Betrayal at Krondor

[avernus123]

Avernus presents...

 

Betrayal at Krondor: An Oblivion Expansion!

based on the 3D RPG "Betrayal at Krondor" and

the popular novel "Krondor: The Betrayal"

by Raymond E. Feist

 

I'm writing this to announce my remake of the classic RPG, "Betrayal at Krondor". Being one of the very first 3D RPGs in the world, one of the best RPG stories I've ever read, and being able to merge nicely into the TESIV game engine.. I thought I'd take it upon myself to take on this project.

 

http://www.tesnexus.com/imageshare/images/1466651-1252063563.jpg

You can learn more about the original here.

 

What I am up to at the moment: (subject to change)

- Right now, I am building the world of Midkemia according to the actual Midkemia map located here. I've scaled the world roughly to the size of Shivering Isles. I've made a few modifications to Midkemia compared to the Original game. The layout of the land is identical to the original map, but as I am building the world from the map itself, I have to make my own assessments as to what Raymond E. Feist imagined the world to look like. For example: In the original game, Quester's View is a town at the base of a mountain. In my version, Quester's View is a town on the edge of a cliff, roughly 800ft above sea level with a view of the ocean. Hence the "view" in the name, Quester's View.

 

- I set a "Portal to Midkemia" inside the Imperial City Plaza, Green Emperor Way. A guard is standing outside and won't let anyone near it. It's a curiosity that no one wants to deal with. They all remember what happened with the Strange Door to the Shivering Isles. No one is brave enough to venture into this door, except maybe you. Do so at your own risk however, they seem to think the door is unstable...

 

- I'm working on new armors. So far I have a Traditional Moredhel Armor set complete; both male and female versions. (I will NOT be using HGEC for the female armors, so there will be probably be some clipping for HGEC users.)

 

- Scripting. I'm working on a new fast travel system that will play tribute to the original BaK. Temple Teleportation. That's how it was done in the original. There are going to be a ton of Temples placed all over the map that can teleport you to and from other Temples. Yes, fast travel is disabled in Midkemia. Temples also cure illness and offer armor and weapon blessings.

 

Changes:

- The biggest change to the story will be the addition of a 4th party member, the player. Obviously, if you've played the original, you'll remember that party members come and go throughout the story, they also split up, and the story shifts between the two parties. To add a playable fix to this problem, I'm going to have the player choose who he/she wants to follow. This will add a sense of re-playability as the main quest will "fork" a few times and the player will have to choose their destiny, so to speak. I know that integrating another hero to the story will require lines of dialog to change from the original, but I'll try to keep it as genuine as possible.

 

- The arsenal from the original will all be present, but I'm going to add a ton of new stuff too, keeping within the Riftwar lore.

 

- Characters will remain close to the original. Not much to go off of visually, but I'm hoping that the conversations will feel as close to the DOS game as possible. Gorath, Locklear, and Owyn will be the first characters you ever meet. I have changed the sex of two of the main characters. Why? Because I do want to appeal to everyone and this is also not a complete remake, it's "based" on the original BaK game and the book. The original had no main female characters.. So I changed the sex of James and Owyn to female. (If Mr. Feist ever reads this, I'm sorry about Jimmy being changed to female.. I know he is one of your favorite characters...). Owyn is a failed mage who just quit Mage School, and James is a badass thief-turned-knight. (James is an ok female name right? haha)

 

Companion Character List:

- Locklear - A Squire of Krondor in his late-twenties. (A Squire is a Knight serving under a Lord if you didn't know.) He's a noble as well as a skilled swordsman. (Heavy Armor, Swords.)

- James - A thief-turned-knight by Prince Arutha of Krondor. She's a better swordsman than Locklear. I think she's supposed to be in her late-twenties also. (Light Armor, Swords.)

- Owyn - An apprentice magician from Timmons who is visiting her aunt in Yabon. She's the first character and companion you'll ever meet.

- Gorath - A Moredhel Chieftain who he betrayed his own people and defected to Krondor. Probably the most essential character in the game.

- Pug - The Master magician of Midkemia. Working for Prince Arutha in Krondor.

- Patrus - A Master magician but lesser than Pug. Both of these last two characters are oblivious to me as I do not remember that far into the original game off the top of my head. I do remember that they join the parties around the final chapters of the game though.

 

As you notice, there are 6 companions! You'll be choosing which path you are going to follow through the story. You're decisions will determine the path you follow. All paths do NOT end up in the same place.

