Hello everyone!
The other day, we organized a Q&A session with some members of the Dev Team. First of all, thanks to everyone who participated. It was really fun and interesting.
We´ve made this recapitulative blog for all of you who could not participate but are interested in the different questions.
We ordered the questions based on the number of votes that they received 👍
🧙♂️ Derek - Game Director
👷♂️ Augustin - Producer
🎨 Hadrien - Art Director
🗿 Pierre - Game Designer
🥷 Sergio / Daarkarrow - Community Developer
To make your life easier, I included the emoji that corresponds to the dev who answered it.
What are the top lessons taken from each previous game that are being used in EL2?
🧙♂️ Disclaimer: I wasn't involved with Amplitude games prior to Endless Legend 2 so I can only report on talking to the team, inspirations and lessons learned.
With EL1 Amplitude built a beautiful game, and then put a wall around it. It was really difficult to learn. Something easy to forget if you have 20, 40 or 100 hours in it. The battle system also gave partial control. Which is dangerous and leaves players wanting more.
So from Endless Space 2 we really inherited the quest system, especially the ability to choose how you would like to pursue objectives.
And from Humankind the battle system was a big step up from EL1
As well as really attempting to make it easier to understand (sometimes succeeding, and sometimes failing here). EL2 is the first Amplitude game to have Nested Tooltips, so it was a challenge to implement and took time to adjust to the new ways you communicate information in a nested tooltip world.
Will you add loads more lore in-game? Maybe in-game encyclopedia?
👷♂️ Hello! We're not planning to add an encyclopedia in game. For more lore, we'll probably add more events along the way of EA or after the full release.
Will there be any radical changes after the demo feedback?
🧙♂️ I am going to do a full blog on this before EA. Super appreciative to everyone to filled out a survey, no matter the feedback. I talked a little about it in the "State of the Game" for august but I will be digging into more specifics in an upcoming post.
The big thing is UI (which we are working on and will share the direction with you about), and lots of little things that were causing confusing (What is a quarry?).
I was surprised at the amount of people having terrain readability issues. And we have a lot of changes coming there to make gridline, yields, etc more readable. To adjust colors and reduce conflicting objects which were hard to see. As well as making empty foundation more clear.
All from feedback from the demo.
Which parts of the game are you most excited for?
🧙♂️ Tidefall is the obvious answer here. It fixes some problems the genre has struggled with.
Right now I am also very curious to see how players respond to the "world heroes". These are ai controlled unique characters in the world that are doing their own thing, or causing damage depending on their personality. I did this a bit in Fall from Heaven and I am excietd to see it here too
What is your Roadmap for the EL2?
👷♂️ It's a little early to share our plans. For now we are focusing on providing the best Early Access experience possible and then we'll focus towards the 1.0 release. Step by step to make a great game enjoyed by many 🙂
Is there any chance that heroes will get models more representative of their portrait art?
🎨 We’re definitely looking into improving hero models to better match their portrait art, but I can’t promise anything just yet. The challenge is that 3D art requires more resources than 2D, and we also need to ensure heroes remain clear and recognizable on the battlefield. Too much detail can sometimes make smaller units harder to read, especially in various environments. It’s something we’d love to address, but like all improvements tasks during and after the EA, we’ll need to balance it against other priorities to make sure it delivers the best possible impact for the game experience.
Do you plan to implement one of the best UI features invented for 4X and tile-based games over the past few years? Or a way to show what was built last in a city?
🧙♂️ We got lots of feedback on the city ui from the demo. It has been an area we have done a lot of iterating on with the Insiders as well and we still arent happy with it. The version in the demo was pretty new and is missing some key functionality (like being able to see what improvements you have already built). We have read about all the pain points from players and are looking at a redesign that address these issues. Things like: showing what was built, filtering options, recommended options, better displaying leveling effects, better displaying adjacency, etc
Are you going to add artwork for resources and anomalies on the pop-ups?
