Thank you for you interest in The Fire of Ardor - Quest for the Soul Stone. If you need any additional information or any of the information below in a different format, feel free to contact me (pfeffer.carsten@gmail.com)

Factsheet

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Developer:
Carsten Pfeffer

Publisher:
No publisher

Platform:
Windows (exe) / Linux (AppImage)

Price:
Free

Release:

  • April 11th, 2020
  • Update 1.2.0: October 2024

Estimated playing time:
60 to 90 minutes

Website:
http://cpfr.gitlab.io/the-fire-of-ardor

Contact:
pfeffer.carsten@gmail.com

Social:
Personal Portfolio Website
YouTube
Itch.io
GameJolt
IndieDb
Gamedev.net
Mastodon

Description

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The Fire of Ardor is a free single player dungeon crawler with RPG elements and realtime combat.

You play a nameless hero who fights his way through a dungeon in order to acquire the soul stone that opens the dimension gate to the realm of the daemon lord Ardor.

In order to obtain the soul stone, you will explore the doomed town, visit its last inhabitant Randuras, an old wizard and fight your way through the upper and lower dungeons of the silver mountain, using your rusty sword and fireball spells.

The game uses a CPU-based rendering technique, called raycasting. This technique was originally used by the first FPS games in the early '90s until hardware accelerated rendering was introduced.

News and Updates

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Update 1.2.0 released on October 23rd, 2024

The new version was released on Itch.io, GameJolt and IndieDB and is available for Windows and Linux. The following blog post describes the new features of the release.

Update 1.2.0 will be released in October 2024

It includes many new features, such as voice acting, controller support, improved performance, new easter-eggs and bugfixes.

Patch 1.0.1 released on April 15th, 2020

The first patched version is released. The patch fixes a memory leak in the menus and adds more comfort when trading with NPCs.

Version 1.0.0 released on April 11th, 2020

The stable version of The Fire of Ardor - Quest for the Soul Stone is released for Windows and Linux desktop. Explore the dungeons at the top of the silver mountain in order to obtain the soul stone and enter the daemon realm.

History

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The game was originally developed for the Dungeon Crawler Challenge on GameDev.net from December 2018 to February 2019. The technical basis for the game was an unfinished raycasting rendering engine. During the challenge, the development of game features and engine features went hand in hand. The development of the game was the driver for the missing engine features. Due to the challenge deadline, some features had to be cut for the first release of the game. In the original plan, there were three dungeons with three soul stones and more NPCs (in the challenge submission, there was only one NPC). This version also used CC0-licensed stock music.

After the end of the challenge, a musician offered to write a custom soundtrack for the game. This was taken as an opportunity to fix problems in the game and develop further features that had been cut due to the time restrictions of the challenge.

The the first stable version 1.0.0 was released on April 11th, 2020 and a bigger update was released on October 23rd, 2024.

Features

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FoA is a retro RPG-like experience with the convenience of modern features (like autosaving, modern input methods and free movement).

  • Different NPCs with full voice acting
  • Localized in English and German
  • An outdoor level and different dungeon areas
  • Realtime combat with sword and fireball spells
  • Seven different types of enemies
  • A boss fight
  • Mouse/keyboard and controller support
  • Configurable input bindings
  • Quick- and autosave
  • An original soundtrack

Videos

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youtube video cover image 'The Fire of Ardor - Release Trailer' The Fire of Ardor - Release Trailer (YouTube) youtube video cover image 'The Fire of Ardor - Release 1.2.0' The Fire of Ardor - Release 1.2.0 (YouTube) youtube video cover image 'The Fire of Ardor - Release 1.2.0 (Deutsch)' The Fire of Ardor - Release 1.2.0 (Deutsch) (YouTube) youtube video cover image 'The Fire of Ardor - Story Intro' The Fire of Ardor - Story Intro (YouTube) youtube video cover image 'The Fire of Ardor - Story Intro (Deutsch)' The Fire of Ardor - Story Intro (Deutsch) (YouTube) youtube video cover image 'The Fire of Ardor - Glitches and Bugs on the Way to Version 1.2.0' The Fire of Ardor - Glitches and Bugs on the Way to Version 1.2.0 (YouTube) youtube video cover image 'The Fire of Ardor - Making Of' The Fire of Ardor - Making Of (YouTube)

