Branimir

It sounds like this topic is about many different issues. But for those of you having the issue of the screen being solid black on game launch and Cmnd+F not working this is what you can do: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/80092-fix-screen-solid-black-on-launch-mac/

So, launched your game and everything's black but you can hear the music and see your mouse cursor? Its a bug in Fullscreen. I've discovered many ways to fix it. Firstly, what's happening is that it is not in Fullscreen, its windowed, but the game is telling it to black out everything. The intended purpose is blackening unused screen space when running the game at a lower resolution while the monitor is at a higher resolution. Fullscreen fails so it reverts to a window, and the game is programmed so that when it is set to the monitor resolution it goes into Fullscreen even if Fullscreen is unchecked, result is this bug. Q: Why hasn't Obsidian fixed this? The game has been out for months! A: From what I hear they're claiming its a bug in Unity, and Unity isn't their product so they can't alter it. But like all problems that haven't been solved the real reason is lack of imagination. If they removed the feature that makes it go into Fullscreen even if Fullscreen is unchecked when a window is at the monitors Resolution, or disabled the blackening of unused monitor space, that would fix the bug but maybe that's automatic stuff that Unity puts in I'm not sure how much they can do working with an engine they can't manipulate. But one fix Obsidian definitely could do is remove the Unity Fullscreen entirely and utilize the Mac Fullscreen. On a Mac we have a built in Fullscreen which is disabled on PoE, in Yosemite it's the green button, on Mavericks its the arrows icon in the top right. And personally I prefer the built in full screen because I can easily switch to see my desktop without effecting the game, and access the top menu from fullscreen. Not knowing how isn't an issue since the internet was invented, or at least since the invention of search engines. Fix #1: Playing in Unity Fullscreen The only way you can play using their buggy Fullscreen is by connecting a second monitor, with mirroring off, so the other monitor goes black instead. However this causes the game at all resolution settings to cut off all 4 edges of the screen for me. If that happens you can fix it by (1) setting it to a lower resolution and (2) windowing it then (3) exit and (4) relaunch then (5) full screen it and it should be fine on launch from then on. 1920x1080 is default for me so I lowered to the next option under 1600x900 and when I went to full screen from launching in window it became 1680x1050. The other issue is that the game still exists in the other monitor you just can't see it; you can click and it will run your people that way; and your mouse goes past the screen making Screen Edge Scrolling annoying (because it still uses the edges of the first monitor). Basically just write off that edge and use the arrow keys. If you have something in Mac Fullscreen on the other monitor it won't go black but you can't interact with it while the game is in Fullscreen because the mouse and keyboard are locked to it. Fix #2: Change it to windowed, in game, while its black. There's no way to manually change the resolution. But for a split second when you hit Cmnd+F you can see the windowed (but at your comps resolution so taking up the full screen) game for a second. In that second you can interact with the game. Warning: This is difficult and annoying but doesn't take much time and is a permanent fix if done correctly. Spam Cmnd+F quickly while you do this; 1: Go to Options 2: Go to Graphics 3: Select a lower resolution from the Resolution drop down. 4: Fullscreen Checkbox is unchecked, make it checked. Checking Fullscreen will make it attempt and fail, causing it to revert to a window of a smaller size, lower res window means it won't be trying to go fullscreen anymore (no more black screen bug). Not checking the box will make the game assume you want to keep the current hybrid/bugged fullscreen setting, which will make the window smaller but the black screen will still be an issue. 5: Click the X to close the window 6: Save Settings when the in game popup asks. It should launch in window and be playable from now on. WARNING: DO NOT raise the resolution to the same or higher than your monitor resolution, it will recreate the bug. Note: Sometimes the software fails to revert to Fullscreen when you change the game resolution to the same as your monitor resolution while windowed, resulting in a window that takes up your full screen, parts of which will be off of the screen. If you want that, be willing to have to repeat the glitch fix process before you do it as you may have to do it several times. Also, even if you do get it to work, on launch the glitch will be back. Fix #3: Change it to windowed, in game, at 90º 1: Change Display settings to Rotation: 90º 1a: Apple Logo in the top right 1b: System Preferences... 1c: Display(s) 1d: Rotation: 90º 2: Turn mouse+head 90º 3: Launch Game. It won't black out the screen because the default resolution is different from the screen now. Which can only be done with Rotation since the games default resolution is automatically the monitor resolution but has no options for reverse dimensions of screen resolutions, so it won't try to force Fullscreen. 4: Lower the Resolution in game 4a: Go to Options 4b: Go to Graphics 4c: Select a lower resolution from the Resolution drop down. 4d: Click the X to close the window 4e: Save Settings when the in game popup asks. 5: Change Rotation to Standard and play normally. It should launch in window and be playable from now on. WARNING: DO NOT raise the resolution to the same or higher than your monitor resolution, it will recreate the bug. Note: Sometimes the software fails to revert to Fullscreen when you change the game resolution to the same as your monitor resolution while windowed, resulting in a window that takes up your full screen, parts of which will be off of the screen. If you want that, be willing to have to repeat the glitch fix process before you do it as you may have to do it several times. Also, even if you do get it to work, on launch the glitch will be back.

