Iron Tower Studio Colony Ship Game Design Update #2

The second design update for Iron Tower’s upcoming (though a long way off) Colony Ship RPG has been posted on the studio’s official forums. In the update, studio leader “Vince D. Weller” explains the tentative plan for the party mechanics and companion writing. Weller has always been outspoken in his distaste for the dramatic, plot essential companions featured in titles such as BioWare’s and Obsidian’s, so I’m not surprised to see that he’s now aiming for mechanics similar to Fallout 2 and Arcanum, and low-key companions:

In short, the problem is that in most RPGs party members are mindless zombies lacking any free will, agenda, goals, etc the very qualities that separate an actual (character) from a zombie. Thus, our main design goal is to create proper characters that have a will of their own, as well as agendas, beliefs, goals, and other infuriating qualities.

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Mechanics

• Your Charisma determines how many people can follow you. So far the formula is: 1 follower at CHA4, 2 at 5, 3 at 7, 4 at 9.
• XP will be divided by the number of people in the party, so a smaller party will level up faster. Large pool of potential recruits, including mutants and a droid. The droid won’t require XP (more for you) and will be upgraded rather than leveled up (think Lore/Crafting plus parts you’ll need to scavenge).
• All party members will have unique feats the PC won’t have access to. They will have good stats and skills and will be created with the same love and affection you create your own character.
• In AoD the content was determined by your stats, questlines, and skills. In CSG party members will often have valuable in-game knowledge that would unlock certain places and extra quest solutions. Basically, 50% of gating will be outsourced to the party members.
• Your party members will be able to participate in conversations but you won’t control their lines. Think of letting Virgil to handle the conversation with the assassin near the crash site in Arcanum. Basically, you select a line for your PC to say or (let party member X handle it for you) (and hope for the best).