Mar 15, 2024

The Life and Suffering — Of Present and Future

The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante - Magnificat

Friends!

Developer Schisma Games recently held a meet-up with players, during which they were asked questions about The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante and the development of a future title in the same universe. Especially for you, we have compiled their answers into a single article and want to share this interview now! Read up on the team's views regarding the games' universe, and you will also discover a lot of new things as well as learn why the game turned out the way it did.

The questions were answered by: Theodore — the studio's founder, Chip - Lead Game Designer, and Lance — Art Director.

Players: How long has The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante been in development?

Chip: It was initially planned as a small title that we would develop in 6 months, more or less using it to assemble our first studio. The longer we worked, the more we realized what could be done, as well as how to expand and improve our game. We knew then that we had a big and original project on our hands, and that we needed to push it beyond the previously outlined scope. As a result, the entire development cycle took us 2.5 years.

Players: Is gunpowder known across the Arknian Empire?

Chip: Gunpowder is only ever used in industry for performing controlled explosions. Methods of employing it in military affairs are starting to be researched, but any mass use of firearms is unheard of. However, its use slowly begins to grow more common among Arknians, as it can bring victory over one's rivals.

Players: Is gunpowder only prohibited in Magra while other provinces are more permissive towards it?

Chip: While not initially prohibited anywhere, once the threat gunpowder poses became clear, it was banned throughout the Empire. However, since there are groups and individuals who can enact separate laws in the provinces they control, the use of gunpowder may be allowed in certain regions. For example, Brante can sign such a decree and make an exception for Magra's industry.

Players: So, if Brante does not sign the decree after the "Mine and Gunpowder" quest, then gunpowder will remain prohibited in Magra as well?

Chip: Yes.

Players: What Blood Tide do Lowborn humans belong to?

Chip: A Blood Tide is a mystical, sacred history. It encompasses the past, one's ancestors, and hereditary memory, giving those who inherit it strength and marking their belonging to a particular legacy. It both enhances the player's character and limits it. The protagonist's ancestors moved in a certain direction, and if the player chooses to maintain this course, the Blood Tide will strengthen them. Alternatively, if you try to follow a different path by doing something contrary to your predecessors' will, then the legacy shall resist you. It is important to understand the difference between Arknian and human positions in this case, too. Arknians are a race that draws its power from the past. Their Blood Tide runs deeper, going further back into the past, even as Arknians themselves live longer, maintaining a stronger connection to their legacy. Integrated into the Arknian society, humans began to gradually replace them, at the same time constantly having to adapt to change. First they were slaves, then servants, then they began to garner Arknian trust. Other races had their own lore, but humans either did not or abandoned their culture in order to better suit the Arknian ways by imitating them. Due to the fact that, on the one hand, humans have copied the Arknian culture and, on the other, they began to do so rather recently, human nobles are still seen as a kind of novelty. That is, human Blood Tides are much weaker: they include fewer ancestors and memories. There could be such a thing as a Lowborn human Blood Tide, but, by the standards of the Arknian Empire, it would be a miniscule Blood Tide below notice.

Players: If the Ottons have such an impressive Blood Tide, how did Brante manage to defeat Otton in a duel?

Chip: Looking at the conditions for Brante's victory in said duel, you will see that Dorius must go through a Court of Honor, in which he will be defeated by Gaius Tempest. And the Ottons' Blood Tide will refuse Dorius Otton, admitting that he overstepped his bounds. Accordingly, at the next meeting, Dorius Otton will be left without his Blood Tide's support, giving the player an opportunity to defeat him with a high enough fencing skill proficiency.

Players: Could Brante win the duel if Dorius Otton reconciled with his Blood Tide, but our hero would not play by the rules and tried to cheat?

Chip: Indeed. This is what Arknians hate about humans — they often do not follow the rules and get away with it. Therefore, one can easily defeat Arkians by using dishonest and unconventional means.

Players: Many players complained that The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante involves too much math and raised issues with certain mechanics, such as Brante's Willpower, which serves as the main source of difficulty in the game. Will the RPG system be improved in the sequel?

Chip: Regarding the game's reliance on math: of course, all mechanics are based on calculations. We are always adding, subtracting, counting probabilities, etc. We then look at the resulting chance of success or failure. This is like blaming a text for having too many letters.

