Game News It's Ask A Dev Week on the Wasteland 2 Forums

[Infinitron]

Tags: InXile Entertainment; Wasteland 2

Some people have been concerned about the relatively small amount of information that has been released about Wasteland 2 since the game was funded, especially as compared with Project Eternity. If you're one of those people, then you may be happy to know that this week is "Ask A Dev Week" on the Wasteland 2 forums.

Here is Brother None's explanation from last week:

The Ask A Dev forum is a one-week community event to enable you all to ask some of those questions that have been piling up over the past few months. Props to CaptainPatch for first suggesting the idea.​

The idea is simple: you post any Wasteland 2 related question as a new thread. Admins/moderators then lock it, inXile will keep reading these forums, picking questions, answering them and then unlocking the thread, opening them up for debate and possibly follow-up questions. Please don't reply to threads before an inXile dev can, we'll just have to delete those posts. The forums will be locked to new threads on Friday the 21st.​

It is very unlikely inXile can answer all or even most questions, they're picking a handful each day to answer. The next few days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) we'll accumulate questions on this forum, inXile will start answering on Monday and is not likely to answer any before, so don't get impatient during the weekend, it's their time off.​

The Ask A Dev forum is here. Many of the questions posted over the weekend have already been answered, and it's not too late to ask more!

 

[Infinitron]

And yes, I did fuck up by not posting about this last week. But hey, do I have to do everything around here?

Anyway, feel free to post any interesting replies you find in this thread. Maybe I'll even make a compilation of them in this post.

---------------------------------------------------------------

On inventory: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3012

Grid

Icon + Text

I'll say "Tetris" since some items can take up multiple squares. However inventory is weight limited but not space limited, so there shouldn't be any of the pain that goes with Tetris style systems.

The latest designs I've seen have a separate window right now but I'm still trying to talk Chris & Design into hovers or at least the option of having hovers instead.

Per character inventory.

Hardpoints, as in a spot for your equipped weapon and armor, etc? Yes.

Quick items, yes.

Weight limited but not space limited.

In a nutshell, functionally like Neverwinter Nights 1 but there's no space limitations.

On water: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3053

Water is consumed while traveling across the world map and water management while traveling is an important part of the game. There's no button to press, your party drinks water from their canteens automatically while traveling. When you're out of water your party will start taking damage from dehydration.

There is no food or other required consumables in the game and your characters won't get sleepy but you will need rest to heal.

Wait, why not?

We wanted to add an interesting exploration system to the overhead map but didn't want to turn the game into a survival simulator. There is a point where it can be too much maintenance. This is where we drew our line for the game.

On voiced dialogue: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3010

Most of the dialog in Wasteland 2 is text based. There are very few actual voiced roles in the game. This was something we decided early on for a few reasons.

1. We missed the emphasis on awesome descriptive text from older games. They had to do it out of technical necessity, but as an industry, we've pushed towards more graphical means to show off the world. Wasteland 1 had tons of text that gave you great details on the environment...even more than would be feasible to show with art.

2. During the Kickstarter campaign, we asked our community what they would like to see as stretch goals. Overwhelmingly the answer came back with bigger world, more content and deeper story. VO was very low on the list

3. Part of what's allowing us to continue to create deep interactions is not having to worry about VO. Costs aside, it is a production nightmare to do proper VO work. There are so many variables that tie into it. You have to lock down the script quite a bit before release. This really limits the changes you can make at the end of the game when you're tuning all systems.

4. With a game this large, the total cost for VO work on all characters would likely exceed the entire budget we got from our Kickstarter campaign.

On stat checks: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3048

Stats will definitely affect what things you can say and, more importantly, how effective you are at saying them. While we're still fleshing out the specific dialog options and responses for each NPC, we've been very focused on including this kind of reactivity. A character with a well-developed ability to intimidate is going to be able to squeeze some NPCs for extra info, while a charmer might elicit totally different details or even change the nature of an offered quest.

Beyond that, your character's other, non-dialog-focused skills may change NPC responses. Asking about a piece of hardware with a higher technical skill is likely to get you extra info.

As for whose value is checked, you'll basically have control over that. Whichever character is selected is considered to be the one talking. This will default to the first character in your party, but you can change it.

