Pillars of Eternity

[Seatroll]

http://eternity.obsidian.net/images/eternity-logo.png

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What is Project Eternity?

 

Project Eternity will take the central hero, memorable companions and the epic exploration of Baldur's Gate, add in the fun, intense combat and dungeon diving of Icewind Dale, and tie it all together with the emotional writing and mature thematic exploration of Planescape: Torment.

Combat uses a tactical real-time with pause system - positioning your party and coordinating attacks and abilities is one of the keys to success. The world map is dotted with unique locations and wilderness ripe for exploration and questing. You'll create your own character and collect companions along the way - taking him or her not just through this story, but, with your continued support, through future adventures. You will engage in dialogues that are deep, and offer many choices to determine the fate of you and your party. ...and you'll experience a story that explores mature themes and presents you with complex, difficult choices to shape how your story plays out.

We are excited at this chance to create something new, yet reminiscent of those great games and we want you to be a part of it as well.

 

 

Пожалуй самый ожидаемый для меня проект с Кикстартера, обещают духовного наследника BG. Релиз намечен на 2014 год, посмотрим что выйдет.

 

 

Тему почему то не нашел, поэтому решил создать сам, дабы сюда постили новости и видео связанные с игрой.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUleDEFkUtE&feature=player_detailpage#t=110s

 

 

скрины недавно слитые в сеть, алсо под спойлером несколько

 

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Изменено 11 декабря, 2013 пользователем Арг

[Арг]

Good stuff.

У меня Нуменера и сабж как-то сами собой слились в одну игру.

[Casval Sylvius]

  В 6/26/2013 в 9:12 PM, Seatroll сказал:

Пожалуй самый ожидаемый для меня проект с Кикстартера…

Наряду с Numenera тоже самый ожидаемый проект с Kickstarter'а.

Ну и небольшое 45' видео:

[Картман]

все вроде бы хорошо, но я терпеть не могу играть несколькими героями сразу

[BORMALEI]

"Коракс думает что you выглядите очень вкусно сегодня" (с)

Это тоже выглядит и (насколько хватило моего знания английского)обещается неплохо.

О, одноручный топор детектед -уже пол дела:)

Изменено 27 июня, 2013 пользователем BORMALEI

[Seatroll]

  В 6/27/2013 в 1:15 PM, BORMALEI сказал:

"Коракс думает что you выглядите очень вкусно сегодня" (с)

Это тоже выглядит и (насколько хватило моего знания английского)обещается неплохо.

О, одноручный топор детектед -уже пол дела:)

 

http://eternity.gamepedia.com/Barbarian

[Seatroll]

Занятное интервью http://anonofholland...lone-interview/

 

Алсо карта мира

 

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http://anonofholland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/trentonmap1920.jpg

 

[Scarab-Phoenix]

Карта на удивление стандартна и безлика.

[Seatroll]

Нарисуй там вулкан в центре

[La_Costa]

Как карта может быть стандартной? Перегиб феникс.

[Scarab-Phoenix]

  В 7/1/2013 в 11:28 AM, La_Costa_man сказал:

Как карта может быть стандартной?

В фэнтези не бывает стандартных карт?

2. БЕЗ КАРТЫ НИ НА ШАГ

[La_Costa]

Пример "неповторимой" карты покажи? Всё ему не так. А сам карту сделал то?

А твоя ссылка является таким достоверным источником? Человек написал о создании фэнтези мира, подчеркнул явные ляпы "многих миров".

Изменено 1 июля, 2013 пользователем La_Costa_man

[Scarab-Phoenix]

  В 7/1/2013 в 12:10 PM, La_Costa_man сказал:

Пример "неповторимой" карты покажи?

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http://pic.fullrest.ru/upl/DdM7vtWo.gif

 

 

  В 7/1/2013 в 12:10 PM, La_Costa_man сказал:

А сам карту сделал то?

Сделал, и не одну.

 

  В 7/1/2013 в 12:10 PM, La_Costa_man сказал:

А твоя ссылка является таким достоверным источником?

Является ли Анджей Сапковский достоверным источником, решает каждый для себя. Я лично у Сапковского только статьи и могу читать без ужаса.

