Dungeon Crusade video update #2 / leaving Californa
almost 8 years ago – Tue, Jul 19, 2016 at 11:38:18 PM

A HUGE hello to everyone! :) Rodger here, and I hope everyone is doing great. As you know, I have been with David and others for the past few weeks play testing, streamlining and debugging Dungeon Crusade in California. I'm about to fly out and return home tonight, 

The lines below are from a huge post I left in the comment section a few days ago. So I wanted to share them here in the update......

"We have made some truly great changes and additions to the game that I think people are going to love to see and hear. The gameplay is truly becoming top notch, with very smooth gameplay.

Dungeon Crusade now is a MUCH more brisker paced game with a more structured system to it. Please forgive me for not jumping on here with you guys lately. LOL, you know me, once I get on here with you guys, I tend to hang out in here for a bit with my walls of text! :)

But we all have been putting all of our time into working on the game, and making it the experience everyone is anticipating, and making it the best it can be. One thing I can most definitely say is we have been laughing and having a great time in playing it together.

The encounter cards seem to be everyone's favorite, Especially the ones that call out a hero for a challenge or event.

Another time someone opened a treasure chest, and a phantasmal shift occurred. It talks about blinding lights and colors shoot all over the dungeon, and any hero in that quadrant and adjacent quadrant are teleported to one of the 8 spawn zones in the dungeon! Plus so many other cools things.

Real quick, another fun thing happened at celebration day. We all bought a blessing from the temple. Upon returning to the dungeon, we all revealed the blessing we received. Everyone besides me and David got the cards that said their prayers went unheard, and the sad flavor text on the card was read aloud! We were making fun of the people who got them! :) But I received the angel of essence. I could recharge 10 essence when I choose to do so, and David got a angel of swiftness. That added +3 to his base movement.

Above all, it's coming out the way I intended it to be. FUN tactics, strategies and planning, some randomness. whimsical and basically a great time with surprises in store for the heroes. I am so excited and fired up when I go home in a few days to get to work on the changes to some of the cards and the game, and add in the new content for the game.

I'm going to be doing a new gameplay video when I get home, after I work on the changes and added content to the game, and show you guys how well the game runs now. I believe you will see a whole game of Dungeon Crusade played in the time it took to do those 5 turns you saw during the kickstarter.

 We have made some truly great changes and additions to the game that I think people are going to love to see and hear. The gameplay is truly becoming top notch, with very smooth gameplay. Dungeon Crusade now is a MUCH more brisker paced game with a more structured system to it. I will be doing a video update tomorrow to discuss a little more in depth some of the info below. Here is some of the changes that have been made...

TREASURE DECK: The treasure chest deck has seen more loot added, and unique items added in. A few of these items are....
 --- A case of 3 healing potions
--- A long forgotten sacred statue that belongs in the village. If this is found, the terror level in the village is lowered by one.
--- A Dawnstar Stone. If this is found, a hero at any time can teleport to any area of the dungeon he or she wishes. Being tracked by a guardian? Teleport away to a safe location!
--- Tome of Knowledge. If found, this will allow the hero to level up instantly.
--- Additional cards with gold inside the chest. 900, 1400 and 1800.

The general consensus among the players were there were to many empty chests showing up. Oh don't worry! No trapped chests were removed...and just maybe a few things were added to them....MUHahahahahaha! ;)

SHOPPING PHASE BEFORE START OF GAME: There is now a shopping phase before the game starts. The scenario will let you know how much gold the heroes will have to spend in the village prior to their adventures. This has been working beautifully. A great addition!

DEATH AND RESURRECTION: Before, heroes had to spend 1000 gold for resurrection at the temple in the village. This has been changed to a much more sensible and way better game mechanic. Upon a heroes death, their figure is removed and placed in the village. You must raise the terror level in the village by 1 for a hero dying. That hero misses one full turn, then can teleport adjacent to a fellow hero in the dungeon on the following upkeep phase.

