 humans by the end of the story. (by the end of most rpg games you have committed mass genocide)



What we do have instead!

-A huge living breathing world. (a world with years of work behind it, not just copy paste fiction)
-A battle system designed to simulate real life fights. (centred around guarding, evading, etc)
-Side quests that compliment the story and the characters. (you find these yourself and decide what to do about them.)
-A realistic team relationship system. (don't be shy to express what you really think, one character not liking you might open up something with another.)
-A dark realistic fantasy.
-A new take on races. (dragons, demons, gods all very different with their own motives)
-7.000 pages of comic turned game. (a very long and complex story.)
-A game using a world and story 8 years in the making.


The battle system might seam a little weird at first and that's OK, i will create a manual file soon enough, but there will never be an ingame tutorial.

I will try to gain some notoriety to the game, because it is indeed a commercial project, so treat it accordingly, I really need the feedback, be as harsh as it may.
If you like the demo and interested in any way, drop by my blog, or just comment here if more convenient.
Blog:http://fallenvalkyriestudio.wordpress.com/

Still i hope you enjoy the game, its definitely not for everyone, but that is fine.

Link to Demo:https://www.dropbox.com/s/b4n5znwxgj6wbbh/Border%20Alpha%20DemoV2.exe
(for now its dropbox file size 130MB, includes rtp, but that only about 10Mb so it dose not warrant two versions.)

Latest Blog

Q&A with Jparker1984

(Q)
Jparker1984: Going into this, did you realize at all that disregarding most the fantasy aspects for Border in exchange for a more realistic feel, would generate some level of negative feedback?

(A)
Grayborders: Absolutely! As a kid I loved and enjoyed many of the more loose and silly aspects of these games, they are still charming to me, but I could never really get deep into these worlds mythology because of these elements.

(Q)
Jparker1984: The graphics are amazing, very consistent all across the board. Where did you get your inspiration from and are there multiple people working on them?

(A)
Grayborders: The visuals of the game are all coming from me, so its easy to stay focused on one style. This is the very same style I started out with 8 years ago, the first drawing of a ruined city, overrun by nature still represents the tone of this world the best.

(Q)
Jparker1984: Now, deciding to go with a realistic game is difficult in its own right. Are you planning to make this "Epic" length, like 30+ hours of gameplay?

(A)
Grayborders: Yes, the main story is around 30H, plus the 30+H of optional content. The story and setting of the game is all but done to the very last detail for a few years now.

(Q)
Jparker1984: I was very interested in the relationship aspect, are you planning to go as deep as Mass Effect?

(A)
Grayborders: I`d say deeper. I try to focus on character conflicts, the team in the story is staying together not because they are friends, but because of a common goal, they all have very different opinions of the world and the things they will have to do in the course of the game. So there will be a lot of conflict, and you get to take your sides.

(Q)
Jparker1984: How many if any, traditional fantasy aspects will you be including?

(A)
Grayborders: All that makes sense and won`t raise logical questions. There is magic, airships, Dragons(even if they are very different from the normal definition). But I treat them with respect, and actually explain all of it.

(Q)
Jparker1984: In today's gaming world a lot of games tend to have more characters then generations past with a few exceptions, usually at the cost of character personalities. With path do you plan to go more with?

(A)
Grayborders: Well, again I had a lot of work done with the characters. I love these characters, each and every one, even the "villains" during the 8 years I jumped back and forth with them constantly making sure they are who they should be.

(Q)
Jparker1984: You have what looks like a lot of fans already. As I'm sure you know, non-commercial games often have a history of looking really nice, but never see a finished product. Are you worried at all that could be a problem for you?

(A)
Grayborders: Not at all. Many commercial games come to be with the idea to make a game first, I made a world and story for a very long time, and later decided about the medium. This means all that's left is to put down all existing lines, and stories into the game. If we get funded, it will be done!

(Q)
Jparker1984: For a break from game specific questions. How long have you been an active pro gamer, for lack of better terms?

(A)
Grayborders: Due to where I lived I get to grow up on games form the dawn of gaming, I had an Amiga, a Nes, a Genesis, and when ppl in other countries were playing Quake 3, I was playing the only thing my PC allowed me to, Emulators. But if I have to say an age, since I was 8.

