KickStarter Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pre-Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Lacrymas]

Every writer can have his own short story to write, while also keeping in mind the lead writer's directions. Forming a coherent narrative is something every artist must be able to do regardless of medium. The music composition thing is actually an apt comparison for what I'm talking about. A musical piece which has a structural form (so 95% of all music written after the Renaissance) is made up of different sections that nevertheless create a whole. The idea is that one section builds up so much tension that it naturally resolves into the other section, while also retaining a "meta-element" that keeps them together. Whether that is the tonal plan, the same melody but transformed, the same motifs that act like arc-words in poems and novels, etc.

The lead writer is the one who chooses the meta-element (most likely a theme or something that reinforces it) and arranges the most coherent ideas together. And like I said, this shouldn't be a problem for any artist.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Except you aren't composing a piece to be passively consumed, you're composing something that has to go well with the improv of the crazed jazz musician you just invited into the concert hall.

 

[Lacrymas]

That is not a problem at all, only the workload is bigger in games due to the choice aspect. The choices should still be logical and fit the situation either way. I think people have a bigger issue with the interactive part than it actually is. You have to organize the branching in such a way as to not create an impossible task for yourself.

 

[Azarkon]

I'm still shocked that nobody tried to get actual book writer on game dev team. I don't think they cost much right?

They tried before. The results were average:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgotten_Realms:_Demon_Stone

It's hard to convince best selling authors to write for video games because they are already successful writing books and the time investment of writing for video games is high enough that they'd rather be writing books, where they have full creative control as opposed to having to obey the constraints of lead video game designers. Not to mention, the games that actually have the budget to hire famous authors typically don't depend on writing to convey their narratives, but cinematic graphics, which call for a different set of skills than novel writing, closer to those used in films.

So the trend in CRPG projects has been to hire small time novel and short story writers, like Carrie Patel and Cassandra Khaw, who can also help out with the development process. The results are what you see in the recent renaissance CRPGs.

My opinion? Novel writing doesn't directly translate to video game writing. Many of the skills developed in novel writing, such as exposition and description, doesn't apply in a visual medium. Those writers who successfully make the transition do so by being adaptive and quick to learn. Screen writers might be a better fit for video games due to their specialization in dialogue.

 

[Strange Fellow]

 

[Azarkon]

To build on the screen writer comment I made earlier, see this article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/20/technology/video-game-creators-hollywood-writers.html

Seems like there's been a lot more success working with screen writers. For example, the recent adventure game hit Until Dawn was written by Larry Fessenden, a writer and director of horror films.

 

[Lacrymas]

Isn't Starship Titanic written by Douglas Adams?

 

[Big Wrangle]

Not everyone does them all at once like Adams.

 

[Azarkon]

Yes, but he was both a writer and a game designer, he knew both worlds. This is relatively rare in the industry.

Most of the screen writers who have either led or contributed to video games, are hired on a consultant basis. They're not full time video game developers, and I imagine they don't want to be, either, because it limits their creative freedom.

You can look at Obsidian as an example of what happens when top writing talent has to deal with corporate management every day.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Yes, but he was both a writer and a game designer, he knew both worlds. This is relatively rare in the industry.

So? He was a writer before he was a game designer. He still counts!
I hadn't heard of Starship Titanic. Apparently, Terry Jones and John Cleese were among the voice actors. Also, it received mixed reviews, according to Wikipedia. Has anyone here played it?

 

[Azarkon]

He does, but he's not your typical writer suddenly translated into a game development space. Like I said, writers who succeed in the industry have to be adaptive and quick to learn. Games aren't novels.

 

[Lacrymas]

Has anyone here played it?

I've played it a long time ago, it's fun and has a lot of memorable characters. It's worth it for the writing alone. Otherwise, it's a standard first person adventure game, not quite as good as Myst in terms of gameplay.

 

[Aim1ess]

Blizzard Hires New Award-Winning Fiction Writer for Overwatch

Alyssa Wong, an award-winning speculative fiction writer, announced she is the newest writer to join Blizzard and work on Overwatch.

GUESS WHO'S THE NEW WRITER ON @PlayOverwatch!!! I'm so excited to join the team & learn from all of the passionate, creative folks at Blizzard!!  #BlizzLife pic.twitter.com/yec0Ve3E8E

— Alyssa Wong  (@crashwong) July 31, 2018
She revealed the news through Twitter, accompanied by a photo of herself posing in front of the Overwatch logo at Blizzard's headquarters. "I'm so excited to join the team and learn form all of the passionate, creative folks at Blizzard," she wrote. Wong received multiple awards for her science fiction and short fiction work.

