The Age of Decadence
December update - beta in January
In the end we decided to wait and push the update release to Jan 19, which gives us about 3 weeks of work. This date won’t be changed or pushed back, so consider it a promise.
It’s tempting to release it now for the sake of saying that we did release an update in Dec. After all, we’re still in Early Access and work-in-progress is the norm here (in fact, that's the idea). Still, I think that if we take some extra time to smooth over the rough edges, your experience will be a lot more enjoyable.
So, the silver lining here is that after 6 months of work we’re very, very close and almost ready to get this ball rolling. The third city was the last major hurdle to overcome and soon you’ll be able to play it.
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Since I don’t have much to add here, I’ll entertain you with our design process. As I mentioned previously, towns are the hardest, most time-consuming locations because of the multiple interwoven questlines with double-crossing and multiple solutions. The amount of scripting that goes into it is huge and it takes a long time to sort it out.
So step 1 – I write the faction questlines. It takes a while. For Ganezzar we needed 4 guilds: the Imperial Guards, assassins, thieves, and merchants. Plus 3 praetors: a praetor serving House Daratan who did not ruin House Aurelian, a Daratan praetor who did, and a praetor serving House Aurelian (they all have different paths to follow). Plus the main quest and key side quests (like the power armor quest). Overall, that’s 24 quests right there. Usually, it takes about 3-4 days per quest. When the quests are written, I enter them into the database, do ‘basic’ scripting that allows us to run through dialogues, and pass them to Oscar who is our artist/designer.
While I’m busy writing, Oscar is busy putting locations together, while Nick, Ivan, and Mazin are working on programming tasks (for example, now Nick is working on the power armor, which is a very unique item that requires its own interface), extra animations, and 2D art (portraits, icons, the aforementioned interface, quick concept art, etc). It takes about 4-5 days to fully implement a quest, so overall that’s ((3-4)+(4-5)) x 24 = 168-216 days right there (5-7 months) just to do the basic implementation.
Step 2 – the first draft:
When we have the first drafts of both the locations and the quests, we put them together, add ‘advanced’ scripting (usually checking events and variables) that allows us to run through and jump between the questlines, and see what we got there.
Basically, there is a difference between quests ‘on paper’ and an in-game questlines. Sometimes the difference is minor and can be disregarded (i.e. ‘sure, it can be tweaked here and there but overall it’s ok’), sometimes it’s not and you have to go back to the drawing board.
So, after debating it back and forth we decided that everything looks good except for the merchant guild’s questline's flow. The first quest (technically, the 7th quest) was quite good but required being sent all over the place. It was moved to the House Crassus questline as it fits it better. The merchants’ quest in question had to be replaced which is one of the reasons for the delay to January. I finished writing it last night and it’s a fun quest which will require you to perform miracles and dabble in the mysterious arts of faith healing.
Step 3 – once the first draft is discussed and approved, we start building it up. The faction questlines are a solid foundation but it takes a lot more work to turn ‘a place where quests take place’ into a city with its own atmosphere. It needs:
- side quests
- flavor characters to talk to
- ‘diaries’, messages, flavor text (various descriptions)
- various intros and endings
- expanded conversations with main characters
- new quest options that become clear after you play through several times
Step 4 – balance, bugs, minor things like journal and reputation
So now we’re at Step 2. I don’t think we can jump to Step 3 in 3 weeks, but we can do quite a lot, which will make your experience more enjoyable. Overall, we did release the first two towns when we hit Step 2, so it's sort of business as usual but we released it as a beta to testers. Now we're about to release it directly to Early Access, hence the desire to ensure that we give you more rather than less.
Overall, for those who’re curious about our progress rate, we released the first 3 locations in March 2012 (which included a starting town). It took us 20 months to do another town plus 6 extra locations, which were released on Nov 2013. It took us 13 months to release 6 more locations, add different states for the starting town, and almost finish the third town. Another month and we’re there.
