Game News Age of Decadence Post-Release Update #1: 10,000 copies sold, upcoming updates and future projects

[oscar]

I'm looking forward to the dungeon crawler actually. Will also be interesting how VD does it without (I assume) wizard type characters as the dungeon crawling staple. Even in base AoD there's quite a few combat "classes": two hand dodger ("barbarian"), knife dodger, blocker, pikeman etc

 

[cherry blossom]

Hopefully VD will add group actions to make things a bit more tactically varied.

I'm more interested in encounter design, though. Will encounters be scripted/pre-arranged as in AoD or more freeform?

And finally, resource management.

 

[ColCol]

So, Vault Dweller .In the colony ship game have you considered some type of personal shield mechanic? Maybe something along the lines of using your energy cells on a short burst of defense instead of a powerful attack?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Will encounters be scripted/pre-arranged as in AoD or more freeform?

Most likely scripted but nothing but the setting details and some character system elements are final at this point.

So, Vault Dweller .In the colony ship game have you considered some type of personal shield mechanic?

So far we're planning to have two types of armor: 'standard' body armor (carbon nanotube and such) and rechargeable energy shield. You would be able to combine them.

 

[Aenra]

This one has questions too:

- oscar brought a good point up; Will there be any 'magic skills' in the dungeon crawler?
- will the ship RPG include any skillsets such as 'telekinesis'/'psionics', etc?

 

[Vault Dweller]

- oscar brought a good point up; Will there be any 'magic skills' in the dungeon crawler?

No. It's set in the AoD world, so no magic. More creatures though.

will the ship RPG include any skillsets such as 'telekinesis'/'psionics', etc?

Not planned. Telekinesis/psionics should be worked into the setting, meaning changing societies completely as society where psionics are a thing should be completely different from societies where it's not. We're focusing on different sociological aspects.

 

[Lurker King]

Do you plan to implement a sniper perk?

What I like the most about the psionics ability in Underrail is not just that is a cool feature, but that it is a new skill. Is there any kill planned besides the most traditional ones?

 

[TheEntitledOne]

Could we get some sort of "Arena Mode" addon? Something like the original demo, where your character is limited to the arena, but you get to fight against all kind of characters, get all the crazy loot or even you can replay battles from the regular game (once you unlock them)?

Just for extra time to spend in the game and wouldn't take much effort to implement.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Do you plan to implement a sniper perk?

Yes. We have general, on kill, specialist, crowd control, and other perks.

What I like the most about the psionics ability in Underrail is not just that is a cool feature, but that it is a new skill. Is there any kill planned besides the most traditional ones?

Not at the moment (i.e. not planned but might change later).

 

[hivemind]

Given that the Space Ship game is meant to be party based:

How much focus do you plan on having on the character/personality/story arc of your potential companions(unless all characters are player created) and their various social interactions within the party ?

 

[Cazzeris]

^^^Good question. I'm also curious about how the social C&C stuff is going to be handled since VD said he prefers scripted narrative, but for a party-based game doing it that way sounds like an incredible amount of work (if the thing is about personal reactions coming from different characters).

 

[Vault Dweller]

You'll create your character and recruit others. The party members will have different personalities, motivations, and agendas that might clash with your own, including turning on you (not in a 'gotcha!' way but in a 'you should have seen this coming a mile away' way). Since the game will have many different choices and paths, some characters will be more suitable for certain deeds than others. If you want to be a bastard, you'll have to surround yourself with like-minded individuals. If you're good at talking, you might convince some party members to see things your way.

One thing I never liked about KOTOR2/NWN2 influence system is that you didn't influence your companions but picked the right responses and told them what they needed to hear (although maybe I overlooked something). Ideally, other NPCs will try to influence your party members as well but it's too early to say. I have some ideas but I have to try them first to see if they work.

 

[Lurker King]

Yes. We have general, on kill, specialist, crowd control, and other perks.

You should try to explore perks like “Empathy”, that were practically ignored in Fallout 2, but are great for role-playing reasons and could add to the different dialogue system that you are trying to implement.

 

[Lurker King]

You'll create your character and recruit others. The party members will have different personalities, motivations, and agendas that might clash with your own, including turning on you (not in a 'gotcha!' way but in a 'you should have seen this coming a mile away' way). Since the game will have many different choices and paths, some characters will be more suitable for certain deeds than others. If you want to be a bastard, you'll have to surround yourself with like-minded individuals. If you're good at talking, you might convince some party members to see things your way.

One thing I never liked about KOTOR2/NWN2 influence system is that you didn't influence your companions but picked the right responses and told them what they needed to hear (although maybe I overlooked something). Ideally, other NPCs will try to influence your party members as well but it's too early to say. I have some ideas but I have to try them first to see if they work.

Will you add banters between party members? You should.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Most likely but these are relatively minor details that will depend on a bunch of other factors. We start with the setting, character system, and concept art for the locations. Then when we know what the place is, what it looks like, what your skills are, we'll work on the quests, party members, and the dialogue system. In general, when it comes to party members, my main goal is the different motivations and agendas (i.e. how to make your party members behave in a realistic way, not like meat bags who get to carry your things and follow you anywhere).

 

[Excidium II]

when it comes to party members, my main goal is the different motivations and agendas (i.e. how to make your party members behave in a realistic way, not like meat bags who get to carry your things and follow you anywhere).

