Summer Q&A - The Recap

Hey there folks!

Here is a recap of the Steam Summer Festival Community Q&A session that took place on Discord on Friday June 19th, during which anyone was free to ask us any question they had in mind - which were answered either by me (Myzzrym, Community Lead), Zaz (Gameplay Director) or Archimat (Creative Director and CEO). Enjoy your read!

************

• General Gameplay (#01 - #20)
• Party & Dialog (#21 - #33)
• Rules (#34 - #50)
• Campaign & Quests (#51 - #61)
• Lore (#62 - #67)
• Customization (#68 - #79)
• General Questions (#80 - #95)
• Personal / Team Questions (#96 - #104)

************

General Gameplay (#01 - #20)

Q01: Are there any major gameplay features planned that aren't shown or hinted at in the demo?

Myzzrym: Hmmmm that's hard to say, there are just so many. There are very few skill checks in the demo, verticality is mostly hinted at through spiders, there is no city, no faction system and I could go on and on....

Q02: Huge and larger enemies, are we going to see some giants or big dragons? Also with the verticality being a thing, will we be able to climb on top of these giant enemies?

Myzzrym: There will be large enemies indeed. As to climbing on their back, it would be cool wouldn't it! Unfortunately that's a whole lot of animations and special rules to be made just for that, and I don't believe we'll have the time nor the budget for it!

Q03: What portion of combat encounters are avoidable, by one mean or another?

Archimat: Reminder that this is a Tactical RPG - meaning combat is VERY important in our game. Just think of how short XCOM would be if you were able to avoid all the fights! You will be able to bypass some fights by sneaking around or talking your way out, but those are the exceptions and not the rule!

Q04: Are there going to be able battles where fleeing is the only option?

Archimat: I'm not too sure about that, but there ARE some fights where you win by surviving long enough! Of course if you go attacking some monsters that are far too powerful for you, we'd still suggest fleeing to fight another day

Q05: Does the game have random encounters? Can you grind to overcome a difficult fight (be it level, money/gear, consumables)?

Zaz: You will have random encounters, but we're trying to find a way to avoid too much grinding - you shouldn't be able to grind too much above what's planned

Q06: What difficulty options are planned and what would it look like? More enemies, stronger enemies, better AI?

Archimat: We're still designing difficulty options, but we're leaning towards altering the AI to avoid changing the game too much. For instance, we can deactivate certain behaviours such as hitting characters that are already dying, or shoving them from high above

Q07: Will there be an in-game lorebook? What form will it take? Will it have unlockable entries on monsters, important personages, locations, historical events, etc.?

Myzzrym: That's a secret. We're working on something is what I can tell you.

Q08: You've said the campaign ends at about level 10 - is this a hard-coded limit (like in the BG games, where characters just stopped earning XP) or is it just a "there's no efficient way of getting XP to go higher, unless you want to spend a gazillion hours farming goblin random encounters" thing?

Myzzrym: Hardcoded. We won't have any class features / spells that get unlocked above level 10, so allowing you to level up would just be useless

Q09: Why is the level max 10 and not 20? 

Myzzrym: It's simple really, time and budget. By going up to level 20 you increase the amount of spells we need to create (FX, coding...), features to implement, and also the increase in campaign length! Unless you want to be farming mobs mindlessly for hours on end, increasing level cap also means you need more quests, a longer story, etc etc... and that means in turn more writing, more voice acting - it's a never ending story. This is why Solasta: Crown of the Magister has a level 10 cap - but future modules may increase that cap to 15, or 20, who knows

Q10: Can spells affect the environment? Destroy a door for instance?

Myzzrym: Not sure about destroying doors, but you can definitely use spells on the environment: Lighting up an oil puddle, opening a door with Knock, etc etc...

Q11: How much of the environment is destructible or affected by spells? 

Myzzrym: The environment that can be affected by spells / interactions will be easily recognizable - you won't be able to Red Faction your way through the levels tearing through every walls.

Q12: Apart from jumping and climbing, what kind of environmental obstacle will there be? Swimming? Slippery surfaces?

Zaz: We're considering some ideas but nothing can be confirmed for now

Q13: Are the merchant stores static like P:KM or dynamic and change their items periodically ?

Zaz: Different merchants have different items, which may vary depending on your reputation with their faction. You can't use persuasion to lower the shop price, but good reputation will do that!

