Remus

I just noticed that I seem to be lacking the "K" as well.. I went through the Pledge Management process and it shows the KS pledge there... Thanks

Most of what you describe sounds great, but here are a few thoughts: Does that make sense? Wouldn't a system where you can set the amount of taxes make more sense? Then based on your prestige people might be less likely to revolt or more inclined towards paying the taxes... The idea of the hirelings sounds pretty amazing. Are the companions staying at the fortress part of that mechanic? I would find it pretty cool and logical if the companions at home would boost the stronghold as well. I.e. the fighter training the guards would increase security and the lore-based class managing the library would increase your lore boost, etc. Keep up the great work

I found this update very interesting. I don't know about the rest of the backers, but I personally am not only interested in these updates to have some sort of "control" over the quality of the product I financed. I was really hoping to get some insight into the development of a game I potentially will love. This update finally gives some of these insights. I would be very interested in technical details like this in future updates - but also for the other areas of the game development. I mean it's always interesting to hear about the design of the game but it's as interesting to see how you bring these design choices actually in the game. I realize that these updates would not be very interesting for some users, so I think it is a good idea to pair them with some more eyecandy stuff. But I am sure there are also backers out there, who, like me, are programmers of one degree or another... So, give us some more details . Great update.

My personal opinion on character customization is that the fun comes in when you can actually understand the rules: If I hadn't played AD&D at the time when BG & Co came out, the character development wouldn't have had half the appeal to me, personally. Now to the question / problem I am seeing: With an IP game like PE, where the rules are developed by Obsidian themselves, the problem could be that those rules are too hidden from the player. There are two sides, of course: On the one hand you want to have it as complicated as possible, to allow many options and leave as much room for customization. On the other hand: How do you present to the player in a concise way, how it works? And also too much information could frighten some players. What I would like to see is a complicated system with the option to be swamped with information. E.g. like in the old IE games where you could print out every dice throw in the dialogue box. (Gimme some crunch along with the flav...) On the other hand it should be easy for players that aren't so interested in the rules to understand the basics, i.e. give a breakdown what strength is good for in the character creation. (Also here it would be great to customize the amount of information - "Strength gives boni to attack and damage. It is the main attribute for fighters." or "Every two points in strength give you a +1 bonus on damage, as well as attack. The attack bonus is calculated as follows: 10 [base] + Str bonus + weapon boni. etc. pp." What would you like to see? More info and more complexity or simplicity?

Yep. But I also found interesting what somebody in the comments on kickstarter suggested: Wouldn't it be great if your companions that you don't want to / can't bring with you would influence your home? E.g. the warrior trains your guards (if you have a fortress) giving you benefits in certain circumstances, or the bard manages your inn and you gain some extra coins... This would also add another level to the decision making on whom you want to bring with you. And therefore give you another reason to re-play the game... As I said this is not my own idea, but my mind was blown by it

While I guess that the following is somewhat out of the question since it's a rather big concept, I wanted to leave it here in fear that it could be overlooked. Someone with the name K