@Everyone thank you for your replies and advice, I appreciate it. I was just wondering though: I read online that the average pay for a Game Designer is $55,400 which sounds decent, but I also heard that they can start as low as $38k/year. I was just curious if anyone has personal knowledge regarding the anual income of game designers. @Osvir I actually ran a small business out of my home for 3 years, building and selling custom computers, gift cards, calendars, and some basic software that wasn't very good because I don't know much about computer programming. But I did write a few mods for Diablo 2, Baldur's Gate, and some other games when I was a kid, because I knew some guys who knew programming and I pick up that stuff very quickly when I have someone to line it up for me (or I have some code to read and figure it out). Most of my programming knowledge is in Web Design (to which I am certified in), and spreadsheet programming; because I had a job programming spreadsheets to interpret medical data a couple years ago and learned it on the job; and hardware programming which I learned while getting my certification in Digital Electronics. So if you are looking for someone for your game development company, there's more than a few ways I might be an asset to you even without any game design background. And I do learn very quickly, so anything you can explain thoroughly to me once I'll be able to do from then on. It would be good experience for me, for life and for my present impasse. Just to be clear I'm just asking to talk with you about this topic to see if it leads to future cooperative endeavors, which can take place online and annonymously at your preference. I am not asking for any monetary compensation. I'm perfectly willing to answer some questions and give some advice for free as well. Sorry if this over clarity seems a bit strange, I've actually been banned for offering free help in game forums before because a moderator assumed I was going to charge the guy, even though I never said that, and never asked for any private information, and explained to the moderator that I was not intending to charge anything, but I still didn't get my account back so I'm extra cautious now. We can talk about it in PM since it's off topic. I included this post here because I am equally interested in anyone else who would be willing to get me on board with a development project. Under the right circumstances I'd even be willing to work part time for free in exchange for the first hand look into the details of development that developers don't share in project updates (such as actual coding), and would be willing to sign a contract as an independant contractor denoting all the work I do for said developer is their property right and that I accept a payment of $0. I've never used this section of the forum before but... I think... this is what this section of the forum is about, game development stuff. Not that I expect to get any offers, since I've tried that before and have always been turned down due to not having any experience or education in game development. But you can't win if you don't try to play. That said I think I'm going to try to implement the advice I got from @J.Burke and make my own campaign. Just have to find a game I can do that on (like, NWN2) and teach myself how. After I buy a new computer.

Video Games are a huge part of my life, I'm one of those people that tries to see every last detail in every game I play, and I'm constantly thinking of ways they could be improved and coming up with new ideas for games. I originally went to college for Electronics Engineering but dropped out to work full time (been working mostly in labor, rarely I get some programming work). I'm planning on going back to school this year and I really think video game design is what I want to do. But I've only just thought of it as a practical career choice, and have just started looking into it. Since Obsidian is one of my favorite developers I thought I'd post here for advice about what schools I should look at and what major I should take. The areas of video game development that particularly interest me; aside from design in general; in no particular order are Programming, Writing, and Testing. I'm 24 and I've lived in Southern California my whole life, currently in the San Diego area but I move around So. Cal. a lot for jobs. So I'd prefer a school in Southern California or California in general. If not that, online. I will need to look into financial aid options to attend college and I'll have more options and discounts in my home state. I was also in the top 4% of my class at SciTech.

Is there going to be a god like Lathander? I would prefer that.