Q14: Will be other sources of light in the game like lanterns, sunrods or ... ?

Myzzrym: I'm not sure I understand, you're asking if there will be something else than just torches? I think we do.

Q15: Some armors in the demo have a helmet integrated, but there is a helmet slot in the character sheet. How exactly does this work exactly? Is there going to be a mantle slot?

Zaz: Only the Full Plate requires a helmet (visually), all other armors will let you put something else in Headgear slot. Gameplay-wise you can put headgear whatever the armor you're wearing, but visually the Full Plate will have a helmet. I think we're still discussing about the mantle slot.

Q16: Will there be ways of enchanting equipment? So if I found a mundane sword, will there be a way to permanently make it a +1 or give it an element?

Myzzrym: There will be enchantment, but not every item / weapon will be enchantable - the weapon needs to have a certain property to enchant.

Q17: In-game economy: How difficult will it be to raise money to buy equipment or consumable items? Is it worth saving up from the beginning or can it be spent without measure. You said that there will be few magic weapons, but they will be in stores? Or is it just loot for quests and bosses?

Zaz: The idea is to reward players who look around for loot and find valuables. You can definitely save to buy something later. If you're friends with a particular faction, you'll see they have some expensive stuff you can buy, so it can be worth it to save. Some of the best loot is still hidden in the badlands.

Q18: Will magic items be as plentiful in the full game as they were in the demo?

Zaz: We put plenty in the demo so you can have fun, but they will be rarer in the final game.

Q19: Will loot be randomly generated off of some table or is it all predefined?

Zaz: Depending on the case, it can be either predefined or from a loot table! So... both.

Q20: There were some noble garments as a starter item, do they have any effect? Will characters react differently depending on how you're dressed? 

Zaz: Noble garments currently have no effect (only visual), but it's a very nice idea - we'll write it down in our idea jar for our next game!

************

Party & Dialog (#21 - #33)

Q21: In the demo, the NPCs were voice acted. What percentage of the game do you expect will receive voice acting?

Myzzrym: The entire game, every dialog, is voice acted. The only things that won't be are like lore scrolls and the like

Q22: Will each character have a reputation they can earn? If so, will that effect dialogs or the outcome of a conversation?

Myzzrym: Remember that you play as a Party, not as each individual - this means every system such as the reputation system is tied to the entire party, not to each character. There is indeed a reputation / faction system in Solasta, and getting friendly with some factions may get you in trouble with others - dialog options, merchant prices or even NPC services may vary depending on your reputation with each faction

Q23: Will the party size be limited to 4 characters or will you be able to increase party size? (Like by persuading NPCs or hiring mercenaries)

Myzzrym: The main party will be limited to 4, but there will be occasional quests where you might have NPC(s) accompanying you - still, you'll spend most of the game as a party of 4 characters, there won't be any permanent followers

Q24: So we control a full party of 4; can any of the characters decide to leave the party if they don't like the way choices are made? Do they have individuality and relationships to each other?

Myzzrym: No. You're playing as THE PARTY, not as individual characters. Imagine playing with your friends, it's your responsibility to make it work - even if alignments and motivations are not always the same

Q25: Will it be possible to play the game with a single character even if that means the challenge is greater or is it set exclusively to a 4 person party?

Myzzrym: No, in Solasta you play AS A PARTY - not as a single character. The game does not work as a single character, as it's not based on a "main character + companion" model. Everything, from the encounters, to the puzzles, to the dialogs require four party members

Q26: How much of an impact will alignment have in the game? Could I play with a full evil party? Will alignments clash between party members?

Myzzrym: Just like D&D 5e is slowly phasing away from alignment taking too much of an important role itself, we did not want to use alignments to put our characters in boxes. Alignments in Solasta will give you different choices of personality flags, but it won't go much further than that. There won't be conflicts within the party, because that's just too hard to have - remember that you're playing 4 customized characters, so we'd have to write dialogs for all possible combinations of alignments.

Q27: Any possible romance between pc character or between pc and npc?

Myzzrym: No, romance won't be part of Solasta: Crown of the Magister. There are a few reasons to that. First of all, we think that Romance is fantastic... when it's done properly, which means dedicating a good amount of time for that - time that we don't necessarily have with such a small team as ours. Second, since you're not playing ONE character but an entire party of FOUR characters, it makes it very hard to actually implement romance without shoehorning it in. But who knows for future games!