What this does is force the player(s) to play more cautiously, and at the same time it gets players back into the game sooner with less down time. The old way had that hero out way too long awaiting the 1000 gold for the resurrection. I will be touching on this more in the video update. But trust me/us, the new way is far more fun and plain out a better system on getting people back into the game, and adding tension to the game.

THE VILLAGE TERROR TRACK: The villages terror track will now go to 12, instead of 9. This will be talked about in the video update. But basically what I would like to do, is assign 3 difficulties to 3 of the numbers on the track, depending on the scenario.

HEROES NOW HAVE 2 ACTIONS: This change right here was the best by far. This has made Dungeon Crusade so much quicker and more peppy. Night and day difference. Let me explain... Heroes can do these actions on their turn. They can either...
 --- Move twice
 --- Move and attack
 --- Attack and move

That double movement has changed the game for the better, and as a result the game plays much more quicker and brisker. I personally think you are going to welcome this change with open arms.

HEROES SPECIAL ABILITIES: We are in the works of reworking the skill tree system for all of the heroes. We will be sharing this with you of course, in the near future as it develops.

COMBAT SYSTEM:: Along with the double movement system, I believe you guys are going to love what you are about to hear about the improved combat system for Dungeon Crusade.

Of course you know there are 6 different warfare types...
-- Physical -- Range
 -- Arcane -- Mythical
 -- Mind -- Chaos

However now, a hero can attack in any of the warfare types with the weapon they are equipped with, and "possibly" do damage to that monster.

So say for instance the knight launches an attack against a tenderfoot warlock who has arcane, mind and range warfare.

The knight could use that sword against any of the warfare types, but would be at a disadvantage of course, as you must fight under those 3 warfare types that is listed on that monsters cards.

You would declare in what phase the knight would be attacking in, and what weapon he chooses to attack with. Besides the double movement, everyone so far has been unanimous in agreement that combat is much more quicker and makes much more sense. Let me explain for you....

Let's take our knight for example. At level 1, he is versed in physical warfare and has a +4, and range warfare and has a +2. He starts the game with a sword.

Let's say in the shopping phase at the start of the game, a range weapon is not available, but a dagger is. This dagger is a mythical weapon and has a +2 to mythical attacks. Under the new rules, he would be able to equip it and use it. I'm going to go more in depth in the video update about this for you, but the game is truly more fun and engaging with the new combat system.

The old system will be in the game to of course as an official variant for a harder challenge.

There is a few other things I will be addressing, but these changes that I have listed has really streamlined and enhanced Dungeon Crusade in a great way, that I believe you are really going to enjoy.

We have also defined the quests and quest tables for the scenarios that will be in Dungeon Crusade, but I would like to save that for the video update for you, and go into detail of what some of these will be.

I hope everyone likes and enjoys what they are seeing and hearing about how we are hard at work on the game. I'm so excited to get home and work on this content and make a complete playthrough for you guys, you're going to love what you see. "

In closing, THANK YOU for everything you guys have done for Dungeon Crusade. Myself and everyone are hard at work on the game.  I'm about to fly out back home now,  I have to get going or I'll miss the flight!!. Have a great night all! Talk to you when I get home...Rodger :)

Here is the link for the video update. Forgive me for the rough edit job. It's the best I could do with my notebook. I hope you guys enjoy! :)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GxxX1uvaZ8&feature=youtu.be

Playtesting, streamlining and debugging Dungeon Crusade
almost 8 years ago – Mon, Jul 11, 2016 at 10:31:24 PM

Greetings Crusaders,  

---------------------   

Hello everyone, Rodger here and I hope everyone is doing great today! :)  

And yes...I missed the friday update, and I deeply apologize, but I have a really great reason!

I am with David and others, and we are here doing playtesting, streamlining and debugging rules for Dungeon Crusade. I flew out here on friday for us to start pre-production on Dungeon Crusade and get the ball rolling And we are having a blast.

The video in the update talks about what changes we have been made so far to the game to streamline gameplay and tighten up the experience.