Вообще, сам вопрос "является ли твоя ссылка таким достоверным источником" на редкость дурацкий.

[La_Costa]

1) "Закрываем глаза и рисуем континент среди океана, главное чтобы не был похож на квадрат"

2)Пруф.

3)Да, вопрос не в тему :x

И нужно переместится в корректною тему для этой темы разговора.

Изменено 1 июля, 2013 пользователем La_Costa_man

[Malbogatra]

  В 7/1/2013 в 11:28 AM, La_Costa_man сказал:

Как карта может быть стандартной? Перегиб феникс.

Практически копия средиземья. Сильно напоминает карту из... блин, да они все одинаковые. Слева - море, справа степи/горы. Несколько рек текут влево/вниз. Большой лес. Несколько островов недалекот от берега. Загадочная земля вдалеке. Все по шаблону.

[Scarab-Phoenix]

  В 7/1/2013 в 1:25 PM, Malbogatra сказал:

Практически копия средиземья. Сильно напоминает карту из...

Фаэрун, как по мне.

[Seatroll]

Вопросы и ответы (рпгкодекс)

 

 

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Originally intended for two Obsidianites to answer (including producer Adam Brennecke), it would seem project director Josh Sawyer took it upon himself to solo through everything. Please don't be distraught if you question wasn't asked or answered: you are still a very special person. Besides, you could always ask your questions directly to Josh Sawyer over at Formspring.

 

http://www.rpgcodex.net/gallery/9967.jpg

Left: Sawyer before Q&A. Right: Sawyer after Q&A.

 

Now, onto the questions. And answers. Woo!

 

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Starym asked this question in slow-motion:

Details on the slow motion mechanic - will it be adjustable speeds, only one, and whether they're going to spend any/a lot of time balancing how combat works in that mode as it looks like it could be the primary way a lot of people play.

 

 

We will probably allow users to adjust the speed of "slow combat". We will also be testing the feature at different settings and looking for player feedback as times goes on. Even if we allow players to adjust the slow combat speed, we want the default to feel good.

 

Zed developed his own franchise to ask:

With Eternity as Obsidian's own IP, how do you guys feel about taking risks (in game design and narration)? With this in mind: Have you talked about where you want to take Eternity as a franchise in future titles? A continuation of the Baldur's Gate-like formula as set by Project Eternity, or perhaps derivations towards something that plays more like IWD/ToEE, or perhaps something more like Torment/MotB?

 

 

Project Eternity is relatively conservative as far as new IPs go, but I think we can grow it in more unusual ways over time. One of the best ways we've found to test out potentially "wild" (sometimes more wild than others) ideas is through expansions or DLCs, but as the IP grows overall, I think we can find a lot of opportunities to create more risky stories and corners of the world to explore.

 

Excidium transformed into a dog and barked:

What animal forms are available? Is shapeshifting a static special ability or does the druid acquire different animal forms throughout the game?

 

 

Druids transform into anthropomorphic animal forms, more like lycanthropes in appearance. We're still figuring out how many forms they will be able to take, but we want it to be something that expands for druids over the course of the game. Druids primarily transform into their animalistic forms to gain the powers associated with that form. Because we're using more "spirit" forms than the standard form of an animal, the powers the druids gains in those forms can be more unusual and magical.

 

As a side note, druids cannot hold weapons in their special forms, but they can always cast spells.

 

 

 

 

http://www.rpgcodex.net/gallery/9968.jpg

No-one knew how to light a fire and they all died in the dark the end.

 

Sensuki once hired a mercenary who asked:

Kickstarter Update #3 and various other postings have hinted that the game will allow temporary characters to join the party under special circumstances. Has this 'follower' mechanic been kept and would it be possible for a non-cNPC to join the party for a certain quest while remaining separate from the party size? Would this possible allow for some larger battles?

 

 

The party size can never be larger than six standard characters, but some quests may have NPCs who come along with the party or arrive at a location when the party does. Additionally, the stronghold design currently features hirelings that help protect the stronghold and offer additional benefits, but they do not accompany the party out in the wild.

 

Roguey scaled this question to your answer:

If you leave a companion at your house or stronghold will they continue leveling up when you do? If not, will you be able to pay for their experience like in Storm of Zehir?

