Update #04 - Bloodfare Artes Featurette! + Nintendo Switch Stretch Goal Reveal
about 2 years ago – Sun, Jul 24, 2022 at 02:20:30 PM

Hello once again my fellow Ravens!

(As a quick tease: we’ve decided to release our stretch goal for a Nintendo Switch port, read on to find out 👀)

I’m back with a new featurette in The White Raven: Today we’re going to be looking at Bloodfare artes.

While The White Raven features many traditional magical abilities that you’ve come to know and love from past RPGs, one of our combat signatures will be the inclusion of Blood Magic (or what’s more commonly referred to as Bloodfare artes in our game).

Our game features two different layers of protection: Your health, and your armor points.

And to combat that, we have essentially 2 different types of attack styles: combat artes, and elemental artes.

While elemental artes are strong towards armor, but weak against your actual health points (the reverse is true of combat artes - weak against armor but strong against health), Bloodfare artes can actually bypass the armor system and directly attack enemy health points!

However, there is always a tradeoff.

And it is that using bloodfare artes (while incredibly strong when deployed) takes both larger amounts of action points (AP) AND a portion of your own health as well - embodying the very definition of a ‘glass cannon’.

Of course, we’ll be providing different skills and gear that can aid you in pursuing a ‘pure’ Bloodfare artes user ( for example, an advanced skill that allows you to not go beyond 1 HP for 2 turns - essentially granting you immortality for a quick spell [with some tradeoffs]), or you could decide to go for a more hybrid approach by combining it with different forms of skill artes.

Either way, I look forward to seeing how our players make creative use of these skills (along with their tradeoffs) to eradicate their enemies, happy hunting!

Viva la Social Goals!

Thank you so much for participating in our little social goals game that we’ve got going on!

Here’s an update since we last spoke about it:

Steam wishlists:

1922 / 5000

Discord Followers:

221 / 1000

Pinned tweet retweet:

451 / 700

We’re making good progress on this! So happy and thankful for the engagement of our awesome growing community😄 let’s keep at it!

Here are our links once again:

We are also SO DAMN CLOSE to our first mini-localization goal of 1000 backers, where we’ll be unlocking Japanese localization for The White Raven!

Tell your friends! Tell your family! Tell Shigeru Miyamoto😂

And here’s what you’ve been waiting for…

A ton of our backers have been asking “When are you going to release the stretch goal for Nintendo Switch?!” - well my friends, ask and you shall receive.

Here it is!

We have it currently slated for our USD $155K stretch goal (although with the social goals coming along, it could be hit more easily…)

While this is on the upper spectrum of our estimates on how our funding on KS might ultimately turn out, we believe that it is fully within our reach!

We’d love to hit this goal, and if you do as well, consider sharing our project with your friends and anyone you think might be interested in our game!

Thank you so much for taking the time out to read this,

I’ll see you next time on another update!

 - August from GatherRound Studios
 

Update #05 - 1000 backers reached! + Japanese localization unlocked + 5% to 2nd stretch goal!
about 2 years ago – Sun, Jul 24, 2022 at 02:20:28 PM

 My Fellow Ravens,

Thank you so much for 1000 BACKERS!!🎉🎉🎉🎉

Your overwhelming support has been both incredibly humbling and encouraging to us, thank you so much for believing in us.

In doing so, we've also unlocked our first mini-localization goal of adding the Japanese language to The White Raven!  よろしくお願いします🙇

Our next goal of 2000 backers enables us to dedicate enough resources to bring Brazilian Portuguese to the game as well! Let's get it 😎

 5% left to our 2nd Stretch Goal!

We're also less than 5% away from smashing through our 2nd stretch goal to expand the hidden areas of The White Raven! THE END IS NEIGH, MARCH ON MY PEOPLE.

To my dear Social Goals...

Social Goals update! we're moving faster than expected on this, (Mr. Cluckles really got you huh?😉)

Here are the updated numbers (July 10):

Steam wishlists:

2366 / 5000

Discord Members:

309 / 1000

Pinned tweet retweets:

490 / 700

Cheers to all those who've participated, happy to be part of such a friendly and welcoming community!😄

Here are our links once more:

Till we meet once again.