Also I have been talking about the angels of Dungeon Crusade in the form of blessings you can receive from the village. Here is something I posted in the comments section last week about the angels, 

"One thing I have been working on, that we really haven't discussed much are the blessings. As you may know, on celebration day in the village, a hero may go to the temple and for the cost of 200 gold receive a blessing.

YOU CANNOT reveal the blessing until you are back in the dungeon AFTER celebration day. Once back in the dungeon, you flip over the blessing card you received. You will get either 2 results..... 

1) The card will have white/grayish clouds and say something like "Your prayers have went unheard...Gloom and doubt obscure your thoughts"... 

or 

2) The blessing card could say "An angel has appeared!" In that case, an angel is with you on your journey. These type of blessing cards have an illustration of a beautiful & awesome looking female angel on it. 

Right now there are 5 different angels in Dungeon Crusade, and different levels of what they do... 

1) Angel of Healing: These angels have a green background. They will restore some health or all of it to a hero in their time of need. 

2) Angel of Vengeance: These angels have a red background. They will add extra damage on successful hits. 

3) Angel of Swiftness: These angels have a blue background. They will add extra movement to your hero. 

4) Angel of Luck: These angels have a yellow background. They will add points to this heroes certain attributes. (Strength, Wisdom, Willpower, Agility) 

5) Angel of Essence: These angels have a purple background. They will restore some or all of a heroes essence in their time of need."

Here is a little picture I put together before I left...  

OK, getting back to the game! Forgive me for my lack of being on here, just truly on task and focusing on getting this done for all of us. When I return home, I will be on here more hanging out with you guys  .

Enjoy the video, and we will try to hop back on here next weekend to update you more and some changes that we have made. We just have some good people here with us working on the game, and we are making the most of our time together to make as much progress as we can.

I hope you guys have a great day, and I will be talking to you soon! As always THANK YOU for believing and supporting Dungeon Crusade! Rodger :)

 

 

 

 

Sketches of encounter cards and Castle Blackwood...
about 8 years ago – Fri, Jul 01, 2016 at 11:39:58 PM

Hello everyone and happy friday! Rodger here and I hope everyone is doing great! :) 

Please forgive my lack of being in the comments section with you guys, I miss it! This week has been so busy, with working on the game, phone calls, me and David conversing about various contracts and the such. I truly miss just simply hanging out with all of you answering questions. I'm going to be in the comments all weekend to hang out while I work on the game.  

BUT....I do have something truly awesome in this update for everyone. First thing is some of the sketches from our artist Camron Brown. Camron is in charge of many tasks. One in particular is the sketches for all the encounter cards. 

Now, I'm going to be honest...I thought my little pictures looked pretty darn good on the encounter cards! Well....Camron just destroyed them, blew them out of the water with his design! When I saw these sketches, I was floored, and replied back to him with, "The backers have to see this!" He did a stellar job on what I'm trying to convey for a retro inspired game, and his work just truly hammers it home. 

So what you are seeing here is some of my prototype encounter cards, attached to the very first sketches Camron sent over to us. I just LOVE his vision guys, and it adheres to that retro vibe I really want Dungeon Crusade to be known for.

. 

Well...this is going to be a tough act to follow...but I will try! ;)

The second thing I want to share with everyone  is a video update series entitled "Castle Blackwood part 1". 

You are going to see the start of Castle Blackwood tonight, and as time goes on, I will be returning to it and letting you see the progress until I am finished with it. From there, it will go to Shaun Ellis, the game world artist for him to make the final version of Castle Blackwood for the game. 

Personally, I LOVE seeing stuff like this, at the grassroots level, then watching it come to fruition to the final piece. I think your in for a real treat seeing how good it looks already. It is a much cleaner, professional look, but still capturing that retro feel.

Enjoy the video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5gefGqwD9k&feature=youtu.be

There is much more in the video, but here are a few highlight zones in Castle Blackwood thus far...

So I hope you guys enjoyed this update and shows we are SUPER thrilled, excited and fired up to get Dungeon Crusade into your hands ASAP. 

