Grand list of dev quotes on features

[reido]

"Madoc said: ↑
The game is not set in mediaeval Europe. There are reasons for the similarity but it's not the real thing. Historical accuracy is not an aim but we have taken a lof from the period also just because of the depth and realism we can gain from using a real life example of a civilisation with that level of technological development etc."


Ok I see they're trying to be unique but I hope this doesn't mean they won't have Greathelms(buckethelms used by the templars) or frog-mouth helms. because they look badass, part of customizing a character uniquely is having the chance of that.

 

[MegaFarinato]

I think it would be very intersting to have ancient historical weaponry and such as the actual ancient civilizations remains in the SG world, like gladiator equipment in the ruins of a ruined colloseum, or even trival stuff at caves.

 

[Synagoga_Satanae]

Oh yeah! Potential dismemberment would give me more reason to fight with two handed weapons!

Nice work with the post btw.

 

[Peasant135]

I'd like to share something I found:

Spoiler

...On the topic of physics in general, point of impact, mass distribution etc we have put quite some care into this and it should show. Which part of the weapon you hit with and how is very important, it affects the results of weapon collisions in various ways....
...Slash damage is already different from other damage types in that it can in fact cut as well as chop, but we're also adding a specific draw cut mechanic which allows you to pull the weapon across the opponent's body as you strike by pressing a key. A similar mechanic will be used to allow hooking with polearms....
...You've probably noticed all weapons have a Balance stat. One of the things this stat does is affect the speed of transitions between parries and attacks etc. The mechanics are currently incomplete though as we're introducing the skill system. The Balance stat also affects the accelleration curve of weapons....

Source: http://steamcommunity.com/app/362490/discussions/0/620712364045322018/?l=german

 

[Snoopbear]

Turn based combat

NO! SHAME ON YOU!

 

[Peasant135]

Here is a nice thread made by Madoc in 2015: https://myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=32808
His quotes from that therad:

Spoiler

Hello,

I'm the lead developer behind the games Exanima and Sui Generis. The games have a low fantasy setting, but are strongly inspired by Medieval Western Europe. We have a very unique and innovative physics based animation and combat system, which has attracted several historical martial arts experts who have influenced our designs quite a lot. Now we try to maintain certain standards of realism and accuracy, even though it is not in fact an historical setting.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to pick your brains on various topics here from time to time as I've often found myself consulting these forums and found them very useful and interesting.

Please note that the game is still in development (though already released in Early Access and in a reasonably complete state) and we're always striving to improve the combat and animations, we do however prioritise the gameplay and its very dynamic nature over realism. This sometimes requires some very "stupid" combat behaviour, but we're still trying to find a middle ground. If you want to see an example of what combat currently looks like in action, take a look at this video:

Here's a screenshot of a couple of in game characters to give you an idea of the graphical style:

Currently we're working on a fleshed out arena game mode. The name says most of it really, you are able to participate in various fights with a variety of combatants and equipment. For gameplay mechanics we need to introdude various "rank" restrictions on equipment, dividing them into 6 tiers. Combatants are similarly ranked based on their competence. At the lowest ranks there will be pretty much peasants in ordinary clothes with crude weapons, at the highest you'll see combatants in full plate armour with poleaxes etc. Rank is not necessarily tied to monetary cost, but rather some estimated effectiveness. Circumstantial factors are a matter of choice.

I realise this is a very artificial way of thinking about things, but such are games, they sometimes require rather silly mechanics. I would particularly appreciate any ideas about what weapons we could put in each rank. We're not very strict with time periods, so far we've included things from 12th to 16th century and some original designs. I'd be more than happy to provide more information if requested, but this post seems to already be getting rather long!

Thanks in advance,

Madoc

Spoiler

Thanks, definitely some useful ideas and designs there.

Balance is actually one of the statistics we put on weapons. We're looking to overhaul our current weapon system with one that uses procedural elements so that every weapon is essentially unique. They will however be based on many quite strict templates (for the same basic weapon) giving visual consistency and distinct categories. Thing is we're not really sure how to say that one category of sword is worse than another but can still be better or worse than an equivalent one. We want as many types and sub-types as possible, but without someone who knows their stuff screaming outrage.

