Sovereign Syndicate

[IsaacCHS]

Hi Everyone, Isaac here from Crimson Herring Studios, makers of Sovereign Syndicate. Saw that we got some love over on the Beamdog forums and Twitter from the team over here lately, appreciate the coverage. Happy to chat about the game and answer any questions you might have.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1674920/Sovereign_Syndicate/

Thanks Everyone! Look forward to chatting,

-Isaac

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

Hi and thank you so much for offering to answer questions here!
I've just gone and wishlisted the game! (only realized these days that wishlisting is an important tool even if I don't need a reminder to keep an eye on that game).
The graphics and the Victorian steampunk setting look so cool, and the descriptions of the three playable characters sound quirky and interesting.
I also like the fact that you level your skills by using them, sharpening them, which is more realistic than just assigning points (we've had this discussion either here or with the same people in another place about the system in Skyrim, which some people like and some hate).

I'm also trying to come up with intelligent questions, but as you can see, I'm a Krogan, and we're known more for our combat skills than diplomacy.
So, how did you get the idea to use tarot cards instead of dice rolls, and how can I expect this to work?
Also, how is the playtesting going? And will there be another round at a later time that can still be joined?

 

[IsaacCHS]

Hi and thank you so much for offering to answer questions here!
I've just gone and wishlisted the game! (only realized these days that wishlisting is an important tool even if I don't need a reminder to keep an eye on that game).
The graphics and the Victorian steampunk setting look so cool, and the descriptions of the three playable characters sound quirky and interesting.
I also like the fact that you level your skills by using them, sharpening them, which is more realistic than just assigning points (we've had this discussion either here or with the same people in another place about the system in Skyrim, which some people like and some hate).

I'm also trying to come up with intelligent questions, but as you can see, I'm a Krogan, and we're known more for our combat skills than diplomacy.
So, how did you get the idea to use tarot cards instead of dice rolls, and how can I expect this to work?
Also, how is the playtesting going? And will there be another round at a later time that can still be joined?

Thanks for the wishlist! Yes it definitely helps.

Yes, we definitely wanted to do something where the skills you use to solve problems have an effect on how your character develops. Makes more sense to me than random skillpoint assignment.

For the tarot cards we were leaning in to the mysticism, science, and medicine of the era; really trying to build a believable Victorian fantasy world that's grounded in history. Even if it has steampunk and fantasy elements we didn't want to just wash over what made the time period unique. In that way we decided to use tarot cards and phrenology to reflect their influence on mysticism and science of the era as character development mechanics. I also think the tarot cards are more visually interesting and could be more strategically interesting than dice. It also gives us the chance to explore some deck building mechanics which we think adds to the replayability and diversity of character builds. So far the audience is loving it and we're really excited by it.

Yes, we're prepping a new build for another round of playtests likely next month so stay tuned for that!

Thanks,

-Isaac

 

[Cahir]

How much (if any) of the inspiration for Sovereign Syndicate was Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura? Arcanum was one of the best isometric crpgs of old that suffered with a ton of bugs and some rough around the edges' gameplay. I definitely see an inspiration there, as well as with Baldur's Gate 2 (mostly in the location design) and Disco Elysium). But I'm curious if this similarity is a coincidence, or those titles were truly an inspiration for you guys.

I like there are pregenerated characters here, because I learned recently that those allow the story to be more interesting and better paced (Mass Effect, Cyberpunk 2077) (although it's not a rule, of course, there are games with fully custom character that have equally great stories). But, I admit I prefer to play more, well... mundane characters (human, elves, even dwarves) - minotaur or automaton would not necessarily be my first pick for a protagonist, but the corsair lady definitely look like a suitable main character for me.

I've wishlisted the game and looking forward to playing it after the full release.

​

 

[alice_ashpool]

I usually end up buying every cRPG eventually - if only to support people making them. Your game looks interesting even if "steampunk" is not really my thing. I stuck it on my wishlist regardless. All the best.

