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July Update - Book III

Posted: July 2nd, 2013, 8:21 am
by BasiliskWrangler
Greetings, one and all. Just a quick update on the happenings here at Basilisk HQ:

Work continues unabated on Book III. Seems like most of our time has been spent filling in the empty areas of the world. When Book III was in it's earliest stages, most of the important areas were made first leaving large tracts of land literally empty. Those needed filled in, and so we are. This activity is time consuming, in part because we are really giving these secondary areas as much details as the rest of the game. Secret paths, hidden stashes, and even just simple details that might only be seen by a few people who walk off the beaten path. We'll maybe even throw in a few secret messages and Easter eggs. This is the final Eschalon game, after all- we want to go out leaving players with a great experience.

What still needs to be done? Well, we have not touched the Skill system at all. Over the past couple years we have talked about various changes to a few of the skills- some minor tweaks and some major alterations. While we've played around with a few ideas, these changes still need to be formally added and balanced, which really only works when the rest of the game is laid out. Beyond this, there is still a long bug list that needs addressed and a few more side quests that we plan on getting in, so we still have some development time ahead of us. But rest assured, Eschalon: Book III is crawling ever closer to the finish line day by day.

So then, do you want another screenshot as we mentioned in the previous update? Of course you do- but, not today. I didn't have time to properly grab one before making this post, and you really don't want just a picture of your avatar standing in an empty field (which is what is in front of me right now). Anyway, we are still collecting cool video clips and promise to have a teaser trailer ready sometime soon, and it will be worth the wait! :wink:

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Re: July Update - Book III

Posted: July 2nd, 2013, 8:46 am
by mercy
Nice! Thank You for this update.

Re: July Update - Book III

Posted: July 2nd, 2013, 10:05 am
by Never
Nice! Extremely excited, but also very disappointed at the same time (after all, this will be my last experience with Eschalon!).

Re: July Update - Book III

Posted: July 2nd, 2013, 11:45 am
by Randomizer
Keep up the work of filling the endless void. Wandering back and forth through Nor'land to find there was almost nothing there isn't a fun experience. :)

Re: July Update - Book III

Posted: July 2nd, 2013, 12:28 pm
by Painted Lady
So glad to hear that you are making solid progress. I am now trying to figure out which area that little avatar is standing in.........

Re: July Update - Book III

Posted: July 2nd, 2013, 1:23 pm
by IJBall
BasiliskWrangler wrote:...So then, do you want another screenshot as we mentioned in the previous update? Of course you do- but, not today. I didn't have time to properly grab one before making this post, and you really don't want just a picture of your avatar standing in an empty field (which is what is in front of me right now). Anyway, we are still collecting cool video clips and promise to have a teaser trailer ready sometime soon, and it will be worth the wait! :wink:

Image
I actually think I'd like it if there was an entire map-area of just grass like that! :twisted:
(Perhaps it can be in a separate "dream plane" or something... Perfect for: Arena play!!! :mrgreen: )

Really glad to hear about the rest of the update - I really think the reason I'm so fond of Book I is because it was so carefully crafted (i.e. nearly every map-area in Book I was so completely "filled" with stuff...), so I'm really excited to hear that Book III is getting the same treatment. :)

Still looking forward to see and hear what you do on Skills and 'game balance' issues - a fair portion of the Book III 'wishlist' was devoted to those kinds of topics, so I am very curious to see what happens here, re: Spells, Skills, Items, etc...

(Note: I'm also hoping that some of the 'GUI issues' (e.g. more 'Hotkeys') is addressed in a future dev update note... :wink: )

Re: July Update - Book III

Posted: July 2nd, 2013, 5:26 pm
by MyGameCompany
Thanks for the update, BW! I'm getting excited about your game! I'm trying to get as much done as possible on my own RPG, because I know that as soon as Eschalon Book III is out, I'm won't be doing any work for at least 2 weeks! haha!

Re: July Update - Book III

Posted: July 4th, 2013, 4:38 am
by mercy
It is good to hear the Basilisk Team was smart enough to finance themselves and had NOT to become Kickstarter-Beggars who frequently are becoming disliked and even despised, because they take too long and the sneak-peak videos about alphas turn out not so good maybe even disappointment.

