Click here to read Part I.
It's been 6 months since we started working on the next project. We'll have to reevaluate the situation by the end of the year, but right now the future looks a little bit brighter. Here's a short update:
Setting - good progress, evolving fast, loving it personally.
Systems - the first iteration is done (on paper, the full implementation would take at least 2 years); while this is merely the first step and the final iteration would look like a distant cousin, this first step is important as it's like creating coherent order (where everything makes sense and works together) out of chaos of different ideas.
Combat - we have a rough prototype that looks good (maybe even surprisingly good) with the placeholders (as we don't have any assets yet, which is the real tragedy here).
World Map - unlike our previous games, the worldmap is a massive playable level and thus something new. It's shaping up well and Unreal 5 is a real marvel when it comes to terrain.
Weapons - we'll need 30 weapons (5 weapons per category, 6 categories - swords, axes, maces, spears, bows, crossbows) plus as many uniques. Fortunately, we have a good artist, so that's one less problem.
Armor - it would be nice to have 30 armor sets that show visual progression. Damage Resistance would only go to 7 or 8 (before upgrades) so we'd have to rely on the other stats like Hardness or Resistance to differentiate armor in a meaningful way. It seems we finally have a good artist (working on the test armor which looks good so far), so fingers crossed.
Location models (to go with the world map) - good progress there, see below; the three main cities are done, the rest (lesser towns, forts, ruins, and camps) should be easier.
Creatures - we have a long list, but haven't started yet, hopefully the location artist can handle it (he did the creatures for Colony Ship), probably year 2 (currently we're in pre-production so year 0).
Secondary items (potions, rings, amulets, alchemy and crafting components, etc) - probably year 3.
Harudal, the city of golden domes and bright lights visible for miles. Beneath that shining crown lies a mining town: cramped and dirty, ever burrowing deeper in search of ore. Space atop the mountain is scarce, so they push downward—into the old shafts, the collapsed tunnels, the hollow places that were never meant to be lived in.
Meanwhile in Sankarum, the great southern seaport:
Wearily, the Tidekeeper of Sankarum took his seat and gestured to the priests to proceed with the Offering. How many has it been this year? He lost count. In his father's days, a single sacrifice was enough to buy safe passage for a month, but now blood must flow with every tide to keep his ships afloat. And what was he without his ships? A lord of stone cliffs where nothing grows? He shook his head.
The sea was a harsh queen, and they lived and died at her pleasure. Every seaman knew that his fate was sealed the moment he stepped onto a ship's deck. Sooner or later the tides would take them all, but as long as the blood price was paid, they could all live to see another day. And then perhaps another....
A servant interrupted his thoughts, whispering in his ear. More trouble, this time over the trading towns. The Tidekeeper's efforts to gain ascendancy on the coast near Zangabar was drawing the wrath of the desert people, but without warships or sea whisperers, there was little they could do. Worse was the word of Harudal laying claim to yet another town. This required serious considerations, especially if the rumors were true.
Harudal was growing strong, while its rivals struggled to survive. That the mountain clans had struck some bargain with the accursed Ythlir was hardly a secret. Without it, their men wouldn't have lasted a day underground. The god of the sky holds no sway beneath the earth; there in the darkness you make your pact with darker things, whether you want to or not.
But there were limits there, lines that should never be crossed... Shouldn't they? Or was everything he was taught as a child wrong? Time would tell, it always did.