(Q)
Jparker1984: With a bunch of good RPG series out there such as Tales Of, Final Fantasy, Star Ocean and so on. Do you have a favorite?

(A)
Grayborders: Tales of games. I love them, which is ironic because they have some of the most loose lore, and settings. I used to love FF games, used to...

(Q)
Jparker1984: As hard as it is, pretend RPGs don't exist. What's your favorite commercial game from a different genre?

(A)
Grayborders: Very hard question, I have many favorites. But close to my heart is the Metal Gear series, I` m an avid fan, I played every single game of it, even the odd PSP ones, I know their lore inside out. So I'd say it's the MG Games.

(Q)
Jparker1984: This last question has nothing to do with gaming, but I just have to ask. Does bacon actually make everything taste better?

(A)
Grayborders: I never ate bacon!
  • Production
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  • grayborders
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  • 03/26/2014 05:55 PM
  • 07/01/2022 04:08 PM
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It looks like this game wants to be far darker than Dark Souls series...!

I'm not a fan of super bleak games, but I think it'll be interesting to watch this game go on. Subbed. I'm more to lightheared games afterall. But a break from those isn't bad.

Also, dat big big, detaild battle sprites. And if I may ask, why GP? Feels too alien for me as a term for HP. Life is far less alien.
author=wltr3565
It looks like this game wants to be far darker than Dark Souls series...!

I'm not a fan of super bleak games, but I think it'll be interesting to watch this game go on. Subbed. I'm more to lightheared games afterall. But a break from those isn't bad.

Also, dat big big, detaild battle sprites. And if I may ask, why GP? Feels too alien for me as a term for HP. Life is far less alien.


Its not HP HP is under it GP is Guard points and it serves as a shield, when you get attacked that's depletes first, it doubles as stamina, Each action have a GP price, since i real life attacking lowers your chances of guarding against enemy attacks. Now this means youd run out of GP fast, but each turn you regain a bit automatically and Defending for a turn restores a lot of GP. Now when your GP runs out every hit actually deals damage to your hp, something you can only recover over time, outside of the battle. When your guard is broken you cant do anything but try and regain your balance, which if successful restores a lot of GP and adds your natural GP regen back.

This system might sound odd and complicated but it becomes second nature really fast. Instead of abusing heals to survive fights you balance your guard and wait for your moment to attack, since the same rules apply to enemies, its a after of building up momentum and when the enemy is low go full offensive.

I have an already updated demo which i will announce in a minute.
I'd comment on the pictures but nah, here;

This is probably the most original and, dare I say it, realistic RPG I've ever seen (with all that illogical crap that you've managed to exclude) (aka money on monsters or chests in the middle of nowhere).

Congrats!
author=Amaterasu
I'd comment on the pictures but nah, here;

This is probably the most original and, dare I say it, realistic RPG I've ever seen (with all that illogical crap that you've managed to exclude) (aka money on monsters or chests in the middle of nowhere).

Congrats!


That was one of my main goal, it can frustrate ppl who really want to sink into the lore and fantasy of things when overly gamey aspect occur. Aside from the fights being ATB based everything is made in the name of logical assumptions.
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
This game looks really promising. I like the art, and I like the polish that you have all-round. That world map is amazing! I don't mind playing an unrealistic game at all, though, as long as the gameplay is good.
It seems that you are a skilled developer. I deffinetly suscribe this one.

You have been creating games 8 years, how long have you been doing this particular game?
author=Shade_Hunter
It seems that you are a skilled developer. I deffinetly suscribe this one.

You have been creating games 8 years, how long have you been doing this particular game?


Oh no I have been working on the setting, story, and the world for this game for 8 years! This is my very first attempt at making a game live.

I always had the game in the back of my head but never had the chance, I made 2 comic version of this world and story before i realized it would literally take about 8.000 comic pages to tell the story, which would take a good 5 years of monthly releasing 35 pages :D so NOOOO that did not work out.
I've gotta say I'm really looking forward to this, the realistic features included I feel is going to break the RPG standard in so many ways. And more than that, the dark atmosphere, I'm gonna have to get this.

