Rebuild Pompeii from the ashes and lead it through centuries of politics, intrigue, and survival. Shape laws, expand trade across the Empire, guide your city through disasters, and command legions in optional real-time battles. Your legacy begins now.
80LV interviewed solo developer Rob Koska about Revenge of the Firstborn:
How a Solo Developer is Building a Classic CRPG in Unity
Solo developer Rob Koska of Sawtooth Games breaks down how classic tabletop systems, modular architecture, and available tools power his modern party-based RPG, Revenge of the Firstborn, using Unity. Demo out now.
Revenge of the Firstborn is an upcoming party-based CRPG that leans heavily into classic design philosophies, drawing from the depth and complexity of tabletop systems while embracing modern development workflows. Built around the D&D 3.5 SRD ruleset and developed primarily as a solo effort, the project blends tactical combat, modular system design, and a carefully scoped production pipeline supported by contractors and available third-party tools for support.
In our interview, developer Rob Koska of Sawtooth Games shared how Revenge of the Firstborn builds on inspirations like Temple of Elemental Evil and Baldur's Gate while tackling the realities of building a system-heavy RPG with a small team.
From Unity-based architecture and prefab-driven workflows to performance optimizations and custom editor tooling, the project offers a detailed look at how classic CRPG design can be adapted for modern development constraints.
There's also a demo out now!
Revenge of the Firstborn is built around the classic 3.5 SRD ruleset. What motivated the decision to base your systems on that foundation, and how did you adapt it for a modern game experience? Why not 5E itself or something similar?
Rob Koska, Solo Developer from Sawtooth Games: I chose the 3.5 SRD due to the fact that it is a much "crunchier" ruleset than 5E. It allows a lot more options for character building (especially since the Feats in 5E are not included in the SRD) and the combat has more depth to it than 5E, in my opinion.
A related question I get asked from time to time is why choose a tabletop ruleset at all? Well, given the scope of what a full-fledged RPG entails, I have my hands full enough implementing something I don't have to design (and game balance!) from the ground up.
Mortismal Gaming checked out the roguelite/tower defense title Minos:
Check Out: MINOS
Minos is a maze-building roguelite where you, the fabled Minotaur, must defend your sanctuary from bloodthirsty adventurers. Design and re-design deadly labyrinths, set traps, and turn every brave fool into your next victim.
News that on April 17 you can join an Asterfel playtest on Steam:
Asterfel - Official Playtest Trailer
Hello everyone!
Big news: We are launching the first open playtest for Asterfel on April 17th!
With Steam's Medieval Fest beginning on April 20th, this is the perfect time to jump in early - the playtest will already be live ahead of the event and will continue throughout the festival.
The roguelike Morbid Metal has been released into Early Access:
Morbid Metal: Early Access Launch Trailer - Now on Steam!
Shapeshift into powerful characters in real time, chain impactful combos, and tear through waves of deadly machines and brutal bosses in this fast-paced hack-and-slash rogue-lite.
Eastwynne Is A Modern Fantasy CRPG With Disco Elysium-Style Concept And Turn-Based Combat
Players can already try Eastwynne through its Steam demo, which introduces its isometric perspective, magic system, and branching story paths.
Eastwynne is an upcoming isometric CRPG with visual novel components located in a modern fantasy world, ready to debut on Kickstarter. In this world, magic is viewed as normal and everyday.
The game takes place in Eastwynne City, the largest and most powerful city in the Commonwealth of Magic. It follows a group of magical university students beginning their freshman year of school in 2021.
Choices made by players impact the direction of the storyline, what information may be gained, what can be accomplished, and what relationships the player develops. Additionally, according to Steam, these choices extend past conversation options; discovery of new things and the way they occur impacts each individual experience.
RPGamer interviewed Christopher Tin and Alex Williamson about Aether & Iron:
Aether & Iron Interview with Christopher Tin and Alex Williamson
Released on Steam last week, Seismic Squirrel's Aether & Iron is decopunk narrative RPG. It puts players in the role of Gia, a smuggler in an alternate 1930s New York City, which has been transformed after the discovery of an anti-gravitational technology called aether. RPGamer was given the opportunity to put some questions to composers Christopher Tin and Alex Williamson about how they crafted the music for the game, with the soundtrack available now on various digital stores and streaming platforms.
Alex Fuller (RPGamer): For anyone who may be unfamiliar, can you give a quick introduction to yourselves and tell us what you've worked on in the past?
Christopher Tin: I'm primarily a classical concert music composer, working in orchestral and choral music, as well as opera. In the video game world, however, I'm probably best known for my ongoing work with the Civilization franchise, having written title theme songs for Civilization IV ("Baba Yetu"), Civilization VI ("Sogno di Volare") and Civilization VII ("Live Gloriously"). My theme for Civilization IV in particular was noteworthy in that it won a GRAMMY Award in 2011, which made it the first piece of video game music ever to win a GRAMMY.
Alex Williamson: I'm a composer working in film, television, and now primarily games. I had been working mostly in commercials when Chris reached out, maybe 10 years ago, to start collaborating on games. Since then I've worked on a variety of game projects, from turn-based strategy titles such as Civilization VI and Old World to the PGA Tour 2K series and Splitgate.
RPGamer: What are some of the main goals you look to achieve when building the soundscape to a game?
AW: It can vary from project to project, but this time around it was important to establish a sound that blended authenticity (to a time period, or at least an alternative vision of one) with the expectations a modern player or listener might have. It needed to fit in with what we imagined people expected to hear based the game's setting, without leaning into pure imitation 100% of the time. What that ended up meaning in practice was mixing styles from slightly different ears with some more contemporary writing tropes, going with a modern production sound, and balancing out jazz instrumentation with the traditional orchestra so that it didn't end up boxed in as a 'jazz' score, or sounding so authentically "Old Hollywood" that action-packed moments fell flat to modern ears, or sounding too modern at the same time.
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