🧙♂️ I dont know. We are discussing it. We certainly saw feedback about it from the demo surveys.
Modding possibilities in Endless Legend 2: What’s planned?
👷♂️ Hello! Currently, you can only tweaks values of the game with modding. It's a first version that we hope to improve until 1.0 and maybe later, but nothing is certain yet.
Are devs focused on flavour and on building the setting?
🧙♂️ Yeah its a hard balance. We tried to make sure lore was sprinkled throughout. There isn't a good place to put the minor faction background right now. But I agree it needs to be in.
We focused early on on creating a beautiful world so you could see it directly. Where EL1 was a more stylized world and the 2d art showed you the detail. I think that may have been a mistake as people miss those beautiful 2d images. We are looking into it.
Is UI going to show us actual upgrade yields and minor faction bonuses
🧙♂️ Yeah. This feedback isnt very helpful. I am going to check on what we can do to improve that.
We do a good job of that with hero skills and buildings (showing the "Net Effect" and the "Breakdown") but its missing for minor factions. I'll add a note about it. Thank you.
What are your biggest artistic inspirations and how do you go about designing visuals for your games?
🎨 Hi! That’s great to hear our art books are inspiring you, and it’s a really interesting question you’re asking! It’s a big topic, so I won’t be able to cover everything quickly, but I’ll do my best to give you a clear answer.
When we approach concept work, visual design is always about elevating the player’s experience. We start by looking at the core elements: the game design, the type of gameplay, the tone of the universe and its lore (especially in Endless Legend 2 and the broader Endless Universe), and even technical considerations like platform and camera perspective.
All of these help shape our art direction and the visual choices we make.For the Endless Universe, we’re really exploring the space fantasy genre, a blend of sci-fi and fantasy, that lets us create something unique and immersive. Our inspiration comes from all over: classic sci-fi and fantasy, of course, but also traditional cultures, historical and mythological references, and even various art movements.
We believe the best worlds are built when you mix the familiar with more original or surprising ideas.Once the art direction is set for the game, our process is highly collaborative. We always start by working closely with game designers and writers to get a clear brief for each element. From there, the art team takes over, following a pipeline: 2D concept art, then 3D modeling, animation, VFX, and SFX.
The 2D concept phase is especially important. It’s where we iterate, discuss, and make sure everyone (designers, artists, programmers, creative directors, etc.) is aligned before moving into full production. That said, we sometimes prototype things directly in the engine before finalizing 2D concepts, especially when we need to test how an idea feels in the actual game space. This helps us validate directions quickly, this way, we ensure the final assets fit perfectly into the game experience.
When developing a faction, do you focus on making gameplay fit lore or lore fit gameplay?
🗿 When developing a faction we first try to find a cool pitch or thematic first: Adapted to lore but with a cool gameplay twist. I don't think we put a particular Focus on Lore or Gameplay but we start designing the faction based of a lore pitch. The faction then evolve with back and forth between lore & gameplay to define it piece by piece, cool design ideas can fit with the planned lore or make it adapt but it's not a dominance of gameplay over lore kind of situation. The main concern is keeping the faction lore & fantasy coherent & appealing rather than implanting a particular lore.
Will the UI eventually contain links to all full Minor Faction unit stats?
🧙♂️ You can checkout the stats of the units before you decide to make them a protectorate.
So many minor factions showed up when we did that that it was overwhelming. So it is currently set so that you only see those that are in your territories or are pacified. But that may be a mistake. Maybe more is needed.
Is there any outside-the-game etymology of Sheredyn or is it merely the cool name without background?
