KickStarter Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pre-Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[V_K]

I mean he works together with MCA

But read the job description. He personally doesn't work with Avellone, he works with Unity.

 

[CptMace]

So many games released with the MCA seal of excellence, ie. he wrote a couple of things for it, have such a resonance towards gamers. Yet the more hyped we get for these insignificant featurings, the less actual writing job he'll want/need to get.

 

[Iznaliu]

I mean he works together with MCA. He should have a more joyful expression...

You are like the 12-year old who wants to work at Bethesda.

 

[Infinitron]

Funding rate stabilizing:

Kicktraq has a projection now:

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Can't explain with words how excited I am with this game. Planning to pledge 95+ for beta version, but not decided yet.

 

[ga♥]

Is Oleg MCA's ruskie pseudonym?

 

[ArchAngel]

Some interesting info for some of you not keen on using Steam:

Berserkerkitten Collaborator about 3 hours ago
Kevin - just double-checked for you. Turns out we plan for our boxed version to be DRM-free, so you'll be able to share the game with your wife just fine.

 

[Quillon]

There you have it folks

 

[Starwars]

Now Avellone have to retire from the project, shame.

 

[pomenitul]

My tinfoil hat tells me he'll undermine it from within, taqiyya-style, just like he secretly sabotaged PoE's development before Feargus & Josh could pick up on his devious schemes.

 

[Infinitron]

I think it's just an automatic message you can send on social media after you've backed a project.

 

[pomenitul]

I mean, it was bound to happen sooner or later given Obsidian's own involvement in the Pathfinder IP. Their purported 'squabble' with MCA comes off as a one-sided affair anyway.

 

[Quantomas]

Sam7001 about 17 mins ago

@Bersekerkitten: I see Owlcat Games is located in Moscow, Russia. With all the Russian hacking that has been going on how do we know that this game won't have malicious components installed along with the game?

Even if Owlcat Games is not directly involved with the Russian government how can we be assured that the government has to hacked your computers to install malware along with the game install? Since the Russian government is capable of hacking into other countries secure systems I'd think comprising your systems would be simple.

Is Owlcat Games willing to provide a non-Russian third party with the source code and assets for review so they can review the source and build the game to comparable it the what you are distributing? Same with the patches.

REPLY

@Sam7001

After Snowden broke cover, there was lots of speculation who was collaborating with the NSA. After all, Snowden had revealed that many of the major US software companies cooperated with the NSA, their names and identities being kept top secret ...

I will never forget the moment when Gabe Newell, shortly after Snowden broke cover, sat in a panel completely tense and jumpy as if he expected someone in the audience to ask him about allegations that Steam provided a backdoor to the NSA.

This hype about Russian hackers is all a distraction, as it is magnitudes of order more likely that the NSA will track your whereabouts and habits while playing.

But you are right to be concerned, if you make subversive decisions for example in Star Crawlers, your identity may end up in a database for investigation later. And selected high value targets are subject to psychological profiling, so they may wonder why you were dishonarable to one of your companions and declined sensible diplomatic options.

That a game directly is spying on you is rare, as this can easily be detected.

Hmm, let me check. Wasn't it that Star Crawlers always took 30 seconds before launching properly? Wait a minute ........

I just noted that while launching Star Crawlers my Win7 firewall reports activity that it recommends blocking. What the .......

Sincerely,
Q

 

[Infinitron]

Finally, an informative update: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owlcatgames/pathfinder-kingmaker/posts/1912108

Update #7

Jun 14 2017

A night in the woods - setting up camp in Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Posted by Oleg

Dear Pathfinders,

We are closing in on our main goal and again we want to express our heartfelt thanks for your interest and support for our project!

We received many inquiries about our further goals, and we are happy to answer. Today we are revealing our first stretch goal - Camping. As in, getting some sleep and recovering from a long day of adventuring. Not the kind of camping where you watch the enemy spawn point with a sniper rifle.

It is a feature, which we feel is often oversimplified in computer RPGs. In most of them, resting in the wilderness is as simple as hitting the snooze button. Some party members might be injured or they complain about feeling tired, so you click the camp button and everyone is rested a second later. Worst case scenario, you may get ambushed, so you finish a quick battle and try resting again until you succeed. If you're familiar with tabletop role playing, then you'll agree that most good GMs won't let you off so easily. If you're in dangerous territory, then resting for the night will require a certain amount of preparation, such as appointing guards. Sadly, this is a rare feature in computer RPGs. In Pathfinder: Kingmaker we want camping to be more than just a button.

