Adam at Work

[alanschu]

You're presumably long gone, but I'm curious how you define alpha?

 

We tend to define it as feature complete (all features we want to be in the game exist in some capacity) but I think other places apply the term earlier than we do.

[anameforobsidian]

Three (and a half) questions, thanks if you get to them.

I'm curious about the immediate timeline.  What features are left to implement in a rough form? 

Also, how much of the work that's being done now would transfer to another game in the same engine?

What features would you add if you could, but are too time expensive?  How would a sequel for project eternity incorporate and change the work you've already done?

[Hassat Hunter]

Not sure if still going, but here goes another question.

 

Will PE feature an investigation (side-)quest, and if so will the perpetrator be randomnised so you need to use your brains and wit each time instead of just the first time and then fast-forward next times since replaying these types of quests is usually boring (see also: Knights of the Old Republic I and II's investigations).

[Adam Brennecke]

Hey everyone,

 

I'll see if I can get to most the questions that came in after I left.

 

Thanks,

Adam

[Adam Brennecke]

Keeping in line with... me...

 

Any funniest bugs you can share with us?

Also, are you doing VO here too? (thanks for that btw)

 

No, I'm not doing any VO.

[Darkpriest]

Will we have Obs staff singing songs aka NWN2 bards in random taverns? :D

[IndiraLightfoot]

Will PE start with a tutorial area like NWN2 vanilla, a lobby like in NWN2 MotB, or a plain character creation screen?

[Adam Brennecke]

Can you go into brief detail on how a semi-difficult encounter will play out in a battle in PoE? I'm anxious for a video, but I know that won't happen for a while. I'm just trying to imagine how the classes will play out.

 

Could you give us a text description of a, say, memorable encounter you had so far playing the game? Your tactics, etc. 

 

That could be amazing.

 

Thanks!

 

Most encounters involve much pausing, positioning your party, assessing threats, looking through your ability/spells, casting damage spells, buffing/healing the party, keeping an eye on stamina/health, etc.

[Adam Brennecke]

Have there been any ideas that had to be abandoned or drastically changed? Was there any features you really liked but had to give up because it didn't fit into the game world?

 

Further to this. Do you guys make random funny stuff for the hell of it? We saw the +3 medicine ball flail during the Kickstarter campaign. Can you tell us any other funny stuff you made as well that obviously won't be in the game?

 

Hundreds of ideas. That's part of being a game developer. You have to learn how to let go of ideas.

[Adam Brennecke]

Thanks for answering questions.

 

Does Unity have underlying problems that make large, open areas difficult to do or is it just a design issue for the RPGs that seem to be having trouble with this recently? I've been noticing a lot of funneling paths in Wasteland 2 for example. If it is a technical problem, PoE's pre-rendered backgrounds should eliminate the issue, so I'm wondering if you'll have plenty of areas with more than just a few obvious routes to move in?

 

I can't speak to other games. Our areas are designed like the IE games, so you should expect Pillars areas to be very similar.

[Auxilius]

How does it feel to be awesome?

[Adam Brennecke]

Hey Adam, that's super of you to offer your time like this. I watched a pal play South park and I feel like the execution was amazing. One thing though I hope doesn't translate into Pillars of Eternity was the amount of choices to have in combat felt way too samey throughout the game. The attacks are kind of fun to watch once in a while but not hundreds of times. If there is not a budget for a lot of tactics, is there anything you guys can do so each encounter feels unique? Whether it be quips by the npc's like you did in south park, or some randomness. Maybe Enemy's can swap weapons in battle to change tactics or something? 

 

The two projects have different goals. I wouldn't compare the two. Apples and oranges.

[Adam Brennecke]

Thought of another question.

 

Has work started yet on any of the Kickstarter rewards that aren't part of the actual game? For example the campaign almanac or the novella. Will those be released with the game or before/after?

 

Yes! Our goal is to have the rewards ready by the time we ship the game.

[Adam Brennecke]

Hello Adam, thanks for taking time to answer questions.

 

Can you tell us anything cool about the mega-dungeon?

 

No problems if you can't.

 

Best,

 

MC

 

I don't want to spoil anything. Here's something: Brandon Adler designed one of the levels.

[Leferd]

How badass are priests? How do they compare to fighters and paladins in combat efficacy?

[Adam Brennecke]

Can you give us an example of an idea for game play mechanic that was implemented that you either brought into this game that is unique, or maybe something you liked in another game and you borrowed it to fit into your game? An example might be how Gears of War introduced cover based shooting in a way that was unique at it's time, and since then other games use that tactic now. Similarly in that context, is it possible to use the environment for strategic use in combat? Such as maybe an archer or mage can attack a bunch of barrels that explode, or shoot down a hanging lantern that would catch something on fire...

 

The scripted interactions are unique. It's been done before, but not in this type of game, and to the extent and refinement that we are shooting for in Pillars (to my knowledge, please correct me). I think it's a great addition, and allows our designers to run wild without blowing up the budget.

 

You might be able to use the environment for a tactical advantage in combat, but it's not the norm. Most of the time the environment dictates where choke points are, and how much space you have to navigate in and around battles.

[Adam Brennecke]

Yeah, I played Stick of Truth a tad bit, pretty fun game - But it's really waaaaaaaay too easy on you, I think I lost three battles, the rest were a cakewalk, In my opinion. In any case, it's a pretty brilliant game.

 

Question to you: Is PoE beaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaautiful? Or a Frankenstein monster waiting to be electrocuted and awoken? (uhmm)

 

umm. yes?

[Adam Brennecke]

Hi Adam,

 

I'm curious to find out how the integration of the KS contributor NPC designs have been coming along? I'd imagine you're getting quite a few unusual ideas, which I'll bet are a challenge to adopt into the setting. Could you speak to that? Thank you.

 

It's going well! We are still in the process of getting information from everyone - so please make sure and get your survey done before the deadline.

 

We are contacting people on a case-by-case basis if we see a potential problem with the idea, or if it doesn't fit.

[Living One]

A question about the expansions.Not specifically the one that's been already announced but more in general,for the whole series.

Will all expansions be BG-style(meaning more or less equally focused on story/quests and dungeon crawling) like the main game or will there be some heavier on either dungeon crawling like IWD or story like PST?

Edited March 10, 2014 by Living One

[Adam Brennecke]

You're presumably long gone, but I'm curious how you define alpha?

 

We tend to define it as feature complete (all features we want to be in the game exist in some capacity) but I think other places apply the term earlier than we do.

 

We have a similar definition of Alpha. Not only do we have all the features, but all of the content is in the game as well.

[Adam Brennecke]

Are you getting overtime pay for this?

 

I only get paid in cookies. And chocolate. Arby's also works for me.

[Pipyui]

We've been hearing a lot that scenery design is very complicated and may be difficult for modders.  Could you define "difficult?"  Is it a case where the software you use is not freely available, or is the procedure itself just very convoluted?

 

Have you guys decided on a linux distributor yet?

 

Thanks for the time and transparency!

[BrainMuncher]

Are you using physX rigidbodies to handle collisions or have you written your own collision prevention/handling using raycasts or something, while moving everything "manually"?

[Monte Carlo]

^ Yes, whatever he said. I totally want to know that too. I'm up on all these technical stuff. Does the game come on floppy discs?

[GrayAngel]

I have a question about the party selection in Pillars of Eternity will we can change party(except main char) any time we want in the game with something like Party Selection menu(DAO system) or will it be like in BG we will have to go in some area(before the keep) to reselect them into are party?

Edited March 10, 2014 by GrayAngel