How does progression work? IS there progression?

[Grandmaster of Pwn]

Hi guys, i played this game for a couple of rounds, me and my buddy died every time around dungeon lvl 3. when we restart the game we all start at lvl one again as if we hadnt done anything.
is there some sort of progression in this game like in other rogue likes? or is it start from scratch each time? can we save our progress somehow? are we expected to play through the entire game in one sitting?

[Cat®]

You can save the game at any point, it will save from the moment you entered the current floor. You can then reload it the next time you play. If you die you start over, this is the genre staple of roguelikes.

[Grandmaster of Pwn]

thanks for the info cat. but most roguelikes i know you might start over but you keep your experience and skills etc so there is a sense of progression. but thats fine, i just wanted to know if im doing something wrong.

[mistersneak]

IMO the major differentiator between roguelites and roguelikes is whether or not any progression is preserved. It's a different experience for sure.

In a roguelike where none of your progression is saved, you can be confident knowing that if you learn enough and get good enough, that will be your path to victory. There are no artificial progression barriers holding you back from success.
With roguelites where you keep your progress, sometimes you just gotta put in the time so that you get buffed enough to win by-the-numbers.

I love roguelites, it's just a different style of experience, and that's aOK.

[(ง ͡ʘ ͜ʖ ͡ʘ)งBonesMcSpook]

Hey hey guys. You're forgetting there IS progression...

You can unlock DLC classes to be used between monster races if you beat the game with one :P

That's the kind of progression I like in roguelikes. Unlocking options, not buffing numbers.

[Grandmaster of Pwn]

Originally posted by mistersneak:

IMO the major differentiator between roguelites and roguelikes is ...

thats a good definition for the possible difference b/w roguelikes and roguelites. there seems to be a neverending debate on the subject. i think i'll use that as my future definition. thanks.
personally i DO prefer roguelites then because i sort of like the artifical upgrade. but i do agree the sort of "i personally get more experienced in playing the game" approach has its appeal as well. cheers.

[TolgrathTTV]

Originally posted by mistersneak:

IMO the major differentiator between roguelites and roguelikes is whether or not any progression is preserved. It's a different experience for sure.

In a roguelike where none of your progression is saved, you can be confident knowing that if you learn enough and get good enough, that will be your path to victory. There are no artificial progression barriers holding you back from success.
With roguelites where you keep your progress, sometimes you just gotta put in the time so that you get buffed enough to win by-the-numbers.

I love roguelites, it's just a different style of experience, and that's aOK.

Would you ever consider adding a casual mode for those that would like progression? Cause the game is fun, and while I like the challenge, i like the feel of progression.

[mistersneak]

We have no plans for something like that right now for Barony and we have more than a year's worth of work on our plate with the Switch port and new DLC. I understand that the traditional roguelike format isn't for everybody, and while I can't say we'll never put in some kind of preserved progression, that's just not the game Barony has been for 5 years, nor will it be for the foreseeable future. Perhaps some intrepid modders and designers can hack into Barony's open-source code to make the game something like you are hoping for.

[mistersneak]

I want to take a second to commiserate with you guys on this a bit:

Barony is still effectively the only first-person co-op fantasy game with rich RPG mechanics. Because it's an island in this way, I think it's fair that a lot of people are coming to the game feeling like it could / should be something different, or more akin to their tastes. I'm inclined to suggest that this is a symptom of you having a lack of options with other games. And I say that because I feel that way too.

I was active on the Elder Scrolls forums when Morrowind was in development 20 years ago. Since then I have always seen a larger demand (beyond my own demands I mean) for a first-person RPG that let you play in co-op with your friends as a fantasy party.
We saw MMOs come and go, new Elder Scrolls games, even the rise of games like Borderlands. None of them came close to the feel we were all hungry for. I even had some tinge of hope with Minecraft, but not even the mods came close to delivering the experience we wanted.
It ended up being that the first game to really deliver on that immersive RPG party experience was Turning Wheel bringing Barony to market. And due to our personal tastes and development resources (or lack thereof) we brought it in as a roguelike.

There's a lot of people who want to see Barony as an open world game, or a roguelite, or even a Team PVP game. I would love it if all these games existed, and it sucks that they don't. At Turning Wheel we are committed to making co-op first-person games with rich, systems-driven mechanics. We hope that the droplets we can continue to add to the bucket help satisfy more and more of the demand for the kinds of games we want to play and make.

[Hawk X]

Really awesome to read devs on the subject!

You do write that your game is "open source"? really?... where can i download the project? which engine is it using?

I have been making games in unity since 2013 and know my way around programming... so I wouldnt mind having a look at how you made this amazing project :)

Who knows, maybe I could make a simple mod to restart floor automatically on death without losing anything or something along those lines...

[mistersneak]

Here's the Git repo for Barony:
https://github.com/TurningWheel/Barony
The engine is a custom built C/C++ engine first created by studio founder Sheridan Rathbun. We do take pull requests on occasion.
If you're looking for modding that doesn't require programming, there are 3 guides by team member Wall of Justice that can help get you started depending on what you want to do (listed in order of complexity IMO):
General Basics : https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1359907800
Models / Assets: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1383197562
Map Scripting: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2021523109
JSON: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2113716893

Note that all the game's content are accessible and modifiable. The Hall of Trials was built using exactly the same map editor and scripts that you have access to (with the exception of the main menu entries).

[Hawk X]

wow i really was not expecting such a rich and awesome reply so fast! :)

thank you very much!! i'm totally bookmarking all of that and having a look whenever i have some free time! :) even if i dont end up releasing a mod, just seeing the inner workings of a project like this is really interesting :)

again, thanks for taking the time to write all of that it is greatly appreciated!

[mistersneak]

My pleasure FireHawkX, we love our modders! Join the Discord if you want to mind-meld with the rest of the modding community in the #workshop #mapmaking and #opensource-chat channels!

https://discord.gg/j2ne4qW

[Prof.Paradox]

Originally posted by Grandmaster of Pwn:

Hi guys, i played this game for a couple of rounds, me and my buddy died every time around dungeon lvl 3. when we restart the game we all start at lvl one again as if we hadnt done anything.
is there some sort of progression in this game like in other rogue likes? or is it start from scratch each time? can we save our progress somehow? are we expected to play through the entire game in one sitting?

The most i can think of progression is achievments and if you have the dlcs classes unlocking that job from that species for other dlc classes as human has acces to all (but playing human is lame) and for that you need to beat the game whit that species.


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2328580615

[welbot]

Originally posted by FireHawkX:

wow i really was not expecting such a rich and awesome reply so fast! :)

thank you very much!! i'm totally bookmarking all of that and having a look whenever i have some free time! :) even if i dont end up releasing a mod, just seeing the inner workings of a project like this is really interesting :)

again, thanks for taking the time to write all of that it is greatly appreciated!

I for one would love to see a mod like this, where by if you die, you start back at the beginning, even with just the default gear, but keeping all your stats, so for instance, you don't have to wait 5 mins to be able to appraise your first item