[Vince]

As the title says, the first chapter is finally playable and it looks and feels pretty good. It's another major milestone as there's a huge difference between calling up some scripts to test a quest or check dialogues and actually playing the chapter from start to finish.

Next step - playtesting it internally (that's what I'm doing now), improving the locations and visuals (until now the focus was on quests and scripting), adding more dialogues and events, and expanding options where appropriate. I assume we'll spend the next 4 weeks doing that, then see where we're at. So far it looks like we're on track to release the first chapter in mid March, but time will tell.


^ home, sweet home


^ the apartment 'building' where you live


^ Spike and Bulldozer, your new best friends


^ they went through me like hot knife through butter. I should avoid them until I gain a skill level or two. Their skills are as low as mine, but there's two of them and that makes a huge difference at this point. Mental note to self, add an option to pay them. It's time to get a drink.




Tanner gives me an access card for the Armory and recommends to get someone to watch my back, namely Evans, the first party member.


^ things you might do but can't do at the moment.


^ the Promised Land, a couple of quests later.

See you in a month.

[Nm6k]

The close beta or Early Access in mild March?

[Vince]

I meant Early Access. The game's in good shape, I'm not getting any bugs but there are tons of minor things I'd like to fix and improve. For example, yesterday the area on screen #3 was empty and the apartment building didn't look as good. Tomorrow we'll add some neighbors there as well, so it won't be just you. Plus some opportunities to steal from the poor.

There are plenty of other things we want to do so running a beta test now would be more distracting than helpful (since the combat system has already been tested extensively, the only things left to test are quest scripting and fight balance but we can handle it ourselves, at least for now). We might still do it in early March for 2 weeks or so, but right now I can't say for sure.

[Nm6k]

Understandable hopefully things go well in your testing. How much is Early Access going to cost

[Vince]

We'll keep you posted (and post more screens during this month).

[RobotRodent]

What about balance changes since the combat beta? Is the current balance close to final?

[Vince]

What about balance changes since the combat beta? Is the current balance close to final?

We haven't looked at it yet. Until now the priority was level design and quest scripting. Now that the game is playable, we're looking at (and adding) what's missing (level improvements and events). When it's done, we'll focus on balance and combat improvements.

So far the balance feels right. Dying is easy, some fights best to be avoided until later, etc.

[Wizard1200]

^ they went through me like hot knife through butter. I should avoid them until I gain a skill level or two. Their skills are as low as mine, but there's two of them and that makes a huge difference at this point. Mental note to self, add an option to pay them. It's time to get a drink.

The game looks great, but the quoted part is exactly a situation which could require a feat (silver tongue, cha 9) and streetwise 2 to avoid the combat encounter. The master trader feat could be renamed to negotiator (cha 7) to reduce the shop prices by 25 % and the required money for a bribe by 50 %.

[Wrath of Dagon]

Great to see there's been that much progress.

[AbounI]

Can't wait to wake up for the first time in the pit 

[Wizard1200]

It would be great if you could remove the caps from the combat log and make the levels slightly brighter, because it is sometimes difficult to see the characters.

[Deni]

It would be great if you could remove the caps from the combat log and make the levels slightly brighter, because it is sometimes difficult to see the characters.

+1
I would like levels more bright and more colorful - now it's too dark and most locations look the same. Even convicts from Dungeon Rats seems to had more light in their holes.

[Vince]

It would be great if you could remove the caps from the combat log and make the levels slightly brighter, because it is sometimes difficult to see the characters.

I don't like all caps either but we don't have time to play with different fonts at the moment. Levels brighter - it's a cargo hold so the darkness there is appropriate. You can enable the character/object outlines to spot objects you can interact with and people.

I would like levels more bright and more colorful - now it's too dark and most locations look the same.

So far we showed only 3 locations (the Pit, Armory, and Hydroponics).

The Pit:



The Armory:



Hydroponics:

[Wizard1200]

I don't like all caps either but we don't have time to play with different fonts at the moment. Levels brighter - it's a cargo hold so the darkness there is appropriate. You can enable the character/object outlines to spot objects you can interact with and people.

It is great to hear that the fonts are on your to-do-list. I think that character or object outlines break the immersion and other games (streets in Shadowrun, caves in Pathfinder: Kingmaker, ...) have darkness, too, but the player can still clearly see the surroundings.

[AbounI]

Glad to see that the Power Saw is still an existing weapon. Now, my question is : will it be just a weapon or also a tool that can help you to open new roads for some closed destinations (like the bombs in AoD/DR to blow some doors) ?