Update #38: Meet the Developers with Mark Bremerkamp, Lead Animator

[rjshae]

Nice read. It is always great to get to know more about the guys making this game.

 

Next week Josh is planning to have another game mechanics update for you.

This scares me. It will either be very good, or it will suck horribly. And we have had too much horrible already. meh.

Oh come on, you can whine better than that.

[Stun]

It's sad how much I love seeing they'll have that in. Hope it means they have a lot more other stuff you rarely see in these games. That was probably my favorite part about ToEE, just the vast array of options compared to the rest of the DnD computer crossovers.

Yes. That's the first thing that popped into my head when I saw 1-h spears: TOEE, which had a staggering list of weapon choices - including semi rare weapons that you don't often see anymore in RPGs. Spiked chains, Ranseurs, Cleavers, Glaives, Staves and Rods that you can actually use as melee weapons....

Edited January 16, 2013 by Stun

[forgottenlor]

_{It's sad how much I love seeing they'll have that in. Hope it means they have a lot more other stuff you rarely see in these games. That was probably my favorite part about ToEE, just the vast array of options compared to the rest of the DnD computer crossovers.}

_{Yes. That's the first thing that popped into my head when I saw 1-h spears: TOEE, which had a staggering list of weapon choices - including semi rare weapons that you don't often see anymore in RPGs. Spiked chains, Ranseurs, Cleavers, Glaives, Staves and Rods that you can actually use as melee weapons....}

 

_{I actually made a party in TOEE where all of my characters except my sorcerer had reach weapons. You could do it in that game, because of the enchant weapon feats and the fact that in turn based combat reach actually mattered.}

Edited January 16, 2013 by forgottenlor

[Ieo]

Well, about mechanics, I think the grimoire-cooldowns are interesting; health/stamina is interesting and a good counterbalance against lack of healing spells/resurrection, class resource management imbalance, and required resting; zonal locked encounter scaling with main campaign bounded scaling sounds great to me; back-loaded objective xp also sounds great to me*.

 

I wish Josh would get rid of the miss mechanic entirely to allow for far more varied and elegant defense solutions, though.

 

Edit: Oh, Obsidian, please also take a look at dynamic encounters--especially patrols and migrations. I hope the engine can do that sort of thing!

 

*It's interesting to me that the people whining about objective xp firstly have very binary and simplistic thinking and secondly assume that noncombat options are always easier than combat. Rather, I'd say taking the combat path has always been easiest or the most direct route in any CRPG of this type. PS:T isn't necessarily an exception because you had to have specific character stats to even see certain dialogue options--if speech skills/stats in PE are going to be robust, then it stands to reason that players must still willingly choose those stats/whatever; likewise, since PE will have factions, you can't be friends with everyone. Obs already said that there's no pacifist path, so anyone who whines otherwise is just throwing a short-sighted tantrum.

Edited January 16, 2013 by Ieo

[Helm]

Nice read. It is always great to get to know more about the guys making this game.

 

Next week Josh is planning to have another game mechanics update for you.

This scares me. It will either be very good, or it will suck horribly. And we have had too much horrible already. meh.

Oh come on, you can whine better than that.

Well, If it isn't dumbed down, then I guess I will hear your whining next week.

[Keyrock]

Initial attacks for the light spear (1h thrust) and the pike (2h thrust)

Oh, hello. Spear and shield (plus)?

Yes! Yes! Yes! Rejoice, no more monkey grip shaped hoops to jump through to be able to use one of the staples of ancient warfare (spear+shield)!

[Hormalakh]

Initial attacks for the light spear (1h thrust) and the pike (2h thrust)

Oh, hello. Spear and shield (plus)?

Yes! Yes! Yes! Rejoice, no more monkey grip shaped hoops to jump through to be able to use one of the staples of ancient warfare (spear+shield)!

 

Your quote reminded me of "Gladiator" for some reason. Hey Devs, any chance we can get a "net" for our fighters to use to entangle enemies? That would be pretty cool.

