The Broken Hourglass - Principles of Magic @ Official Site

Planewalker has written up quite a bit of detail on the magic system for The Broken Hourglass, which features some intriguing mechanics. Here's a snip:

With these explanations in mind, it becomes easier to understand that our magic system is a mana-potential system. The amount of mana possessed by each character represents how much magical energy they can divide up among one or many tasks at a given time. Any effect which has a long duration is considered a standing enchantment, and standing enchantments tie up mana until they are released. A mage with 15 mana points who invests five mana points in a damage-protection spell is reduced to having 10 mana left to spend. When he releases the armor spell, he will once again have 15 mana available. Beneficial standing enchantments typically remain in play until party members choose to drop them. Deleterious standing enchantments, such as an attribute penalty or a spell to lower resistance to damage, typically remain in play until the end of combat, or until the party rests.

More information.

Anyone else notice how similar the art in this looks to baldur's gate II?

That's quite intentional I'm sure. The people behind it are longtime Infinity Engine modders, and the one who makes the engine is the guy behind the Weidu mod installation/uninstallation program (hence the name of the engine - Weingine).

This is one of the games I'm looking forward the most to.

Originally Posted by jhwisner
Anyone else notice how similar the art in this looks to baldur's gate II?

However, have you noted how much the character system sounds like Arcanum's? How the magic system sounds like having borrowed a few spoonfuls of Geneforge's? I can probably go on like this for some time. And this is entirely speculational, as we don't have the full game, but only bits and a few images to compare. It may be that one area looks similar to BG2, but the rest of the game is nothing like it. Of another note, the game may be good, despite looking like BG2, like on its own accord.

They have been quite clear they draw inspiration from BG2. I think it looks simply fantastic - nice 2D art, an interesting gameworld, well thought out magic system…

That wasn't criticism…

Originally Posted by Dhruin
They have been quite clear they draw inspiration from BG2. I think it looks simply fantastic - nice 2D art, an interesting gameworld, well thought out magic system…

Agreed … fantastic looking game with some great-sounding concepts.

Indeed. I'd like to see more screens from the game, though, and hope that these PRs are not stealing time away from the release date!

I think trying something a little different with magic is good. This is a definite buy for me!!

Same with me.