Sui Generis and UI questions

[Septimus]

Hey there, just created an account, first time posting here.
I searched the forum but couldn't find any answers to my two questions.

So here they are :

- Is there an announced release date for Sui Generis, or a sort of timeline ?
Cause I'm starting to get tired of the undergrounds, and I can't wait to see the mechanics of the game working to their full potential. I mean so much was shown in the original Kickstarter video so I'm wondering where this all went...

- Is there a key in the game that allows to close all opened windows ?
When I'm comparing several pieces of equipment I then have to close all of them one by one which is time consuming and annoying.

I have really high hopes for this game, I'll come check the forums regularly, which I don't usually do
Thank you for reading my post.

 

[SyllaBear]

I hope very soon, because i am too getting tired of explore the same thing and renew arena shop with forfeit button.
And the other one, no as far as i know. Best you can do is remember the stats... is not hard, just 5 points.

 

[Tony]

-Is there an announced release date for Sui Generis, or a sort of timeline ?
Cause I'm starting to get tired of the undergrounds, and I can't wait to see the mechanics of the game working to their full potential. I mean so much was shown in the original Kickstarter video so I'm wondering where this all went...

- Is there a key in the game that allows to close all opened windows ?
When I'm comparing several pieces of equipment I then have to close all of them one by one which is time consuming and annoying.

When they have mechanics ready for SG they implement them into Exanima so they can be tested and polished. Exanima basically equates to an alpha version of SG (with a more limited scope than SG). By working on Exanima they are actively working on SG since everything in Exanima is required and necessary for SG. There is no timeline for SG; once Exanima is completed focus will shift to SG.

To close all open windows in Exanima press the "tab" key. This will toggle into combat mode and close all windows.

 

[Septimus]

When they have mechanics ready for SG they implement them into Exanima so they can be tested and polished. Exanima basically equates to an alpha version of SG (with a more limited scope than SG). By working on Exanima they are actively working on SG since everything in Exanima is required and necessary for SG. There is no timeline for SG; once Exanima is completed focus will shift to SG.

Ok I see, makes sense, and it also brings them money to keep the work going.
I guess they want to hold on for now in order to make a big impression when SG finally comes out...
Do you think I'm correct in that assumption ?

To close all open windows in Exanima press the "tab" key. This will toggle into combat mode and close all windows.

All right I didn't know that, thanks a lot !

 

[Tony]

Ok I see, makes sense, and it also brings them money to keep the work going.
I guess they want to hold on for now in order to make a big impression when SG finally comes out...
Do you think I'm correct in that assumption ?

Well, SG just isn't in a playable state. Without all of the basic mechanics and assets there wouldn't be a functional game to play/test. Mechanics such as thaumaturgy (magic), multiplayer, dialogue, terrain system, NPC interactions, ranged combat, 56 trainable techniques/skills, creatures/races which need to be modeled and animated, etc. These are all things that SG needs in order to be a functional game; these are all things that are being added to Exanima when they're in a playable state. Since Exanima is more limited in scope it allows mechanics to be added when they're ready.

Once Exanima is completed then all of the basic mechanics/assets required for SG will be functional and in a playable state. That means the devs can focus mostly on adding actual content to SG such as world building, dialogue, world events, etc.

 

[Septimus]

Well, SG just isn't in a playable state. Without all of the basic mechanics and assets there wouldn't be a functional game to play/test. Mechanics such as thaumaturgy (magic), multiplayer, dialogue, terrain system, NPC interactions, ranged combat, 56 trainable techniques/skills, creatures/races which need to be modeled and animated, etc. These are all things that SG needs in order to be a functional game; these are all things that are being added to Exanima when they're in a playable state. Since Exanima is more limited in scope it allows mechanics to be added when they're ready.

Once Exanima is completed then all of the basic mechanics/assets required for SG will be functional and in a playable state. That means the devs can focus mostly on adding actual content to SG such as world building, dialogue, world events, etc.

Ok so considering the rate at which new content is coming out right now I guess we're in for a long long wait...
Oh well at least I know it'll be worth it in the end.
Thank you very much for your detailed answers Tony.

 

[nekowaiidesu]

How many people are actually working on this game?

Remember that the developement process speeds up or snow balls as it goes. Making assets is much quicker and can mean frequent updates, whereas building your own engine to accomodate a physics-based combt system takes over 4 years
(though this also depends very much on how many people are fulltime working on it.. As the engine foundations are laid and bugs are squashed, assets can made simultaneously or relatively quickly and updates could be more frequent)

 

[Tony]

How many people are actually working on this game?

Remember that the developement process speeds up or snow balls as it goes. Making assets is much quicker and can mean frequent updates, whereas building your own engine to accomodate a physics-based combt system takes over 4 years
(though this also depends very much on how many people are fulltime working on it.. As the engine foundations are laid and bugs are squashed, assets can made simultaneously or relatively quickly and updates could be more frequent)

There are less than 10 people on the team with only one programmer.