Thank you for your support, patience, understanding and encouragement.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
October update - improvements, changes, and fixes
So what’s taking so long, you ask?
A lot of scripting, which often takes time to figure out. It’s kind of like a puzzle. When you have tightly interwoven questlines, you often don’t have much room because what you can do in the remaining ‘quest space’ is limited by the events established by other questlines.
If you'd like to read more about Ganezzar and see some screens and concept art, click here:
http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/topic,5178.0.html
If you're only interested in the change log, keep reading:
Fixes:
- Killing the Inferiae demon gives you the core.
- If House Daratan prevails against the Imperial Guards, you no longer get the IG version of Teron when you go back.
- Loading a savegame inside the well chamber no longer starts the diving text adventure (you must enter the chamber again for this fix to work).
- Fixed interaction issue with debris inside the well chamber.
- Fixed money check when talking to Reggie about his militia funding.
- Added missing item icons.
- The mining outpost quest is no longer triggered again if completed.
- Fixed the combat loop when fighting the Saross prospector and he's using a crossbow.
Combat SP from fights:
- Fight with Mercato's thugs.
- Fight with Marcus Valla and his mercs.
- Fight with Cassius.
- Fight with the Inferiae demon.
- Fight with Rhaskos.
- Fight with the MG guards in TG4.
- Fight with criminals in the trial by combat.
- Fight with guards alongside Cyrus in TG6.
- All fights in AG4 (slums entrance, outside and inside temple).
- All fights in AG5 (Outside guards, Lorenza and ladies, Darista).
- All fights in AG6 (Alley, Serenas and guards, Gaelius Guards).
- First and second wave in the mountain pass (IG6).
- Fight with Daneus inside the monastery.
- Fight with Calvus and his son.
- Fight with Sennas and his guards in HD3.
Implemented Reputation:
- Bringing the ordu for House Aurelian, or failing to bring them (faction).
- Killing the Inferiae demon (combat).
- Dealing with the Maadoran preacher (faction).
- Killing Darista and Gaelius (faction, other).
- Killing Belgutai in a challenge (combat).
- Fight with the ordu at the pass (combat).
- Allowing Reggie to kill the preacher and backing the militia (faction).
- Choices in IG4 (honor, faction, combat).
- Results in MG6 (faction).
- Killing Cyrus in TG6 (faction).
- Saving Lucius in TG5 (loyalty).
- Betraying your faction to Gaelius (faction, loyalty).
- Giving the gold back to Aemolas (honor).
Monetary Rewards:
- You now get monetary rewards for completing MG4, MG5 and MG6.
Changes:
- Added description when you visit the raiders camp after leaving Teron before finishing this quest.
- Added description when you visit the mine after leaving Teron before finishing this quest.
As always, we'd like to thank you for your support and feedback.
September update - improvements, changes, and fixes
As for this month's update, it fixes most issues in "new Teron", adds balance changes, expands some dialogues (for example, you can discuss the situation with Antidas when you return to Teron), and numerous tweaks and changes, adding flanking, mobility bonus, a new crafting techique, and god knows what else.
Fixes:
- Fixed issue with Feng not being in Teron when you get back to town.
- Fixed issues with Map travel in new Teron.
- Fixed issue when talking to the healer in new Teron.
- Fixed issue when talking to the undertaker in new Terons.
- Fixed issue when talking to the storyteller in new Terons.
- Fixed issue when talking to the innkeeper in new Terons.
- Fixed issue when exploring the smithy's interior.
- Fixed issue when exploring Feng's house.
- The Arbiter is now properly recognized for critical strikes checks.
- Fixed issue that sent you to Old Teron after the ending with the alliance between IG and Daratan.
- Fixed issue that broke Paullus conversation when you arrived from Caer-Tor.
- If you go to the camp after Teron has ended and you've never been there, the description of the raiders is no longer triggered.
- Fixed issue that if you destroy the mine when everyone has been killed, you stay inside the mine.