As a writer, Wong's duties would most likely fall on creating dialogue for the game and helping grow the Overwatch universe -- anywhere from animated shorts to Overwatch comics.

Wong's addition to the team comes after Blizzard released Wrecking Ball, an intellectual hamster that communicates through translations from his mech. As interesting as his story was, his origin story had no direct impact on the conflict in Overwatch.

The addition of a new writer to the Blizzard team leaves the possibility of new lore that might help the story finally advance.

https://www.dbltap.com/posts/6132053-blizzard-hires-new-award-winning-fiction-writer-for-overwatch

Overwatch has a story?

 

[laclongquan]

This really remind me of a conversation of Codexers at Watch Refugee camp "I never back down".

 

[deuxhero]

I'm still shocked that nobody tried to get actual book writer on game dev team. I don't think they cost much right?

They tried before. The results were average:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgotten_Realms:_Demon_Stone

It's hard to convince best selling authors to write for video games because they are already successful writing books and the time investment of writing for video games is high enough that they'd rather be writing books, where they have full creative control as opposed to having to obey the constraints of lead video game designers. Not to mention, the games that actually have the budget to hire famous authors typically don't depend on writing to convey their narratives, but cinematic graphics, which call for a different set of skills than novel writing, closer to those used in films.

So the trend in CRPG projects has been to hire small time novel and short story writers, like Carrie Patel and Cassandra Khaw, who can also help out with the development process. The results are what you see in the recent renaissance CRPGs.

My opinion? Novel writing doesn't directly translate to video game writing. Many of the skills developed in novel writing, such as exposition and description, doesn't apply in a visual medium. Those writers who successfully make the transition do so by being adaptive and quick to learn. Screen writers might be a better fit for video games due to their specialization in dialogue.

Well there is I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream... I suspect there's actually a few more cases out there where the original author of a book the game is based on did some writing for the game.

 

[adrix89]

We are in the age of games. Plenty of writers should be familiar with games.

 

[Hobo Elf]

People who make games aren't familiar with games so how can you assume that the writers would be.

 

[Lacrymas]

Ellison also did the VO for AM, in addition to writing. When you are talented, no pecularities of any mediums will stop you.

 

[Life of the Party]

Overwatch has a story?

Everything has a story these days.

NBA 2K has a career mode where you avenge the death of your favorite rapper or something.

You won, Codex. I hope you're happy now.

 

[Thonius]

Overwatch has a story?

Everything has a story these days.

NBA 2K has a career mode where you avenge the death of your favorite rapper or something.

You won, Codex. I hope you're happy now.

"story" aka "lore" aka who's lesbo and who is not etc

 

[Mortmal]

He was never mentined as the lead writer, his role was mostly advisory. He looked over the writing and helped to create the main narrative. I do not see how this is deceptive maybe the journalists didn't get the right info and made his role bigger then it is.

That's bullshit. He's obviously presented in a way to make people believe he is the lead narrative designer.

Its true, he's surrounded by directors and studio head, one would assume he's the lead writer.They could have added the other guy pic too there's room for a sixth guy.

 

[Bocian]

People who make games aren't familiar with games so how can you assume that the writers would be.

It's at least reasonable to expect that writers would be familiar with writing.

 

[Infinitron]

Physical rewards and localization beta: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owlcatgames/pathfinder-kingmaker/posts/2253838

Let's get physical - check out these pledge rewards!
Posted by Berserkerkitten

Dear Pathfinders!

Digital distribution is great. When you want a new game in this day and age, it's usually just one click away, then you're instantly downloading it. No need to go to the shop, hope it's still in stock, queue up to pay, it's all nice and hassle-free. After all, if you want a glass of water, you don't get your jug and walk down to the village well. You turn on the tap.

With that in mind, some gamers do miss the physical side of the experience. Getting something you can touch and feel, something to remind you of and connect you to a game you care about, to bring back memories of adventures in a virtual realm. Some of us just like to have something in the real world that we can touch and that we associate with the games we love. Makes them feel a little more real.

This is why we offered physical rewards and add-ons to you, our backers. Those among you, who pledged for tiers, which include physical rewards may be wondering how these goodies are coming along. So today's update is dedicated to some of these sweet, sweet items you'll be getting. Let's have a look, shall we?

The Artbook

Pathfinder: Kingmaker is full of weird and wonderful creatures and characters, magical weapons and armors, class outfits, spells and, perhaps most importantly, the landscapes of the harsh and unforgiving Stolen Lands. And if you've pledged for the physical version of our artbook, then you can look forward to enjoying hundreds of lovingly-crafted concept images, sketches and drawings of all that and so much more on 175 pages in a beautiful hardcover book.