 

[IsaacCHS]

How much (if any) of the inspiration for Sovereign Syndicate was Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura? Arcanum was one of the best isometric crpgs of old that suffered with a ton of bugs and some rough around the edges' gameplay. I definitely see an inspiration there, as well as with Baldur's Gate 2 (mostly in the location design) and Disco Elysium). But I'm curious if this similarity is a coincidence, or those titles were truly an inspiration for you guys.

I like there are pregenerated characters here, because I learned recently that those allow the story to be more interesting and better paced (Mass Effect, Cyberpunk 2077) (although it's not a rule, of course, there are games with fully custom character that have equally great stories). But, I admit I prefer to play more, well... mundane characters (human, elves, even dwarves) - minotaur or automaton would not necessarily be my first pick for a protagonist, but the corsair lady definitely look like a suitable main character for me.

I've wishlisted the game and looking forward to playing it after the full release.

​

Thanks for your support! Yes Arcanum, Disco Elysium, and the Shadowrun series tend to be our biggest inspirations.

Specifically for Arcanum I like the counterbalance of Magic and Technology, how reactive NPC's are to your character and choices, and how vendors won't just buy any old garbage you give them. Things like the newspaper stories that reflect your choices are nice touches too. Agree it was ambitious and a little rough around the edges, still hoping for a sequel which we might get with Microsoft and Activision under the same roof.

Yes, we're definitely a story-driven studio and wanted pre-made characters so we could tell really tailored stories. One of the interesting things we want to do with the three main characters is allow for a variety of story-telling in the same world. How would NPC's react differently to our three characters, what are their motivations, how do they co-exist? Lots of latitude there for sure.

 

[IsaacCHS]

I usually end up buying every cRPG eventually - if only to support people making them. Your game looks interesting even if "steampunk" is not really my thing. I stuck it on my wishlist regardless. All the best.

Thanks for your support!

We tend to use this as our inspiration for steampunk:



That is to say that we don't want to overdo it and make things steampunk for the sake of steampunk; we still want the world and characters to feel grounded in reality despite the fantasy elements.

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

That's a funny video, but unfortunately often very true

I think that simply looking at the trailer, and reading how much effort you're putting into a reasonably realistic depiction of the epoch and its mysticism and science level, it's safe to assume that "steampunk" and fantasy in this context serve more to explain the little liberties and oddities that make an RPG more interesting than just real life skills and options, and not to run after a trend. If everything just works "because magic", it's not that interesting. A historical setting doesn't need to be 100% accurate for me, and a few perks to make it unique and spice it up sound good.
Cogs, gears, goggles are cool. Unless they only exist just because. I love mechanics. Not as in game mechanics, but as in basic physics. So, yay for 19th century science with a grain of fantasy!

 

[mlnevese]

I played the beta and it went straight to my wish list. From what I could see of it I liked it more than Disco Elysium. Maybe it was the setting or the story, I don't really know. Anyway, welcome to our cozy Tavern. I hope you enjoy your stay.

 

[IsaacCHS]

I played the beta and it went straight to my wish list. From what I could see of it I liked it more than Disco Elysium. Maybe it was the setting or the story, I don't really know. Anyway, welcome to our cozy Tavern. I hope you enjoy your stay.

Thanks so much! We're pretty excited for all the changes we're making for the latest build. Looking forward to sharing it with everyone.

 

[Antimatter]

That's so cool to see you here, Isaac! I wish lots of success to Sovereign Syndicate!

How big is your team at Crimson Herring Studios? How will you handle combat (if there is any combat) in this game?

 

[IsaacCHS]

That's so cool to see you here, Isaac! I wish lots of success to Sovereign Syndicate!

How big is your team at Crimson Herring Studios? How will you handle combat (if there is any combat) in this game?

Thanks! We have about 18 folks working on the game, mostly part-time around our day jobs.

We're using dialogue as combat, something like what Disco Elysium, Gamedec, and Citizen Sleeper use. We're also leaning towards comic style panels, something like what Pillars of Eternity uses for sequences that may be more difficult to animate effectively. Here's an example... work in progress but you get the idea.

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

Thanks! We have about 18 folks working on the game, mostly part-time around our day jobs.