- Fixed coordinates issue with Tiberius cage.
- Fixed issue with respawning deleted characters (for example, Hermon's Gang after being killed and bodies deleted).
Changes:
- Added more kadura leaves to traders.
- Poison damage changed from 5,6,7,8,9 to 3,5,7,9,11.
- Increased potent poison extra damage from 2 to 3.
- Poison now lasts on the weapon for 20 hits.
- Displayed hidden INT check when entering the Abyss.
- Reduced INT bonus by 5 overall. Now it goes from 0 to 30.
- Showing the map to Domitius now gives you 5 SP (instead of 15).
- Increased the price of the arena trader's unique item from 600 to 1200, and the trading check is increased from 4 to 5, lowering the price to 800.
- Increased the price of the exotic trader's unique item from 300 to 600; the trading check lowers the price to 500.
- Increased the price of the ordu trader's unique item from 200 to 400; the trading check lowers the price to 300.
- Increased the price of the ranged weapons' trader's unique item from 250 to 500; the trading check lowers the price to 400.
- Increased the price of the imperial weapons' trader's unique item from 500 to 1000; the trading check lowers the price to 900.
- Increased the price of the shield trader's unique item from 200 to 400; the trading check lowers the price to 300.
- Reduced combat SP from fights.
- Constitution now gives a bonus to block (strength doesn't).
- The balanced technique no longer lowers the weapon AP, but adds THC: 3 at level 2, 6 at level 4, 9 at level 6, 12 at level 8 and 15 at level 10.
- Implemented serrated edge technique, increases CS: 3 at level 3, 6 at level 5, 9 at level 7, 12 at level 9 and 15 at level 10.
- Implemented flanking, side hits give 5 extra THC/CS, back hits give 10 extra THC/CS.
- Dodgers now get a "mobility bonus" of 3 points for each passable tile around them.
- Armor sets have been rebalanced, increased dodge penalties for all armors, and lower CS defence for lighter armor.
- Increase Bash success chance by 10.
Combat Balance:
- Teron: raiders: There is one less raider, all raiders have 1 point more in attack and defence; Esbenus has a masterwork gladius, wounded raiders have 5 HP less.
- Teron Bandits: Fight gives 5 combat points.
- Mining Outpost: There is one less soldier, all soldiers have 1 point more in CS.
- Mining Outpost: Fight gives 5 combat points outside and 4 inside.
- Maadoran Gate: the thugs: Increased attack and defence by 1, increased CS from 1 to 5.
- Basil: the thugs: Increased attack and defence by 1, increased CS from 2 to 5.
- Quintus: the thugs: Increased attack and defence by 1, increased CS from 2 to 5.
- Leon's Mercs: Increased attack and defence by 1.
- Senna's Guards: Increased attack by 1.
- Valla's Mercs: Increased attack, defence and CS by 2.
- Lord Varus' sons: increased CS by 1.
- Arena: Thief has 1 CS more.
- Arena: Zealot has 1 CS more.
- Arena: Isatis has 1 more attack and CS.
- Arena: Yochan has 1 more attack and CS.
- Arena: Raider has 1 more attack, defence and CS.
- Arena: All barbari have 1 CS more.
- Arena: Nicander has 1 more attack and 2 more CS.
- Arena: Bendidoros has 1 more defense and 2 more CS.
- Arena: Sarpedon has 1 more defense and 2 more CS.
- Arena: Ordu warrior has 1 more CS, ordu archer has 2 more CS.
- Arena: Butcher has 1 CS more.
- Arena: Mack has 1 CS more.
- Arena: All triarii have 1 attack more.
- Arena: Al-Sahir has 1 CS more.
That's about it. Now, keep in mind that these changes aren't set in stone. We have an opportunity to try different things and see what works and what doesn't. If we went too far somewhere, we'll scale it back.