On dungeons: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3059

Will there be some type of dungeon-like experience in Wasteland 2? Traveling through extensive subway tunnels/sewers/mines for example. And will it be common or just a few opportunities? Multiple levels or shorter in length?

Yes. It will not be the majority. But not so rare either. We do have subterranean areas, and they are some of my favorites to build out so far. But also, our approach to the interiors of many facilities will take on this sort of look and feel, given that most interiors are not necessarily with power and artificial light. Have you ever been inside a large building when the power goes out? It's the closest thing I have ever experience to a dungeon, and probably the closest I want to get

On fog of war: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3044

Although we are still tweaking and testing different options, as of now we are leaning with the Red Alert style. Your visibility is completely obscured until you adventure through the area. Anything you've seen, but is currently outside your parties visibility, will become slightly "grayed" out and you wont be able to see NPC or enemy movement in those areas.

Hmmm... lets see how it will look.

IMO "friendly" settlements and such could use an omniscient map.
I never liked to walk around a settlement in a game till there were no black corners left(you never know if you miss something otherwise... and it looks horrible ^^ ).

I completely agree. We are trying a few different ways to make it look less classic fog of war, and get something a little more organic and visually pleasing. Looking at a big black screen is never interesting.

Or maybe for hostile places (or not), you could find or trade for maps that would not only point the general location on the overworld map, but "light" the area which would have been otherwise blackened?

That is a great idea. That could really add a sense of preparation before you go trekking off to some location. I love in games when you have to fish for locations and information

On robots: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3031

Given the events of the original game, being able to hire a robot, and the story in the Wasteland hint book going as far to have actual robot as a Ranger, is this an option that you would consider during character generation, or are you going with a strictly human party?

Cool idea but we took the story a slightly different way. You won't be able to choose a synth when you are creating your characters, but there very well might be an opportunity to have a synth in your party during the journey.

More: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3032

Will we be able to use a skill to actively control(even as a unit?) robots / drones etc. ?

Ummmm....yes. Cyborg tech might play into that. Controlling robots or synths is pretty awesome. The original Wasteland had some of the most awesome (some awesomely cheesy) looking robots. We had to transition some of them into 3d models.

On NPCs: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2998

CNPC's play a pretty big role in the game. Some more than others. We have reactivity built in to the game based on the CNPCs you have in your party so some will trigger specific quests or impact conversations in a positive or negative way.

Ahh, the annoying CNPC... The CNPCs in the game will have their own personality. In the example below with the klepto, yes they might steal things from you along the way. They might not want to give it back to.

We are balancing this in a few ways. First is player choice. You are not required to take any of the CNPCs with you. They are optional. Many of them will have different attribute and skill layouts, which should add some strategy to who you choose to bring along the way. You're capped at 7 total slots so you will be forced to make decisions on leaving some behind. If the CNPC keeps stealing from you, it's your choice how to handle it. You can disband them and leave them to venture alone, you can kill them and take your items back or maybe you decide to deal with it because they are a complete dead eye with the sniper rifle. Also, the leadership skill ties into this. If you're a player who thinks the idea of an CNPC having their own personality sounds like it will ruin your experience, you can put more points into the Leadership skill, reducing the amount of times they will go rogue on you.

More: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3091

Companion NPCs will be *mostly* controlled by the player. They do have their own personality traits and will sometimes give resistance if you want them to do things they're not comfortable with. They also tend to be an opinionated bunch. The leadership skill allows you to control them better though and grows over time.

More: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3075

Hi Inxile,

I figure we will get a heckload of differentiated companions.

Will we get a wide range of humans(elders, middle-aged, kids), synths, animals, mutated lunatics, robots etc.?

Absolutely. There is a pretty eclectic mix of CNPCs.

Please tell me someone else out there wants to get a cat companion with his own suit of cat armor? He wouldn't fight but just be a surly post-apoc tag-a-long. I get laughed at when I bring that up. Probably rightfully so.

On the development schedule: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3005

Each one of those will have a different drop dead date. Design will be the furthest out, since it requires so much integration with other features. Our development plan was to break up the 18 month cycle into 3 parts of 6 months each. We wanted to have all level design done by the end of October, which we were pretty close on. The next 6 months is pure production where we implement the level design and any other gameplay systems. After that, we will spend 6 months in pure polish and iteration. The writing is relatively easy to change as long as it's just text and not conversation flow. We only have to worry about localization there. Animation can be tweaked fairly late in production as it's usually not a major risk if it's just tuning. We wouldn't want to add new animation trees or states but will be able to polish it fairly late in a turn based game.