Two things I'd like to say: How about random encounters? This game will be my new favorite if there aren't any and you can see the enemies you're gonna fight on screen before getting into battle. I hate random encounters!
Second, what about armor? Does that give you a GP that will never go away-- but also cannot be used for attacks? I guess this is turning into more of a suggestion than a question, here's my thought; A person's defense, or, Guard is increased by equipping armor. Unless it breaks (not saying to incorporate breaking armor) it is always there to raise defense.
So here's how I'm thinking this would work in this game: Part of the bar at the end of it is Yellow to signify Armor, the Armor cannot be used to do attacks that cost GP, all it acts is as a defense against attacks. If an attack is higher than the Armor it will bleed through into the HP, if it is not then it acts as a perfect defense against it (or maybe one or two point can still bleed through, your call.) This is merely a suggestion, feel free to write me off as an excited new fan because that's just what I am and I look forward to this game with or without my suggestion-- and that's all it is, a suggestion.
author=Rixel96
I've gotta say I'm really looking forward to this, the realistic features included I feel is going to break the RPG standard in so many ways. And more than that, the dark atmosphere, I'm gonna have to get this.

Two things I'd like to say: How about random encounters? This game will be my new favorite if there aren't any and you can see the enemies you're gonna fight on screen before getting into battle. I hate random encounters!
Second, what about armor? Does that give you a GP that will never go away-- but also cannot be used for attacks? I guess this is turning into more of a suggestion than a question, here's my thought; A person's defense, or, Guard is increased by equipping armor. Unless it breaks (not saying to incorporate breaking armor) it is always there to raise defense.
So here's how I'm thinking this would work in this game: Part of the bar at the end of it is Yellow to signify Armor, the Armor cannot be used to do attacks that cost GP, all it acts is as a defense against attacks. If an attack is higher than the Armor it will bleed through into the HP, if it is not then it acts as a perfect defense against it (or maybe one or two point can still bleed through, your call.) This is merely a suggestion, feel free to write me off as an excited new fan because that's just what I am and I look forward to this game with or without my suggestion-- and that's all it is, a suggestion.


WOW thank you!
First of all no random encounters i hate them with a passion.
Now for the second one, You wont be able to equip largely different armor in the game because that would be a contradiction, and i don't like invisible armor that only appears in menus. in this world magic is more common than most fantasy settings. What is here though is skill, and existing "armor" upgrades through the other characters. How this works is that each part member have something they can craft, or enhance, and this was you can upgrade your gear. Your idea is pretty good, but my leading idea was realism, in real life if a massive enemy hits you it would not make much difference if you had plate armor on, your bones would break the same :D This is all of course debatable but i was focusing on a sort of "you guard or evade an attack, or eat it whole". Again though I`m still changing a lot of finite details, to balance the system.

Thanks for the kind words!
I've got to say game looks amazing, but to be honest. Most of the things you didn't include in the game turn me off. All of those "nonsense" things you mentioned are a very common thing in most if not all of the very successful RPG series. Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, Tales Of, Grandia, Star Ocean and more. It may be just me, but I enjoy all those off the wall RPG standards. Realistic games for the most part bore me. Well, atleast as RPGs go. Again it looks great, but the description isn't my cup of tea.

EDIT: I do however like the Mass Effect style for your character relationships. Also the art work in really great. I'm not opposed to trying this out, but it jusr dosen't apear to be my type of game.
author=Jparker1984
I've got to say game looks amazing, but to be honest. Most of the things you didn't include in the game turn me off. All of those "nonsense" things you mentioned are a very common thing in most if not all of the very successful RPG series. Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, Tales Of, Grandia, Star Ocean and more. It may be just me, but I enjoy all those off the wall RPG standards. Realistic games for the most part bore me. Well, atleast as RPGs go. Again it looks great, but the description isn't my cup of tea.

EDIT: I do however like the Mass Effect style for your character relationships. Also the art work in really great. I'm not opposed to trying this out, but it jusr dosen't apear to be my type of game.


That is fine, i know it will turn some ppl off, but this dose not mean the game dose not have humor or fun, and i am not a big fan of realism, but i love consistency. Again not for everyone, and i do understand why ppl love these things, I love them too in the Tales games, because there they are done tastefully and fun way, unlike late ff games which are terrible in so many ways.

