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KickStarter Underworld Ascendant Pre-Release Thread

RatTower

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Messages
468
Last weekend I played a bit of King's Field 1 which does its levels in a similar way (connected via portals). The concept can work alright(ish). It mostly comes down to whether the hub/1st level is a proper zone in itself and not just a tiny "HQ".
What they could do to keep that feeling of delving deeper, is designing the hub area leading downwards and the further you progress through the game, the deeper you can go in the hub.

In case you are familiar with Dark Souls: Imagine going from the Firelink shrine down to Quelaags lair, except it is one smaller zone and there are portals leading into different levels on the way.

Could work. But they need to pull it off properly. My fear is that there will be one portal room from which all areas can be reached, just because it's more comfortable.
 

Zep Zepo

Titties and Beer
Dumbfuck Repressed Homosexual
Joined
Mar 23, 2013
Messages
5,233
Not to give these half-assed hacks any credit (UA looks and plays like shit, apparently).

But I think Demon's Souls had a fairly good portal system at the maidens place.

Zep--
 

JBro

Arbiter
Joined
Dec 12, 2016
Messages
701
One of you autists need to threaten someone into giving us an Ultima Underworld with mouselook and source code.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,228
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth


https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=1919.msg25873#msg25873

To summarise some things from the roundtable ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51ZD2y91CrY ):
  • Loud noises at the beggining
    cheesy.gif
  • sluangkhot is now doing the Mac/Linux pre-alpha build (I think).
  • The best example of a finished and polished game is in fact a Unicorn.
  • DLC is planned.
  • Stealth is up and running to an extent.
  • Whether or not readable books will be in the game is still to be determined.
  • Dire berries are in the game now.
  • Some more discussion of the interactive map (There are currently a few ways to annotate it).
  • There are more claustrophobic spaces now.
  • Moral choices are described as being similar to Dishonored mission stats at the end of a level in terms of determining how many experience/skill points you get after going through a level.
  • In the current build, the player is able to use magic and damage stuff while in Marcaul.
  • Whether or not there is a difficulty setting and how it would work hasn't been decided on and would likely not be added in until Beta, if at all.
  • Spellcasting *might* be talked about in more detail within 2 newsletters time.
  • No guarantees, but the Alpha build *might* contain the tutorial, Marcaul, and one whole level. No info on when the Alpha will release, but there will be more information after SXSW. Additionally, there might be some experimentation with Feats in the Alpha.
  • There will be no VR version.
  • There are several different groups of lizardmen, the Saurians are one of those groups.
  • The dialogue system is still being figured out, but it won't be a system of giant dialogue trees.
  • Once upon a time there was a bug where Deep Slugs would scream the Lizard Man word for Man.
    shocked.gif
  • Inventory system is like System Shock 2/Arx Fatalis, no inventory tetris.
  • The Hall of Immortals will likely be somewhere in Marcaul. The Hall and The Homely Lordly Abodes will likely not be in the Alpha.
  • Marcaul will likely be the only place where you can trade/barter.
  • Sleeping isn't something that the player will need to be worrying much about. The player will accept a mission, go out and adventure, and when they come back to Marcaul the world state will have changed and a day or so has passed, and somewhere in that time they rest.
  • Outcasts will be sort of neutral towards you but still kind of hate you.
  • Chattering Bart/Bertha is planned out but the VO hasn't been recorded yet.
  • There are scary unique monsters.
  • The Lurker apparently looks very scary.
  • NPC's have schedules but don't use them as heavily as games like Skyrim/Oblivion. For example, merchants won't be unavailable due to sleeping during the night.
  • They're aiming for a ESRB rating of T.
  • Their next big information release will be SXSW.
So that's some of it, but there's more hidden throughout the video.
wink.gif
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,228
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=1922.0

Hey everyone!

The forums are finally stable enough for me (and hopefully, all of you!) to log in. I missed you all, and I've been dying to post an update since Monday so I could go back to writing up a quick insider look at how the dev team is doing.

The good news is that we've been adding in a lot of alpha-features that are almost ready to be polished up! This is one of our last alpha-sprints, so it's coming in hot, but nicely. Examples include the final ingame UI, figuring out food/hunger, the trade screen, and Marcaul being fleshed out as its own space. I know a number of you have been concerned about the hub-like Marcaul, so we're looking to show some progress (and the ideas behind it) soon.