🧙♂️ The Sheredyn are one of the factions in Endless Space. So i dont know the true origin of the name, but i know its been around well longer than EL2
🥷 You can check different wikis but > The Sheredyn are one of the playable factions in Endless Space. Originally the bodyguards for the emperors of the United Empire, the Sheredyn Fleet, as it is known, has since grown into a powerful subfaction within the empired. [🌠 Jeff - Narrative Director] So, in 2009, our family took a cruise around the Black Sea. During that trip, we visited cities in Ukraine, including Sevastopol and Odesa. Between those two cities is the estuary of the huge Dnipro River, and down near the Black Sea there is a tributary called the Seredynka. We ended up spending a day down there, and the place struck me as being really beautiful. Fast forward a couple years, and we were looking to rename the faction who were temporarily called the "Praetorian". I came up with a list of names, and let the boss choose which one he preferred: Janissary, Ranger, Proxim, Vyaslav, Edelny and Sheredyn <-- which slid in there as a doctored up version of the beautiful river I had visited on the Black Sea. And this one was the winner.
Why no community-created faction?
👷♂️ We are planning to work closely with the community during Early Access, so stay tuned 🙂
Will there be any demo released before we start the main game? How will multiplayer work?
👷♂️ Hello! There is no other demo planned with multiplayer. Multiplayer will come with a later update of the Early Access. Turns will work the same way as in solo, everyone playing at the same time. Battle pause the timer for the turn.
What was the hardest thing to implement through programming?
🧙♂️ This is probably a better question for the programmers. But as an outside observer the specific system that seems the most complex in EL2 is the rendering system. Amplitude has some wizards and they have invested a lot to make the game look special. Its black magic.
The other area of extreme complexity is AI.
AI is terribly hard in 4x. Especially in EA because the game is still being developed. How do you build an AI that can effectively play a game when the devs are changing the game every day?
Thats incredibly hard for other 4x games. Now take that and introduce significant faction diversity and I'm amazed the AI devs havent gone crazy. Literally the designers change the way a system works and the AI programmers need to consider the way each factions AI reacts to that (or not).
It's tough and handled by people way smarter than me.
Will there be any gorilla-based playable or neutral factions?
🗿 Gorogs feel offended by this, check your frontdoor with the upmost precautions
(and check custom factions traits when it'll be available)
Will there be Steamdeck Support at launch?
👷♂️ Steamdeck will not be supported officially at launch of the Early Access, but we plan to support it a few months after.
However, we know that the game runs on it already, but it was not tested officially yet.
Can you address why you chose simultaneous turns in EL2 and if you are taking any steps to reduce the need for quick clicks?
🧙♂️ Great question!
Yes. We prefer simultaneous turns because it makes turn times quicker. You don't have to sit and wait for all the other players to go. If each player takes 15 seconds in a game with 5 AI players you go from a few seconds between turns to 75 seconds between turns.
But we saw the feedback about how frustrating it can be so we made changes (which I believe are in the demo)
We set the ai to not go for things the player has already targeted, so the player doesnt feel the need to "click fast". The ai was also "reserving moves" (ie: it would use some of its moves, but not all and wait to see if the player would move into its radius) which felt unfair those are gone.
We considered (but havent done yet) putting the multiplayer turn indicator on for single players turns so you can see when the ai is moving and done moving but its so loud and busy we havent done it (maybe we will add an option for it for players that want to know exactly when the ai is going)
Will we have Horatio factions?
🗿 You kinda have to work for it, but there is a way to reach perfection (not as a base Major faction tho) if you explore the planet enough
How many major factions will be endemic to Saiadha?
🗿 Yo, the Aspects and the two unannounced factions are fully original factions with new lore and thematic.
Will it have DLSS support?
👷♂️ DLSS is not supported on EL2.
Are we going to see some changes to the endless difficulty level AI?
🧙♂️ We defiitly need more feedback here. Save games with examples of "bad ai decisions" are gold for our AI team.
Right now we are improving the issues we are aware of. And Working on making the ai for each faction more distinct from each other.
Your example of attacking armies they lose against may be because they are attempting to weaken you for future battles. Or may just be a mistake. We would need the save to make sure.