Q28: Can spells/abilities like divine sense, guidance, detect magic, detect thoughts, charm person, suggestion etc. be used in conversation. How will the NPCs react to them?

Zaz: We have this in our backlog (Spells / Dialog interaction), but it's a very tricky thing to do and involves a lot more writing - so it probably won't make it into our first game

Q29: How do languages work in dialogs ?

Myzzrym: There are used as dialog options in certain dialogs. For instance, avoiding a fight with a band of orc...

Q30: How much will the races and backgrounds of our characters shape how npcs react to them? Do you have dialog flags for that?

Myzzrym: Races and backgrounds will open certain dialog options - as to "how much", it's hard to quantify... But yes, dialog options are not only determined by your personality flags - race, class and background can trigger new paths.

Q31: How will you handle Paladin Oaths and their tenets in the game? Will a cleric/paladin's chosen faith be acknowledged in dialog options?

Myzzrym: Being a devout of certain gods will unlock dialog options

Q32: Will the order/weight of background/alignment tags change during the campaign ?

Zaz: No, the personality flags remain static during the game. We might think about changing that in the future for the next game, but for the moment it won't evolve

Q33: Can you make friends with individual NPCs as well as factions?

Archimat: That's not planned, unless it's in a specific scenario (quest)

************

Rules (#34 - #50)

Q34: Are there any aspects of the tabletop ruleset that you can't migrate to Solasta?

Archimat: Our rationale is that each rule should be considered for inclusion into the game - and so far, most are working fine and being integrated!

Myzzrym: There are few examples where we made adjustments, such as the longbow range (in terms of video game it would be like shooting 4 screens away or something), or Darkvision to encourage everyone (even those with Darkvision) to use torches.

Q35: Do you plan on adding new abilities based on elevation? Like telekinetic pulls from high ground or "death from above" for rogues and so on. I really looking forward for this kind of gameplay possibilities

Zaz: We've added a bit like the Rogue Darkweaver getting bonus with elevation, but overall we didn't want to tinker with the rules too much - the existing content in D&D already allows for a LOT of fun with elevation, so we didn't feel the need to add too much in that regard

Q36: Do you use a failure table for crit fails? Sword breaks, string breaks, etc 

Myzzrym: We don't use a fumble table as this is not part of the base rules of D&D.

Q37: Will you take into account component for spells?

Archimat: Most of the regular components will be replaced by the Component Pouch, but some more expensive ones (like revivify) will very likely be implemented. You'll have to spend some coins to get those! We try to stay as close to the rules as possible after all, without making it too tedious.

Q38: For difficulty, did you consider adding optional rules like wounds from the Dungeon Master's Guide?

Archimat: Right now we're focused on the standard D&D rules to avoid complexifying the game. I suppose we could look into additional rules, but we have to tread carefully to avoid breaking the game balance

Q39: Will there be summon spells?

Archimat: Yes, we currently have a Conjure Goblinoid debug spell which works, so we just have to add the creatures to go with the summon spells now

Q40: Will there be feats? If yes, how many feats will be there?

Zaz: Design is not final, but we're currently looking at around 20 to 25 feats

Q41: Will there be a feat for throwing weapons?

Zaz: Not planned for now

Q42: How many new spells (homebrew) will there be?

Zaz: We have added 3 homebrew cantrips, but we're not looking to add more homebrew spells after that. The SRD already has a very big list of spells, so we're mostly looking to add as many as we can instead of adding our own homebrew there

Q43: How will the "knowledge" of Ranger's favored enemy be implemented ?

Zaz: Knowledge level gives additional bonus damage against favored enemies

Q44: There are plenty of favored terrains for Rangers - will all of them be available in Solasta?

Zaz: No, there are some type of terrains that won't make it into Solasta, such as arctic terrain in the first game.

Q45: Downtime activities any thoughts on implementing them? PHB for example gives guidance on 250 days and a gold piece a day to learn a language or toolkit proficiency from a tutor.

Zaz: There won't be downtime in S:COTM - aside from long rests. But maybe in a future game

Q46: How does the rest system work in the wilderness? Will we select the activity of party members or will there be automatic checks (best skill) to gather food, ingredient, guard, etc.?

