Issue #4, June 22nd 2015
Before we get to this week’s update, we’ve got an announcement regarding the Stygian Sentinel. Starting this week the Stygian Sentinel will go to a bi-weekly publishing schedule, and will be released on Mondays instead of Fridays. This change allows us to focus more attention on making the game and our current goal of finishing a pre-alpha build before the end of the year.
This slower release pace for updates will also mean that each issue will be even more chock full of Underworld Ascendant goodness. We hope you understand this change to the schedule, and that you look forward to future issues of the Stygian Sentinel!
So, now onto this week’s update.
Answers From the Abyss #2
This week we’re going to once again address the overwhelming darkness of the Abyss with questions asked by our fans on the forum. What answers will echo up from the depths? Read on!
“Why abandon PnP-inspired RPG systems in favor of perks?” – CyberP
Great question and one we’ve been thinking a lot about as we start to delve into the character progression system.
Clearly there are benefits to both methodologies; a more traditional RPG system in which players have more finite control over skill points and stat advancement allows players to create and fine tune their characters exactly to their liking.
For
Underworld Ascendant we want the focus of the game to be on the world and your interactions with it. Anything that might get in the way of this, anything that might put itself between the player and the experience of living in the Underworld, is something we have to seriously consider before including in the game.
So, how does this relates to perks and character progression? Our preference is not to have players spend a lot of time in a system or UI where they are studying stats and points or worrying about whether to increase strength over dexterity. We’d prefer, instead, to have character progression consist of a smaller number of meaningful decisions, such as choosing a new attack or movement ability, rather than numerous numerical tweaks, as allocating skill points every level.
This also will likely mean that many parts of character progression will happen more organically. So, a player who is casting a lot of spells will tend to gain advancement and abilities in spell casting versus a character who becomes more skilled in melee weapons because that is his preferred method of combat. A player who wants their character to use a bow, for instance, is probably going to be using a bow quite often. Our thought is, why make the player actually go through the work of putting “skill points” into bowmanship if it can just happen automagically without interrupting the game experience?
“We know creatures in the ecosystem are going to function within it (i.e food needs, survival, and whatnot). Will this affect NPC's in the factions as well? Can I go hunting with Lizardmen?” – SteveC
Yes, NPCs and factions will be positioned in the ecosystem alongside the flora and fauna. This means that NPCs and members of factions will have needs and desires that hinge on accessibility and conditions of the environment: access to food, protection from predators, warmth, and so forth.
Day-to-day routines of NPCs and factions will also be in the game as much as possible, including those that draw from and/or impact the ecosystem. So, yes, lizardmen will be seen hunting and, depending upon your standing with them, they might even allow you to tag along.
“Are NPC's/creatures going to have other needs besides food in the ecosystem?” – SteveC
Absolutely. While food may be the strongest need for many creatures, other things will also factor into their behaviors and motivations. For instance, creatures will have a predilection for the kind of environment they want to live in – lava bat want to live in hot areas, preferably with some lava flows. If that environment changes then the creatures will have a desire to migrate to a new location that more suits their needs.
We expect light and darkness to play a real role in creature behaviors as well. To feel safe some creatures or NPCs may be more comfortable in well-lit parts of the Underworld, while others may prefer the darkness in which to hide. Light levels is an atmospheric state which can be readily changed by the player, or even by happenstance, and which will have a big impact on the lives of creatures and NPCs.
“If I trap a group inside their base, and cut them off from all outside food... Will they eventually starve to death? And if they do, can I have their stuff?” - Vanyelxp5
We want to have members of the factions have motivations that align with basic needs, such as the need for food, shelter, warmth, etc. So, the AI for NPCs will have a desire to obtain or keep these things.
What the effect is if they do NOT gain these things is a tricky thing and something still very much in the air. Clearly we want there to be some effect or else the desire will feel hollow and without impact.
Do we want an entire faction dying off because the player killed off their food source? Probably not, that would likely put the player into a hole he wouldn’t be able to get out of and be very frustrating. Our environmental systems, including ecology, will almost certainly have rubber-banding or hard edge case restraints in order to keep the game enjoyable. What those restraints are we just don’t know yet.
So, in your example, will the group you’ve trapped die off from starvation? Probably not. More likely their behavior will radically change to reflect their desperate state. Where once they would not have ventured out at night for fear of predators, now they will hoping to find food. Where before they would not have risked attacking a powerful foe like yourself, now they charge out in a last ditch effort to escape their doom.
And, if you beat them, you can have all their stuff.
“Will there be totally customizable controls?” - andth
At this point we see no reason why our controls wouldn’t be completely customizable. A lot of us here at OtherSide are heavy FPS and MMO players, so we like customizability as much as anyone.
“Are you aiming at a particular minimum hardware spec?” – Sarfrin
Still a little early to make a call on our minimum specs. We are going for a fairly high fidelity experience, but at the same time we will support a range of detail settings to allow play on at least decent PC’s. Not Chromebooks, but a reasonably capable laptop or desktop that has some 3D graphics chops.
T-Shirts Away!
We’ve just gotten word from the company making our Kickstarter exclusive t-shirts that manufacturing is underway and should be completed by the end of this week. They're mailing out the T-shirts as soon as each batch is finished, and so depending where in the world you live you should be receiving yours sometime over the coming 2-4 weeks. Wear it proudly!
If you ordered the T-shirt during the Kickstarter, or are one of the 50 forum members who won the shirt in our forum contest, make sure you have filled out either the backerkit survey sent out after the Kickstarter was done, or the separate survey we sent out to the contest winners. If you haven’t, you won’t get your shirt until you do, as we don’t know where you live!
Other Stuff
Last Wednesday, June 17th, OtherSide did another game-play twitch, this time trying to survive in the relentlessly inhospitable world of
Don’t Starve. If you missed it, you can check out the full session on Youtube here.
For those of you who expected us to be playing
PayDay 2 (as we announced the previous week) fear not! We’ll be playing that excellent game real soon and we hope to have a very special guest join us for an afternoon of larceny, laughs and hijinks. Stay tuned!
Starting today through June 26th our friends at inXile have a promotion for their
The Bard’s Tale IV Kickstarter campaign that might be of particular interest to our Underworld Ascendant followers.
Every backer of
The Bard’s Tale IV at the $33 level and above will receive a free copy of
Ultima Underworld 1 & 2! This is in addition to all the other great rewards earned for backing the game at this level, including copies of
The Bard’s Tale I-III and a digital copy of
Bard’s Tale IV!
Remember, the promotion ends on June 26th, so head on over to the Kickstarter to read more details and join us in backing this fantastic looking return to dungeon crawlers of old!
The OtherSide Team
