I am delighted to begin this post with the news that ---
Travelling At Night hit 30,000 wishlists this week!
This is nuts because the store page still has some completely outdated UI on display and only two screenshots of the environments. But it bodes well for the basic Weather Factory premise of 'what if it wasn't insane for two people to make a CRPG?'. I can't wait to upload new images showing all the bonkers locations and incidents ('Mahaggony'? 'Medea's Garden'?) AK has been telling me about since he returned from his recent writing week in France. I suspect he will want to carefully reveal the parts of the narrative he's happy to share in a later post, so I will leave this to your imaginations. But it's the most loreful stuff I've heard in years, and I think you're going to like it.
The work we've been doing recently has led us to a new and much crunchier system of Outfits (crafting and cummerbunds, together at last!), but that's complex enough to deserve its own blog post too. This week I want to share our newly minted Character screen, where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives which is one of the lodestones of a CRPG. Here's how it's looking so far:
Click for larger version.
Firstly, please note that this is WORK IN PROGRESS. Hence the placeholder Passion images. But it should give you an idea of the areas you'll focus on throughout the game. That crown symbol over some of the skills' level numbers, for instance, indicate skills that align with your chosen Profession: these increase faster than non-aligned Skills, and have at least one other advantage.
You can also see the current Aspect Pool. The Aspect Pool system is the re-roll mechanic which offers interesting in-game decisions even when you fail a skill check. For example: Oh no! Epic fail when trying to charm Dagmar: you made a bad joke about what turns out to be her favourite uncle, and your trousers fell down. But perhaps it's really important to you that you succeed, because you happen to really like her, and/or you fear her puissant wrath. But if you use up your Aspect Pool now, you might have a more serious check later on you won't be able to force ('Failed skill check on OBSERVATION! You fell into the hole in France').
You'll also notice all those juicy skills in the centre of the screen. Here's a closer look:
Click for larger version.
You know a bunch of these skills already from BOOK OF HOURS. Their updated artwork is based on the original aspect art - I think my favourites of these revamps is either Birdsong or Skolokosophy. There are also a number of totally new skills specific to Travelling:
- Charm — "I have the knack of being liked; and people who like me will often do things for me."
- Dignity — "I can project an air of authority and respectability."
- Eloquence — "I can express myself with compelling clarity. This is most useful when I want to explain to someone why they might want to help - or at least ensure they'll enjoy listening."
- Legerdemain — "Law's touch is lighter than we sometimes think. And so is mine."
- Observation — "I notice details others don't."
- Sophistication — "Knowledge of art, culture, history. Are these things actually useful?"
- Spivvery — "I've hung around with disreputable people doing disreputable things. I might be able to find goods on the black market, and if I had to do something criminal, I'd have a good start."
Your chosen profession (exorcist, writer, conjurer or physician) will select a number of relevant skills to start with, but you can choose to upgrade whichever ones you like most. For the avoidance of doubt, Travelling At Night's skills will not talk to you like Disco Elysium's skills - but they remain one of the key touchpoints of the game.
The eagle-eyed among you have probably noticed a number of other things in this new screen that I can't/won't get into at this stage. But stay tuned for explication, story reveals, outfits and more in future updates, and let us know what you think in the comments!
