Project Eternity Post-funding Update #51

A new update has gone live for the Project Eternity Kickstarter, detailing the work the team at Obsidian is preparing for the second prototype and showing a few concepts, including a 3d model of a monster. Snip ahead:

After the prototype 1 audit meeting, Josh and I came up with a plan for what we would like to see the team tackle in prototype 2. Josh has previously mentioned a few of the goals for prototype 2 which include fog of war, character voice sets, crafting, stores, AI patrols, and the melee engagement system. Besides the expanded feature implementation, we are going to put our pipelines to the test on another set of new environments and creatures before moving into production.

The plan for prototype 2 is to create a small village with a handful of buildings to enter, including a shop and inn. To the east of the village is a medium sized wilderness area with access to a small cave dungeon interior. The prototype also includes a large dungeon (I won’t spoil the contents of the dungeon, because some of the ideas in the prototype will eventually make their way into the shipped game). All of these areas are connected by a complex multi-stage quest with several objectives (some optional) and with many different ways of completing it.

The team has been working on a second prototype for the past two weeks now. Here’s a sample on what each department has been working on.

Art

• Dynamic Cloth – We are doing further research into character dynamism, and are creating capes for our characters to equip.
• Dungeon – Our goal for the dungeon is to make an interior area that lives up to the IE games. The dungeon has a variety of rooms that are unique and organic.
• New Monster – One of the new monsters we are creating for prototype 2 is an Ogre. He has already gone through the concept and modeling stage and now is off to be animated.

Design

• Complete Bestiary – The bestiary list has been worked over a few times by the area and narrative designers. We are now pretty close to having a complete creature list!
• Class Abilities for the Monk and Ranger – The Monk’s “wounds” resource is in, and next up is the mechanics for the Ranger’s animal companion. The class progression for the Monk and Ranger has been designed out to level 12.

Programming

• Town Guard A.I. – How do guards protect the village when you start casting fireballs in the town square? They beat you down… or at least try to. The guards will hook into the reputation and faction mechanics, which tells guards when they turn hostile towards the party.
• Fancy Material Shaders – We now have fancy materials for creating shiny armor and translucent ghost skin. Another set of shaders are “Tint maps” materials that enable the customization of skin and clothing colors just like in the IE games.