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Author Topic: AoD February update  (Read 30293 times)
Vince
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« on: February 22, 2013, 09:25:34 am »

Another month is almost over. Nick’s working on performance-related issues and loading time, Oscar’s playing with Maadoran, I’m doing Ganezzar and polishing (yes, it means rewriting until I’m happy) religion related quests. Religion is an important matter and should be done in a proper, believable, philosophical manner. Plus, scheming if you're highjacking it. If you manage to pull it off, it should feel like an accomplishment. Not having high skills and clicking on the best lines.

Anyway, I’m very happy that all three cities have a very distinctive and unique atmosphere. Different people, different problems, different goals, and yet they are all connected and fit together. Maadoran’s my favorite so far (way, way better than Teron) and you won’t have to wait til the end of the year to play it. When we’re done with it, Maadoran and the related locations (the mountain pass, the tomb, the Ordu encampment, etc) will be released to everyone who pre-ordered the game.

Why? Well, to say thanks and give you guys something to enjoy while you're waiting so patiently, but most importantly to get some feedback and have an opportunity to tweak it and expand, should it be necessary.

Ivan made a nice wasteland creature and the animations are pretty cool. I asked for a lot less, but he surprised us all. Exploring old ruins has gotten a lot more exciting. Well, that’s about it. Since I assume that most people read these updates for the screens, let’s jump straight to it.

The topic is women. We didn’t have a lot of them in Teron because it’s a backwater little town. Maadoran is more “cosmopolitan” and open-minded, so you’ll see more women playing important roles in the city politics. Still, in that world a woman who'd make it to the top and manage to stay there is a woman who's better (harder, smarter, tougher, more driven, etc) than most men. Coincidentally, this means that such women aren't known for their sunny disposition and niceness. Live with wolves and you learn how to howl and all that.

One’s Darista, the assassins’ guildmaster. She’s a former mercenary, tough as nails, and is well liked and respected by her peers:

Strabos, the merchants’ guildmaster: “Darista runs the local Boatmen chapter. She is something of a cunt, but what else can you expect from a woman who prefers killing to raising children? She did the mercenary work for years. Joining the Boatmen was her way of settling down.”

Another (but not the only) example is Lorenza. She doesn't have any fighting skills, but she is hard to catch off guard and unprepared. Maadoran was her family's city before House Aurelian took over and she'd like to get it back. She's always well informed (knowledge is power) and usually one step ahead of you and everyone else. She'll fuck you over in an instant if you aren't careful.

She's very hard to coerce into doing anything she doesn't want to (very high checks), which means that if you want her support you'll have to make some kind of deal with her (mind you, coercing her doesn't mean that she won't have a surprise or two for you).



























If you think that she's giving the merchant a hard time, wait till you're asked to kill her when you play as an assassin.

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Dickie
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« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2013, 09:47:09 am »

Oooh another city to explore. I can't wait.
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GhanBuriGhan
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« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2013, 09:47:52 am »

Nice update, I'm glad we get some woman power, though they may be worse even then the men. What a world you created, Vince.... And Whoohoo for the playable Maadoran preview/demo/beta... thing!
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Vahha
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« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2013, 10:27:42 am »

When will the testing of new locations begin? Wink
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Vince
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« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2013, 10:44:00 am »

At some point.
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Dragatus
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« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2013, 12:34:57 pm »

Sweet, a new city to explore. I'm looking forward to that. Salute

And lady Lorenza is looking good too.
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Ruinous
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« Reply #6 on: February 22, 2013, 02:31:59 pm »

Cannot wait! Hopefully this'll see a bump in the pre-order numbers as well.
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SA_Avenger
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« Reply #7 on: February 22, 2013, 03:28:55 pm »

well glad to see more women in game Smile

Otherwhise I actually try to avoid screenshots to avoid spoilers Smile
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GhanBuriGhan
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« Reply #8 on: February 22, 2013, 04:44:44 pm »

well glad to see more women in game Smile

Otherwhise I actually try to avoid screenshots to avoid spoilers Smile

Yeah me too. This is the first series I read in a while - coudn't resist this time.
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"Merely killing those being mean to me. It's not my fault it's everyone in the world of AoD". (Vahhabyte)
MaximillionMiles
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« Reply #9 on: February 22, 2013, 06:03:46 pm »

well glad to see more women in game Smile

Otherwhise I actually try to avoid screenshots to avoid spoilers Smile

Yeah me too. This is the first series I read in a while - coudn't resist this time.