So you remained your own masters, dictating All Content as you see fit and not as backers - mostly incompetent in the field of & ignorant about Game Development - see fit.

Re: July Update - Book III

Posted: July 4th, 2013, 7:23 pm
by Nevermore
Nice news. So, what do you have to do about development are minor maps and little balances of game system, haven't?

Re: July Update - Book III

Posted: July 8th, 2013, 7:18 pm
by Agamemnon
Hi Folks,
as this is the final game :( in the Eschalon series, are there any plans for modders? There have been a few save-game and system mods on this forum over the last while.

I was just wondering, as the team moves on to better and brighter games, for those of us who love this world, are there going to be any sudo official level editors, characters editors, etc. aka like the ones that are already available from some of the bright sparks in this community?

If there are I'm guessing this would be the forum where they were made available

If you want my 2c. Mods should be free to be enjoyed, not resentments to be lingered over.

thanks,
Aga

Re: July Update - Book III

Posted: July 8th, 2013, 9:55 pm
by BasiliskWrangler
Agamemnon wrote:Hi Folks,
as this is the final game :( in the Eschalon series, are there any plans for modders? There have been a few save-game and system mods on this forum over the last while.

I was just wondering, as the team moves on to better and brighter games, for those of us who love this world, are there going to be any sudo official level editors, characters editors, etc. aka like the ones that are already available from some of the bright sparks in this community?

If there are I'm guessing this would be the forum where they were made available

If you want my 2c. Mods should be free to be enjoyed, not resentments to be lingered over.

thanks,
Aga
All the tools we used to make Book III will be released after the game is finished. At this time I do not know exactly what fans will be able to do with the tools, other than make new maps. No thought has been put in to how people will be able to add NPCs, new monsters, new items, etc. We'll likely need to release updates to the game to allow for extended modding, but that will all depend on how well Book III sells.

Re: July Update - Book III

Posted: July 9th, 2013, 7:16 pm
by Agamemnon
Hi BW,
That's great news.
There is a whole bunch of stuff that *can* be figured out using some of the current editors, figure being the operative word.
Having the real editors will be (to use an american word I use too much Awesome!) oh god, loads of information etc., but we need the details of the numbers :( you can only go so far without the database of numbers. Will you be releasing the game data as well as the tools ?

I'm guessing not, as that would allow cloning and re-branded/re-sell by bad people.

but: details of the structure would be good :) basically whatever you can, and keep the company safe.

What would be good, and perhaps, maybe, more nice adjs, useful, is a way to hook into quests. if its easier to do a side quest off a parent quest, all the better, more integrated with the game, would make for great re-runs with old characters. Nostalgic go-backs, cool stuff really.

I don't know *anything* about the game engine, but I guess there is a basic quest desc format with dialogue triggers and QuestID stuff, and then completion criteria, pre and post, actionable items (is that a word, spell check says yes) that you can use in cell code. sorry I don't know what you call the referable location elements: i call then cells.

Seeing as you guys are not too busy or anything right now :), a document, yes I mentioned that actual word, would be good :)

As a developer myself, I would suggest this: leave it for a year after release of III, on the anniversary. We will all still be here.

Then we can all go mad adding new stuff :)
best regards,
Aga.

Re: July Update - Book III

Posted: July 11th, 2013, 6:46 pm
by spywolf
I too will be sad that this is the last Eschalon game (So many incredible memories. Such wonderful gameplay). However, I am SUPER excited to see what new awesome, amazing, wonderful, creations come out of Basilisk Games that await us in the future! Hip Hip Hooray for Eschalon 3! :D

p.s. Take as much time as you need on Book 3 Basilisk--we know it will be excellent--we don't mind. :)

Re: July Update - Book III

Posted: July 12th, 2013, 8:25 am
by Necromis
argh. Not sure where you are hosting the picture but my work is blocking me from seeing it. :(

Re: July Update - Book III

Posted: July 12th, 2013, 10:12 am
by Kreador Freeaxe
Necromis wrote:argh. Not sure where you are hosting the picture but my work is blocking me from seeing it. :(
It's a guy standing in grass with a balloon quote saying "Grass as far as the eye can see." Not exactly something to use to try to eke out more hints about what's coming. ;-)