As always, your feedback is vital and much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
August update - back to Teron
1. You can return to Teron now. There isn’t much to do there yet as the unfinished quests have been resolved without you (thanks for nothing) and new content will be triggered by the events in Ganezzar, which hasn’t been released yet.
So much like Caer-Tor, the new Teron maps (there are two actually, one where the Imperial Guards took over, the other where House Daratan reigns supreme and the town is swarmed with mercenaries) are nothing but a foundation on which new content will be build.
Still, you can walk around, chat with people, admire Antidas’ grave, stop in front of crucified Miltiades, meet a mercenary captain who will replace Mercato if you had him killed, and report any bugs and consistency issues (people who should be dead being alive and kicking, etc).
2. We split the Teron map into 3 to improve performance. The old map included the mine and the raiders’ camp, which wasn’t the best way to handle it. Now Teron, the mine, and the camp are truly separate locations, which - in theory - can cause all kinds of issues but hopefully won’t.
We tweaked the mine location a bit, replacing the old tower with something equally Roman but more combat-friendly, plus made it easier to explore it outside of text adventure. Overall, there is less ‘teleporting’ now.
3. We tweaked Alchemy as per very helpful players’ suggestions
- Added more reagents to Maadoran and Teron alchemists' inventories
- Increased poison damage by 1 point for all levels.
- Bombs and liquid fire no longer miss.
- Bombs critical chance (knockdown effect) is now 50 - (victim's constitution - 6) x 15.
- Alchemy level 9: Black Powder Bomb (Frag) has vsDR 5.
- Alchemy level 10: Berserk potion homeostasis gives 3 DR and takes 5 HP at the end of the effect.
- Alchemy level 10: Neurostimulant (Eagle Eye) gives 25 THC bonus.
4.Difficulty
As many of you noticed the difficulty takes a nosedive in Maadoran. One of the reason for that is that the metal bonuses greatly increase your offensive and defensive capabilities. Each metal adds 2 points. Whereas in Teron adding 2 points is a good bonus (and iron weapons are harder to find), it's relatively easy to buy high quality gear in Maadoran and increase your damage output and/or DR by 5-7 points, which is too much.
So, the no-name crafted items are removed from trader inventories (if you want them, invest in Crafting). Some of them have been replaced by much more expensive unique items. Coincidentally, each metal now adds only 1 point, so getting your hands on some blue steel will increase your damage/DR by 3 instead of 6.
We also tweaked some stats of unique items to make sure they are consistent with the overall balance.
5. A number of bug fixes and minor improvements.
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As always, thank you for your continuous support and patronage. This update is a stepping stone toward a much larger update which will include 3 new locations, so your feedback and suggestions will be much appreciated.
July update - new characters and items
Thus this update is also light on content as Ganezzar is a priority for us as we want to release it as soon as humanly possible.
So, what’s in this update?
- 13 new Achievements
- A new conversation with Lorenza
- If you had a pickpocket encounter in Teron and decided to take Livia to Cado (thieves only option, obviously) instead of killing her or letting her go, you can meet her in Maadoran now and get a glimpse of the role she's going to play in Act 4 (endgame).
- You asked for a good dagger and we listened. If you manage to save a trader upon arrival to Maadoran, he'll reward you with a nice custom jambia.
- A new merchant in the Slums who can sell you an axe called Black Dow.
- Added text explaining what happened if you leave the Monastery area without doing anything and return later when you're good and ready.
- Added a text-based option to sneak into the vaults as well as the dialogue options depending on how you handled the raiders.
- Fixed an older dialogue that wasn't triggered correctly - after talking to Old Azra and learning that she spent her youth in Maadoran, you can ask the street 'guide' about her.
- Fixed a number of minor bugs including the critical strike issue in Aemolas' village
As always, thank you for your continuous support and patronage. If there is something you wish to see in the next update, be it specific items (that won't require new animations), different character types, or certain characters' viewpoints or past, let us know and we'll do our best to add them.
