I finally had the opportunity to watch the first hour of the kickstarter countdown video. Cool stuff.

Mouse pointer & running speeds

Mouse pointer changes according to what action you are performing. Most things are already in apparently, although it might be worth trying out using arrow graphics for movement like in Ultima VII (see screenshot a couple posts back). Also, how about different running speeds? We have walking and jogging (like in Divinity 1) -- another one would be sprinting for a short time.


Talking, Yelling, Whispering

When Swen and David were at the market place, various NPCs offered their goods for sale.

[Linked Image]

They all were simply talking and there was no way to distinguish between different types of utterances. There's gameplay enhancements in here, somewhere. Consider this:

  • Talking
    Standard overhead text that appears above NPCs heads, like in the video. If the player character is offscreen, you don't see the text.
  • YELLING
    ... or even just "Yelling!" in a different color. This is for NPCs trying to sell stuff on the market or damsels in distress calling for HELP! You can see the text over NPCs' heads as usual if you are nearby, but you can also see the text when the NPC is not on the screen. The text would be at the side of the screen in the direction the shout is coming from. This would make for a busy market place / town and a quieter wilderness. You could add the name of the NPC yelling (to account for voice differences).
  • whispering
    You need to get closer than normal to be able to hear an NPC whispering, like a shady dealer in a corner, or a wounded soldier trying to tell you something with his last breath. This could even be tied to the hearing / awareness stat: If your hearing is good enough, at normal range you might see the text "(whipser, whisper)" -- if you get closer, you can hear what's being said.

Item (graphics) progression

In the video one character had a bow and soon equipped a better bow. The new one looked a lot cooler than the one before, IIRC. I'm not sure how long the game is supposed to be, but I'd expect to only find really cool looking weapons much later in the game. For a better sense of progression, I'd think there'd be only very simple looking short or long bows and other items in the beginning, getting fancier and more powerful-looking later on. I'd even go as far as removing magic weapons altogether in the first few hours -- much more fun if you do finally find magic weapons.

Do You Like Dreams?