But at least make ability to choose difficulty options. So you can play on Hard and then on hardest difficulty (noone, except casuals and children play on normal, not to mention easy difficulty - yes, they bring money but they are bad for industry, they destroy sence of achievement).
Difficulty options are planned. We know there are people who are discouraged when things get too tough while others lose interest if it's not challenging enough, and we want both side to be able to enjoy the game.
Also confused why people call this demo "pre-alfa". It is very polished and if used in complete game it would make wonderful dungeon exploration. In no way this is "pre-alfa', alfa or even beta.
Game Production lesson time! So when you work on a game there are usually a few steps before release: Conception, Pre-Production, Alpha, Beta, Polish. Exceptions can apply of course, so don't be surprised if some projects don't necessarily follow the same structure or have a few extras.
Conception is usually done in small committee or alone. This is basically when you're shaping the game in your mind, trying to figure out what you want it to be, why people would like it, all these questions. You're also going to be working on a prototype to show some people around - friends for feedback, investors for money, potential employees to form a team...
Then you get to Pre-Production, which is hopefully when you go over your game plan with your Producer / Project Manager (or sit down on your own if you're taking the role yourself) to chart everything out. How much time it's going to take. How much money you will need. How many people are required. And then realize that you wanted something way too big, so start trimming the fat to make sure you don't end up with a half-finished game that was too ambitious. This is often one of the most undervalued and underestimated step, because it's not the fun part of game development - you aren't MAKING the game, you're PLANNING how to make it. And a lot of less experienced developers who may not have access to or resources to hire a good Project Manager will end up with a very shaky plan, which can end up with the project never being completed. On a personal note, I believe that a lot of Kickstarter games that never launch end up living this tragedy since they are led by passionate creators, who might be extremely talented at making games but not necessarily have the same skills when it comes to estimations, budgets, schedules and the like. It's also extremely hard to say no to features that you personally think are NECESSARY for the game if you're trying to shoulder both Producer AND Creative Director roles, since you have all the power to yourself and no one to say "Wait, stop there's just too much you want to do".
During Pre-Production you also start working on some features / levels to better estimate how long the rest is going to take. You make a few characters to see how long a character takes you to make, a chair to see how long a simple prop takes, a building to see how long... You get the gist. With these samples and previous experience you had on other projects you worked on, it becomes easier to make a solid plan. This is another reason why veteran teams are strong, not only because they're good at what they do and may do it faster / better, but because everyone can pitch in their experience to increase accuracy and decrease risks in the planning.
THIS IS BASICALLY WHERE THIS DEMO WAS DONE. BEFORE ALPHA, HENCE THE PRE-ALPHA TAG. We're doing a test run of a stand-alone Kickstarter level with the Ruins of Telema as a
Vertical Slice, meaning we polish what we can to see what the final product may look like (as well as how much time it takes to polish something) - with a some caveats due to time, for instance monster variety, facial animations and camera controls.
Then, after that you get to Alpha when you start putting the game together. You start adding features, working on the important stuff that needs to be tackled first so that you don't get stuck later waiting for it (for example you need the ability to climb before your Level Designers start working on a level where you need to scale up a cliff...), so on and so forth.
Then comes the Beta, where
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING you finished adding all the features already (in truth there's always a few that you sneak in during beta) and you're only adding "data" (vs code) and polishing. That might be replacing placeholders that you didn't have the time to make during Alpha because they were not the priority, like mugs for the tavern tables or that little broom sitting in a corner next to the fireplace. That might be doing a few retakes because you realize that some things just don't work (make a smaller table because playtesters all complained that there wasn't enough space to navigate during a bar fight). You also start debugging quite a lot during that time.
And then at the end comes the Polish, where like the name implies you go through the game with a comb and hopefully fix the last few bugs and hiccups. Oh that texture is a little ugly, let's do a bit of work on it. Here the light looks a bit too bright for a fireplace, let's tweak the settings. That fight is a bit too hard, let's remove a mob.
Again these are very generic descriptions of each step, so do not take it as 100% accurate. A lot will depend on the team, the project and the business plan.
But does each branch really have to have its own levels? It could be the same level, but with different paths open or closed depending on your actions. Like, in B1 you could be fighting both the drown and the dragon, in B2 the drow would be friendly and help you with the dragon, while in B3 they just wouldn't be there. And a completely different decision could give you the key to a secret passage that would allow you to sneak past the drow and backstab the dragon.
Ah let's be clear, when I say branch I imagine something massively different. I wouldn't call different paths in the same level B1, B2 or B3 in this example - it would all be part of B as minor variations.
They said on
reddit that is due lore reasons(source : https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comm...l_adventures_developers_of/f1ihnai/?context=3 ). I an not sure, but i heard that the unique OGL pact for warlock is the Fiend(not sure) and having an fiendish servant aside from a lawful good succubus would't make any sense. That said, nothing prevent then from homebrewing a patron more lore friendly. And remember, they are more akin to apprentices to their patrons, not to clerics. And having a elemental patron or a homebrew pact weapon, if warlocks can make a pact with a specific Solastan weapon or a specific solastan "archelemental" that doesn't exist on D&D, i believe that will not be a copyright infringement(
not sure)
Little clarification, in this post I said
we prioritize Sorcerer over Warlock for Lore reasons. I am not saying that Warlock aren't going to be added to Solasta for Lore reasons, just that they may appear... later... for reasons...