We're using dialogue as combat, something like what Disco Elysium, Gamedec, and Citizen Sleeper use. We're also leaning towards comic style panels, something like what Pillars of Eternity uses for sequences that may be more difficult to animate effectively. Here's an example... work in progress but you get the idea.


View attachment 2522

The idea with comic style panels to avoid overly complex animations sounds very pragmatic and yet looks like a deliberate choice of art style and not the easy way out.

Also, wow! The fact that you're such a small team and even most of them working on it part-time next to the "real" job makes the results all the more impressive and worthy of support!

 

[IsaacCHS]

The idea with comic style panels to avoid overly complex animations sounds very pragmatic and yet looks like a deliberate choice of art style and not the easy way out.

Also, wow! The fact that you're such a small team and even most of them working on it part-time next to the "real" job makes the results all the more impressive and worthy of support!

Thanks! Yes it was partly pragmatic; good animations are expensive and good 2D art will look better than janky animations. But now that we're doing it it definitely fits better with our overall style and focus on storytelling.

 

[Cahir]

@IsaacCHS do you plan to release the game in other languages? Can you share what is the expected number of words in the game?

 

[IsaacCHS]

@IsaacCHS do you plan to release the game in other languages? Can you share what is the expected number of words in the game?

We do plan to translate the game to multiple languages, all listed on our Steam page.

Still finishing the stories but probably ~500,000 if I had to estimate. It's hard because there are so many alternate paths and dialogue trees and three separate playable characters so how many words total vs. how many will a player see in the typical playthrough can be such different answers. They say Disco Elysium has over a million, but how many of those are reading Dick Mullen books or other oddities that the average player doesn't see.

Anyway, I'm sure we'll provide updates as we know more, pretty focused on finishing the demo right now but slowly working on new content that's pretty exciting.

 

[Antimatter]

Ohhh, 500k is a pretty big number, that's huge! Siege of Dragonspear was over 500,000 words of dialogue, for example. Wasteland 3 featured fully voiced dialogues, comprising over 500,000 words worth of conversations as well.

Additional credit should be given to you that you're releasing the game with translations into many languages, that's not something everyone does these days.

Good luck to you with finishing the demo. I'll definitely try it. Also, I wish your team all the success so that you could probably add full VO to the game later - once it's a massive success, - just like Disco Elysium did. But for the launch, how will you handle the English VO?

 

[Cahir]

We do plan to translate the game to multiple languages, all listed on our Steam page.

Still finishing the stories but probably ~500,000 if I had to estimate. It's hard because there are so many alternate paths and dialogue trees and three separate playable characters so how many words total vs. how many will a player see in the typical playthrough can be such different answers. They say Disco Elysium has over a million, but how many of those are reading Dick Mullen books or other oddities that the average player doesn't see.

Anyway, I'm sure we'll provide updates as we know more, pretty focused on finishing the demo right now but slowly working on new content that's pretty exciting.

Thank you for reply. I see Polish language is (currently?) not supported. Do you plan to translate Sovereign Syndicate to Polish too?

 

[IsaacCHS]

Ohhh, 500k is a pretty big number, that's huge! Siege of Dragonspear was over 500,000 words of dialogue, for example. Wasteland 3 featured fully voiced dialogues, comprising over 500,000 words worth of conversations as well.

Additional credit should be given to you that you're releasing the game with translations into many languages, that's not something everyone does these days.

Good luck to you with finishing the demo. I'll definitely try it. Also, I wish your team all the success so that you could probably add full VO to the game later - once it's a massive success, - just like Disco Elysium did. But for the launch, how will you handle the English VO?

Thanks, Yes we definitely look at Disco Elysium's release strategy as a potential model that will work for us, for example releasing Atticus's story first, then following with Clara and Otto, then doing VO and porting a complete edition to consoles. Still lots of time to make those decisions but it's exciting to think about.

@Cahir We're trying to base our translation efforts on regional wishlist demand. I'm starting to lean more towards Polish than Turkish based on our current wishlists but we'll see how that shapes up closer to release. If there's sufficient demand for it I'd love to do it.

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

[leans back and watches @Cahir cast Rallying Cry on all Polish speaking internet users, motivating them to wishlist Sovereign Syndicate]