Codex Preview - posted by Saint_Proverbius on Sat 5 April 2003, 17:06:16
Tags: Burut Creative Team; Golden LandSupernova - powerful magic energy of light causes great damage to your enemy.
Nothing like baking nasty critters in town!
Codex Interview - posted by Saint_Proverbius on Wed 2 April 2003, 20:48:19
Tags: Geneforge 2; Jeff Vogel; Spiderweb Software6.) A big part of advancement in the first Geneforge revolved around barred technology, like canisters. Can we expect canisters to make a return in the second one even though they're barred?
Jeff Vogel: Unfortunately, the magical technology that was forbidden will have an irresistible pull for a lot of people. The skill canisters from Geneforge will pop up occasionally. Some Shapers are secretly working very hard to make more of them.
Unlike in Geneforge, however, you won't get most of your skills from canisters. Now there are actual Shapers around to train you.
Interesting that there are canisters being created by Shapers.. Sounds like a conspiracy!
Codex Interview - posted by Ausir on Thu 27 March 2003, 00:19:43
Tags: Mirage Interactive; Weird Wars: The Unknown Episode of World War II10.) What other changes in the game can we expect?
The biggest change is in the advancement of the joinable NPCs - in AW the player's influence on their advancement was very limited - they couldn't use new weapon classes, and the Armor Class was artificially increased, because they couldn't change their clothes. Now we have introduced an entirely new NPC advancement system, limited only in using the special abilities (we need to work more on AI to add it) - we hope we'll be able to add this element.
Additionally, new weapon classes and special abilities will appear.
(This is where Ausir forgot to add teh funneh)
Golden Land - School of Shadows
Codex Preview - posted by Saint_Proverbius on Sat 22 March 2003, 05:43:42
Tags: Burut Creative Team; Golden LandHypnosis - This shadow spell tricks your enemy, and he doesn't consider you the enemy for some time.
You will comment on this.. You will comment on this..
Spells of Gold Character Development
Codex Preview - posted by Mistress on Wed 19 March 2003, 03:56:00
Tags: Buka Entertainment; Spells of GoldThere are 0 comments on Spells of Gold Character Development
Prelude to Darkness recruitable party members
Information - posted by Saint_Proverbius on Mon 10 March 2003, 20:59:25
Tags: CP McBee; Prelude to Darkness; Zero SumTauna

Location: Random
Race: Mixed
Sex: Female
Background: As a pilgrim fervently devoted to the Goddess, Tauna spends her days wandering the Valley searching for the path to the heroic destiny that she is convinced her mistress has carved out for her.
Attributes:
Strength: 14
Dexterity: 14
Charisma: 8
Intelligence: 15
Willpower: 17
Endurance: 13
Speed: 12
Skills:
Polearm: 12
Music: 4
Nature: 11
Gifts of Goddess: 14
Thanks to CP McGee for compiling this and writing the brief bios of the party members.
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Codex Interview - posted by Saint_Proverbius on Sun 9 March 2003, 19:03:37
Tags: Aaron Hall; Malfador Machinations; Space Empires: Starfury9.) Can you shed a little light on the skills in the game? Will there be skills that affect things other than the ship piloting, such as trade skills or diplomacy? How do the piloting skills work?
Skills mainly cover piloting, combat, repair, and haggling. Diplomacy skills don't really come into it as the player is the one interacting. We didn't want to limit this interaction. As you increase experience, you will have points to spend on different skills. You can improve your crew targeting ability, repair ability of the ship and its systems, negotiation of prices with traders, etc.
Yes! A Haggling skill! I smell riches in my future!
Golden Land - School of Nature Magic
Codex Preview - posted by Saint_Proverbius on Sat 8 March 2003, 18:44:50
Tags: Burut Creative Team; Golden LandThe School of Nature has not gained its followers at once. As Grodval thought, those spells were to be used by the village sorcerers and good magicians. But, the last ones appeared to be very conservative in everything that was close to the Secret Knowledge and for a long time preferred their old potions and medicaments to the powerful magic of Makosh. With time, many healing and defense skills were evaluated by the priests of the Great Heroes temple, and, bit by bit, this school became as popular as other schools of the Pact.
I bet it sold on the word, Nature alone!
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Codex Interview - posted by Saint_Proverbius on Thu 6 March 2003, 19:01:27
Tags: Anino Entertainment; Anito: Defend a Land Enraged4.) How is character creation handled? What types of options are given to the player upon creation?