YouTube Playlists

Screenshots

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Dowload all screenshots as zip file (4.4 MB)

A screenshot of the game. It shows a stone altar in a town in front of a glowing mountain. Gold coins are laying on the ground. A screenshot of the game. It shows a conversation with an old wizard with a grey beard and a red robe. A screenshot of the game. It shows the player's hand with a fire stone, throwing a fireball at a monster worm. A screenshot of the game. It shows a dead rat in a dungeon. A screenshot of the game. It shows an amphora and a monster worm in a dungeon. A screenshot of the game. It shows a skeleton mage in a moist, foggy dungeon. A screenshot of the game. It shows a moist dungeon with rocks on the floor that have white symbols on them. One symbol is a moon, the other symbol is a star. A screenshot of the game. It shows a town scene with two houses and a town lantern. A screenshot of the game. It shows the player fighting with a black rat. The border of the screen is red as an indication that the player is hit by the rat. A screenshot of the game. It shows the impact of a fireball in the dungeon. A screenshot of the game. It shows a skeleton with a sword in a moist and foggy area of the dungeon. A screenshot of the game. It shows a wizard with a beard and a brown robe in a moist and foggy area of the dungeon. A screenshot of the game. It shows a female blacksmith in a moist and foggy area of the dungeon. She wears a giant axe on her back and a small hammer in her hand. A screenshot of the game. It shows a moist dungeon with rocks on the floor that have white symbols on them. One symbol is a moon, the other symbol is a star. A screenshot of the game. It shows a green-glowing ghost in a moist and foggy area of the dungeon. A screenshot of the game. It shows the inventory of the game. It contains a blue mana potion, two grey mushrooms, five green toxic mushrooms, three pieces of meat, eight gold coins and a red health potion. A screenshot of the game. It shows a skeleton with a sword in a dark area of the dungeon. A screenshot of the game. A screenshot of the game. A screenshot of the game. A screenshot of the game.

Artworks Sprites

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Dowload all sprites as zip file (1.5 MB)

A bat (large version) A bat (small version) A ghost (large version) A ghost (small version) Gold coins (large version) Gold coins (small version) A health potion (large version) A health potion (small version) A mana potion (large version) A mana potion (small version) A rat (large version) A rat (small version) A skeleton (large version) A skeleton (small version) A skeleton mage in a frock (large version) A skeleton mage in a frock (small version) A gargolye (large version) A gargolye (small version) A wizard in a red robe (large version) A wizard in a red robe (small version) A female blacksmith with a giant axe (large version) A female blacksmith with a giant axe (small version) A monster worm (large version) A monster worm (small version) The overlay sprite of the player holding his sword The overlay sprite of the player holding the fire stone The overlay sprite of the player holding a lantern The map of the upper dungeon area The sky texture of the game

Logos

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Dowload all logos as zip file (3 MB)

The logo of the game with the text 'The Fire of Ardor' The logo of the game with the text 'The Fire of Ardor' with the subtitle 'Quest for the Soul Stone' The menu background image showing the outline of a fire demon of the game without the logo text The menu background image showing the outline of a fire demon of the game including the logo text

The font we used here is called Black Chancery and was released to the public domain.

Team

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Carsten Pfeffer
Programming
Game Design
Graphics
Sound Effects
Voice Acting

Neil O'Rourke
Music

Swaantje Joeck
Voice Acting

Articles

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[German] "The Fire of Ardor – Quest for the Soul Stone | Dungeoncrawler mit Retrovibe"
-- Welcome To Last Week May 18, 2020

"LinuxGameCast Weekly 400: Task Failed Successfully"
-- LinuxGameCast (mentioned in the podcast) April 19, 2020

[German] "The Fire of Ardor: Retro-Dungeon-Crawler zum kostenlosen Download"
-- Gamers Global April 18, 2020

[Russian] "Релиз 'The Fire of Ardor Quest for the Soul Stone' 1.0.0"
-- GCUP November 1, 2019

"The Fire of Ardor Quest for the Soul Stone - Sword slashing enemies in this beta dungeon crawler"
-- Indie Retro News October 30, 2019

"The Fire of Ardor Quest for the Soul Stone - Sword slashing enemies in this new dungeon crawler "
-- Indie Retro News April 13, 2020