Bard's Tale The Bard's Tale IV Pre-Release Thread [RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[theSavant]

MEANWHILE I SPOT AN ABSOLUTELY BASED COMMENT:

It takes nearly 10 minutes for one fight?

^^^

Yeah that thing also turns me off. Not so much, that I wouldn't play it, but...
that fight looks really tedious and slow... even slower than Wizardry 8.

This is the exact reason why...

Don't like that combat.
Why can't it be simpler? Like in blobber. Just click to hit. Maybe cast a fireball.

... why I think it's important to build a party that can act fast and quickly. Maybe only put 1-2 actions in the action bar of a character instead of 5 possible actions, and only use these. And only upgrade skills for these actions. I don't know if it's possible to specialize characters in a way that works out, but could be worth a try.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

The only action a warrior should have is smack enemy with a weapon.
Taunts were a mistake.

 

[Curratum]

You do understand that warriors only having Attack and casters having 80% party heal and damage spells will turn the game a dull neckbeard wankfest, much like what BT1 Remastered is.

I too don't like a single combat with 4-5 enemies to take over 9 bleeding minutes but come on...

 

[agris]

Does it strike anyone else as bizarre that you would contract out such a core component of your gameplay to an external studio?

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

In the case of any other studio, I‘d agree with you. For inexile, I think this was the best course of action.

 

[BEvers]

I should have found this out earlier. Brian Fargo told us last year that a studio from North Carolina helped develop the game's combat engine: http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=10604

We're also trying to get more efficient by using outside contractors. Like for the combat system in Bard's Tale IV we're using a small team out of North Carolina. They're not employees; it's about four people.

That's Mighty Rabbit Studios, developers of the Breach & Clear games: http://www.mightyrabbitstudios.com/

Other gameplay was also contracted, to Puny Human, also from North Carolina. They make puzzle games, so maybe they made the puzzles.

https://twitter.com/jack_knobel

Gameplay Programmer @punyhuman working on Bards Tale IV.

 

[Infinitron]

Interesting. It sounds like this outsourcing was a smaller thing back in 2017 (just four people) and then they expanded it. Must have worked out well.

 

[agris]

Interesting. It sounds like this outsourcing was a smaller thing back in 2017 (just four people) and then they expanded it. Must have worked out well.

NC hits a sweet spot in the US between low CoL and well educated workforce, including CompSci.

 

[Infinitron]

It seems that both studies are also assisting with Wasteland 3:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshfairhurst/
http://www.punyhumangames.com/were-making-aaa-games/

Unofficial inXile North Carolina?

 

[PhantasmaNL]

Working in the IT industry my experience is that boring non essential shit or 24/7 "helpdesks" (yeah right) are outsourced. Because it is boring and nobody of your elite troops at the main HQ office wants to do that crap. So outsourcing the combat engine doesnt make a lot of sense to me, but hey.

Also with fights only lasting 9 minutes i seriously doubt this game is prestigious enough.

 

[aweigh]

inb4 people think abilty spam = depth.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Dreed]

That Crowdox stuff is a mess, but I finally got my key, I look forward to playing it in 2 years when the game will be fully patched and I have a PC that can run it

 

[Infinitron]

That Crowdox stuff is a mess, but I finally got my key, I look forward to playing it in 2 years when the game will be fully patched and I have a PC that can run it

Oh, they're sending out keys? Good to know.

 

[Grauken]

yeah, got mine as well, but without grid-movement, I rather wait until the Enhanced Edition is out

 

[Dorateen]

Grid movement, and party creation out of the gate. Then this game will be getting somewhere.

 

[theSavant]

That Crowdox stuff is a mess, but I finally got my key, I look forward to playing it in 2 years when the game will be fully patched and I have a PC that can run it

Damn... the same shitty procedure as with the remasters on Crowdox. I thought this might have changed meanwhile, but no...
Edit: well at least I got the key quickly after finishing the procedure

Btw. same here. I have still no PC which is able to run any Unreal Engine 4 game. And it will probably not happen for another 3-4 months

 

[Roqua]

inb4 people think abilty spam = depth.

I'm with you bro - hitting the repeat button for 95% of combats is where the real depth is.

 

[BEvers]

 

[Roqua]

Out of all the things I dislike that BT4 did or is doing, the maker of a game getting up early to watch someone else play it is the only thing that has caused me real anger.

 

[Tigranes]

Wait, so half of this game is outsourced including combat engine and inXile's job is to put it all together and sell it for profit?

It's almost like a new age publisher!

 

[Infinitron]

Wait, so half of this game is outsourced including combat engine and inXile's job is to put it all together and sell it for profit?

It's almost like a new age publisher!

Well, their dude David Rogers seems to in charge of all design.

 

[Tigranes]

I'm joking of course, but it seems a little crazy to make a blobber and outsource the combat engine. Maybe we'll start to see more of this going forward? Outsource not just music and cutscenes and marketing and art assets, but you could do it with the entire systems design & implementation of minigames. KS 'writer stretch goals' that send in their work remotely, etc, etc.

 

[BEvers]

Not "half the game" is outsourced, they said how many people:

Once production kicked into full swing, we became a small part in a much larger team from their New Orleans and Newport Offices. In total, eight of us in North Carolina and another three on the West Coast, have been staying busy alongside about forty other developers.

 

[Morkar Left]

That Crowdox system is confusing as hell with jumping in on the second page when you're supposed to make a choice on page one...
I bought the novellas and the map as well. Let's hope this thing is good.

Don't know about outsourcing the combat system (or just engine???) but doing it with puzzles to a company who is specialized in it sounds like a very good idea to me!