On map sizes: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3016

What maximum map size can we expect in Wasteland 2? Or maybe there will be one huge map, and no loading screens?

It will be a mix. No, I am not just avoiding your question.

Literally, there will be a very wide range of map sizes, and they take on different functions for game play. Yes, there will be some short load times. Trying to live stream this big world is not our goal and a technical feat we are not interested in tackling. We prefer to focus our effort on more meaningful elements of the experience, and everyone needs a chance to grab a drink or use the latrine once in a while.

On rat diplomacy: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2983

It will not be possible to play the game all the way through without some type of combat. While we wanted to make conversation a big part of the game, it wasn't our intention to have a completely peaceful playthrough in initial design meetings. Sometimes the Rangers will have to use force to solve situations. There are many areas of the game that you can solve non-violently though, whether this is through conversation, skill usage or puzzle solving.

From the writer side, we've definitely expressed an interest in having it be possible to earn XP through non-violent confrontation. But I do need to warn you right now that there will be some fights, and you'll want to have someone there to back you up with muscle. Some animals (and some jerks) just won't care if you put a lot of points into your diplomatic skills.

There's a bit toward the end of the game where we sat around the writing table and said, "How can we resolve this where the player doesn't have to kill anyone?" And then we made up a neat puzzle.

Doing non-killing for much of the game is definitely going to be harder, but I think - I *think* it can be done.

On the size of the game: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3061

Ah, yes... now this is a fascinating topic of great depth with no simple answer! Let's have at it!

I'm the team leader for the scripters. It is our job to translate the design documents and volumes of written dialog into the physical form of the game. So, let me give you my impression on the task we face.

First off, there is a difference between size and depth that we should highlight. You can have a large game in size, relative to number of locations, but have a shallow game play experience. Conversely, you can have a small game with few locations, but each location be filled with great depth and dimension. The combination of these two things create the overall "size" and it's the balance of these two that game designers strive to achieve when building their world.

I believe Wasteland 2 is far deeper than most RPGs. Of actual playable zones, we are looking at around 15 major locations. The size of each location varies, and the activities you will mostly engage in vary as well (conversation/quests, exploration, combat, etc). However, the volume of conversation and location description is on a scale that is... to be honest... absolutely, insanely awesome. We had nearly a dozen writers build out an incredibly large world with numerous cause and effects that don't just change the attitudes of the people in the area, but we have whole maps adjust based on your choices.

Specifically, it is FAR larger than the original Wasteland. However, keep in mind that when you consider the size of other classic RPGs, you should also be aware of the scope of their development budgets. For example, Baldur's Gate was developed over a four year period with a budget that was around $25 million. Now, to be fair, there were many influences to this budget that we don't need to deal with, like the cost of developing the Infinity engine, but with our modest $3 million fan funded project to bring Wasteland 2 to life, it would be extremely difficult to duplicate the scale of some of these beloved RPGs... the scale... not the awesomeness, though.

However, we can leverage conversations, descriptions and scripting in the world to flesh out a far larger environment in a smaller space. We also have a system for random encounters that will create a larger world from just the core 15 zones.

So, when judging the size of the world, do keep in mind that most RPGs nowadays have budgets in line with that of small movies with teams of developers ten times our size. However, we have made very strategic choices to leverage our nimble size and lack of an oppressive publisher to create the largest world we can with the greatest depth we can deliver.

We definitely have our job cut out for us!

Its great to see that we will have long hour of gaming ahead of us.
Also about the impact of our action in otherwords the consequences of the choices we made.
Are we going to see it physically ? Or will it be only npc talking about our action ?
Do the the environement will actually change if we blow some nuke ? or are we going to only have invisible radiation and angry ghouls or whatsoever ?

Both. I don't want to give it away with examples, but you will see physical effects as well as conversational.

On leveling up: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3014

The current thought is that we are keeping the same leveling mechanic as Wasteland 1. Earn XP by doing things, then radio in to Ranger HQ to level up. It was a bit of a guessing game in the original so we might have some visual feedback to help with this.

