ABSENCE: Verdict of Silence
Version 1.0: The Future of Verdict
Hi there, Everyone!
We've got a lot of exciting news and updates for both existing fans of ABSENCE: Verdict of Silence and newcomers who are interested in the series!
THE CURRENT GAME
To begin with, today we have released the "1.0" full build for ABSENCE: Verdict of Silence.
While this leads into the second announcement, we will address the 1.0 version first.
ABSENCE: Verdict of Silence 1.0 contains a number of bug-fixes, patches and general tidying that wraps the game up into what we're now calling "version 1.0". Although we had originally planned to go much, much further with the game - we unfortunately hit the limits of what was possible with RPGMakerMV, and found that we couldn't deliver the product we wanted to deliver within the engine's restricitons.
We have a much broader vision for ABSENCE: Verdict of Silence, and the Verdict series in general. This vision however, was constantly disrupted by the restrictions and issues present within RPGMaker.
Primarily, RPGMakerMV is coded entirely in JavaScript, which leads to bad performance, lack of proper threading and an inability to utilize modern features that would cement A:VoS as the game we wanted it to be. This, in addition to the restrictions and inflexibility of RPGMaker meant that we spent more time wrestling with the engine trying to get it to do what we wanted, than we did actually making the game and it's content.
Because of this, we decided to wrap up the current version of the game, ensure that it's the best experience we can offer from within RPGMaker, and continue our development of the Verdict series in a less restrictive medium.
This means that ABSENCE: Verdict of Silence is currently feature complete and leaving early access, however on-going support for bug-fixes will continue.
This is exciting news as we are proud to announce to our fans....
THE FUTURE OF VERDICT
We have a few announcements for the future of the Verdict series, and we hope that our fans will be as excited as we are to continue to explore more of the Verdict universe and create experiences that everyone can enjoy.
The first big announcement that we have for you all, is the upcoming demo build of our new game:
VERDICT OF SILENCE
Verdict of Silence is a complete remake of ABSENCE: Verdict of Silence, from the ground up in the Unity Engine. Our aim with this game is to take the current version of A:VoS and completely remake it from the ground up, to fit the original vision we had for it - including all new 3D graphics, rebalanced combat, streamlined systems and more!
This remake will include all content currently in A:VoS, as well as a lot of extra content that never made the cut, and an engrossing main campaign that offers the player meaningful choices and customization to express themselves, as well as plenty of other side quests and experiences.
Our primary goal with Verdict of Silence is to address a number of problems and issues that were present in ABSENCE: Verdict of Silence, like the menu bloat, incomplete or shallow game systems and much more.
Verdict of Silence will have all of the features that A:VoS currently has, however, our goal is to make it feel like a much more modern JRPG experience, and hopefully make it much more accessible and fun.
If you're an existing fan of the game - you will most definitely be a fan of the remake as we're going to remain true to the core concepts, mechanics and style, as we try our best to translate it as faithfully as possible.
A small vertical slice demo of Verdict of Silence will be uploaded to itch.io in the near future - so keep an eye out!
People who already own a copy of ABSENCE: Verdict of Silence as of the 22/03/2022 will receive a copy of Verdict of Silence for free when it is released.
The second announcement we have for fans and newcomers alike is something that we hope will excite everyone:
VERDICT: THE MMORPG
Verdict: The MMORPG also simply known as Verdict, is the project we have been hard at work on for the past year.
Verdict is our upcoming MMORPG based in the Verdict of Silence universe - it will feature extensions and additions to the existing world of Asalthana and give players the opportunity to explore the world with their fan favourite characters while delving into an entirely new storyline and ancient secrets.
Our primary focus in Verdict is going to be solo and co-op gameplay, as we want to put a lot of emphasis on story, personal choice and content that can be completed with friends, or by yourself - however due to it's roots in classical MMO gameplay, there will be plenty of dungeon and instanced content for those who want to participate.
Verdict takes heavy influence from classical MMORPGs, and mixes a dose of modern functionality and quality of life features into it to create something that we hope will provide an immersive role playing experience that everyone can get in to.
Beyond the large focus on story and immersion, we want to emphasize the world and the player's place in it - which we hope to reflect through the game's design - having a persistent world where the stories take place, with existing characters from Verdict of Silence, as well as new ones that will be introduced through the MMO's story.
Another area we want to place an emphasis on is the content of the world itself - with meaningful equipment, useful tradeskills and many opportunities for the player's decisions to reflect on the world around them, like being able to find secret content, unlock new stories or harvest rare plants.
Immersion, both in the sense of feeling a part of the world during gameplay, and in the sense of a role-playing experience is something we want to shine through the most - and as such we will have a number of systems that support this.
You can keep up to date with information about Verdict: The MMORPG and Verdict of Silence at the links below:
We would like to thank those that have supported us on this journey, and those that continue to support us.
We hope that our new projects will continue to bring excitement and joy to our fans.