You're miles away from the nearest inn. There are monsters and bandits lurking everywhere. Sure, your party could try dropping everything right there and take a nap, though they may as well put up a big sign, saying, "We're over here! Please murder us and take our stuff!" The wiser option is to set up a camp. But you can't rest on an empty stomach. You've been adventuring for days and provisions are running low. Why not choose for one of your companions to be the designated hunter for the night? If they're skilled enough, they will refill your packs to keep you going for a few extra days. But beware - dinner fights back in the Stolen Lands and your hunter may get chased all the way back to the camp by a raging monster!

You have to select a place to rest carefully! If you pick a spot, which is too close to monsters, they will decide to investigate and attack your camp. In a dungeon you will have to get rid of at least some of its inhabitants, or they will never allow you to rest. It's always a good idea to assign a companion or two for guard duty. They will watch over the camp while the rest of the party sleeps. They can spot an impending ambush when they pass the required perception checks and warn the rest of the group to help them prepare. In case of a surprise attack, your unprepared party members may not always fight at their full strength. For instance your fighter may step into the fray wearing only his undergarments, because there is just not enough time to get dressed. Have you ever tried to sleep in a full suit of plate armor? Or if your guards fell asleep, monsters can gain a surprise round against your sleeping party - and that is an experience you'll want to avoid! There will be several special maps and events for the encounters while camping, be it a monster that is chasing your hunter, or travellers that decided to join you by the campfire.

Your camp is also a great place for your party to talk and bond. One of your companions may have been badly injured in a fight with an angry troll earlier. Perhaps they're feeling a little under the weather. Or maybe you have made an amazing discovery on your journey today? Or some information they remembered from the stories about this region? Your companions will want to talk about recent events, about what's they've seen and done in the Stolen Lands. You can take the time and listen to how they feel about your adventure together. We want this to be a fun, meaningful part of the game. Few other games ever do anything like this - Darkest Dungeon or the Realms of Arkania trilogy come to mind. We always loved it when games put a little extra thought into their camping system, which is why we're doing it this way for Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

How do you feel about this idea? Have you got any fun camping stories to share from your tabletop group? Let us know in the comments section. We can't wait to hear from you!

Reddit-AMA coming soon!
In the coming days, we are going to host an AMA session on the Pathfinder-Subreddit. Our creative director Alexander Mishulin and narrative designer Chris Avellone will be there to answer your questions! So if there is anything you've always wanted to know about our game and its story, this will be the perfect opportunity to ask! Get ready, prepare your questions and keep your eyes peeled for the official announcement. We will reveal the exact date here on Kickstarter, on Reddit and on social media, as soon as we have it!

Hail to the Kings!

Owlcats.

 

[ArchAngel]

That camping system is awesome! And that GIF is hilarious!

 

[vivec]

Goddamn it. Why can't it be Turn based? What the heck is wrong with these people? D&D/Pathfinder are made fo TB. Why do they always to RtWP????

 

[deuxhero]

Someone should ask them on the AMA

 

[Feyd Rautha]

That camping system is awesome! And that GIF is hilarious!

It's the camping system from Expeditions: Viking, Owlcat stole it

 

[HoboForEternity]

I dont mind people copying incline. Hell, more dev should copy more incline

 

[Fenix]

He should have a more joyful expression...

He lives in Russia, show some compassion.

 

[Sizzle]

That camping system is awesome! And that GIF is hilarious!

It's the camping system from Expeditions: Viking, Owlcat stole it

And they stole it from Realms of Arkania

Which also stole it either from some other, older game, or from PnP gaming sessions

 

[PrettyDeadman]

I dont mind people copying incline. Hell, more dev should copy more incline

It is original idea, do not steal.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owlcatgames/pathfinder-kingmaker/posts/1912984

Bringing Fantasy to Life: The Sounds and Music of Pathfinder

Dear Pathfinders,

Sound and music became an essential part of every pen-and-paper RPG session, and it is an even more important part of the computer game. While working on Pathfinder: Kingmaker our first goal was to bring the world of Golarion to life. To achieve this goal we had to approach sound from many directions: sound effects are here to illustrate all the important actions and conditions of the player, while music and dialogues are helping to create a unique atmosphere of good old fairy-tale. This tale, we hope, will keep the player occupied for 40 or more hours.

To make our game audio vivid and memorable, first, we've conducted a research of several classic CRPGs and detected the brightest elements of their sound design. For example, Baldur's Gate 2 has great ambient sounds and emotionally charged magic spells while the strongest side of Dragon Age is its vivid dialogues and harsh, brutal combat sounds. And it is impossible to imagine Arcanum: Of Steamworks And Magic Obscura or Divinity: Original Sin without their excellent soundtracks.

