rjshae

For directional lighting, would it be possible for them to implement low-quality shadows that fade rapidly with distance due to ambient lighting (so as to reduce the computational overhead)? I'm thinking that a simple shadow that extends only a body length, say, may add to the look and feel without a serious impact to performance.

There are certain realities that can not be ignored in a commercial business. 'Take as much time as you need Obsidian' == LARGER budget

Upcoming space mission events of interest: 2013 -- MAVEN: Mars atmosphere and volatile evolution spcaecraft 2014 -- Rosetta spacecraft orbits comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko 2015 -- New Horizons flyby of Pluto 2015 -- Dawn enters Ceres orbit 2016 -- Juno enters polar Jupiter orbit 2016 -- Launch of OSIRIS-REx to return a sample from minor planet 101955 Bennuu 2017 -- Launch of TESS: Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite 2018 -- James Webb Space Telescope launches(?)... I'm particularly looking forward to the Dawn encounter with Ceres.

Will this setting even have the same domesticated animals as Earth? Mounts may be giant flightless birds, cattle could be marsupials, cats and dogs could be feathered lizards, ...

I too have high hopes for this game. The updates I've seen thus far have been of high quality and I'm really looking forward to seeing it all come together. What I find most concerning is the budget. This project may end up costing more than the designers expect. Plus the Kickstarter add-ons may end up costing more than expected. My fingers are crossed that it will all work out.

I wouldn't have a problem with that... Yes, kind of a shocker that. It pays to choose your Kickstarter rewards with care.

Ahahahahahaha....

Picture the room with the glowing tube hidden by FoW; the party enters through the only door into the room and the two nearest creatures immediately turn to face them. In this case it can be more efficient to pre-position the two facing as shown than to put in the code to have them detect the door opening then turn to face the party. Since the room was hidden by FoW, the player sees no difference between the two approaches. There is a difference still. Because entering the room and then getting vision in the Fog of War and then see them turn is quite a different experience from them already looking towards you. Albeit it is a very slight difference, it is still a difference. In example A, which would be as seen in the picture, you imagine them turning towards you. If a dialogue is initated, "text" could symbolize them turning towards you (even if they already are turned towards you). In essence: - "You notice the blood-stained robes, the knifes and axes in hands and the chittering chatter of what seems to be cultists of some kind. Did they sacrifice something? *gulp* Are we the sacrifice? Turning towards your presence, snickering slightly, one of them begins to speak..." In example B, which is what I was trying to picture, they physically turn before the Players eyes. The above example (A) is an indirect presentation, kind of "But lol! He's already facing me!", this example (B) is a direct presentation. - "You notice the blood-stained robes, the knifes and axes in hands and the chittering chatter of what seems to be cultists of some kind. Did they sacrifice something? *gulp* Are we the sacrifice?" [The Cultists turn towards the party] "Turning towards your presence, snickering slightly, one of them begins to speak..." It does set the scene differently. Does it not?, you've inserted an additional element into the scene that wasn't there before: a monologue by the head cultist. Well obviously, since you've inserted an element into the scene that wasn't there before: a monologue by the head cultist. If you want that type of drama, then the additional animation may be warranted. It all depends on how they write up the scene.

A few more: Pirates & Dragons, the RPG -- "Pirates Love Gold! Dragons Love Gold! When the terrors of the sea meet the terrors of the sky, there's bound to be trouble!" Treasure seekers journey to the new world, only to discover dragons. Rules based upon Renaissance D100 system. Includes a hardcopy rulebook. Currently £1,205/£12,000 with 31 days to go. Ronin: Chrome & Shadows -- "A post-apocalyptic cyberpunk setting for Savage Worlds. Massive metroplexes, syndicates and megacorps in an irradiated wasteland." The game is licensed and undergoing testing. Includes a PDF core book; no physical copy. Currently at $2,221/$6,000 with 14 days to go. Inscrutable Puzzlements: An Anachronistic Victorian Era RPG -- "An original ruleset accompanied by a Victorian setting with Gothic horror, steampunk, mystery, and fantasy elements." Succeeded at $1,700. Parahuman System Free Superhero Campaign Setting -- "Parahumans have always been with us, though we have not always recognized them as such. In ancient times they were worshiped as gods and demigods. Today, they are worshiped as celebrities." Succeeded at $705.

That's not necessarily easily implemented. For example, storing all game state information in the middle of combat, then restoring it afterward, may require a lot of extra coding for not much gain.

Picture the room with the glowing tube hidden by FoW; the party enters through the only door into the room and the two nearest creatures immediately turn to face them. In this case it can be more efficient to pre-position the two facing as shown than to put in the code to have them detect the door opening then turn to face the party. Since the room was hidden by FoW, the player sees no difference between the two approaches.

Brain sucking zombie cows with toxin-filled udders...

Barbarians? I guess you mean Icewind Dale 2 then?

I agree with this, I wouldn't like the target area to be an absolute, but rather an approximation of where the AOE will spread to. Maybe one circle shows where the spell will definitely hit, and a less opaque, larger circle to show where the spell might hit. A nice touch would be to create monochrome targeting circles with borders that ripple and shift based upon the type of spell. For example, a fireball spell might have edges that resemble shifting flames, while a fog cloud could show tendrils of mist flowing out from the core. A constantly shifting edge would make targeting more problematic and interesting.

It does appear that the character models are being illuminated by directional lighting. If you look at the elves standing around the device, the ones to the lower right have shadowed backs, whereas the ones in the upper right are illuminated by the violet glow. If this was generated by processing of the 3D geometric data, then perhaps some hooks could be left in the code in case an adventurous modder wants to add in some shadow-computing calls? Once that is available, people with sufficient processing power can render the shadows more accurately by adding in the mod.

It's about time! The sexually ambiguous sofa demographic is sadly under-represented in modern gaming, and this is a brave step forward.[/selfdeprecating] I really don't want to know what's down the cracks of that sofa...

The ToEE PC game showed the impact area via an overlay that moved around with the cursor. It was fairly effective and allowed precise placement. However, the game engine was implemented so as to still allow some friendly fire to characters adjacent to the selected area, which I thought was a pretty nice touch. It might be interesting if they gave us a locatable target areas with fuzzy borders, thereby indicating some likelihood of friendly fire.

The reason for the comments is that the OP specifically asked for feedback. For some people that detail stands out more than for others. But I think it's the type of feature that most players will quickly grow used to... as long as the diffuse lighting of the character matches the local lighting level.

^^^^ Err... no. Your SEGA edit looks like a completely separate comment; hence I did not include it. But it's not important.

The level of the detail in the scene is very nice, especially for the creatures. There's a good mix of toned-down hues and it looks like an actual place rather than feeling contrived. Bravo! The shadows... well they're not perfect. But it's enough to provide depth to the scene, so I can live with it. Also four of the creatures around the glowing light look a little cookie-cutter; they're nice, but appear cloned (apart from the weapons). A little size variation would help, as would slightly different garb. Thanks for the update!

Obsidian underestimated how long it would take to make a video game? Say it isn't so. Now we get to know how Sega felt. Apart from this being really dumb.... They underestimated nothing, as the old date was still with the original goal in mind + them saying they will release it as bugfree as possible even if it takes a bit more time. It's not "really dumb" because they (Obsidian) gave an estimated schedule of 18 months after the Kickstarter was closed. I think we all pretty much expected it would take longer, but it's the management prerogative to push the schedule to the left in order to encourage efficiency. Where it would become a concern is if they have budgeted for 18 months and it ends up taking two years, leading to a cost overrun.