BAdler

Well, I know it can be a confusing issue. Luckily, since not much is changing on the development front (other than more focus on the game), it is easy for me to answer most of the questions.

Hi Brandon. Just something out of my own personal curiosity. Do developers like Obsidian normally design the box covers of your titles or do you let the publisher do that? Or is a collaborative effort. Some of the box covers have been quite good in the past. It depends on the title, the developer, and the publisher. On Storm of Zehir, for example, we did the box art. On other games we have put out, it was done by the publisher. Some games required a lot of back and forth collaboration. For Eternity, we are still deciding how we want to handle it. We would love to have Kaz or Rob create the box art, but it is a very time consuming process. It will likely be a collaboration between both companies.

I can't predict the future, but I can't imagine why we wouldn't release a DRM-free version in future releases. If people want a DRM-free option we will likely provide one. I mean, the more platforms we can sell the game on, the better, right?

No one was... You said you were uneasy about the partnership with Paradox because of how Paradox has handled DLC in their games. The only reason to be uneasy about such a thing is if you think that Paradox would have some influence on the DLC creation for Eternity. You are correct in your statement. However do we really need to go over the differences between 'influence' and 'forcing'? They are marketing. Come on, dude. Is it really that important that there be a Big Bad for you to rally against? Just to nip all of this in the bud, nobody is forcing Obsidian's hand here. We have chosen to partner with Paradox because we truly feel it is the best for the game and our community. Having them do the marketing and distribution will be a huge weight off of the development team and will allow us to focus more resources on the game's creation. Obsidian is still in control of Eternity's future and how we choose to make content after it is released.

No chance. We will still be delivering everything we promised to our backers.

Option (3) would be the best, but it would be a change from Paradox's current Steam-only distribution policy. Obsidian's announcement says that Paradox would be dealing with all distribution, which means it would be solely up to them which stores (physical or digital) could sell copies of Pillars. We will still be selling the game through Steam and GOG like we had planned previously.

DLC is one the thing that has me a little uneasy about the partnership with Paradox. Only because they have taken to the nickel and diming DLC marketing/additional content strategy for some of their titles in the last couple of years (which has diminished my opinion of them), notably in their Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings franchises. Another strike against Paradox is that they also forced some of their Crusader Kings 2 customers to go to Steam, something they had previously assured their fan base would not happen (something that greatly diminished my opinion of them). I very much hope Obsidian doesn't go that route. On the bright side: I now hope to see commercials of the quality we saw for Crusader Kings 2. DLC was a misnomer on my part. We aren't releasing small chunks of content. We will be doing a full fledged expansion on par with how CRPGs used to release expansions. The partnership with Paradox does nothing to change any of that. Keep in mind that Obsidian still fully controls the IP and is the main driver for any content going forward. We will make sure we do right by our community.

We are currently talking about the package design. Once we have the final details we will let everyone know.

To be honest, it hasn't come up in our discussions yet. We will do what we can to avoid unfair pricing, though.

We will be providing both Steam and GOG digital versions of Eternity. The GOG version is still going to be released. The partnership with Paradox has not changed anything we have promised to our backers.

I will mention to the guys that we should do an Aumaua update when we do another design/story focused one.

Anyone will be able to choose the backer portraits for their character.

We will try our best to work with those backers that have in-game content. I can't promise that we will be able to have a significant back and forth with every backer, but we will definitely try when appropriate.

This is just a small sampling of the spells available to wizards and druids. You can bet they have some good non-damaging control options.

Yup.

We don't have the exact answers, but one of the reasons that we partnered with Paradox was because they understand fulfillment in Europe better than most companies. They will definitely do everything they can to make sure that everything is as smooth as possible for all of our European friends.

This partnership actually puts Obsidian in a better position to create more Eternity content (DLC/Sequels).