Thanks for the feedback!
Good day.
First of all, subscribed. The game looks good so far, I like challenging RPGs with dark fantasy genre. I also enjoyed the description, a lot of changes in the standard RPG system, plus (as I expect) a great lore and story would certainly drive me towards anxious anticipating.
A few questions, if you don't mind.

1) -No elementals! (no fire,earth,water, holy, dark etc)
Why? Your world centers around magic, surely the elemental system, if done correctly, would be a great asset for the game, giving it more versatility and variety.
2) -A dark realistic fantasy.
I assume the realistic part touches the story, right? Because, in my opinion, it would be difficult to make a realistic actual gameplay with Manapank universe system.
3) You mentioned, that characters will have relationships with each other. Does that mean this game will have a romance elements in it?
4) Regarding the last question, will the game have different endings, deviating from your choices?
Thanks.
author=SiegfriedCalibur
Good day.
First of all, subscribed. The game looks good so far, I like challenging RPGs with dark fantasy genre. I also enjoyed the description, a lot of changes in the standard RPG system, plus (as I expect) a great lore and story would certainly drive me towards anxious anticipating.
A few questions, if you don't mind.

1) -No elementals! (no fire,earth,water, holy, dark etc)
Why? Your world centers around magic, surely the elemental system, if done correctly, would be a great asset for the game, giving it more versatility and variety.
2) -A dark realistic fantasy.
I assume the realistic part touches the story, right? Because, in my opinion, it would be difficult to make a realistic actual gameplay with Manapank universe system.
3) You mentioned, that characters will have relationships with each other. Does that mean this game will have a romance elements in it?
4) Regarding the last question, will the game have different endings, deviating from your choices?
Thanks.


Hi there, lot of good questions.

1 Now thats because of the Grey morality, I cant color magic "holy" or "dark" and maintain a moral middle ground if magic is inherently evil or good. Weakneses and different magic types that contrast with one-another are present but not the old-school way.

2 Mnay things, first the setting of the world, constantly reflecting decay, the irreversible nature of time, and the unavoidable end of the world. Ofc the story too, but small things help in the game play to, No healing in battle for example, its not just utilitarian, but helps the dark feeling too, ofc these are easyer to notice if the world and story is brimming with rather horrible things... I`m not joking when I say the game touches on some very very dark themes.

3 There is a Romance, one that I worked really hard to make it work the right way, and unlike other rpgs this romance will bring horrible conflict withing the group as well, for understandable reasons.

4 Yes and No, There is a mechanic I am sort of keeping secret which can end your game short of the proper ending, so I do have a dab ending, the main plot IS pretty strict because other important characters outside your effect will still do the same things no matter how you act. Now to compensate for this the characters personal storyline will be more open ended, and since these plot-lines will be easy to tell form the main story, it will feel more believable. I could go on for hours about this part. I personally believe that unless a game was designed to be ONLY about choice the story can suffer, or feel unnatural that the player makes all the choices in the world.

Also Thank you for your comment!
I like battles in this game. Cool Animations and a lot of gameplayfeel like in Alter Aila Genesis. I admire technical/battle executions in this project. This is why i am so interested.
author=X-Tech
I like battles in this game. Cool Animations and a lot of gameplayfeel like in Alter Aila Genesis. I admire technical/battle executions in this project. This is why i am so interested.


Thank you Its just a collection of what I always wanted in a j-rpg, getting rid of the heal and potion abuse was one of my main goals.
Hey Grayborders, finished the demo and I like it quite a bit. Because this is a very early project I'm going to focus mostly on criticism, but I just want to say I think your goals are very relevant and important for rpgs as a genre--dropping cliches, remaking dumb systems, and (of course) the ambitious scale of the storytelling. Also the music and visuals were great (especially that tileset for the forest, and the battle sprites).

On the other hand, I think the maps were probably too big for their own good, and it might be better to try more intuitive layouts rather than big patches of blank space. Also, though I like what the combat system is attempting, it still feels really uneven (though not in the more obvious sense, since I like that the characters were actually at very different levels). The main thing is each character seemed to have multiple moves to do the same thing, but a lot of them weren't very useful, and I think it might be better to focus only on abilities that have a clear use. Also having so many copies of the same enemy in each dungeon makes the fights a little monotonous, and I'd say there should either be more variety or fewer fights. One other thing is the town at end glitches really bad--there's a missing chest image at the top, as well as a missing song in one of the houses, and each of them crashes the game.