Some party members will have more total XP than others. Since you can disband or bring other members into the party, generally the PC's that have been with you the longest will have the most XP. Also, the character that gets the killing blow will get slightly more than the others (not all XP), which is slightly different from WL1.

More: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2989

Will the player be able to improve the CLASSIC attributes as well as possibly picking perks/feats when leveling up? Also, Is leveling up slow or fast and is there a level cap?

This is a tough question. Technically, yes and no on the attributes increasing.

When players level up, they will not place points into their attributes to increase those stats. That is reserved for skills. There are a few opportunities in the game to increase attribute stats, both temporarily and permanently. Without going into too much detail on the permanent increases, the player will find locations that will allow them to increase an attribute on their Rangers.

On the speed of leveling up, that's a tough one to answer. Without a frame of reference, it's hard to put a speed on it. Also, we are very heavily a team focused on iteration, which means that we have a plan, put it into code, then tweak and iterate on it from there for what feels best. More often than not, the original paper design is modified by the end of the product. We won't get a full sense of the pacing of leveling until we have all levels at an Alpha point.

But also: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2995

Skill levels will increase as you use them. We loved that about the original and wanted to keep it.

On vehicles: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2993

There are no vehicles in the game that the player will control specifically. This was something we discussed in the early design meetings but was cut due to it not being core to the experience we were trying to convey. Depending on the mechanics for driving the vehicle, it could potentially eat up a good amount of developer resources to create, polish and balance and it didn't justify the cost for us.

On the familiarity of the dev team with the original game: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3036

As one of the Devs that did not play through the original, I can assure you, there has been a great push to familiarize us with it. With our tight schedule and small team size, we recognized early on that the time involved to play through would be too great for each and every team member to participate fully. That being said, we have had members play through the game, and painstakingly document every aspect of it. And the original is brought up constantly when we discuss various aspects in our team meetings.
As an environment artist, this played out quite well, as I have documents that call out all the description text from the original, alongside original maps, showing where those descriptions were seen. This has been a great tool for us, and allowed us to think about how some of these locations would have changed and evolved in the lapsed time between installments.

Most of the design team had either worked on the original or played it back in the late 80s. This includes the entire writing staff. Early on, we would spend lunches with the team going through the hours of Let's Play that was created, which was great to spark conversations. As well, many of us found a copy and replayed the game to make sure we were staying in line with the original. Obviously, much has changed since then but there were many core elements we loved and didn't want to lose to time.

On descriptions: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2984

will text descriptions be included (if so how)?

the areas of implementation i am curious about are:
- item flavour text (eg. slightly sarcastic explanation of what a rock is)
- environment flavour text (triggered by mouse-over/"examine" function)
- area flavour text (when entering a new area: "the place is old and dark, and reeks of bubblegum.. ")

You called it! Each of the categories you describe are included, with variations based on character skills, previous choices, and even the gender of your Rangers. There's pages and pages of text already written and we'll continue to add more to each area as we iterate on the maps.

This ties to another post on environment interactivity (http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3052), as many interactions will trigger new or altered description text.

On environmental interaction: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3052

What's the level of environmental interactivity in Wasteland 2? Can we, just to name a few, turn lights on/off, light a campfire (for cooking!), use mounted guns, explode flammable/hazard barrels?

Feel free to provide as many examples of possible interactions as you can, hehe.

Thank you for your time!

Well, yes, of course there will be elements in the environment that the player and NPCs will interact with. The level of interaction will vary, of course, depending on the nature of the situation. It may be as simple as accessing a terminal to open a door, or as complex as powering up a facility through a repair to a system.
I will be clear in saying that there will not be the often praised, though in my opinion highly predictable, cause and effect physics driven Rube Goldberg types of interactions. This is primarily a result of this not being the appropriate genre for that sort of spectacle. But honestly, those types of interactions consume more time than you can possibly imagine and distract us very much from real core mechanics.

On releasing the ruleset: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2982

We don't currently have plans to release the ruleset for PnP. Our focus during the setup and design of the main systems is for it to work in the CRPG environment first and foremost. That said, we will release the ruleset for technical and gameplay reference similar to the way strategy guides do it. We want the community to go crazy modding the game post-release and knowing the ruleset is an important part of that.

