Solasta: Crown of the Magister Update Stay a While and Listen

According to the latest development update for Solasta: Crown of the Magister, the game’s developers will soon start working on its second act content-wise, while on the system side of things, they’ve lately been working on various traps and obstacles, party banter, crafting and trading. If you’d like to learn more about that and see some sample animations in the process, you should check the update out. Here’s an excerpt:

New Systems, Operational!

As our Designers work on creating fun and challenging levels, we have a constant need to create and implement new systems to make their dreams a reality. Well, I say that but sometimes it’s something as simple as needing a door that opens when you activate a lever. Or a trap that activates when you walk on a tile. Almost every interaction needs a system behind it, which is why our Programmers will never be out of work!

For instance, we have recently been playing around with pressure plates – traps that only trigger when you step away from the plate, and not when you step on it. We’ve also implemented gadgets that only react to magic – or even magic of a certain kind (such as spells dealing fire or radiant damage). Solving puzzles and opening secret doors won’t be a simple matter of succeeding a Perception check!

Systems aren’t only needed to build levels, of course. Another example would be the Party Banter feature that we promised in our Kickstarter Campaign, which just made its debut in-game! It still needs a lot of love and tweaking so that the party members aren’t talking all the time (trust me, it gets tiresome very fast), but at least adventuring will be a little more lively now.

As we’re talking about new systems, I’d say it’s high time we give you a glimpse of our crafting system! Now before we start, please keep in mind that crafting is not a main progression system in Solasta. It’s used to make useful items such as scrolls, potions and poisons – not forge magical artifacts of tremendous power (you’re playing a party of adventurers, not a party of blacksmiths).

Crafting is done during downtime when travelling – after setting up camp, adventurers can devote time to various activities before going to sleep, including crafting. Still, remember that as with anything else we’re showing you in our Dev Updates, all of this may change in the future as Crafting is still in its infancy in Solasta.

We’ve also been working on adding merchants to the city of Caer Cyflen. You can see here that your relation with certain factions will now come into play when bartering with them, as a bad reputation may result in shopkeepers raising their prices. The opposite may also apply and who knows, they may even have some special items in the back of their shop for you…