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Flamberge is a simultaneous turn-based strategy game combined with RPG elements. Lead your heroes across a mighty singleplayer campaign, or challenge others online. Heroes consist of different classes, similar to Final Fantasy or Fire Emblem, and each class has its own manner of attacking and contributing to the battle. Designed by Michael Savage-Benoist, Soundtrack by Ben Cohn

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MAGFest 2019

Good news, everyone! I will be showcasing FLAMBERGE at MAGFest (National Harbor, MD) in January!

Fall 2018 Update (With patches spanning into October)

Sorry for posting this late to IndieDB. Here are the notes for the latest update to the game.

This update contains a new, smaller chapter, but is mainly a giant overhaul to the UI and presentation of the game. Future updates will contain much more content than this one; we recommend playing the game from the beginning to experience all of the cool new stuff.

Content

  • One new chapter of mainly story-focused content.
  • Minor changes to chapter one.
  • Totem powers, new abilities that can be unlocked after finishing chapter one. There are 7 available in the current version.
    • These are unlocked by spending skill points, which are earned after each battle.

Presentation/User Interface

  • Entirely new title menu.
  • New cinematic intro when starting a new game.
  • New settings menu allows toggling of various features, setting of resolution and audio levels.
    • Yes, this means the Unity dialogue on startup is goooone.
  • Entirely new battle UI.
    • More visible ability details, including damage and cooldowns.
    • Better sound feedback on everything.
  • Refurbished party menu.
    • Everything should feel a bit more satisfying.
  • New tip system
    • More direct than the previous tutorial window. This system will be used to introduce players to any new mechanics that need explanation.

Gameplay

  • New controls in peaceful areas
    • Pathfinding was creating problems, so peaceful areas just use directional movement now.
  • Partial joystick support!
    • You can play 90% of the game with a joystick now, aside from any typing.
    • So far, I’ve only tested this with an Xbox 360 controller. Other controllers may not work.
  • Units now ‘bleed’ points from their total health if they aren’t healed quickly.
    • This is to make the medic/healing items more desirable on the frontline.
  • Scoring after each battle. Players will be scored based on three things:
    • Red Score: % of enemies defeated, and how quickly
    • Gold Score: Health of the party, avoidance of damage
    • Blue Score: Stealth (based on how many turns your team remained spotted)
      • Blue scoring is much, much kinder on levels where stealth isn’t an option (e.g. bosses)
    • These scores will earn red/gold/blue skill points, which can be spent on totem powers.
  • Slightly reworked promotion abilities.
  • Various balances to early abilities. Some examples:
    • Archer ‘shoot’ can no longer use auto firing mode.
    • Swordsman ‘lunge’ can now pierce multiple enemies (in a small line).

Feedback MenuA feedback menu is available from the system menu (ESC). It can be opened pretty much anywhere in the game. I’d like to get people’s thoughts in the moment of using a feature/playing a level. Does the new totem menu feel unwieldy? Was a level fun, but you know just the thing that would improve it? Let me know! You can send a message directly from the menu, without ever tabbing out of the game.

  • Feedback I’m looking for:
    • Bug reports (as always!)
    • Usability of the new UI
    • Balancing/usability of the new totem powers
    • Fairness of the battle scoring
    • Overall improvements that could be made to battles

AnalyticsStarting now, I’m focusing very hard on making sure the battle progression in Flamberge makes sense and has a proper difficulty curve. As I start making content for chapter four, I’d like to keep revisiting and reworking the battles for chapters one through three.

In order to help improve these earlier levels, Flamberge will send me small amounts of battle performance data. This can be turned off in the new settings menu. This data will contain no identifying information. What I receive on my end looks kinda like this:

“Victory: Nochwood – Red Score: 80, Gold Score: 50, Blue Score: 77 – Hommel Death (217,48) (Turn 6) – Vulnerary Used (400, 250) (Turn 7) – Party: Logan, Hommel, Arberine”

“Defeat: Hilt – Hommel Death (155, 55) (Turn 3) – Logan Death (188, 33) (Turn 3) – Arberine Death (222,15) (Turn 4)”

Features I’m working on:In the interest of time, I opted not to add some of these features to the current build. They’re well within the works, so expect them soon.