"Realism" is always a very general principles in rpgs, but I think you do a good job moving in that direction and introducing new mechanics. There isn't a lot of story yet, but the glimpse of mana technology and the setting in general is fascinating.

Anyway though, I can't wait to see how this project shapes up. I'll definitely buy it whenever it's out; or if I have money I'll probably contribute to the Kickstarter. It's great to see a game that tries to do its own thing--even with the early mechanical problems at this stage, I think your general idea is interesting and fresh enough it makes the game really stand out.
author=icovoc
Hey Grayborders, finished the demo and I like it quite a bit. Because this is a very early project I'm going to focus mostly on criticism, but I just want to say I think your goals are very relevant and important for rpgs as a genre--dropping cliches, remaking dumb systems, and (of course) the ambitious scale of the storytelling. Also the music and visuals were great (especially that tileset for the forest, and the battle sprites).

On the other hand, I think the maps were probably too big for their own good, and it might be better to try more intuitive layouts rather than big patches of blank space. Also, though I like what the combat system is attempting, it still feels really uneven (though not in the more obvious sense, since I like that the characters were actually at very different levels). The main thing is each character seemed to have multiple moves to do the same thing, but a lot of them weren't very useful, and I think it might be better to focus only on abilities that have a clear use. Also having so many copies of the same enemy in each dungeon makes the fights a little monotonous, and I'd say there should either be more variety or fewer fights. One other thing is the town at end glitches really bad--there's a missing chest image at the top, as well as a missing song in one of the houses, and each of them crashes the game.

"Realism" is always a very general principles in rpgs, but I think you do a good job moving in that direction and introducing new mechanics. There isn't a lot of story yet, but the glimpse of mana technology and the setting in general is fascinating.

Anyway though, I can't wait to see how this project shapes up. I'll definitely buy it whenever it's out; or if I have money I'll probably contribute to the Kickstarter. It's great to see a game that tries to do its own thing--even with the early mechanical problems at this stage, I think your general idea is interesting and fresh enough it makes the game really stand out.


Thanks for the feedback!

The scale of maps was intended, and I know it causes a bit of a problem, I wanted to keep it real and avoid the tunneling effect of natural environments. I`ll have to populate them a bit more that's for sure!

The Combat system is unbalanced atm, and I have to yet clean up some of the problems present, the main idea here was that every character have a very specific strength and weakness. Wile they share stuff like dots, or debuffs these wont be effective on all enemies. Basically plan is each enemy race will have a character who will take the front row and also makes another character really weak in that fight. Its still under a lot of balancing.

There will be more variation to fights, It just took a lot of time to make the battlers, especially the human ones, but there will be a tiny bit less fights with more variety basically.

The town was not bugged on any of my friends pc who tested... that's BAD.
I have to look into that now, thanks for noticing it!

Thank you very much for the kind words! There is a lot of work behind the story and setting, so those parts are not what worry me, the only challenge i see is balance, and to avoid exploiting :D
For sure. I think the big open areas would be great if there was more in them. It's a difficult approach (lots of work on your part, haha) but an interesting one.

I definitely like a lot of the ideas in the combat system. Will be great once it's balanced, even if it's not quite there yet. The guard mechanic is particularly nice; looking forward to playing a later version so I can properly figure out how everything works.

Also I totally get it about the battlers. Each of them had a ton of animations, and it makes sense that would take forever. It might work to do palette switches and create teams of similar enemies who specialize in different things, but it's impressive to have all those animations to begin with.

I'd agree with you about the story/setting. They seem fascinating enough I'd play the game even if the gameplay was totally generic, so it's even better that you're attempting all of these different mechanics.
um oops wrong game

Edit edit: I meant I mis-posted my comment haha.
Hi grayborders, the game crashed when I used a skill that restored Saragat to full health or something similar (not a skill that's usually on his skill list), then scrolled down the skill menu and this happened:
http://s9.postimg.org/91nvrr3db/And_This_Is_Why_ISave_Often.png

If it makes a difference, before the crash I restarted the game with F12.
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