Legend of Grimrock - Experience and Classes

Almost Human is pumping out the Grimrock updates with a new post on Experience and Classes. Here is the entire post:

We had a long game design discussion yesterday and one of the things we talked about was the class & xp system. Here are some tidbits:
- There will be no multi-classing; party based games do not really need multi-classing and single classing helps to differentiate the characters better. Single classing also adds more emphasis on character generation (a party with 3 fighters and a mage is very different from a party of 3 mages and a fighter). It also allows us to add new character classes later, for example Druid, without having to worry about how they mix and match with other classes when multi-classing.
- There could be ways to bring in some class features from another class at higher levels. For example, choosing a talent or equipping a certain item could allow a rogue to gain limited access to spells. This could be very cool but first things first, let’s see if we have enough time to implement all this!
- We are implementing three core classes for starters: Fighter, Rogue and Mage. More classes can be added later if needed.
- Fighters gain xp primarily by damaging opponents with melee attacks
- Rogues gain xp primarily by damaging opponents with ranged attacks
- Mages gain xp primarily by casting spells and using magic items
- The whole party gains xp by solving puzzles & finding secrets
- Each class has their unique set of skills. New skills can be learned and existing skill ranks can be improved when leveling up.
Of course anything could still change but we are happy with these basic premises. What do you think?

More information.

Huh. For some reason I expected this to be further along.

This sounds like the result of a 10-minute brainstorm.

These sound fine to me. Been dry here this year so the ten min brainstorm is welcome.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
This sounds like the result of a 10-minute brainstorm.

and this sounds like the result of a 5-second NO-BRAIN-storm (as usual tbh).

Originally Posted by baron
and this sounds like the result of a 5-second NO-BRAIN-storm (as usual tbh).

Ouch

Thanks stranger, for that in-depth analysis.

The game is basically in the concept stage, so it's not even a game yet; just a wet dream. Will it become a game? Beats me.

Er… No healers?

Originally Posted by crpgnut
The game is basically in the concept stage, so it's not even a game yet; just a wet dream. Will it become a game? Beats me.

Were these guys inexperienced (but talented) newbs, I'd put the chances down significantly below 50%. As they are all game dev veterans who have worked on several projects and know what it takes to get a product to market, I would estimate their chances quite a bit higher. But I wouldn't be pre-ordering the game just yet.

They've got a video --- and it looks like they do have the basic technology running. So not quite just a "concept" stage. They've got the foundation laid. But they do have a ways to go yet.

I thought it was single-player.

That's good to know, RC. A veteran led project does indeed give one a little more hope that it'll reach fruition. To me, it seems a waste of time to try and generate buzz when there's nothing on the horizon. We've had Cleve Blakemore and Vince Dweller promising games for many, many years and seen nothing. It gets a little tiring. I'm not saying Grimrock will be the next laughingstock, but I'd keep it under wraps until there is a LOT more finished. Just my 2¢ though.

Indie games do need to start beating the publicity drum a lot earlier than mainstream games. They need to make up with persistence what they lack in volume. But even so, they started a bit earlier than I would be comfortable with.

Okay, yeah, I did that for Frayed Knights, but it was a requirement for a contest I was in at the time.

A developer who kicks up a couple of screens and a blog on their class design thoughts is trying to generate "buzz"? Reality check: *we* are creating the "buzz" because someone sent in the website to me, you guys posted a bunch of shit, encouraging me to check the site again, and you guys posted more shit, so I check it daily now.

Side comment: I'll never, ever, ever understand why gamers get confused, upset, over-hyped, angry, mislead - or any other emotion - about marketing.

@Dhruin-we all get upset about different things. I'll never, ever, ever understand why someone would get upset about a forum post I think what I missed in all this, was the fact that you were grabbing information from their website. I thought they were promoting the game already, but it's basically you grabbing stuff from their site and posting it here. That was my mistake.

I still promise to hyperventilate over most anything though. Otherwise, why come here?

I wasn't aiming that at you - it was just somewhere to express that point. I regularly see posts something like "I won't buy xxx because they over-hyped it!", which I find ridiculous.

As a different perspective, someone emailed me this today (fake email address, so I can't reply directly):

"I'm surprise your not tracking grimlock (or at least I havent' seen ti mentioned)".

Maybe they need more hype.