Hello all,

I'm new to the forum, Jack suggested I come join up and let people know about my new game that I just released, Nothmere.  I'm not a game developer, I'm a longtime fan of adventure games who kind of stumbled into making a full length adventure RPG.  Growing up, I played all the Sierra and Lucasarts games, Quest for Glory being my all-time favorite.  I created some games about 10-12 years ago in AGS, which were learning the engine, learning how to code, etc.  I won some AGS awards with those games back in the day, and about 3 or so years ago I decided I wanted to play around in AGS again in my spare time after work and events with the family, so I began developing Nothmere as an homage to my favorite game series of all time, QFG.

After about two years of development I realized it had gotten a bit out of hand and turned into a whole big thing that I never anticipated, a fully fleshed out and full-length adventure RPG.  I decided to put it on some Adventure Game facebook groups I'm in, and the responses there gave me the drive to keep it going, put up a website and put the game on Steam.  I just released it last weekend, and so far the reviews are all positive (fingers crossed).  One of the reviews suggested I post it here, but since I'm not about self-promotion and all that, I reached out to Jack instead, who suggested I go ahead and post, so here we are

The game has a playable Demo if anyone is interested, and I set the price very cheap since it's not exactly an AAA title and I'm not exactly a professional game developer.  Here is the info on the game:

SYNOPSIS

You awaken alone on a cold, rocky shore beneath a moonless sky, dragged from the sea through a sewer pipe with no memory of who you are, how you arrived, or why you’re still alive.

Beyond the beach lies Nothmere, a remote town nestled deep within an inescapable ring of jagged mountains. No one leaves. No one ever has. Every soul who arrives does so the same way you did: broken, memoryless, and stranded.

Despite this, the town endures.

Nothmere is protected by powerful magical wards embedded into its stone walls, holding back the void creatures that stalk the surrounding wilderness. These defenses are maintained by the town’s Mage guild, while order and survival are enforced by the Warrior guild.  Thieves lurk in the shadows, secrets whisper through alleyways, and every citizen carries gaps in their past they cannot explain.

As you explore the town and its outskirts, you’ll uncover fragments of truth about Nothmere’s origins, the nature of the wards, the monsters beyond the walls, and the terrible cost that keeps the town standing.  What begins as a search for escape becomes something far more unsettling; the realization that Nothmere exists for a reason and you may be part of it.

Your choices will determine how the story ends.  Will you preserve the fragile balance that keeps the town safe? Will you uncover a way to break the cycle? Or will you doom Nothmere, and everyone within it forever?  In Nothmere, memory is a weapon, sacrifice is inevitable, and some truths are buried for a reason.

Trailer



Screenshots

         


FEATURES

• Retro point-and-click Adventure RPG developed in the AGS engine, heavily inspired by the Quest for Glory series.
  
• 1920 x 1080 resolution
  
• Customizable (drag-and-drop) GUI
  
• Play as a Warrior, Thief or Mage (or a hybrid combination)
  
• Full timed day and night cycle
  
• Puzzles which fit each character class, each with separate solution paths
  
• Full RPG stats, with branching dialogs depending on character intelligence, speech skills, etc
  
• Experience from completing quests, vanquishing monsters, and progressing the story levels the player up. Stat points added each level
  
• Scrolling Combat Text effect inspired by World of Warcraft so gained experience, health, magic, as well as HP and MP used/taken scroll up from the character as it happens
  
• Equippable inventory system with bonus stats on armor, weapons and jewelry
  
• Equippable items from basic junk items to epic gear for all classes
  
• Potion system with temporary stat buffs, purchasable from vendors
  
• Full shop system with multiple vendors, each selling different types of items
  
• Separate buy and sell functionality, with prices dependent on reputation and speech skill
  
• Dynamic quest log that updates as you progress on the various quests
  
• Spellbook with learned spells
  
• Battle system with spells, special attacks, etc based on class and abilities
  
• Stupid humor and easter eggs to old Sierra and Lucasarts games mixed in throughout
  

AI Disclosure - Since there are people who feel very strongly about AI, I wanted to put this out front and foremost so as not to anger anyone.  As I mentioned, I'm not a developer, I'm a middle aged IT guy who is knowledgeable about everything except art.  Therefore I used GenAI to create the raw images for this game and then massaged/edited/manipulated them by hand, did the animations and such for them myself using paint.net (as I said, I'm not the most graphically talented person), and used them in the game.  All sounds/music are by real people credited for it, and I did all the coding, dialog, storyline, etc.  If GenAI art makes you twitchy or upset, please keep that in mind about this game.


LINKS
My Website:  Wraithwood Studios  (Includes downloadable demo of the game)
Steam Site: Nothmere on Steam (Includes game and demo, trailers, screenshots, info, etc)

Thanks,

Bill

Congratulations on publishing your game. That seems like a Hero's Quest label of Love indeed, first learned about it from a QFG group on FB. I admire your patience for creating this type of game, it is not an easy task with all the role variation. If you don't mind asking what are your previous games with the AGS engine? Also QGG games are quite large with maps that are a joy to explore. How big is Nothmere compared?

