Tales of Illyria Kickstarter Drive Launched

With the claim that it will be “a unique RPG”, a new Kickstarter, this time from the folks at Little Killerz, has been launched. Tales of Illyria will come out on PC, Linux, iOS and Android if funded, and will mix “cinematic parallax travel” with random vignettes and real-time combat, a mixture that vaguely reminds me King of Dragon Pass.

I’m not completely sure if I did a good job describing the team’s intents with the gameplay, so here’s a quote:

Tales of Illyria uses a unique Dungeon Master system to spawn events while your party travels or visits locations. During events, the player is given options on how to proceed, and can meet with varying degrees of success and failure depending on their skill levels. Sometimes these events can lead to battles, in which you command your characters’ actions using our real-time order based combat system.

…

One of our main sources of inspiration is Oregon Trail. Like Oregon Trail, you are on an epic journey. Your party is subject to all the dangers of pre-modern era travel. The weather, disease, access to food and water, and bandits provide a constant threat to your party and mission. As the party travels, seasons change. Each season brings a new challenge, be it from different monsters that are active, or from different challenges the weather brings.

The travel screen features parallax scrolling, helping to submerge the player into the richly developed world. As with all of the art, each layer of the environment was carefully painted to make the world feel real.

…

We have developed a very unique feeling real-time order based combat system. As the battle commences, each party member can be selected and commanded to perform an action, be it cast a spell, use a skill, or simply attack. The characters will continue that action until told to do otherwise. The characters aren’t completely helpless without you, however. As enemies fall, your party members will shift into better position to damage the enemy.

The party battle area has two rows: a front row, for your main melee attacks, and a back row for ranged attacks and spells. If a party member in the back row can’t act, and there is a space in front of them, they will move into position to better face the threat at hand.

With battle comes arms and armor, and Tales of Illyria makes sure the player has plenty to choose from. Players can choose from a wide range of helmets, armor, swords, axes, and even horses to help them in their journey. Each weapon type has a different way it damages, some ignoring armor at the cost of speed, while others being quick but less effective against heavily armored opponents.

Equipped armors will change the character’s appearance appropriately, in their talking portraits, travel animations, and battle animations. We have created over 5,000 unique images to reflect the individual appearance of each piece of equipment.

Battles aren’t the only danger in Tales of Illyria. Party members can be stricken with disease from drinking spoiled water, or break a limb while hunting. These status ailments will impact the party member’s ability to perform well in combat and in their skill-based actions.

You can get a better look at the game on its Kickstarter page, and if you’re interested in that extra bit of insight Matt Barton’s latest podcast includes an interview with programmer/designer Chad Mannicia.