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Sunday, May 17, 2020

Super Secret Stretch Goals?!

Project Summary

Welcome to another update from Nox Archaist! We've made solid progress since our last update. All content is now complete. We are now focused on bugs and polishing items identified during content creation. By next update we estimate that we'll either have started final testing or will be very close to doing so!

Project Status


  • Core game engine - Complete!
  • Game box, map, coins, jewel, writ, postcard, artwork, usb - Complete!
  • Double Hi-Res Splash Screen - Complete!
  • Mockingboard beta sound driver and music for town/castle/combat/dungeon - Complete!
  • Quick Combat stretch goal - Complete!
  • Finish creating content (e.g. maps, NPC schedules and dialog) - Complete!
  • Finish writing game manual, do printing - second draft complete
  • Main game boot menu - Complete!
  • Add music to splash screen - Complete!
  • Combat and economy balancing - Complete!
  • Character creation dialog - Complete!
  • Final testing - Starting soon
  • Bug fixes - Ongoing
  • Duplicate floppy disks and usb drives, assemble boxes, ship!



Poll from Last Update

If you missed the previous update, we asked you whether you planned to play Nox Archaist on an emulator, real hardware with floppy disks, or real hardware with a hard drive card. The results are...

Emulator: 12 people
Hardware (floppy): 4 people
Hardware (hd card): 10 people
So that's 14 people on real hardware versus 12 on emulators! Although some of you admitted that you'd probably start on the metal but switch to an emulator for convenience. It's hard to lug your Apple IIe to the local coffee shop...

Super Secret Stretch Goal #1 - Quest Log

A quest log in an Apple II game? Really? Yup. Mark was not sure we'd have enough memory or disk space for this feature so he kept it secret from everyone until just now.

Fear not, Nox Archaist is still a game designed to be played like CRPGs of old, complete with hand-written notes in a spiral-bound notebook. The quest log was layered on top of that gameplay style as an optional tool to help reduce note taking for those so inclined. And, the quest log will not contain any clues that the player did not learn when the quest was acquired. So it's purely for convenience, it does not affect the difficulty of the puzzles in the game.

Please bear in mind, an Apple II quest log is of course much more limited that the quest logs we are used to in more modern games. It tracks major to-do items, not every opportunity for adventure that crosses the players path. That said, there are 50 defined quests which it manages.

Without further ado, here is a sample screenshot:








Super Secret Stretch Goal #2 - Second Save Slot

Things worked out to squeeze in a second save game slot! In CRPGs we've probably all saved the game after a tough battle and then wished we didn't. Now, in Nox Archaist, when you save the game, press 1 or 2 to choose the slot.

Like the quest log, we saw this as a quality-of-life feature that shouldn't detract from the old school nature of the gameplay itself. You certainly don't need to use the two slots, and if you're going for ironman mode, you can try playing the game in one marathon session with no saves at all.


Informal Poll #2 - What's your Class?

Last month's hardware poll was such a success, we're going for another one. So here goes!

Nox Archaist is a class-free system. You don't have to choose a class up front, instead, you build up specializations in different abilities and skills. But that being said, you can still specialize in certain "classes" - if you want to be a fighter, be sure to build up strength and melee skills. Want to be a mage? Better increase your intelligence!

So here's the poll - in RPG's (either computer or pen & paper), what's your favorite class and why? Please leave your answers in a comment below. Thanks, and see you next month!



-Mark, Chris, and the 6502 Workshop team

Website - http://www.6502workshop.com
Discord - http://discord.noxarchaist.com
Twitter - @6502Workshop
Forums - http://forums.noxarchaist.com
Facebook - http://facebook.noxarchaist.com
Kickstarter - http://kickstarter.noxarchaist.com