Purgatory: an RPG of Choice and Consequence

Abstract Games

Abstract Games

First time out of the vault
Hi NMA,

Mario here from Abstract Games, and i'm here to share with you a game we're working on currently called Purgatory: Echoes From The Void, an RPG adventure game with puzzle elements. The game is built from the ground up to be responsive to your actions and choices, and provide tangible consequences in the vein of games like Wasteland and Fallout. From influencing individual characters, to the destruction of an entire town, each playthrough will be personalised and unique.

Our graphics style uses physical actors filmed live and converted into playable characters, combined with digital backgrounds incorporating photo collages. The goal is to create a surrealist aesthetic that separates Purgatory from anything else out there.

We're putting a new twist on the idea of Choice and Consequence by making 'evil' moral choices far easier to take in gameplay terms than 'good' ones, though it should be noted most of the games dilemmas are entrenched in the morally grey area.

We'd love to hear your feedback on the game so far, and hope you like it :)




A note on the Alpha footage; in the short time since its release we've already overhauled the movement system and improved the player's sprite sheet, and we're still working on the UI.

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Excuse the Gif compression, we'll have some HD videos up on Youtube soon :)

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If you like the game you can follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/Abstract_Games
and at our website here: http://abstractgames.wix.com/purgatory

We've got a lot more content coming soon, specifically gameplay footage, and we'll keep you updated as it comes. Thanks for reading.
 
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You forgot to include the alpha footage:


Looks interesting enough as an adventure/puzzle game, but I was never much into the whole FMV thing.
Not sure why you're billing it as an RPG though. Will it have stats and combat? Like Quest for Glory / Heroine's Quest and such?

edit:
just a heads up, may wanna fix that typo in the thread title.
 
PlanHex said:
You forgot to include the alpha footage:


Looks interesting enough as an adventure/puzzle game, but I was never much into the whole FMV thing.
Not sure why you're billing it as an RPG though. Will it have stats and combat? Like Quest for Glory / Heroine's Quest and such?

edit:
just a heads up, may wanna fix that typo in the thread title.
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Hi PlanHex,

Why is it an RPG? Well the game allows you to approach situations with numerous alignments loosely mirroring D+D i.e chaotic evil, neutral good etc. It will have complex dialogue trees, an inventory system, a hub town and a non-linear story. You create your own story and mould the world around you, and there's plenty of side quests along the way. It's certainly not a conventional RPG, but I think it definitely belongs in that category.

The game isn't FMV in a limiting sense by the way, the character is controlled with the WASD keys.

With regards to stats it will have them but not in a conventional way. For example a skill check when lying to someone is not checked against your speech level for example, but against your influence level with that character. This can be raised by your approach in dialogue, helping them with a quest, and things of this nature. Someone is more likely to believe you when you hold a high influence level with them.

When it comes to combat we're in the process of concepting a live action turn based system, but it will be used sparingly in the game, as we won't have dungeons full of enemies and things of that nature.
 
Looks definitely worth checking out.

Abstract Games said:
We're putting a new twist on the idea of Choice and Consequence by making 'evil' moral choices far easier to take in gameplay terms than 'good' ones.
Click to expand...
I really like this idea. It kinda reminds me of Lisa: The Painful RPG, which is one of my favorite games. For example, in the game, you had to chose to either cut off your arm, or have one of your party members killed. That game would be great to take inspiration from this sort of thing.
 
FlashBash64 said:
Looks definitely worth checking out.


I really like this idea. It kinda reminds me of Lisa: The Painful RPG, which is one of my favorite games. For example, in the game, you had to chose to either cut off your arm, or have one of your party members killed. That game would be great to take inspiration from this sort of thing.
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Hi FlashBash,

Glad you like it! I haven't played The Painful but I remember the first game conveying a very disturbing tone, in a well done way.

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So is this game using the actual Biblical Purgatory as its setting or is it simply used as the name of the game/taking ideas from the Biblical Purgatory? Not a lot of games, or really any, have done a sort of Purgatory-like setting for their game, not even as a level or area to explore. The closest thing I could think of would be The Fade from Dragon Age: Origins.

The project does seem interesting, but as another question, will this game be pretty much dialogue-focused or will it have both combat and dialogue mixed in, something Obsidian Entertainment is very good at doing?
 
It sounds like an interesting concept. Do you have any prior experience in game development or is this your first go at it? Either way, Purgatory looks quite cool, good luck with the project!
 
Ragemage said:
So is this game using the actual Biblical Purgatory as its setting or is it simply used as the name of the game/taking ideas from the Biblical Purgatory? Not a lot of games, or really any, have done a sort of Purgatory-like setting for their game, not even as a level or area to explore. The closest thing I could think of would be The Fade from Dragon Age: Origins.

