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[Loranc]

inertiax

Will there be Heroic epithets or history feat bonuses? extra perks/stat bonuses you get through gameplay? (Expert Excrement Expeditor) or perhaps some for completing the game with the hard modes turned on?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: We think it's good to reward players for playing the game "their" way, so we do plan to give bonuses that fall outside of strict level-ups.

[Tigranes]

I don't see the leveling being any slower than the IE games, at most. And with 6 people in your party, you still had somebody levelling up at least every half hour.

 

I have no strong preferences about the XP system, it really depends on how it all works together.

[C2B]

but that doesn't need to be the only solution.

 

Anyway, we'll see what's what when we get clarification.

[Loranc]

squiddybiscuit

You mentioned in an interview that there is no resurrection, and very little healing, in Project Eternity. What exactly does that mean for the Priest, who is traditionally very big on those two things - will he basically be a combat focused class?

Also, assuming there are "undead" in the game, will there be a "soul" twist to them?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: It means the priest can focus on party buffs and being directly involved in combat instead of being a healing battery. Also, priests can restore Stamina, but several classes have similar abilities. Health is the statistic that requires rest to recover.

There's a little bit about undead and necromancy in today's update.

[Loranc]

deonisius

So far everything I'm seeing here sounds great, but here is a very important question I have: Does the game scale to your level (eg: Fallout 3/Oblivion) or is it set more like Fallout 1/2? For me personally (and some might disagree of course) level scaling kills the entire fun of exploring and finding good loot. And of course the lack of challenge on scaled mechanic is also ever present and makes me not care about side quests (who cares at which point of the story I am and how leveled up I am since everyone around is pretty much the same). So what is your guys plan on this?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: Scaled content will be used minimally, and almost entirely on the critical path. We don't want to push players to grind to make their way through the game's central plot. Side content will probably not be scaled at all. This includes wandering off in a random direction in the wilderness. It should feel dangerous and risky, IMO.

[Loranc]

milath

First, Chris, as an aspiring writer myself I just wanted to tell you how much I admire your work and the fact that you (and your compatriots as well) have given gamers something to point to as examples of truly great writing in games over the years.

My question: As the developers of yet another successful Kickstarter campaign, and ones who usually deal with publishers, do you guys have any insights with respect to how the high-profile Kickstarter movement is changing the way the industry is looking game development in general? For example, are publishers becoming more receptive to smaller non-AAA projects with more niche audiences at all? Are developers perhaps gaining a bit more of a say in their projects? Do you believe there will ever be a day game publishers might not be needed anymore at all thanks to digital distribution and crowd-funding sites such as KS?

Thanks guys! I look forward to 2014-ish with great anticipation. Can't wait to see what you all come up with!

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Chris Avellone nods and says:

I don't think publishers care about the amounts being donated on KS right now. What they will likely care about is if the titles that get financed go on to sell a million units, and THEN I think we'll get a sea change in terms of them being open to certain submissions. Then again, it will likely fall into the same trap of only accepting games that are similar to the original KS project rather than niche projects in general. Still, if it makes for more RPGs, all the better!

I don't know how the industry will shake out. I do like working for fans, overall, and I like the Kickstarter process because we're allowed to be in more direct contact and share design ideas.

[rjshae]

I don't see the leveling being any slower than the IE games, at most. And with 6 people in your party, you still had somebody levelling up at least every half hour.

 

I have no strong preferences about the XP system, it really depends on how it all works together.

 

Didn't the old AD&D-based IE games used different XP scales for different classes? That led to some scatter in when characters would level up. For newer systems it tends to happen all at once. At 60 hours of game play and 12 levels, that's 1 party level per 5 hours. Personally, I can live with that. There will be plenty of other things to keep us occupied.

Edited October 15, 2012 by rjshae

[Loranc]

Woo... we're getting a lot of answers today, this is nice. Just wish he'd answer my question about the 4,000,000 stretch goal for cats

[Monte Carlo]

Hmmm sounds less like an IE game and more like Sawyer finally remaking Darklands.