 

Requests:

Whilst I am completely content doing this on my own, if anyone wants to join the team and work on this project with me, feel free to drop me a line.

 

- I'll need a script to manage special containers (chests) that can only be unlocked by answering a riddle displayed on the front. The locking mechanism works like a bike lock. Rotating rings with letters on them; when made to spell the answer to the riddle, the chest unlocks. I know how to script simple choices that can unlock be selecting the actual word.. But that would require locking the chest for good if the player guesses wrong, otherwise it's too easy to just select each answer to get the prize. I'd like to have a bikelock where the player can put letters together to form words. This was in the original and I'd like to keep it that way if possible. High Priority because the Riddle Chests in BaK were a huge part of the game.

 

- I can write companion scripts myself, but I could use some suggestions. Because there are 6 companions and 3 in your party at any time, I'd like to have a Party Menu within the Oblivion Menu where players can just drag and drop items from their container onto the picture of one of their companions.. It'd be both faster and easier than equipping each companion separately.

 

Completed Areas:

Strange Portal (Somewhere between Tyr-Sog and Yabon.. Not sure where to drop it yet.)

Lamut

Yabon

Zun

Hawk's Hollow

Quester's View

Tyr-Sog

Temple of Killian

Temple of Silban

Temple of Ishap

 

Screenshots are up... (sorry in advance for all my screens clogging up the images section guys, didn't know they did that.. eek).

 

These are just scenery shots, proving I'm not just talking about this.

{ 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13 }

The last screen is an example of an attempt to achieve a seamless familiarity with the original. All of the towns that had an image in the original will be recreated according to that image.

 

~ Drop me a line if anyone is interested in helping out.

[annoyinglogin2]

Toaster's companion share and recruit (name might be off) has a support function, when it's activated anyone with healing spells will use them to help his party members.

[avernus123]

I looked at share and recruit.. Not really what I'm looking for. I'd like it to be scripting for BaK and not an addition mod.

[avernus123]

Screenies are up on my first post.

[dezdimona]

sounds interesting,I'm sure you checked to verify your not violating copyrights with your project!

[avernus123]

As long as I don't try to sell it or take credit for the story I'm of the hook ;)

That said, let it be known that Raymond E. Feist is the author of this story and I am just a humble craftsman in his world.

[Hauptillusionator]

Wow!!

That looks (and sounds) fantastic!

I was searching for years if there is a remake about the best rpg out there...

 

Keep it going, you're on the right way.... Quertors View sounds awesome, just as it was in my mind!

 

I really would like to help you, but unfortunately, although that I'm a programmer, I don't know anything about programming games, scripts, or graphical stuff; don't know if you do it in special programs or if you've written your own engines...

 

But I may help out with music? As I remember, all music files are available on the internet as midi, so I could involve some synths, master and pimp the whole thing and save it as .wav or .mp3

Another part I could (and would love) to do is a German translation if you are interessted in that.

 

 

However, please keep me up to date! I would love to hear about the progress!

Can't wait to play!! :)

 

 

Deep respect,

- Hauptillusionator

[Balakirev]

As long as I don't try to sell it or take credit for the story I'm of the hook ;)

 

Are you sure about that? Bear in mind that a dedicated team of Kings Quest fans who spent years working on a new title--meant to be free--just got a cease-and-desist order from the new owners of old series, Activision. You can read about it here. In other words, charging a price isn't the factor that determines legal status, but ownership of the property.

 

And I write this as someone who loved BoK, reviewed it and its two heavily flawed succesors, knew some of the behind the scenes people involved in all three, and dearly would love to see what you plan happen.

 

So do consider checking on this. Don't rely upon optimism to stand up in the courts.

[swordsman5]

Just found this and wondered how the project is going. Betrayal at Krondor was the game that first got me hooked on RPGs.

 

If I remember right Patrus wasn't that much of a companion it was more of a cameo role, Pug is absent for 4/5ths of the game, he's searching for his kidnapped daughter, who has been taken to a realm where there is no magic as such, normal spells don't work as the mana has been crystalised into a solid form. That has blown Pug's mind and you find him in the realm living like a hermit, after helping to cure him the pair of you venture forth and rescue his daughter....which then brings you back to Midkemia ready for the final chapter.

 

If you need to check on the story line there was a walkthrough here...

 

http://www.thecomputershow.com/computershow/walkthroughs/betrayalatkrondorwalk.htm