 

 

In our current design, companions and adventurers (created at the Adventurers Hall) gain a fractional amount of experience while they are at the stronghold. The stronghold system gives you options for increasing the portion of experience that those characters gain while they aren't in the party.

 

Mindx2 seeks to crowdfund this question:

Based on the recent problems Double Fine has had managing their Kickstarter project what precautions/ steps/ safeguards/ etc. have you put into place? What major problems/ issues do you most fear and want to avoid? How do you make sure your team can/ will avoid these pitfalls since Kickstarter money is finite (unless you go all Tim Schafer and scrounge for money through Humble Bundles/ Steam/ pre-sales/ episodic releases)?

 

 

We have consistently tried to focus on the specific features we told players and backers we would provide. Projecting the specifics of such a large game is not exact, but we can always look at the list of things we need to provide: 11 classes, 6 races, two big cities, a 15-level mega-dungeon, etc.

 

The most resource-intensive element of the game is, unsurprisingly, the creation of environment art. We have known this from the beginning and have been watching our development pipelines closely all the way through our vertical slice. We're continuing to look for ways to improve our efficiency to make sure our areas meet the visual quality standards we and players expect but don't prevent us from making a large game.

 

 

 

 

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dungdoor_003 being prototyped. Perhaps you shall meet one day.

 

Space Satan's question is class-specific:

Will there be quests available of for certain classes, i.e. Stronghold in BG2.

 

 

We are not planning to create class-specific quests. Sorry.

 

Hormalakh asked his cat, but his cat won't answer:

Can you discuss what the different animal companions will be for the ranger and whether these companions will play any differently? Will they offer different tactical/strategic choices in combat, different choices in the story, or will their differences just be for flavor?

 

 

It is more likely that they will offer different tactical choices than story choices, but we want to make the differences more than just cosmetic. We don't have a full animal companion list yet because we're still developing our bestiary.

 

Kem0sabe has more faith in his question than in developers:

At this point is there a risk that Obsidian is obsessing over particular areas of the game, like the design of rules and mechanics, leading to an over-designed game with too many discreet systems?

 

 

Given the choice between an over-designed game and an under-designed game, I'd prefer the former, but I think the risk is low. We design a lot of the fundamental mechanics up front and let the other systems or pieces of content develop more organically as the project progresses.

 

For example, the classes were initially designed from levels 1-5 and done in waves (starting with the "core four"). We're not going to develop the remaining character levels until we've played around with the classes in the low range for a while. Doing so will allow us to adapt the classes' remaining content and even adjust their core mechanics if we feel it is necessary.

 

Tuluse asked this question in another time period:

In regards to expanding PE's world and lore, has any thought been given to setting sequels at different points in time instead of different geographical points? Say about 300-400 years in the future, when the industrial revolution is just getting started. Maybe get Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky and Jason Anderson together to work on it?

 

 

Setting a potential sequel in a different geographical area doesn't prevent us from moving the timeline forward more significantly, but our long-term plans for sequels are still loose.

 

 

 

 

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Not even the lustful secrets of inanimate objects are safe from this cipher's mind-reading abilities.

 

Lancehead whispers:

I believe you said sneaking will be a little more involved than select skill -> chart a course with mouse-clicking; can you tell how you plan to make stealth (more) involving mechanics-wise? What kinds of feedback will the player receive while sneaking? Do enemies have multiple alert levels? If you alert an enemy, is the whole room/area alerted, or is it a viable tactic to pick off one by one (or at least in small groups)? Does stealth have any application outside of combat zones, scripted or otherwise?

 

 

Right now our basic implementation is more involved than what was in the Infinity Engine games. Party members have a radius around them (based on their individual Stealth skills) that represents the range at which a creature's perception radius can notice them. This radius can grow larger based on the character's actions, so if you're sneaking around and you start casting a spell, it will bump up considerably.

 

Creatures do have two detection states (other than not detecting anything): investigation and alert. If you just "bump" the edge of a creature's detection radius, it will typically move to investigate. If it gets close enough, it will switch over to an alert state. If the creature is already hostile toward the party, it will attack and "call for help" (to use an Infinity Engine term), potentially alerting its nearby allies.

