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Pillars of Eternity by Obsidian Entertainment (Kickstarter) [Up: Teaser]

Z

zkylon

zkylewd
just saw this on reddit

C0wgi2x.png
9Z1EWiB.png


PE is all rockstars
 
S

Sliver

Member
Update #55

pe-dungeon-concept.1000.jpg

This month we are knee-deep in the Vertical Slice phase and this will be the team's focus for the month of June. It's our way of proving that we are ready to jump forward into production and start making shippable content.

The Vertical Slice is just that, a cross section (think of it as a slice of bread cut out from the middle of a loaf) of the world of Project Eternity. At the end of this phase the game will be feature complete, and the content building portion of the team, including area designers, environment artists, and character artists can make shippable content now. Our Vertical Slice is eleven maps large; encompassing our village and dungeon from Prototype 2, and the dungeon and wilderness area from Prototype 1 (we call this area "The Valley of Hector" internally). The content from the prototypes are refactored to fit within the context of the world and overall story of the game. Feature-wise, we are targeting to have the majority of the world building tools complete and all of the character classes playable up to level five.


A Vertical Slice dungeon concept by Polina. Her paint-over will be used as reference for the polish pass.

Here are our current tasks that we are working on right now:

Art
Modeling Hide Armor for Male and Females - Hide armor has been challenging to model and texture with skin tinting because there's a lot of skin shown.
Creating Orlan Heads - This includes modeling differences for the Wild and Hearth ethnicities.
Polishing Prototype 2 Areas to "Beta" - Extra shine is put into the areas to make them feel more alive and varied.

Design
Creating the Vertical Slice Area Design Document - The designers are adding more content to the world and fleshing out the village with additional quests.
Designing and Coding the Class Abilities for the Cipher and Chanter - The Cipher and his "focus" powered spells are working, and now Tim Cain is working out the Chanter phrase system.

Programming
Coding up the Save/Load and the Persistence System - This entails saving and loading games, and making sure the current map state is preserved across area transitions.
Wrapping up the Area Designer Toolbox - Doors, encounters, traps, triggers, loot, NPCs, and creatures can all be placed and manipulated through script.

Spells and Ability Audit
This morning Josh emailed me a list of working class abilities and spells. I'm excited to say that we have 54 abilities and 51 functioning spells as of today! Most of the spells are at the alpha stage, meaning another pass will be done at a later date to add visual effects and sound effects.

UI Version #2
Thanks to everyone who provided feedback on our UI mockups that Rob posted last week in Update #54. We loved everyone's proposed mockups and your discussions sparked some great ideas for the next iteration on the interface. We've already mocked up a new version that takes up less vertical space and is more compact overall. Once we feel it's ready to be critiqued, we will post it in a future update for more discussion.

That's it for this week. We'll be back in two weeks - we're off to E3 next week (and if you're a fan of South Park, keep an out for coverage on our Stick of Truth RPG)!
Click to expand...
 
D

duckroll

Member
"Our Vertical Slice is eleven maps large; encompassing our village and dungeon from Prototype 2, and the dungeon and wilderness area from Prototype 1 (we call this area "The Valley of Hector" internally). The content from the prototypes are refactored to fit within the context of the world and overall story of the game. Feature-wise, we are targeting to have the majority of the world building tools complete and all of the character classes playable up to level five."

When they finally complete the vertical slice, and are happy enough with it to make a video out of it like the Wasteland 2 one inXile did, it will be GLORIOUS. I can't wait. :D
 
K

kroniksan

Neo Member
This screenshot already justifies the money I put on Kickstarter. Looking so Infinity Engine and classy, can´t wait for it.
 
Z

zkylon

zkylewd
btw that's concept art, not in-game stuff, so hold your horses

still can't imagine that being too far from the final product
 
Minsc

Minsc

Gold Member
Looks great, and even though I had no issues with the original UI mockup, it's nice to see they are concerned and open to feedback from backers, trying to minimize it even further.
 
A

Anoregon

The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
That picture makes me happy in all of my body parts.
 
S

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
I don't know why people are all giddy about this because it looks like it apes the first dungeon from BGII. And by that I mean not the look of the engine but themes, props, stylistics - everything.
 
A

Anoregon

The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
subversus said:
I don't know why people are all giddy about this because it looks like it apes the first dungeon from BGII. And by that I mean not the look of the engine but themes, props, stylistics - everything.
Click to expand...

Because it's proof of intent. It's further indication that game is being developed as a true infinity engine successor. Baldur's gate-style hand drawn backgrounds and dungeon design with graphically modern character models is going to be delicious.
 
S

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
Anoregon said:
Because it's proof of intent. It's further indication that game is being developed as a true infinity engine successor. Baldur's gate-style hand drawn backgrounds and dungeon design with graphically modern character models is going to be delicious.
Click to expand...

I get that, I don't understand why they had to almost copy the design of the machinery.
 
D

dude

dude
Wow, new screenshot is perfect.

And I rally hope they keep the UI close to the mockup they showed, I really loved it - I miss those types of old GUIs.
 
S

Sirot

Neo Member
dude said:
Wow, new screenshot is perfect.

And I rally hope they keep the UI close to the mockup they showed, I really loved it - I miss those types of old GUIs.
Click to expand...

The current UI concept seems too cluttered to me personally.

One thing I do appreciate about the current UI concept is that there are no UI elements present in the "game area". Makes it seem more like a window into a different world.
 
P

Purkake4

Banned
dude said:
Wow, new screenshot is perfect.

And I rally hope they keep the UI close to the mockup they showed, I really loved it - I miss those types of old GUIs.
Click to expand...
The UI looks like they lifted it almost 1 to 1 from Icewind Dale 2. I would like to hope that there's something to be learned in terms of UI design in the last 11 years...
 
Z

zkylon

zkylewd
Purkake4 said:
The UI looks like they lifted it almost 1 to 1 from Icewind Dale 2. I would like to hope that there's something to be learned in terms of UI design in the last 11 years...
Click to expand...

not really since those last 11 years have been spent developing console games
 
Sentenza

Sentenza

Gold Member
Purkake4 said:
The UI looks like they lifted it almost 1 to 1 from Icewind Dale 2. I would like to hope that there's something to be learned in terms of UI design in the last 11 years...
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think it's entirely possible to stay true to the spirit ((and full range of options/functionality) of this genre without clinging desperately to 20 years old interfaces.
 
P

Purkake4

Banned
Especially those icons, they looked bad back in 2002 as well. I'm trying to think of a PC game with a great UI, but for some reason I can't think of any.
 
Sentenza

Sentenza

Gold Member
Perkel said:
Those 20 years old interfaces are more functional than current hotbar fests.
Click to expand...
I agree... in most cases. That doesn't mean that there isn't room from improvement from these old models.

Without even going too far, they are going for a IWD2-clone when BG2 already had a better interface, even more suited for widescreens so common today.
 
P

Purkake4

Banned
Perkel said:
Those 20 years old interfaces are more functional than current hotbar fests.
Click to expand...
They also made the hotbar fest to end all hotbar fests for NWN2, so I guess it could be worse.

I'd just want a modernized version of the BG2 interface with good art that doesn't take up a third of the screen.
 
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