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Game News Pathfinder: Kingmaker Kickstarter Update #7: Camping System Stretch Goal

Infinitron

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Tags: Owlcat Games; Pathfinder: Kingmaker

The Pathfinder: Kingmaker Kickstarter campaign is now in its second week. It's raised over $400k, but the funding rate has now slowed down and it seems like it'll take a while longer to reach its goal of $500k. Over the past few days Owlcat have published a series of mostly uninteresting updates, concerning topics such as map creation, tabletop sensibilities and a certain Mary Sue-ish companion (poor MCA has to write that?). The latest update is about something important, though - the campaign's first stretch goal. If Kingmaker manages to achieve $550k of funding, Owlcat will add an elaborate camping system to the game. I quote:

3b8e69c79e717134e4797b96a7da3718_original.gif


We received many inquiries about our further goals, and we are happy to answer. Today we are revealing our first stretch goal - Camping. As in, getting some sleep and recovering from a long day of adventuring. Not the kind of camping where you watch the enemy spawn point with a sniper rifle.

It is a feature, which we feel is often oversimplified in computer RPGs. In most of them, resting in the wilderness is as simple as hitting the snooze button. Some party members might be injured or they complain about feeling tired, so you click the camp button and everyone is rested a second later. Worst case scenario, you may get ambushed, so you finish a quick battle and try resting again until you succeed. If you're familiar with tabletop role playing, then you'll agree that most good GMs won't let you off so easily. If you're in dangerous territory, then resting for the night will require a certain amount of preparation, such as appointing guards. Sadly, this is a rare feature in computer RPGs. In Pathfinder: Kingmaker we want camping to be more than just a button.

You're miles away from the nearest inn. There are monsters and bandits lurking everywhere. Sure, your party could try dropping everything right there and take a nap, though they may as well put up a big sign, saying, "We're over here! Please murder us and take our stuff!" The wiser option is to set up a camp. But you can't rest on an empty stomach. You've been adventuring for days and provisions are running low. Why not choose for one of your companions to be the designated hunter for the night? If they're skilled enough, they will refill your packs to keep you going for a few extra days. But beware - dinner fights back in the Stolen Lands and your hunter may get chased all the way back to the camp by a raging monster!

You have to select a place to rest carefully! If you pick a spot, which is too close to monsters, they will decide to investigate and attack your camp. In a dungeon you will have to get rid of at least some of its inhabitants, or they will never allow you to rest. It's always a good idea to assign a companion or two for guard duty. They will watch over the camp while the rest of the party sleeps. They can spot an impending ambush when they pass the required perception checks and warn the rest of the group to help them prepare. In case of a surprise attack, your unprepared party members may not always fight at their full strength. For instance your fighter may step into the fray wearing only his undergarments, because there is just not enough time to get dressed. Have you ever tried to sleep in a full suit of plate armor? Or if your guards fell asleep, monsters can gain a surprise round against your sleeping party - and that is an experience you'll want to avoid! There will be several special maps and events for the encounters while camping, be it a monster that is chasing your hunter, or travellers that decided to join you by the campfire.

Your camp is also a great place for your party to talk and bond. One of your companions may have been badly injured in a fight with an angry troll earlier. Perhaps they're feeling a little under the weather. Or maybe you have made an amazing discovery on your journey today? Or some information they remembered from the stories about this region? Your companions will want to talk about recent events, about what's they've seen and done in the Stolen Lands. You can take the time and listen to how they feel about your adventure together. We want this to be a fun, meaningful part of the game. Few other games ever do anything like this - Darkest Dungeon or the Realms of Arkania trilogy come to mind. We always loved it when games put a little extra thought into their camping system, which is why we're doing it this way for Pathfinder: Kingmaker.​

There's going to be a Kingmaker AMA on the Pathfinder subreddit in the coming days. Alexander Mishulin and Chris Avellone will be there to answer questions. We've also learned that Chris is planning to write a Kickstarter update, where he'll hopefully clarify his exact role in the game's development. No set date yet on either of these things, though.
 

