Project Eternity - Update #27

Myrthos

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Obsidian provides us with update #27 in which they summarize the Kickstarter and Paypal results and has information on changing your pledge, video streams, the next steps and current amount of pledges:
Kickstarter
Backers: 73,986
Pledged: $3,986,929
PayPal
Backers: 3,681
Pledged: $176,279
Totals
Backers: 77,667
Pledged: $4,163,208
By the way, the Mega dungeon is now at 14 levels and as the Paypal pledges and Facebook likes are still going on, a 15th and even a 16th level is within reach.
More information.
 
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And I though the dungeons in U6 Project were big!
 
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And I though the dungeons in U6 Project were big!

They were big and 90% empty. U6P mostly failed when it came to the dungeons. The rest of the game was fairly decent. The dungeons were just a huge mess.

Here's hoping, the million update Project Eternity is not going the big and empty route. Seriously, can they stop updating twice a day and just start developing now? A certain amount of silence should be expected at this time. Get to work! :D
 
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They were big and 90% empty. U6P mostly failed when it came to the dungeons. The rest of the game was fairly decent. The dungeons were just a huge mess.

Here's hoping, the million update Project Eternity is not going the big and empty route. Seriously, can they stop updating twice a day and just start developing now? A certain amount of silence should be expected at this time. Get to work! :D

I agree. I think Grim Dawn is a very good example. They kept their kickstarter very active and updated while it lasted. It was very successful but after it ended they kept feeding us with great, actual development stuff.
 
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I just hope the mega dungeon doesn't turn into a mega chore and works its way into the game's lore and history. 15 levels could be a game in itself and runs the risk of distancing the player from the primary story.
 
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Yes it does, so much for reading properly :)
The update originally said 14 levels. They changed it after someone pointed out it should be 15.
 

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I just hope the mega dungeon doesn't turn into a mega chore

Well, they've referenced "Watcher's Keep" which was enjoyable for me from start-to-finish; I'd expect (based on their descriptions) that it would be the equivalent of the five levels of Watcher's Keep x 3, which sounds like a huge amount of work to be honest (i.e., they need to start designing that thing right now). Were they doing this in pure 3D, they could do the NWN Infinite Dungeons approach and generate the levels procedurally, but the hand-painted backgrounds and custom-built levels thing is going to be a challenge. I'm glad they are doing it this way, but "wow" that's a lot to commit to on top of everything else.
 
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Well, they've referenced "Watcher's Keep" which was enjoyable for me from start-to-finish; I'd expect (based on their descriptions) that it would be the equivalent of the five levels of Watcher's Keep x 3, which sounds like a huge amount of work to be honest (i.e., they need to start designing that thing right now). Were they doing this in pure 3D, they could do the NWN Infinite Dungeons approach and generate the levels procedurally, but the hand-painted backgrounds and custom-built levels thing is going to be a challenge. I'm glad they are doing it this way, but "wow" that's a lot to commit to on top of everything else.

They showed the steps of the process they use to create environment layers, and it looks much much faster than the way they did it for the old IE games.
 
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As log as it is nothing like the baldurs gate 2 starter area, my god that got boring fast.
 
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As log as it is nothing like the baldurs gate 2 starter area, my god that got boring fast.

That's true - mind you, mandatory dialogue/cutscenes didn't help that.

I'd like to see the mega dungeon as almost a mini-game in it's own right - something you can come back to at various points over the game, as you unlock new levels - perhaps have the unlocks hidden away as secrets in the main game.

By keeping the next level a mystery and breaking up the exposure to it you could keep it fresh.

Maybe each level reveals part of a bigger story.
 
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I love megadungeons if handled right and if they're fully optional. I don't like their comments about puzzles - and if they really think most puzzles are just "clicking until you succeed" - then they haven't experienced good puzzles at all.

To me, the best puzzles are always logical and supportive of the location. MYST is a good example of excellent logical puzzles. Beyond that, I think riddles make the best puzzles - if they're handled well.

Legend of Grimrock completely misunderstood what good puzzles/riddles mean, if you ask me. Oh, there were some good ones - but it was oversaturated and they were all too similar.

Games like Black Crypt, Hordes of the Underdark, Eye of the Beholder 2, Realms of the Haunting, and so on have great puzzles - as does all good adventure games.
 
The 15 level mega dungeon could possibly have multiple entrances on multiple levels, so that you can enter and leave without a lot of backtracking. That would be ideal, at least in my view. If they don't want people skipping the early levels, just place barred entrances that can only be entered once opened from the inside. Of course teleports and such could work also. I'd love to see something like Divine Divinity's teleport pyramids make an appearance. The traveling portals of Two Worlds Two were quite useful too.
 
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The 15 level mega dungeon could possibly have multiple entrances on multiple levels, so that you can enter and leave without a lot of backtracking. That would be ideal, at least in my view. If they don't want people skipping the early levels, just place barred entrances that can only be entered once opened from the inside. Of course teleports and such could work also. I'd love to see something like Divine Divinity's teleport pyramids make an appearance. The traveling portals of Two Worlds Two were quite useful too.

With 15 levels, it's pretty much mandatory that they implement some sort of waypoint system, either through physical means (which would be cumbersome IMO, given the sheer number of levels) or through magical teleportation means.

Of course, if this were a steampunk universe, you could build your own whirlyjig that rockets you through a subterranean network of rail lying underneath the dungeon! Complete with air balloon elevators for vertical transport.
 
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They were big and 90% empty. U6P mostly failed when it came to the dungeons. The rest of the game was fairly decent. The dungeons were just a huge mess.

Yep, everybody is focused on the levels, but not on the depth. :)
 
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Just great...so the 14 level dungeon goes to 15 and we now wait 15 yrs??
 
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That's what I've been wondering about. They keep adding all this new stuff to the plan but they are still thinking April 2014?
 
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Um, a 15 level dungeon could be the basis of an entire game in itself. This sounds crazy to me. I don't think the quality of the dungeon will be very good and there will be a lot of repeating levels in terms of graphics and design and it will be kinda generic looking when comparing each level, especially since this is just considered a bonus and not the main project. Oh well, hopefully this mega dungeon idea won't come back and bite them in the back-side too hard.
 
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