Comments - DaveBelcher

Very cool stuff, nice work!

Who can possibly say!? ;)

Thanks! We hope you will enjoy it once we release!

We are hoping (no promises!) to have something the Alpha test crew can get their hands on this year. This won't be the full game, rather a subset of the prototype we are currently working on. And thanks :)

I would love to "Guest" :)

There are a few ways you can secure yourself access to Beta (and even Alpha), and most of those result from becoming an active member of our online community, which can be found at Embersofcaerus.com ;)

The song can now be purchased for whatever you want to pay right here! Selfpubli.sh

It wont be free. There will be an initial purchase, then a subscription plan. We will certainly look into steam as a distribution option.

What platform were you hoping for? We will look into porting the game to other platforms after a successful launch :)

If you would like to apply for a position in the team, feel free to drop an email to jobs (at) forsakenstudios.com with a resume/CV, no promises though! :)

Not a problem at all :)

All we want is a chance to earn your support and patronage. We don't just expect people to pay and play without making sure we deserve it ;)

Thanks for your comments!

Check out our engine test here:
Indiedb.com

Dungeon test:
Indiedb.com

Unfortunately running a massive world server, with the specialist hardware we will need for some of our systems, and paying the staff to run and support it all makes it impossible to achieve without the subscription plan in place.

Every game needs ongoing funds, some do it with cash shops and other perks, but that just wouldn't work in the game we are trying to create. Yes, there are some exceptions (guild wars, DDO), but those games had MUCH lower running costs due to their infrastructure running pretty much peer-to-peer, with minimal server requirements for the "lobby" areas.

We made a simple decision early on: Everyone pays the same, everyone gets the same game. There is nothing we could provide in a cash shop that wouldn't affect the game in some way, either directly through balance, or indirectly through the economy. Sorry!

You not checked our videos section?

First person only.

Yes, pretty much (unless we come up with a better way to do it). There is slightly more to it than that in the current design though.

We certainly hope so! Whether it will make the release list, or go out shortly after, it is too early to say.

Thanks for your questions :)

We hope to add things like that, yes, but we will see. Maybe not for initial release, but we will try to get in a "terrors of the deep" or similar expansion later on if we don't :)

Well I'm glad I managed to convert you! ;) I'm also glad you can see the benefits of the system we have designed.

Whether you will naturally recover from an incapacitated state is dependant on a few factors, and being able to administer some form of first aid to yourself will certainly help (top tip for lone hunters!). This also ties into things like creatures in the world... a creature like a deer or similar may just incapacitate you then run off once the threat is gone, while predatory animals my finish you off. Really bad ones may even rip up the corpse and mutilate you ;)

As for accidental deaths when you are defending yourself, this ties into the stigma balancing system. If they are attacking you, its likely they will have a higher stigma rating than you (if you are completely passive player), so if they do die the stigma gain you will get will be pretty small, and will be easy to recover from.

OK, replying to both comments here.

First, skills are trained through using them. The general loss everyone feels is a temporary loss (short term memory loss), which comes back after a little while. Basically, chill out in a tavern for half an hour, have a good meal, and by the time you are done the skills will be regained. Permanent loss basically means they don't come back automatically after you recover from the death penalty, and they must be re-trained (long term memory loss).

Again, this isn't intended to be so harsh that people choose never to PvP, but rather that they value their life a bit more and try a little harder to stay alive (not just zerg rush everywhere). It's there to make you stop and think before jumping into a fight, in case you might be biting off more than you can chew.

As I explained in the system above, health is managed through a regain/deterioration system. Once the person is incapacitated, if they are not too badly injured, their health will slowly regain over time and they will regain control of their body. If they have minor bleeds, they could even staunch the flow long enough for the bleed to clot, and agian recover in time.

If, however, you caused serious injury to the player, and they are bleeding seriously, they will likely bleed to death in time. If this happens, then you will still get the stigma hit when they die (as you contributed to their death).

In these situations, it may be worth your time to bandage them up so they at least survive... or use clubs and blunt instruments in your banditry to reduce the amount of bleeding you will inflict ;)

Oh, and just to re-iterate the disclaimer at the start, this system like all others at this time will be subject to thorough testing and balancing before we go live, and may end up being changed completely before then. This is just an early look at the design board, so to speak :)

On the contrary NCC-1701, the system HELPS you play a bandit without ever having to take a stigma hit (I assume you read the update on stigma?).

You only receive stigma upon killing and mutilating a player, so if you are a bandit intending on robbing someone, you merely need to incapacitate them then take their stuff. You never need to go beyond that and kill the player.

I also forsee a fair few bandit towns which welcome those who have lower factional standing with the "good" towns.

Anyway, just to bring up your last statement, about catering to weak, peaceful and no-risk playstyles. Certainly those people who aren't player killers still risk things from death, such as the temporary stat loss, the goods they have on them, and the cost of a replacement statue... I certainly wouldn't call it no-risk. Likewise, without the additional penalty on death as a player killer, where is the additional risk to add spice to that chosen playstyle?

We are just giving a higher risk factor for those who choose the life of a player killer, while not imposing that risk on the more peaceful players who just like to craft and trade (driving the economy for those who do wish to purely PvP!). But, either way, it certainly isn't no-risk to anyone!

Anyway, thank you for your comment, and your thoughts on the subject :)

Note, this video was actually created in August 2011, when the Vision engine was still owned by Trinigy (hence the Trinigy logo at the start). The vision engine is now owned by Havok.