- August from GatherRound Studios

Update #06 - 2nd stretch goal smashed! + PHYSICAL REWARDS announced!
about 2 years ago – Sun, Jul 24, 2022 at 02:20:18 PM

2nd Stretch Goal SMASHED!

A few days ago we smashed through our 2nd stretch goal of expanding and adding even more secret and hidden areas to The White Raven! We deeply appreciate all the support that has allowed us to execute this, thank you everyone!

The big one is next: Fay gets unlocked and becomes a Confidant in the game! 

As I teased in our discord - if we reach this one, it won't be a stretch (pun unintended lol) to say that you've 'saved his life'...

It's Time To Get PHYSICAL!

We're introducing a few physical Kickstarter - exclusive add-ons for our campaign! 

First up is a Physical Artbook 👆🏻  which features a Kickstarter-exclusive cover (to be revealed at a later date) and exclusive lore content - specially produced for this campaign and never to be printed again!

We'll be delving into how we came to creative decisions on characters and the overarching lore (plus a ton of behind-the-scenes stuffs like canned designs and characters that didn't make the final cut).

If you're interested, we'll be offering this up as an add-on for SGD $42 (~ USD $30), get it while you can!

Next up is our physical Tarot Cards!

These will feature the Tarot cards that you'll acquire (in-game) as you form bonds with your allies in glorious physical form! (also Kickstarter exclusive - never to be printed again).

The Tarot collection will feature The White Raven's take on the 22 major arcana trump cards, and can be purchased as an add-on for SGD $35 (~ USD $25).

Please note that these are simply mockups for now - the final products will look much more polished and refined as we work with our partners on them. 

As we'll be shipping these too around the time our 1.0 release launches, please note that you'll be charged for shipping at a later date so that it can more accurately reflect contemporary shipping prices.

Unfortunately Kickstarter doesn't allow for us to add new add-ons during the campaign, so we'll be processing all physical reward add-ons after the campaign is over through the form of a survey that we'll be sending to all our backers. This also gives you have a second chance to grab any other add-ons you might have wanted, but forgot to!

Also as a surprise to our exclusive-tier backers...

This applies to all rewards starting at, and above the 'House of Hundreds' tier.

In the survey we'll be sending all of you after the campaign concludes, all exclusive-tier members will be given the option of receiving physical versions of our tarot cards and artbook at no extra cost (other than the shipping fees associated with it).

Please note that as we're unable to change our rewards during the campaign, our exclusive tiers may not have the physical rewards reflected in the details - this will be handled after the campaign concludes.

Mid-Campaign Social Progress!

We're finally at the halfway point!

We're proceeding well on both our Steam and Twitter goals,  Discord however needs a little bit of a push! (Mr. Cluckles will find you, and he WILL demand hugs and pets🐣) 

Here are our stats currently (July 13):

Steam Wishlists:

3,237 / 5000 (+871)

Discord members:

402 / 1000 (+93)

Pinned tweet Re-tweets:

 528 / 700 (+38)

If you don't fight, you can't win! So fight. fight!

On a side note: we're overwhelmed by the immense show of support moving into the 2nd half of our campaign.

All of you have seriously made an incredible difference in our lives - showing us that what we've slogged for for about 18 - 20 months has real value - that people actually want this game.

I cannot ever overstate how whole everyone has made us feel over these last 2 weeks.

You are our lifeblood, and we will endeavor on.

Till we meet again my ravens,

August

Update #07 - 3rd stretch goal ANNIHILATED in 3 days! Fay joins The White Ravens + Tome of Pride revealed
about 2 years ago – Sun, Jul 24, 2022 at 02:20:15 PM

3rd Stretch goal ANNHILATED in just 3 days?!

That's absolutely insane 🤯 Thank you so much everyone - Your incredible show of support has absolutely blown our minds!

With this, not only have we unlocked The Disgraced Survivor: Fay as an additional confidant, we've also completed Book 1 of our stretch goals!!

Next up: Book 02 - The Tome of Pride.

We're aware that many of you have your eyes set on that Nintendo Switch port 😉

It's finally in view! With the incredible backing that we've been seeing these past few days, we think that it's safe to say it's firmly within our grasp. Now let's get it team!!!