 

Rake took a minute to describe the environment before asking:

What are your thoughts on descriptive text in the log and in dialogues? It's more of a Fallout thing than an IE one, but Planescape:Torment had it and was better for it. Do you think it offers much to an isometric game fleshing out the world to be worth the effort?

 

 

We are currently writing our dialogues with descriptive text in the general style of Planescape: Torment. We don't use it on every node, but we do use it when we feel it adds something to the conversation.

 

Infinitron has an exclusive request:

I'd like us to try to get a Kodeks Eksklusive look at Project Eternity's ability scores in this Q&A. We know they already exist. Let's see how crazy they are.

 

 

The specific list may change, but the biggest difference players will notice in Attributes (compared to A/D&D ability scores) is that all of their bonuses are uniformly applied instead of being keyed to specific types of weapons or attacks. E.g. one Attribute affects bonus damage (and healing) and one affects bonus accuracy -- regardless of the weapons or spells being used.

 

We would like your character concepts to be viable regardless of how you distribute your Attributes. Part of our solution for this is decoupling things like Attribute-based accuracy and damage bonuses from specific types of gear or class abilities. The focus of your character may change based on how you shift the points around, but we want to avoid setting up "must-have" and "must-dump" stats.

 

 

 

 

http://www.rpgcodex.net/gallery/9971.jpg

Nine out of ten players quick-saved before entering the purple stuff-room. The rest didn't know about quick-saving.

 

Kaldurenik, the Antichrist, asks:

Within the world of PE are there things like "demons" other dimensions and so in? (i guess this is a lore question).

 

 

So far, discussion of "extra-planar" type creatures has not come up much (if at all) in our designs. The gods seem to have a variety of agents or forms that operate among mortals, but it's unclear to people if those agents are elevated mortal souls, an aspect of the god, or something else.

 

Surf Solar thought of this question while sitting in the dark:

I really wonder if there is some sort of Underdark-alike area in P:E's world. For some reason I love that place.

 

 

The Dyrwood and Eir Glanfath do not contain any Underdark-ish areas, but this game is set in a relatively small part of the overall world. Who knows what else may be out there?!

 

Deuxhero is expecting a gender-specific answer:

How significant will the game's reaction to the player's sex be? Will it just be cosmetic and a change of pronouns? Will some quests have different solutions open to characters of one sex? Are there NPCs that will react different to each sex?

 

 

It will be a minor factor on occasion, but reactions to sex will be infrequent overall.

 

Grunker used [silk Cloth] and [iron Ingot] to craft this question:

In most RPGs, the possibility of crafting gear usually means that either 1) Rewards and items in the game world are worthless as crafting is better. 2) Crafting is worthless as rewards and items in the game world are better.

Even if "balanced" the two systems will overlap and often create an either-or situation. In games that solve this, crafting usually makes consumables or upgrades and are thus apart from the item systems so they do not overlap. In PE, it currently looks like gear can be directly crafted. How will you solve crafting's innate problem of either substituting, or being substituted by, other systems?

 

 

Almost all of our crafting recipes are used to either create consumables or to add/upgrade properties on existing items. Outside of special quests (which aren't part of the crafting system), we don't intend to use the system to make non-consumable equipment items.

 

CappenVarra used a Wand of Questions:

Are there magic items that give cross-class abilities - the equivalent of IE items that give non-casters access to spells (e.g. Daystar in BG2 can give fighters access to the Sunray spell) etc.?

 

 

We are planning for such items, yes. They will probably add spells or abilities that can be used on a per-encounter or per-rest basis, regardless of who is using the item.

 

 

 

 

http://www.rpgcodex.net/gallery/9972.jpg

Do you... [Agility] Jump across; [intelligence] Start a business venture with your friend Jim back in New Heomar; [Charisma] Charm bridge.

 

Roguey took a break from combat to ask this question:

The Severed Hand in Icewind Dale II was a fun change of pace. Are you thinking about including enemy-infested areas in Eternity where most combat is optional and the focus can be on dialogue menus and exploring?

 

 

I don't think an area like IWD2's Severed Hand would be out of place for Project Eternity. I liked the blend of non-combat interactions and big fights in those areas and I'd like to see more of them in our game.