Will you release a paid upgraded version for Advanced Access?
👷♂️ No, there won't be an advanced access to the release. The game will be available for everyone on Sept 22.
🥷 Also, it is not possible to have Advanced Access when releasing a game in Early Access (afaik)
What made you want to divide strategic resources into economic/military uses ?
🧙♂️ This is interesting. We actually made this change fairly late in development (one resource for economy, one for military) and I really like the change. It influences my global strategy and makes me hungry for the right resource when i want to push in one area.
Also note that trading posts allow you to buy/sell resources so you can swap around to deal with difficulty finding the right resources, but it is costly.
Will there be some sort of option to pick the equipment you want for your hero or quest to do with him to obtain it?
🗿 Yo, That s something we keep in mind to help you build your hero as you want to build it. But for the EA nothing is planned, for the moment some heroes have unique skills helping you creating equipment or chasing fortresses can help you find new equipment. We are also looking at equipment drop distribution to help you have equipment for your hero because as other player said we also like this kind of drop as it encourages you to get different heroes to fit the equipment dropped.
Have you considered doing some sort of Endless RPG at some point?
🧙♂️ Right now we are just focused on making a great 4x 🙂
I saw how the water receded and new paths appeared for transportation and empire building. However, I am interested in whether the reverse processes will occur
🧙♂️ We considered that. But decided that it wouldnt be fun to lose everything you built.
At its heart EL2 is a 4x. Its about building your empire. Having that wiped out by something the player can't react well too makes it a very different game.
During monsoon rivers chnage strength and it used to be that if you had an army in a dried up riverbead when it struck your army would be killed. We removed that for the same reason.
There are a fewer places the "punishing" nature of tidefall remains. Most notbaly all lands adjacent to water get a food bonus. As the ocean recedes those bonuses go away. Making cities counting on that food less optimal. (unless you build damns to keep the rivers or build on inner lakes).
When will the 5th faction be revealed?
👷♂️ Soon™!
What is the feature you are most proud of?
👷♂️ I think the asymmetry of all the factions. It's so fun to switch between the empires and discover a new whole game. They all feel completely different from each other 🙂
🎨 Personally, on the art side, I’d say I’m really proud of the day cycle lighting... even if it’s more of a small detail. It adds atmosphere to the game, and I especially love how it teases the monsoon season coming up. It’s one of those subtle touches that helps bring the world to life! For the game as a whole, I also love the water receding feature. It’s a unique way to extend exploration and keep the experience fresh!
Will we have some advanced setting options to tweak Gamespeed, Tidefall and Victory Conditions?
👷♂️ Victory conditions will be editable in the options at the release. We are planning on adding the game speed at a later stage in the Early Access because it needs extra care for balancing. For Tidefalls, it is not planned currently to be able to change this number as it is central to the game.
Will we have more graphical settings in EA?
🧙♂️ Yes. We are adding a few more options to graphical settings for EA. The rendering layer of the game is very custom, so we tended to block it to just a few specific settings.
But we are changing that to allow players to tweak more themselves. That will mean you can make the game look horrible (please dont post screenshots of that, it will break our artists heart). But also means you will be able to tweak more to your preference.
With Endless Dungeon as roguelike, is there any talk about other genres that as picked up interest at amplitude
🧙♂️ I am trying to get momentum for a Saiadha based Surfing game. But it isnt going anywhere (I am just kidding, we are just ficused on EL2 right now)
Out of all the 5 factions that's in EA. Which is the devs' favorite?
👷♂️ For me, it's the Aspects! I love their design and how they conquer the world slowly with their corals 😄
🥷 I have a couple that I love, but I will decide with Necrophages (sry REDACTED faction, you will need to wait a bit longer)
How do/did you decide which factions return from other Endless games?
🧙♂️ In general, we prefer new factions. The callbacks are nice. But its fun to produce new lore, new stories and brand new characters. When legacy factions are used it needs to be with a new twist that makes them fun to try.
