DEV DIARY #28 - SIDE QUESTS, MONSTERS AND... DIGGING?
Hey there folks!
Following a bit of misunderstanding from our article 2 weeks ago, we've decided to rename our Dev Updates to Dev Diaries - so that people don't end up thinking they were linked with actual game patches. For those who've only started following us recently, we've been calling this line of articles Dev Updates from the very start - as they were updates on what the Tactical Adventures crew was working on. However since "Update" could also be viewed as a "Game Update" (or patch) now that the game is actually available on Steam, it was understandably making some people confused. Anyway enough prattling, let's move on to the meat and potatoes of this week!
That's it, you can stop reading now. We all know what you're really here for.
Side quests, reporting for duty!
Now that we've have a sizeable chunk of the main campaign playable, we've started working on adding some side quests into the mix! This should hopefully alleviate the feeling of the game being too linear, forcing you to rush down the main quest from one mission to another. That being said remember that Solasta is not intended to be an open world game - side quests are meant to enhance the overall experience, which is still focused on the main campaign.
Here's a little glimpse into one of the 8 Background Quests, which availability will depend on your characters' background
We plan to have two major types of side quests in Solasta. The first type, shown in the screenshot above, are fairly elaborate quests with cutscenes and oftentimes handcrafted levels - for instance, Background Quests and the Legendary Quest mentioned in last week's article. The second type are more straightforward quests with little in the way of narration, such as pickup quests asking you to clear a pack of monsters in an old location you've already visited for example. Those are mostly here to give you a little break from the story and encourage you to visit (or revisit) locations to make sure you're not missing out some cool loot and experience. That said, do not worry - you can absolutely ignore all of that and focus on the main quest if you prefer.
Another peek, this time looking at another Background Quest under construction. Let's see if you can recognize it once it is implemented in-game!
Digging a hole
No, I don't mean you - put the shovel away. Let me tell you a little story, one about the early days of Solasta. Originally, when we talked about the 3D aspect of Solasta, we dreamt big - we wanted creatures flying in the sky, swimming in the water, breaking through walls and burrowing underground. Now as always, when you have to sit down and actually make the game, you need to scope and prioritize so that you don't end up running out of time and money with a half-finished mess on your hands.
This is why of everything I mentioned above, flying is the only thing that made it into the game so far - although trust me, we really, really wanted that minotaur to be able to charge through and pulverize thin walls, but we just couldn't fit that in. And it is also why we've had creatures that can burrow in our design bucket for such a long time!
Now, before you go and get hyped about creatures actually being able to move under the map (as if they were flying, but inside the ground), let me cut that short. We thought about it, and it was creating a whole lot of problems - problems which we wouldn't have time to solve, such as creating an entirely new pathfinding AI just for these creatures so that they don't end up getting stuck between two rocks because the level isn't completely flat. Instead, burrowing will work like this.
No, giant burrowing Minotaurs won't happen. This is just us testing the feature.
Now you just have to imagine the monster not being a minotaur, having a burrowing animation and some FX of soil flying around as it burrows in / out of the ground. What do you mean, "that's everything"? You want me to curse your dice rolls with bad RNG, is that it?
Here come the Redeemers, the bane of all spellcasters!
I want to see it move
Now when we show you new monsters in Dev Diaries, it's sometimes hard to picture how they will really look like once they are implemented in-game. Which is why our lead animator has made a few gifs for us to share with you!
Swiggity swooty I'm comin' for that booty
Did I mention it can swallow you whole if it grapples you?
A little work in progress animation of our big fat Ogre playing around with his javelin.
A little side of art to go with with that?
As our Art Team has been very productive, it would be a shame to leave you without a little bit of everything they did during the last few weeks. Feast your eyes upon these babies!
Wait, I thought you were joking when you said "the floor is lava".
Do you recognize this place? It's the Concept Art of the level!
I'm always impressed by the level of details that goes into the props made by our 3D Environment Artist
Banishment, 4th level Abjuration spell
Death Ward, 4th level Abjuration spell
Dimension Door, 4th level Conjuration spell
Alright folks, this is the end for today! Thank you for reading, and don't hesitate to drop by our Forums or our Discord Server.
just admit obsidian is a shit company known for releasing tech disasters
Personally, I've had much fewer problems with Unity games than with UE games optimization-wise. So everything is relative.
I'm also thinking of Pathfinder: Kingmaker. It also has terrible loading times and small maps, so I'm more inclined to believe Unity is a pos that needs extensive optimizations to not be a pos.
ATOM RPG, made by a bunch of indie devs, has near instant loading times and good performance.
I know, that's why I said it needs custom optimizations for every single game on it in order to not be a pos.
No time to optimize, the devs must spend all their man-hours implementing perfect cat physics.
Well, they already have flying and burrowing, so it's only curling up left to do. And ass-licking, but that can be a DLC.
Could you elaborate why?
There are enemies that do more than just charge and attack/use special ability. For instance, in a very early encounter, you get swarmed by small winged snakes that fly up to you, attack, and then fly away above the reach of your weapons, forcing you to switch up your tactics and rely on ranged attacks or readying your attacks in advance. The levels are also full of narrow, elevated paths so that you have to factor in the risk of getting shoved off the edge and falling during combat. In Baldurs Gate 3, I can think of only two fights where the player was forced to change their tactics in response to enemy behavior, and both of them were optional (the harpy battle and the phase spider).
Yes, those fights are good. Some of the fights in the Underdark too can make you think and adapt (duergar slavers, minotaurs). Even the fight with the drow priestess in the Selune temple is quite complicated. Even if it is not enough to be good enough, I wouldn’t say it’s something completely absent or restricted by the game itself, and so I find “wiping floor with Baldur’s Gate 3” not quite true. And what do you mean optional? Most of the fights in BG3 are basically optional.
An encounter is not the same thing as a fight. An encounter is just an obstacle of some sort that must be resolved in some way before the party can continue, for instance, through the use of skills or combat. Saying that most of the encounters in BG3 can be resolved without fighting doesn't get at the heart of my criticism: when you do fight in BG3, it is usually boring. It's no fun when you can mindlessly apply the same one or two actions over and over again to succeed.
Well, it was not intended to. I addressed your “and both of them were optional” which didn’t add anything to the argument.
This is exactly what I cannot agree with. Some of the fights are pretty decent and I really enjoyed them trying to figure out how to counter enemy tactic. Though I agree that most of the goblin fights are pretty straightforward.
Totally agreed. Resting in BG3 needs to be totally reworked. This criticism (and many others) has been raised many times and one can only hope it’s going to be addressed if ever.
It is not nearly true.