I think you should get rid of the ++ system altogether. It is fatuous, I never understood that. If it is magically imbued, just list the magical benefit of + to armor or damage under the weapon/armor's statistics/magic abilities. And to make a larger variety like you were saying, there already is a solution, Blizzard Entertainment did over a decade ago with Diablo, and it's based on realism. If you find a weapon or armor, its base statistics (damage, armor, etc) are randomly generated from a range depending on the type/grade of the equipment. So the exact same piece of equipment doesn't always have the exact same statistics. In reality, if I was a blacksmith, and my cousin who's 10 years older is a blacksmith, and we both made the same kind of broadsword with the same kind of metal, they are not likely to be the exact same quality. And if some guy on the other side of the planet makes a broadsword, it could easily be like a completely different weapon compared to the one I made even if it's made from the same kind of metal. You've got to stop trying to make it like D&D and focus on making it good and realistic. D&D came out decades before I was born. When a car company makes a new model of car, they don't base it on the first car ever made, they use the technologies present today to make the best car they can. In your case, that means don't try to make it like D&D, take inspiration from new technologies that are available to you, open your minds and be more creative, to make it as good as possible. Would you buy a Model-T today? Or even a new design of car, claiming to be unique, based on the body, engine, et cetera of the model T. I wouldn't, I wouldn't find it appealing at all. But my great great grandpa, if he was alive today, might like it because of the nostalgia. Nostalgia doesn't make a product better, it's an illusion, a reminder of good memories not new good memories. Why go for something less good because it's nostalgic when you can make something greater and form new good memories for your customers to be nostalgic about in the future? The names and tiers that you mentioned in your example are a good start to a unique armor system. You could add more variety, and more tiers, and implement my suggestion of having exact stats and magic abilities of a specific piece of equipment be generated randomly on drop (or build), like Blizzard does in Diablo. I would very much prefer that kind of system.

Today I discovered a game on Kongregate.com with an interesting character progression system that I really loved a lot. The game is called Arkandian Explorer what do you think of this style of character progression? There are no classes, just multiple races, It is not level-based or skill-based, aside from magic spells which anyone can learn. There are a number of statistics, such as weapon attack, weapon defense, blocking, dodging, archery, blacksmithing, leadership, bargaining, and a whole lot more, which are used in calculating the success of actions in and outside of battle. They're increased while performing those actions, I don't know what the programmer used for calculating when and how much a statistic will increase. There is no strength, dexterity, et cetera.

That's very rude. Its not "dead" It hasn't been inactive for very long. I still haven't received responses to my last message, and the addition of the Stronghold adds new content to the discussion of this thread. The point of this thread, if you read it, was to discuss what features would improve the player house and the game, and now that it's going to be a stronghold the range of that has widely increased, creating additional content to the topic of discussion here. If I thought that there was no point to reminding contributors of this thread that it exists, I would not have posted. So if you don't have anything useful to contribute, I'd prefer you don't spam it. The only reason I didn't post sooner was because between the time I made that last post and yesterday I didn't have the free time to sign in here.

And now with the Stronghold, (3.0 Million stretch goal) that's going to rock.

How do you think I found this thread? Project Eternity KickStarter Update #22. http://www.kickstart...ty/posts/327839 I thought everyone read them. They're emailed to me automatically for donating to the KickStarter project. They're also here on the forum: http://forums.obsidi...one-trolls-you/ I never said it was a quote from this thread. I'm still catching up on them, I just read #22 yesterday. (I've got 6 more to go still) I was unhappy enough with what I read to search for this thread and post my preference. Since things aren't set in stone yet. That's what we keep hearing, but one never knows whether a developer will just go with their first plan or give it more careful consideration. But its better to give my preference in the hopes that they'll consider it than to not give it and then not give them the chance to.

Now that I remember it, I really liked how weapon skill worked in Baldur's Gate. I really like all of your suggestions for that matter, if we're taking it to a vote. I hope they read this thread and consider all the suggestions that people have made here when setting up how things work in the game, instead of just reading the original post and just doing this: We are working hard to make Project Eternity revive the spirit of the older IE games, and this includes making leveling up an important accomplishment, one that makes your character feel substantially more powerful afterward. I agree that frequent level-ups make the event feel less special, so we plan to space out these events over the course of our storyline. The first few level-ups will occur relatively early in the game, but the pacing of the subsequent level-ups will be much slower. For people who enjoy level-ups, they are free to use our Adventurer's Hall to swap out new companions frequently, so they are always leveling up new characters to use in later parts of the story. For people who aren't sure what character classes they will want to have available in the end game, it's always nice to have the choice of having all of them. I am unhappy with Tim Cain's answer If that's how they did it, I would deal. (I enjoy more frequent low power-boosting level-ups, if it has to be level-based progression) But as I mentioned earlier, I don't like using more than one character (with the exception of NPC interacting party members). I most likely wont use Adventurer's Hall until I've beaten the game first, or achieve max level if they put one in there (which I'd also dislike). I'm not saying that method is necessarily bad, that's why it wont stop me from playing or anything, but there are better ways. Ways where everyone wins instead of just that side wins and the other side is just thrown a rat bone. Though perhaps I'm just the odd one out with this whole Adventurer's Hall thing.