How open is the development team to large changes or overhauls to systems over the course of the Early Access? Or is the early access more of a period of small fixes and changes?
🧙♂️ Every change is a consideration of how much it improves the game and how much time it takes. We have a team to work on things through EA and we have some things scheduled, but we have open time based on the feedback. We have already begun some UI work which take time, but we think we need.
So it depends. If we all decide that the game is really good but we really need to scrap the Diplomacy system and redo it entirely, and that a better use of time than other things. Then that is what we will do.
But so far I expect more refinement than new systems. More balance than new content. Outside of UI. But Early access may change that.
Will there ever be a form of naval battle or action at EL2?
👷♂️ Hello, it is not planned to have naval battle action in EL2, the water is receding, so it'd be weird to have boats on it!
Are there any plans to change combat? There are two things that bother me:
1) Cities are not included in battles happening nearby
2) When starting a battle, your units are teleported
🗿 Yo boss,
1) This is something we are working on, rather in the hiding the city when fighting next to a city rather than letting you hide in it: Why we do this? Prevent forward settling and random cheeses, catching an army outside the gate should still be rewarded instead of having a X tiles radius around a city where you are vastly advantaged.
2)The angle of the attack defines where the deployment zones are placed. It always go opposite to the placement of the initial opponent's army
Will there be automation for the abilities of the faction? To avoid using Kin of Sheredyn's 1st ability for 25 influence every 5 turns
🧙♂️ No we hadnt considered allowing automation for that. After all we wouldnt know what city the player wants to do it in. Maybe we need to be more obvious when its enabled though. Make the whole button gold or something?
Balance changes on Council and map changes
🧙♂️ We have done a big balance pass on council abilities (including Reka's crazy good military district boost). Those changes will be in for EA
We don't have any plans to increase the amount of land from tidefall. We reduced Tide down from 8 to 3 specifically so that we can have more land revealed with each and the balance feels pretty good (to me at least). Of course this may change based on EA feedback.
As for "snakey" territories. That won't be significantly different from the demo to EA. But it is something on our list to improve during EA.
What is the Plan for "For the Badge"?
🗿 Yo boss, We changed it to mainly focus on stability (even more than the current stability given by military district) instead of all fidsis, we don't want to have a one district spamm do all resource kind of strategy. This should still help to advance in your strategy as stability gives you % fidsi but it's not a viable option to only build military district anymore (even if you are kin)
What are the main principles the dev team follows in terms of faction balance?
🧙♂️ Different designers may have different ideas here. Personally I always like pushing boundaries and making something that is overpowered and fun and then trying to find a way to make it work (the Magic the Gathering mode of game design). The rule of cool definitely applies.
As to which is prioritized more. Probably singleplayer. Even in multiplayer we expect you you be playing coop or with friends that wont exploit against each other. We arent designing a e-sport that has to be super balanced and anti-griefing.
Will there be a way to remove a population from a city? Or transfer it to another?
🧙♂️ There isn't. There is a faction that will take advantage of that fact.
Will there be an Endless Legends or an Endless Space TCG in the far future?
🧙♂️ I am sure most of the design team here would love to work on this. But nothing planned that im aware of.
Will there be competitive/dynamic events?
👷♂️ World heroes work in that sense, they are unique on the map, and you might be able to recruit them 😄
Will you improve the rivers input? I do not know how to make dams.
🧙♂️ Dams are built just like rivers. By clicking on the river tile. The appropriate tech is needed.
Will minor faction camps be movable?
👷♂️ No it won't be possible in the game
Will there be new minor factions at release?
🧙♂️ We are currently planning to hold a faction for release so people have something new to play on release day.
From left to right > 🥷 / 🎨 / 🗿 / 👷♂️ / 🧙♂️
Thanks for sharing all your feedback and questions
See you next week for the reveal of the [REDACTED] faction 🔭