The Drunken Lizard Pub

Tiny little update...

Work continues slowly on the next big RPG. Turns out that making a full 3D game takes a magnitude more effort and time than a 2D isometric game. I don't think we'll have any formal announcement before the end of the year, but I've put a note on my calendar to post some concept art on January 1 to give you guys something to look at as we go into 2016.

That's one of the reasons I tend to like 2D games better - it's easier to make a more detailed world. Today's AAA titles barely match the complexity of small 2D 90s RPGs.

Are you going full 3D, or something like a fixed-camera top-down view?

SpottedShroom wrote:That's one of the reasons I tend to like 2D games better - it's easier to make a more detailed world. Today's AAA titles barely match the complexity of small 2D 90s RPGs.

Are you going full 3D, or something like a fixed-camera top-down view?

Honestly, I'm going to try having a camera that can do both first-person and isometric, but I certainly can't promise anything until we enter Alpha testing (at the earliest).

I may regret saying this...but...we do have an iso-2D "Eschalon-type" engine now running on Unity. I haven't completely ruled out moving The Next Game (TNG) over to that since it seemed to be so beloved by our fans. Because we are still unsure of the engine design is why I can't show off any gameplay screens yet. Everything will likely change.

BasiliskWrangler wrote: I may regret saying this...but...we do have an iso-2D "Eschalon-type" engine now running on Unity. I haven't completely ruled out moving The Next Game (TNG) over to that since it seemed to be so beloved by our fans.

Well, I for one love isometric games and would be absolutely delighted if you chose that platform. However, I am not a game designer and you are, so it sounds like a hard decision you have to make. Should you head off in a new direction or stick to something that you know works well?

Best of luck with whatever you decide. Can't wait to hear more about "The Next Game."

I actually like both genres and, disagree that full 3d is less detailed. If you want to get technicall, the detail is much more in a 3d (at least nowadays since you can see every side of a piece of furnature, not just one side)...but yeah i know what shroom really meant and im more just bustin butts ;0

but seriously, i love both types of games, maybe even slightly lean toward full 3d but only with a single protagonist. NOw if you can do both, then thats pretty damn cool.

But why, with all its problems from what ive read, would anyone still use unity?

I know its not "free" as we see it but wouldnt the unreal4 engine be a better use of an engine nowadays? (i realize im not a dev, and only half know anythign about (ok maybe evne less than half) unity or even unreal4s engine) but i did dl unreal4s engine and if i had the time to play with it it seems a decent and great looking piece of software.


either way, at this point id buy a game from BG even if it stated i was just going to watch paint dry.

blatherbeard wrote:At this point id buy a game from BG even if it stated i was just going to watch paint dry.

Yeah, I think I might as well.

For what it's worth, I've used Unity and Unreal4, and while I personally found Unreal4 produced a more desirable result, Unity was much easier to work with. I also much prefer Epic (the company that made Unreal)'s royalty policy.

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but I'd be substantially more interested in any kind of isometric than first person...

My opinon is that if you cant make 3D right, 2D, or rather "fake" 3D, or half and half is much better. Take BGII which is kind of half and half and compare with NWN. The former is like a million times prettier. In fact, I think all the great games of yesterday (but not yesteryear) where half and half, like Marathon and Myth. And Syndicate, which is an incredibly old game, it still doesnt make your eyes bleed when you look at it, and that is entirely 2D, I think. Even SNES games can be relatively pretty when compared to low quality 3D like all games ever on N64 and PS1.

Also, not sure what Shadowrun is, but I guess it is half and half? Real pretty also. And these Magicka games, they are also half and half... I think? Paper sorcerer is half and half.

If I ever did a game and didnt have 10 million dollars in resources, I would definately do half and half.

I personally prefer isometric; however, I've played one or two 3D RPGs that I enjoyed (e.g., Darkstone, where you could rotate the camera around to look in other directions).

I'm counting on basilisk games to make the currect choices. i mean, I trust them with whatever they choose. I've seen enough to realize that so far.

I wonder (actually...hope) that you'll be offering your most-helpful members/players the opportunity of helping you test the content before release! Extra eyes and minds always help in game QA! -)


TQQdles™,

Dolnor Numbwit
Eternal Testing Newbie

P.s. I am not asking for myself. I "blew" the chance already when I was invited to test Eschalon: Book I. It happened during a period of chaos in my Life...so testing the game was put on the bottom of the list. In fact, I still have the 1-page NDA on file! -)