Roadwarden
Roadwarden is an illustrated text-based RPG in which you explore and change a hostile, grim realm.
Everyone knows to stay away from the wilderness. Most people would never risk a lonely journey.
Roadwardens not only accept this struggle, they embrace it. They deliver messages, assist merchants, burn human corpses and, if possible, get rid of beasts and highwaymen.
They live on the road, die young or retire early.
It’s a dangerous job, but a respectable one. And it pays well.
Features:
- Explore and change the world. Travel through a detailed fantasy setting filled with secrets, challenges and uniquely harsh lore.
- Have immersive conversations. To gain support of dozens of NPCs, you need to earn their trust during complex dialogues and sidequests.
- Create your own character through role-playing and decisions. Shape your background, abilities, beliefs and personality.
- Unveil the local mysteries. Investigate, use your wit and make connections to understand the true nature of this realm.
- Overcome your weaknesses. The wilderness is full of dangers and you can trust nobody. Find your path to success against all odds.
Purchase
Get this game and 1 more for $8.38 USD
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $4.39 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Download demo
Development log
- The Final UpdateSep 12, 2024
- Roadwarden 1.1.31 AE patch notesSep 18, 2023
- Roadwarden Anniversary UpdateSep 13, 2023
- Roadwarden - Patch 1.0.66Nov 22, 2022
- Roadwarden - Patch 1.0.65Oct 25, 2022
- Roadwarden - Patch 1.0.6Oct 04, 2022
- Roadwarden - Patch 1.0.5Sep 26, 2022
- Roadwarden - Patch 1.0.3Sep 19, 2022
Comments
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I seen the Android request below and seen the response but this is a Ren'Py game, get it out on Android already please.
Hi! The game looks cool and I wanted to give it a try. Unfortunatelly the demo wont work for me (OSX). The system simply states “The application Roadwarden can’t be opened”.
Hi! It's possible that I failed at providing the publisher with the Mac versions of the demo. I expect you don't want to purchase the game on Steam, but you may try buying the full version there, downloading the Mac build, seeing if it works for you, then ask for a refund and buy it here.
Hi Aureus (and crew),
I purchased the game on GOG and after 3 failed runs (once my character's soul left their shell, I couldn't bring myself to go back to a saved game), I managed to finish it. Absolutely love the game! As a developer, I know it's not easy, all the hard work and toil you put into it, hoping that someone out there appreciates your work - well, I certainly did :-)
Anyway, I just have one question (or feature request, I guess): would it be possible to add the achievements (which I can see on Steam, and in the game) to GOG as well? I'm sure I will attempt at least one other run, but it would be a great motivator to see those achievements unlock.
Hi, and thank you so much for your support!
I tried to implement GOG achievements all the way back in 2022, but at least at that time it was close to impossible to make them work on my own. Sadly, I don't think much has changed since then, but I promise that the next time I get to release an RPG of mine, I'll bring in someone who'll be able to handle achievements on all related platforms!
I've been looking into this, and what you said is true - this used to be near impossible. However :-) There's been some (very) recent developments - and good ones.
Would you mind taking a look at this post?
https://www.gog.com/forum/three_kingdoms_story_conussia/gog_galaxy_achievements/...
According to the included instructions, this is now very easy. You should be able to export/import the achievement list from Steam (this was possible before already), and with the included files, you should be able to make it work for Gog with no code changes.
Certainly worth a look IMHO.
BTW, I found your presentation on GIC on YouTube, I will be watching it :-)
: O
I watched your presentation, it was great! "Narration is a great skipping forward tool" - that's a keeper.
Let me know if you're planning on making this update, because I'd like to report a couple of very minor typos as well. What would be the best way to pass those along?
moralanxietystudio _at_ gmail . com works, thanks! I'm at a point when I'm kind of afraid of touching Roadwarden so to not break it, but I do plan to make at least one more bug fixing patch, maybe for the next anniversary. And it may or may not involve changes in GOG's achievement. : )
Hi there. I bought this game on Steam, but pressing "enter" on the first page doesn't do anything. Do you have any way to fix?