 

Sensuki hired a voice actor for this question:

Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and Planescape: Torment had very different focuses regarding the use of the voice-over budget for the game. Baldur's Gate focused on flavoring the world. Every NPC had an introduction line upon selection or interjection (whether unique or generic) and there was lots of ambient voice-over present in the areas. Baldur's Gate 2 had a lot of unique battle cries and voice-over work for key NPCs in the game. Icewind Dale had a lot of high-quality unique voice sets for party members and VO for key NPCs. Planescape Torment had fantastic VO work for companions. Obsidian has an excellent reputation when it comes to voice over work (Guiness Record for F:NV and budget-stretching magic of SoZ). What is your plan for voice-over distribution in Project Eternity? Which areas are of a key focus?

 

 

We haven't developed an extensive plan for our VO, but we're going to focus on major NPCs, companions, and player voice sets. We will probably have a good amount of walla (background/ambient crowd noise) but will not try to have a lot of voiced one-off lines for minor NPCs.

 

Gozma will save-scum this question:

Is the game balanced to be played without reloading (aside from play stoppages) on the first game if the player wishes?

 

 

A lot of that depends on the difficulty setting and the player's skill, but we aren't designing encounters to require prescience. We're trying to avoid sucker punches in fights, enemy tactics that demand a very specific combination of items, classes, spells, or abilities to overcome. While there will certainly be strategic and tactical choices that will work very poorly in certain fights, we'd rather give the player a number of ways to win a battle. If we wind up creating specific formulae or one valid strategy to win a fight, I think that takes a lot away from the player's potential enjoyment.

 

Coffeetable's AI need further input:

In the IE games, enemies were very predictable: the vast majority of enemy mages for example would use the exact same sequence of spells, melee enemies would generally beeline for the nearest party member, and they'd all carry very similar kit. Does Obsidian have any tools that allows designers to vary enemy AI on a per-encounter (or per-reload) basis?

 

 

Steve is developing the caster AI tools for us right now. While we're not going to create some sort of Deep Blue-esque 4-dimensional chess spellcasting routines, casters will exhibit some randomness and adaptation in how they cast. They're unlikely to change their behavior wholesale after a reload but they should have variation. This should also apply to a wide variety of class abilities, not just traditional spells.

 

 

 

 

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[Seatroll]

О компаньонах. Из апдейта.

 

 

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Update 60: Camaraderie

 

 

http://media.obsidian.net/eternity/media/updates/0060/pe-avellone-mandatory-sm.jpg

 

Update by Chris Avellone

 

This week? Companions. I have been designing companions.

I lucked out, because I got to do companion design work for BOTH Eternity and Torment, so two birds, one stone. Or three companions, one lodestone? I don’t know.

 

Eternal Companion Facts

Some facts from our Eternity design documents that I wanted to say up front before going any further: thanks to backer support, Eternity supports 8, yes 8, pre-made companions and 8 hired adventurers (16 total). You can have up to 5 in the party at any point in time (the 6th/1st role is your player character, who, well, sort of has to be there, you know, because it’s your game). It’s a lot of writing.

 

We want to allow you to encounter all companions before the mid-point of the story. One issue we’ve found with introducing companions too late is that it doesn’t give players enough time to bond with them, and/or the player may have already formed a strong attachment to their other allies so much so there’s no physical or emotional room for more party members in their lives.

Each companion also has their own mini-arc and quest woven into the game as well, so be prepared - they have agendas of their own. You know, like real people.

Lastly in the fact train, we don’t force you to take anyone in your party. If you want them, take them. If you want to go to the Adventurer’s Hall and make your own, do it. Go solo. We don’t own you. We’re not trying to control you. Play how you want.

 

Narrative Update...

So a narrative update related to companions... Eric Fenstermaker (designer, Fallout: New Vegas, also responsible for Boone and Veronica and worked on NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer and... and... oh, just Google him) has been hard at work on the narrative, and it’s reached the point with the arc and themes that now seemed like a good time to introduce the companion supporting pillars to the process to take the story higher (...not necessarily in a “Can you Take Me Higher” Creed sort of way, since it’s not really a question, it’s more like, “yes, we will take you higher.”)