Character creation in Anito is fairly simple - you simply allocate 7 available statistical points between the four primary attributes (strength, agility, health, energy). This will affect the player's statistics (increasing strength will increase damage, for example), and therefore the way he/she approaches the game. Choosing between the male and female characters in Anito will have a very big effect, unlike in other games where this is mostly a cosmetic decision - the male and female characters have different storylines, different interaction with the people they meet in Maroka, and will have different quests. In a way, you are getting two complete games in one package - Maya's story, and Agila's story.
It's easier than falling off a log!
Codex Review - posted by Saint_Proverbius on Sat 1 March 2003, 00:48:40
Tags: Harbinger; Silverback EntertainmentOn top of that, leveling up doesn't feel important at all. You get three points to use on your four attributes/skills, and that often doesn't seem to do much in terms of extending your power. In many cases, especially with Human and Gladiator classes, you'll just be deciding on which of the two useful skills you want to place those three points in, since you really can do without the class specific skills in those as well. What's worse is that even at low levels, you can find items which augment you better than a level gain! If you find an item that gives a +4 to a skill, you've already boosted yourself beyond the capacity of that level bonus. This starts popping up around Level 5, no less.
Yes, it's true. I didn't like it.
History of Magic in Golden Land
Codex Preview - posted by Saint_Proverbius on Wed 19 February 2003, 22:15:22
Tags: Burut Creative Team; Golden LandThe Secret Knowledge of the universe laws and ability to use them in everyday life is what Magic consists of. The ancient tribe sorcerers were the first who studied and knew the hidden secrets of nature. They tried to help their tribe to survive - and came to the knowledge of Gods' existence. The time passed, and then appeared some people, who called themselves mediators between people and Gods - priests. And even at that time they used Secret Knowledge not only to solve some everyday problems of their tribes, but to show their power - and the power of their Gods.
Big clap to Sergey Buravtsov and Dmitry Glaznev for taking the time to write this!
Temple of Elemental Evil developer chat log
Interview - posted by Deathy on Wed 12 February 2003, 03:34:01
Tags: Temple of Elemental Evil; Troika Games[Deathy] [Briosafreak] How are the vignettes going to be implemented?can you tell us more about them?
[[Troika]Steve] Maybe, and Tim can, maybe.
[TimCain] Each vignette establishes the reason for your party to be in Hommlet.
[TimCain] Therefore, each one gives a quest, your starting quest, which may be easy or hard to finish. We like variety.
[TimCain] Anything else would spoil the fun, I think.
[[Troika]Steve] NEXT

Thanks to Troika people who participated in the chat.
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Codex Interview - posted by Saint_Proverbius on Thu 30 January 2003, 18:02:01
Tags: Burut Creative Team; Golden Land5.) Is the player free to go to the locations whenever he wants to go there, like in Fallout or Morrowind? Or do you have to complete one location before you move to the next, like Planescape Torment? Is there a world map?
Evgeny Bratkov: The greater part of the world, including towns, villages and other well-known territories will be always accessible to the player. Only locations assigned to certain events connected with the storyline or non-linear quests will appear as required. The character will move between distant objects with the help of global map. At the same time he will meet both enemies and peaceful characters, whom he will be able to talk to, to trade or to gain a new quest.
Got to love those open ended worlds!
Space Empires: Starfury interview with Aaron Hall
Codex Interview - posted by Deathy on Wed 29 January 2003, 02:32:11
Tags: Aaron Hall; Malfador Machinations; Space Empires: Starfury3) Character development is an integral part of an RPG. How will this be handled in Space Empires: Starfury? Will there be a crew experience system in addition to the ability to customize your ship?
There are actually 3 levels to the RPG experience in Starfury. First off, there is you as a captain of the ship. You will be able to gain experience and increase in rank. Secondly, there is your crew's experience which will increase and allow you to customize their skills in different areas such as Offensive Targeting, Defensive Maneuvers, Ship Repair, etc. Lastly, your ship will be completely customizable through components that you find or purchase. The components themselves have a large variety of characteristics since they can have random modifiers as well.
Thanks to Aaron Hall of Malfador Machinations for the interview.
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Codex Interview - posted by Mistress on Mon 27 January 2003, 19:26:09
Tags: Buka Entertainment; Paradise Cracked3. Can you give us some information on the concept and setting of Paradise Cracked? What inspirations and influences lie behind them? What do you feel sets the game apart from the crowd? What elements of the setting really stand out?
?Paradise Cracked? is basically a tactical game. Some of its elements will remind you of X-COM. Most of the gameplay is turn-based tactical combats. But apart from this, there are NPCs, who give you information and quests; there are playable characters, each with a set of parameters ( strength, intellect, dexterity, etc.), which can be improved in the flow of the game by gaining experience and getting new levels; there is a huge game-world to wander about. And that is why we call it ?tactical RPG?.