Sorry about that. I didn't mean for the YouTube video to have that title since Josh doesn't talk about it. I edited the title so the video makes more sense. To your question about influence, Obsidian still has 100% creative control over Eternity and any DLC or sequels spawned from it.

I am not completely familiar with exactly what Deep Silver is doing for InXile, but it is probably very similar. We are partnering with Paradox so we can focus all of our time and money on development.

Update by Josh Sawyer, Project Director Welcome to our second class pair update. This week, by popular vote on our forums, we will be looking at the folks who rain down death (figuratively and literally) on the masses: the mob rulers, wizards and druids. Before we begin, I would like to remind our backers to complete their orders on our website if you have not already done so. Many of our backers have filled out their surveys and we've been able to work on implementing their content. Not long ago, Kaz generated these portraits for some of our generous backers. Backer Portraits We've also finished some of the inns that were designed by backers. Hector Espinoza just finished this render of the Celestial Sapling, an inn that is built into an enormous tree. The Celestial Sapling As always, the earlier we get your specifications for the content you've backed, the easier it is for us to integrate into the game. For those of you who backed content, remember that the deadline is March 31st, only two short weeks away! In our next update we'll be showing off some of the cool animations from Pillars of Eternity. Partnership A few minutes ago, Obsidian made an important announcement about a new partnership with Paradox Interactive for Pillars of Eternity. We wanted to give some information to our backers to give you a full understanding of what this partnership means and to let you know that nothing has or will change when it comes to the making of Eternity. Pillars of Eternity is still our product, we're making 100% of the development decisions, and we will still be communicating directly with you every chance we get. So, you are probably asking, why are we doing this? Obsidian is really good at making games. Everyone here is focused on that goal every day and we are heavily invested in our work. That said, Obsidian's focus is in creating games and not in marketing and distributing them. It takes a lot of time and effort to do those things properly - time and effort we want to use to make Eternity the best game it can be. We chose to partner with Paradox because they can help us with those things and really believe in PC games in particular. This lets us spend 100% of our time (and your money) towards making Eternity great. Every dollar you have given us will to go into making the game. We have setup a FAQ on our forums that will go over any questions you may have about what this partnership means for Pillars of Eternity. Please take a look and let us know if you have any other questions. And now, on to the magic of the mob rulers! Mob Rulers While neither wizards nor druids are restricted to offensive spells that target groups or areas, they excel in that arena. Whether it's dishing out elemental damage or inflicting status effects on enemies, both classes have a wide variety of spells to whittle down the hordes. Rangers and rogues are the kings of single-target takedowns, but the mob rulers exist to soften up, slow down, hinder, or otherwise mess up groups of enemies. Both classes focus heavily on spellcasters, but they have slightly different mechanics to how they work. Together with priests, wizards and druids are the "traditional" spellcasting classes that can cast a certain number of spells of each level per rest. As they gain levels in their classes, they can access more powerful spells. Over time, their weakest per-rest spells become per-encounter spells. At very high levels, the weakest spells eventually become at-will abilities, capable of being cast indefinitely. Wizards Typical Wizard Grimoire Wizards are researchers and experimenters. Like animancers, their understanding of the spirit world and soul energy is technical and scientific. For this reasons, wizards have a skill focus in both Lore and Mechanics. Also like animancers, wizards rely on special tools to achieve their effects. Specifically, wizards use grimoires, arcane books made with rare materials that can absorb and temporarily hold fragments of ambient soul energy. Unlike priests and druids, wizards do not personally shape the magic that is released. Instead, their grimoires' spell pages do most of the work. The wizard's specialty is in understanding how to help the magic flow in and out of the grimoire without going haywire. As wizards continue to research, more spells are created every