[Loranc]

arbyday

Given your past experience with making wonderful RPGs, what are the most important (or were the hardest for you to master) skills you think you bring to development of this title that another dev team might not have?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Tim Cain: I can answer that in one word. Editing. It has taken me a long time to learn that I don't need to add every feature I could possibly think of to all of my games. You need to learn what is possible to add and what would take a long time to add, and then prioritize your features so that the best ones get the most time allotted to them.

[Loranc]

inertiax

do you plan on letting us know the exact radius of our spells? ToEE or will it be more up in the air like iwd bg pst

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: I'd like to show the AoE and it shouldn't be hard to do. In fact... I think Steve may already have that working...

[Loranc]

arbyday

Given your past experience with making wonderful RPGs, what are the most important (or were the hardest for you to master) skills you think you bring to development of this title that another dev team might not have?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Chris Avellone thinks:

The ability to both present, allow, and then design a game's reactivity around the character build and options allowed for in character creation. If we give you a choice in how to design your character, we need to honor that throughout the game, from race, to culture, to class, to abilities. There have been titles in the past (and ones we've done in the past) that haven't honored this compact, and it's important to us that we do.

[Loranc]

azo_everburning

Josh, I understand you'll be DMing the D&D session that will be streamed later today. Can you give us - and your future party of adventurers - a smal sneak preview/tease on what is coming?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: The session is called BLOOD IN THE BRINE and it involves rescuing people from Nelanther pirate scum, Umberlant dagger-lickers, and weresharks. 7th level characters. Air Genasi Fig/Rog, Gold Dwarf Rog, Moon Elf Druid, Human Enchanter, Ghostwise Halfing Bbn/Rgr. w00t

[Loranc]

riggo49

There is currently a lot of interest in the KS comments about the Giant in the Endless Path... Will the giant itself be in the dungeon and will we learn lore about it as we move deeper into the dungeon?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: It is... a mystery.

[Valorian]

deonisius

So far everything I'm seeing here sounds great, but here is a very important question I have: Does the game scale to your level (eg: Fallout 3/Oblivion) or is it set more like Fallout 1/2? For me personally (and some might disagree of course) level scaling kills the entire fun of exploring and finding good loot. And of course the lack of challenge on scaled mechanic is also ever present and makes me not care about side quests (who cares at which point of the story I am and how leveled up I am since everyone around is pretty much the same). So what is your guys plan on this?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: Scaled content will be used minimally, and almost entirely on the critical path. We don't want to push players to grind to make their way through the game's central plot. Side content will probably not be scaled at all. This includes wandering off in a random direction in the wilderness. It should feel dangerous and risky, IMO.

 

Oh my... So they call exploring as much of their world and finishing as many of their quests - grinding? It gets better and better.

[NerdBoner]

I don't see the leveling being any slower than the IE games, at most. And with 6 people in your party, you still had somebody levelling up at least every half hour.

 

I have no strong preferences about the XP system, it really depends on how it all works together.

 

Didn't the old AD&D-based IE games used different XP scales for different classes? That led to some scatter in when characters would level up. For newer systems it tends to happen all at once. At 60 hours of game play and 12 levels, that's 1 party level per 5 hours. Personally, I can live with that. There will be plenty of other things to keep us occupied.

do you have a link to this info?

'cuz that was one of the things i was wondering about eternity...whether or not it would be like BG1 (a relatively low level adventure) that could allow for your character to progress further down the line in another game (growing into higher levels, even epic)

[Loranc]

When does this end anyways, anyone know? I gotta start getting ready for work in 1 hour 20 minutes.

[Loranc]

KellyCommaRoy

I'm a voice actor with a thin resume but a huge enthusiasm for games. Is there a way for me to get involved?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Chris Avellone thinks:

• You can always volunteer for Kickstarter projects. There may not be money in it, but hey, experience is experience.
  