Zaz: Gathering food is done while travelling, right now we plan a guard turn shared between all, it's not implemented yet

Q47: What kinds of tools / tool proficiencies will there be in the game? And what will be their degree of usefulness?

Archimat: Well, this is deeply linked to the crafting system. Knowing how to use a herbalism kit or poisoner's kit allow you to craft cool potions and poisons. If I remember correctly, there are 5 (?) different categories of crafting, which even allow to create / improve magical items

Q48: How will Medicine, Animal Handling and Sleight of hand work?

Zaz: We're currently working on those. Medicine is used when crafting potions and stabilizing dying party members, sleight of hands are used to pickpocket and animal handling... weeeeell currently it's not implemented!

Q49: Will you be including any weapon types beyond what is normally in the game? Not merely magical enchantments, but rather new mundane weapon traits.

Archimat: For now, we already have a lot to do with the basic weapons, and I do not wish to second guess by adding bonus properties etc to  base weapons. We prefer to look into magical items

Q50: Speaking of environmental obstacles. Flight, swimming, climbing speeds and spells which grant these how are you approaching these abilities?

Myzzrym: Spells like spiderclimb or fly will be implemented in-game. We're working on a planar mode to have you move around the sky easily

************

Campaign & Quests (#51 - #61)

Q51: How open will the world and game be?

Zaz: Not much, you can move freely on the world map between locations you've already discovered, but Solasta is not meant to be an open world game. There are areas you may want to revisit later to open new paths as you unlock new ways to explore such as flying or climbing

Q52: How long of a game do you expect to have? Either in hours or levels?

Myzzrym: So far we're looking at a 30h to 40h game. This will of course vary a lot depending on the difficulty level setting - it is a Tactical RPG after all

Q53: Will there be multiple endings depending on the choices you make in the game?

Myzzrym: No, multiple endings means you need to create different "routes". Imagine you have 3 different endings, each with a 5h route - that means a total of 10h of gameplay you won't see until replaying the game. So instead of having a 40h game, you have a 40 - 10 = 30h game. Do you see where I'm going? Solasta: Crown of the Magister already isn't a very long game - we're not promising 100h+ of content. So we can't afford to cut more content in order to have multiple endings, we prefer to have one campaign that feels satisfying from start to finish without dipping in quality in the later stages.

Q54: Will there be a level of versatility when finding ways to finish quests?

Zaz: Some quests can be completed in different ways, but not all of them

Q55: After finishing the full campaign, how much replay value is there?

Myzzrym: While there aren't multiple endings, replaying the game with different party members / personality flags will open different dialog options, and some main quests can be done in different orders which change the difficulty of certain areas. And that's without talking about the gameplay aspect of replaying with different classes.

Q56: Are there going to be any non-hostile "monstrous" characters

Myzzrym: Yes. I'll leave it at that :p

Q57: Since Solasta seems to focus a lot on dungeon exploring, do you have a playtime estimate for the longest dungeon run you are planning to implement?

Archimat: Probably around 3h, depending on difficulty level!

Q58: Will there be boss battles? What is the strongest enemy DC in game?

Myzzrym: Yes there will! I won't spoil the DC though :P

Q59: Are there going to be time limits or time sensitive quests?

Archimat: We'll have to see about time sensitive quests, as they can put a lot of stress on the player. Not super sold on that

Q60: Any dungeon that goes up instead of down?

Archimat: Ayup!

Q61: Can you fail / wipe in the main story and have the game continue?

Myzzrym: If the entire party dies, it's game over - time to load and try again! Otherwise, you can resurrect them via the conventional D&D ways - resurrection spells, scrolls and NPC services

************

Lore (#62 - #67)

Q62: Do you have plans to develop and release fiction set in this world separate from the game itself?

Archimat: We're already writing a sourcebook as part of our Kickstarter rewards! That being said, while exploring Solasta as an independent setting is very interesting, we also have to keep in mind that we're first and foremost a video game company - meaning we're not very likely to start creating boardgames or publishing rulebooks. However it remains a great idea to develop the Solasta universe, for which we've only scratched the surface.

Q63: The lore that doesn’t end up in the game … will we be able to read up about it in other places, or will you save it for future games?

Myzzrym: Most of it isn't really formatted properly - they are mostly in the mind of the writers, or written as some footnote in some .doc word - so they can't just be released as such. But you can be sure that we'll use it wherever we can - be it in another game, a book or a DLC

Q64: What’s your method for developing world lore for your setting? Were there directions things went that surprised you?