Inspired by those games, that many consider classics in cRPG genre, we decided to take those ideas and approaches and make them fit for the modern game, but still very familiar and a bit nostalgic. On this basis, we created our sound document, which defined general aesthetics of the audio for Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

To start our work we had to set a mood for the whole game, and the best approach to this is to write a musical theme that represents this mood. We started our extensive creative research for the theme with the "Anvil of Crom" track by Basil Poledouris.

This musical composition proved to be an excellent reference - just like the events of Kingmaker module, the movie "Conan the Barbarian" is full of epic battles, intrigues, extreme manifestations of human nature and exploration of strange and inhospitable lands. We wanted to add these kinds of emotions to our game, so the composer Inon Zur wrote for us several beautiful pieces of music, which set the mood and provided the main theme for the Stolen Lands.


When we talk about sounds for the computer game, it's vital to remember, that unlike the game master, the game has no freedom of expression of its own. One of the important goals for the game audio is to make the player feel at home in the imaginary world, and for that, it must tell much more than we can see on the screen. To achieve this, we've created several systems which help to highlight the main emotion in every single moment of the game - whether it's a quiet conversation, a fierce battle against multiple enemies or a cautious exploring of an unknown location.

Besides, we can control the atmosphere of the game by changing the ambient sounds according to the activities on the screen, such as starting a battle. We want to concentrate on the action - so birds and other non-combat loud sounds around the player should immediately become quieter. Same thing happens in a dialogue.


Or we can change the mood of the scene, for example, we highlight the importance of the player in the throne room by changing lively chatting ambiance to whispers as the player, being a Baron, starts a conversation with one of the companions.


We try to avoid static nature sounds. The audio presentation for every location usually consists of several sound layers. Some layers are playing all the time; other depend on the hour of day or night. And a lot of the layers can only be heard if we are nearing some particular place - it can be chirping of various birds, humming of insects, creaking of trees, the rustling of gravel near the rock and so on. Also, we can hear something we can't see, if it is important for the right feeling of location - it can be the howling of a lone hungry wolf in the middle of the night, or distant rumble of an avalanche in the mountains, growl of hiding monster or laughter of playing children. All these sounds can tell us something about the location we are visiting.

Combat sounds have their specific qualities too. There can be more than 10-12 characters fighting against each other on the playing screen - each of them moving, attacking, taking damage, casting spells and commenting actions. Our sound system highlights the noises made by the members of our group: their attacks, hits, voice reactions to important changes (health-bar low, critical hit, fainting or death). This solution is important to the UI as it makes combat scenes understandable and clear. Some actions are so important that their sound will be heard even from a distance, like dealing a mighty blow to your enemy, which knocks him out or tears him into pieces. So even without paying attention to some particular part of the battle, you'll understand you've got one less problem to worry about.

The music in Pathfinder: Kingmaker isn't meant to be too catchy: tracks change each other after a significant pause, which lets the player feel the atmosphere of the location without unneeded distractions. However, if something important is about to happen - like a sudden battle or a cutscene - you will learn about that by a recognizable tune. And this tune is meant to be the signal that warns the player about an incoming situation.


All these systems must still undergo some fine tuning, but we won't stop even after that. In the future, we plan not only to improve what we've created but also to add some new sound mechanics. For example, we plan to add ambient location sounds which depend on the character's actions. When entering Stealth mode, we will correct the sounds of out footsteps and armor. We will provide voiceover to the most important and emotional dialogues, and the composers will create more tracks to create a special atmosphere in even more locations.

Spread the word - in style!

Thousands of you have pledged your support for our game, helping us to make our dream of an incredible Pathfinder CRPG come true! We are completely blown away by you, our community! To help spread the word about our project even further, we have prepared a special blogger kit and a fansite kit for you, which contain artwork, screenshots and other assets for you to share with your friends and fellow Pathfinder enthusiasts. Are you hosting a blog or know somebody who does, and you want to tell people about Pathfinder: Kingmaker? Check out our blogger kit and show people what we're all about! There is also a fansite kit if you'd like to decorate your website in style or you just love some cool Pathfinder artwork. Help us reach even more Pathfinders, so we can add more features, classes and the content you want to the game!

What did you think of today's update? Got any feedback or questions for us? Let us know in the comments section, and we'll get back to you in no time!

Hail to the kings!

Owlcats.

 

[Havoc]

Beautiful music!

 

[Hamster]

There seems to be a mistake.

This is a main theme:




What they posted is generic background music.