Hi! Please try using your mouse. : )
hi, that's ok. I've edited my comment to make it a bit kkkmore clearer. WHen i tried the game, self-voicing did not turn on when i pressed the v key.
I see! I tried making the default Ren'Py tools work, but, sadly, the game's interface is just too messy to make them work properly. : ( If I were to design the entirety of Roadwarden anew, I'd probably be able to do better, but it's too late now.
I would like to buy this game here but i am afraid that this is not the right version?
Steam has like version 1.8.0, but here i get access to 1.1.2, wich is not the newest... Or is it just listed wrong?
Hi! If I remember correctly, the last version of Roadwarden was labeled as 1.0.92, so we've jumped into a new category. : ) The current Itch.io build is up to date, though I hope to prepare the 1.1.3 patch in the next 48 hours.
hi. I really want to play this game. However, i am visually impaired and wanted to know if this game has support for blind people. Does it suppport renpi's self-voicing by pressing the v key or image descriptions?
I'm sorry, but I wasn't able to introduce this type of accessibility options.
Doesn't open on MacOS Ventura.
Doesn't run on MacOS Monterey.. fix pls ?
I'm sorry, I don't know how to do it. If you're sure you downloaded the Mac version, consider looking for fixes for MacOS Monterey in regards to "Ren'Py" - this is the engine Roadwarden uses.
Is it possible that the mac version has a 32bit executable in it ? That might be the reason. Is it possible that you package another mac version with a 64bit executable in it then ?
The issue was that the executable in the .app package did not have the execution flags/permission set. So I fixed it for myself and it is running now. Strange ...
How did you fix it? I'm on Ventura.
Open terminal
cd into .app package
cd Contents
cd MacOS
chmod +x Roadwarden
Run and enjoy
Android port pwease!
Maybe! A bit difficult to pull it off, considering all the reading, menus, sub menus, and sub sub menus.
I can understand the complexities, but I also agree that an Android port would be great. This is a game that lends itself to be played on a phone or a tablet, safely tucked under blankets in bed, during long winter nights.
Also, the android market might be very profitable. It reaches *a lot* of people.
But I would suggest to either upload both versions (the demo and the full one), or allow for in-app purchase of the full version, once the demo is completed.
In any case, great work. I love the writing, the worldbuilding and the aesthetics of the game.
At the interaction with the barkeep at the Pelt of the North, when he asks you to cover for him for the deal with Foggy, what part of his explanation is a lie?
Hi! I'm sorry if it's not stated clearly, I'll write a note for myself to look into it. The intended lie is that he still considers paying her for joining forces - the truth is he's just playing for time, hoping to bail before he faces any consequences for manipulating her.
I cannot say enough fantastic things about Roadwarden. I played through three times to see and explore everything I wanted to, and there was still so much left to do! The replayability factor is insane. Shout out to my new family in the Creeks, Eudocia, and the Forest Speaker.
I wish there were more games like this! 5/5.
Hey can anyone help with this, I get it everytime I try to launch the demo:
I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.
While running game code:
Exception: Line with id endingtransition_76b2fe88 appeared twice, at game/areas/backinthecity.rpy:129 and game/areas/epilogue.rpy:3246.
-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------
Full traceback:
File "renpy/bootstrap.py", line 274, in bootstrap
renpy.main.main()
File "renpy/main.py", line 490, in main
renpy.game.script.load_script() # sets renpy.game.script.
File "renpy/script.py", line 297, in load_script
self.load_appropriate_file(".rpyc", ".rpy", dir, fn, initcode)
File "renpy/script.py", line 809, in load_appropriate_file
self.finish_load(stmts, initcode, filename=lastfn) # type: ignore
File "renpy/script.py", line 427, in finish_load
self.translator.take_translates(all_stmts)
File "renpy/translation/__init__.py", line 169, in take_translates
n.filename, n.linenumber))
Exception: Line with id endingtransition_76b2fe88 appeared twice, at game/areas/backinthecity.rpy:129 and game/areas/epilogue.rpy:3246.