I read them all. Willpower: 0

Maadoran seems fun, if complicated. Gaelius wants to keep his position, Strabos wants him replaced with Serenas, Lorenza wants to be back in power, Gaelius wants to deal with the thieves, who just want to survive, the boatmen want to throw it in with gaelius, although there are disagreements within the guild, if alive Antidas and/or Carrinas want Gaelius eliminated, Gaelius might be bringing in the Ordu to fight for him and who knows what's going on in Meru's head?

Out of curiosity, how do you manage to plan this stuff without losing track of who's doing what, Vince? That's a lot of branching and variables to think of.
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Vince
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« Reply #10 on: February 22, 2013, 06:42:43 pm »

Gaelius wants to deal with the thieves, who just want to survive...
Who are now pissed and want to deal with Gaelius using the split within the Boatmen.

Quote
Out of curiosity, how do you manage to plan this stuff without losing track of who's doing what, Vince? That's a lot of branching and variables to think of.
It feels like a puzzle sometimes, when you need to find a missing piece that fits all the other pieces. Each choice, each branch must be supported and lead somewhere. That's what's taking so long.

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SniperHF
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« Reply #11 on: February 22, 2013, 07:00:48 pm »

And Whoohoo for the playable Maadoran preview/demo/beta... thing!

Vince / other ITS.

What percentage would you guess is the amount of the full game included in the current public Teron demo and Maadoran once released to pre-orders?
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Vince
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« Reply #12 on: February 22, 2013, 07:57:34 pm »

Depends on how you look at it. If you look at the towns, then you get 2 out of 3. The endgame is fairly complex too, it's more than 'kill the foozle' and there are a lot of threads coming together there. Not sure what it should be counted as. If you look at the number of locations, at most (depends on what we'll include with Maadoran) you'll get 9 (3(Teron)+6) out of 20 locations. 
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curiousity
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« Reply #13 on: February 23, 2013, 01:42:40 am »

Wonderful to see the progress.  I like the decision to open up the 2nd town up to pre-orders.  A nice reward to people that have decided throw their support behind you.  And you will gain feedback allowing fine-tuning and polishing as needed.

I'll be waiting for the full release to play as I have too many things going on right now... sigh, obviously I'm still able to procrastinate enough so I can read the forums.   Smile

It is hard to emphasized how much I've enjoyed seeing this game flesh out.  The adherence to making a realistic and logical world with choices and consequences that go beyond the uttering of that phrase, constant interaction with customers, advancement of skill across the development of this game, and the dogged persistence that I've seen over the years here was my first beacon of hope for the games that I really enjoyed when I was younger.  A fine job by the Iron Tower Studio's team.
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CVV
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« Reply #14 on: February 23, 2013, 06:44:33 am »

Just registered to give some feedback after playing with the demo for the first time. Hopefully it'll help.

Huge fan of Planescape, Fallouts and TB RPGs so had to try this. My impressions:

- overall I like it, borderline love it
- writing is great, to my surprise I read everything to the end, even the stories
- lore/worldbuilding is very intriguing, love the Roman feel

There are some things didn't like that much, fortunately all of them fall in the "unimportant" cathegory

- audovisuals are not a strong suit, this girl is definitely smart and intriguing but she won't win any Miss Universe sashes Smile
- loved the combat (my god, finaly a good TB combat!) but I did feel the difficutly is perhaps a bit too much; don't get me wrong, I love the whole "start-as-a-wimp-and-get-stronger" philosophy but I'd personally prefer the difficulty to come down a notch or two
- but the biggest and by far most annoying aspect was the camera; the camera is the reason I can't say I full on love the game and will preorder it right now - because I know the camera would drive me nuts within the first few hours of playing; I suspect it can be a bitch of a job to get the camera right in a 3D game such as this but it's really distracting; I hope it's gonna be improved upon in the gold version

So I'm looking forward to the full release, fingers crossed and good luck guys. Overall an excellent job.

« Last Edit: February 23, 2013, 06:49:06 am by CVV » Logged
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