Never have liked games that use that camera angle.

But what's really interesting is that Brian Mitsoda's and Annie Carlson's http://www.doublebearproductions.com/ apparently has joined ITS. You should have heard of them, both worked at Obsidian and Brian additionally at BIS and Troika. They are working on "a turn-based RPG that emphasizes survival and escape as civilization begins to decay"

-Set during the breakdown of society as emergence of zombies causes widespread panic and disorder.

-Slow, shambling zombies. Spreads like a virus/bite transmission. No, you are not a zombie, that would be stupid.

-Serious examination of a national crisis or natural disaster. Humans and a lack of order are a bigger threat than the undead. Think Hurricane Katrina, Children of Men, Dawn of the Dead NOT Resident Evil, Return of the Living Dead, zombie shooter-type games.

-Game is about survival. Scavenging resources, exploring the area, dealing with other survivors, and managing a "shelter" of sorts are the main focus of the game. More on this later.

-Game is open-ended. There are characters and events that could happen, but the story depends on where you go, what you do, and who you meet. Of course, there's a lot more to this and we'll go into more details as time goes on.

DoubleBear was founded by Brian Mitsoda, a veteran of Black Isle Studios, Troika Games, and Obsidian Entertainment. Mitsoda is best known for his work as a writer/designer on Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines and has worked on multiple RPG and action games during his career.

Annie is a game designer at DoubleBear, responsible for many things which are important. She is best known for her writing on Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir, and other past projects spanning fantasy, sci-fi, and real-world titles. She will also beat you at Super Puzzle Fighter, seriously she will

A common, but fatal mistake: don't [censored] with the Imperial Guards.

http://i32.tinypic.com/j6o6dk.jpg

PS. That's Oscar testing the demo. That's him, without the helmet. Cornered like a rat. Life expectancy - 2 turns.

Heh looks nice actually. Shame it seems there will still be a long wait for it. But I might pick it up when it comes out... and I haven't forgotten about it by then.

THE AGE OF DECADENCE COMBAT BETA

1. CHARACTERS

Primary stats:

There are six primary statistics defining a character's innate physical and mental abilities. Between them they determine the starting values of skills, bonus Skill Points awarded, derived stats (HP & AP), as well as modifiers for range, reaction, and accuracy. They are also regularly checked in dialogue and interactive text segments of the game to allow access to ability specific game play options. In this combat beta, both INT and CHA are fixed at 4, since the focus of this combat beta is to demonstrate and test the combat and combat related abilities from the game.

Strength (STR) - determines a character's damage modifiers and maximum carry weight.
Dexterity (DEX) - determines a character's Action Points and combat sequence.
Constitution (CON) - determines a character's Hit Points and poison resistance.
Perception (PER) - determines a character's range and accuracy modifiers
Intelligence (INT) - determines a character's bonus Skill Points, received per 10 SP earned.
Charisma (CHA) - determines a character's reaction modifiers.

Derived stats:

Hit Points (HP) - determines how much damage a character can soak up before dying.
Action Points (AP) - determine how many actions a character can make during a combat turn.

(HP = CON x 5 + 5, and AP = DEX + 2)

Press C at any point to view the character screen and distribute skill points.


2. COMBAT

The Age of Decadence combat system is turn-based (sequential combat), and uses action points to determine how many actions can be performed during each turn. You can initiate combat either by clicking the crossed swords icon on the interface, or by pressing Enter. Clicking on the crossed swords icon again, or pressing Enter, will end your turn. Additionally, in certain circumstances the option to initiate combat will be available via dialogues. When combat is initiated, a Dexterity comparison is performed to determine who acts first (i.e. who gets the first turn).

Your character's Dexterity determines how many action points are available during each turn. Each action performed - swinging a sword, accessing your inventory, throwing a net, moving away, etc - has an associated AP cost. For example, using a dagger (a fast weapon) to perform a normal attack takes 3AP, however using a two handed hammer (a slow weapon) takes 6AP to swing it around and bring it down on someone's head for a normal attack.

There are two weapon slots, so either two one-handed weapons or a single two-handed weapon can be equipped at a time. The weapon's damage, range, and AP cost (modified by your stats, attack type, and ammo type) will be displayed in the weapon slot. Right-click on the weapon slot to open up a menu with all available attack options.

3. ATTACK TYPES

All weapons (except for crossbows) have fast, normal, and power attack options.

Normal attacks (N key) - standard attacks that have no modifiers.
Fast attacks (F key) - causes less damage, costs one AP less, but are more difficult to avoid. Generally most effective against fast, lightly armored opponents.
Power attacks (P key) - causes a lot more damage, costs an extra AP, but are easier to avoid. Generally most effective against slow, heavy armored opponents.

Aimed attacks - aimed attacks all cost two extra AP's and have different to-hit penalties:

Torso ? normal damage range, no penalty, chance to find a weak spot in the armor. (DR halved)
Arms ? fast damage range, -10% to hit, disarms on a successful hit.
Legs ? fast damage range, -20% to hit, cripples (movement cost doubled) on a successful hit
Head ? power damage range, -30% to hit, but a chance of knocking the opponent out.

Special attacks: whirlwind (melee weapons), impale (spears only), flurry (daggers only), multishot (bows only), burst (repeater crossbow only). Due to time constraints, not all special attacks are available in this beta.