Please understand guys, I LOVE hanging out in the comments and chatting, but when I get focused on something that I'm really passionate about, I become over zealous about it, and keep at it until I complete what I'm trying to achieve. Bottom line, I just want to play Dungeon Crusade with you guys!!! :)

I will be in the comments section this weekend, so if you guys have any questions, post them in there, and I'll get them answered for you. Have a great evening guys and thank you again...talk to you soon...Rodger :)

A thank you from the heart!
about 8 years ago – Sun, Jun 26, 2016 at 10:59:31 PM

Good evening Crusaders!

Today is a good day!

I have had the pleasure of working with Rodger to help him bring Dungeon Crusade to life. I am so proud of what he has accomplished and what he learned on this journey and so proud of you guys taking a chance on a fellow Dungeon Crawl fan and his project. It is easy to back a game that was going to be made even if you didn’t back it. It is a lot harder to put your money up for a first time creator. I thank you for doing this; You should feel proud, like you are part of something and hopefully we made you feel like you were part of the project. If it was not for you Dungeon Crusade would only exist on Rodger’s table!

Now that we can pay the artists, the next step of journey begins. We’ll keep you updated with the project and how it is going and continue to be as transparent and as reactive as we were during the campaign. We got a lot to do but, and we are excited and geared up to do it.

This sounds like goodbye, but it is not. It is really a start of a grand adventure. Let’s keep this party going!

- David



A good evening to everyone! This is Rodger, and wow. Just wow! We did it! :) What a long, epic journey this has been for me personally. But now, it’s all of us on this journey together, to discuss, build and create Dungeon Crusade together.

The professional artists of course will be recreating EVERYTHING, and using their creativity, imagination and talent to create the final game we will all be playing. Just watching Dungeon Crusade transform from the prototype game, into the final release is going to be truly exciting and thrilling to watch with you guys. :)

As you have seen, we have changed Dungeon Crusade just a little bit. We truly discussed things, listened to you guys, and really worked on stuff together to create the experience we all want. I love that personally, and it’s what I want Groovus Games Unlimited to stand for. We present games to our backers, and we work together on certain aspects together. Groovus Games Unlimited is for sure a niche game company, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. :)

I think you guys see personally what I’m about. I’m highly driven, imaginative, creative, focused and determined to either meet or exceed your high expectations with Dungeon Crusade. And now with David, 3 technical writers, a group of personal creative people with me, a team of professional artists, a awesome game company, a proven leader in reward fulfillment, and the world’s most awesome and incredible backers, we are going to over deliver big time with Dungeon Crusade.

OK guys, let’s do this. I want to get the ball rolling ASAP. I am so looking forward to creating the new dungeons while the artists start their work on the prototype game. Truth be told, I don’t feel like resting until the game is at the printers. I just want to steamroll ahead, and get it done.

So to my extended family, a warm, THANK YOU x’s 1000! You guys are truly some of the best people I have ever met in my life, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. :) Have a great evening, and I will be talking to you soon…..Rodger :)  

The final 48 hours of Dungeon Crusade....
about 8 years ago – Sat, Jun 25, 2016 at 07:38:19 AM

Hello everyone! Rodger here, and I hope everyone is doing great on this friday, and looking forward to the weekend! 

As always, a HUGE welcome and thank you to our new backers! It's great to have you guys here with all of us to create, discuss and build Dungeon Crusade together. :)

I truly considered this. We have all looked at this prototype game of Dungeon Crusade for a few months now. But now, we are all going to see it transform into the final game thanks to all of the talented, creative and imaginative artists on board. It's going to be thrilling and exciting to watch this process over the next few months. I am so looking forward to this, and chatting with you guys about what we are seeing happen with Dungeon Crusade. 

A couple of exciting announcements I would like to make for you guys, that I believe you are going to enjoy hearing. Groovus Games Unlimited has partnered with Ship Naked for reward fulfillment for all of our backers around the world. In addition, we have partnered with Grand Prix International games for the game company that will be producing Dungeon Crusade for all of us to enjoy.