The project does seem interesting, but as another question, will this game be pretty much dialogue-focused or will it have both combat and dialogue mixed in, something Obsidian Entertainment is very good at doing?
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Hi Ragemage,

It's not Purgatory as described in the bible, the game isn't about any specific religion, but it certainly takes the idea and creates a new world around it. We wanted to create an entirely new fantasy-esque setting, and a universe like this doesn't really exist (until now).

While we're aiming for around 100,000 lines of dialogue and a small cast of extremely detailed characters the game certainly won't be dialogue focused, or anything like a narrative game that involves clicking through endless text. We want players who like extended conversations to be able to have them, while not impeding other players progression, thus most of it is optional. As you mention Obsidian it's a similar structure to Kotor II in that you can spend an age talking to party members, or almost not at all if that's not your preference. There's as much puzzle solving, exploration, combat and adventure to be had as there is dialogue.

Izak said:
It sounds like an interesting concept. Do you have any prior experience in game development or is this your first go at it? Either way, Purgatory looks quite cool, good luck with the project!
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Hi Izak,

We're a two man team with a collective history of modding, art, music composition and more but this is our first game.
Thanks for the well wishes :)
 
I imagine the game will be able to run on just about any rig right? Mine is somewhat pathetic but Purgatory being an FMV game I should be able to run it perfectly, right?
 
I thought of some more questions actually, if you'll indulge me. Will the game have multiple paths to take? Multiple endings? I'll go ahead and bring up Fallout: New Vegas again in how that game had over 50 different ending slides that could change depending on your actions. I'm not expecting something that ambitious with this since it's your first major game and all, but will there be alternate paths during quests and the like?

About how much playtime do you think this game will bring by the time it's finished, if you have any kind of estimate? How much time for a single playthrough and how much time for playthroughs where we go through to see the alternate paths we could have taken, if there are any?

Finally, about how much are you planning to charge for this game? Do you plan to put it on Steam/GOG or will it only be available through your website?
 
Ragemage said:
I thought of some more questions actually, if you'll indulge me. Will the game have multiple paths to take? Multiple endings? I'll go ahead and bring up Fallout: New Vegas again in how that game had over 50 different ending slides that could change depending on your actions. I'm not expecting something that ambitious with this since it's your first major game and all, but will there be alternate paths during quests and the like?

About how much playtime do you think this game will bring by the time it's finished, if you have any kind of estimate? How much time for a single playthrough and how much time for playthroughs where we go through to see the alternate paths we could have taken, if there are any?

Finally, about how much are you planning to charge for this game? Do you plan to put it on Steam/GOG or will it only be available through your website?
Click to expand...

Hi Ragemage,

The game will have multiple paths and multiple endings. The paths you choose dictate the characters you encounter and the area you explore, and lead to the aforementioned multiple endings. At the moment we're looking at three main distinct endings with as many variables as possible. We want to expand our number of endings, but to do that we need more resources, so we'll definitely have three main ones with variables, but hopefully a lot more. There will certainly be alternate quest paths, it's one of the core philosophies, and we want each player to approach any given situation in a number of ways.

Playtime is difficult to gauge since we haven't thoroughly play tested at this time with a large group of people, so it's hard to say how long it would take for any given person to solve a single puzzle for example. The game length is aiming towards 15-20 hours, but this depends on the player, how involved they are in dialogue, how many side quests they complete, and how well they can solve puzzles.

On pricing nothing is set on stone but it'll most likely be on Steam at $15, but it'll be $10 on our upcoming Kickstarter campaign. The game will certainly be on Steam and at our website, and with regard to other online platforms, well as many places as possible.

Thanks for the questions :)

Izak said:
I imagine the game will be able to run on just about any rig right? Mine is somewhat pathetic but Purgatory being an FMV game I should be able to run it perfectly, right?
Click to expand...

Hi Izak, technically it's not fmv, it's sprites that are constructed from video frames which you have WASD movement over, but yes to answer your question it's not particularly intensive to run. :)
 
FlashBash64 said:
Could you tell us anything about the story? Don't spoil anything of course.
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For now all we're saying is you find yourself in a strange, but vaguely familiar world. From there we want players to as unaware as the character and go on a journey of discovery piecing together the plot as they go. We'll be releasing character profiles, lore, and similar things over at our website, but for now at least the plot is under wraps.
 
Abstract Games said:
For now all we're saying is you find yourself in a strange, but vaguely familiar world. From there we want players to as unaware as the character and go on a journey of discovery piecing together the plot as they go. We'll be releasing character profiles, lore, and similar things over at our website, but for now at least the plot is under wraps.
Click to expand...
Ok, that's fine.
 
Looks pretty nice :clap:, well done.

I will check it out from time to time and see how it is going, I might even buy it when it is available if I have spare money (I am quite short of money so I don't buy games much at all these days :-( ).

I hope you manage to later get it being sold at GOG.com since I prefer my games being DRM free and I really avoid buying most games on Steam, yeah I am fussy :scratch:.

Well, good luck and I will wait for the release :nod:.
 
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