Tales of the Rampant Coyote

Adventures in Indie Gaming!

Frayed Knights Update: Achievements

Posted by Rampant Coyote on July 14, 2014

fktitle636x358Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon will be up on Steam in a matter of days. It could have been done a lot sooner, but in my stupidity / eagerness, I decided to add achievements to the game.

I don’t know if it’ll make a bit of difference in sales. But I thought it would be fun. I’m stupid that way, I guess. I have a hard deadline of a demo for Frayed Knights 2 that demands my attention, so the timing is bad. I’m futzing about with the old game, getting someone to do the icons, programming the changes in code that I haven’t looked at in over a year, and then… testing. Lots and lots of testing. Even with debug controls, we’re talking double-digit testing to make sure the game runs correctly with the code changes.

Ah, well.  Why do I do this? Because it’s fun. I don’t know if achievements will help sell a single extra copy of the game, but I do this because it’ll make things a little cooler. Hopefully. I can’t depend on awesome high-end graphics and visuals, so I’ve gotta do something, right?

It’s a little weird digging through the old code. After living with this stuff for so long, it’s like going back to the old neighborhood but not quite remembering everything. I don’t have all the tools installed that I used when I worked on it originally, so it’s a little bit harder to find where everything is, although it’s familiar enough that I haven’t had to dig around too much.

I decided against creating achievements that required psychotic multiple play-throughs… I already inflicted that on playtesters back in the day. You will definitely need to explore optional content and uncover a few secrets to get all the achievements, and some of the achievements may require you to make certain choices you might not have made on your original play-through (although if you have a prior saved game, it’s not hard to go back and try alternatives). I guess I just don’t feel it should require ridiculous levels of tedium and effort to get 100%.


Filed Under: Frayed Knights - Comments: 11 Comments to Read



  • Kevin said,

    Is it possible to get a Steam key for those of us that bought direct from you?

  • McNutcase said,

    I’m finding myself wondering if having bought it already, I’ll be able to use that key to register it on Steam, or if I’ll have to save up and buy it again.

  • Rampant Coyote said,

    Kevin: The short answer is “yes.” As to the details – whether I will be able to automate it or if it’ll just be on a case-by-case basis – I don’t know yet.

  • Xian said,

    I know if you bought Legend of Grimrock direct you got the DRM free version from their site, AND a Steam key later, so it was actually better to buy direct which gave them a larger cut too. The same might work for you. Of course, I didn’t find that out until after I had already bought it from GoG :\

    Achievements can be a nice addition so I would be glad to see them added to FK.

  • Keldien said,

    I’m not too proud to admit that I will often pick games up again on Steam if they have achievements, and I originally purchased them elsewhere.

  • Oasis said,

    Seeing the above picture with the gang in the dungeon and the green ogre puts a smile on my face. It’s my favorite loading screen ever. The artwork along with the music that plays behind it is just magic. I love it.

    I didn’t finish Frayed Knights as I found myself having to leave dungeons to heal too often, perhaps I’ll go back to it before the second one arrives.

  • Rampant Coyote said,

    I’m working to alleviate the runs-to-the-inn in the second game. The idea of attrition and some sort of cost to completely get back to full power is still going to be there… that’s a big reason why things like bombs, scrolls, and potions will be so valuable… but the cost shouldn’t be quite so much tedium. Right now what we’re working with is just having the town be a 2D map that you don’t have to wander through. Yeah, it’s less immersive, but I think it’ll make some things like resting, selling, etc. a bit less inconvenient.

  • Andre said,

    Sweet… I’ll be playing it again to get the achievements. Don’t know why it is so addictive, maybe my life is too empty 🙂
    But I know I’m not the only one… the game has leveled up!

  • Daniel King said,

    Good work, I know I want to replay before playing the 2nd. Is there still a plan to rebuild FK in the FK2 engine?

  • Rampant Coyote said,

    That’s never been the plan, just an idea that would be cool. But it’d be something I’d have to run a crowdfunding campaign for or something down the road if I decide it makes sense.

    The problem is that while I love Frayed Knights and am really excited about the series (and going back and re-playing the original has reminded me that, warts and all, it’s a pretty awesome game), I’ve got a thousand game ideas I want to pursue, and not enough time if I lived to be 200. So… I’d have to weigh the costs. It’d be cool to have all three be more consistent, though.

  • Daniel King said,

    Fair do’s, I recall suggesting Crowd Funding to you back when it first become popular, I still think you would have success providing the goal wasn’t to high. 🙂

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