Venerable Knights of the Valley!
It's been a few months and I'm happy to provide some updates. Here's what I've been working on:
A dynamic and realistic world
The world in Knights of Frontier Valley is an open world that allows for traveling almost anywhere at any time. But it is also a dynamic world that keeps changing, and one that is meant to feel real. To achieve the most immersive experience, every aspect of the game has been modeled after real life - here are some of the things you can expect:
- Lifelike character behavior This is something I wrote about before, but since this feature might be the most important cornerstone of a dynamic environment, it has to be included here and it just keeps growing. NPCs follow a complex, individual behavior pattern. For city folk this means: they sleep, they work, they spend time at home, and they go to places like the tavern or the church during their time off. During the day, some will go shopping at the market or in stores. Guards are regularly patrolling the streets. When characters enter a dark room, they go and turn on a light, if they can, unless they are just passing through. When it is cold, or when they need to cook, they will start a fireplace. This is their "routine behavior". Depending on the circumstances though, they might act outside that routine. If they feel threatened or are participating in a battle, their behavior changes to something fitting to their role and power.
- Daytime and season changes
If you've been following the updates, you already know that the game uses day/night cycles. But did you know that sunrise and sunset times are modeled after the real world, making days longer in summer and shorter in winter? This makes being in the wilderness during wintertime even more dangerous.
Moon phases change throughout the month, which isn't just a visual gimmick but has gameplay effects... you can probably imagine some.
Seasons also change and come with different environmental visuals. They also have an impact on gameplay - lakes freeze up in winter and allow for being walked over, and some seasonal objects (like certain plants) are only there when appropriate. Seasons also affect NPC schedules.
- Weather and temperature That same level of realism also went into the weather model. Sure, it will rain and snow appropriately during different seasons, and you will see some visual effects depending on how hard the wind is blowing. When it is strong, the clouds move faster, trees bend on the travel map, leaves or snow get blown off bushes, and smoke quickly drifts away from chimneys. But it goes further than that, and weather has a profound effect on gameplay. I don't want to give it all away, but here just one example: when the wind howls and heavy rain obstructs the view, it is much harder to detect someone who tries to stay unnoticed. The temperature perceived by a character is based on the outdoor temperature (which depends on season, sun and clouds), but also takes clothing, shelter, and nearby heat sources into account. The game actually determines whether someone is using the blanket when sleeping in a bed.
- Synced maps The map of a city is in sync with the map of each of its buildings. What does that mean? Well, let's say you're inside a house... you light a wall lantern and then leave the building. Outside (on the city map), you will see the corresponding building windows illuminated. Or, if you turn off a fireplace inside, the chimney won't smoke on the outside anymore... that is, until NPCs inside turn the fireplace back on according to their schedule. Syncing those maps was no trivial feat since they are not kept in memory at the same time. Once you leave the house, wall lanterns and fireplaces on the building's map are no longer available in memory, so the check whether they are on or off required a bit of trickery :)
- Realistic character states (hungry, thirsty, tired, etc) Now here's a controversial feature, if there ever was one! Not everyone will like this, but true to the vision of the game to feel real, characters have to eat, drink, and sleep to stay healthy and alive. Remember, this is also a survival game! The state of each character is being tracked using a wide range of parameters. As an example, the level of "thirst" is not just expressed by a single number... "fluid intake", "longterm dehydration", "stomach fullness", and more come into play here, and temperature and character activities have an impact on hydration needs. Sleeping is complex, too, and I have an interesting concept for adding dreams later on - stay tuned. Other parameters that are tracked include current injuries, bleeding and accumulated blood loss, active poisons and diseases, ongoing magical effects, the level of intoxication, encumbrance, exhaustion, effects of extreme temperature, and being stunned or paralyzed.
Crime and Punishment
What I call "Crime and Punishment" is a set of features around doing illegal things, moving in stealth mode, getting detected and caught, and dealing with the consequences.
There's a long list of different crimes (one of my favorites is "Foulmouthing"), and the range of possible punishments is also wide. Not all of this will be included in Alpha 2, but start getting ready for paying fines (or bribes), having to do community work, spending time in a prison cell, being put on display in the pillory (oh, the shame), and even sentenced to death! Yeah, Frontier Valley is no Disneyland.
| This will harm your reputation, if you care about such things |
The game keeps track of any commited crimes internally. Now, whether you'll ever have to answer for them depends on witnesses and clues left behind at the crime scene, and on how careful you are when trying to sell stolen goods.
If you're caught, you might face a medieval-style court trial which will put your ability to talk your way out of trouble to good use.
If you end up in prison, you'll have options to deal with the situation. Maybe you made some friends in high (or shady) places? That could come in handy now. Otherwise you're on your own and can either try to break out, or sit it out!
You might even get a chance to clear your name, if you've earned a good reputation before the trial.
| Breaking into the home of a powerful character can be lucrative, but also dangerous |
Steam NextFest
Steam NextFest is coming up in early February, which will leave some time to process feedback and fix bugs from Alpha 2. If things go well, KoFV will participate in NextFest and go to an even wider audience. From there, it's quickly heading towards Early Access.
Thanks for having been patient over the years... your interest in the game is the biggest motivation for me.
Cheers,
Martin