Bastard Bonds

**Bastard Bonds** is a mature, fast-paced tactical RPG with high-end pixel art and in-depth character customization, including built-in sprite mod support. Featuring more than 200 in-game locations, more than 1000 character sprites, an all-original soundtrack, 40+ hours of gameplay, and a moody original soundtrack composed by the talented Peter Olson.

The full game costs $20 USD on Steam. A free demo is also available.

## Premise

Justice has failed. The criminal, the deranged, the inconvenient, and the uncomfortable; all are cast across the sea to the greedy island of Lukatt, whose shores let nothing slip free. Whether sinner or saint, you are one of these outcasts, and it is there, in a dark cell on the cold shore of that island, where you will finally cut fate's throat and take control of your own future.

Are you being mistakenly blamed for a theft, or are you a serial killer who finally got sloppy enough to get caught? Will you throw yourself at the court's mercy, or keep your own counsel? Is this justice, or a farce, and once you are interned, how far will you go to regain your freedom? Surrounded by convicts, can you trust anyone at all? These are your questions to answer.

## Gameplay

### Character Creation

Creating the player character (or a recruitable NPC) involves setting their appearance, the allegation brought against them, their plea of guilty or not guilty, the truth of their guilt, their initial 10 skill points, and their personality type.

### Character Customization

The player character's sprite has numerous customization options, which can be further customized manually by creating properly formatted sprite files in the PCCustom folder.

### Bastards

There are 21 unique companions in the game, and most enemies can be recruited into your band. Characters the player makes through the in-game Character Creator can also appear in the game as recruitable NPCs. Most enemy NPCs can also be Recruited by the player.

* Stats and Skills

#### Unique Companions

* Beauregard
* Borfalgor
* Borgnina
* Byrne
* Captain Logus
* Grant
* Greening
* Kirilo
* Leftie
* Moria
* Nazar
* Paul
* Rangda
* Rosaline
* Shapiro
* Vankan
* Wisaka
* Zantanak

### Equipment

Equipment comes in several categories; Weapons, Armor, Accessories, Food, Potions, Junk, and Artifacts.

### Locations

There are more than 200 playable locations, all on the island of Lukatt.

* Gates and Souls

### Strongholds

**SERVICES WILL TAKE UP SPACE IN YOUR STRONGHOLD, BUT WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN YOUR BAND SIZE.**
**ALWAYS CHECK YOUR TENT COUNTER TO VERIFY HOW MUCH SPACE YOU HAVE LEFT IN YOUR STRONGHOLD.**Strongholds are where the player's band eats and sleeps, and how the player manages them.

* Manpower
* Support and Upkeep
* Services
	+ Blacksmith
* Bonding
* Dismissal

### Combat

The turn-based combat system employs a unique Risk system, where several actions can be taken per round, but accumulated Risk from reckless actions can cause a combatant to fumble, becoming vulnerable to attack.

* Risk
* Actions
* Negotiation
* Incapacitation and Revival

### Magic

There are 6 distinct veins of magic, all but one in opposition to two others.

## Steam

On May 10, 2016, Bastard Bonds was submitted to Steam Greenlight.

As of May 27, 2016, it was Greenlit, and was put up for sale on Steam on June 15, 2016.

## References

1. ↑ http://bigfingers.ca/BB/index.html
2. ↑ https://secure.bmtmicro.com/cart?CID=8228&PRODUCTID=82280001
3. ↑ http://steamcommunity.com/app/486720/discussions/0/358415206080550945/#c358415206080691172
4. ↑ http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/updates/682180703/1464376169
5. ↑ http://store.steampowered.com/app/486720