I don't want to feel threatened by a rat for any amount of time. o.o I hope they have real enemies, even a dog would be a better enemy. But rats and cats aren't really threatening. I'd like to first say I am not knocking your gaming preference, if that's what you like good for you. But I absolutely hate games like that and won't even play them a lot of the time. I hate the idea of low level caps, and I hate the idea of the level cap growing with an expansion, it feels like I'm being conned, because my character can't get any better after a point unless I pay more money to buy the expansion. I do like Fallout 3, but it was well made, and I have the game of the year edition which has all the DLC preinstalled. The way the game was made Lvl30 seemed significant. However most of the time, games have the same feel as a game with a level cap of 99, but they just stop at 20, and it really bothers me that I can't become any stronger. This is another reason why I don't like the level system. In a game where you progress at things individually, you don't have to worry about level caps. You could still have a cap on how good you can get at certain skills, and how strong you can get, et cetera, that is determined by your character Strength and Intelligence etc scores. I like the idea of Strength not being the defining amount of how strong you are but rather a score defining your potential, and having how strong you are and how much damage you can do with a broadsword a separate determining factor. Like, (don't have a cow) the Effort Values and Individual Values in the Pokemon games. In that case they do have levels but the EVs and IVs still play a roll in how the critter grows. As in whether he will be stronger or faster when he levels up. In a non level system the EVs and IVs would directly effect the increase of your characters strength, speed, and skill. Arguably one could say that about every single roleplaying game. Because D&D is considered the origin of modern RPG. But assuming thats unarguable fact, what do you think constitutes a reason for making a game with strong inspiration and consideration to D&D? This is a completely unique game, I don't think they should base it to even a minor degree on D&D. They should go with what works best for this game, and have any similarities be coincidence (id est not on purpose). Games should be designed to work with their concept of the game, not designed to be like anything else. this is a very good...that way. Screw that. If you enjoy games without character progression you should try games like Assassins Creed and Tomb Raider, because this isn't that kind of game. The whole point of games like this is that there is statistical progression, whether it be level-based progression or skill-based progression. //Not A Reply To Quote// I've noticed a few people who are for slow level progression saying that its because enemies become too easy. I'd like to point out that there are games where enemies are always your highest level characters level, or higher. In that case, even if there are 100 levels, and every level is a huge power boost (or a small one), that also means your enemies get an equivalent boost. Meaning more customization for your character, which is what a lot of people pro quick weak lots of level ups are asking for, while keeping the game at the same difficulty throughout. Though that is not my personal preference. I like being able to work at getting stronger and be able to wipe things out with ease at a certain point after putting in the appropriate effort. I strongly agree with this. Though not necessarily the other things you said. Okay, I've seen this a few times now. Can someone explain to me what the problem with this is? I'm not saying I prefer it either way, because I don't care that much, however it makes more sense. For example, it doesn't take a sanitation specialist (id est someone who becomes a janitor) and a medical specialist (id est a medic or doctor) the same amount of schooling to become exceptional at their jobs. It makes sense that if they did the research and discovered how much training a person needed to become skilled at different things, they'd realize that it requires different amounts, and then adjust experience requirements appropriately. I agree. While I mostly don't care about whether its 30 or 100 levels as long as the game is designed well to make it work. Having a number as low as 10 with that dramatic of difference feels weird/bad to me… It wont be that way. They already announced in like update #7 that they are going to make the game have nice useful noncombat skills that you can use to progress through the game, gaining levels and progress without even having to fight basically. As for things like smithing, which I don't see how/why they would make it required to progress to the next stage in quests throughout the game, it should be