Torment: Tides of Numenera Kickstarter Update #11, $3,178,299 and Counting

Another day, and another update about Torment: Tides of Numenera comes to us from project lead Kevin Saunders. This eleventh update covers a pretty wide variety of topics, including both details related to graphics technology and world design. Perhaps most exciting is the news that the game might use 2D pre-rendered backdrops, but still retain 3D character models.

Hi Forgotten Ones,

Thanks to you, we had a record-breaking debut at the beginning of the month. With the announcements of Pat Rothfuss and Chris Avellone last week, we sailed past Wasteland 2’s total of nearly $3M. You’ve seen how great Wasteland 2 is coming along. We’ll have even more resources for Torment.

In the early morning of March 6th we had no way of knowing how powerful your response would be. We were humbled and inspired by your outpouring of support. And as we come upon our final week, we again do not know what to expect. Perhaps RPG fans will surprise us a second time. Whatever the outcome, we can assure you that Torment will bring you a powerful, profound role-playing experience you’ve already ensured that. But just how far we’ll be able to take it depends on all of you.

We have a couple surprises left for you. We hope you enjoy them.

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Collaborating with Obsidian on Tech

As you know, we’ve been working on Wasteland 2 in Unity and will be implementing Torment in Unity as well. Meanwhile, about 20 minutes away, Obsidian Entertainment is creating Project Eternity, also in Unity. Though there are major differences between our games, there are also similarities as all are RPGs built in the same engine. As many of you have suggested, it only makes sense that we collaborate where we can.

We are happy to announce that inXile and the great guys over at Obsidian have reached an agreement to share tools and technology when it makes sense. This will allow both companies to be more cost-effective on these projects, allowing your pledges to go further in terms of creating art, content, gameplay, and game polish. Vive le classic RPG revolution!

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You’ve already seen Sagus Cliffs, which will be a major hub in the game. As part of an upcoming Stretch Goal, we’ll be adding the Oasis of M’ra Jolios as another prominent city location. Here’s Andree Wallin’s concept, Dust and Water, of this complex and bizarre urban ecosystem (wallpaper versions will be available soon at our website):

A gigantic dome of water shimmers in the middle of a vast desert, seemingly impervious to the cruel rays of the sun’s heat. Curved obelisks from another age rise from the sands to cup and surround the bubble like gentle fingers.

This impossible oasis is home to numerous kinds of water-breathing abhumans. Some sport fins for legs like merpeople, some wear flippers for hands, while others appear almost human, being marked with only a dorsal fin from their head to their waist. No two are quite the same. Indeed, some are immigrants from far away, come to this aquatic utopia through strange pathways in reality.

But humans live here too, mostly for trade or work. They use various numenera to breath underwater implantable gills, breathing apparatuses, portable air bubbles, and so forth. A town of air-breather buildings has grown up around the outside of the dome. These air-breathers are reliant on the dome, as most of their food (and all of their water) comes from within, but they make a good trade in the unique foods, animals, and textiles grown under the water. And of course visitors can find multiple shops in the air-breather town that will provide the varied numenera they need to enter the dome themselves.

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Some Words on Graphics

I’ve advertised that we’d say more about graphics this week. The most popular Stretch Goal request from you, our backers, is for 2D pre-rendered graphics, which would mean that Torment would have a fixed, isometric camera with 2D backgrounds. A primary disadvantage is that this approach requires a longer, and therefore more expensive, pipeline for art assets, but its advantages are numerous:

• The same basic feel as classic RPGs (such as the Baldur’s Gate series and Planescapeâ„¢: Torment) in terms of camera and environments
• Environments will have a more (painterly) look, allowing us to more closely represent our concept pieces
• By designing the art for a fixed camera view, every scene will look its best
• System requirements will be lower

Because we are using a 3D engine, characters, effects, and some environmental props would still be modeled in 3D. This allows them to be changed dynamically during play (a 3D box could be opened, for example) and enables us to still adapt our Wasteland 2 pipeline and underlying systems (such as for character animation).

A famous recent example of this approach in practice is the screenshot released by Obsidian for Project Eternity last fall. We agree that it would be the best style to realize our vision for Torment and have been investigating its feasibility throughout this Kickstarter campaign.

We’ve been carefully evaluating the costs and trade-offs, and it looks like a 2D pre-rendered graphics approach may be possible. Being able to achieve this quality bar is only an option because of your great support we are thrilled at the possibility that Torment could be as strong in its aesthetics as it will be in its storytelling and choices and consequences.