On party creation: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2986

I'll try to keep it as brief as possible: in the original Wasteland we could build a party of up to 4 individuals at character creation, but could also start with less than that, and even attempt to solo the game. On top of that, in case one of your party members died, you could go back at the Ranger HQ and create a new one to replace him/her, although the new ranger would start with the basic rolled statistics and the lowest rank.

The question is.. will all of this still be present in the sequel? Will these mechanics be altered in any way?

We are retaining much of this. You will be able to start the game with fewer than 4 individuals. The game will be balanced for most encounters with the player expected to have between 4-7 rangers, but if you'd like to give it a go with a single ranger, good luck!

We've discussed getting additional rangers back at HQ if/when one dies along the way and are currently thinking this will be available. Starting them at the lowest rank might not provide a good play experience and we aren't fully decided on this yet.

On non-combat skills: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2997

All non-combat skills will be used more than just a few times in the game, but that doesn't mean that all skills are equal. We wanted to make sure that anything we spent our precious development time on is going to have an impact on the players experience. We do have some obscure skills still and I think we can afford to get away with this more than some other games. Being party based, you have 4-7 individuals in your party. This allows for some experimentation without ruining your characters build. In a game like Fallout, if I focus on the wrong skills, I could easily hurt my gameplay experience since there is only one character.

On AI and difficulty level: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3021

The AI in this game compared to the original is a completely different beast. We are creating AI for a 3d world now which requires us to think about it in a different manner than they had to in 1988. It is a turn based strategy game, which lends itself to all kinds of fun AI archtypes.

We don't plan on changing AI behaviors for different difficulty levels. This would require a huge amount of time and resources to do correctly and balance. Our game is big and it will have a decent playthrough time. In order add unique behaviors at higher difficulty levels, it requires us to not only balance it, but bug test and spend animation, effects, sound, design and programming time to do so. 3 million + sounds like a big number but not when it comes to video game budgets. We have to be very focused on where we spend that time and money to create the biggest "bang for buck".

We have quite a few knobs to tweak when it comes to difficulty level. I'm sure it will be more than just hitpoints and damage values.

On ranking up: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3060

Will the rangers gain ranks we progress through the game like in wasteland 1?

Yes. You will continue to gain ranks in the same way that Wasteland 1 did.

Obvious Codex troll is obvious: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3045

do you even read the forum?

First, I think BrotherNone needs to give you a forum badge for most pointed subject.

Most of us read the forums for the first few months when we were in pre-production. Now that we are in full production, the team members will spend their precious forum time on the threads that interest them. Josh follows animation threads or discussions on NPC. Koy on level designs, area generation. The design team (myself included), on the hot topics of the week. As we've worked on specific systems during the design phase, we would search for and frequent those threads to see the discussions.

I can't speak on who the most vivid readers are since I only know how much time I've spent on the forums. Personally, I'm most drawn to the threads on the game systems. Skills, weapons, permadeath...

On killing children : http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3082

It's kind of a moot issue for us. We don't have any kids in the design that you can shoot so we don't have to remove that feature.

On combat mechanics: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2987

Combat will be action point based. There are no defined rounds for "rangers turn" and "enemies turn". Instead it is based on the speed attribute of each party member. Characters with higher speed attributes will get more turns than those with lower speed attributes. Put more points into speed if you'd like to attack more in any given combat encounter.

On DLC: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3037

The game will be complete on release. We don't have time to think about DLC right now. We've got our work cut out for us in delivering the game we intend on making. As soon as that's dialed in, we will focus on the Mod Kit. You guys can make your own DLC for each other. After that, we will take a deep breath.

On party control outside of combat: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3046

Outside of combat, you manage the party via all of the individual party members. We are not symbolizing the party by a single entity or icon (though, on the high level world map we are)... you will manage them in formations or break them apart and move them at will.

On drugs: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3100

There will definitely be drugs in this game. They might even be helpful for a certain type of player.

On Ranger HQ: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3087

How much will the party being Rangers affect the gameplay? Will the HQ be "Big Brother", constantly monitoring and expressing it's opinion? As such, is it possible for HQ to "discredit" Rangers who do not act like Rangers?

