Hello all you plagued adventurers and welcome to this week's Dev Blog! We've got details on The Black Death at GameCity, our weekly Q&A, previous Fight Night and Halloween!
GameCity Festival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOtsHaZfM4Q
Small Impact Games presents "Surviving Survival: Building A Community In Early Access". From the SIG Team, James Rowbotham (Left), Cameron Small (Middle) and Peter Harries (Right).
A massive thank you to everyone at The National Videogame Arcade and the GameCity team for allowing us to present our Developer talk and of course to everyone who attended; we hope you all enjoyed it!
"Steam Early Access is overstocked with survival games, but Small Impact Studios launched into it anyway - and The Black Death has built a player base as it approaches release. We discuss the double edged sword of early access, speaking to a community formed around an unfinished game, world building versus procedural generation, environmental storytelling in a multiplayer setting and planning towards shipping a finished game."
GameCity Festival Schedule Event Page
The National Videogame Arcade Website
Here are a few photos of the presentation stage! A few bonus shots of Nottingham Trent Bridge and the Notts County Football Club can be found over on the full Dev Blog post on our website!
We were in The Lord Roberts in Nottingham town centre. A fitting venue for The Black Death, we even had an open fire for that cosy tavern feeling. A huge thank you to everyone who played The Black Death and had a chat with us, it was great to meet with you!
Weekly Q&A
We are back once again with this week’s questions for the Devs!
Would we able to have or rent a donkey, horse, handcart or coach to transport our equip and goods?
This is definitely something that we have discussed to be implemented in game. We have seen a lot of suggestions for this for both the player professions and also for NPCs around the towns and paths in between. It is something that we are thinking about for the future.
Is it planned to deploy a compass in this game or to make marks and notes on our map?
Currently there are no plans at the moment for a compass system. We have the signposts, dirt paths and also landmarks as a way of navigating around as we encourage exploration to the far corners of Mercia from the icy peaks of Ironhold to the bandit infested camps of Wapentake and Skenfirth! It is an interesting concept and one that we have discussed but for now there are no plans.
Any plans for in-game events? An example would be.. NPC raids that take place randomly and scale in size/difficulty depending on the number of people online?
We do have random events that can occur across the land of Mercia. One such example is an overturned cart with a horse lying next to it, if you come across this event be warned that bandits may be lurking nearby! Without revealing too much at this moment all we can say is watch this space!
Will other players contract the virus just by being around other players with it?
Yes! It is possible to contract the infection from another player! If you see them coughing or vomiting close to you then you are at risk of being infected too. Small spaces such as alleyways are definitely to be avoided! If you see a house marked with a red cross these are boarded up and are rife with the Black Death.
What does an upset tummy from eating food that has gone bad, have to do with getting the plague?
During the Medieval times eating rotten food was a significant contributor to the decline in health as the immune system and body would suffer the effects depending on how rotten or mouldy food was. Having potential food poisoning during these times would induce vomiting, nausea and an overall weak and vulnerable state. People in this state would more likely contract the plague as their body would be susceptible to pathogens and bacteria as their immune system and overall health would be worse than the average person. We try to reflect this in the wellness system to show your overall decline in health along with the various symptoms.
Fight Night – 21st October
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RkTQZGQAN8
We had another great Fight Night on the 21st October. [SIG] Miniishadow was a great host once again providing commentary on each fight. There was chaos in the Arena by the end of the night with an all out last man standing as the final event!
[SIG] Miniishadow's full Twitch recording
Here is a collection of Screenshots from last week’s Fight Night! The full album can be found over on our Facebook.
[SIG] Miniishadow's Fight Night! - 21st October 2016 - Facebook Album
Plagued Halloween!
‘Tis the season for Spooky tricks and treats! We are getting into the spooky spirit here in the SIG HQ! We have a hand carved monster pumpkin with The Black Death logo with Halloween themed tinsel and an LED candle as a backdrop.
We would love to see your Black Death inspired carvings. Tag us over on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with #PlaguedPumpkin
Check out the full Dev Blog over on our website:
Dev Blog #18: GameCity Festival, Weekly Q&A, Fight Night and Halloween!
Thanks for reading and we will see you in Mercia!
// Pete
// Emily
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Follow The Black Death on our social links!
The Black Death Blog
Small Impact Games Website