 

 

Over the past few months, I’ve been scrutinizing the systems and story documents for Eternity (and Torment), the themes, and also checking out the other companion briefs from the other designers. Aside from the companion designs I wrote, feedback has been wildly traded in the interests of making companions even better than their core concepts. It was my goal to read EVERYTHING about the narrative I could, even brainstorming - and in Torment’s case, novellas as well. Now it was time to work on the structure of the individual companions.

 

...and now on to Companion Design

We discussed companion design (http://forums.obsidian.net/blog/1/entry-168-project-eternity-and-characterization/) way back at the start of Eternity, so some points in this update will callback to this. There shouldn’t be a need for a refresher read unless you want to. The process for Eternity (and Torment) has followed these bulletpoints, and we’re holding true to our goals as well as expanding the design methodology as we go ahead.

 

The first and best place to start with companion design is the game systems. For companions, this means considering race, class, and their role in the conflict mechanics of the game. Knowing what class of character you’re making is key to building their history and personality. For example, in the case of Gann in NX1: Mask of the Betrayer, knowing his class before writing was a big help, and I can use that class’s list of abilities, class focus, and the abilities the class specializes in and weave it in with the backstory. The Eternity designers have been good about indicating the spread of classes and races for the companions and rationing those out during the process.

 

 

 

 

For Eternity, since combat is the primary challenge mechanic, one major goal is to make sure the companion is combat effective. Why would you take them in your party? How are they useful? In other instances of conflict mechanics (for example, dialogue or Tide reactivity in Torment), we also examine how the character is useful in terms of these challenges as well.

 

A Note About Challenge Mechanics

Really quick, I want to clarify what I meant about “challenge mechanics.” That doesn’t always mean combat – it’s whatever the primary challenge in the game is. If we were doing a Thief-style RPG, then stealth and avoiding detection becomes the primary challenge mechanic, not combat. Depending on the RPG and its range of challenges, a character can still be fairly weak in combat, but if that’s the case, we try to think of how they’re helpful with regards to the game’s other challenges (giving an edge in dialogue, healing, fast travel).

 

For all the characters I’ve seen or designed for games that don’t cater to at least one of the game’s primary challenge mechanics, those guys are often unpopular or unused because they’re not helping out with the systematic gameplay, regardless of how cool they might seem. And the more actively these characters can participate in the mechanics (vs. passive), the stronger their appeal.

 

Also at the same time, I try to be careful that the companion's skill set doesn’t overlap with the challenge roles of the other characters. We try to indicate in the companion briefs how each companion's challenge role is intended – one thing I learned as a pen-and-paper Gamemaster is you want to be careful about two players sharing the same role (Tank, Mage, Priest, etc.) – if one is clearly stronger than another, then the second one needs something else to make them stand out and be “special” in the party and fulfill an equally cool role in the party dynamic, otherwise one ends up getting upstaged by the other. And feelings get hurt. Which isn’t something you want in a game designed to entertain.

http://media.obsidian.net/eternity/media/updates/0060/pe-avellone-replace-sm.jpg

For Eternity, we’re setting it up so even if players choose the same classes as some companions, the companions are designed to assist those character types and make them more special (ciphers, for example, can chain, and even priests with the same religion can discuss theology and combo attacks).

In addition, we wanted to be careful about personality overlaps as well. I wanted to make sure any companion design didn't overlap with ideas or “concepts" of the other characters (or across projects – so for example, while I’m doing a Glaive for Torment, I’m not doing any fighters for Eternity) ...and that extends to personalities as well. As an example, I told Colin for Torment it might be a good idea if I didn't do a female rogue with a ruthless hidden agenda who can shape-shift according to your personality and have her/it be redundant with the Toy or the Cold, Calculating Jack in Torment.

So knowing the general class-focus, role, and personality for each, as well as ones that would be useful, we try to include in the character briefs and get that info to people as quickly as possible so everyone can get a sense for what direction to take their characters.

As for me, after much begging for the class itself and begging for the specific companion, I asked for the cipher. The cipher is near and dear to my heart, it felt like the first brand new class we were introducing that was tied into the soul mechanics of the Eternity world, and the freedom to explore it is a great opportunity.

