Hail Spicers! December has come, and with the beta progressing smoothly we wanted to give you an update on where we are with Serpent in the Staglands.
Here’s a short teaser trailer we’ve put together previewing some new locations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vD6RHbijRI
Housekeeping
We’ve completed the three heaviest series of maps for the game, which include the most intensive puzzles, quests and art content. We're now finishing up with remaining locations and beginning the mass balance testing. Having developed the main early, mid and end game content we’re very happy with the 3 main variety of puzzle types in the game and their functions:
*Character skills
Example: using polymorphing spells to enter small doors, shields to protect party from insta-killing traps, or an aptitude to grease your way out of a tricky situation
*Player & Character exploration
Example: Acquiring documents that you can read, the player piecing together where to go, and the character reacting to having that document and talking to select people. Writing your own found clues in your journal for puzzles and culprits of events is a fun way of making puzzles easier to get invested in, and can lead to an entertaining surprises. The player is the most enjoyably unreliable narrator we can help create.
*Player intuition
Example: Players figuring out how basic language/number systems work with Native machines. Linguistics and other Aptitudes can help sometimes with knowing what runes represent, but don’t give a book on how they work in context.
The places you go at the mid and end tier of the game are full of Indiana Jones inspired dungeon traps and intricate machines set up by natives and wizards to throw your brain against. We think you'll love the variety throughout.
BETA 2.0 and release schedule
This week we’ll be sending out an updated v.2 of the beta to some awesome rpg-centric youtubers who hopefully can take some time for a stroll through the lovely Vol peninsula and get some more notice of the game, so be on the lookout for that!
As for releasing the game when it’s done, we’re now up on Steam with a Coming Soon page (and will include the soundtrack there as well, which is awesome). We’ll be sending the Beta 2.0 version to GOG for evaluation later this week. As we get closer to release, we’ll provide the details on getting codes for either distributor to everyone, or how to get it DRM-free otherwise from us directly. Thanks everyone who voted for us Steam Greenlight and spread the word!
Late game balance implementation
Upcoming beta 1.5 implements a balance patch for the low-level game. This is resulting in a need for more tactics for your party in the way of coordinating pre-buffs, offensive and defensive skills to overcome enemies (they pack a punch), while continuing to minimize the micro-manging required with pausing frequently. As always we’re designing with the strengths of real-time in mind, which we think is pausing infrequently while issuing macro orders to your party, and have their skills working automatically and together. We’ve had good responses for it thus far, and are continuing to design the same for late game, albeit with much more challenging enemies, potent buffs to hack around, and larger groups. The five coven witches random encounter in the wilderness will look like a tea party later on.
One of the biggest threats to your party, with some ailment exceptions, are skirmishes. With a low level spell caster in your group you can heal your entire party with some time, so the skirmishes, especially later on are fast and hard hitting with a pretty massive RNG-god pulling the strings. The other macro-element of the game working against you is town supplies. Aside from being completely wiped out and losing their potential sellable goods, merchants have a finite number of resources to sell you. Scavenging the settler’s ruins, bandits, and natives will ultimately become your main source of equipment, save the traveling merchants and small-town fletchers you happen across.
The real interesting thing we’re starting to test is how these late level skills can all stack and work together simultaneously. Having enemies with particular stats, defense, and damage dealing skills and spells is one thing, but knowing how a party of 5 with up to 15 skill points worth of skills and spells can augment each other is just as important. There’s a lot of defensive shields and hard-blocks of certain attacks (complete missile, spells, and melee resistances), as well as area effects and ailments to deter even the most powerful party. We’re getting as creative as possible to counter the strategic designs that players can come up with while using such a loose system.
Itemization
Most of your character’s power comes from your skills and stats, but that doesn’t mean your equipped items are worthless. While there is a range of weapons that have different damage potentials based on their craftsmanship and materials, there are also some exquisite and magical items of power buried throughout the game.
Important items in the game are finite, and unique and rare items are even more difficult to get your grubby, perhaps even pickpocketing, hands on. Bespoke armorers that work with fine bronze, or particularly exotic materials you can bring them, are going to net the best armor in the game. The Staglands settlers are poor, most with little possessions besides the warm furs and tweeds on their back, and these armorers are rare and only work with certain materials, some with only certain statured people. Finding both is part of getting your characters the best equipped as possible, if that’s how you’d want to use your resources and time.
Looking at release:
For the next few months we’ll be to polishing, bug testing and implementing the remainder of the content, as well as implementing the high grade skill/spell beta area for late-game combat tests.
We’re very excited not to have had to cut any maps or content that we originally had planned in April, managed to get some of our personal add-on-features implemented, and are not too far off our proposed timeline. Our designated time for testing won’t be fruitless, we’ll be able to devote a lot of time to making sure everything is smooth, balanced, and as polished as possible for the launch, and we have some brilliant testers helping figure out obscure bugs in the systems. Their efforts thus far have been a fantastic contribution to the polish of the game, and their feedback has been terrific. The priests in Lumen Forten toast to the lot of them for their efforts in making sure the game is what you all backed.
Happy holidays everyone, don’t let the Shroomers down your roof.
Joe & Hannah