I've been doing a lot of trailer work the past week or so, thus the quiet. Sometimes I'll get a really cool shot and save a gif to share with socials for some "behind the scenes" work. (You'll see one of these on Monday!)

Speaking of which, filming is pretty constant right now because the build and levels change on a daily basis. Everyone on the team is constantly pushing their work in and polishing systems as we go, so sometimes it's startling to enter the build after a few days and not recognize where I am anymore. (I was so used to one of our loading areas appearing as just a grey-box that I thought I loaded up the wrong scene when an entire level filled with hallways, plants, and traps were presented in front of me. I love how there's always a sense of anticipation to enter the Abyss, and I'm always happy to see the art pass.)

Just to give you a sense of how busy we've been, when all of us who are "Normally" in the office are present, it's about 14 people. We've had 5 additional developers (contract designers, artists, and animators) visiting us in the office to streamline our communication channels and make sure everything is up to par. It may not seem like much, but it does wonders for fixing up areas with art passes, polishing up levels, and fine-tuning mechanics that we've been struggling to sit down with for ages. (Fire, I'm looking at you!)

It's also very busy because we're preparing for a large beat during/after our SXSW panel next week, and then we have GDC right after. We're not planning on doing anything special FOR GDC, but we'll be meeting with press and having individual fun in California. I know Tim Stellmach is going as ne of the hosts for the 2-day Design Workshop for Monday and Tuesday, so if you're also headed to GDC, you should say hello!

Fun note:

So awhile ago on social, I posted a gif of the Abyss from a top-down shot. No one really commented on it, which is a bit of a shame, because I left in a UI hint at the time... a piece of cheese! (It's okay if you saw it and just didn't say anything.) We've been working on adding hunger to the game, and the first day the barebones system was implemented, I grabbed a screenshot. I remember a number of you were worrying about hunger and "gameplay that hinders playing the game." Maybe once the food system is fleshed out a bit more, we'll devote a part of the newsletter to it? We're still deciding which food does what... which foods convey that they can heal you, but also potentially harm you? Shrooms are easy enough to translate to in real life experiences for their edible side-effects, but what about seemingly mundane foods?

Anyways, hope all of you have been safe. As of last Friday, we've been hit by TWO snowstorms, and at least half of our office lost power and heat in their homes for a few days. Thankfully no one we know has been injured, and the work on the game is still progressing as planned.

Also, is there anything in particular you're looking forward to seeing? Any gifs or screenshots YOU'D really like to see? I know there were calls for more shots of the tighter tunnels and darker areas... am I missing anything?
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,228
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
"Alpha should be finished within the next 2 months or so": https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=1923.0

Hey everyone!

I almost forgot to post today since I had just made one last Friday... thank you for the reminder @Flug!

So the first is a Mac and Linux update, which I posted about in this thread.
Here's the quote:

We'll probably have to generate new Steam keys and set up a new list on BackerKit so that any Mac and Linux users will receive a key from the correct list.

Speaking of which, I have an update!

So the good news is that we're able to make a Mac and Linux build! The bad news is that there's some startup issues due to using an older Unity version with some bugs we have to hammer out, and there's no audio in the build because our wwise license expired. (We were using wwise, an external audio system, back in August to handle our audio for the Windows pre-alpha build, but now that we're building after the expiration, there's no sound...)

So we're in an interesting position. Alpha should be finished within the next 2 months or so, and it may take us 1 month or longer to make the pre-alpha for Mac and Linux playable. (We're in the middle/close to end of an important milestone in the office, so we can't focus too many resources on the Mac and Linux builds, even with my eyes on it.) This part of porting takes the longest because Unity thinks the game can "run," but when we open the build on an actual Mac/Linux, we see a lot of minor compiling bugs that take away from the experience. (Long periods of black screen, non-animated assets, etc).

I really appreciate everyone's patience as we work this out. At some point, we may be open to asking some of you to act as "external testers" to make sure the Mac and Linux builds are running, if at all. We only have one artist outside of the office who owns a Mac, and one friend-of-the-office who owns a Linux, so testing opportunities have been tough to coordinate.