Another complaint is that some mechanics are too complex. That may be true. Players have the right to make mistakes, but only minor ones. Why is that? After all, we could make the game easier, then this annoyance factor would disappear. But it was important for us to make the game exactly the way it turned out: with difficult skill/knowledge checks and sporting a high level of complexity. For what reason? Well, there are two big ones:

1. It was important for us to write a story where an ordinary person fights the system, facing a truly uphill battle. It should be extremely difficult to win because the chance of a single person succeeding over the system is negligible. And in order for the game mechanics to reflect this idea, we made it so that the player is most likely to lose somewhere along the way.
2. The experience of defeat is, in fact, much more valuable and important for us than that of victory. Therefore, a win in our game is elusive and almost unattainable, thus making every defeat seem that much real. It is not something predetermined, but simply the harsh reality Brante has to face: after all, he did have a chance to win, but the player guiding him did not play their cards right. This is exactly the sensation we wanted to convey.

Why is the experience of defeat so important? Because it is more reflective. If you win — well done. That is it, end of the line. Otherwise, the painful process of reflection begins: "Why did I lose? What could I have done differently? Am I prepared to do what I need to win?" And so on, and so forth. For us, this is a more interesting experience, triggering the processes and emotions that we wanted our players to experience. TL;DR version: this is a feature, not a bug.

As for the RPG system in place — yes, it will be improved. We are making a new game, so the mechanics will be slightly different, but I will not lie: you may not like the way we evolve the game's concept. The things we value and aim to convey are not always what the player wants to see when they first launch our latest title. And that is okay.

I really appreciate it when players say: "I lost. I am sitting here devastated, with a swarm of thoughts buzzing in my head, inspired by my own failure. I reached for the top and did not make it." This is our sort of player. But there are those who go: "That does not work for me. It is unfair. I am angry, and the developers really messed up!" This is, unfortunately, not our kind of player. The experience we want to convey may not be one that suits them.

Thus, the mechanics will definitely be improved, but I am unsure whether it will be in the direction that the question's author would like it to go. 🙂

Players: In the second game, will there be an option to mitigate the damage from an event gone sour or a way to avoid the full extent of its consequences?

Chip: Yes, of course, this was already in the first title. At certain points, the player would be asked: something bad just happened — choose which consequence you want to deal with. Or something bad happened, but your skill level was sufficient to cut the hypothetical losses in half. These are individual-type solutions that have already been implemented before. The mechanics will change slightly and will be aimed at different goals and gaming experiences, but, in many ways, they will remain the same, as we are dealing with a continuation, and so we must stay true to the game's foundation.

Players: Will the dominant religion of the game's universe be flashed out even more?

Theodore: Of course! We believe religion to be one of the most important pillars on which the entire realm of the Blessed Arknian Empire resides. It largely determines the main conflicts and processes that take place in the Imperial society. Therefore, while working on our next project, we will definitely strive to immerse ourselves and our players in the spiritual, religious, and mystical aspects of the game's world.

Players: Who are the Twin Gods to you in this world?

Chip: I will, respectfully, not answer that. With this question, we are entering the realm of speculation, so the responses may be different, giving grounds to one theory over others. It is important for us that the game remains open to interpretation and that there is room for all players to muse, imagine, and come up with their own hypotheses. Seems to me that this is one of those things that benefit from not being given a clear explanation. Unambiguity will simplify everything, and once the riddle is solved… Well, what is the fun in that?

Players: My general impression is that the Twins are essentially one key character at odds with himself, and therefore cannot decide how to act. He has created humans and hoped that they would solve this problem, but, in the end, things only turned out worse, even though he created them in his own image and likeness. How accurate is this idea?

Chip: I will not evaluate this guess. It was precisely because we did not leave a concrete answer anywhere that such a theory arose and inspired players to think about it and search for a solution. It is important for us that the question remains open. Our idea works when players ask questions and build their own interesting theories. And this is more valuable than any one "truly correct" answer.

Players: What did Stephan do throughout the story?

Chip: We have two answers here. The first one is that he did absolutely nothing. The second is that he dealt with family affairs like a real nobleman: built up relationships, represented the Brante family, and generally engaged in politics.

Players: Is Stephan a military nobleman or a bureaucrat by education?

Chip: We do not know if he graduated from Imperial College. We know that he went to a boarding school and received some kind of education. He is more of a courtier than a bureaucrat or military man. He definitely has swordsmanship and diplomacy skills, though.

Players: How did Stephan get ennobled by the Mantle?

Chip: The nobility of the Mantle is a personal nobility that no one receives but you. It cannot be inherited — unlike the nobility of the Sword, which is not bestowed upon an individual, but their entire family. All family members automatically become nobles because they bear your last name. Stephan's father was a nobleman of the Mantle, and his mother was a noblewoman of the Sword, belonging to one of the most influential families of El Borne. He was the third child in the family, and a third-generation noble has the right to petition for recognition of his surname as a noble one to receive the nobility of the Sword. In this case, it was logical to train the child as a nobleman from childhood — and for this he must have his own noble inheritance. There were two options:
1. Recognize him as Stephan El Borne. Then he would have received the nobility of the Sword, but in this case the whole plan for him to be the third child in the Brante family would collapse.
2. Receive a letter of personal nobility from the Duke. Then the Brantes would receive the nobility of the Sword.
We chose the second option: Stephan received personal nobility from birth and was raised as a nobleman.

