(https://i.imgur.com/6fV4sNf.png)
This is going to be kept up as the current up-to-date press kit: a slightly more condensed version of the intro thread to give a brief overview to anyone wanting to report on the game.
PitchA free fantasy medieval RPG with strategy and roguelike elements, developed solo by a medieval historian: the Exile Princes offers a window into a colourful fantasy world where you will be faced by quests, politics, warfare, romance, and the strange creatures and folks of the Exile Realms as you choose your path from obscurity to power and decide what sort of leader - and what sort of person - you want to be.
About the gameThe Exile Princes is a lightweight strategy/RPG game designed for playthroughs a few hours long, which can vary significantly by map size. The overall arc of the game gives players a sandbox world to interact with, with a core goal of 'map painting' by bringing all the game's cities to their side. They can approach this goal in many different ways, including not just warfare but questing to become a city's champion, winning elections to civic offices, and influencing city politics at feasts. The game has been in development for six years and will be available for free on Steam and Itch when it is released.
The gameplay is entirely turn-based and utilises simple mechanics: the game's decisions are generally binary, its combat system is a "two slot" model with the player able to switch out attack and defence units as their own get exhausted through the rounds. On top of this core simplicity, however, a wide range of characters, locations, and randomised events give a highly variable array of possibilities for how the game and its stories progress. The NPC character trait systems alone can combine for nearly 800 possible combinations of attitudes, personalities, and character classes, which can provide varying sets of interactions with different events and decisions - each new game provides new possibilities to explore. There are a range of difficulties, from easy and sandbox modes for new players to tougher roguelike possibilities for those who want a challenge.
The game's themes give a hopeful and whimsical, though also deeply human, picture of a fantasy medieval world based on the period's literature and fiction from across Eurasia. Medieval art and ideas are found throughout the game: most of the tile art comes from actual medieval manuscripts, and parts of the medieval imaginary often missing in modern fantasy are present including blemmyae, grape-bearing hedgehogs, and some monsters having hidden quirks recorded in medieval bestiaries. The society of the Exile Realms also has a distinctive historic flavour, with a range of local leaders being key players in city politics and players influencing the world by holding court rather than having a more precise technical overview.
Features- Explore: procedurally generated worlds and cities offer a varied experience with every playthrough. Forest altars, dungeons, fortified manors, ruined chapels, bandit camps, stone circles and more may be encountered on your travels.
- Wonder: at a fantasy imaginarium from across the medieval world with a world of blemmyes, grotesques, cockatrices and wood sprites as well as creatures specifically named and adapted from medieval artwork for this game.
- Lead: a simple turn-based combat system with an exhaustion mechanic gives quick but tactically interesting combat choices.
- Rule: become leader of a city through election or conquest and hold court to deliver justice and develop your lands.
- A living world: as the player travels, the city-states of the realms will squabble, hold events, make raids and declare wars, changing the world around you in a dynamic way.
- Choose your house: four different factions allow you to vary your playstyle between the heroic Phoenixes, the exploration driven Scholars, the militaristic Generals, and the wealthy Wyrms. Each faction comes with unique military units and bonuses.
- Choose your difficulty: five difficulty settings let you vary your play between the relaxed exploratory style of the easy "John Mandeville" mode, through the classic "Moriaen" RPG experience, to the ultra-tough "Silence" mode for those who want a tougher roguelike-style experience.
- Events: join tournaments and feasts to boost your prestige, gain skills, and influence the society and networks of the Exile Realms' cities.
- Companionship: with a range of generated characters: six companion classes and varied character traits give a wide range of potential characters with stories, quests, interests, and opinions on the world. Nameable pets provide further possibilities for building a found family of companions and allies.
- Romance: party members may enter romances with you or with one another, unlocking unique interactions to further the romance throughout the game.
- Soundtrack: a unique set of 12 tavern songs gives a folkloric depth to the Exile Realms setting, and further fresh soundtrack upgrades are on the way.
About the developerDr. James Baillie is a researcher at the Austrian Academy of Sciences' Institute for Iranian studies, and is a specialist on data modelling for historical research and on the Caucasus region in the 12th and 13th centuries. He has been an active game dev and modder for many years, including projects like Warhammer: Total War and the Doctor Who fan-game LIFE, and he has written and taught courses on different ways medieval worlds can be represented in games. He convenes the annual Coding Medieval Worlds workshops for historians and devs to connect, and co-convenes the Middle Ages in Modern Games conference series. The Exile Princes is by far his largest game to date and is his first to have a full Steam release.
Key links and detailsGame availability: Steam (https://store.steampowered.com/app/2824620/The_Exile_Princes/) and Itch.io (https://jubalbarca.itch.io/the-exile-princes)
Supported platforms: Windows 8 onwards, Linux systems can run it with WINE.
Social media: Updates on Mastodon (https://scholar.social/@JubalBarca).
MediaCurrent Trailer:Banners and logos:Spoiler
Large map section banner:
(https://i.imgur.com/61QU9RL.jpeg)
Small map section banner:
(https://i.imgur.com/sNi2Qru.png)
Logo with ripped parchment effect:
(https://i.imgur.com/6fV4sNf.png)
Logo with map backing:
(https://i.imgur.com/m28uz7S.png)
ContactI am available for comments, interviews, or discussions of any kind about the game, and can be contact in the following ways:
- by email (exileprinces@gmail.com (exileprinces@gmail.com))
- by messages or PM on here
- in the game's Steam forum
- by messages on the Fediverse (to @jubalbarca@scholar.social (https://scholar.social/@JubalBarca))
Please do
not initially contact me for Exile Princes press enquiries on other platforms, including Twitter (which I don't use any more), or Facebook and Instagram (which I generally keep as less open social media). I'm often happy to continue conversations on another platform if it's what you prefer so feel free to express a preference, but initial contact should be through the above channels.