So I know what I'm doing this week :') I also mentioned that we're nearing the end of Alpha and getting everything to rough Alpha draft or better. This means ALL the systems are in, ALL the characters are in, ALL UI... etc. We spent so much time on the mechanics and physics that we're finally catching up on other systems and roughing those out. (I mentioned hunger, trade, quest system, and the hub system last time, I believe?)

Of all the levels we have finished, the one we've spent the most time on recently is the "Basic Training" area/"Tutorial" space. It's been really important to us to make sure that systems, controls, and paths are clear, since this will be an introduction to the game. A lot of amusing feedback has come up, as well as fascinating "shortcuts" that we've decided to keep in. (Without spoiling much, one example is that about half the office plays "aggressively" and the other half likes to play "craftily," which has led to different approaches to testing the level. "I didn't have any trouble with this part, I just shot the lever with the bow & arrows I found after breaking down a pantry door." "I thought we had to trick the Skeleton into opening the door for us! Where did you find the bow?!")

Our status from last Friday hasn't changed much, but here's what you can look forward to:
1. Our SXSW panel will bring some new shots and a reveal that I know Joe and I are REALLY excited about. We just finished wrapping up the final cut for that teaser today, and we hope you'll all visit the panel if you're able to in person!
2. After SXSW, we'll be posting the first of a series of videos that we made in collaboration with 505 Games. I won't spoil what it is, but it's been fun to make!
3. I'm polishing up the first draft of the newsletter, which I'm aiming to get out by the end of next Friday! There's a lot of topics we still want to cover before release, so I'm still coordinating with Joe on what we want to focus on, especially after some of our reveals after SXSW.

After all this filming, I've also been gathering some footage of areas and bugs I've come across recently. I just posted one on social today, in case any of you missed it! (Also... how's the darkness?)

Build-wise, we're working on finishing up some "secret stuff" (*cough cough* MAGIC SYSTEM) and the usual pipeline of "make a level, throw in some characters, tweak the animations, refine combat, make sure the level feels RIGHT, and then throw the level off to art to do an art pass, followed by a narrative eye". The next milestone coming up is due by the 23rd, so we're really nailing what's going into the final game at this point.

On a BackerKit-note, those of you who have Figurine access will have your BackerKit locked down on the 30th! Don't forget!!

I'll also be reaching out to more backers soon regarding rewards that require your input, so I'm in the midst of juggling forms and outline for that too. (ex: Custom Tabard, Statues with Your Likeness, Lordly Abodes, etc) Should be coming in the next month, if not sooner? *fingers crossed that everything gets approved quickly*

FINAL NOTE, I'll be posting our updated UA logo (and OSE logo!) either today or tomorrow. Phew!! I think that's my entire plate for today.
 

Doctor Sbaitso

SO, TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS.
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Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Grab the Codex by the pussy Serpent in the Staglands
Yeah though not intentional, the rope seems to be dancing in reactions to ambient audio at times.
 
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
3,059
Location
Brazil
Divinity: Original Sin
About kickstarters and scams, I backed this and kingdom come: deliverance. After a while I didn't put much faith in Kingdom come even more than I didn't put much faith in Underworld Ascendant. then, KC:D got released and I must say I'm loving the game, even with it's shortcomings and the fact that it is not really the exact thing they promised in their pitch. The fact that UA is having now much more frequent news gives me hope this will be a good game. I'm not expecting they will deliver the "ecosystem environment" they promised, but I believe it will be a good and immersive game. I don't care how long it takes.

The secret of avoiding disappointment is to accept the game development will present challenges and discoveries that even though will not bring everything was promised, it will bring a great game. Just look the night and day cycles in Divinity Original sin games that never came to be, or the big siege battles some people expected from KC:D. These are not affecting my enjoyment of those games.

Of course we see what happened to system shock remake, but they deviated too much from what they pitched, that the whole thing became a completely different game.

Well, these guys at otherside do not seem like they're in trouble, or they are very good in hiding things. Anyway, seeing this last tweet gives me a great feeling. The only thing I'm afraid is that I have my doubts that it will sell as much units as games like divinity and KC: D.
 