We certainly talked about reactivity from Ranger HQ. They'll check in on you after major events - perhaps something along the lines of, "We heard you just gunned down an entire town, including the dogs. Is that true? Turns out there was a survivor and she said it was you."

They _could_ tell us if there are lines that Thou Shalt Not Cross. It's actually very simple: Will a party of Rangers that routinely engages in murder and mayhem be punished by HQ or not?

We want to make this happen. But if you're going around and actively killing everyone and thus voiding the storyline, you should probably be aware that the story part of the game will end, and then it will just be fighting encounter after fighting encounter.

More Codex trolling: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3054

1) Mr. Fargo, are you aware that what caused so much trouble about those examples of "moral dilemmas" you gave us was the fact that they weren't dilemmas at all?

Dilemma = a circumstance in which a choice must be made between two or more alternatives that seem equally undesirable.

Both examples had a good/"right" solution, a desirable alternative.

That said,

2) Are we going to have actual (moral or not) dilemmas in Wasteland 2, or all quests and the like will always have at least one win-win solution?

I'll answer for Brian, because we've had this discussion.

1. Yep, he's aware! (this is why we had the discussion)

2. There will be lose-lose, win-lose, lose-win, and win-win scenarios throughout the game.

On theft: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3024

The player characters won't have a steal skill that they can use, but occasionally an CNPC that the players come across might have the ability to do this. It came down to a question of time and resources. Stealing is a cool skill in games, but any skills we added we want to have a good amount of reactivity. When we starting discussing a design for stealing, it turned into a major task. Ability to steal items, what kind of items can be stolen, what if you get caught, how does the NPC react in the future if you're caught. It turned out to be something we didn't think was core to the experience for the amount of time needed to add it correctly.

On popamole: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2996

We do have cover in the game. It is similar to the way broken cover in the M.S.P.E. rule set works. There is a "block line of sight" system naturally in our game but we also have objects in the play space that the PCs and acceptable enemy AI can use as cover objects. The attackers chance to hit will be reduced when their target is in viable cover. Their animation state will change as well, visually showing them ducking into the cover.

On UI style: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3092

We are going for a skeuomorphic feel for our UI. Metal paneling, rust, wires, ad hoc interfaces and the like. For the HUD, since we don't want to take up too much screen real estate (and the HUD can be customized), the design will be a little more streamlined and less intrusive to the play area. For other screens, like inventory and dialog screens, we will have more freedom to expand on that look. Hopefully, we should have something pretty soon to show you guys.

On crafting: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2988

Again, trying to keep this brief and pointed (as much as I can anyway): Will we be able to craft on the road, or will we need to go to specific locations (like the New Vegas crafting benches)? Will we need to keep tool with us to be able to craft? Obviously we will need specific ingredients, but what about recipes? Will we have to find them or will crafting recipes pop up as soon as we'll hit the right level in the crafting skill? Will we only be able to craft utility items or also unique items that are not available elsewhere?

We are currently thinking you will need to go to specific locations for most difficult crafting. For example, when using the weapon smithing skill, you will mostly need to be at a bench. There are elements of crafting that can be done on the road though. I'm being vague on purpose as there are some interesting elements to it that I don't want to reveal right now.

Crafting recipes can be learned as well as available when you hit specific skill levels with that particular skill. There will be unique items that you can craft that aren't available for purchase.

On weapons: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3017

The original Wasteland had around 30 weapons and we will have more than that but won't have as many as the JA2 1.13 mod. I bet once the game comes out, there will be a modder that will make that happen though.

Part of the weaponsmithing skill is improving current weapons as well as creating new ones. You'll be able to purchase or obtain attachments that you can put on the various weapons to improve them.

On character customization: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3003

Will there be Background history type customisations during character creation?

For example, traits, perks, backgrounds, hobbies etc. Things that add depth to a character beyond the stats and skills?

And how integrated will they be in relation to the game. By integrated I mean things like dialogue choice, NPC reactions etc. Or wil they simply be stat/skill adjusting?

Somewhat, but not as deep as is discussed here. We wanted to leave the PC's mostly free of having their own personalities, backgrounds and hobbies on purpose. In the original, the PC's didn't talk so they were essentially left to the imagination of the player. In WL2, we are attempting to do the same. There is some light background setup in character customization but that can be overridden with a "custom" setup easily.