Windows-10-10.0.19041 AMD64
Ren'Py 7.5.2.22081402u
Tue Feb 21 11:50:55 2023
Hi there! I'm sorry you faced such an issue. I just downloaded the demo and it works on my end. Is there any chance that you installed Roadwarden, or its demo, in the past, maybe even on Steam? It's possible that the game has merged its new files with some more ancient relics and that it formed a hybrid between two versions. If so, cleansing all the folders related to the game, especially the save folder, should be able to fix the issue.
❤️ Road Techs 🛣️
I was wondering if anyone on here knows what dependencies this game has? I have downloaded the game on Linux, and extracted it out, but it's telling me it still wants steam?
I have not found any place that shares what is needed to run the game, so I'm unsure what it needs.
Hi there! Are you saying that you downloaded Roadwarden-1.0.66-linux.tar.bz2 and it doesn't work?
BTW this version of the game is out of date, I need to poke the game's publisher to ask what's up with that.
Correct. I have extracted the tar, and run the games script, yet I run into this error. What requirements are needed for me to run this game on Linux?
Hi there! The game has recently been updated. Any chance it works for you now?
Where's the best play to purchase this game so the most money goes to the dev? Here?
Hi there! Thank you for the consideration, but I believe we have the same split with all the websites where Roadwarden is available, so don't worry about it. As long as it's convenient for you and you're happy with the specific platform, I'm happy too. : )
Is there any thought to porting it to PS5?
I'm afraid it's very unlikely. : (
Okay this is very specific and totally personal but I need to vent right now (so minor spoiler!): There is a part in the game where a poor lady in White Marshes asks you to find her money under a stone bridge. There ends up being way less money than she originally hoped for and you have the option of being truthful about it and giving her only a single coin or lying to her. But the character I am trying to play would neither lie nor let her problem remain unresolved! +-+
I wish there could be an option to the likes of this: "I found only one coin but at a dire time when I needed it the most. So let me add nine coins of compound interest."
Because that was the truth! I went the eastern path first and was broke as hell ;( Really the first time I felt like I could not RP, my immersion was totally shattered argh \*o*/ I hate it so much!
So yeah wanted to throw that at someones head, the rest of the game is absolutely fantastic so far. One of the best games I played 2022. I spend surely 20-something hours in this world and I already know that I want to replay it atleast twice after that. I need to look at your other projects if they are anything like this!
May I ask if there's a werewolf here and if I can be a werewolf?
I'm afraid you can't be a werewolf in Roadwarden, but I recently played Werewolf The Apocalypse: Heart of the Forest and it's fantastic.
Roadwarden was my favorite game of last year, ive spent more time with it than any of the other big titles i bought. fantastic work!
Thank you for your support! 2022 featured some amazing games, so that's quite a compliment. ^^
As I'm also a solo developer I must say I am impressed. You can tell a ton of work has gone into this ^^ Good job!
Thank you so much! Are you happy with the way MoonFire is turning out? It sure looks like a project born out of love, I'm super interested in indie RPGs in general.
You're definitely spot on! It's been a lot of work, but even after a year and half or so, I'm really enjoying how its turning out for my first official IP ^^
Cheers on enjoying the success of Roadwarden. Or at least I hope you see it as such!
Hello.
Is this game accessible to play for blind players?
Sounds like something I would like to play, but when I run the demo, I am stuck.
I can hear the music and self-voicing mode seems to be working, because the synthesizer reads some random sentence.
But after that I do not know what to do, or even if I am doing something.
There is no reaction to whatever I press on the keyboard.
Even trying to switch off and on self-voicing does not work.
Is there documentation about shortcuts somewhere, or any way to make the game work?
Greetings, Luel!
I'm afraid Roadwarden is not optimized to support players who use text-to-speech hardware. I wish it would, but as it is a solo-dev project, I simply lack necessary skills to properly design it, and as it is, it uses a plentitude of pop up menus, long paragraphs ended with multiple dialogue choices, images that have no alternate descriptions and so on. I'm sorry it ended up this way, but I hope I'll have an opportunity to work with a real programmer for my next RPG, ideally someone who could support me in making the game more accessible for various types of controllers.
Once again, my apologies and thank you for taking interest in my game.
Hello moral-anxiety.