year. Some spells remain in the private collections of individual wizards while others see widespread distribution and can be found in grimoires all over the known world. In game terms, all wizards start with a single grimoire. Even as big as they are, grimoires can only hold a set number of spells from each level. Wizards have the potential to access many more spells than priests or druids, but that potential is restricted by what a grimoire can hold. As a result, experienced wizards carry multiple grimoires with subsets of spells to handle different situations. Grimoires can be switched during combat, but there is an opportunity cost to doing so -- the new grimoire needs to attune itself to the wizard for several seconds before its spells can be used. Outside of combat, wizards can outfit their grimoires with any spells that they have learned. If they come across a spell in an enemy's grimoire, they can choose to learn that spell for the cost (in copper pieces) required to research it. As a result of their varied studies, wizards have access to both "meat and potatoes" spells and more eccentric effects. They excel at area attacks, but also have a healthy number of spells for personal defense and more than a few oddballs in the mix. Occasionally, wizards become known for a particular spell or family of spells that they've invented and their names are inexorably linked with their contributions to magical research. Here are some of the many spells wizards can learn in Pillars of Eternity: Fan of Flames - Creates a short-range cone of fire that does Burn damage to everyone caught inside. (Reflexes) Jolting Touch - Inflicts heavy electrical damage to the target then jumps to the two nearest enemies. (Deflection) Minoletta's Minor Missiles - Launches three missiles of magical energy that inflict Crush damage on a single target. (Deflection) Thrust of Tattered Veils - Generates a precise thrust of Crushing force that does little damage but has a high Interrupt. This fast-casting spell is often used to disrupt enemy actions. (Deflection) Wizard's Double - Creates a single duplicate image of the caster that grants a high Deflection bonus against a single attack. Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon - Inflicts a Corrode effect and restores Stamina to the caster over time. (Fortitude) Ray of Fire - Creates a lingering stream of flames between the caster and target, doing damage to the target and everyone caught in between. (Reflexes) Fireball - Classic, reliable, deadly. That's fireball. (Reflexes) Kalakoth's Minor Blights - Creates a random "blight" in the caster's hand that does Burn, Freeze, Corrode, or Shock damage to the target and anyone caught in the area. After the wizard throws one minor blight, it will continue to spawn additional random minor blights until the spell's duration runs out. (Deflection/Reflexes) Minoletta's Bounding Missiles - As Minoletta's Minor Missiles, but each missile bounces to one additional target, does more damage, and has shorter overall range. (Deflection) Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage - Targets near caster are Sickened and Terrified by the wizard's horrifying appearance. (Will) Dimensional Shift - The caster and one ally are able to immediately switch locations, leaving a shockwave between them. Anyone caught in-between may be briefly Stunned. (Fortitude) Essential Phantom - Summons a ghostly double of the caster that fights with its bare hands, doing Shock damage. Other than the appearance of the caster, it shares no other properties. Minor Arcane Reflection - The caster erects a field of arcane energy around himself or herself, similar to the Arcane Veil. However, Minor Arcane Reflection has the ability to reflect an incoming hostile targeted (only) spell, sending it back to the original caster. The Reflection can try to reflect spells up to 3rd level -- and up to 10 total levels of spells -- before it expires. A failed attempt at reflection counts toward the limit. When an incoming spell targets the caster, the Reflection attacks the enemy's Will. If it succeeds in the attack, the spell is reflected. If two casters both have Arcane Reflections up, the attack can potentially bounce back and forth repeatedly until one caster fails his or her attack -- or exhausts his or her Reflection. Citzal's Spirit Lance - Creates a pike out of magical energy that does Pierce damage and causes a foe-only Blast explosion like wands do. (Deflection/Reflexes) Malignant Cloud - Creates a cloud of virulent poison that does raw damage (ignoring DT) to anyone in the cloud over time. (Fortitude) Arkemyr's Capricious Hex - Targets are randomly subjected to one of several afflictions, each with an equal chance of appearing, although at different durations: Dazed, Sickened, or Paralyzed. (Will) Ninagauth's