Key regions of Yerengal
about 3 years ago – Sun, Mar 07, 2021 at 12:41:33 AM

Greetings, adventurers!

According to our BackerKit system,  all emails with the survey links have been sent for the rewards where (depending on your reward tier) you can specify locations of brewing-drying ingredients, Undead Miser loots, and set your custom message in a catacomb/crypt or your custom winery name for a barrel in the game.

If your reward tier includes such a feature and you haven't received an email from BackerKit, don't hesitate to contact us.

As discussed in Update #40, we will send emails at a later date regarding the input for the higher reward tiers (helping us design items, spells, encounters or NPCs).

Shamans and curses - not only in Black Geyser

Before we proceed, we want to mention an interesting project to you. The Way of Wrath is a story-driven, open-world, tactical RPG set in a pre-historic shamanistic world, inspired by Baldur's Gate, Gothic, & Legend of Zelda. Your goal is to lead your people through one hell of a siege launched by your enemies, in a world of shamans, curses, and dark rituals. You can back them on Kickstarter here - only a couple of hours are left before their campaign ends!

Centers of global power in Yerengal

In our current update, we will discuss the most important centers of power in Yerengal that may directly or indirectly affect the plot of Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness:

• Northern Isilmerald (ruled by King Velianrick, his Court is located in the capity city of Isilbright)
• Southern Isilmerald (governed by a rebel Council of Nobles from the city of Deron-Guld)
• The Northern Realm (governed by the twin cities of Freynagar and Riznagar)
• The Eastern Empires (many semi-autonomous nations controlled by Elenuator, a demigod)

Northern Isilmerald

The kingdom of Isilmerald is currently torn in half due to the civil war that erupted in the wake of the Curse of Greed. The northern half is governed from the capitol, Isilbright, by the rightful ruler King Velianrick. While he is supported by most of the nobility, the rest of the populace does not think so highly of him. The commoners of Isilbright are becoming ever more displeased by the luxurious lifestyles led by the lords and ladies at the expense of their own well-being. Isilbright currently holds the upper hand in terms of military power, but their resources are dwindling, and a drawn out conflict could surely tip the scales in favor of the rebels in the south.

King Velianrick tries to maintain his image as the absolute ruler of Isilmerald, refusing to acknowledge the souther rebellion as a valid threat to the kingdom. He treats the Rillow traders of the east as harshly as ever – hoping to stabilize the economy through their heavy taxation -, and maintains neutral diplomacy with the Northern Realm.

Southern Isilmerald

Southern Isilmerald is ruled over by a rebellious group of nobles, under the military leadership of the War Council. The Council consists of the nine strongest lords and ladies of the south, but many other have joined the fight against the king. The rebellion is coordinated from Deron-Guld, a prosperous mining city surrounded by the mountain ranges marking the southern border of Isilmerald. While currently the fighting forces of Deron-Guld are less organized and well-equipped than the soldiers of Isilbright, time is on their side. The mines and land they took hold of will support the war effort for possibly years to come. All would seem well for the rebellion, if not for the surprisingly potent illness that started decimating the people of Deron-Guld.

The War Council tries to show an open and cooperative attitude towards the neighbors of the kingdom. They maintain a steady trading relationship with the Rillows of the Eastern Empires.

The Northern Realm

The Northern Realm is a narrow slice of land consisting of boreal forests and snowy mountains, situated between the Kingdom of Isilmerald and the frozen, inhospitable wastes roamed by the Jötnar. It is the home of humans, dwarves and white elves alike. The Realm is governed from the twin cities of Freynagar and Riznagar, their rulers traditionally working together in upkeeping peace an order in their territory. The current pair of rulers however, have had long lasting grudges against one another. Their disputes have worsened to the point where armed conflict wasn’t out of the question anymore. That was when the Keeper of the Peaceful Winter stepped in. This ancient, mighty being keeps his watch over the Northern Realm and its peoples, ensuring that peace and order stands. The lord of Freynagar was the one who overstepped the line in the end, and for that, the Keeper erected an immense dome of magical ice over the port city, sealing it from the outside world.

By to the Keeper of the Peaceful Winter’s will, the Northern Realm maintains relatively neutral relations with the other nations of Yerengal. Most of their trade routes lead into Isilbright and the Lands of Zida-Suda.

The Eastern Empires

The Eastern Empires – called so by the people of Isilmerald - are a vast set of semi-autonomous nations among the deserts to the east of Isilmerald. They are lorded over by a powerful Djinni by the name of Elenuator. The westernmost nation among them, inhabited by the Rillows, plays an important role in the conflict in the uprising in Isilmerald. Their great trading road, the Tarq Al’azim spans many lands, and opened way for system of trading never seen before. The both sides of the conflict in Isilmerald might end up depending on their seemingly endless resources, and the Rillow will provide these resources gladly for either. It’s just a question of gold.

Their military force is said to be immense either, and both factions have interests in trying to win the Rillow over to their sides. If these rumors are true, the Rillows could become the deciding factor in the civil war. However, they did their best to stay neutral so far. Might this change in the times to come?

