Now that most of our core systems are in and functioning, we’ve been gathering feedback from new users in order to tune the user experience (UX) so that first time players are able to understand and enjoy the game. This includes all aspects of the game but is heavily related to the UI presentation. Little things like feedback, tooltips, labels, and bigger things like presentation, clarity, and efficiency are all being addressed.
One of the biggest changes we’ve made is making the menus for things which are optional to interact with (such as towns) non-modal. It now pops up on the side of the screen where you can choose an option from the list or continue moving uninterrupted. It feels really good and is super streamlined.
We’ve hired another character artist, Dan Begic, for a couple of months to aid in the final stretch of character creation. Dan, along with Wilson have been cranking out characters and enemies and they’re looking awesome! We now have the base 8 playable characters in game, as well as 95% of the enemies. We have roughly 50 unique enemies and 132 including variations.
And what fun are enemies without interesting ways to kill them (or be killed by them)? Another big focus for us has been our combat system. Most notably we’ve added an “active time” slider which shows the combat turn order. Now, quick characters like the Trapper get more turns on average than players like the Blacksmith, which helps make up for their lack of damage output. A Trapper might even get 3 shots in on a Troll before they strike, but when they do…
The active time slider also opens up the door for interrupts and slow/haste spells. Speaking of which, the other huge focus for us has been in the magic realm. We’ve chosen to go with Ice, Fire, Lightning, Dark, and Light Magic. Each school comes with it’s own affects. Ice will slow a player, fire will do damage over time, lightning will consume a combat slot, dark magic will curse, poison and leech focus, while light magic will heal and buff. For the non magic users there’s plenty of fun options like stun, bleed, steal, evade, mark for death, warcry, as well as splash and group damage attacks.
Dungeons are also undergoing a solid refinement pass. We’ve given the player the ability to bash down doors which were previously only able to be open by lock picks or a key. This seemingly small tweak opens up a fun mini-game as your Strength attribute will be tested when you attempt to bash a door down. Missing slots will cause incremental damage to the player, so either have someone strong with you when journeying into the underworld or else bring plenty of lock picks. No one wants to suffer the ultimate humiliation of being killed by a door! 🙂
The last big thing that has gone in is our soundtrack. Different music for different realms that blends as you traverse the world has added a ton of atmosphere to the world. For those of you who will be receiving the digital soundtrack, you’re in for a treat! John Robert Matz has been orchestrating nothing short of epicness. Here’s a small sample of what your ears have to look (hear) forward to:
What else… a new and improved world generation system allowing for more variation in our map layouts, a bunch of new overworld encounters, tons of new armor including the thief, mage and jester sets, improved weather effects and gameplay, and most importantly a whole ton of fun.
We’re looking good for a summer time closed beta, everything is trending better than expected. We cannot wait to share FTK with you all.