 

[Orlacktherof]

There are less than 10 people on the team with only one programmer.

Have they even gotten an Animator yet??

 

[Tony]

Have they even gotten an Animator yet??

Nope, no animator yet.

 

[Orlacktherof]

Nope, no animator yet.

Who animates, and with only one programmer, are they all just making assets?

 

[Tony]

Who animates, and with only one programmer, are they all just making assets?

Everyone on the team multi-tasks. Madoc does all of the programming, most of the animations, some art assets, coordinates the team, some of the writing, lots of other things. Bethain's main role is the music. Brendan handles the web site, emails and technical aspects like the downloads. Agnes, Luke, Kieran do mostly assets, level building, etc.

 

[nekowaiidesu]

I'm sure there was mention of the game being easily moddable. I wonder if we will see this at all in Exanima? Handing some of the developement over to community might not be a bad idea. I know Starbound incorporated mods into their own builds and I think even ended up hiring one of the modders.

I really think community developement or even just releasing a map editor can really improve the playability of games - especially with early access stuff where it can keep people entertained between patches; perhaps even patches inspired by or using code/values from mods.

Remember that people have backed this game in an early state not because it's the best game now, but it has potential. I'm sure there are at least a few talented amateur game devs who will see this engine and Madocs outlook and they would pay money to have an SDK and might produce content that's usable in official releases.

 

[Orlacktherof]

I'm sure there was mention of the game being easily moddable. I wonder if we will see this at all in Exanima? Handing some of the developement over to community might not be a bad idea. I know Starbound incorporated mods into their own builds and I think even ended up hiring one of the modders.

I really think community developement or even just releasing a map editor can really improve the playability of games - especially with early access stuff where it can keep people entertained between patches; perhaps even patches inspired by or using code/values from mods.

Remember that people have backed this game in an early state not because it's the best game now, but it has potential. I'm sure there are at least a few talented amateur game devs who will see this engine and Madocs outlook and they would pay money to have an SDK and might produce content that's usable in official releases.

Game needs to be more finished before mods can even be considered. There will come mods, but not now.

 

[nekowaiidesu]

This makes me happy I'm pretty certain if Exanima is moddable, it could benefit the developement of Sui Generis.

*crosses fingers* sg is love...

 

[Orlacktherof]

sg is love...

Stop.
Don't you dare finish the pasta.

 

[nekowaiidesu]

Sg is love. Sg is no stranger to life. You know the rules and so do I.

 

[Madoc]

Tony pretty much covered it. There's 6 of us currently, we were 7 for a time, but unfortunately someone wasn't able to work with us any longer. Some of us go though periods of only working part time, but now we're almost all full time.

The content does come in stutters, but this is mostly when we do something for the first time, often requiring new functionality. Once we have what we need in place, making the actual content tends to be very quick, and these delays generally become smaller and less frequent. In time we'll be able to focus entirely on just adding content. In terms of assets we've already got a huge amount.

For SG we still haven't decided what our earliest release might look like. One possibility we're considering is to release some regions of the map before others in a reasonably feature complete state. We have enough context in Exanima, including the new arena mode, to gradually introduce virtually every core feature of SG.

In terms of Exanima, even though it is set underground, there will be a much greater variety in the environments than currently, which should make it quite a lot less monotonous.

 

[nekowaiidesu]

Tony pretty much covered it. There's 6 of us currently, we were 7 for a time, but unfortunately someone wasn't able to work with us any longer. Some of us go though periods of only working part time, but now we're almost all full time.

The content does come in stutters, but this is mostly when we do something for the first time, often requiring new functionality. Once we have what we need in place, making the actual content tends to be very quick, and these delays generally become smaller and less frequent. In time we'll be able to focus entirely on just adding content. In terms of assets we've already got a huge amount.

For SG we still haven't decided what our earliest release might look like. One possibility we're considering is to release some regions of the map before others in a reasonably feature complete state. We have enough context in Exanima, including the new arena mode, to gradually introduce virtually every core feature of SG.

In terms of Exanima, even though it is set underground, there will be a much greater variety in the environments than currently, which should make it quite a lot less monotonous.

Care to elaborate on the mods / community content? Yes / no / maybe ?

 

[Qazlal]

For SG we still haven't decided what our earliest release might look like. One possibility we're considering is to release some regions of the map before others in a reasonably feature complete state.

Does it mean that different regions of the game will be independent from each other? Or they just will have temporal gaps, which will be fulfilled on release?
All area of SG will be opened, or splitted to locations with loadings between them?
If locations will be splitted, how large will they be? In this case i like first and second Gothic's (I consider them as one of the best RPG's so far).
I spotted that locations in Exanima are pretty small and loadings between them are long.