Backer input for reward tiers
about 3 years ago – Mon, Mar 01, 2021 at 02:12:19 AM

Greetings adventurers,

Finally! We have started contacting backers whose Kickstarter rewards require additional input:

• Help us set the location of an uncommon herb, mushroom, or insect
• Help us prepare the hoard of an Undead Miser
• Your name and message in a catacomb/crypt of the game

We use BackerKit for this purpose, so make sure to check your spam folder for notification emails that are sent to the email address of your BackerKit account. If you haven’t received such a notification until 5th March 2021, please contact us.

Input for more complex reward tiers (helping us design items, spells, encounters or NPCs) will be requested at a later date, since we want to polish the context and options for these elements as much as possible to make sure they fit seamlessly into the game’s atmosphere.

Kickstarter updates and launch date

From now on, we are going to post an update once per week featuring an interesting aspect of the game.

Numerous regions, cities, factions, guilds and cults (both active and long forgotten) exist in the world of Yerengal. Their symbols are depicted in the picture below. We will discuss some of them in our next update.

At the moment, we are not able to tell more about the launch date, but we will do this in one of the aforementioned updates as soon as we can. Our Steam page is under construction and will be published in March. Stay tuned!

Release next year with Temple of Alvilmelkedic
over 3 years ago – Fri, Nov 13, 2020 at 08:35:29 PM

Ho there, adventurers,

First and foremost, thank you for your continuous feedback on the Backer Beta. Thanks to your bug reports and suggestions, we have managed to fix many unknown and subtle bugs and improve the overall experience of playing Black Geyser.

Our studio had several talks lately – both as a team and with our partners and investors. We came to realize that Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness has become a bigger project than we ever imagined. Which is a great thing. On the other hand, huge projects require tons of refinements, polishing and Quality Assurance. Black Geyser is no exception. Taking this into account, we have concluded that Black Geyser will be released in early 2021.

Some reward tiers for Kickstarter and Crowdfunding rewards require input from backers. If you have such a reward tier, we will contact you for your input during January. Thank you for your patience!

With launch coming early next year, we are going to start updating you more often. We are getting close and its time to start getting prepared for Black Geyser!

Temple of Alvilmelkedic

In the second part of this update, we will briefly showcase an interesting part of the game. The Temple of Alvilmelkedic is a place of mystery, but also a place to find answers. Coiled up a winding path above an abandoned village, this temple predates the modern history of Yerengal.

In fact, prophets and mystics predating the Xurxur beast itself made their home in the temple. They left it filled with their stories. Ancient lore and whispers of the past echo through its corridors. Even a few of its previous residents may yet still lie in wait for the unwary explorer.

In the final chapter of Black Geyser, unsolved riddles may lead you to Alvilmelkedic. Riddles with potentially world-shattering answers. What secrets lie in wait for you in its dusty, forgotten depths?

Backer Beta add-on for existing backers
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Jul 14, 2020 at 11:19:04 PM

Ho there adventurers,

First of all, many thanks for your gameplay and bug reports regarding the Backer Beta! Your feedback is extremely valuable for Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness.

We received a lot of "Can I upgrade my pledge" requests from existing backers who didn't preorder the Backer Beta add-on (or any appropriate reward tiers) during our Kickstarter and late pledging campaigns. After careful consideration, we have decided to open the possibility again to pledge for the "Backer Beta add-on ($26)" for existing backers of Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness, for a limited period of 45 days.

You can now use our Backer Portal upgrade page to pledge for the Backer Beta add-on. It's the last item in the first dropdown list ("Early Access to Backer Beta add-on $26").

It is important to note again that this only applies to our existing backers as an upgrade/add-on possibility. Since our late pledging campaigns ended before, it is not possible to pre-order Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness from scratch if you are not an existing backer.

Backer Beta is ready
almost 4 years ago – Wed, Jul 01, 2020 at 12:34:43 AM

Greetings, adventurers!

The Backer Beta has been ready for several days, and it’s bigger than we initially planned!

Having said that, as with every beta, it contains bugs – some of which we don't know about and you will hopefully help us to find. Also, it lacks several features, refinements and performance optimizations that didn’t make it to the beta but will be present in the final game.

Getting the Beta on Steam and GOG store pages takes much longer than the official information we received about it before. Therefore, we decided today that we will be shipping the Backer Beta directly to the eligible backers (those of you who pledged at the Early Access reward tier and above, or chose the Backer Beta add-on).

Regarding Steam and GOG, everything seems to be on the right track, so the Beta will eventually be available on GOG and Steam as well (depending on whether you have specified a GOG or a Steam key in BackerKit). In the meantime, however, we will ship the Backer Beta as a direct download.

This process will begin on the 3rd of July at the latest and will take a couple of days. We will notify every backer whose reward tier included the Backer Beta via email with instructions on how to receive the installer. If you don't receive such an email until 6th July, please send us a message on Kickstarter or via our contact forms.

Finally, a few teaser screenshots from the Beta.

A riddle to be solved...

... a battle already won...

... and a well-deserved picked pocket.