• A more complicated answer from our audio producer Mikey Dowling:
  
• The number one most important piece of advice I can give you: do theater. If you've acted in the pass, awesome! Keep it up. Acting is the number one skill you need for voice acting, it often goes neglected.
  

After that: make a demo reel. If it's what you really want to do, get a demo reel together that shows your range and chops. You don't really need more than a minute, but try to cover a good wealth of material in that minute's time. One thing to be conscience of when finalizing the demo reel (and this is just form the perspective of someone who listens to auditions regularly) is the mix. You don't want someone to listen to it and immediately blow their ears out, nor do you want it to be too quiet. A good level (TV standard broadcasting level is -21db, commercials are at -12db, somewhere in between is fine) is incredibly welcome when going through auditions/reels.

Once you have a reel in a place that you're comfortable with, get in touch with an active voice actor for feedback. It may sound weird, but some of them are incredibly helpful when it comes to that sort of thing. A voice actor I've met recently (and who is now a good buddy) did just that when he got started and it was the best thing for him. When you get to a point where you want to share it with some voice actors, I will absolutely put you in touch with people who will give you feedback. With the demo reel in hand it will be matter of getting your voice in front of those that make the decisions for games/shows. That's where things get the most complicated as the best way to do so is to get an agent, but the agent will also want you to join the Union, so... that could be a good deal of work. Getting into some non-union gigs (there are a TON of animes that are done non-union) will get your voice out there and once people hear it, it can help you get in a better position to get more gigs.

It is by no means the easiest field to get into, but with work and determination, you can absolutely make it. Another great source for voice actors is a book written by Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt called Voice-Over Voice Actor: What It's Like Behind the Mic. Amazing read for anyone interested to get into the industry.

[Monte Carlo]

Levelling at a snail's pace, fighting-as-grinding, story-tyme XP awards. LOL Sawyer is actually giving the impression that he doesn't actually like old-skool RPGs very much.

 

Maybe it's just that his idea of fun and mine aren't in the same groove. Is this really the guy who made IWD??

[Maf]

Appreciate your work Loranc!

Scaling looks fine and I personally have no worries about the XP system.

My preference would also be monster xp instead of quest xp but I can see their point about completing it in different ways and not giving any solution (with or without deaths) an advantage.

Basically, I got faith in Obsidz!

[Loranc]

Appreciate your work Loranc!

Scaling looks fine and I personally have no worries about the XP system.

My preference would also be monster xp instead of quest xp but I can see their point about completing it in different ways and not giving any solution (with or without deaths) an advantage.

Basically, I got faith in Obsidz!

 

You're welcome, I figure someone will make a thread syncing all this information together later on. But for now this is sort of a 'rough' draft so people can check out what's going on.

Edited October 15, 2012 by Loranc

[Sensuki]

I specifically asked about the XP for kill just then, let's see if they answer it.

They've already answered two of my questions so they may skip me

[Valorian]

My preference would also be monster xp instead of quest xp but I can see their point about completing it in different ways and not giving any solution (with or without deaths) an advantage.

 

One doesn't exclude the other. Quest xp can coexist with kill xp.

[Loranc]

GrueWithNoLight

Since I will either have a thief or be one, I am curious about traps. Are you planning on having invisible traps (NWN style) or are you going to model them so they are visible? So will we see what is slicing us, or will it just say, "Darn, not fast enough. -4 hp"

And thank you for making this game!

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: We haven't talked much about traps, but personally I like them to be physically present/modeled into the environment somehow. Even in IWD I liked keeping the pressure plates linked to specific pieces of the environment (e.g. the darkest sets of stones in the hallways in the lower levels of Dragon's Eye).

[Monte Carlo]

My preference would also be monster xp instead of quest xp but I can see their point about completing it in different ways and not giving any solution (with or without deaths) an advantage.

 

One doesn't exclude the other. Quest xp can coexist with kill xp.

 

We'd all be cool with that.