If you would like to support us, help the development of the Verdict series or show your appreciation, please consider donating or becoming a Patron below:
Comments
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Hmmm, would it be possible to add the option to purchase the game through a credit card instead of going through paypal? I had some troubles with paypal in the past plus purchasing via a credit card option like some games on itch.io offer is faster and easier IMO.
Though maybe I should post it in the suggestion section of the game forum. :)
Hi there, AbdelStrife!
We're sorry to hear that you have had issues previously using PayPal.
PayPal offers the option to pay directly through bank transfer, credit card or PayPal funds both with and without an account.
If you would like to use a credit card at PayPal without signing in, use the "Pay with Card" option on the PayPal pop-up, or nominate and add the card to your account.
If you have any further issues, feel free to contact us via the support e-mail at support@verdictgames.com, or join our Discord and have a chat at: https://discord.gg/YZg4kt8Wpx
Thanks for supporting us!
Thanks for answering.
Aside from my past problems with PayPal I'm also a bit wary of sending SMS through my mobile phone. I do not like giving my phone online. Maybe it sounds a bit silly/paranoid but...
Hmmm, so there any no plans for now to enable credit card purchase directly through a credit card without PayPal, right? Thats a shame.
How about Steam? Do you have any plans to enable this game on Steam? I could purchase it there no problem.
Hi AbdelStrife,
We're sorry to hear you have had issues with PayPal in the past.
We hope to release on Steam with further development.
If you'd like to stay up to date on the progress of the game, or the availability of it on other storefronts make sure you follow us here, or join our Discord at: https://discord.gg/YZg4kt8Wpx
Any changes to payment systems or any updates to the game will be posted here on the Itch.io page so if you are following us, you will receive a notification.
Thanks for supporting us, and thanks for supporting Indie Games!
I strongly urge you to rethink the MMO idea. Indie MMOs do not work, there are dozens of examples of that. People put a lot of their money into MMO development only to realize they don’t have the servers or the team size to make a whole world. MMOs often take millions to get going.
Hey ToasterGnome,
Thank you for your message!
To stay up to date on the progress/status of our single player and MMO content, please consider joining the Discord Community: https://discord.gg/YZg4kt8Wpx
We hope to put a strong focus on expanding the world of Verdict in multiple ways.
It is our hope that our content will be able to be played by the widest audience possible, so we are developing our single player content and multi-player content in tandem, meaning that resources developed for the single player RPG are shared with the MMORPG.
We are aware of the significant expenses and costs involved with developing massively multiplayer online content, we value and appreciate our supporters. If you are interested in contributing, please check out our public donation page or Patreon.
We feel strongly that players who do not wish to participate in multi-player content, should receive equal attention as the Verdict series has it's origins in single player RPG content.
Thank you for supporting us, and thanks for supporting indie games!
How complete is the story in this version 1.0 ? Also, I see there are some nudes in the character assets, but are there any actual sexual scenes in the game?))
Hi Art926,
Version 1.0 contains the prologue of Verdict of Silence, covering the story of how the main characters meet, as well as setting up most of the major characters and events that will take place in the whole story featured in the remake.
This story will be expanded upon for the remake and be larger as a whole, as well as continuing on from the end of Version 1.0.
As for the alternate costumes and sprites contained in the game files, we had originally planned a costume system as well as several levels of romantic cutscenes.
Here is one of the alternate costumes planned for the player, that was supposed to be obtainable during the Canse romance quests:
Here is a (heavily censored) example of a work in progress CG between a male character and Ket:
A majority of these scenes were cut as implementing them the way we wanted proved too difficult in RPGMakerMV - the only remaining content from this system is the hidden outfits for party members (which change both their sprite and often the way NPCs will react to them).
These systems will be present in the remake, including the romance options.
With all of our projects, we intend to include romance content and as development continues we will release adult content patches to replace vanilla content.
With version 1.0 there is no adult content or CGs outside of player/party member/NPC nudity. Sex is referenced and building relationships may lead to a cut to black style romance scene.
It is our hope as we continue to develop Verdict, to be able to offer our audience adult content patches to enable the game to be played by the widest possible audience while still maintaining the more adult content.
Thank you for your question, and thanks so much for supporting us!
What type of graphics are you planing for the Unity version? If it's all 3D, are you sure it will look as pleasing, as the hand drawn 2D graphics? I saw many projects going from 2D to 3D and losing their art quality and prettiness. To make a proper 3D is really hard - you need modelers, riggers, animators, etc. Also, you would need to use all the latest shaders, GI (global illumination), reflections, etc, to make it look really good, so your programmer needs to be familiar with all of that.
Hi Art926,
The same artist that drew the original 2D character art is also creating the 3D versions.
As for Graphics, we intend to strive for the best balance between performance and appeal.
Here are some examples of the current draft 3D models including Steif and Ghist:
Please be aware that this is a work in progress and likely not reflective of how the models will appear in-engine once shaded/lit.
For an example scene of the graphical style, there is a demo video on our VerdictGames website (if you pay close attention you might even recognize a certain priest of Basanir):
https://verdictgames.com/
We will try to update our community pages regularly as we have more to share.
Thanks again for your question, and on-going support!