The Dice

Check out these bad boys! When playing at the table, the dice rule over everything - disarm or spring a trap, hit or miss a monster, barely scratch a foe or cleave them asunder with a mighty critical hit. Life or death. We can't guarantee you'll crit any harder or more often with this becautiful dice-set made of brass. But even if you screw up your difficulty checks, you'll be doing so in style. Here is a 3D-model of the dice.

Time to retire those shoddy plastic dice. Get classy! Bring on the brass!

The cloth map of the Stolen Lands

You asked for a cloth map, we give you a cloth map - 42 x 88 centimeters, made of grey flax. You will never get lost in the Stolen Lands again with this beauty! You may get murdered by bandits, eaten by wyverns or flayed alive by a bunch of crazy cultists, but not once will you feel lost!

Show it off to your friends when you play the Kingmaker Adventure Path in tabletop. Decorate your personal gaming space with it. Wear it as a cape and confuse people at the local shopping mall. We're not telling you how to live your life. We're not even your real mother!

The miniatures

Nyrissa prototype, 250mm

When we had our community poll for the companion miniature, our backers decided they want Octavia. While her 30mm minature is still in production, you can preview the 3D model of her here.

Nyrissa progress

And if you have pledged for a tier, which includes the 120mm miniature, you'll be receiving this Jabberwock. Behold:

Please be aware that these miniatures are early prototypes and still work in progress.

And this concludes our preview of some of the physical rewards our community has pledged for. Do you like how they turned out? Let us know in the comments section. And if you want to see a few more images of these fine items, we've prepared a little collection for you online. Some of the pictures in there show additional miniatures on our cloth map. We added them for flavor, they're not part of the pledge rewards.

One more thing - The Localization Beta

If you're one of our beta testers, we'd like to remind you that we've just uploaded a new build on Steam. It contains the prologue and the first chapter of the game with a work in progress version of our localization in German, French, Chinese and Russian. If you're in the beta and you're a native speaker in one of these languages, we'd appreciate your feedback on our translation efforts. You can find more information in the beta testing section of our official forums.

Hail to the Kings!

Owlcats

 

[Infinitron]

Dev Diary #4: https://steamcommunity.com/games/Pathfinder_Kingmaker/announcements/detail/1719698485187740909

Dev Diary #4 - A Closer Look At Our UI

Dear Pathfinders!

It's time for another retrospective update! And this time it's all about menus, character sheets, book events - all those wonderful things which let you interact with our game world! While many of the articles linked in today's updates show a work in progress and may look a little different in the release version, they will still give you a good idea about what to expect, and the general idea and thought process behind each of the elements shown.

We did look into our UI briefly when we mentioned our combat log the other day. But there's still so much more! First of all, there's our character sheet. Each character's strengths and weaknesses, skills, spells, all sorts of statistics from alignment to armor class and even a biography can be found here.

Throughout our game you will interact with the world through something we like to call Book Events. That's where the game quite literally shows you a book, written by your chronicler Linzi, and describes a situation you and your party are facing. Decisions must be made, there are skill checks to be passed and the outcome of these events will influence your progress through the story. You can read all about it in this update, which also goes into the design and creation process of these events, from finding the right appearance for our book to picking the perfect font.

Next up, there's our camp UI. Exploring the Stolen Lands is hard work and your party will get exhausted sooner or later. So rather than just sorting that out with a click on a sleep button, we wanted things to be a little deeper. Camouflage the camp, so it won't get attacked by monsters while you sleep. Put a few party members on guard duty. Send someone out to hunt for supplies. If you want to take a closer look at our camp management interface, then this is the update for you.

And then there's the loot. So, so much loot. You do what adventurers do, murder an entire camp of bandits and next thing you know, you're buried under a mountain of shortswords and leather armors. And being the environmentally aware ruler that you are, you want to avoid littering and cart all of that good stuff to the nearest vendor. And if you want to know what buying and selling looks like in Pathfinder: Kingmaker, then check out this update.

Speaking of adventuring - if you want to see what our global map looks like as you go about your quest to conquer the Stolen Lands, check out our Creative Director Alexander Mishulin's video on the subject here.
Finally, if you'd like to know more about the development process of our UI, what inspires us and how we use the reactions and feedback of our testers to make improvements, be sure to take a closer look at this update. And if you'd like to know what our focus-testing sessions look like, you can find video footage inside this article.

Hail to the Kings!
Owlcats

 

[Lacrymas]

Why did you stop copying the text in quotes here? I'm too lazy to click a link.