something that you have to go out of your way to increase. Its more realistic like that, in reality you can't go to college studying medicine to be a doctor (taking only necessary classes) and expect to be a master painter after you graduate. Or like the olden days when a person would learn through apprenticeship, apprenticing/practicing as a doctor, or soldier, the fruits of which help you to become a skilled painter. It just doesn't work like that. However if they design equipment well, have a large range in ability and have good effectiveness, and diminishing effectiveness with durability loss and such and you are wanting to play the game in a "bash through everyone to get to the finish" kind of way then perhaps you will want to have smithing so you can repair your equipment and make better stuff a lot, and every time you do, it increases your skill ability. Or you can pay a smithy to do repairs and you can buy or find better items. //Not A Reply To Quote// I hear a lot of mention about low level cap preference, and "not able to become a god" preference and stuff. Why does there need to be a low level cap to do what you want? If they make it an 80 hour game, and they have it balanced so its fun, not too easy, not making you turn into a god before getting through the game, then why does it matter what the level cap is. If you finish the game and you're only able to get to level 20, regardless of there being a level 20 or 500 level cap, then whats the difference? Does anyone here remember Diablo 2? The level cap was 99, but it was almost impossible to get to it because the higher your level, the less experience enemies gave, and they had level caps for certain areas, so you couldn't just rush through it, to move on to more powerful higher experience giving enemies you had to go through the game properly, or if you rushed through it you'd be forced to do exp runs. And when you go to the higher experience giving enemies, they were significantly difficult still. And Obsidian can always do the reverse too. Like in Diablo 3, while you can single play through easy enemies, you can't join any games that are on easier quests if you're above a certain level. And, if they really wanted to, Obsidian could put temporary level caps throughout the game. It has been done before. Basically the way that would work in this case would be, for example, say the prologue you are meant to be level 2 by completion, but if you hang out there after reaching level 2, you gain ⅓ the exp, so it would take 3 times longer to get to level 3, then at level 3 still hanging around there you get 0exp for everything, so its not possible to progress in level any further until you move up. And say the final chapter you're meant to be level 20 or 30 on completion, so at level 20 if you haven't beaten the game you are leveling exponentially slower each level until level 30 then you don't gain any experience anymore. Then once you beat the game, you can gain normal experience again. With that style, the maximum level could be 1000, it makes no difference for you. Except that for people like me, who like to be able to continually make my guy stronger and stronger forever until I'm totally sick of the game or my guy is a god, then I never hit the dead end for character progression. With Diablo 3, I was extremely excited about it, pre ordered and everything. But when I could play it, as soon as my character hit max level I lost 90% of my interest in the game. A short while later I stopped playing the game entirely without ever making a second character or completing the final (Inferno) difficulty. My favorite thing about games like this is making my guy as strong as possible. And no, multiple characters like using the adventure hall in project eternity or new game does not count, I have little interest in that. I do have interest in it, its fun to an extent, its just not as fun. I very rarely replay games after completing them the first time, I also don't watch movies more than once, I don't like repeat. I get invested in my character and the story of his life, and thats what holds my interest, not the gameplay itself. This is why I love Fallout 3, massively long game, so I never have to make new characters and I still haven't reached the level 30 cap either so I still feel like what I'm doing helps my guy in the long run. Yes, I'm still playing it, this is why I haven't started New Vegas yet. I'm at the point where (SPOILER WARNING) I'm supposed to go to Little Lamplight but I'm finishing the dlc missions first. I finished the survival guide, getting the winterized t51b armor, the pitt, and I'm at point lookout now, finished all the missions and almost finished discovering everything there. 30 levels is perfect for Fallout 3 because of the way its designed. But one could design a game so that any number is perfect, it just has to have the right balance.