 

Character Freedom

Both the Eternity and Torment leads have been strong advocates about letting designers channel their characters. If you are excited about an idea, they are willing to work with you to help realize that idea and help it fit into the world, without giving barriers to entry. In my opinion, the best GMs do this – rather than give you character sheets, they help you make a character you care about. In essence, companion design is a designer’s chance to design their very own player character that fits in with the world and the theme.

 

 

On Eternity, Eric has a strong theme for the story already. While not the original theme, Josh was accommodating and we all recognized that if another theme came to the forefront naturally through the writing process, it’s fine to alter it to make a stronger design. Having this theme clearly identified and supported in the narrative is good, but we’re taking care to make sure the companions can provide direct examples of the theme at work (or present counters or alternate viewpoints to it) - and the more, the better.

http://media.obsidian.net/eternity/media/updates/0060/pe-avellone-lesson-sm.jpg

 

 

 

 

The companions cover a good range of culture and religion and factions in the game, which we hope to showcase more of in the future... the machinations of the world and the politics are prominent in the story (along with the magic system), and the characters showcase these elements very well.

 

Companion Iteration

There’s still plenty of work to do – like all design, iteration is key, and we have been doing passes of the characters to make them stronger. While the companions exist as individual entities, we also feel it’s important to do a pass of the companions to show how they relate to each other, which we feel is an important part of making the game Infinity Engine-esque, and it was a big part of the dynamics in Baldur’s Gate and Torment – describing how companions relate, fight, argue, or even act as sounding boards for both your character and each other’s viewpoints is an important part of creating a living world – and your party is very much the living world that follows you around.

 

http://media.obsidian.net/eternity/media/updates/0060/pe-avellone-interaction-sm.jpg

The work doesn’t stop there. A pass of the companions asking “why the players should care” is also something we like to make sure we have an answer to for each companion. While the answer of “good fighter” is an answer (and one that’s worked well for a number of companions in the past), we prefer to add more layers showcasing how they’re specifically adding to the player experience.

 

http://media.obsidian.net/eternity/media/updates/0060/pe-avellone-care-sm.jpg

 

Companion Nuts and Bolts

There are other finishing touches we like to add.

 

The companions have unique signature items (very Torment and Baldur’s Gate) in addition to their personalities and strong visual signatures as well. One comment we’ve always tried to include in these visual hooks is that because of the camera angles in the game, we want to make sure these visual hooks are easy for the players to see in the environment as well.

 

 

 

http://media.obsidian.net/eternity/media/updates/0060/pe-avellone-item-sm.jpg

Also we’re doing what we can to get the area designers involved with not just the story, but companions as well. A good chunk of the game is dungeon exploration, and we felt that what the designers had done in NX1: Mask of the Betrayer in making sure that each companion had a significant interaction in a specific area was important for the story – and having areas that revolved around companions as well gave them and the dungeon design more strength. Right now, the companions already have strong internal conflicts (and religious and faction, if not inter-party), now tying those more to NPCs and dungeon explorations is one of our next targets.

With the companion design, we also tried to include narrative samples of analogies to that character that we’ve seen in other media or fiction that we feel help capture the character’s essence. Also, as we’re designing the characters, we include sample lines of dialogue when we can as another layer in the process so audio and other designers can get a sense of how the character sounds (both spoken and text-wise).

That’s all I can share about companions for the moment, and we’re looking forward to elaborating further as the game progresses.

 

[Casval Sylvius]

Нужно переименовать в тему или дополнить название, так как Project Eternity получил новое название Pillars of Eternity.

Новый апдейт:

https://eternity.obs...ars-of-eternity

 

Тизер-ролик:

http://youtu.be/HKoDTzea79Y

Изменено 11 декабря, 2013 пользователем Sylvius

[Cardboarddog]

Персонажи тридэшные? Не очень нравится такое на пререндерных задниках. Часто анимация не очень хорошая. Но зато надетая одежда видна.

[Seatroll]

Апдейт. Скопипастил нужное.

 

  Цитата

 

Areas

 

As most of you know, we finished up Od Nua (our mega-dungeon) in our last milestone. I have to say, I think it looks pretty amazing. Currently, the area team is working on our second big city, Twin Elms, and it is looking just as good. Here, take a look for yourself.

http://media.obsidian.net/eternity/media/updates/0070/pe-te-oldsong-580.jpg

Ancient Engwithan ruins near Twin Elms.