On the quest journal: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3015

The mission journal will be relatively light. It will include open missions that people need help with and the general overarching missions ranger center has you checking out. We want players to explore the world on their own and don't want to simplify the structure with quest markers all over. The game is fairly open and allows you to check out some elements on your own, assuming you can handle the opposition.

On healing: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3026

Still undecided on "instant heal" items. We're hoping to err on the side of not having them, but if they're needed for the type of combat experience we want, we are reserving the right to include them We have many combat mechanics coded at a base level, so we're starting to get a feel for it.

I would like to balance the Field Medic and Surgeon skills to handle most healing on the battlefield. They don't need items to help their basic form of healing, but for advanced types, they'll use consumables. A skilled surgeon can heal increasingly negative status effects from UNC ->

On NPCs from the original game: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3029

There will be a few cameos but I can't go into which ones. We did say Bobby will be back but you guys don't want me to reveal which other ones...or maybe you do. It's like opening up an early Christmas present and you're excited, but when Christmas comes, you kinda wish you'd have waited. Or is that just me...

On EDGINESS: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3105

Well, there are 3 legged hookers. The list of jokes that were spouted off during the table read was nothing short of amazing. A little taster... "Two crotches, no waiting!"

Sexuality, yes. Religion, yes. The game is most definitely mature. There weren't many issues that we stopped the writing team from tackling.

On multi-story buildings and elevation: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3096

Will there be elevations on land like hills and trenches as well as 2nd, 3rd stories on buildings? Will being elevated give a sight/combat advantage?

you bet your sweet bippy there will be, on both accounts.

were making good use of upper floors of buildings, and the Unity terrain editor is in use to create some dynamic landscapes that allow for combat/position advantages.

 

[Blaine]

I can't think of anything I want to ask the developers personally, so I'm glad other people are doing it for me. With Fargo at the helm and DAC/NMA bittervets patrolling and moderating the Wasteland 2 forums, stomping imbecilic suggestions and vocally safeguarding the incline, I've simply been assuming everything will turn out for the best.

 

[Infinitron]

I can't think of anything I want to ask the developers personally, so I'm glad other people are doing it for me. With Fargo at the helm and DAC/NMA bittervets patrolling and moderating the Wasteland 2 forums, stomping imbecilic suggestions and vocally safeguarding the incline, I've simply been assuming everything will turn out for the best.

If you want to do more than just blindly assume, refresh the thread.

 

[Infinitron]

http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3078

This is by far a high point in my gaming career, more so than starting in QA as a young 15 year old. Everything about this project and being a part of it is exciting personally and professionally for me.

And yes, the crowdfunding process wears extremely heavily on many of us. Our president Matt Findley and myself answered every private message that came through during the Kickstarter drive. It was a 12 hour a day job for 30+ days. During that time, we were constantly interfacing with the fans that put up their hard earned money to make this game happen. I personally fielded messages where people said they HAD to have a character in the game and were going to forego their car payment next month to do it. They'd figure it out later. Talk about pressure for us to deliver.

I think when you receive money from a publisher, there is a bit of a disconnect with the fans. You know who you're making the game for (somewhat) but don't get to know them personally. They're a demographic that will hopefully buy the game. With crowdfunding, we are daily immersed with the people who the game is for...and you guys can be a tough crowd!

Also, many eyes are on us. You are right. Being one of the higher profile projects on Kickstarter, that adds a good amount of stress. It's a double edged sword. On one hand, it's awesome to see the game in the press. On the other, I think there are a good amount of people looking for us to fail. We put our nuts on the table for this project. I'd bet there are many publishers and some press that are looking to broadcast how horribly everyone was duped by some of the large crowdfunding projects. We know that if things go sideways, it can potentially hurt many other smaller creative developers and their ability to get funding through Kickstarter in the future. On that note, it's a hell of a motivator for us. I think it's natural to be pushed harder when there is more on the line.

So...looking back at the wall of text, this was quite therapeutic. Who should I send the bill to?

 

[Blaine]

If you want to do more than just blindly assume, refresh the thread.

I spent about ten minutes reading each thread in that subforum shortly after I posted. I don't need your Brofist-harvesting Codex thread-Tweets, you damned Philistine.

