SunBroSolaire

Sorry, but I really really don't like this idea.

Man, Kaz and Polina are some fantastic artists. Glad you have them on the project. The UI is pretty nice from a functional standpoint. Looks pretty similar to Icewind Dale, which is good. I think it could use even more decorative stuff. Love the statues.

I understand your reasoning here, but I do worry you might lose something by not having individual inventories. So much of RPGs comes from creating identities for your characters, which comes from the items and skills you assign them. I'll be interested to see how it turns out though, hopefully you prove my fears wrong. A patient player can do this in any IE game as well (barring areas you can't return to). I don't think our economy should be balanced around the expectation that players are impatient. In Icewind Dale items decreased in value every time you sold them, no? I remember having the idea that I could farm Yeti pelts, and then finding the shopkeeper just stopped paying for them. Pretty elegant solution there. I hope there are limitations on hoarding in PE. I don't like hoarding, and I generally don't do it even given the chance, but in games where it's possible I always get the nagging feeling that I'm playing 'wrong' by not looting and selling every piece of armor and rusty short sword. Games should encourage good, interesting play, not tedious play.

I'm definitely on the side of allowing the developer's to make the decisions. That said, I would be pretty disappointed if they cut certain things. The big city, obviously would be really sad. Companion characters are one of my favorite parts of RPGs, so I really don't want them to cut one of those. I really don't care that much about player housing, and I wouldn't be *that* upset if crafting didn't make it in. I know there are people with the opposite preferences as me, though, so I have to consider all these goals as basically equal in value. I'll just echo everyone else in this thread and say if they have to cut something, I'll understand, but I think they should communicate to the backers exactly what is being cut and why.

Nice... Shunryu Suzuki's 'Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind' was one of the most important books I've ever read. Great to see some zen Buddhist influence in the philosophy.

The monk sounds fantastic. Great work, Tim! And thanks for doing an update, it's always great to read you thoughts on game design. I love the culture concept, I'm immediately the most interested in the Ixamitl. They look almost like a combination of Persian and Chinese influences. I wonder if you guys are also prototyping the non-human races? It will be interesting to see how Aumua and Orlans express those cultures. The Dyrwood guys look awesome, definitely getting a strong pioneer vibe from them. When thinking about what kind of character I would create I was already considering a Davy Crockett type. Kaz is really talented guy! Great addition to the team.

Bear in mind this is just for the prototype and might not be in the final game at all. Anyway, I think that it is very unlikely that there will be one NPC per building. More likely each house is a family of 4 - 6. It doesn't seem so unrealistically small then. Consider the fact that these are essentially pioneer families (if I understand correctly), it would not be that unusual to see even just one or two houses alone in the wilderness. Civilization might not have roots in this part of the world yet.

Beautiful art, as usual. I love the visual style you guys are going with. What can we expect when the second prototype is done? Gameplay footage? As far as features, I'm especially interested in learning more about class skills. Thanks for the update Adam, see you in two weeks!

We know that ethnicity will not affect the starting attributes. see the comment below from the something awful forums. Yeah, I saw that. Could still affect skill though, even if it doesn't affect base attributes. Or it could be a purely 'cosmetic' choice like gender that only affects how people view you in the world. The gamist in me would prefer every choice in character creation to have effects on abilities, on the other hand if the ethnicities are perceived to be analogous to real world ethnic groups there will inevitably be accusations of stereotyping.

Do we know how ethnicity will be treated in this game? Will it only determine NPC attitudes toward the player, or will it also define starting skills? I think Sawyer, Cain, Avellone, Bernicke, Ziets, and everyone else on the team deserve a ton of credit for attempting to deal with issues of race and ethnicity in a realistic way, anyway. It's got to be a really intimidating subject (especially for a bunch of white guys ), but I have a lot of faith that you will do it right, especially because of New Vegas.

NO! nonononono! not subdued! nooooooh! Why can't it be vibrant?! Why would you ever choose "subdued" over beaitiful and colourful? Have you seen nature? Nature is not subdued! Dude, nature is also "realistic" and has a "natural color palette". Did you see the demo? Do you have any issue with the goat girl or any of the other concept art? I think by "subdued" they mean it is going to be a little less goofy than some of the old D&D artwork, not that they're taking inspiration from Battlefield 3 or something. Think The Witcher 2 vs Kingdoms of Amular.

The Aumua are an awesome race concept. Definitely want to play one of them. Do we know if there's a Aumua companion yet?

One suggestion, which you have probably already thought of: the water should be reflecting the sky more. As it is it looks very transparent. The scene would be much more majestic with blue water. Could also stand to be rougher water considering the waterfall - it looks pretty calm only ~10 feet from the falls. I imagine you already plan to address these things though, I know this is still very early work in progress. Looks fantastic anyway. Can't wait to run around that scenery.

Wow... great work guys!

Tim Cain yo, don't forget the Cain.

That's what I was thinking. Maybe it's a hint that we'll see some actual gameplay? I love the idea of those decision screens. They should have them all through the game... On loading screens ("You enter the dark cavern..."), resting screens (inns, campsites, player stronghold), between chapters (Icewind Dale style). Can't wait for the waterfall demo

Wasteland 2 isn't that far off.

Thanks, I thought this as well. I want to explore labyrinths, not just get squeezed through Skyrim-style tubes to be conveniently dropped out of the exit after the boss. Remember that is concept art, though. The level designers probably had nothing to do with it. edit: great link, btw.

I second this, would love to hear from Tim Cain again.

I think there's supposed to be another picture there? Like, above "In case you're not sure who those folks are above:". and the one with the animated waterfall, but I'll let that drop now.

I've been waiting for this waterfall for months, man. I can't take this teasing. But, uh, the trees are also animating? Also, that's actually pretty awesome news that you're using that same "screenshot". To be honest, I didn't expect that to be in the final game at all. Thought it was just a pretty concept for the Kickstarter.

Sooo... When are we gonna see that waterfall animating? Got my hopes up there, Darren. The dungeon concept art is really nice, though. If you're finishing prototype now, any clue on how long till you have gameplay footage you want to show? Thanks for the update, I'll start waiting for next Tuesday now.

Where's the update at Sawyer? I need my fix.

Graphics look super generic. There's a reason concept art exists: so people can have an idea of what the finished product aims to look like, what aesthetic it's trying to capture, what the tone of the whole project will be. So share it in the Kickstarter! All I see now is awful early 2000s 3D, which isn't inspiring much confidence. I understand it's alpha footage, but I need to see something to make me believe the game will not look like crap. Gameplay sounds pretty lame. 3rd person action RPG with microtransaction fueled diversions and MMO elements. No thanks. There doesn't seem to be any lore info in the pitch video, so I conclude that I was correct in assuming they are just relying on bog standard fantasy Europlandia Generica. Also this goon hasn't done anything noteworthy besides taking a vacation in space in what, a decade? And are there any other trustworthy game developers on board? No? I don't see a single reason to back this. And I don't see why Garriot needs our backing if he can drop $30 million on a vacation. Just wreaks of cynicism that Kickstarter has been mercifully free of up till now.

That's a darn good pitch! Love the concept art, love the story, and the "Tides" mechanic sounds really cool. Hopefully it won't just be five color-coded solutions to every problem, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Backed $50. If I have more money at the end of the month I hope to increase that. One thing I will nitpick is that the blob companion is stupid, but w/e.