Zaz: Alcohol. More seriously though, we have 3 people with very different background brainstorming about the world and the lore. Usually we take a pillar of the game, and start developing on it - see where the waves take us. What surprised me was how MUCH we end up with - there's so much that won't be making it into the game, simply because it's not in the region where the game takes place, or not at the same period... the amount of content is insane.

Q65: Is the campaign rulebook still available, and if yes, for how long? Only hardcover or also as PDF? Would it make sense to purchase it only for the lore if you are not planning to run a  D&D campaign yourself?

Myzzrym: Yes, but not for much longer. You can get it here: https://app.crowdox.com/projects/tacticaladventures/solasta-crown-of-the-magister. It's going to be full of lore, it's not an adventure book - more a campaign setting like Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

Q66: Are there any enemies you wanted to include in the game, but couldn't due to they wouldn't fit the world, or licensing restraints? Or would this be giving away too much info about the game?

Myzzrym: Surprisingly, not really! There are only a few monsters that belong to WotC, such as the Beholder and the Mind Flayer - but most of the roster is actually fair game (well, it's not like they could license minotaurs or ghosts...)

Q67: Will we see custom NPC/enemy race created for Solasta that where is not in the Wizards manuals ?

Myzzrym: Oh yes. There will be some scary monsters indeed^^

************

Customization (#68 - #79)

Q68: How many different voices will be available to our custom characters? Will different races have different voices so my human and dwarf do not share the same voice?

Myzzrym: As every dialog in-game is voice acted, we have to be very careful about our voice acting budget. We currently have 2 male voices and 2 female voices (for PCs, NPCs are a different topic) in total - and we're looking to add variations to these existing voices for players to have more options (ideally no less than 4 male / 4 female choices). This also means different races won't have different voices - you'll just have to select the voice you want each of your character to have.

Q69: Will there be a hairless option in character customisation?

Archimat: Not the hardest thing to do, we'll add it!

Q70: When creating a character, will there be sliders (eyes, lips, noses) or more options for faces?

Myzzrym: There won't be sliders for the face - we're not that big of a team, and considering every dialog is voice and lip-sync'd we can't insure that facial animations don't go completely awry if we were to add sliders. That being said we're looking our current selection of faces - there are quite a few we're not satisfied with, so we'll see if we add more / replace some.

Q71: Can we have a half hawk haircut for the women? Also do you plan for more haircut option than the current character editor?

Archimat: what we have here is a first batch, we plan on adding more options, yes. Please be vocal on our community channels regarding the haircuts you prefer!

Q72: Will there be any kind of dark skinned elf in Solasta?

Archimat: Drow Elves are unfortunately not part of the SRD so we couldn't include them. That being said, we're thinking about homebrewing dark skinned elves for Solasta.

Q73: About dark-skinned elves - if there are any, will they be a subrace, or just more skin color options for high / wood elves?

Myzzrym: This is something we're still discussing. The reason we're being careful about that is that we absolutely want to avoid something that could be considered "Blackface" - would simply putting dark skin on current high / wood elf be OK or not? Does it make sense? It's a very touchy subject, one where you as a community can help by providing feedback on the topic

Q74: Will there be dlc classes?

Myzzrym: Sorcerer has already been announced as free DLC post-launch, other classes may follow depending on the success of the game

Q75: Will you add dragonborn post launch, perhaps as DLC?

Archimat: Every class / species from the SRD is great, and Dragonborn is as likely a candidate as any other one. We'll have to work on the specific lore context for dragonborns in Solasta, but they are a very cool element of 5e - we just didn't have the time to include everything

Q76: Will there be more race options like Dragonborn or Aasimar/Tieflings?

Myzzrym: Not at launch, but maybe as DLC later on!

Q77: Will there be pre-generated characters for the player party? I know a bunch of people who aren't confident with character creation, and could be put off by the need to create a whole 4-character party.

Zaz: We can easily pre-generate characters, but at this point I'm not sure we'll do it. It could be fun to have them, though, I remember having a paladin called Brian the fist in Bard's Tale...never knew why he was called that way. But yea don't hesitate to tell us if you want them!

Q78: Will there be any evil aligned deities for paladins and clerics to worship?

