Introduction
Recently, it’s become our team’s habit to start work weeks by discussing the comments to the latest diary entry. The discussions can be different and they’re not always about positive things. But we find collecting feedback from the comment section to be not only pleasant, but also convenient… and also pleasant, and also convenient. (I can’t choose between Gork and Mork, if you know what I mean.)
Whenever I’m writing a diary entry, I go by the comments to the previous one. The thing is that our diary’s functions have expanded a bit. Before it was mostly informative. Now it has two more very important functions, which I’ll speak about later.
First, some news
Impressed by your comments, we've decided to redistribute our efforts and focus on bug fixes.
The result will be a patch, tentatively scheduled for the first half of August.
We could have split this process into several smaller patches, but we chose to go with one big one instead.
Next…
Since we’re having a temporary news shortage…
(Between you and me, there’s plenty of news, but our dev diaries are subjected to just, but inexorable censorship—so that I don’t spill the beans. Out of all of us only Innrey can spill the beans, but that’s Innrey for you.)
So since we’re having a “temporary news shortage”, the diaries now have two new functions: one practical, the other one poetic.
The practical function is showing signs of activity. Hi, we’re still here, we’re alive and working. This is so that you don’t get the feeling that there’s no place or reason to give feedback—we still need your input, just like before.
The poetic function is there purely for fun. It’s pure entertainment for me and for you—simply put, for all of us it is. And today I’m in a mood to share some secrets with you, within the limits of censorship, of course. Let’s talk about secrets in the game.
Secrets in the Game
One of the first secrets we came up with was the battle with Mortis. It was initially very, and I mean VERY, secret. To fight Mortis, one had to meet a ton of conditions. The conditions haven’t changed conceptually, but it used to be much harder to get to this combat than it is now.
There’s an interesting case connected with this secret battle. When the game had just appeared in early access, the achievement for killing Mortis appeared before the actual battle with him. And some of the players managed to kill their ally-Mortis! And then they complained about not getting the achievement. Ha-ha-ha, that’s sooo funny!
In the modern world developers can add as many secrets of any difficulty as they like to their games—and in the end, someone will discover them and put them on the Internet. And if one player can’t do that alone, then a whole community will gather into a hive-mind which can take on any task. That’s why we took a step further with our initial idea of secrets; we decided to make a game that fully consists of secrets.
Strictly speaking, if almost any action leads to unraveling of some sort of secret, then it can hardly be called a secret. Nonetheless, some things are very hard to get to. (Our heartfelt hooray to the player who unlocked Prince Alucard after a 1000+ hours of playing!)
We didn’t set the difficulty of the secrets on purpose. It’s impossible and pointless to do with so many secrets. The point here is completely different. It’s to let you do things that you would never have suspected you could do when you just started playing our game.
(Persival's events layout, a visual)
Considering the total number of secrets big and small, during their implementation we encountered inevitable glitches, and I’ll secretly tell you about one of them.
We forgot to add the Wandering Wart and Hairy Nose to the game. They’re ready, but you can’t get them. You can’t bug-report that to us either, because until now you’ve had no idea they existed. But they do exist. We were only able to catch them during a thorough audit. They’ll be added to the game as part of the balance rework. And of course, I’m not going to tell you how to get them.
As usual, I’ll leave you with a feeling of vague incompleteness. That’s because we haven’t finished—we keep working.
As for Vanadis’ auto-biography, it’s coming to an end today, and I think it’s a cool ending. If you’re curious, give it a read.
Vanadis’ Final Letter, Pt 3 (Final One)
We passed the Northern Ridge without any incidents and parted ways in the Northern Gate.
“Here our paths separate,” said Mortis not without regret. “You’ll go on alone. Do you have a plan?”
“Yes. When I was in New Agreement, I made inquiries about the northern lands. I know roughly what to do next. It will work out.”
“Good. Try not to stay in the Northern Gate for too long. Lord Ingvar doesn’t like guests from the South. If you run into guards, don’t resist – they’ll simply throw you out through the northern border. Don’t return; if they catch you a second time, you’ll be sent to the mines.”
“I have trouble understanding Ingvar. On the one hand, he’s letting me pass; on the other hand, he’s not all too welcoming.”
“He’s trying to keep a foot in both camps. Ingvar feels sorry for the poor folk, but he’s not willing to anger the lords of the Empire either. No one knows how many people have run away by way of the Northern Gate. They might suspect him, but they can’t accuse him.”
“He’s just a coward! What can the other lords do to him? He rules the strongest, the richest and the most important province of the Empire!”
