Dev Q&A on Rescue Camp update
Tue, 05/22/2012 - 17:20
So I've been wanting to do this for a while (A little late, I know <.<), and just before you start saying, no, this Q&A has nothing to do with any technicalities involving the Rescue mission update; rather, it involves getting an insight on the development process for the update itself. By this, I mean the decision making process for certain key aspects of the game, such as characters and setting, and if there were any iterations, scrapping, and so on.
Hence, I'm gonna sorta act like a reporter and shoot the devs a couple of questions with answer that may not be obvious, and it's up to them decide how to answer, if they want to answer any of them at all. Also, bare note there may be a few minor spoilers for those who have yet to replay the rescue camp.
So here goes
1. Rhendon is certainly an interesting addition to the cast of unique NPCs that have been added to SK in recent months, as he's probably the only one that tags along with you for a short while in the game. He's certainly fitted to appear as a friendly veteran willing to help out recruits and act as a tutorial. What art decisions brought about this appearance of his? Were there various iterations, or did you just land on one and go with until polished to a mirror shine?
2. A similar question could be said about Schemer Razwog, although I feel that's a bit more obvious than Rhendon for some reason?
3. How was the plot for the new rescue camp storyline made and how long had it been in the pipeline? Had it been pre-planned months before, even before the first batches of missions were out, or had it been hatched only within a few weeks of the update? How did it develop?
4. The 'artifact' you obtain from Razwog has a much more different appearance than the one I saw on the test server? Was the previous appearance scrapped before the launch or did you have yet to add the intended artwork?
5. Before the rescue camp update, the only mission within SK to have any non-interactive cut scenes in it (Aside from Vanaduke) was The Silent Legion; a well received mission by the community. Considering this, I'm curious to know if that particular mission was used as a spring board for the making of the cut scenes in the Rescue camp missions?
6. Lastly, and this is a slightly off topic, but following the previous question, this update certainly has a nice mix of interactive and non-interactive cut scenes; as well as proper artwork in aiding in the "show-don't-tell" method. Combined with the fact that the GMs use crowbars as ban hammers, I have to ask if this is all but a subtle nod to the design philosophy of the Half-life series?
That's it for now. Hope there aren't any issues with these questions.
Wed, 05/23/2012 - 12:03
#2
1. We wanted to give the
1. We wanted to give the player a buddy to start their experience with and so we blocked out a couple of things about him that would make him a good fit for a new player. He purposely does not use a sword, so that the player is the one in the fray and he more or less hangs back and gives you support. His origin is a little interesting in that he's an amalgamation of two different parts to a future story (it was cleaner to combine him into one character), but I can't get into that yet.
2. We wanted the first hour of play to have a cool boss fight that eludes to cooler things deeper into the game. The gremlins were a good fit for this. He's a special guy, but his title (Schemer) basically means 'engineer' in gremlin terms.
3. We've wanted to introduce our meatier story for a while and the RC was the place to start it all. It's all about making a good first impression :)
4. The artifact on the test server was temp art. Ian was building the real thing while you guys were testing.
5. The Silent Legion was an experiment. We developed some limited tools to allow us to do those kind of story sequences and wanted to use it in one mission to test the waters. Given the community's positive response, we further developed these tools and have begun incorporating these sequences into a lot of new stuff. It's costly for us to produce, but I quite like the results.
6. The Crowbar is an obvious nod to HL, yes. I think previously our GM weapons were made of cardboard and Ian wanted to give them more flair. But as far as 'showing and not telling,' I think that's just a good design principal for most games. It's always nice to whittle down instructive text as much as possible. Last I heard I think it's something like people begin to zone out after only reading about 8-10 words in games. Scary!
Wed, 05/23/2012 - 12:23
#3
Another 2 questions
Could we get to retry those missions? Because like the other Rank Missions, when retrying them we are just rememorizing times, we can even get the old speeches again as if we weren't Vanguards or we just arrived to Haven, so why cut the access to them to old players and even advertise it in the game?