Not exactly like FF2 of course, it was designed ages ago games have progressed a lot since then. I just meant for example, instead of earning overall player experience which allows you to jump in any skills and abilities you want when you level up, have experience earned in every thing individually. Like every time you pick a lock, you gain experience towards leveling in lockpick skill. Sure this could potentially create more work for player growth, but not if the game is made right. And the normal play style is to me as gaining a level every minute would be to you, it just seems silly and too simple and easy, which is fun too but something that requires consideration is nicer. Another idea would be creating skill success rate on a slider scale. Like 1-10000 with 10000 being 100% chance of success, and every time you pick a lock, you go up a couple points depending on the difficulty of the lock. I'm slowly reading this thread from the beginning, I may post replies to peoples old messages when I've finished.

I kind of like fast level progression with low power growth, its more realistic and you can improve your character more often. Although my favorite method for character growth is getting rid of the level system altogether, like in Final Fantasy 2. I mean in reality, its not like if you do 100 pushups a day for a month you don't get any stronger, then all of a sudden over night you're buff. Or you take a class on a subject and don't learn anything or get better at what the class is for until its over and then suddenly your skill at it jumps. And it really doesn't make sense for someone to suddenly jump in skill at something when they haven't even been practicing, as in games where you just kill stuff to gain experience and you can apply skill points to anything when you level up. Earning strengths and skills comes from working at it specifically, and its a slow process but you do improve slightly every day, so I like games that use that progression style. Assuming they are using a level based system, which is a good assumption, I'd request that they give exp for everything. Most exp could come from quest completion, but a small amount from killing something, successful lock pick and other skills, et cetera, would make me feel like I'm actually accomplishing something longterm by my actions.

Ooo I'm really excited about the godlike races :D The special modes sound cool too.

Maddas had a brilliant idea on how the player houses could work. Aside from that, total customization control would be nice, dependent on how wealthy you are of course, with the ability to find and/or build stuff like this: I would also like quest involvement with the homes, of varying degrees, which don't necessarily have to be part of the main quest. Getting mail delivered to your home informing you of cries for help or a military summons or something, stuff like that.

Brilliant ideas man.

For starters I was not ranting, secondly I specifically mentioned all the things about the sims I liked and nothing you mentioned right there was part of it. How often do you have to eat and sleep in reality? 6-8 hours of sleep, eat about 3 times a day. In the sims a game day is like 1 minute long of real time. Now in a game like this where a game day is a few real time hours, you only have to eat once every hour or two and you only have to sleep about 3 times in a real day IF you play 24 hours a day, if you had a busy life you'd only have to make your character sleep every other time you played the game. They didn't have dental hygiene in medieval times, its ridiculous to even mention that. I was referring to the features of the sims that made it more realistic and added game replay ability, not the tedious stuff that I didn't even mention. I only ever played NWN2 all the way through 1 time, even though it was a great game, once I'm done with the story its boring to repeat it. I also did not mention any of the other meters in the sims like the social, fun, et cetera because those would be pointless and add tediousness to a game like this. I did not say make a medieval version of the sims, (because that already exists its called the sims medieval) I said all games should incorporate some of the features of the sims, specifically which make it more realistic, giving you abilities in the game that you have in real life, and adding some randomly generated events and better AI so that the game can be played more than 1 time through. I'm suggesting that the developers be inspired by such features, not infringe on EA copyrights and steal their code. Having the ability to farm doesn't mean you have to, obviously, the people who would love that feature get to and the ones that don't can simply ignore it and just not plant anything. I can't understand how anyone can be upset about a bonus feature like that, if you don't like it you can ignore it, and I bet you there are tons of people out there who don't normally like games like this but play farmville and might buy the game because of this feature, making the developers more money, and as fans of their work we should all want the developers to make more money. Well I never played D&D, only BG, BG2, IWD, NWN, NWN2, and some other games like them like Dragon Age Origins and such. But that sounds cool. In TS3, you can design and build a house, a tavern, a castle, an apartment complex, an inn or shop, et cetera. That is what I was referring to when mentioning TS3 features in context of a player house. So you're saying TS3 has a feature that has always been in D&D and I'm basically just asking obsidian to incorporate a feature that already exists in D&D? I know/agree. And mod tools would be cool, TS3 just has their mod tools built in to the game instead of separate, which would save time in any game. Civ4 did that too. Aha, more cool ideas by Wintermute Omega, Sabin Stargem, Krios. Thank you everyone for continuing with the point of this thread.

Well I do. That was the point of this thread, to discuss why I think the player house is cool, what would make it really cool, and what would make the game cooler. Feel free to add to what I've said, but I fail to see the productiveness of comments like "I can't believe I heard mention of the sims" and "you're likely to lose your head for making suggestions not in line with D&D" and "I don't like your suggestions." Furthermore, as I said a lot of the suggestions I made were based on what I read already about the game from the developers updates. This is not a D&D game as far as I know, and it's definitely not a FR game. Read the #7 update, they even specifically state you can go through the game without hardly fighting at all and gaining the same amount of experience through other actions, that non-combat skills play a large roll, that improving non-combat skills is separate from improving combat skills, and that they use a different source of energy. By making the game have multiple ways of getting through it it opens up the game to a wider audience. These are all similar things to what I was suggesting. So I suggest perhaps it is not I that is far off base here. I'd also like to point out that some of the things I said were not intended suggestions for this game, but were put in to explain further the type of game TS3 is, since clearly few of you have much experience with it. Honestly I can't understand how anyone could prefer a game with a preset linear story line over a constantly changing game environment that makes it so you can have a newish interesting adventure every time through. That's why I assumed "fear of change" and I suppose that's exactly why D2 had a single play and battle.net mode before dropping single play altogether in D3. I agree that 2.0 million seems a bit steep of a goal just to add the player house, since in all likely hood it will be a plain premade house used for storing stuff, but either way I think its a cool idea and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Its not like you have to get the house. Just like its not like you have to use non-combat skills in game. I could have sworn I read somewhere that it will be multiplayer. I still expect it will be multiplayer, seeing as their last game like this (NWN2) was multiplayer and the game engine they're using (Unity) supports multiplayer.