Mr. Cluckles will find you

Incredible gains on our social goals have also been made! 

Here are our latest updates:

Steam Wishlists:

3829 / 5000 ( +592 )

Discord Members:

504 / 1000 ( +102 )

Pinned tweet Re-tweets:

561 / 700 ( +38 )

We just passed the halfway mark for our discord members goal!

As a little incentive, here are some sketches of Mr. Cluckles below😆

Tell me you don't want Mr. Cluckles in the game! 

You know you do😉

Here are our links once again:

Till next time my ravens,

August

Update #02 - The Inspirations behind The White Raven
about 2 years ago – Sat, Jul 02, 2022 at 04:53:24 AM

Greetings Fellow Ravens!

Day 3 has ended on our overwhelmingly well-received (Thank you all btw🤩) campaign!

Today I'd like to share a legacy post on our website: The Inspirations behind The White Raven. 

please enjoy!

I think that throughout my years of gaming, there were always 2 things that stuck with me when it came to assessing my enjoyment of the games I played: Storytelling and freedom of choice.

“Could I do this if I wanted to?”,

“What if I were to…”,

“oh my god what's happening now!?”

If a game had a compelling story and I (as the main character) could on a whim, try out any actions swimming around in my head, that would check a bunch of boxes for me.

The oldest game that I remembered having even a semblance of any of these elements was probably the fire emblem series (any blazing blade fans?), with the addition of support conversations really adding to the enjoyment of the game.

The awesome pixel animations didn’t hurt either.  

Of course more modern games are a real treat too!

As I (and my game library) grew older (and larger), I started delving into western RPGs and realized the merits of CRPGs and what they did really well (western RPGs in my very personal opinion place a larger emphasis on freedom of choice in picking how and when you’d like to tackle quests; JRPGs are a little more on-rails).

A masterclass in this would be Divinity: Original Sin II by Larian Studios (if you haven’t played this game yet...block out a week of free time). I could gush about them for HOURS: how the level design serves to empower their players’ imaginations, the number of ways you can approach quests, the intrigue behind each and every origin character GAHHHHH)

TLDR: play this game if you’re a fan of anything RPG

And finally how can anyone talk about video game characters and forming these bonds (iykyk) without mentioning the JRPG tour de force that is Persona 5.

The Persona series just works.

You spend in-game (and real-life let’s be honest) days balancing spending time with your allies (and thus getting to know them more) and fighting / levelling up in dungeons.

The more time you spend with your allies, the more buffs you receive when the fighting starts (not to mention that you’d also get invested in their stories as well).

As a bonus, their soundtracks are a real banger too.

This worked so well even Fire Emblem (looking at you 3 Houses) decided to get in on the action! (and to great effect I might add).

Now, why am I telling you all this? Well that’s because these games lay the foundation for The White Raven.

We’re looking to create an RPG that seeks to synergize the strengths that emerge from both Western and Eastern roots/routes; An RPG that allows you to have meaningful decisions that impact your standing amongst your allies, that brings you consequences both long and short term that impact not only your strategies, but also your story.

I hope that with this short little entry, I was able to give you a bit of an insight when it comes to how we’re approaching (big picture-wise); the overall type of game that we’re making- where our focus is and what we view as important within The White Raven.

In Other News...

We're real close (less than USD $6K away!) to our first stretch goal - Minigames in the 4 major tribes!

To aid that effort - we've decided to launch a 2nd intake of our 2 sold out tiers: 

• The Forgotten Heroes
• The Patron Saint

If you wanted to be part of these exclusive tiers but missed out on it, here's a 2nd chance at it!

Friends of The White Raven

We want to take a moment to thank some friends that are helping to support our journey on Kickstarter. Check out their own projects down below!

AK-xolotl

AK-xolotl is a top-down roguelite featuring the cutest amphibian. You're an axolotl with an AK (duh!) that goes on a rampage, shooting down their next meal. Hunt, die, regenerate, repeat!

After each run, bring your findings and watch your pond evolve: nurture and grow your baby axolotls, unlock new areas, customize your base, cook delicious meals with the spoils of your hunt…you won’t just be hunting with style, you’ll also be living with style!

Check out their Kickstarter here.