  • Visions. These will be optional side quests involving other characters who are not in your party.
    • Regular side-quests are still being planned.
    • The vision menu will also allow players to replay battles (this feature will take a lot longer to set up, though).
  • Player-influenced stat progression. Every 5 level-ups or so, I’d like to give players the choice of which stat point to give to their party member.
    • First, though, I need to make sure that each stat is balanced (VIT, STR, DEF, SPD, RNG). Right now, DEF (defense) is way better than all the rest. I’ll be changing this soon.
  • Visible ability formulae.
    • When stats change, they change various things in each ability. Some abilities even change based on defense/vitality! I want to make this information visible. Not sure how- maybe a guidebook of some sort where I can put a lot of extra words.
  • Fixing up the challenge editor
    • I had planned on making changes to the challenge editor for this build, but it’s still a bit old and clanky. I’ll be touching it up soon.
  • Difficulty modes

Long-haul content/features I’ve started working on:

  • Chapter four. This chapter will be a long arduous journey up into the mountains. I’m still brainstorming what kinds of mechanics will be introduced there, but it’ll probably get pretty interesting.
  • Side-content intermittent throughout the current chapters.
  • Heavy improvement to current stages/levels.
    • Difficulty balancing
    • More interesting variation/mechanics (instead of just easy enemies -> harder enemies)
    • Beautification
  • Support score/conversations
    • As allies cooperate closely, I want to start fleshing out their personalities one-on-one. This will involve skits between one-on-one pairs, as well as a ‘support/coordination’ score of some sort, which if earned, may improve their abilities when used closely with each other.
    • This will involve writing hundreds of conversations. I’ll put some in the game once I have a good first batch.
Update! January 2017

Update! January 2017

News

With the help of Ben (the other half of Hydezeke) and the folks who visited our booth at MAGFest, I've pushed our largest Steam update yet!

Early Access!

Early Access!

News

Flamberge is on Early Access, and I have some plans to make clear for anyone considering purchasing it.

Preorders + MAGFest Showcase

Preorders + MAGFest Showcase

News 1 comment

Quick explanation of slacker-backer tiers and reflections on our MAGFest showcase!

Funding Success / Greenlight

Funding Success / Greenlight

News 1 comment

We hit our initial goal, so we're starting the greenlight campaign!

RSS Files
Flamberge - Linux Demo

Flamberge - Linux Demo

Demo

Flamberge is an RPG at heart. Players will control many different characters with different abilities and strengths.

Flamberge - Mac Demo

Flamberge - Mac Demo

Demo

Flamberge is an RPG at heart. Players will control many different characters with different abilities and strengths.

Flamberge - Windows Demo

Flamberge - Windows Demo

Demo

Flamberge is an RPG at heart. Players will control many different characters with different abilities and strengths.

Post comment Comments  (0 - 10 of 13)
martyra2j
martyra2j

I did a Let's Play/First impressions on this game! Come check it out if ya like!
Big thanks to the developer for this great game!
Hope you enjoy.

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TRMCreations
TRMCreations

This is the first 8-bit-style game to win me over. I was intrigued by the gameplay video here, downloaded the demo to record a Let's Play ( Youtu.be ), and subsequently discovered just how hype of a game it is.

Great game, clever mechanics, 10/10 would recommend (also buying it on Steam). Keep up the great work!

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fuse.core
fuse.core

This looks really good, I'm especially excited for the android release.
However might I suggest using a feature image where the pixels don't clip? (are properly aligned to reinforce the illusion of low res)
It increases the feeling of polish.

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Zillvr
Zillvr

I just found this game through chain following indie game developers on twitter. Seems like every indie game developer follow everybody else, which is awesome to see.

Anyways, I just finished playing the Windows Demo and wow just wow. I love the gameplay concept. The music is beautiful, loved Vast Expanse and Exploration. All in all an awesome game. Keep at it, would support if I could. One thing I'm quite certain of is that in the future I'd definitely buy this game.

Plus with multiplayer in the plans, I can't wait to see the final product. Tracked!

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DonleyTimeFoundation
DonleyTimeFoundation

AMAZING work and the game looks so, so nice too!

-Tim

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Crateboy
Crateboy

Damn dude, to much fun. So glad this got funded. Count me in! I love table top wargames, and this gave me a similar feeling and I think... dare I say it... was much more fun!

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Lukas_Andersson
Lukas_Andersson

Looks awesome I really admire the artwork.

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hydezeke Creator
hydezeke

Thanks!

Reply Good karma+1 vote
TickFarm
TickFarm

This looks pretty epic. I was imagining a similar mechanic the other day, but without the turn based pause, but this looks much cooler. Also perusing this post learned me something awesome, was wondering what the name meant. Google'd and was not disappointed, would recommend.
Keep up the epic work!

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hydezeke Creator
hydezeke

Thanks so much! You da best

Reply Good karma+1 vote
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