I like your ideas Dragoonlordz. Dragon Age: Origins had an add on to get your own keep, but you had to fight your way through a legion of demons and undead and banish the demon back to hell (or release it to run wild around the world) in order to claim it. Afterwards some merchants started settling in the courtyard too which was nice. I didn't even think of it like a Player House at the time but it is along those lines, and I thought it was an awesome feature. NerdBoner, everything I've mentioned I meant as in improvements upon what they already have intended. Obsidian already said that this game was inspired by baldur's gate, iwd, et cetera, and BG then BG2 was my favorite game (until I got really into D2X) I'm just not an old die hard D&D nerd afraid of change. If they made this game identical to Baldur's Gate or NWN2 then that would be boring. The whole point of making new lines of games is to make something new, incorporate new cool ideas, while keeping the favorites from the old stuff. I'm not saying they have to use all of my suggestions but I'm listing the features I'd like to see in the game to at least give them something to think about. Either way I know I'll love the game, that's why I donated on kickstarter to get my own copy when it comes out. Also, a lot of my ideas are actually not that far off from what Obsidian is already planning if you read the updates. Edit: Well also they couldn't because they'd get sued for making a FR game without Atari and WotC.

I also like games like FF2 where you gain skill by using the skill. Like the more you use a certain type of weapon the better you get at it, the more you use magic the stronger your magic gets, the more you talk to people the better your diplomacy becomes, et cetera. Rather than just killing stuff with no tangible gain in exchange for some points added to a magical floating experience bar that only the omnipotent player can see, and then suddenly "Level Up" and you can get more skills and such all at once.

