Hey Smallfolk!
We've been so humbled by the response to our first official gameplay trailer, and it's been wonderful to welcome many new people to the Smalland community who discovered us through E3.
For new members, we have an FAQ of some common questions that may help you get acquainted.
Here are some great community questions and answers!
Will the player character be voiced acted or silent?
Currently silent. We’ve decided on this course because of a couple of things; Budget is one of them, and the other is flexibility as with v/o you need to have everything locked down and ready very early. Now, this could definitely be an option during Early Access, so we’ll see what happens as there are NPCs and they are important to the game as they help explain the lore as well as your goals. They all have very distinct personalities and backstory too, which will be revealed as you ally yourself with a faction over time and trust.
Will there be an arachnophobia mode?
This has definitely come up previously on the Smalland Discord Channel. Since Smalland is jam-packed with creepy crawly creatures, it's kind of pointless to have an arachnophobia mode when there are so many other potentially scary things in the game. You would have to turn off a lot of content and it would be a very different experience. So while it's great in theory, we have decided against it since it’s such a Creature focused game.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I remember an old Smalland trailer with a train...What happened to it?
You're not wrong, there was a train in the original trailer. This is not something that's been ignored, and we have a train ready to be implemented, the thing that's stopping it is why is there a train on a branch in the middle of a forest?
We’ve spent a lot of time trying to justify this, and it doesn't make sense. We’ve worked very hard to create a sense of fantasy but also plausible belief, and getting a working train on a branch doesn't make sense. What is powering it? What is its purpose?
Every idea we have is better when we use a creature instead, it's more fun and suits the game so much better. Also riding on a toy train is kind of just like riding on a train since you’re small. So elements, where you take advantage of the environment because of the height and perspective, work really well. Such as sneaking through gaps feels far better than it should, seeing something we as humans class as normal but experiencing it as Smallfolk is fun and memorable. But a tiny train to a tiny person is just a train.
So the train is there, rebuilt so it’s ready to work properly in-game and not a cutscene. But how to effectively use it so it makes sense or in a way that’s more fun than riding a Lizard, Hornet, or Grasshopper…. Feel free to jump into Discord and make some suggestions.