Travelers and adventurers, welcome to our new section "Developer Diaries"!
Here we will share the nuances of the development of "Strings of Destiny Xl: A Magical Dream", talk about the features of the game world and introduce you to our team. In this issue, we'll take a look at where the player rarely sets foot — into the secret lives of non-player characters.
Not just extras: The Philosophy of Creating NPC
It seems that the role of an NPC is extremely simple: give a task, give an item, create a background. But as soon as their function is fulfilled, they seem to cease to exist. But in our project, from the very beginning, we wanted to break this paradigm, despite the limitations on implementation possibilities.
"The game has both key characters and extras," explains Oleg Artemov, the developer and screenwriter of Strings of Fate, "But even a minor character should not be conspicuous, while remaining appropriate in his location. If we are in a shopping area, people should lay out goods, bargain, and discuss prices."
Already at this stage, we faced difficulties – the development team is small, the game world is large, and the desire to fill the world with interesting NPCs is ambitious. I didn't want the NPCs to look like a faceless "dummy".
I had to be creative and think about how to get out of a situation where the characters are similar in appearance, but their roles and goals are different. We have focused on their history and occupation. This is how it turned out to personalize speech patterns – an original manner of communication appeared. At the same time, in the world of "Strings of Fate" you will not find just "Sleeping Hunters" or "Miners" — everyone has their own unique name. It turned out to save resources on rendering the appearance of hundreds of characters, but to make them different and recognizable.
Creative technologies: How the world's population is born
Creating hundreds of unique characters is not an easy task, especially for a small development team. How can I avoid repeating names, surnames, and pedigrees and remember them all?
The team's focus and creativity save us, but our main tool is giant spreadsheets. In them, we enter names, biographies, occupation, and, most importantly, position coordinates for each of the hundreds of NPCs on the vast world map. That's how we know for sure that every NPC is in his place.
At this stage, there are already more than 800 non-player characters in Strings of Fate, and many have unique connections with each other. To ensure that this does not remain behind the scenes, we have implemented the "Rumors" mechanism. Everything that the hero hears from the residents — hints, gossip, stories — is saved in this section. It is through "Rumors" that you can find a quest giver to earn experience or a mentor who can teach you a rare skill and even find hidden quests and locations.
In the context of "Rumors", the player learns the rules of the game and learns the mechanics of the game. And only in the "Rumors" can you find hints for finding secret and hidden things. So listening to local conversations on Foundry is not only interesting, but also useful.
A feature of the gameplay includes the fact that not all NPCs will meet – it all depends on the path that the player chooses. The player can also influence the fate and relationships of interactive characters in the future plot.
Perhaps one of the main difficulties is maintaining logic in this web of relationships. Sometimes it's only at the final build stage that you can see how the quest and the NPCs associated with it look from the outside. You, the players, become our main assistants here. Your feedback helps us fix bugs and make the game better.
Supporting stars: Who did the team like?
Each NPC passes through the hands of each team member to varying degrees, from the scriptwriter and designer to the animator and programmer. Such collective creativity gives rise to truly developed characters.
The underwater prince-ludorib Aquarion is confidently in the lead in the unofficial rating of the team. Realizing that he was not destined for the throne of the underwater kingdom, the ambitious prince went ashore to explore new lands.
His arc unfolds in the quest chain "Prince without Lands and Seas", and his interaction with other residents of Litea, who react differently to such an exotic neighbor, has become a separate source of inspiration for us.
The second undisputed favorite was a troll named Bashka. This character conquered the team even at the concept stage, and the final version of his quest "Troll Cave" included only the most vivid and memorable moments of his story. Players who are lucky enough to meet him will remember his rousing dances for a long time — we put a special soul into their animation. But Baska is not just a comical character. Although there is no formal reputation system in The Strings of Fate, it is with him that you can build a polar different relationship — from hostility to sincere friendship, and this choice will have the most direct impact on the development of the plot in his region.
Completing the top three is Robert Schuhard, the mine foreman, one of the first interactive characters: mechanics were worked out on him and quests and interactivity were tested. And it is he who is the first to be greeted by newcomers at the starting location. No wonder he is the most "clickable" NPC in the game! Schuhard is a kind of knot connecting the world together; it is from him that the very "web of rumors" diverges, which gradually introduces the player to the rest of the inhabitants of the Foundry. His image is the result of a long time of work: Robert changed his appearance more than once, until we found the perfect combination of severity and charm. But behind the appearance of a simple hard worker lies a personality with a multifaceted and mysterious history. Who is he really? The answer to this question is still waiting for its discoverer.
Even with limited resources, we try to study the world thoroughly. We are sure that it is in such details — in the elaborated life of each little character — that the real immersion is born.
Which NPCs would you like to learn more about? Write in the comments what you are interested in during the development process and we will definitely prepare new materials!