“There are many other lords, and he is alone.”
“So what will they do? Wage a war on him, destroy the Northern Gate, and leave the Empire without protection from the orcs? They wouldn’t dare. If I were in Ingvar’s place, I’d let ALL the runaways settle in my lands.”
“Well, well! Who knows whose place you’ll be in when we meet again? Safe travels to you.”
I had to choose my further route.
Going directly through the Sunny City wasn’t possible: the elves there don’t let just anyone pass. Besides, they’re friends with the Empire and they catch fugitives for them. That definitely wasn’t what I needed.
I couldn’t find out anything about the Rotten Bog, except for dark and frightening rumors.
Going through the Crimson Steppes, one could’ve been easily enslaved by the orcs; the goblins, however, are easy to make a deal with if you have money.
I picked the third option. After reaching the steppes and finishing off a couple of orcs, I ran into goblins. Those cheapskates wheedled out all my money to the last penny, but they kept their word and took me almost to the very Frontier through their underground tunnels. They have a whole town down there, underground, maybe more than one town even.
The freedom-loving elves of the Frontier didn’t give a damn about the rules of the Sunny city. They couldn’t care less about me. The last leg of my journey was a beautiful ride which I spent anticipating the realization of my dream.
My hopes were fully justified. The Heathlands became my new home. I quickly settled among former bandits and escaped mine convicts. Those people found themselves outside the law out of necessity, just like me. But what united us the most was the desire to turn over a new leaf, to return to a peaceful and quiet life. It’s for the sake of that desire that we all had come there having overcome many dangers.
I befriended an animal whisperer. He taught me his art. It’s a pity he died trying to make friends with wolves…
I didn’t just sit back; I eagerly learned anything I could from anyone who would teach me—and there were always many volunteers. That wise farmer wife was absolutely right. Beauty can cause many woes, but if you know how to use it, it becomes your biggest advantage.
And then Ingvar’s people came with a secret message. He offered us an alliance: protection in exchange for submission. On what standing? We’re a free people, we don’t have servants or masters, vassals or overlords; we’re all equal. We didn’t want to quarrel with Ingvar, so we refused very politely, even promising to think his offer over. The messengers left, leaving Ingvar’s signum in case we changed our minds.
Meanwhile, the situation in the Frontier was heating up. It smelled like war between the elves and dwarves; we realized that it would affect us too. We consulted and decided that we couldn’t do without Ingvar’s patronage. We had to agree to the alliance.
This task was given to me. Yes, I became an important person. With the signum in my hands, I easily passed through the Sunny City, made it to the Northern Gate and secured an audience with Ingvar himself.
We took council for a long time before coming up with a cunning plan. We would announce the alliance between the Northern Gate and the Heathlands during the negotiations of the dwarves and elves (organized by Ingvar himself). The crux of the plan was that, if the dwarves would be against it, we’d take the side of the elves; if the elves would be against it, then we’d side with the dwarves. Everyone would be left discontented, but no one would dare to push back. There would be no war, and the humans would become guarantors of peace for many years to come.
That’s what we decided on. Ingvar started preparing for the journey. I stayed in the castle, waiting for our departure day. When I came face-to-face with Mortis, I wasn’t even surprised. That rogue can weasel into anything. I was glad to see him and talk about our adventures like with an old friend. I absolutely didn't expect that he’d be the one speaking most of all.
He told me about insidious Millenis, about her plans to remove Ingvar and pass the throne to his brother Sigismund, whom she had wrapped around her finger. For many years, that witch had been pursuing her goals with inhumane shrewdness and foresight. It was almost impossible to outsmart her, but Mortis was ready to try.
After finishing his story, he asked me only one question:
“What did you and Ingvar agree on?”
I told him. I still don’t know whether I should regret that or not. He listened attentively and quietly. When I finished, he mused for a long time. I had already started to fidget in my chair, when he finally broke the silence:
“The wine that Ingvar will take on the trip is poisoned. You can warn him and thus save him – but not for long. Millenis will find another way to get rid of him. OR you can drink the poison with him. If you choose the second option, I’ll bring you back to life and I’ll help you to take away the throne from Sigismund. I give you my word.”
Most likely, I’ll choose the second way… It’s a huge risk, but the throne is worth it. Have I not taken chances before just to earn my daily bread? Not to mention that I’m sure that Mortis will keep his word. He never says or does anything accidentally. He rigs everything and tries to manipulate me, which means that he needs me for something. I’m an important piece that he’s going to play somehow in a grand game of his own making.
But we shall see who plays whom.