One of the strongest points of Paradise Cracked is its soundtrack. In Russia the game was awarded a medal for ?the best soundtrack of the year? As for the music, it is dynamic, that is, as the situation around the player?s party changes, a new theme starts playing. Each level of the city has a different set of themes. Thus in Low Town we have dark guitar passages and industrial, and in Sky Town we have smooth and soft ambient, which turns into electronic break beat, when the player?s party starts a combat. Totally, there is over an hour of music, and over two hours of sound. And, of course, sound adds a lot to the whole atmosphere, which the game creates.
Thanks to Vitaly Shutov ? President of MiST land and Game Designer for Paradise Cracked, and Olesia Tokarenko - PR manager of MiST land.
Lionheart Interview with Ion Hardie
Codex Interview - posted by Mistress on Sat 25 January 2003, 18:22:38
Tags: Ion Hardie; Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader; Reflexive Entertainment4. Combat in Lionheart is real time with pause. What influenced the decision to adopt this system rather than the turnbased combat of Fallout? What was the reasoning behind this move?
Ion Hardie: Feargus Urquhart from Black Isle had done a lot of early concept work in how the system could be modified to take into account the transition to real time and the inclusion of magic. He had been interested in trying it out, and we at Reflexive had plenty of experience working in real time. We were interested in trying out something new and the switch to real time, as well as the inclusion of magic, seemed like great ways to do that.
Codex Interview - posted by Saint_Proverbius on Fri 24 January 2003, 01:46:23
Tags: Jan Beuck; Master Creating; Restricted Area2.) Can you tell us a little bit about why you picked a Sci-Fi setting? What type of Sci-Fi are we going to be seeing in this game?
The scenario can be described as dark future, comparable to movies like "Bladerunner" and "Matrix". We choose this, because their have been so many fantasy games in the past that it has become boring to play always the same characters and kill always the same monsters for always the same treasures
We want something new. We are also fans of the dark future pen-and-paper RPGs "Shadowrun" and "Cyberpunk", and they have great influence on Restricted Area.
Mmm.. Dark future!
Spells of Gold Interview with Jonquil Software
Codex Interview - posted by Mistress on Sat 18 January 2003, 01:16:09
Tags: Jonquil Software; Spells of Gold6. Quests obviously play a part in the game. How much variety will there be in terms of their nature and goals? Are there many optional quests? How do these tie in with the main, plot focused elements of the game?
In the game the Hero will have to accomplish a definite number of storyline quests. Each plotline suggests performing its particular tasks different from those of another ones. So to fulfill a task the Hero will have to pay money, to fight, to look for certain items, to buy magic potions, to look for some people and do other things. There are optional quests in the game (we speak about storyline quests not random tasks (see further)) but they are not many.
Now let's talk about non-storyline quests or missions. They are great many in the game. It is possible to get a task almost in every building. After accomplishing it the Hero is sure to be awarded with something either money or experience and maybe some karma points (white or dark) and besides, he will improve the NPC's attitude towards him himself. So the Hero gains a favorable attitude of a god by performing missions in the temple of that god. The missions offered depend on the Hero's experience and the NPC's attitude to him.
Enjoy! Thanks to Jonquil Software for taking the time to answer the questions!
There are 10 comments on Spells of Gold Interview with Jonquil Software
Interview - posted by Deathy on Thu 16 January 2003, 03:19:56
Tags: Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader; Reflexive Entertainment[Deathy] [Pracht] Will there be anything similar to the Pip Boy featured in the Fallout series that will be included in this game?
[EricD_Reflexive] I'll take this one.
[EricD_Reflexive] We thought about doing something along those lines, but alas time was a restriction on that.
[EricD_Reflexive] So, no, we don't have images for all the traits and perks in a pipboy style.
[EricD_Reflexive] next question
That's a bummer.
Jaakko Peltonen interview - Falcon's Eye, U4: Dawn of Virtue
Codex Interview - posted by Saint_Proverbius on Tue 14 January 2003, 20:23:28
Tags: Nethack: Falcon's Eye6.) Have you considering making a major variant to the NetHack rules? Or perhaps another rogue-like? Even making an entirely new one?
Jaakko Peltonen: Sometimes, but I think I'd partly be reinventing the wheel. The NetHack rules have evolved over many versions; there'd need to be a really good idea or reason to drastically change them.
Thanks for the time, Jaakko!
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