I personally feel it's important to let backers know who will be manufacturing their game, and who will be responsible for delivering it to them. Plus it's another level of transparency, so you know Groovus Games Unlimited is partnered with truly professional companies who care and are dedicated as we are to Dungeon Crusade. 

At this time, I would like to share some of the final art with you guys, and some samples that Cornerstone Creative Studios sent me to let you guys see some of their work Now some of this doesn't pertain to Dungeon Crusade, but I believe you you will enjoy seeing some of their work, and the kind of professionals we have in our art department. 

The following images were given to me from Jesse from Cornerstone Creative Studios. These will not be in Dungeon Crusade, but we wanted to share these with you to let you see some of the creativity, imagination and talent of the various artists behind Dungeon Crusade.

The following art is from our artists Shaun and Kez. They will be working on the massive amount of loot in Dungeon Crusade. 

 The following art is Shaun's various work. Shaun was truly one of the first artists who believed in me and Dungeon Crusade, and stuck with me and the game. He will be the one bringing the world of Dungeon Crusade to life for all of us to crash and bash monsters in the halls of the various dungeons! 

 And of course we have a few more artists on Dungeon Crusade. Camron Brown who is based in the UK. Camron will have many duties for dungeon Crusade. One in particular is all the pictures on the encounter cards. Here is a smaple of his work for you.

And last but not least Damien Mammoliti, who had done work for the recent game of the year, The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. 

Besides the artists, and the companies we are partnered with, we have quite a few technical writers aboard for Dungeon Crusade. All text will be gone over for misspelled words and grammar fixes. 

In addition, we are going to be tweaking a few things about the game that you guys have given us your feedback about. Rallying heroes, and a few other things. This is "our" game? So we should discuss, and work together on some aspects of the game that we all will enjoy.

I'm glad I shared all of this with you, and hope you enjoyed it all! I just want to convey, we have everything nailed down to make Dungeon Crusade a reality, and get it into your hands. I think you guys already know me very well at this point. I'm focused, determined, creative and imaginative, and plan on meeting or exceeding your high expectations for Dungeon Crusade. :)

Truth be told, you know myself and David have more games we want to do for everyone. It is paramount we deliver 100% on Dungeon Crusade, 

And here is a little piece of info for you. I want to come back next year with the very first HUGE expansion pack for Dungeon Crusade Book I:Genesis of Evil. I want more monsters for you guys. Themed monsters for the dungeons. More encounter cards, more loot cards, maybe another double sided dungeon to enjoy and a few other things. So you see why it's important we deliver

In closing, please feel free to ask any questions you may have. I/we love hearing from you guys. Let's hit that stretch goal for the double sided cardboard miniatures! I personally want those so bad in my game, and I know there is a huge amount of people who want those also! It is something small, but it adds so much to the heroes and to the game.

Enjoy the weekend everyone, talk to you soon...Rodger :)

Hail Crusaders!  

Tough act to follow! Just wanted to chime in and thank everyone for their support, for chatting with us in the comments section and just being plain awesome. Rodger and his project inspired me to kick my own personal game project into gear. I'm hoping to see a few familiar faces back for that.

We get asked a lot about a pledge manager and yes we will have one. Further more any late pledges and adjustments will be added to our funding goal towards unlocking new stretch goals. We'll have a system in place after the campaign so people can easily late pledge; Then during the pledge manager you can add things to your pledge as well.

If demand is high and the game is well received we'd love to do a second print run. However this is the only print run we have planned otherwise. If you are thinking, "Well I'll just buy the game at retail!" Keep in mind we'll have very few copies left to sell through after the backer orders are fulfilled. You won't find our game at CoolStuffInc, or Miniature Market. (As cool as it would be for our first project it was a bit beyond Rodger's scope)  

I hope everyone has an awesome weekend. Looking forward to kicking back and chatting with you guys on Sunday as we count down to the end of the campaign!  

- David (Stormbringer)