JasonNH
Augur
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2009
- Messages
- 277
I was going to wait longer to talk about this, but since I got caught on Twitter already ...
It's just as well, since I could use ideas on integrating Ultima style content within the DOS2 framework. By all means if you have any suggestions, please chime in.
Shadow Over Moonglow is a standalone campaign for 1-2 players using the Divinity Original Sin:2 game client. It is set in the Ultima world of Britannia just prior to the events of Ultima 5. The players are founding members of the Resistance who are called upon to help discover the whereabouts of former Great Council member Goeth who has gone missing after being sent on a recruitment mission to Moonglow. The campaign will primarily take place on Verity Isle.
Goals and Highlights:
Don't want this to drag on much more than that, maybe two years max.
Risks and Concerns:
Setting aside the usual ones of self-doubt and being overly ambitious, I see these as the biggest challenges:
It's just as well, since I could use ideas on integrating Ultima style content within the DOS2 framework. By all means if you have any suggestions, please chime in.
Shadow Over Moonglow is a standalone campaign for 1-2 players using the Divinity Original Sin:2 game client. It is set in the Ultima world of Britannia just prior to the events of Ultima 5. The players are founding members of the Resistance who are called upon to help discover the whereabouts of former Great Council member Goeth who has gone missing after being sent on a recruitment mission to Moonglow. The campaign will primarily take place on Verity Isle.
Goals and Highlights:
- 8-12 hour campaign for 1-2 players with a maximum party size of four when companions are included.
- Dual-Mapping System
An explorable overland map that connects the smaller, traditional areas together. Similar concept as NWN2: Storm of Zehir without the painful loading times. Planning on spawning random encounters in the overland map, and if engaged, you get sent to an arena map for the actual combat. Overland map should be dotted with lots of little things to find and areas to explore.
- Day/Night Cycle
Intention is for it to affect both aesthetics and gameplay. We'll be looking into bonuses and penalties to certain skills.
- NPC Schedules
Major locations like Moonglow and the Lycaeum will make use of NPC schedules so long as we can reach our goal of those schedules having meaningful impact on gameplay.
- Quest and Crafting Driven Skill Acquisition
Rather than simply buying skillbooks, the emphasis will be on discovering new skills from trainers found in the world, and in the case of magic, crafting them from reagents after learning the recipes.
- Spell/Combat System
Still very much a WIP design but there will be changes from vanilla DOS2. Trying to find ways to incorporate reagents without micro-management and/or supply issues. Contemplating 'tiered' levels of magic with cantrip like spells that don't consume reagents but are lower powered versus higher level spells that require reagents but may completely bypass armor types, etc. The challenge is going to be trying to maintain some degree of an Ultima feel to the system while working with DOS2's heavily dependent elemental interactions. Since I am not a huge fan of the current implementation of physical/magical armor in DOS2, I may incorporate some of the work from the community that changed abilities to have a probability of bypassing armor that is inversely proportional to what percentage is remaining.
- Non-linear Questing
We are very much trying to design this like the original Ultima games where completing quests was more a matter of having all the pieces of the puzzle in your possession versus following a prescribed path. While there will be some milestones and stakes in the ground, the design philosophy is geared towards exploration and open discovery.
- Limited Rest
Current plan is to rest either in a bed or "hole up and camp" outside in the overland map with potential ambushes (like Ultima 5). Whether or not this makes much sense depends on how the spell system turns out. If you can spam healing spells, there is not much sense to having a resting system at all.
- Backgrounds
Since Brtiannia doesn't really have different races like lizards, dwarves, and elves, we are contemplating the idea of City of Virtue for its equivalent, e.g., Britain, Jhelom, Skara Brae, Yew, Minoc, etc., with each granting its own tags (compassionate, valorious, just, etc.) and/or perk(s).
Don't want this to drag on much more than that, maybe two years max.
Risks and Concerns:
Setting aside the usual ones of self-doubt and being overly ambitious, I see these as the biggest challenges:
- NPC Schedules - Could be a big time sink for little payback if it doesn't really impact gameplay.
- Toolset Support - While it's in way better shape than DOS1 and has most of what is needed already, there is still the glaring hole of no custom music or sound support. While it is on their TODO list, it still makes me nervous because I really don't think I could release this if I have to use only what is available from DOS2.
- Limited / Mismatched Assets: Ultima is primarily a humanoid world. DOS2 has multiple races that will simply be 'wasted' in our setting. We hope there is enough variety to sustain the entire campaign without them.
- Objections from the current Intellectual Property holders. I'm optimistic given the long-standing history of Lazarus.
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