 

Without getting into too much detail, the Area Designers are fleshing out the end of the game right now and everything is really coming together. The area in the screenshot above looks like the perfect place for a big fight, huh?

 

Characters

 

Our character team has been cranking out new creatures and equipment.

We are almost completely through all of our A priority creatures. Soon we will be working on our B priority creatures and lots of equipment variations.

One of the creatures that was just finished to Alpha quality is the Cean G?la. These banshee-like undead are the spirits of women who died under particularly tragic or traumatic circumstances.

Take a look at the comparison images below.

http://media.obsidian.net/eternity/media/updates/0070/pe-cean-580.jpg

In-engine and concept comparison of the Cean G?la.

 

UI

 

Most of our UI has either been implemented or mocked up to an Alpha level. The interface that we would like to show you today is the character sheet, which shows character and party information. You can find lots of useful info on the sheet including various party statistics, your reputations with Eternity factions, and character stats.

http://media.obsidian.net/eternity/media/updates/0070/pe-ui-character-sheet-580.jpg

The character sheet has many useful player and party statistics.

 

Features

 

Features have been going into the game pretty regularly.

We just recently moved to Unity 4.3 and, while this might not seem like a big deal, 4.3 has ushered in some long awaited features. Animation annotations, for example, were added to Unity. We can now call sound effects based on specific frames of animation. This makes things like footsteps possible.

A majority of our spells and abilities are in-game and usable. Josh has started auditing them and requesting changes for gameplay balance purposes. Tim has been quite busy with all of the small edits.

Strangely, one of our more minor features has gotten me the most excited. Just recently we have gotten the ability to set custom party formations and I am having a blast testing it out.

 

Concepts

 

Have you been wondering what some of the Pillars of Eternity gods look like? Wonder no more.

http://media.obsidian.net/eternity/media/updates/0070/pe-concept-gods-580.jpg

Representations of the gods Galawain and Woedica.

 

Above you will see the representations of Galawain and Woedica, gods in the Eternity pantheon.

Woedica is known by many names including "The Exiled Queen," "The Burned Queen," "Oathbinder," and "The Strangler." Her domains include law, justice, oaths and promises, (rightful) rulership, hierarchies, memory, and vengeance.

Priestesses of the Exiled Queen serve as lawyers and judges in towns and urban centers, and the most prominent among them are advisers to kings and lords. They are of particular importance in the Empire of Aedyr, where by tradition, business contracts always require their endorsement. Her devotees are typically found in the upper classes, but any conservative person who longs for a vanished past will find a place in her faith. “When Woedica takes back her throne” is a common saying amongst her followers, signifying a utopian future when society will be properly ordered once again, and she will take her rightful place as ruler of the gods.

Galawain is patron of the hunt in all its forms, and he is honored by those whose occupations are concerned with pursuit and discovery. His faithful include frontiersmen, constables, treasure-seekers, explorers, and even scholars, many of whom wear his carved symbol – a dog’s head – around their wrist or neck. He is also protector of wild places and untamed wilderness, where the hunt manifests in its purest form as a daily struggle for survival.

 

[Casval Sylvius]

Релиз Pillars of Eternity перенесли на неопределённое время.

http://gmbox.ru/news/vyhod-pillars-eternity-otkladyvaetsya-na-neopredelennyy-srok

[steyr]

А механика та же, ДнД 2.5 ?

[Scarab-Phoenix]

  В 2/13/2014 в 2:35 PM, stayer сказал:

А механика та же, ДнД 2.5 ?

Что такое ДнД 2.5? Я о такой никогда в жизни не слыхал. Есть ДнД 3.5, но Столпы Вечности по ней никогда и не делались.

[Casval Sylvius]

  В 2/13/2014 в 2:35 PM, stayer сказал:

А механика та же, ДнД 2.5 ?

Почему она должна базироваться на редакции DnD? Сабж не имеет никакого отношения к сеттингам DnD.

 

P.S. Вчера продюсер проекта написала апдейт на kickstarter, в котором говорится что релиз будет в конце года – зимой 2014 года.

https://www.kickstar...ty/posts/745223

Изменено 13 февраля, 2014 пользователем Sylvius