They other thought Would there be a Steph Monster? The very first picture screen shot reminds me of the Death Star for some reason.



DarkMeph

This would be really neat, would add a "quest" for the stage that players can unlock during that level or go straight for the elevator.

Doshaburi wrote:
Hum... About the heroes, will they have a (little) background story like the heroes of Endless Space ? It is not really useful and it sure takes time, but I like that kind of things ^^. Playable characters would be more... alive ? And, for the Success' prisoners, I would love to know what bad things they did to serve a prison and hard labor sentences !



We could also imagine some kind of recruiting quests, revealing some of the hero's personality or story... Like an old warrior trapped into the Laboratory for many years, a disabled veteran who lost his leg. We may heal him with the correct medical infrastructure (since we are on an Endless Laboratory, I think everything can be done !)...

Or a man stuck into a cryogenic pod which need to be powered up and defend for some times to make him wake up.





Well you decide ^^, I am just thinking.

I am sure that you will make an awesome game anyway !

This is pretty neat, hope to see more of it!

Guess what? That's (partially) planned

You can not hire the mobs but you will encounter some natives of Auriga and add them in your team...

DotE reminds me of a board game called "City of Remnants"--I won't try to sell that game, but I do think DotE's designers could find inspiration from CoR's "show don't tell" aesthetics.



Some suggestions to characterize the game:



Make locals/natives (like the "That Guy" species that knows to ignore your modules and instead go straight for your crystal) potential recruits. Yes, this breaks up the prisoner-guard binary, but think about it: by virtue of the fact that there are natives that know enough to know they need to attack the crystals, we're seeing an enemy show restraint, a single-minded focus that overrides survival instinct/short term gains, and an awareness of tech matched only by the prisoners/guards.



So there is a population of intelligent species on this planet. Going back to our own history, even in moments of mutual unintelligability, cultures of people managed to form alliances for survival. The psychoses of these natives, their reasons for helping the prisoners and guards against their own species (which the anthropologist in me would like to take this moment to remember that species =/= culture), maybe even their own culture/society, could add a big ol' heaping of flavor to the game.

Mysterarts wrote:
Hi,



I think we have a good compromise between brief descriptions and too much text...

Slowhands had a very interesting idea about that

But we'll talk about it soon!

Good, Slowhands has never failed to surprise me

Hi,



I think we have a good compromise between brief descriptions and too much text...

Slowhands had a very interesting idea about that

But we'll talk about it soon!

adder wrote:
You're making me unemployed

I'm just helping you out



Doshaburi has nice ideas - more background might be a plus, but on the other hand I liked the brief desciptions of ES.

Tredecim wrote:
I'll make adders job this time

You're making me unemployed

Hum... About the heroes, will they have a (little) background story like the heroes of Endless Space ? It is not really useful and it sure takes time, but I like that kind of things ^^. Playable characters would be more... alive ? And, for the Success' prisoners, I would love to know what bad things they did to serve a prison and hard labor sentences !



We could also imagine some kind of recruiting quests, revealing some of the hero's personality or story... Like an old warrior trapped into the Laboratory for many years, a disabled veteran who lost his leg. We may heal him with the correct medical infrastructure (since we are on an Endless Laboratory, I think everything can be done !)...

Or a man stuck into a cryogenic pod which need to be powered up and defend for some times to make him wake up.





Well you decide ^^, I am just thinking.

I am sure that you will make an awesome game anyway !

DarkMeph wrote:
I think we should have a joke referencing this thread /#/dungeon-of-the-endless/forum/46-general/thread/17030-faction-origin-of-the-prisoner-transport-victory



because the ship name is wrong in this thread. I am liking the idea of breaking down what the VIPs contributed to the early discussion.



DarkMeph

Hmmm... yes, I've an idea to do that

Hi everyone,



I'm Mysterarts, game designer on one the new project of Amplitude Studios, Dungeon of the Endless.

First of all, welcome to this new type of publication:









In the upcoming days, we will publish a section of this game document and discuss with you the content.

Note that we are publishing these documents in a very early state, and that this is all still work in progress: some of the ideas/notions mentioned may change in the upcoming weeks/months.



Let us start with the background story of DotE.















BACKGROUND

A few hundred condemned criminals were being shipped to the Auriga system on board the prison hulk “Success”. While this was presented as a chance to earn back their place in society by working hard for the common good, they understood that in fact they would be slave labor, sent to colonize an unexplored planet. All they knew about Auriga Prime was what the probes told them: It had water, temperate zones, plant life, and plenty of metals in the crust.



In fact, the planet Auriga once hosted a major settlement of the galaxy-travelling ancestors known as the Endless. In addition, the planet was still orbited by a functioning (and well cloaked) defensive system, which sprang eagerly to life upon the arrival of the Success. Within a few minutes, the ship was nothing but a few large chunks of metal falling toward the planet.



Every set of holding cells also functioned as an escape pod, so the ship let itself disintegrate and the surviving prisoners fell bruised but (temporarily) alive and (momentarily) safe to the planet below. Safe, that is, until they realized that they had crashed through some sort of facility of the Endless, down to a sub-basement so deep and ancient it might as well be called a dungeon…







We are here to discuss, so let's hear your first impressions on this!













VIP's Feedback

This game design document has been shown to the VIP. At the end of each topic, we will add a little summary of the fruitful discussions.

• This introduction is an improved version. Slowhands has clarified some information, thanks to the VIPs' feedback.
• They asked how the background will be integrated in the game:
  
  
  • Most of the story will be known throughout the exploration of the game: the ambiances, tilesets, discoveries, conversations between characters etc.
  • No walls of text
    
    
• We confirmed the presence of humor in this game!
  
  

DarkMeph wrote:
I think we should have a joke referencing this thread /#/dungeon-of-the-endless/forum/46-general/thread/17030-faction-origin-of-the-prisoner-transport-victory



because the ship name is wrong in this thread. I am liking the idea of breaking down what the VIPs contributed to the early discussion.



DarkMeph

Hmm, why not? Seems to be a nice idea!

I think we should have a joke referencing this thread /#/dungeon-of-the-endless/forum/46-general/thread/17030-faction-origin-of-the-prisoner-transport-victory



because the ship name is wrong in this thread. I am liking the idea of breaking down what the VIPs contributed to the early discussion.



DarkMeph

I'll make adders job this time

Divine_Moments_of_Truth wrote:
So... it's Space Australia?

Hmm VIP humor > normal humor?

Well, wait to see whether VIP humor got integrated in the game.

I like it that you disclose, for the first time, really, what influence we had on you.

Divine_Moments_of_Truth wrote:
So... it's Space Australia?

HAHAHAHAHA that's brilliant lol

Mysterarts wrote:


A few hundred condemned criminals were being shipped to the Auriga system on board the prison hulk “Success”. While this was presented as a chance to earn back their place in society by working hard for the common good [...] sent to colonize an unexplored planet. All they knew about Auriga Prime was what the probes told them: It had water, temperate zones, plant life, and plenty of metals in the crust.

So... it's Space Australia?

Mysterarts wrote:


[/LIST]

We confirmed the presence of humor in this game!

[/LIST]

As I hear it was conjured by some of you devs while drinking more than a few pints of beer, so there had better be humor lol