On a more serious note, somehow I feel more content not spending minutes or hours of each day monitoring the forums/dev progress of these crowdfunding projects. I can't explain it, except perhaps that obsessing over each detail and hyping myself right up to release might tarnish the final product. I've also backed far too many of these damned things to reasonably keep track of.

 

[Infinitron]

On a more serious note, somehow I feel more content not spending minutes or hours of each day monitoring the forums/dev progress of these crowdfunding projects. I can't explain it, except perhaps that obsessing over each detail and hyping myself right up to release might tarnish the final product. I've also backed far too many of these damned things to reasonably keep track of.

I can definitely understand why you feel that way. Unfortunately, duty calls.

 

[General Maxson]

Thx Infinitron, especially for the most interesting quotes.

 

[Lancehead]

Stats will definitely affect what things you can say and, more importantly, how effective you are at saying them.

So it's checks and sliding scale benefits?

 

[undecaf]

http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2987

Will combat use an action point system or be more phase based with a movement turn and action turn? Either way, can you share some details on how the choosen system will play? For example turn order etc.

Combat will be action point based. There are no defined rounds for "rangers turn" and "enemies turn". Instead it is based on the speed attribute of each party member. Characters with higher speed attributes will get more turns than those with lower speed attributes. Put more points into speed if you'd like to attack more in any given combat encounter.

That's good to know.

 

[KickAss]

So Infinitron The Summarizer, did anybody say if the choise for who does the conversation is done before the dialog starts and that's it, or can I change who talks everytime it's my turn to talk?

 

[Brother None]

KickAss they did talk about whose stats are checked here (as in, the leading PC), but nothing about changing mid-dialog. You can reply in that thread and ask for clarification.

And yes, I did fuck up by not posting about this last week. But hey, do I have to do everything around here?

Haha, I just figured you guys didn't want to post it before there were actual answers up.

 

[Infinitron]

Or we can ask Anthony Davis for clarifications.

 

[Infinitron]

Updated my compilation.

 

[Brotherman Bill]

Infinitron your jew-fu is getting weaker. You could have harvested many times the brofists if you split those quotes into four or five different newsposts.

 

[Infinitron]

Don't wanna be too obvious.

 

[Excidium]

Cool stuff.

Combat will be action point based.

 

[Roguey]

What, no kids to shoot? What about the kid you have to rescue from drowning or else? Most of that sounds fun though.

For example, Baldur's Gate was developed over a four year period with a budget that was around $25 million.

Unless Fargo or someone else in the know backs this up I'm going to assume he's just confused. No way did BG cost $25 million with the team it had in 1998 when Fallout cost about $3 million.

 

[Infinitron]

Yeah, looks like a screwup. Called him out on that.

 

[tuluse]

Fallout was only under full production for like a year, mostly it was done by people in their spare time. Likely, no one has any idea how much it really cost.

Also, Tim Cain has stories about people being so hyped for it they were coming in on the weekend and working on it for free.

Edit: that could also include marketing budget. Everyone heard of BG, Fallout was little known by comparison.

 

[Brother None]

Fallout was only under full production for like a year, mostly it was done by people in their spare time. Likely, no one has any idea how much it really cost.

Brian Fargo told me it cost $3-$5 million. I think he's publicly estimated it as $5 million. Depends on what you factor in, of course.

 

[FeelTheRads]

The hell is wrong with action points now?

More of a rhetorical question, mind you, considering I'm asking someone who thinks cooldowns are better than Vancian.

 

[Infinitron]

Know your inXilers! http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2979

Faran Brygo - Brian Fargo, CEO
DarkTwinkie - Chris Keenan, producer/design director
Joby - Joby Bednar, lead scripter
Dragonberg - Josh Jertberg, lead animator
d-Koy - Koy vanOteghem, senior environment artist
Rat Herder - Phillip Dickenson, artist
Snowdrifter - Dan Jenkins, engineer
brakiri - Jeremy Kopman, scripter
Colin McComb - Colin McComb, writer

 

[Johannes]

The hell is wrong with action points now?

More of a rhetorical question, mind you, considering I'm asking someone who thinks cooldowns are better than Vancian.

Wasteland was a phase based game, compared to that it's very much

 

[Micmu]

It's still cool enough... after all it's different engine and you fully manage movements.