It might be useful to show some of our current weapons and give a bit more info on how things work. Here's a few weapons:

http://dl.baremettle.com/XAWepnEx02.jpg

The stats we give each weapon are weight (relative), balance, impact, slash, crush, pierce and thrust, as applicable. Balance and weight affect the responsiveness of weapons, how quickly you can bring them to bear for a strike or a parry basically, and how quickly you can accelerate them. The damage stats interact with the physics simulation a lot, the strength and type of collision, and of course armour.

Armour has similar stats of impact, slash, crush, pierce and also coverage and encumbrance. Coverage is just a relative estimate as with armour what you see is what you get in terms of coverage. We already have a procedural system in place for both the appearance and quality of armour. Might as well show some examples of armour too (these have no quality modifiers applied):

http://dl.baremettle.com/XAArmrEx02.jpg

As you can see the stats are quite approximate in their representation, we tried to keep things within realistic ranges and give them realistic effects. The physics simulation plays a huge role in how things actually work. Armour is extremely effective in the game, high coverage full plate makes you virtually impervious to wounding, though you can be gradually beaten down through a sort of endurance system.

We do also have shields. Ranged weapons haven't been added yet, but they will be.

Thanks again. Really appreciate any suggestions as we're often sumbling in the dark, it's hard to know when a source is legitimate or how to gather relevant information.

Spoiler

There is character advancement in the form of trainable skill techniques, but they don't generally affect statistics. Close combat techniques include things like Riposte, Remise, Fend and Feint, which basically allow instantly transitioning and chaining of attacks and parries etc. Armour skills do include ranks of "Manoeuvering in Armour" which reduce the effects of encumbrance.

Stats on weapons are really not very important, and players pick up on this pretty quickly. Because of the accurate physics, the shape of the weapon can be more important than its stats, and each one plays very differently. Players develop distinct playstyles and preferences in weapons, there are unlimited ways to play the game and people tend to do whatever works best for them. Two handed swords are very popular, especically amongst new players, because of their balance and reach and the fact that the entire length of the weapon is effective against lightly armoured opponents even without much force. Other weapons can have distinct advantages though, some weapons can quite easily throw or pull people to the ground if used correctly, or are more effective against armour, shields are also used a fair bit with a variety of weapons and personal preference is definitely a factor.

Footwork and body movement are indeed crucial to landing powerful blows, but this is by no means the only way to play. You can focus more on defence and timing, you can try to outmanoeuvre your opponents in various ways. Against weapons with long reach for example it's very viable to get inside someone's range and actually stop their swing with your body. We're also introducing further manoeuvres such as thrusting with any weapon and bashes / shoves.

We can dynamically switch to a half-swording grip and we'd like to try some things with using the same weapons in different ways. Grappling is very difficult to do without precanned animations and they don't fit the kind of fine grained control we want over every action, we avoid the typical press-one-button actions. We are also introducing the ability to manually pull your weapon back from a swing to pull people down with polearms or do draw cuts etc.

Either way we'd like to provide combatants with a good variety of weapons at any rank, ones that support different fighting styles. We're currently thinking of this mostly as the progression from say a cudgel to a flanged mace, a bill to a poleaxe, a rusty knife/dagger to a nice arming sword. It's quite hard however to imagine what intermediate steps might be and how to introduce new weapons or qualities gradually across so many ranks meaningfully.

Spoiler

Thrusts are mostly implemented but we haven't put them in release builds yet as we're still working out some details of the targeting system. The idea with thrusting is that you can target accurately in 3D space and this is a little tricky when your thrusts are more predictive rather than having a real target. We'll add them soon, but we're still working on a lot of different aspects of the game so our priorities might not always make sense from a player's perspective.

Spoiler

Yes, involved is right. Be warned that this is not an easy game to pick up. Animations are not precanned, but a result of your inputs, physics and your character's virtual muscles. It takes coordinated and well synchronised inputs to control your character smoothly and with intent. This is very unusual for a game and new players sometimes don't understand why their character ends up stumbling around and flailing weakly. The controls are simple but quite unique and they do take muscle memory and therefore practice and experimentation. May not be everyone's cup of tea. Usually though people do have fun even while they're getting their arses handed to them. There's certainly something very satisfying about landing that devastating blow when it's you that's in control rather than the game doing it for you.

Hopefully you'll find it useful.

 

[Peasant135]

There is a goldmine of info on SG on game's -pedia. Here is a page about probably all that is known so far about Thaumaturgy, its very helpful.