Freezing Pillar - Slams a huge gleaming shard of ice into the ground, doing Freeze damage to anyone in the immediate area. A circle of frost spreads from the pillar, creating a Freeze hazard that also inflicts the Hobbled affliction on anyone it touches. (Reflexes) In addition to their per-rest spells, all wizards have two basic abilities that serve them well: Blast and Arcane Veil. Blast allows wands, scepters, and wands wielded by wizards to do a small amount of foe-only damage in a small radius around their target. Arcane Veil is an instantaneous ability that dramatically raises the wizard's Deflection for a few moments. Its one weakness is firearms; the Arcane Veil is not able to react to the speed of a bullet before it passes through. Druids Druid Backer Portrait Druids are animists, drawing power through the webs they believe connect all living souls in the world. When not casting spells and transforming into mythical beasts, druids spend a great deal of time in nature, giving them skill foci in Athletics and Survival. Much like priests, druids draw ambient fragments of soul energy toward them and shape their effects through practiced concentration. While druids do not have the diverse spell repertoire of wizards, they have more than enough to handle most problems that come their way. Druids' spells often take the form of natural phenomena -- storms, coiling plants, rapid decay -- to reflect their primal connection to the world. Despite their heavily-offensive nature, they do have a few defensive and healing spells to aid their allies. Druid Stag Form Nature's Mark - Enemies are outlined in pale green light, decreasing their Deflection and Reflexes. (Will) Talons' Reach - Caster creates an oversized projection of beastly talons striking everyone in the area for Slash damage. (Deflection) Tanglefoot - Lingering, sprawling patch of magical vines and other plants Hobbles anyone caught in the hazard. (Reflexes) Winter Wind - Characters in the area are pushed back and take Freeze damage. (Fortitude) Firebrand - Caster wields a massive sword-shaped blade of fire that does Burn damage on a hit. Switching to another weapon ends the spell. Insect Swarm - Targets take Pierce damage over time and have reduced Concentration. (Fortitude) Beetle's Shell - An allied target is encased in a shell that prevents him or her from taking actions (including moving) but will absorb a fixed amount of damage before shattering. Twin Stones - Two boulders fly out from the druid, causing Crush damage as they go. If the boulders strike a solid surface the boulder explodes, doing Pierce damage to anyone in the area. (Deflection/Reflexes) Moonwell - Creates stationary radius in which allies recover Stamina and gain a bonus to all defenses. Overwhelming Wave - Creates a rolling wave of water that smashes everything in its path, causing Crush damage and a Stun. (Fortitude) Firebug - A ball of fire rapidly bounces from enemy to enemy causing Burn damage. It hits up to 8 targets total. (Deflection) Nature's Terror - The druid gains a terrifying electrical aura that causes Shock damage and the Terrified affliction to anyone nearby. (Reflexes / Will) Wall of Thorns - Creates a wall of thorns, which does Pierce damage to anyone in it or who attempts to cross it. (Reflexes) Garden of Life - Plants spring up from downed enemies, generating healing auras around them. Rot Skulls - Summons necrotic skulls into the caster's hands. The skulls can be thrown at targets for Crush damage and a Corrode explosion. (Deflection / Reflexes) In addition to their spells, druids have two base abilities that assist them in dealing with single targets. At character creation, players select a damage type for their Wildstrike passive ability. Wildstrike adds a small secondary amount of damage to all damage-dealing attacks that the druid makes. Druids also all choose a spiritshift form at character creation. This form represents a type of animal spirit with which the druid has developed an intimate level of understanding (wolf, great cat, bear, stag, and boar). A few times a day, they can use this understanding to transform their bodies into a hybridized form between their natural shape and the shape of the creature they are emulating. In these forms, they cannot use any of their normal equipment but can attack with powerful natural weapons. Each form also has a special passive ability that applies while the druid is in that form. Over the course of the game, druids can acquire additional spiritshift forms to give them more options. There are many more wizard and druid spells where these came from. They all add up to give both classes a wide variety of abilities to play with. Please let us know what you think of the flavor and mechanics of these classes in the discussion thread!