Does this mean a system like in DOS II? Actually it sounds exactly like it, neat.

 

[Cassidy]

I wonder how a micro "phalanx" in the form of an All-spearman party with a front line of heavily armored and shielded soldiers with hastas and a rear line of dodgers armed with 2-handed spears would fare in "Age of Decadence Tactics". Ultimate narrow passage blockers or pointless if they get flanked and fail to interrupt approaches of a bunch of axemen with gunpowder bombs?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Most likely but these are relatively minor details that will depend on a bunch of other factors. We start with the setting, character system, and concept art for the locations. Then when we know what the place is, what it looks like, what your skills are, we'll work on the quests, party members, and the dialogue system. In general, when it comes to party members, my main goal is the different motivations and agendas (i.e. how to make your party members behave in a realistic way, not like meat bags who get to carry your things and follow you anywhere).

4 members or 6 in party?

 

[Esquilax]

One thing I never liked about KOTOR2/NWN2 influence system is that you didn't influence your companions but picked the right responses and told them what they needed to hear (although maybe I overlooked something). Ideally, other NPCs will try to influence your party members as well but it's too early to say. I have some ideas but I have to try them first to see if they work.

I'm not really opposed to influence being tied to "saying the right things", especially if your character is a charismatic, silver-tongued bullshitter. One of my favourite experiences in a game was fooling the idealistic Kaelyn the Dove into thinking that I was on her side and conspiring with One of Many to milk as much knowledge and power from her as I could.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Does this mean a system like in DOS II? Actually it sounds exactly like it, neat.

Details?

4 members or 6 in party?

So far we're looking at 5 members max. PC+1 at CHA4, PC+2 at CHA6, etc.

I'm not really opposed to influence being tied to "saying the right things", especially if your character is a charismatic, silver-tongued bullshitter. One of my favourite experiences in a game was fooling the idealistic Kaelyn the Dove into thinking that I was on her side and conspiring with One of Many to milk as much knowledge and power from her as I could.

It worked better in MotB but I'd prefer to see more reaction checks along the way. Quick example, if the freemen want you to do something for them and you put together a team, promising them that you're just using the freemen to get what you need but then side with them anyway, there should be a strong reaction, not at the end of the game but at the end of the quest (maybe even sooner, the moment it becomes clear that you're full of shit).

 

[Excidium II]

Details?

http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=10045

See the bit about character origins.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Spoiler

I don't think they wanted to create gods, they wanted to take their knowledge/become better magi as a result. The wardings only failed because the Qantari were cucks and intentionally ruined them. (Although the part where the magi just turn a blind eye to the Qantari and delegate important tasks to them seems really out of character and dumb and one of those "well the plot needs this to move forward, so the magi are suddenly retarded just because" moments.) Hence why the wardings work perfectly when you use them, since the Qantari aren't around to fuck it up anymore.

The real WORST KEBAB are the magi who worshipped Agathoth though, the reversal of the ritual was 100% effective, if the rebel magi hadn't been swallowing Agathoth's dick 24/7 the empire would have been mostly fine, and as I recall it's implied the rebel magi were the ones who wrecked Ganezzar, not the Qantari or gods.

Spoiler

Wasn't the reason the wardings failed because three of the to-be god vessels died in an accident and the idiotic military commander of Al-Akia replaced them with three of his own men with no selection criteria or preparation and covered the entire incident up? I know there's mention of Qantari betrayal after this, but it could have nothing to do with the warding process. It would explain why there were originally three gods on the Qantari side, with a defection later on (Perhaps the combined effort of three deities was enough to overwhelm the wards controlling the target)

 

[Forest Dweller]

So what are the sales now?

 

[Stompa]

Spoiler

Wasn't the reason the wardings failed because three of the to-be god vessels died in an accident and the idiotic military commander of Al-Akia replaced them with three of his own men with no selection criteria or preparation and covered the entire incident up? I know there's mention of Qantari betrayal after this, but it could have nothing to do with the warding process. It would explain why there were originally three gods on the Qantari side, with a defection later on (Perhaps the combined effort of three deities was enough to overwhelm the wards controlling the target)

Spoiler

No, they all had wardings, those just weren't enough. Galath's memories mention the need to prepare for "tattoos" and he was an Imperial soldier, so most likely he was one of the three replacements. Proper wards got developed at later date, after the actual summoning happened. Also I doubt there was intentional ruining involved, the whole "Quantari did it" stinks of blame game, since in the end all they were just Balzaar's puppets, him coming to this world was in their interest and fucking with wards would've gotten them charred corpses like the first attempt.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Spoiler

No, they all had wardings, those just weren't enough. Galath's memories mention the need to prepare for "tattoos" and he was an Imperial soldier, so most likely he was one of the three replacements. Proper wards got developed at later date, after the actual summoning happened. Also I doubt there was intentional ruining involved, the whole "Quantari did it" stinks of blame game, since in the end all they were just Balzaar's puppets, him coming to this world was in their interest and fucking with wards would've gotten them charred corpses like the first attempt.

Spoiler

The scenes with Galath feature him being directly recruited by Magi, not by a shifty commander looking to sweep his mistake under the rug. Him being an imperial soldier does nothing to discredit the theory that three of the vessels were unwarded. I agree with you in regards to the Qantari.