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We created Zaharia on four different pillars of gameplay: Role-Play, Exploration, Combat and Stealth. These for pillars give to the player different ways to proceed through the game.
We want Zaharia to have a real stealth management, in order to have more ways to solve a quest. The stealth in Zaharia won't be related only to combats, but having a stealthy character can be useful in any situation.
Let's make a practical example: the player needs to take a certain item from a heavy guarded location. Breaking the main door and killing everyone in the building won't be the smartest option, because it will affect the character's reputation. Offering a bribe to some guards, with the help of some diplomacy, will allow the player to obtain the item, but this way he will lose a lot of money. Without a stealthy character it's either loss of money or massacre, but entering the building to steal the item is the best solution in this situation. In Zaharia there will be a lot of different ways to solve a problem, but they won't be all equal in terms of costs and rewards.
The stealth system will work in real time, allowing the player to precisely move his entire party, with the aid of a pause button. Positioning is of primary importance during stealth, because guards and enemies will have a view cone, affected by the lighting, being in the cone may lead to a fight and will allow the guard to call for reinforcements.
The player will be able to enter in stealth mode every time and everywhere, in this mode there will be many different interactions with the environment, it will be possible to hide in some special areas (e.g. behind a curtain or in a wardrobe), to do various silent actions (e.g. slowly opening a door) or to silently dispose of an opponent.
Stealth will be useful in fights too: characters can easily die in Zaharia, surprise can be a huge advantage in order to win a fight. NPCs' AI will be realistic, it won't detect hidden characters, so it will be possible to avoid a fight, to take the enemies by surprise or to hide a part of the team and let the hidden characters come out at the right time.