June update - new characters and various improvements
That’s why this month’s update is a bit light on content as we simply didn’t have time to add new locations or quests. So, what’s in this update?
- 6 new characters to talk to
We added a healer and an annalist to Caer-Tor. The healer can tell you more about the camp, the annalist can tell you about the history of the Imperial Guards and the demise of four Noble Houses.
We added a youth and a guard to the Monastery. The youth can tell you about the lower, sealed chambers and what this place was before the war. The guard can offer his perspective on your visit and what it means for the locals (hint: nothing good).
We also added an assassin and a farmer in Maadoran. The farmer can talk about, well, farming and dealing with the Commercium, the assassin is an intro character when you first come to the city and approach the guild.
- Now you’re able to leave Caer-Tor after completing Paullus’ quest and explore other locations or return to Maadoran.
- A number of bug fixes
- AG4: Added an option to attack the beggar to avoid a progress lock if you don’t have a dagger, or money, or decent bodycount rep, or any points in Trading skill.
- TG3: Fixed a Charisma check at the gate.
- Maadoran: Changed Calvus’ text to reflect the actual amount of gold received.
- Monastery: completing the quest by talking to the healer gives you skill points.
- Monastery: Fighting your way through gives you skill points in addition to the satisfaction of the job well done.
- Saross: Finding the hidden chamber showers with your skill points.
- Arch: Now you get skill points for both having a pleasant conversation AND killing Esbenus and his merry bunch of slavers.
- Inferiae: Escaping the tower with your life – yeah, you guessed it – gives you skill points.
- AG4: Added an option to attack the beggar to avoid a progress lock if you don’t have a dagger, or money, or decent bodycount rep, or any points in Trading skill.
- Engine optimization to improve performance and loading time
- Improved the collision system and building/floor system
- The “journal crash” should be fixed (at least we fixed what we suspect was the issue there), if there are any other issues, they will be easier to pinpoint due to changes in the crash submission system.
As always, thank you for your continuous support and patronage.
May update - new location and improvements
It’s the Imperial Guards’ headquarters and thus available only to the Guards after dealing with the Ordu. This isn’t a ‘single stop’ location and it will remain active (new quests and solutions to other quests) until the end of the game, so you’ll have reasons to revisit it later.
At this stage, you’re still viewed with suspicion (on account of being associated with a rogue commander), so step 1 is to prove yourself once again. Should you succeed, you’ll become an agent of destruction who can be instantly disavowed and whose screw-ups or even involvement cab be blamed on said rogue commander.
Characters of interest:
Dux Paullus who rules supreme, Legatus Raenas who’s a bit too young but extremely loyal and not very bright, Legatus Carbo whom you’ve already met, three Centurions, and a Quartermaster with an exceptionally sunny outlook.
Improvements and changes:
- You can now properly explore the chamber at the bottom of the Abyss (before it was done via the dialogue window).
- Added Snipe attack for the scoped crossbow – a high AP attack that removes the THC distance penalty (but adds a penalty for close combat attacks) and increases Critical Strike chance.
- Increased the effect of the regeneration potion to 4 HP per turn.
- Reduced Khopesh and Shamshir counter-attack bonus to 10.
- Increased the effect of hammers’ knockdown attack to 2 turns.
Fixes:
- Abyss: Fixed the SP loop on leaving without touching anything.
- Aemolas village: Fixed a critical strike issue when you kill a raider while sneaking.
- Aemolas village: Fixed the 'ghost NPC' issue when you kill the raiders via the sniping text adventure.
- Aemolas village: Fixed 'getting the gold twice' issue if you sneak in first and then kill everyone.
- Inferiae: Fixed the portal issue when you sneak inside, activate the portal and try to escape through it.
- Inferiae: Fixed 'combat not starting' bug when you sneak inside, activate the portal and then attack the demon.
- Zamedi: Fixed an ending slide error when you ran away from the demon and end the game.
