4. I played the demo which I recommend to all our readers, and I couldn't help but notice that there are magical weapons and wizardry skills. How does that fit into a historically authentic RPG?

I included wizardry into the game exactly in order to make it historically authentic: When you're playing "Teudogar", I want you to feel like a genuine Germanic barbarian - and that includes superstitiousness.

People strongly believed in wizardry, and this belief probably made it actually effective. E.g., if you believed in blessings, knowing that you'd been blessed would free you from worrying about a possible defeat. This would enhance your concentration and courage, thereby actually improving your chances of winning a duel. That fact that you attributed your success to a supernatural cause doesn't bother me as long as there is reason to believe such a "spell" genuinely worked.

This is the kind of "magic" included in "Teudogar". It's not about gaining instant victory by pulverizing your enemies, but rather about tilting the odds in your favor by giving you confidence, or by demoralizing your enemies. Today we'd consider it plain autosuggestion, psychology, placebo effects, or manipulation; yet it was equally effective when it was called "magic" and its effects were attributed to higher powers' interference.​

[VicViper] You've made a very unique game in my opinion... are there any game that you got an inspiration from?
[gabusch] VicViper: a mix of old RPGs and adventure games. everything we've played along the way
[cneal] gam?
[gabusch] there's a score system in the game. reminiscent of the old adventure ones
[gabusch] that's how you can keep track of how much of the game you've completed
[gabusch] and, depending on how completely you finish the game, you can get different proclamations at the end of it
[VicViper] similar to King
[VicViper] King's Quest?
[gabusch] yeah​

[OdinNMA] so what exactly was a quest matrix ?
[Fishka] The way you behave during the game affects the end.
[Human_Shield] Any voice-acting in the game? Getting a good english translation?
[MetalWyrm] Fishka, will the combat be turnbased, phasebased, or real time?
[blitzkrieg] im not communist
[Fishka] Quest matrix is a number of quests which are closely connected with each other.
[Spazmo] Good question from Odin: Define "quest matrix"?
[Fishka] The combat will be turn-based.
[Spazmo] Ah
[Pooperscooper] fishka great answer
[MetalWyrm] Fishka, good choice =)
[Exitium] Morrowind had a quest matrix, of sorts.
[Spazmo] Will most quests be related to the main storyline or will there be sidequests and such?
[Exitium] Do certain quests and you're given an open path to a series of new quests.
[OdinNMA] actually SP asked that..
[MetalWyrm] Fishka, assuming you're going to have cities, will you be able to be a villain in one city and a good guyin another ?
[OdinNMA] did you guys ask what the APARp system was ?
[MetalWyrm] Odin, you can read a bit about it hre I think: http://www.russobit-m.ru/eng/games/exodus/index.shtml
[OdinNMA] well that's what I'm reading now...
[Pooperscooper] is there any screens of the game?
[Fishka] Spazmo, there will be many quests related to the storyline.​

[Malfador] Dungeon Odyssey was my first DirectX game, and Starfury my first Direct3D game.
[Instar] Bumpmapping requires a fairly recent card to run right
[Exitium] Not really Instar.
[Malfador] They were intended to build an engine that I could use for SE5 to create true 3D ships for the display.
* Slith (~Slith333@adsl-158-38-135.asm.bellsouth.net) has joined #RPGCodex
[Exitium] Anything newer than the Geforce 2 will run bumpmapping just fine.
[Exitium] THose MX400 cards go for dirt cheap.
[Saint_Proverbius] Yup
[Exitium] And they handle bumpmapping perfectly.
[Instar] True. Bumpmapping does do wonders for games, look at Halo2 or Doom3
[Saint_Proverbius] Heck, look at BattleZone 2.
[SalsaDoom] Well, so long as it was optional, I don't see any problems with adding a few nice things..
[Instar] I don't know if its there in DX yet
[Exitium] Jedi Academy uses an engine that's a few years old and it's still pretty.
[Instar] it would require some more effort on the art people
[Malfador] Now, as to how many ships I can get into combat at one time, that's another question. But the main purpose was to move the space strategy genre on to the 3D era. (not that SE5 would be the first to do that).
[Saint_Proverbius] IG2 did it.
[Fyron] Yeah, but that game was lacking...
[SalsaDoom] Yeah, IG2's space battles were very pretty. To bad the game was over in an hour
[tesco] what is starshatter using ??
[Saint_Proverbius] 3D
[Saint_Proverbius] Starshatter is a sim, though.
[Instar] Aaron, what games are you looking forward to playing? I cannot wait to get my grubby paws on Doom3 or DeusEx2
[Malfador] Bumpmapping - I'd love to add all the bells and whistles to Starfury, but time is against me. The best thing to do is to add each of these features incrementally in each new game that uses the same engine. That way it doesn't take you 4 years to get the game out (O' FreeLancer, where art thou?).​

[Split_404] oh, in the demo version it sounds like someone randomly asks to try some weed? I assumed they meant mead, was this deliberate?
[FyL] that should be something else we mention here too - in the full game, the in-game music is different depending on what instrument the bard is holding
[Justin] right - it's a very cool effect.
[Shevek] awesome *firing up demo now*
[Justin] oh, some of the sound effects will be revamped.
[Justin] and you're right - it should be 'mead'.
[Justin]
[Senrats] NO... It was Mead...
[Senrats] hehehe
[Senrats] No mention of weed anywhere ​

3.) Some of the mechanics of Devil Whiskey seems to limit the character creation of a party. For example, you have to roll up your attributes and only then can you select a class based on those attributes. Is there any reason why you stuck with this type of creation system over one that allowed a less restrictive manner of creation?