Roguey

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I'd appreciate it if you removed the 27 mb gif embedded in the news post, otherwise I'm not going to be looking at the front page for a while.
 

luj1

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If anyone wants to get some taste of the writing, simply check out the female warrior companion from the previous update. It is anime fanfic level.

Also I doubt MCA will contribute in a significant way, his name is used purely as a sales-enhancer.
 

Iznaliu

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Why do they end every update with "Hail to the Kings". This sounds like they are trying to organise a coup.
 

laclongquan

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On the one hand, I am not opposed to a nice and complicated camping minigame. On the other hand, it's going to happen very often, so how it's implemented may bore/interest gamers strongly.

We shall see what they do then, I suppose.
 

Morkar Left

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I'm all ears for a meaningful resting system and ressource management!

Camping a stretch goal jesus I really been taking that shit for granted

When was the last time you saw camping mechanics (not just a rest button)?
 

l3loodAngel

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At fucking last someone has his heart in the right place, knows what his core audience wants and lives thinking how to improve things THAT do matter not to him but to his audience. To an untrained eye it may seem like luck. But it actually takes careful planning, thinking about the players, thinking about the product and genuine passion about the product. Something I thought was lost long ago.
 

l3loodAngel

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Camping a stretch goal jesus I really been taking that shit for granted
Hours of coding, encounter design and system how it all integrates takes time and resources. It's not a $ 300K Goal for a companion that has nothing to say of value.
 

Morkar Left

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If it isn't a complete detour from the first one it's a strategy game with tactical combat and some rpg elements...

It's a complete detour from the first one.

That still doesn't turn it to an rpg. No explration with your party, enter dungeons, avoiding/looking for traps, doing typical quests (focused on a small party, not a warband), direct skill use like open chests, stealing, sneaking etc. Don't get me wrong, from looking at some youtube snippets I see it's alot more rpg than the previous one but I still wouldn't count it as an rpg. Doesn't mean that I wouldn't like it. Will keep an eye on it.

But I'm actually more interested in rpgs that are focusing on a party adventuring directly in cities, wilderness and dungeons, maybe on sea, too. Basically your typical tabletop experience rather than a strategy campaign with strong rpg elements. Not sure if kingmaker doesn't fall a bit too much in the later category, either. I prefer no-name parties who start to make a name in the world by adventuring. Not too excited to start right into the "endgame" content of an rpg campaign with managing a kingdom.
 

luj1

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At fucking last someone has his heart in the right place, knows what his core audience wants and lives thinking how to improve things THAT do matter not to him but to his audience. To an untrained eye it may seem like luck. But it actually takes careful planning, thinking about the players, thinking about the product and genuine passion about the product. Something I thought was lost long ago.

And this wild, unrestrained optimism stems from where? Did we miss something?
 

l3loodAngel

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At fucking last someone has his heart in the right place, knows what his core audience wants and lives thinking how to improve things THAT do matter not to him but to his audience. To an untrained eye it may seem like luck. But it actually takes careful planning, thinking about the players, thinking about the product and genuine passion about the product. Something I thought was lost long ago.

And this wild, unrestrained optimism stems from where? Did we miss something?
Well I sort of explained from where it stems. It's a smaller scale project. However, what they are doing shows that they are thinking how to improve their product not by dumbing down or creating some useless mechanics that makes the game less playable. Think of it as challenge>accessibility. It's an interesting mechanic and I know you guys will get more excited about useless stronghold or a companion who has three lines of text and one of them is "I want to be a dragon", but to those who value substance I think this is great.
 

PrettyDeadman

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"I want to be a dragon", but to those who value substance I think this is great.
Dragon Age 2 was the best Bioware game they've made since Jade Empire. It was a fresh and original look at rpg genre, they've ditched done to death hero's journey crap and decided to do something new. The game was about hero finding a new homeland for himself and his family, putting down roots in a new place, climbing the social ladder while trying to survive through political turmoils of the city.
 

