Diggfinger
Arcane
Is Expedition more combat oriented or more story or C&C oriented? The best quests in Underrail involved competing perspectives, a "slow-burn" pace with the investigations and bits of information. Sadly, there weren't many of those. Will we be getting such?
Lore in Underrail is very rich and to me very believable, with lots of myth and mystery surrounding events and entities. I have always wondered about the inspiration for these and what, if any, the real-life parallels were. Can you share anything, both from Underrail and Expedition?
Will Jetskis spill over into the base game as well?
How does Underrail in its first released form (post-Early Access) as well as its final form with the upcoming Expedition compare to your original vision back when you first started working on Timelapse Vertigo? Were there things you wanted to but didn't or couldn't do for whatever reason? Does Expedition contain anything that you planned, designed or intended early on but eventually left out of Underrail?
For instance, you started on Timelapse Vertigo as a RTwP before switching to TB based on feedback. How do you feel about that now when you look back?
What was the idea behind the original name "Timelapse Vertigo"? It has always made me think of a rather different vision than the game at release, especially looking back after having played it. Perhaps one with more Biocorp, Faceless, Oculus, "Godmen" and quantum mysteries stuff than Tchort and endless caves?
At what point did Tchort come into the picture? Was it a later addition or something you had in mind from early on? What were the influences for it (well, besides Lovecraft, perhaps)?
There is a very varied and sometimes unusual lingo between the different groups in the game. How did you come up with these, what influence did Serbian (or any other language) did have on this? With examples where applicable please! The naming conventions within the Institute of Tchort in particular were so original and captivating to me and I couldn't help think of religious influences, probably in a negative way. Is that correct?
Can you talk a little bit about Kokoschka of Free Drones, as well as this West Underrail he speaks of? He sounded like a typically traditional Balkan guy to me, and therefore like breakig the 4th wall, though that might also be my bias. There is a definite reflection of Balkan cultures in some parts of the game, and I have always wondered about how this relates to you personally? Will we get more of that influence in Expedition? I can't help but expect, what with the name of choice, "Black Sea".
Would appreciate if all questions could be answered <3
See question 10
Styg talks more about how his environment influenced the game here on Matt Chat
Furher questions:
Not necessarily future plans but more like entertaining thoughts: Where does the idea of Underrail go next in your mind, beyond the second add-on after Expedition? Not concrete plans but what you feel like doing or simply imagine. Continuing the story? Another single character experience? A more tactics oriented party experience? More/less story/branching? Exploring different game mechanics or styles altogether? Bigger/better graphics? Anything.
Based on your previous posts, you seem to detest the idea of making modding in Underrail possible, beyond the amount of work it would entail to polish, document and release the tools, like you don't want to enable any authorship over the game to others as if to protect it from "outside taint". Would that be a correct assessment? I guess I am asking because the game is truly asking to be modded, with new environments, NPCs, quests and writing. How does the idea of others breathing new life into your baby sound to you? How do you look at the popularity (and longevity) of modding in other games? Is it something you would ideally do at any point, time and resources permitting?
Also not future plans: do you have any other game concepts in your mind that you are evaluating or think of maybe doing at some point?
Just a side note: a FO:T or Dungeon Rats type of 3-6 character tactics game would be an amazing choice, a lot of people would agree I'm sure. Such a game would also lend itself very well to modding :wink:
Styg clearly said he wont talk about future plans.
Final question: We need a proper money-sink in the game economy: hirable mercenaries. Hire them and send them to their death while you enjoy your popcorn from afar. The ultimate pacifist playthrough. Will you do it?
You can keep one or two with you as bodyguards to most places (morr expensive) or tell them to meet you in a specific place at a specific entry point for your next visit.
Mercs that you hire and survive long enough around you level up and increase your reputation with the mercs, making you a reliable contractor, keep hiring rates stable and unlock better mercs. Frequent loss of mercs, however, drop your rep and inflate the rates for future hires.
Yeah ok, wasn't serious, the scope and the style of the game would likely be a whole other level with too many design considerations, but it would be so cool.
Check out Stygs Matt Chat interview. He clearly doesn't like squad-based games that much so doubt he will be making one.