[rjshae]

But, more importantly, will we have a "shake your groove thing" victory dance animation?

[Tamerlane]

Alright Mark, you've already revealed the existence of both 1- and 2-handed spears. So the only important question remaining is:

 

Javelins?

[Keyrock]

Alright Mark, you've already revealed the existence of both 1- and 2-handed spears. So the only important question remaining is:

 

Pollaxes?

Fixed.

[Tamerlane]

Sawyer has talked about "hybrid" weapons, so I wouldn't be surprised to see some polearm variants.

[Necx]

Bloodlines was pretty damn good..

 

Nice Piece!

[Tuckey]

@Mark

 

Will we be able to see character's faces as sprites? Also I recommend belgian beers as a general rule of thumb.

[Adam Brennecke]

I'll poke Mark to come on here and answer your questions

[Hormalakh]

I'll poke Mark to come on here and answer your questions

Thanks Adam.

[Theobeau]

Always great to read updates with Mr. Bremerkamp's CV reading like a list of the some the best cRPGs of recent times though I'm sure some would argue against some of them.

 

Looking forward to the next update from our favourite heavily tattooed developer.

 

Cheers

[Bartimaeus]

One-handed spears? Wow, I actually may use a spear for the first time in a game...have never liked them two-handed.

[rjshae]

Was it BG where they had the PC head-scratching animation while wielding a wacking-great weapon in the sword hand? Amusing, that was.

[Ieo]

BG had some terrible weapon animations. Are there any games with good staff animations?

 

It's amazing what an aesthetic difference a simple slashing motion plus body posture can make for a given weapon. I play a particular class in an MMO for which there is an exclusive weapon; some people play the class only because they like the weapon. Problem is, I and a good number of other people never use that super-special exclusive weapon because the combat animations are terrible.

 

So I hope the weapon animations will be great. At least not super awkward. And if spears are getting love, I hope less popular melee weapons like staves will get some love too.

[Kaldurenik]

Will we see more then 1 animation for attacks? For example if you do the same attack 3 times in a row you will "continue" to swing the weapon back and forth (just to give a example). Instead of having the character "reset" after each swing.

 

Will we have any special death animations? Enemies melting / exploding / burning to ash?

 

Do you do anything beside animate characters? Do you animate things like trees and so on also?

[J.E. Sawyer]

Will we see more then 1 animation for attacks? For example if you do the same attack 3 times in a row you will "continue" to swing the weapon back and forth (just to give a example). Instead of having the character "reset" after each swing.

 

Will we have any special death animations? Enemies melting / exploding / burning to ash?

Some of these are design-driven answers, so I'll answer a few.

 

We're starting out with one basic attack for each weapon type with variants as a lower priority. Making all of the weapon attacks unique/good is more important (IMO) than having variants. Also, a lot of our animation time is traditionally spent on creatures, and I think having a large bestiary is important. On Black Hound, we put a lot of effort into standard melee variations and I don't think it would have had as large of an impact as additional creatures/creature animations.

 

I'd like to have special death animations and that's something Dimitri, Mark, and I have discussed, but not in detail.

[Ieo]

Will we see more then 1 animation for attacks? For example if you do the same attack 3 times in a row you will "continue" to swing the weapon back and forth (just to give a example). Instead of having the character "reset" after each swing.

 

Will we have any special death animations? Enemies melting / exploding / burning to ash?

Some of these are design-driven answers, so I'll answer a few.

 

We're starting out with one basic attack for each weapon type with variants as a lower priority. Making all of the weapon attacks unique/good is more important (IMO) than having variants. Also, a lot of our animation time is traditionally spent on creatures, and I think having a large bestiary is important. On Black Hound, we put a lot of effort into standard melee variations and I don't think it would have had as large of an impact as additional creatures/creature animations.

 

I'd like to have special death animations and that's something Dimitri, Mark, and I have discussed, but not in detail.