Myzzrym: No, and for once it's not because of production effort... it's because of lore reasons. I won't say more, you'll understand why by playing the game

Q79: So at launch, we have the six main classes with Sorcerer following closely behind. What classes would you like to eventually add? Are there any classes, other than Warlock, that won't really fit the setting?

Myzzrym: This will likely depend on the community, we'll probably be doing contests to see which classes to add next. Warlocks could very well work in Solasta, I think more challenging would be monks as they are described in D&D.

************

General Questions (#80 - #95)

Q80: Will there be a level editor?

Myzzrym: Modding Tools, and this includes Level Editor, would be fantastic for us to have. We love modding, and we've taken a look at this topic very seriously - in fact, we do have existing tools that are being used by partners to create more levels. However, these tools are very complex - you need to know how to use Unity and how to make video games - meaning that they'd be useless on their own. We scoped out how much time and effort it would take to make a user-friendly Level Editor, and it turns out it would take no less than... the time to make an entire other project. That's actually what a couple of other projects on Kickstarter are about, such as Talespire. 

Long story short, we won't have a Level Editor - at least not at launch. But we'd very much love to have one, so if we get the time and resource, who knows?

Q81: Will there be robust tools for user created content? I would love this game to be the NWN of this generation!

Myzzrym: This brings us back to the previous question about the Level Editor. Robust Modding Tools - proper ones - are very complex to make, so they won't be available at launch. That being said, we're very interested in Modding so we're not closing the door to future endeavors. Note that you can still mod the game by default (we're on Unity), just like you can mod Pathfinder Kingmaker.

Q82: Will your game support the Steam Workshop?

Archimat: Well, we are not sure how far we will get with modding tools on our side, other than letting you change the code. So the mod workshop may not be relevant, but we will have to answer later.

Myzzrym: If we go by what Pathfinder:Kingmaker did, mods will probably be hosted on the ModNexus

Q83: Will we be able to play multiplayer with friends using our own characters, so we can have a more personal adventure with friends?

Myzzrym: No, Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a single player game. While we'd have loved to implement coop, it was simply too risky and costly for our first project - maybe for our future games though!

Q84: Will there be any extra campaigns available in the future such as endless dungeons or npc adventures (playing as the npcs in their own adventures occurring during the story)? 

Myzzrym: While I can't say about an Endless Dungeon, if Solasta does well we definitely want to bring in more content - new classes, new races, and yes - new modules as well. In fact, you could consider Telema as an "NPC adventure" - these guys are not the heroes of Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Q85: Will there be settings to adjust size of UI or to stop edge scrolling?

Archimat: Edge Scrolling Toggle can be easily added as an option in the settings. Size of the UI is more complex, if we want to make sure everything is dispatched properly on the borders of the screen - so we'll have to look into it.

Q86: When discussing and developing music for the game, what did you look toward for inspiration?

Archimat: We wanted to convey the feeling of an epic adventure, along with the discovery of a mysterious universe - so we selected a wide variety of epic fantasy movies with majestic tone as references and inspiration.

Q87: Will there be a second Kickstarter?

Myzzrym: Nope! No secondary Kickstarter or late backer. If you want to help, now is Wishlist time! :D

Q88: The demo interface suggests that you'll be able to run through several distinct modules - is it planned to have more than one available module on release?

Myzzrym: Not at launch, no.

Q89: Are there plans for a "New Game+" mode?

Archimat: I was thinking of a game mode where you can breed rainbow poneys. More seriously though, it's not something we've planned at the moment

Q90: When the game is released, on which platform should we buy it so you have the highest share of revenues?

Myzzrym: Hahahaha, just get it wherever you feel is best for you. Usually I'd say Steam since we're most likely releasing it there first.

Q91: Ray Tracing? Yes?

Archimat: Nope! Not planned for now

Q92: Do you plan to do other community design contests for Solasta?

Myzzrym: I have a few ideas in mind!

Q93: Will your next game use Unreal 5?

Myzzrym: That's not planned, nope!

Q94: Is a GOG version expected? How long before /after steam version will it be available?

Myzzrym: This is something we can't answer since we don't know yet. We're in discussion with GOG, that's all I can say.

Q95: Jan 2021 is the release date goal from the Kickstarter. Is that still looking likely at this point?