Congratulations! This looks amazing and right up my alley.

I'm kind of in the same position as you: middle aged, grew up on Sierra, especially QFG, decided to make my own game recently (using some AI artwork too, which has had mixed feedback). Anyway, I can't wait to play this. I just joined here too and everyone has been really welcoming, supportive, and cool. Welcome aboard and congratulations again on Nothmere!

Congratulations on publishing your game. That seems like a Hero's Quest label of Love indeed, first learned about it from a QFG group on FB. I admire your patience for creating this type of game, it is not an easy task with all the role variation. If you don't mind asking what are your previous games with the AGS engine? Also QGG games are quite large with maps that are a joy to explore. How big is Nothmere compared?

Thanks so much

I made several back in the day, all of which are available on my website for free download:

Murran Chronicles 1: The Jersey Devil  (2009)

Murran Chronicles 2: Talons of Terror (2009) - AGS Best Original Story and AGS Best Dialog nominee

Murran Chronicles 3: Lifedrinker of Landsdowne (2011) 

Mr Danger's Contest (2009) - Part of 2009 MAGS Special Game Competition - AGS Best Music and AGS Best Sound Effects nominee


Yes, Nothmere was way more complicated than I ever anticipated it being.  It sort of got bigger and bigger, and I just kind of went with it.  As for map size, the game is 98 interactive/explorable/useable rooms, with another 19 rooms for cutscenes, the game Dag-Nab-It, a splash, main menu and credits scene.  So 117 rooms in total.  I'm not sure how many were in the QFG games, but it feels sort-of similarly sized to me.

Thanks,

Bill

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Congratulations! This looks amazing and right up my alley.

I'm kind of in the same position as you: middle aged, grew up on Sierra, especially QFG, decided to make my own game recently (using some AI artwork too, which has had mixed feedback). Anyway, I can't wait to play this. I just joined here too and everyone has been really welcoming, supportive, and cool. Welcome aboard and congratulations again on Nothmere!

Awesome, thanks   Yeah, it seems like a really nice place.  I made sure to put the AI disclaimer in everywhere because people sometimes feel very strongly about it and I won't want to try to deceive anyone.

Thanks,

Bill

Oh wow! I really loved Murran Chronicles games, I played them the moment you released them fanatically years back in the AGS forums!

I've tried to be as upfront as possible about AI too. The last thing I want to do is fool people.

How do you like AGS? I've been curious about it. How user friendly is it for someone like myself with very limited programming experience? I used an asset for Unity called Adventure Creator that is pretty amazing. It had a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty intuitive and powerful.

Your previous games look awesome! I'm looking forward to playing them.

Oh wow! I really loved Murran Chronicles games, I played them the moment you released them fanatically years back in the AGS forums!

Oh, awesome!  Glad you enjoyed them, I learned a LOT about the AGS engine and coding back when I was making them.  There is a huge difference in my ability level from Game 1 to Game 3.  I actually began making a Game 4 and then life happened   The good news is that my professional career allowed me to continue developing my coding skills a bit so that it made getting back into it easier when I decided to do Nothmere.  The syntax of the AGS script is pretty standard and rather easy to remember.  It's like riding a bike, you never forget once you hop back on.

I was considering remastering / remaking the old games, but we'll see.

Thanks,

Bill

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I've tried to be as upfront as possible about AI too. The last thing I want to do is fool people.

How do you like AGS? I've been curious about it. How user friendly is it for someone like myself with very limited programming experience? I used an asset for Unity called Adventure Creator that is pretty amazing. It had a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty intuitive and powerful.

Your previous games look awesome! I'm looking forward to playing them.

I like AGS, but it is because I've been using it for many years.  I did probably 5-6 years back in the mid-2000s and now 3 years making Nothmere, and the scripting language didn't change that much in the last 20 years, so it was easy to get back into.  If you do some of the online tutorials and use the guides on the AGS website, you should have no problem picking things up and getting going.  Start with a small, simple game at first, and then work up to more grandiose ideas.  The engine supports a lot of cool stuff, and you can do some pretty fun stuff programatically within the engine.  

I had considered a 3D engine for a game, and was going back and forth between Godot and Unity.  I didn't know there was such a thing called Adventure Creator, I may check that out, thanks! 

Bill

Welcome, Bill! This is exactly the right place to talk about your game. It's not self-promotion when you've got the goods to back it up.

Nothmere looks fantastic, and mind-boggling for a solo project. Looking forward to checking it out!

In any other industry it would be unacceptable to build a commercial project on others' labor without compensation, credit, or consent, with the reasoning being "I couldn't get it made otherwise." It baffles me that some think an exception should be made in the arts.

It’s shocking to me, too. I think it’s because it’s at a remove. The AI scrapers do all of the stealing, so the AI user can feel like he/she has clean hands. I think it’s like if you buy a stolen item from a pawnshop. You didn’t do the stealing, and you may not even know the item had been stolen, but nevertheless the item was stolen and there is somebody up the line who is still a victim.