- Zamedi: Fixed 'escaping the tower' SP loop.
- Mountain Pass: Ramirus no longer sells infinite ghost hand gloves.
- Mountain Pass: Fixed 'questioning Ramirus' issue.
- Monastery: Now the villagers will go hostile if attacked after leaving the location and coming back.
- Misc: Fixed wrong tag showing merchant instead of grifter.
- Misc: Fixed wrong rank showing Legionary instead of Mind Shield.
- Weapons: Fixed an issue with hammers not getting the passive bonus increase.
- Weapons: Fixed an issue with swords and bows not getting the CS passive bonus.
- Weapons: Fixed the stats of the scoped crossbows.
As always, we’re very grateful to the Steam community for their support and willingness to try new things. We couldn't have made it this far without you, guys.
April update - 5 new locations!
Aemolas’ village
This location is available only if you:
- Helped a group of refugees get into Teron
- Talked to Aemolas after and were deemed trustworthy enough (positive Word of Honor reputation) to be asked to retrieve his stash.
The village is full of raiders, but there are quite a few options there, including a rare opportunity to put your scoped crossbow to good use or have some double- and triple-crossing fun. Sorta like a menage a trois where everyone gets fucked but you.
The Library of Saross
Available only if you talked to Abukar the Mad and learned about his trip to the Library. It’s an important location because:
- You finally get to use that sphere you found at the beginning of the game (IF you found it)
- You learn more information, provided you can get into the hidden chamber and translate the message
- You can unlock an optional and very creepy (but extremely rewarding) ending. Naturally, you don’t get that ending right away, but you unlock the path that can lead you to it. If you have the balls.
- Unlock the Arch and Inferiae locations.
The Arch
There are two ways to unlock it: the above-mention Library or faithful service to Lord Meru. Since the latter isn’t available yet, look for the clues at the library. So, what makes this location special and why should you care?
- You should. You really, really should. It’s that place where you wave Kansas good-bye.
- You will finally be able to use both the eye and the glove. How exciting.
- You will meet your old pal Esbenus. Unless you killed him, in which case you’ll miss out on a beautiful relationship.
- You will make new friends. Powerful friends. From the other side.
- You can unlock Inferiae in case you failed to do so at the Library.
Inferiae
It's a desert village sitting on top of a place of power. Points of interest:
- You’ll meet the very first character who’s actually been inside the temple you’re seeking (thus confirming that it does exist, among other things).
- Play your cards right and you’ll be thrown into the ‘underworld’, which unlocks a bumpy ride that will lead you all the way to the top (of one of Maadoran’s minarets). The Eye thing will come in handy there.
- You can unlock another location that will lead you to the temple. For obvious reasons this location isn’t included in this update.
- You can learn how to use one of those fancy semi-sphere consoles.
- You can learn more lore stuff and connect more dots.
The Monastery
You can unlock this location by becoming a repeat customer of the healer (heavy wounds only). Impressed by your badassery (or at least your ability to survive the most grievous of injuries), the healer will ask you to fetch an ancient elixir that will improve your self-esteem and cellular regeneration, whatever that is.
Points of interest:
- Raiders
- Ancient mysteries and sacred liquids
- Chambers deep inside a mountain
- Huge doors that can’t be opened by mortal hands
- Moral choices (must have morals in the first place to qualify), otherwise just join the raiders and have yourself a lovely day, full of plundering and pillaging.
The next month’s update will add another location - Caer-Tor, the Imperial Guards’ headquarters, which will introduce Dux Paullus and unlock the path to yet another ending where the Guards becomes Templars – the guardians of the temple.
The remaining 6 end-game locations will be released when the game is out. We’re aiming to start the final beta test in June and expect it to run for 2-3 months. We’ll continue to update and improve the Early Access build on a monthly basis, adding more content (characters, dialogues, items, etc) and general improvements.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
While your saves should work, we recommend starting a new game to avoid any scripting issues.