Obsidian and Paradox Interactive have announced that they’ll be working together to bring Pillars of Eternity to the masses, with Obsidian handling 100% of the development while Paradox assumes responsibility for all the marketing and distribution responsibilities. We’ve put together this handy dandy FAQ to answer any questions you may already have, and we’ll continuously update the FAQ to incorporate the questions you’ve thought of that we haven’t. Pillars of Eternity is still on track to be the amazing cRPG you asked for and backed, and we’re forever grateful to you all. Send us those questions and we’ll do our best to answer them. -Obsidian and Paradox Interactive What is this partnership about? Simply put, Paradox is assuming responsibility for the marketing and distribution of Pillars of Eternity. What this means is that Obsidian can now devote all of their time and resources to the development of Pillars of Eternity and make the game the best it can be. Why Paradox? Paradox has its roots in PC gaming and is known for publishing and developing some very niche titles. Like you, they’re fans of RPGs from the Infinity Engine days and have been around almost as long. Heck, some of them are even backers! If anyone can appreciate the passion and dedication of this project, it is certainly Paradox. I donated money so Obsidian could take on this project solo, why take on a partner? By handing off duties not related to development, Obsidian can focus on making the game that much better. We truly believe this is for the good of the game and, by extension, for the good of the community. Does Obsidian still own the IP for Pillars of Eternity? Absolutely, no changes here. If Obsidian now has a partner, will they be assisting in the development of Pillars of Eternity? Obsidian is still fully in charge of development and will continue to be so all the way through launch and beyond. With Paradox on board, is more money being given to the project? Pillars of Eternity is still being funded solely by the donations given by the community and the scope hasn’t changed, with Obsidian still 100% in charge of development and every single penny raised by the community going toward development. I’m supposed to receive a backer reward, has anything changed? Nothing has changed on this front. If you were promised an item, whether it be digital or physical, rest assured that you will still receive it. For those that get to help design aspects of the game, you’ll also still get to participate and should have already been contacted by Obsidian. To ensure your submission, please visit https://eternity.obsidian.net/. Will Pillars of Eternity still be released this year? As communicated previously, we’re confident that Pillars of Eternity will be wrapped up by year’s end. The partnership has no influence over our projected launch date.

