Author Topic: A couple of Questions  (Read 2863 times)

Offline mrhanman

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A couple of Questions
« on: August 25, 2011, 12:20:12 pm »
If the game ends up on Steam like most of us assume it will, at what point during the development will it be available?  Will there be pre-purchase access to the beta, similar to Nuclear Dawn?  If we purchase during the beta from the website, will we be able to activate it on Steam once it is available there?  I tried to search for answers to these questions, but either I'm totally incompetent at it (quite possible), or the answers aren't there.

Offline x4000

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Re: A couple of Questions
« Reply #1 on: August 25, 2011, 12:23:42 pm »
Well, we can't really give any definite answers on that, since most of that really depends on Valve rather than us.  I haven't talked to them about the game at all yet, so I can't speculate with any accuracy.  I can say they've never wanted to have one of our games while it was still in beta, but I do plan to float the idea with them.  And by the same token, all our other games are on Steam, so I have good reason to hope this one will be, too.  And lastly, all our other games are cross-registerable with Steam in terms of the keys purchased elsewhere, so again I have no reason to expect that to change.  There's no difference in a key purchased during the preorder period and one purchased later, so that wouldn't have anything to do with it.
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Offline mrhanman

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Re: A couple of Questions
« Reply #2 on: August 25, 2011, 12:49:01 pm »
Thanks for the fast reply!  I'm really looking forward to this release.  I was just concerned that if I bought into the beta, I would have to re-buy it on Steam if I wanted Steam integration.  Good to know that - most likely - that won't happen. 

Offline x4000

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Re: A couple of Questions
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2011, 03:49:48 pm »
You bet! And thanks very much for your enthusiasm!
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Offline tigersfan

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Re: A couple of Questions
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2011, 10:28:22 pm »
Ok, I realize that this is almost certainly one of those things that will be worked out further once beta hits, but, I'm curious what your guys' vision is here. How will the leveling scale? By that, I mean, how much harder will it be to go from level 4562 to 4563 than it will be to go from level 3 to level 4. I know some games raise the amount of EXP needed for each level exponentially (or close to it), but, in this game, with the virtually unlimited levels, that could really bog the game down. So, how do you guys envision the differences between levels at this point?

Offline x4000

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Re: A couple of Questions
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2011, 11:00:01 pm »
Ok, I realize that this is almost certainly one of those things that will be worked out further once beta hits, but, I'm curious what your guys' vision is here. How will the leveling scale? By that, I mean, how much harder will it be to go from level 4562 to 4563 than it will be to go from level 3 to level 4. I know some games raise the amount of EXP needed for each level exponentially (or close to it), but, in this game, with the virtually unlimited levels, that could really bog the game down. So, how do you guys envision the differences between levels at this point?

Actually this is pretty "final," at least pending more playtesting in beta; but in our playtesting thus far it's working out well. I think the highest level I've directly tested with is in the 40s, though, so if balance later becomes a problem that may need some tweaking.

Right now the character/enemy stats scale close to linearly. However, there's a base 1-10 aptitude for each stat, and that gets multiplied by the linear value. In practice this means that a character who is "good at magic" versus "has a lot of health" is far less different from one another right at the start versus later into the game; those choices start mattering more and more.

When it comes to EXP gain, most of the time we're basing that on your civ level versus the level of the boss you just killed. Regular enemies (that you can farm) grant no exp. Other sorts of world improvement activities also grant exp, but the details of how that translates to your relative level is something we're still fine-tuning. Right now turning in a profession book is something like 1/12th the EXP it takes to get from your prior level to the next. So that stays a relatively consistent gain throughout the game now, but I'm not sure if that will become too easy to farm late in the game with lower-level areas. Still more to tune there.

But anyway, bosses: when you kill a boss, your exp gain is again a percentage of what is required fOr the next level (not remaining amount, FYI -- total. Just in case anyone was concerned). The percentage the boss grants you depends on the boss, as well as on the boss's level differential versus your civ level. If you kill a boss that is higher level than the civ level, you get substantially more exp (it's also much harder to do). When you kill a boss that is lower-level than you, the payoff is much less. If it's below about 5 levels, the amount becomes absolutely minuscule. So there's really no benefit to truly to grind low level bosses.

Putting up wind shelters, taking various macro-game actions, and so on also result in exp gain. A lot of those elements are newer implemented and still are going through some playtesting; world map movement and the fast travel system that I described in the past got majorly reworked as well thanks to playtesting, and the result is a lot more free and fun (and strategic) but also something we're having to re-test quite heavily for balance, etc.  We're going to have a lot more to share in the next two weeks that I think our existing fans will be particularly excited about. All I can say for now, until we're sure everything fits the way we intend and is fun for sure. :)
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