Myzzrym: I can't answer that! We haven't announced a release date quite yet, so keep an eye out there

************

Personal / Team Questions (#96 - #104)

Q96: What software do the 3d Artists use to make content?

Art Team: 3Ds max and zbrush for characters, Blender for environments. Paint.net for memes (thanks guys)

Q97: It has been communicated that you play d&d together, what is your group composition in your current campaign ?

Myzzrym: So we have Archimat (CEO) as the Evil DM, Zaz (Gameplay Director) as a Swashbuckler Rogue Half Elf, Keran (Lead Programmer) as a Vengeance Paladin Half Elf, Tom (Graphic Programmer) as a Bladesinger Wizard Elf, and me (Community Lead) as a Celestial Warlock Aasimar. I think we're level 5, soon to be level 6!

Fun fact, Zaz is known to have TERRIBLE rolls. It quickly became a meme, he spends his time rolling 2's and 3's. The other meme is how Tom loses at least one familiar per session, because Archimat keep on targeting them. RIP Corbac, Corbac 2, Corbac 3, Raoul, and one cat which name I already forgot. Also, I lost my first character - a strength, grappling-focused rogue - at level 2 to a random encounter in the streets. I swear, Baldur's Gates really needs to improve their security.

Q98: If the game sells well, do you plan to recruit more people, or are you more in the "keep the team small and efficient" mindset?

Archimat: I like the team being small: we are agile, close, and I speak to all everyday (except when there is a virus) :confused:  What's really important is to have good partners who complement the core team, such as for Sound & Music, art, etc...

Q99: What has been the most difficult/annoying thing in regards to making the game so far? What has been the nicest/easiest/best thing?

Archimat: The most difficult thing to do in this game is the level design. Finding the right gameplay situations, building the tools to create it, testing, improving. This is very hard. But I would not say it is annoying, it is really thrilling

We are also constantly trying to improve our process, improve the quality, while at the same time being realistic with the means we have. The biggest challenge is making the best game for you (and for us) while having fun making it, instead of having to manage a big organization

Obviously the best is working with such a great team. We do Scrum / sprint reviews every 2 weeks, and every time we are even more amazed by what we have created than the last time

Q100: What games do you play ? What games inspire you ? What are your favorites games ?

Archimat: I have been playing a lot of tabletop over the last 30 years: D&D of course, but also Call of Cthulhu, Vampire, RuneQuest, and a lot of homebrew stuff. For video games, I obviously love tactical RPGs, cRPGs, 4X, RTS. I am easy prey when there is a string narrative component. I love tight game systems, but I need a layer of narrative to bind them. I have recently played Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, a long time after it was released. The sound experience was as immersive as the first homeworld games, great job! Very tight RTS experience as well

Zaz: rpgs, tactical rpgs, tactical games in general, action rpgs...I'm a fan of xcom and mass effect, notably

Myzzrym: On tabletop a lot of D&D (3.5 especially) and World of Darkness (Vampire the Masquerade). On PC, I love a lot of different genre, as long as it's not sport or horror. I've spent a lot of times on MOBAs (more than 4000h+ on Dota, Dota 2, LoL) when I was younger, but now I mostly stick to RPGs, Tacticals and Visual Novels (my little guilty pleasure) like the Zero Escape series which I adore. More recently I've been playing FF7R and Total War Warhammer 2

Q101: Where is your team based out of?

Myzzrym: We're in Paris!

Q102: How difficult was made an AI that walk on the wall, and can fly, and take advantage on height ?

Archimat: An AI that uses verticality is not so hard, because we add a dimension to existing algorithm. The real difficulty is adapting pathfinding algorithm and data structures that are optimized for 3D. For example a 2D game with a grid of 10x10 cells has to parse 100 cells. If you add another dimension of 10 cells high, you have to parse 1000cells, 10 times more. So all the algorithms and data structures have to be heavily optimized, especially if the world is not a simple cube

Q103: Assuming the best "what if" scenario case where WOTC decides to grant you the full D&D license; what creature, feature, lore bit or something else you'd like to add?

Archimat: As far as getting the full D&D license, I don't like to speculate... sorry!

Q104: Are there any plans to work with WotC to make a source book or mini campaign book tying Solasta into the D&D universe?

Myzzrym: That would be fantastic! However that's not planned, but we'd love to do that one day

Article by Tactical Myzzrym