I think the main reason would be because it would give us "another rank" maybe, but I don't need/want the rewards, just to be able to access them like any other, we can make a Robo Wrecker if we wish already. Can't it be programmed into the game?
Wed, 05/23/2012 - 14:11
#4
"Last I heard I think it's
"Last I heard I think it's something like people begin to zone out after only reading about 8-10 words in games."
It's getting kind of sad really to have to explain over and over to the recent newbie Knights, information that they should know already from the informational Missions.
Wed, 05/23/2012 - 14:33
#5
+1 Aumir
I personally never knew anything of Rhendon other than he's a new NPC until now. I too think we should be given a chance to experience it. I don't really see how it could be a problem to repeat the mission like other missions....are they worried old players would crash noob parties and poorly interact with them? That's the only thing I can think of.
Wed, 05/23/2012 - 14:41
#6
@Aumir
I believe its the idea of party systems through the Rescue Camps that they have a problem with. With it, we could, theoretically, disrupt a brand new player's first sessions of the game. How would you feel if some god-like skolver burst into your first steps on Cradle and ravaged everything moving before you got up the steps. Wouldn't be fun, would it?
Wed, 05/23/2012 - 14:47
#7
Again?
I still don't understand why people are asking for the ability to replay the RC missions. I created an alt and left it in RC for quite some time before the update, and once the update came out I use that alt to play through the missions. Since the missions are really cool, I just return to RC after completing them (rather than crossing over to Haven) so I can replay them. Are other people unable to do the same?
Wed, 05/23/2012 - 14:53
#8
@Mal
Some of us already used our other two slots and don't wish to give up our precious knights and hard work just to redo them.
Wed, 05/23/2012 - 15:11
#9
@Trydeth
Make an alt.
Wed, 05/23/2012 - 15:19
#10
@Duke
Takes a little more effort for us Steam players. :P
Wed, 05/23/2012 - 15:34
#11
@Trydeth
I'm on Steam. I just logout on SK and uncheck the "Use Steam Account" or whatever box. >_>
Wed, 05/23/2012 - 15:35
#12
@Trydeth
Well, I think that would happen if it were in any other MMO, but as this one doesn't have a experience system, so kills can't be "stolen", and crowns and heat go to all players... my reaction would be "whoa, you are so awesome! i wish i can be one day such as you!", then proceed to even spend money on energy.
You could also just solo the mission, though I don't know if there is an interface explanation on the "Invite/Create" thing... in fact, when I started, I joined a party with 3 newbies like me because I didn't know how to set it up and later spent 3 mins tinkering with the options.
And @typical responses: how many times do I have to say that I just want to be able to repeat the mission, like any other content, and also know why would they advertise something we can't experience without going outside our Knight? Plus the inconvenience for people like, as Trydeth said, "other login method" clients. Always the same answer c.c
Wed, 05/23/2012 - 15:35
#13
A Few Other Questions/Suggestions
1. Why do you make the instructions so text-heavy? When I first joined Spiral Knights, there were no missions and hardly any explanations. You didn't need any since the game was so simple by itself. Text may actually hinder the quality of Spiral Knights. I understand that text = explanation = personality for characters = immersion, but for casual gamers, too much text may show as a lack of effort to convey this information in an intuitive, non-wordy way. It is also a huge turnoff to see huge walls of text constantly during the tutorial and the missions. If you cannot remove the text-only explanations in lieu of something else, perhaps you guys could implement colored/highlighted text to bring attention to the most important phrases and bits of information (like how MapleStory does it).
2. I really like the new tutorial! I really appreciate the hard work you guys put into creating a visual of the "mechanical nature" of the Clockworks and into creating the impressions of a journey from the Rescue Camp to Haven. However, I must ask--where is the Skylark? I'd like to suggest that OOO make an opening cinematic or a movie placed on the website SHOWING the fall of Skylark to Haven. It really doesn't feel as if we've "crash-landed" on Haven because we never get to see the Skylark crash or see it wrecked. It could be as simple as showing the Skylark wrecked through a window off in the distance in the Ready Room.
I really love what you guys are doing! Thank you!
TL;DR version: Rhendon's an !@$