Sceptic

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 2, 2010
Messages
10,871
Divinity: Original Sin
The secret of avoiding disappointment is to accept the game development will present challenges and discoveries that even though will not bring everything was promised, it will bring a great game.
[...]
Of course we see what happened to system shock remake, but they deviated too much from what they pitched, that the whole thing became a completely different game.
These 2 statements seem contradictory to me, because #1 can always be used to justify #2, and because where do you draw the line between "challenge and discovery" and "completely different game"? Tides of Numenera is a pretty clear example of what I mean; were all the cuts just the typical challenges and not everything that was promised? Turns out it doesn't really matter, if the game truly sucks then no amount of expectation management is going to change that fact. Besides, why not use expectations management to accept that SS remake was turning into a completely different game? Some of these games have been truly terrible (Numenera, Broken Age), others not as much (PoE, Wasteland 2), but the only ones I can genuinely say delivered what they promised were DOS1 and Tesla Effect. And besides, delivering what you promised doesn't necessarily mean your game won't do many things wrong (see DOS2).

No matter how you put it, I don't like this constant shifting of goalposts and "challenges" that make so many Kickstarters turn into something other than they promised. UWA was supposed to be a UW successor, not a Thief successor. If you love Thief, great news for you, you're getting a new one. And a new Thief would be great indeed. But I'd rather have a new UW.
 

Zep Zepo

Titties and Beer
Dumbfuck Repressed Homosexual
Joined
Mar 23, 2013
Messages
5,233
and there's no audio in the build because our wwise license expired. (We were using wwise, an external audio system, back in August to handle our audio for the Windows pre-alpha build, but now that we're building after the expiration, there's no sound...)

LOL...Here's an idea...PAY TO UPDATE YOUR LICENSE!

They post a lot of retarded shit and nonsense, this one takes the cake tho.

Zep--
 
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
3,059
Location
Brazil
Divinity: Original Sin
Darth Slaughter look at what you wrote after you press Post Reply you goof :D :D :D

Yeah, I noticed while I was writing that it could happen, but I couldn't bother to fix it.

These 2 statements seem contradictory to me, because #1 can always be used to justify #2, and because where do you draw the line between "challenge and discovery" and "completely different game"? Tides of Numenera is a pretty clear example of what I mean; were all the cuts just the typical challenges and not everything that was promised? Turns out it doesn't really matter, if the game truly sucks then no amount of expectation management is going to change that fact. Besides, why not use expectations management to accept that SS remake was turning into a completely different game? Some of these games have been truly terrible (Numenera, Broken Age), others not as much (PoE, Wasteland 2), but the only ones I can genuinely say delivered what they promised were DOS1 and Tesla Effect. And besides, delivering what you promised doesn't necessarily mean your game won't do many things wrong (see DOS2).

No matter how you put it, I don't like this constant shifting of goalposts and "challenges" that make so many Kickstarters turn into something other than they promised. UWA was supposed to be a UW successor, not a Thief successor. If you love Thief, great news for you, you're getting a new one. And a new Thief would be great indeed. But I'd rather have a new UW.

The thing is the line between "challenge and discovery" and "completely different game". In regards to this statement, I'm referring to the game that is pitched, and not how much like it is from a previous entry in a series. UWA was sold as a UW sequel, and in their pitch they said it would be influenced by their LGS principles, and that means it will bring thief gameplay elements to it. They also promised it wouldn't be a stat based RPG since the beginning. So, the idea of the game was already distant somewhat from a strict UW game.

In the case of SS remake, they sold the project based on a tech demo that was very faithful to the original, and it had a quite unique visual. Then they went on to something completelly different. I wouldn't have trouble if they said from the beginning that it would be a SS reboot that would only be based on the original. And yet, it's an on-hold project and it is not officially canceled, though it probably won't ever see the light of the day.

My statement of "avoiding disappointment" is just taking into account games with ongoing production. If the project gets cancelled, disappointment is somewhat unavoidable. The thing is how you deal with your expectations. Also, expectations and disappointments does not require the person who is subject to this feelings to be a backer.
 
Self-Ejected

unfairlight

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 20, 2017
Messages
4,092
Sorry guys, all the budget for the audio middleware that handles everything with sound went into the new logo instead.
 

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