Aedlric & PsychoBlonde: I've read that the game will not force NPC party members and will be multiplayer. Anti-Sim people: For starters have you even played the sims 3? I'm asking so I know if you even have any idea what I could be talking about, since you clearly either didn't read or don't understand what I was saying about it. Sims features = realistic world environment and AI operating around the world simultaneously. Games like Baldur's Gate were good, but you were basically immortal, you never had to eat, you barely had to sleep, and the quests were linear so there was no way you could play the game a million times and get a unique outcome. Every single time I play the sims 3 it is very different. Diablo 2 had a lot of brilliant innovations that made it do what I'm talking about here, it just didn't have every feature I like from the sims 3. For starters battle.net so you can't cheat, and the hardcore mode was brilliant, the first time you die there is no redo, and you can't use save files to cheat and go back in time if you screw up either. In D2 they used randomly generated maps, in the sims 3 it was randomly generated events and NPC actions. Of course in D2 you use premade characters so it doesn't have as much of a personal touch like TS3 and games like this one do. In a game like this, it sucks even more if you die and lose your character forever, which is why procreation is brilliant. IWD was also nice in that you could make your entire party (I disliked that there weren't also characters to join your party throughout the game.) If you could make a group of characters and one of them dies its less of a big deal because you still have some, and you can procreate to replace the fallen. If the NPCs are constantly moving around and doing stuff, it makes every game unique, and if quests are being generated by randomly selecting from a list of 1000s of possibilities that leads to a lot of quest variety and a unique play through every time. It would be cool if instead of party members you kick out or don't add right away just being exactly as they were years of game time later when you add them again, the whole time they were following an AI and adventuring on their own so they might be stronger and have different/better equipment. TS3 also had much more PC customization. Aside from that TS3 wasn't that different from a game like this, you had to build skills, you had a job to do (it was just set in modern instead of medieval times) TS3+all the expansions for it makes for an extremely detailed game where you can do almost anything you could do in real life. And with every version it gets better. That is what I would like to see in any game, regardless of what year or planet it is set in or the story plot. The only thing games like this really have over TS3 is a plot, since TS3 basically has none. (its create the story as you go only) These kind of games are rarely realistic, focusing more on story. Story is important, but I'd watch a movie if all I wanted was a story. Damage is also rarely realistic, in Fallout 3 you could take limb damage at least and get crippled limbs, that is one step closer to realistic but not all the way there yet. I know Forgotten Realms uses Dungeons and Dragons, which uses the (lame in my opinion) HP system where you're basically invulnerable under the condition that your HP counter goes down and when it hits 0 you just die (or fall unconscious) realistically, a bullet to the head or a slit throat kills a person, not does nothing but reduces a few points on a magic floating HP bar that only the omnipotent player can see. And if someone gets a sword deep enough into their arm they can't use it anymore. But this is NOT a FR game, therefore why does it have to conform to the D&D style of gameplay. Some D&D functions are nice but some of it I always thought was dumb too. Also, for starters, angry birds was a rip off of crush the castle, a flash game. That game model has been around and used in multiple flash games for over a decade. Secondly it is not a full length video game like the sims, it is not an rpg like the sims, so I don't see how it is comparable. TS3 has the highest amount of play time (infinite) that I have ever seen in any game especially an rpg. I like Incubus9's idea about the trophies, just another cool thing you could use to decorate the house with. Although that was included in my mention of "TS3 features" since you can catch fish and mount them on your wall in TS3. Of course you can also keep them as pets, or have any other kind of pet and you have to take care of them or they die. Or you can use them as ingredients in recipes when cooking food, you can also buy or grow fruits and vegetables, learn new recipes, increase cooking skill. In a game like FO3 where food = health recovery, if it had a cooking skill, then higher skill could mean more health recovery. In TS3, low skill meant higher chance of burning the food which gave negative moodlets (decreased productivity when in a bad mood, and terrible moods lead to refusing to cooperate) and also even catching the house on fire. Which would mean the house and your possessions being burnt, or completely burnt to ash, if you don't try to put it out with a fire extinguisher, risking being caught on fire yourself which could mean death if someone doesn't put you out, or calling the fire department and hoping they hurry. While high skill meant positive moodlets, which lead to increased productivity. In a game like this moodlets could increase or decrease chance at an action success, while crafting or fighting. Just another cool extra feature. PCs actually aging, gaining the benefits and detriments to age, and dying of old age, would be nice too.

Not the same thing, doesn't count. That's part of what I meant by more features. Also, since its a multiplayer game I'm assuming you could show off your house to friends online, like in Phantasy Star Portable 2. It's been years since I played but I'm pretty sure "Fatigue" has existed in rpg's of this type since Baldur's Gate one, except you had to sleep in a hotel (and pay money) or in enemy infested forests and such. A home would be nice to be able to sleep in, and eat in/cook food if you had to eat. You could also have crafting tables, or an anvil and fire place for blacksmithing or making potions. It would be a great place to keep books and paintings that you come across throughout the game that you like, but it takes up space you need for things that will keep you alive. Since the developer puts so much work into making those things in the first place, it would be nice if the player could enjoy them longer than the 5 seconds that they found it looked at it and dumped it to save space. There are lots of other features it could contain but doesn't necessarily need to also. For example, the ability to buy multiple homes, and sell them. (real estate) Also renting a home. Buying land and building a custom home would be nice. If you need to eat, (not sure they'll add that feature) then why not be able to farm too? I mean you can already blacksmith, and sell the swords and armor you make, why not farm and sell those goods too. Some players might enjoy that more than others, but even the players that like it less, what are you going to do after you beat the game? This way you can continue playing and building your wealth and such. Or say you run out of money and items you need to survive at some point in the game, you could go home, grow some plants and sell them so you can repair equipment and buy supplies.

Omg, single best feature I've heard so far. I mean the whole game in general sounds great but I've always loved the concept of owning a home in game. Even as far back as Baldur's Gate and Diablo 2 I day dreamed about having a home in game to go to. I just hope there is more variety and more features to the player house than there was in Fallout 3. I'm really hoping that they make the 2 million mark, lack of a player house would be very sad. Preferably I'd like as much home customization as they give in The Sims 3, but I've been saying for years all games should incorporate the features of the sims. Homes, marriage, jobs (in this case maybe a bounty board for monster hunting, or catching a thief, or something), reproduction, food and sleep needs, that sort of thing. A lot of games already have features like this here and there but not all in one place, besides the sims, but the sims isn't as great as a game like this.