It's very likely that we aren't going to require a ring to view the stones. I would rather we spend the time that would be required for a decoder ring system on our other systems.

Kickstarter Rewards: A plan is in place and we are speaking with a few companies about creating the rewards. We are also currently doing the basic layouts for the books. In fact, today I had a talk with Rose about this very subject. Game: It's a lot of stuff, no doubt, but I am confident that we will be able to wrap everything up in time. This game is pretty far along at this point. Even the portions of the crit path that aren't finished yet aren't more than a few weeks from being in and working.

We are not going to be doing an update this week. They will resume next week as normal.

Update by Eric Fenstermaker, Lead Narrative Designer Undead abound in Heritage Hill. Hey everybody. I'm Eric Fenstermaker and I'm the lead narrative designer on Pillars of Eternity. Before this I held the same position on South Park: The Stick of Truth, so if the dialogue in Eternity ends up being a long string of obscenities and fart jokes, you know who to blame. You can direct all hate mail to my work email account, brandon.adler@obsidian.net. I know we suggested last week that I was going to give you a lore update, but I thought, this is a crowdfunded project. Why not completely fail to deliver on what was promised and instead give our backers something no one asked for? I have three things for you today - the first is a look at what my daily experience is like, then I'm going to talk a bit about some high-level goals we have for writing our companion characters, and finally I might just have some lore about Eternity's undead. On the next episode of Pillars of Eternity: Josh Sawyer writes a class update about wizards and druids, and Adam meets a wacky goblin neighbor only he can see! But what to talk about first? Being a narcissist, the answer is obvious. What It Is Like to Be Me Today has been busy and varied. I thought it might be interesting to take you through a typical day as a narrative lead person. I will tell it in second person so it feels like virtual reality. Most of this is somewhat based on real events - at least as much as American Hustle. 10:05 AM You arrive at work. Take serpentine route to your desk to avoid being seen by anyone who would frown upon your five minutes' tardiness. End up accidentally passing all of them in the hallway anyway. Pass subordinate in hallway too. Shake your head at him to note disapproval of his tardiness. 10:10 AM - 10:25 AM Watch internet video of intro to Japanese wrestling match featuring life-sized animatronic raptor. Dream of making it big as a game designer and having a raptor of your own. Someday... 10:25 AM Deny your subordinate's purchase request for an ergonomic keyboard to help with her carpal tunnel. That is what stem cells are for. Back to work, slave. 10:30 AM- 11:30 AM Brainstorming meeting: What kind of monsters can we reasonably use in an urban docks district along the shoreline that somehow have not worked the surrounding populace into a panic? Proposals: invisible giant crabs, giants with poor height genes from both parents, low-key mummies. 11:30 AM Reminded for seventh time about backer update, which you knew about but have been deliberately putting off. Chastise producer for not reminding you enough. 11:50 AM - 12:00 AM Called in to review cutscene animatic. Despite the storyboard being delivered exactly as asked for, you berate the storyboard artist to consolidate power. This is garbage, GARBAGE! 12:00 PM Lunch alone at office desk, like every day. So alone. 12:10 PM - 1:00 PM Spend the rest of lunch on Facebook and Twitter making it look like you have the perfect life and everybody loves you. 1:00 PM - ?? Intermittent raptor daydreams. 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM Work with narrative designer on the design for a new companion centered exclusively on maximizing companion's potential to be spun off into a line of toys. Huge adorable eyes, soft plush fur, impressive physique, ability to transform into racecar, check, check, check and check. 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM Passing off subordinates' ideas as your own. Crushing their spirit. 4:30 PM - 5:00 PM Brainstorm barbarian clan names. The Large and in Charge Clan Clan Pizzaface The One-Man Clan The Passive-Aggressors The Doughmen 5:00 PM -7:00 PM Annoy backers. In Summary I may have taken a few liberties, but some of that is really a snapshot as to what my role is. Day-to-day, I spend a fair amount of time coordinating the efforts of narrative designers with level designers, so for example I really did have a meeting this morning to figure out how on Earth we could have a quest with some monster combat in a populated, more-or-less oblivious urban district without the monsters there feeling absurdly out of place. The game needs to be fun, first and foremost, with or without a story. It's ultimately my responsibility to make sure that the fun things our designers come up with have a cohesive narrative wrapped around them. Sometimes it's an easy fit, sometimes it's a puzzle to be solved. Fortunately I am backed up by some very talented designers whose ideas I can steal liberally - that part was all true, too. It's also on me to try and make sure the story is being told properly in-game, so there was in fact a meeting with a storyboard artist to look through one of our game's introductory cutscenes. Our concept artists' stick figures look better than the most realistic human portrait I could ever