Thank you for your answer.
I suspected the game may be not accessible, but did not want to assume without asking first.
Unfortunately, I do not know what, if anything, can be done about Roadwarden.
I am not a programmer, just a player.
Regarding possible amount of text to read, in my opinion, this is no reason to complain about.
Unless the writing is difficult to understand or something makes reading not enjoyable.
I like games where exploration is encouraged, with background information and lore to find.
I wish you good luck with your next game.
This looks great; the kind of thing to play late at night.
There's a portion of text that misgenders the Roadwarden rather than leaving their gender ambiguous -,- It happens during the "convince the Creeks" scene in the middle of the funeral pyre
Thank you for pointing this out! I'll be sure to fix it in the file so it can be corrected with the next patch. : )
Hi, as a news french translator, I'm looking for indie games to localize.
I would be happy to translate Roadwarde.
Would you be interested ?
On day 30 of my first playthrough and I really like every element. The art is evocative, the writing is clear, and the characters are interesting. I really enjoy the feeling of making choices that don't seem to have a 'right' answer and exploring a world knowing I won't have time to see every mystery solved. Running out of money is pretty punishing, but that makes it feel more rewarding when you're able to build your relationship up with the towns enough that you're no longer just scraping by.
Will the sale on Steam right now be applied here on Itch as well? I prefer to buy games here if I can, but the currency conversion makes it pricey.
My apologies, I wasn't aware there's a sale. : ) There you go!
Oh! I'm sorry, I thought sales were set by devs on Steam. In any case, excited to finally pick this one up on here!
You're correct, in a way! The sale is set up by whoever owns the game's page - in Steam's case it's the game's publisher, Assemble Entertainment, while on Itch it's just me, at least for a few more days. : )
Please make more game like these!! Its refreshing to see a game simple like this. Very heavy on the text and with illustrations to supplement the descriptions. This is definitely one of my favorite games ever.
Thank you! I have all sorts responsibilities to take care of first, but I'd love to work on a similar game in the future. : )
I just want to say that it is refreshing to see developers on Itch.io actually issue a post when a patch is released with release notes as well as show which is the newest version on the store page. It seems like a simple thing but many don't do either and it's appreciated.
Thank you! I feel bad that there are things that need patching in the first place, so that's the least I can do.
Bought this on GOG, thank you, very engrossing worldbuilding!
One typo in 1.0.4 from GOG - there's a quote that says "Those lands are beter left to..." - it should be "better left to."
Thank you! I'll be sure to fix it, I hope to have the patch ready on Monday. : )
The Itch.io page says "In development" still. You may want to update that as some potential customer's may be turned off if they think the game is still in early access.
Oh the spirits. That's very much correct. Thank you for pointing this out.
Where can I hear more of this amazing music
So kind of you to ask! The composer of the major part of the soundtrack (including the title theme) has released his share of tracks on all the major platforms. If you were to support him, all the earnings will go to his pocket, so I think it's pretty sweet. ^^
just wanted to say I'm 6 hours in and LOVING this game. I wish I could play forever haha. I'm already thinking I may have to do a casual playthrough after to see all the content. It's utterly enthralling.
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience! There's a 1.0.1 version available to download now, I should have 1.0.2 ready in a few hours and will post a changelog for it. : )
finished it - absolutely fucking amazing. Seriously. Amazing. I like...need you to get famous from this game so you can do interviews so I can read about how you made it. I'm telling everyone I know to play it.
<3 <3 <3
Just realized I hadn't left a review for this demo despite my deep love of it and excitement for the full release. That's amended now. (Should I post it to Steam too?)
Cheering you on!
Thank you, and there's no need! Actually, I just had a very good week development-wise, and it's lovely to start my day with such encouraging words. : )
you can only leave steam reviews if you have played the game for 5 minutes
I hope things are going well for you. Every so often I come back to the page to check out how things are going and rereading that last blog entry and it's looking great. This game is still the top of my(and I assume many others) steam wishlist.
Best regards.
