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Dev Log #65: Codename Infusion

Styg

Stygian Software
Developer
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Messages
742
Location
Serbia
Hi guys,

Back in October I mentioned that we started working on a new standalone Underrail campaign. This is still true, but we've also decided that we're going to give the engine a major upgrade which will help us create a much better game, both visually and mechanically. The thing is - there are certain design and technical decisions that were made early during the development of Underrail that are very limiting to us now, but are not easy to change just due to the amount of content that would have to be redone. So instead of taking a hammer to our beloved game, we're going to improve upon all these things (that we yearned to do for years) in a fresh stand-alone game that will still be based on the same engine core and gameplay mechanics. We call this game Underrail: Infusion.

I'm not going to list all the things that we intend to change/improve upon in Infusion, but I will say that they include both the visuals, as well as mechanics and world design. I'm going to try to post more frequent dev logs, as I did back in Underrail's alpha days, as to keep you guys in the loop. All that you see in these early days you should consider to be work-in-progress. I don't expect we're going to enter full production any time soon - not this year, for sure, as for now we're just focusing on improving the engine, the toolset and optimizing the content pipelines.

First thing I want to show you are the new environment graphics. Keep in mind that Infusion will be taking place in a completely different part of Underrail, so this is not a rework of any existing tile set, but a new one.

Environment1.png


I've done a lot of work on the rendering engine and the way the assets are organized and rendered which allows Mac to more easily produce and organize a bunch of different variations of the same object, and also to easily animate them or give them other visual properties and behaviors without having to go into the gameplay code. Inversely, gameplay stuff can now be easily implemented before the assets themselves are made as they are only loosely coupled. This is going to greatly improve our efficiency when churning out new content. Technically, we're sticking with the same tile size (96x48) but we're going to make the tile relatively smaller in regards to objects, that is, everything is going to get bigger, which will increase the graphical fidelity. This is going to affect various combat mechanics as well, but we're discuss this at a later date.

That's it for now. We have more exciting stuff that we've been working on in the meantime as well, but it's not quite ready to be shown still. Let us know how you guys like the new visuals.

Also, in a few months you can expect the new content update for Underrail. This one is probably going to be released on experimental branch first and will stay there for a while, just due to the nature of the gameplay changes I've made. I'm sure you'll all be very happy with the changes, but just in case you might want to experience psionic characters in their current form before that happens.

Cheers.
 

Styg

Stygian Software
Developer
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Messages
742
Location
Serbia
Underrail started in junk and earthquake destroyed world, with player eventually reaching properly functioning areas. Expedition started as waterworld with player eventually reaching super high tech and demons.

Based on provided screenshots, is it going to be more high tech oriented?
Yeah, we got a bit tired with all the primitive stuff in Expedition. We're going to go with high tech and industrial themes in this one for the most part.
 

Black Angel

Arcane
Joined
Jun 23, 2016
Messages
2,910
Location
Wonderland
As Trash Player pointed out in the thread for the news section, is 'Infusion' means it's gonna have something to do with the Faceless? In fact, let's take it even further....
Underrail started in junk and earthquake destroyed world, with player eventually reaching properly functioning areas. Expedition started as waterworld with player eventually reaching super high tech and demons.

Based on provided screenshots, is it going to be more high tech oriented?
Yeah, we got a bit tired with all the primitive stuff in Expedition. We're going to go with high tech and industrial themes in this one for the most part.
Cybernetics? Implants?? Drones??? Or, uh.... whatever those juicy stuff Seeger talked about (been a loooong while since I've played Expedition)????
:bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce:
 

ADL

Prophet
Joined
Oct 23, 2017
Messages
3,682
Location
Nantucket
Not that I'm complaining but I'm curious, how much longer do you guys plan on releasing additional content for Underrail? Think this will be the last thing you build on top of it before doing a sequel or another original IP?
 

Styg

Stygian Software
Developer
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Messages
742
Location
Serbia
Not that I'm complaining but I'm curious, how much longer do you guys plan on releasing additional content for Underrail? Think this will be the last thing you build on top of it before doing a sequel or another original IP?
This is more than just additional content. Due to the extent of the changes we're making it might feel more like a new game, that's why we often refer to it as Underrail 1.5. We might do more content in this upgraded engine after that depending on how much we enjoy it and how successful it is; we certainly have plenty of ideas.
At some point I'd like to sit down and write a new engine from scratch, though, but that's far off. We're taking it one step at the time.
 

Sheepherder

Augur
Joined
Feb 4, 2014
Messages
657
Also, in a few months you can expect the new content update for Underrail. This one is probably going to be released on experimental branch first and will stay there for a while, just due to the nature of the gameplay changes I've made. I'm sure you'll all be very happy with the changes, but just in case you might want to experience psionic characters in their current form before that happens.

Any chance you can share a small teaser on the upcoming psi nerfs?
 

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