Preview Underworld Ascendant Dev Diary #2, Teaser Trailer and Previews

[Infinitron]

Tags: Joe Fielder; OtherSide Entertainment; Paul Neurath; Tim Stellmach; Underworld Ascendant; Will Teixeira

OtherSide Entertainment have published the next episode in their series of Underworld Ascendant dev diary videos. If the first video was about the game's basic design principles then this one goes into detail about the specifics of their implementation. The video features all the emergent gameplay tricks we've heard about, but it's cool to see them in action in what appears to be OtherSide's latest internal build, which is starting to look decent. They've also released an updated teaser trailer featuring some of the same new snippets of gameplay footage.

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Simultaneously with this release, a number of websites have published their previews of Ascendant from PAX East. Among these are Game Informer, GameSpace, and Gamereactor who did an interview with Paul Neurath. But the highlight here is the release of a ten minute preview of the game's tutorial level - the homage to Ultima Underworld's first level mentioned in last month's development update.

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Still a bit janky, but it's hard to go wrong with that Thief-inspired gameplay and ambience. Hopefully it won't be long before we get our hands on this build too.

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

Thanks, this looks pretty cool. I don't think they'll give us this build to play though. It would be cool if they did, but I'm not expecting much.

 

[Infinitron]

Thanks, this looks pretty cool. I don't think they'll give us this build to play though. It would be cool if they did, but I'm not expecting much.

They have to. It sounds weird given how long the game has been in development but there's still an alpha and beta release to go.

 

[karnak]

The "saturday cartoon" graphics still annoy me. Yet I gotta admit that the creature designs for Ultima Underworld were also a bit silly as well.

And what a gorgeous game it was!

 

[Infinitron]

Added new stuff to the OP.

 

[Blaine]

Press [CTRL] to tread lightly

 

[duchU]

Recommended GPU: GTX 1080... Hmm...

 

[MuscleSpark]

Recommended GPU: GTX 1080... Hmm...

Well it is Unity.
Plus, consider all the numerous and different systems (that we haven't had for the past 10+ years or anything) being simulated like... physics and uh... point lighting?

 

[duchU]

Recommended GPU: GTX 1080... Hmm...

Well it is Unity.
Plus, consider all the numerous and different systems (that we haven't had for the past 10+ years or anything) being simulated like... physics and uh... point lighting?

Hope it's for 2K+ resolution and not like 1080p...

 

[cherry blossom]

Looks a bit meh, to be honest. Systems don't make gameplay without good level and encounter design. Perhaps I have been spoiled by Thief and Arx Fatalis. And the AI looks braindead too. Still hoping for good things out of it.

 

[---]

Better than I expected, I must admit. Anyway, I'm still not sold.
I like the cartoonish graphics, though: it's a cheap way to hide the technical limitations, but it's a nice touch.

The deusex-esque belt is absolutely welcome

 

[Junmarko]

Recommended GPU: GTX 1080... Hmm...

Well it is Unity.
Plus, consider all the numerous and different systems (that we haven't had for the past 10+ years or anything) being simulated like... physics and uh... point lighting?

Yeah, most devs jumped their development specs to the 1080ti last year in light of what Unity 2018 had to come - just safer to list Recommended specs as accurate, if you plan to utilise any of this:

 

[Bumvelcrow]

I like the cartoonish graphics, though: it's a cheap way to hide the technical limitations, but it's a nice touch.

I'm all for stylised graphics to hide technical or financial limitations (Paper Sorcerer and the Pixel Art bandwagon, for example), but this just looks cheap. As though everything is made out of Default Texture #1 "Shiny Mud". Still, it's looking better than it used to, and if it plays well I can forgive most graphical sins.

 

[Big Wrangle]

I love how Mr. Tutorial Ghost in that alpha gameplay says you must experiment and "I WILL NOT HOLD YOUR HAND" then later gives you some of the most obvious hints with that door.

 

[Big Wrangle]

The way chests open up is... interesting to say the least.

 

[Junmarko]

I love how Mr. Tutorial Ghost in that alpha gameplay says you must experiment and "I WILL NOT HOLD YOUR HAND" then later gives you some of the most obvious hints with that door.

Someone at Otherside needs to tell Russell to lose the "generic aristocrat" voice he uses here (he does it everywhere else) - he needs to channel Garrett again, it's time. Lol.

 

[Big Wrangle]

I can see what they're going for, since he's the spirit of a dead king (I think?) and all, but his delivery doesn't channel any wisdom, which I assume is the intention. Doesn't help that the script he's given seems to be tryhard profound as well.

 

[Junmarko]

I can see what they're going for, since he's the spirit of a dead king (I think?) and all, but his delivery doesn't channel any wisdom, which I assume is the intention. Doesn't help that the script he's given seems to be tryhard profound as well.

Yeah, all voice actors have their auto-pilot. For smaller projects though, gotta give them a character they do best

 

[RatTower]

I can see what they're going for, since he's the spirit of a dead king (I think?)...

I think it was established he actually is Cabirus from Ultima Underworld 1.
Not sure though.

 

[Ash]

The way chests open up is... interesting to say the least.

It looks like a physics glitch as a result of the chest lid attempting to fully extend, can't because it hits the wall, and so the bottom section of the chest takes the path of least resistance to compensate. Between that and the arrows in the chest glitching through it....why would they promo this?

Taken alone they're minor, but together and as a promo piece...just why would they? Did they post it to playfully share these issues, or did they genuinely not give a shit? Yes it's "Alpha" (Really? Still?) but you're supposed to autistically edit everything to make sure the presentation is perfect before you show it to the public. I guess they never hit their milestone of getting a promo build fully, truly ready.

 

[Big Wrangle]

I think this has been a running thing with this game's marketing. The unpolished bits just keep creeping in there somehow. Which I guess can be seen as being honest, but there aren't like raw uncut gameplay.

 

[Ash]

Also that giant object highlight text is obnoxious as fuck. I am going to optimistically assume it is scaled up specifically for the promo build, so onlookers in the audience get the full picture.

 

[Ash]

Also, I notice a third issue with that chest: the player accidentally closes it again when attempting to frob the arrow, and if left as-is this will be a very common problem. Obvious fix would be to only highlight chests when the lid is hovered over, not the base container. Perhaps make the highlight aura still cover the base though for presentation purposes.

Meh, they're not stupid and I think they can come to such a solution themselves, but the fact these things are present, and how long development is taking, and that they don't care all that much about the public's perception of the game, it doesn't reflect well on the project as a whole.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=1943.msg26524#msg26524

Just to note? Everything shown in the video is still work-in-progress as we're still wrapping up adding features to the game, then are moving into a period of dedicated polish and refinement. (That's when elements like user interface, narrative presentation, frame rate optimization, and bug fixes get our full attention.)

It's true we tend to show more work-in-progress elements than other teams, as we said early on that we'd give a deeper look into the making of the game. Hopefully, that means you've been able to see steady progress each time we've shared new footage or builds. (Another reason? Sometimes some of the polish necessary for public presentation can end up being throwaway work, which we've attempted to studiously avoid.) Whether that's the best course is understandably debatable, though. I think I've gathered from folks here on the forums that fans would rather see more frequent work-in-progress elements than less frequent, fully completed work, but I'd love to hear people's thoughts.

 

[Invictus]

Look surprisingly good, I am itching for a good dungeon crawl and that emergent gameplay looks interesting to say the least although the dungeon itself looks a bit too generic still