What is this game?
It’s a dungeon crawl game with great atmosphere, puzzles, combat and RPG elements. Here’s a little more detail on the basics of the game.
 
What platforms are you going to release on?
PC, Mac and iOS. Other platforms might be possible too, after we get the game shipped on those three platforms first.
 
When is the game going to be released?
We are working hard to release by the end of the year 2011.
 
Who are you?
We are a four member team of game industry veterans with combined experience of more than 30 years in creating commercial games. We have worked on Max Payne 2, Alan Wake, Shattered Horizon and various versions of 3DMark Gamer’s Benchmark. Here’s a post with more dirty details!.
 
Is the game turn based or real time?
We feel that real time works better with the game we are making. It goes well with the atmosphere of the game since the player can be surprised by creeping monsters and the mood of the combat is more intense. Timing is an essential tactical element and our puzzles also benefit from working in real time. Real time gameplay also helps us differentiate from a number of other dungeon crawl games that have been released over the years.
 
Will there be a character generation system?
In addition to picking from a roster of preset characters, we intend to include a character generation system too.
 
How many enemy types is there?
As many as we can churn out. Our goal is about 15 for the initial release.
 
Will there be a level editor?
Most likely at some point but not immediately with the initial release. We are fully concentrating on making a great game first.
 
Will new dungeons or expansions be released after release?
Yes, if there is enough demand for them and the initial release is successful enough to keep us going.
 
What are the PC system requirements?
The bare minimum is a DX9 graphics card and Windows XP.
 
What engine are you using?
Our own engine.
 
Is the game going to be digitally distributed?
Yes. The game will be downloadable only.
 
Where can I preorder this? Can I donate?
We’ll have to wait a little closer to release to get a clear answer on preordering. Largely, it depends on which distributors we’ll end up working with. Collecting donations is unfortunately a little tricky to arrange due to Finnish legislature; not anyone can go around collecting money from poor unsuspecting folks. It’s possible, though, that we’ll put up some merchandise for sale at some point.

- Is there a speed difference between weapons?
 
Yes.
 
- Do weapons display their DPS, or a dmg range when you pick them up?
 
No, but Attack Power (abstracted damage output value) and other special attributes are displayed.
 
- How dual wielding works?
 
Currently off-hand items give special bonuses to attacks. E.g. wielding a dagger increases your Attack Power slightly. Other items may add special powers. We also considering adding Ambidexterity / Two-Weapon Fighting talent which could boost dual wielding even further (like allowing multiple attacks, for example).
 
- Are there different damage types or at least some special ones? (for eg, piercing do half against skeletons, but bludgeoning adds some plus or silver do better agains certain undead…)
 
Yes but these have not been implemented yet.
 
- Will there be enemy types immune to different effects or spells? (If yes, it would be great to get some hints about those on the levels, or to make the characters notice it, after performing an especially succesfull/failed attack with a great counter/immune method against those enemies.)
 
Yes.

Interiors only. But if you survive out of the dungeons you may see the light of day.

automap: work in progress

[...]les développeurs ont travaillé sur des projets comme Max Payne 2, Alan Wake, Shattered Horizon ou 3DMark.

We had a long game design discussion yesterday and one of the things we talked about was the class & xp system. Here are some tidbits:
 
- There will be no multi-classing; party based games do not really need multi-classing and single classing helps to differentiate the characters better. Single classing also adds more emphasis on character generation (a party with 3 fighters and a mage is very different from a party of 3 mages and a fighter). It also allows us to add new character classes later, for example Druid, without having to worry about how they mix and match with other classes when multi-classing.
- There could be ways to bring in some class features from another class at higher levels. For example, choosing a talent or equipping a certain item could allow a rogue to gain limited access to spells. This could be very cool but first things first, let’s see if we have enough time to implement all this!
- We are implementing three core classes for starters: Fighter, Rogue and Mage. More classes can be added later if needed.
- Fighters gain xp primarily by damaging opponents with melee attacks
- Rogues gain xp primarily by damaging opponents with ranged attacks
- Mages gain xp primarily by casting spells and using magic items
- The whole party gains xp by solving puzzles & finding secrets
- Each class has their unique set of skills. New skills can be learned and existing skill ranks can be improved when leveling up.
 
Of course anything could still change but we are happy with these basic premises. What do you think?

Donc pour ceux qui aiment les RPG old school, il y a les excellents Breath of death VII et surtout Cthulhu saves the world sur steam. Vous en aurez pour moins cher qu'un demi et c'est des barres de rire en perspective (particulièrement le dernier nommé qui est complètement barré)

Some highlights from this week:
 
+ Character generation (wohoo!)
+ New character race.
+ 4 new talents.
+ 2 new monsters but they need more love before they are in alpha quality.
+ 8 new harmful conditions to make our prisoners’ lives even more challenging.
+ about 20 new item graphics.
+ 6 new portraits.
(+ Juho has generated about a gallon of mucus.)
 
EDIT:
+ Implemented right-click stack merging and splitting for stackable inventory items.
+ Added 5 new herbs.

Anyways, some avid readers have requested a status update so here it goes (we’ll try to post these weekly from now on):
 
+ Save games (big change which took much longer than I had thought!)
+ Main menu and in-game menus
+ Intro sequence when starting a new game
+ 7 dungeon levels are now in alpha
+ 11 monsters are now in alpha
+ Four new item classes: cloaks, amulets, gauntlets and bracers
+ Elemental damage resistances
+ A ton of smaller improvements
 
Since things are getting more hectic here we have also decided to start working one hour earlier every day. That’s 8am which is a little scary to me personally because I haven’t been waking up that early for work for years. Let’s see how this works out!