ArchAngel

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If it isn't a complete detour from the first one it's a strategy game with tactical combat and some rpg elements...

It's a complete detour from the first one.

That still doesn't turn it to an rpg. No explration with your party, enter dungeons, avoiding/looking for traps, doing typical quests (focused on a small party, not a warband), direct skill use like open chests, stealing, sneaking etc. Don't get me wrong, from looking at some youtube snippets I see it's alot more rpg than the previous one but I still wouldn't count it as an rpg. Doesn't mean that I wouldn't like it. Will keep an eye on it.

But I'm actually more interested in rpgs that are focusing on a party adventuring directly in cities, wilderness and dungeons, maybe on sea, too. Basically your typical tabletop experience rather than a strategy campaign with strong rpg elements. Not sure if kingmaker doesn't fall a bit too much in the later category, either. I prefer no-name parties who start to make a name in the world by adventuring. Not too excited to start right into the "endgame" content of an rpg campaign with managing a kingdom.
You will not be put into managing a kingdom from lvl 1. All you get at start is a piece of paper giving you a right to start something here. First part of the game is typical adventuring, exploring and stuff. You need to make a certain area safe first before you can start anything bigger. After than you start a Barony first and it gets bigger and bigger as game progresses and turns into a kingdom together with all the political stuff that comes with it.
 

ArchAngel

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"I want to be a dragon", but to those who value substance I think this is great.
Dragon Age 2 was the best Bioware game they've made since Jade Empire. It was a fresh and original look at rpg genre, they've ditched done to death hero's journey crap and decided to do something new. The game was about hero finding a new homeland for himself and his family, putting down roots in a new place, climbing the social ladder while trying to survive through political turmoils of the city.
Yes, but it had terrible combat, maps and encounter design :D
And all the dumbing down like your companions not having an inventory :D
 

PrettyDeadman

Guest
"I want to be a dragon", but to those who value substance I think this is great.
Dragon Age 2 was the best Bioware game they've made since Jade Empire. It was a fresh and original look at rpg genre, they've ditched done to death hero's journey crap and decided to do something new. The game was about hero finding a new homeland for himself and his family, putting down roots in a new place, climbing the social ladder while trying to survive through political turmoils of the city.
Yes, but it had terrible combat, maps and encounter design :D
And all the dumbing down like your companions not having an inventory :D
It was still worth it. I finished the game unlike Dragon Age:Origins, fallout 3, Baldur's Gate 1-2, Planescape torment 1-2, Arcanum, Wizardry 8, Divinity (all of them) and many other.
 

Neanderthal

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Dragon Age 2 a fresh an original game is a bit on a stretch innit? I mean you still played chosen one protagonist, who despite bein an errand boy whose only skills were grinding mobs that spawned every ten feet, recycling poorly implemented trash loot, an following quest markers along linear paths, was still hailed as great hero who everybody worshipped an turned to. Main quest was a mcguffin hunt plain an simple, an not a very well done one. Characters were usual bioware archetypes, except dumbed down an unable even to talk now, even poorly portrayed supposed family wunt talk wi protag most o time. If point o game were to simulate settlin in another land wi family, then it were done extremely poorly, an could have used some mechanical hardship, some introduction o this "family," an more importantly some agency. I never climbed a social ladder or did owt interesting to accrue power, the plot just forced me to be a noble an then a champion in a clumsy, painful way. As for the politics, fucking infantile crap to say least.

Worst game i've ever wasted me time on, an I thought me opinions cunt get lower than DAO.
 

Iznaliu

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Planescape torment 1-2

There is no Planescape: Torment 2, unless you mean Torment: Tides of Numenera, which is according to almost everyone who has played PS:T and T:ToN, nowhere near as good as its spiritual predecessor, as well as being quite a different game. This means that calling it PS:T2 is a bad idea.
 

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