Thank you for reaching out. : ) Ever since I stopped posting on social media, I was able to focus more on the development. I get anxious about how long some of my tasks take, but the game grows well - recently, I either write new content, or edit/rewrite one that's 2-3 year old. It doesn't give me many screenshots to show, but I do have this feeling of constant progression, which helps.
Saw your tweet. Stay strong, keep your head down and look after yourself. Things are tough at the moment and like you I also dropped off social media except for the Discord for my TTRPG. I am now only putting out hopeful/hope punk supplements for Broken Shield. Reach out if you want to hang out with another chilled creator group. Other than that, good luck. Hopefully we can push back the tide of idiocy...
https://discord.gg/AvkPRp6 (not meant as a plug, just easiest link to find me with)
I'm still very excited by Roadwarden. Loved the demos and how it's been developing. You're doing great.
- Gunnar Roxen
Thank you, Gunnar, I'll think about it. I never really used Discord, but seeing how the lockdown never ends, maybe I should start to get a bit more present online.
Zero pressure, it was just a thought. Do whatever you need to to keep yourself sane. :)
I came back to see how this game was going after playing the demo a year or so ago, and I'm glad to see its still going well!! It definitely stuck in my mind, and I'm excited to see the final game. No rush though, just wanted to send some encouragement because I was thinking about this game today!
The new graphics are beautiful, by the way. :)
Thank you for your support! I actually hope to post the new version of the demo and a quite long devlog this weekend, I'm really excited about showing all the changes. : )
I'm really fascinated with this world and with the format you're using. The art and music is lovely. I hope you're still developing it!
Sidenote, found something odd when asking about people with the innkeeper:
I hope that's helpful to you!
Thank you for attaching the screenshot! Yes, it's a bug, but the new version of the demo will have this and many more issues addressed. : ) It should be out in about a week or two!
oh that's extremely exciting!
I wishlisted your game on GOG ^^
But Linux is not listed on GOG,I'm sad.
As a Renpy game,I think I should be able to play It without problem on Kubuntu :)
Thank you so much for your support! I don't know why Roadwarden is listed on GOG as not compatible with Linux, I believe the game's publisher - who's behind the page - simply forgot. I'll let them know right away.
The few tests that the kind people interested in the game ran so far make me believe the game will work just fine on Linux.
Great!
Thank you ^__^
I played this game what feels like ages ago. What's new?
You've reminded me that it's been almost three months since the last devlog, I'll try to publish a new one before the end of the month. While the release will still need at least half a year, and more likely an entire year, I'm really proud of the recent development. For example, you can check out my Twitter to see what tremendous steps I've made updating the game's visuals.
This is great! I've often wanted a good modern "text RPG" sort of game and you've got the idea perfect. The writing is very engaging, each of the places and characters have a unique feel, yet there's also a lot which appears hidden and makes you want to explore more. The idea of different "moods" and different conversation paths lets a player actually "play a role" which is something a lot of RPGs surprisingly lack! The timer is generous so you can get quite a lot done in one day. The danger level seems forgiving, especially with the idea of quicksaves and autosaves. I couldn't put this down once I started. Really hoping that you continue to make this. I'd gladly pay for the full version.
Reading this comment is a really lovely way to start my day, thank you so much, Jamie! I'm currently playing the working prototype (which got really big) and I think you're going to love it. I try to improve both the things you mentioned, and some other areas which interest me personally, such as the quality of the illustrations, and even I'm getting excited seeing the progress. : ) The pandemic sure gave me a lot of time to.
I'll do my best to finish this project, though it may still take some time. : (
Oh, please don't take anything I said as a complaint, it was all praise! :)
I like exploration games where the player is actually able to explore! I'm sure you've played games where the player is given things to look at, yet resource management is so tight that it's impossible to get anything done. The player is actually punished for exploring which defeats the whole purpose of the game. This really ruined Out There: Ω Edition if you've seen that.
I also don't mind an easy game. Not everything needs to be an ultra-hard nightmare roguelike.
Don't worry about time. It took Tom Happ 5 years to make Axiom Verge. The guy doing Pixel Art Academy has been going for 5 years with no end in sight! Take your time and enjoy creating.
I'll follow your devlogs and have wishlisted on Steam. The game is ready when it's ready :)