draw. And I have to curate lore, though that's a responsibility I share with Josh Sawyer, our project lead. In general I prefer this to be a decentralized process where designers come up with things that make their quests and areas and subplots cool, and then we find ways together to work them into the overall scheme. But there was also a good amount of up-front central planning, dating back to before I was on the project. In this case, today I did have a long conversation with a couple of our level guys about the names and personalities of a set of barbarian-ish tribes. Skeletons... What's missing from the above is that on some days, when I am fortunate, I get to do some writing for the project, which is really fun. If you are a narrative lead you get to claim all the choicest dialogues for yourself. It's a great privilege, which is one reason why so many narrative leads are murdered by the narrative designer who is next-in-line. So Alone Companions may be my favorite things about RPGs. Long after you've finished the game, looking back, if they're done well, they feel like old friends. Lately we have been ramping up our companion writing. (We really did have a discussion about one of those designs today, and did some iteration on it.) As such, I've been giving a lot of thought of late as to what our goals should be in creating the companions for Pillars of Eternity, and I thought they'd be worth sharing with the people we're designing them for. These are a few of the benchmarks I want us to try to hit: Interactively Dynamic It's common in most types of fiction for major characters (or the protagonist at the very least) to follow an arc, in which their character begins a certain way and ends up being changed by the events of the story, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. But for a video game, that's not really taking advantage of the medium. This is a story about the player's character, told by the player's actions. It stands to reason that the ways in which a companion would change should be dependent on what the player does. So we have an arc for each of our companions, but each arc has multiple potential endpoints, in just the same way that the plot has multiple endings. Which endpoint the arc ends up at will be, in one way or another, determined by what the player does - whether it's something they say or an action they take or some other choice they make. This was an approach we last took in Fallout: New Vegas and I thought it was something to definitely keep. Unique, Varied, Relatable Ambassadors Chris Avellone touched on this in a previous update, and it remains a core goal for us. Pillars of Eternity takes place in a brand new setting. Most players won't know their boreal dwarf chanters from their hearth orlan ciphers. Getting to know companions that run the gamut of races, classes, and cultures will help the setting come alive and hopefully become a place players will find themselves wanting to stay awhile. Each companion, in a sense, becomes an ambassador for his or her race, culture, and class. And we only have so many companions. So they can't all be snarky elves (or can they?) - they need different characterizations, different voices, different struggles. As a designer, you never know what's going to strike a nerve with a given player. Rarely for our games is there a universal favorite companion - almost always there seems to be an even distribution for how many players like each character. In some ways that's maddening, because how do you adjust for that, but it's also one of the best things about writing companions - as long as you write a character that is authentic in its humanity, somewhere, somebody is going to identify with it, and that will be the character they enjoyed spending time with the most. By varying widely the particulars of each companion's persona and struggles, the hope is that while not everybody will necessarily love every companion, most will find at least one that means something to them. Lanterns to the Themes "Why should the player care?" is a question we try to ask ourselves for all aspects of the narrative. When it comes to plot, the question is answered by its themes - they make the plot about something more than a physical struggle. But again, our narrative is interactive. The themes shouldn't be predetermined morals. There should be many facets to them, and it should fall to the player, not the designer, to decide what his or her perspective winds up being on the theme. To take a well-worn example, if the theme is about the struggle of good vs. evil (don't worry, it's not), the ending shouldn't simply assert that good always triumphs over evil. It should ask the player what he or she believes, given everything they've learned on their journey. Maybe they even surprise themselves with their choice. That's where companions come in. If we're designing them well, their struggles should tie into the themes on some level. And the resolution they come to, which, because of the interactive dynamism discussed above, is influenced by the player, gives them a distinct perspective on the theme. The goal is that in the process of helping the companions resolve their conflicts, we give the player something to think about for what that might mean in the context of his or her own character, and in the long run, that gives the themes personal meaning when it comes time to resolve them for the player character. I'd be interested to hear, what do all of you think? Not so much specific characterizations, but more, what are the abstract qualities that make you enjoy and remember