 

Good and unique but simple animations--sounds good.

 

As for different death animations, so long as they're not slow-motion super-lit-up aurora-borealis screen-shaking, I'd be fine with it... (with option to turn off?) Usually these things are just so overdone in (esp console type) video games.

[Hormalakh]

I'd like to have special death animations and that's something Dimitri, Mark, and I have discussed, but not in detail.

 

OMG OMG OMG OMG! YEAHHHHHH. I'm going to be shooting fireballs up my enemies butt all day now. Smells toasty!

 

Death animations: do it!

 

 

Good and unique but simple animations--sounds good.

 

As for different death animations, so long as they're not slow-motion super-lit-up aurora-borealis screen-shaking, I'd be fine with it... (with option to turn off?) Usually these things are just so overdone in (esp console type) video games.

 

Think more in terms of Fallout 1/2 instead of Fallout 3.

Edited January 17, 2013 by Hormalakh

[Keyrock]

I'd like to have special death animations and that's something Dimitri, Mark, and I have discussed, but not in detail.

I'm liking the sound of that. Just a few different types for specific damage types I think would be plenty. For example:

 

Slashing - cut off limbs

Bludgeoning - crush head down to neck

Piercing - Impale completely through torso

Firearm - Blow a visible hole completely through target

Fire - Incinerate to ashes (FO: NV laser style)

Cold - Freeze solid and shatter

Electricity - Convulse wildly while coursing with electricity

Acid - Melt down to puddle (FO: NV plasma style)

Poison - Choke and gag, convulsing, and collapse

 

obviously, I'm just spitballing of the top of my head here.

Edited January 17, 2013 by Keyrock

[Hormalakh]

I'd like to have special death animations and that's something Dimitri, Mark, and I have discussed, but not in detail.

I'm liking the sound of that. Just a few different types for specific damage types I think would be plenty. For example:

 

Slashing - cut off limbs

Bludgeoning - crush head down to neck

Piercing - Impale completely through torso

Firearm - Blow a visible hole completely through target

Fire - Incinerate to ashes (FO: NV laser style)

Cold - Freeze solid and shatter

Electricity - Convulse wildly while coursing with electricity

Acid - Melt down to puddle (FO: NV plasma style)

Poison - Choke and gag, convulsing, and collapse

 

obviously, I'm just spitballing of the top of my head here.

 

A few of these existed in the Baldur Gates. Frozen and petrify especially. You forgot petrify.

 

Also would be interesting to see game mechanics based on this idea. Burned up consumables (scrolls), broken armor/weapons, acid burning through wands. BG also did this with petrify/frozen. Just keep the ultra-loot intact and a variable number of lower-level loot could be destroyed (maybe when "overkills" happen?)

 

Moonstone (a really old game that I played as a kid) had death animations that I still remember. Anyone remember the Baloks biting your head off and chewing it as blood spurted from your neck? I couldn't find any death animations on youtube, but here's a nice memento of the good old days.

 

 

Edit: FOUND THEM!

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=6co2BsNEssA - Burned to a crisp

https://www.youtube....h?v=y650FwFGAAA - Eaten by dragon

https://www.youtube....h?v=uvS4uhVXkmM - Dragged to death b Mudman

https://www.youtube....h?v=nt0rbp8h3BI - Beheaded by axe

https://www.youtube....h?v=9qhODhw0QHM - Head bitten off

https://www.youtube....h?v=O2FsqXONFQg - Stomped by Balok

https://www.youtube....h?v=t5-dvMGi9F0 - Hung by ratmen

https://www.youtube....h?v=uf2gxe6etjk - Squished by troll

https://www.youtube....h?v=fUEKeR_hE4A - Impaled by Trogg

https://www.youtube....h?v=A1zpGVM8vl8 - Impaled by warbeast

 

Ahhh... the good old days. I miss this game.

Edited January 17, 2013 by Hormalakh