When we set out on this project, our goal was to create a game in homage to the great old RPG's of the late 80's. In keeping with that goal, we made design decisions that would lead to a similar experience. We believe that part of what made those old games so great *were* their limitations. If you're not worried about spending 20 hours creating a character, because the system is so thoroughly dynamic that you can tweak anything and there are 1000's of options, you can move on to play the rest of the game more quickly. Not only that, but many of us have a heritage in the old books-and-dice RPG's as well, and many of them (particularly the old favorites) work in the style described - you roll your stats, and based on those, you have certain options.​

[Exitium] [Mearas] Besides removing the kids, has the game been altered in any other signigicant way as a result of switching ratings?
[TimCain] Yes. Several dialogs and quests were removed entirely, as were some characters.
[[Troika]Tom] One whole map with side quests, the brothel in Nulb, was removed
[ReAnimator] ouch!
[TimCain] Plus, Tom said some bad words in a few dialogs...
[TimCain]
[[troika]hnguyen]
[[Troika]Steve] Code was generally untouched for the censors, so I had smooth sailing.
[[troika]hnguyen] i wish the bad words were still in
[TimCain] Also, you will notice that Dick Rentsch is now just Rentsch
[[Troika]Tom] Tim used a bad word once, too!
[TimCain] I did?
[ReAnimator] I had to cover up some private areas on some models
[[Troika]Steve] Because Richard is such a horrible name to name someone.
[[troika]hnguyen] LOL
* TimCain says "Done"​

[Exitium] [El_Gammon] Do you give us your word that the final title won't be something like "Riftrunning Riftrunner's Riftrun" or something like that?
[valtar] lol
[Lynn] sorry, no
[Thorun] Why not? I like that title...
[Arhu] eww
[valtar] yeah sure you do
[valtar]
[Relex] pray that doesnt happen...
[Lynn] I pray with you
[Arhu] Every night..
[Lynn] We didnt like the DD title either
[Larian] Never say never
[Relex] lets erect a shrine for it!
[Arhu] You have my word, ElG, but that doesn't say much..
[Lynn] and kill the inventor!
[Larian] I honestly thought that when I saw Divine Divinity it was a typo in the contract
[valtar] lol
[Lynn] yes, me too - i was shocked, and not only me
[Larian] It took several hours before I finally figured out that it was for real
[Thorun] We were all shocked when Lar told us...
[Arhu] Divinity 2 is supposed to be called just that, not the Double-D-Word 2.
[Lynn] you had to see the faces of everybody - they all thought we were joking
[Larian] And then I had to listen to somebody for hours on how market research had shown Divine Divinity to be better than Divinity.
[Lynn] we still have nightmares
[Larian] Never trust market research
[Larian] Don't quote me on that when it comes to the box guys
[Thorun] But later the same evening we were all so drunk we forgot about it...
[Lynn] hihi
[Lynn] yes, but the next day..
[Larian] Oh yes, that was very bad
[Lynn] I have pics - anyone? ;-)
[Larian] Ahum - done
[Lynn] done​

​

Legends say that wolkodlaks are evil magicians who turn into the animals and hunt for the lost people in the forests. Don't even listen to these fairytales! It is obvious that the human cannot turn into such animal - it conflicts any considerable laws. So, wolkodlaks are people who were turned into the wolf-like creatures as a punishment, probably by the evil magicians. Exactly this point of view seems to be rigorous. The modern science has already gave up the version of self-turning into wolkodlaks as nonsense, but the news from Velgrad are trying to refuse the academic point of view. The rumors say about one Elder who turns into wolkodlak at nights, but has quite becoming style of life. That means that even being the creature, this Elder does not violate the limits of good behavior. But, however, it is really not good thing to meet wolkodlak at the road. Big creature, of 2.5 meters high, with awful claws and fangs, the wolkodlak could even tear the ox to pieces.​

For those who haven't heard of the franchise, imagine Elite, Privateer, or more recently, Freelancer. Now imagine those types of games with six major story arcs and factions to join. Imagine them with capital ships like destroyers and carriers you can purchase and use to troll around space. Imagine them using sharp, well animated 2D graphics. Imagine them with reputation tracking for each faction in the game. Imagine them with tracking pilot abilities and using that as the basis for gathering missions. Imagine dozens and dozens of outfit options for your ships, including marines to help you board ships, better scanners, engine improvements, the ability to add outfit or cargo space by converting one to the other, and much more. Sound good? Well, it is.​