a companion? (e.g. They made you laugh, they seemed like a real person, their quest was engrossing, etc.) Here, Have Some Lore Compensation for being subjected to the rest of this update. All my best ideas are stolen. This one I ripped off from our lead level designer, Bobby Null. It is about the undead. Male and female darguls. One of the strengths of the Eternity setting, in my opinion, is its ability to put a new spin on the familiar. Let's be honest, you've seen undead before in a video game or two. I bet you've had a virtual conflict with a skeleton or perhaps even a zombie. But no matter how many times we see them, they're fantasy RPG staples - it'd be weird not to have them, and many people would really miss them were they omitted. So we did some thinking as to how we could have undead but have them be our own special brand of undead that makes sense in this world. This is How Undead Work Let's say you are a wealthy noble who would like to cheat death. There are a variety of options at your disposal, but this offer from a shady animancer sounds the most painless. All he is going to do is bind your soul to your body, so that way when you die, your soul stays put and you still retain all your motor control. Sign me up, you say. Suck on this, death! The animancer sets up some bizarre tools and machines, has you hold onto some copper wires, and before you know it the whole thing is over. He leaves and takes his fee. A few years later you die in a horrific skiing accident. Not to worry! Your soul isn't going anywhere. You are living large, my friend. But here's the thing. Your soul isn't going anywhere, but your body is. It starts to decompose. Slowly at first. A maggot here, a maggot there. And you are starting to get weird cravings, kind of like a pregnant woman, but instead of peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches, you could really go for some human flesh. So you eat some guys. And lo and behold, the decomposition stops! You're cured! Except that after a while, you start to rot again. Over time, you find that eating folks and absorbing the essence from their flesh is the only way to stop decomposition. But after a while you run out of neighbor kids and it gets harder and harder to track down a meal. Flesh is dropping off in chunks. And it feels like your IQ has fallen a few points, like that time you used to live next to that industrial solvent factory. In time, your mind goes as well as your body. You become feral, then near-vegetative, then purely mechanical - your body nothing more than a fleshless marionette. Revenant bestiary concepts. What you have just done is experienced the full continuum of undeath. Corporeal undead in this world all suffer from the same malady, and are merely in different stages of decomposition. How do you get this condition? It's usually something that you would get by commissioning an unscrupulous animancer to help you live forever, or by volunteering for a "harmless clinical trial." These ladies and gentlemen have been studying a certain banned piece of literature known as the Theorems of Padgram and are trying to develop a true path to immortality. But there are supposedly other ways - certain alchemical tinctures, ancient architecturally-embedded machinery, self-pleasure (according to some disapproving Dyrwoodan moms), etc. You start as a fampyr. (And these names are not different-for-the-sake-of-different - they're just following location-appropriate linguistic rules.) By appearances, you're basically a normal person who is going through a bit of a cannibal phase. Allow yourself to decompose for a while, and you start to lose control of your urges, and your memory begins to slip away. Your self-consciousness is flimsy. You are now what's called a dargul. Much more decomposition, and you become bestial. Your hair is gone (if it wasn't already), the flesh sags on your bones, and you live only to feed your hunger. You are a gul, but you don't give it much thought at this point. You just think you are hungry. Then your mind gets really pretty thoroughly rotted, like what happens if you play a lot of FPSes, and you're only running at the basest level of instinct. You have no memory. You, my friend, are a revenant, and you are not very fun at parties. After the last bit of flesh falls away, and the last mildly complicated neural synaptic path fires for the final time, you're running on pure reflex. You're not even hungry anymore (no stomach!). Your body is a murderous automaton. You are a skeleton, and your next step is dust. Lastly It's a fun time for the project. Amazing new level art and some of what I think are our best quests yet are being added every day, and I'm very excited for what's ahead. I personally want to express my appreciation for the thing all of you made happen by backing us, and I want to do everything I can to make sure you guys are suitably rewarded for your efforts. Thanks for reading and don't forget to fill out your backer surveys. Those of you who have surveys will find them on your account page on the backer portal under the Surveys tab. You have until March 31st before they become as worthless as that Myspace page I had in college with all the animated gifs on it, so get those suckers in. Huge thanks to those who've filled theirs out - the team is already putting that content into the game and it's coming out pretty slick. Last Lastly... reddit /r/Games AMA Hey, everyone. This is Brandon. One last note, the Eternity team will be taking part in a reddit AMA in /r/Games. This is scheduled for today at 5:30 PM PST, so be on the lookout.