With crossbows, their versatility comes from the different designs available: one-handed, double-shot, scoped, repeating with a magazine, etc. Unlike bows, crossbows have to be manually reloaded. You can right-click on a weapon to see the options available.

Certain weapons are more suited for either fast or power attacks and thus provide an increased damage range when used with these attacks. For example, a simple dagger does 1-6 damage for a normal strike, 1-3 damage for a fast strike, and 2-8 damage for a power attack. A curved dagger is better suited for fast, slashing attacks and less suited for powerful thrusts, so its damage ranges are 1-6 normal, 1-4 fast, and 2-7 for power attacks. However, a wide-bladed dagger is the opposite, so its damage ranges are 1-6 normal, 1-2 fast, and 2-9 for power attacks.


4. WEAPONS

All weapons have 3 important statistics: damage range, attack speed in action points, and reach. Additionally, crossbows have fire/reload speed and, in some cases, multi shot capacity. Some weapons have special abilities like ignoring shields or cutting into the enemy's armor more effectively.

The game offers eight different types of weapon. Each type has its own passive trait that increases along with your skill with the weapon. The higher the skill, the higher the chance to score the special effect associated with your weapon.

Daggers - bypass armor.
Swords - increased chance of a Critical Strike.
Axes - split shields.
Hammers - knock your opponent to the ground.
Spears - interrupt attempts to close in.
Bows - increased chance of Critical Strike.
Crossbows - knock your opponent down.
Throwing - bypass armor.


5. ARMOR

Armor doesn't increase your chance to avoid attacks. In fact, it reduces your mobility and makes it harder to dodge incoming attacks. However, armor absorbs some of the damage from attacks when you fail to dodge or block an attack successfully. Basically, using armor trades Dodge and Action Points for Damage Resistance.

Sets of armor have different statistics, so you must consider carefully what your fighting style is, and choose your equipment accordingly. Going for the heaviest armor and the biggest weapon may not be the best choice in Age of Decadence.

Armor stats:

Dodge penalty, Sneak penalty - self explanatory.

Damage resistance (DR) - how many points of damage from each attack this armor absorbs. For example, if DR is 6, then the first 6 points of damage per attack will be absorbed by the armor without any harm to your character.

Max Action Points (MaxAP) - the maximum amount of action points per turn. If Max AP is 8, then even if you have 12AP, while you're wearing this armor your Max AP is 8.

Versus critical (vsCritical) - protection against Critical Strikes (attacks that target weak armor spots and vital organs).

Crafting can be used to increase the armor's DR, Max AP, vsCritical, or lower its penalties.


5. HELMETS

Helmets protect the head of the wearer, however they do not add to the overall defence rating. Not all opponents will aim attacks at the head, but leaving it unprotected will definitely be considered an open invitation by many.

Helmet stats:

Damage resistance (DR) - usually less than most armor's DR, so even if you fail to score a critical hit, you'll cause more damage if you can actually hit someone's head.

Versus critical (vsCritical) - the heavier the helmet, the better it protects you against critical strikes, but the more it limits your field of vision.

To-hit penalty - a helmet's design may limit your vision, thus reducing your to-hit chance.

Crafting can be used to increase a helmet's DR, vsCritical or decrease the to-hit penalty.


6. SHIELDS

All shields, except for bucklers, have a Block bonus which is offset by a to-hit penalty. Any novice can hide behind a tower shield, but the shield strapped to their arm will slow them down and they won't be able to attack as effectively as they would have without the shield.

Shield stats:

Block bonus, Dodge penalty, To-Hit penalty, Sneak penalty, Versus critical (vsCritical)

Versus Ranged (vsRanged) - shields provide superior protection against all ranged attacks, but certain weapons, like pilums and dagger-like armor-piercing bolts (30% chance) can go through shields, completely ignoring them. All shields are wooden and can be split in half by axes. Once split, a shield is discarded and can't be repaired.

Crafting cannot be used on shields.


7. AMMUNITION

For the sake of convenience, all arrows and bolts have been combined into universal ammo. Originally, the game had arrows and bolts, but 3 different types times 5 different metals times various crafting upgrades times 2 (arrows/bolts) was too much to manage and one universal ammo was forged by the Elven council. True story.

Ammo types:

Regular - standard ammunition.

Armor piercing - causes less damage, but penetrates through armor better. DR is divided by 3 to determine the effective value, i.e. a DR9 armor will absorb 9 points of damage if shot at by regular ammo and only 3 points (9/3) if hit by armor-piercing ammo.

Jagged - causes more damage, but is easily stopped by armor. DR is multiplied by 3 to determine the effective value, i.e. a DR1 armor will absorb 3 points of damage, but a DR4 armor will absorb 12 points of damage.


8. METAL TYPES & CRAFTING

The Crafting system is disabled in the combat beta. You either loot people or buy items from a local trader. The trader's inventory is updated twice ? upon earning the Gladiator and Executioner ranks.

Overall, there are 5 metal types in the game: Bronze, Iron, Steel, Blue Steel, Meteor. The difference between metal types is hardiness (read it as higher damage and damage resistance), weight, and price.


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We hope you'll enjoy the combat beta and share your impressions with us on our forums at http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum.

Thank you for playing!

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