DevLog #1

Hi everyone!

In our first DevLog, we'd like to introduce our new project "Ringlorn Saga" and talk about the thought process behind this game.

What is Ringlorn Saga?

It is a top-down adventure RPG with an open world that wraps around itself and the bump combat system. As Prince Gerhard the Brave, you explore the world, crawl through dungeons, find useful items, talk to NPCs for additional information, and slay fiends to get stronger. Your goal is to find your father and investigate the appearance of a magical barrier.

It’s a simple concept, but effective for what we are aiming to do — an RPG that anyone can pick up and play, but spend quite some time finding everything it has to offer, and still wonder if they’ve found everything the game has to offer after finishing it.

Its main source of inspiration is the Hydlide series, a classic series in Japan that got poor reception in the West for a variety of reasons, but mostly due to poor timing — the NES port came out three years after the original, and by that time Legend of Zelda came out and surpassed it.

Why an 8-bit style Action RPG?

Our fans will notice that Ringlorn Saga is a bit of an oddball in our portfolio, as it’s our first project that doesn’t rely on vector / polygonal graphics. It’s also an Action RPG, which is another new thing for us, as prior to that the only action games we’ve developed were Phantom 3D and NeuroWorm.

To put it simply, we’ve decided to try something different. Despite having tons of ideas for the DG series and the DRPG genre, after dedicating 5 years to it with minor distractions, we felt that we were falling into the trap of incremental improvements between games as we didn’t have the resources to make huge leaps forward like we initially planned to.

There are so many games out there, what’s special about this one?

RPGs tend to focus on epic stories that can easily take up to 60+ hours of your time. Ringlorn Saga is aiming towards a short-but-sweet adventure that will keep you occupied for about 6 hours, without any meaningless padding.

And yet, Ringlorn Saga also aims to bring back the feeling of wonder that many of us have experienced while playing these old games. Like seeing a structure in the distance and working our way there, wondering what awaits us inside, wondering if this journey will bring us closer to our goals.

This is what, in our opinion, makes it special.



In future DevLogs, we'll discuss the game and world design. If there’s anything you want to see in the next DevLog, please let us know.