Players: What color is Dorius Otton's hair?

Chip: I do not know. 🙂 We never mentioned this anywhere in the text.

Players: There are varying opinions online about which story branch is the main, canonical one for the game. Is there an officially established canon?

Chip: When developing the game, we understood clearly that there could be no canon that conflicted with our players' in-game choice. We wanted to give the paths of the priest, the nobleman, and the commoner equal rights to exist. Each of them tell the story in their own way. The nobleman's thread is more about family, the priest's path is more mystical, it tries to achieve a deeper comprehension of the game's world. And the rebel branch is more about conspiracies and adventures.

Players: What and who are you inspired by when creating art? How do you look for the right style and think through the appearance of the environment, the characters, as well as various details?

Lance: Touching on the game's visual style, we can say that we wanted to make it more artistic and detailed. And since the style of The Life and Suffering universe is full of allusions to XVII-XVIII-century manuscripts, we are looking at the work of engravers from that time period.

In general, I have two favorite engravers. The first one is Rockwell Kent — a fairly modern artist, not from the XVIII century perhaps, but a brilliant book illustrator of the first half of the XX century. The second is Gustave Doré or the best engraver I know. We cannot afford such detail as he did, nor do we want to because our goal is not to recreate the works of real engravers, but to stylize our own after theirs. I would like people to just look at our style and think: "Oh, those are some cool pictures."

When it comes to details, we focus on the early XVIII-century European fashion. In terms of style and fashion, the blessed Arknian Empire, as we see it, is akin to Rome, which survived until the XVII century. That is, almost unchanged classicism with Baroque elements, especially in architecture. But, of course, we regularly hold discussions and brainstorms about how and what things should look like. For example, and bringing the conversation back to one of the first questions, our games' world is greatly affected by the lack of gunpowder. In real life, it greatly influenced fashion: first among men, then women's tastes too, since they used the same stylistic elements.

At the same time, there is no need to perceive the game's style as a reconstruction from a good historical novel. It is simply not that. Still, our universe is quite synthetic, and we occasionally allow ourselves various liberties.

Players: What inspires you when working on the new game?

Theodore: We are inspired by much of the same as when developing Brante: the history of Russia from the XVII century to the present day, Rome, the European Reformation, the Enlightenment, and European revolutions.

However, this time we would like to look at the problems of these periods and countries from the other side: how were their authorities and states organized? What causes crises and reforms? What are the main contradictions that arise in the collision of the state, social elites, society, and the historical process as a whole?

Specific artistic sources important to the development process are too many to list them all here, so I would like to highlight the most relevant ones at the moment:

In literature and philosophy:
- Heinrich Mann:
The Young Years of King Henry IV;
The Mature Years of King Henry IV.
- "The End of the Regime" by Alexander Baunov;
- "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding;
- Oswald Spengler's "The Decline of Europe" and Arnold Toynbee's "The Making of History."
In film and theater:
- "Titus, Ruler of Rome" by Julie Taymor;
- "The Glass of Water," a play by Eugène Scribe and its film adaptations;
- "My Friend Hitler," a play by Yukio Mishima;
- "The Tree of Life" by Terrence Malick.
In music:
- Shortparis, "New New" music video;
- "The Wall," Pink Floyd album and Alan Parker's movie;
- Zbigniew Preisner's soundtracks for the films "Decalogue," "Three Colors," "The Double Life of Veronica."
In games:
- Victoria 3 and other Paradox titles.

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Mar 15, 2024

Developer Blog Post - Building Animations & Fluff Paths

Endzone - A World Apart - Assemble_Made

- "It's the hustle and the collective aspiration to elevate what we possess. Witnessing the machines in operation - observing our companions harvesting berries and sifting through scrap - that's what ignites the drive within each of us. We all yearn for advancement and renewal." -

What makes a game feel alive?

A city-building strategy game thrives on detail. As a player, you want to be able to understand how your own settlement grows and comes to life. In addition to detailed buildings and a vibrant environment, animations play an immediate role in immersing oneself directly into the experience. In Endzone 2, it's important for us to continue visually depicting the lives of settlers and making all processes within the settlement readable and accessible. In this context, the term often used is the 'Wuselfaktor'. To achieve this, we have implemented several systems that enable animations of buildings and settlers within buildings.

Building Animations

To animate buildings in Endzone 2, certain precautions need to be taken. It's necessary for us to plan ahead in the visual design phase and make compromises. For instance, all objects intended to receive animation must already exist as separate sub-objects within the final building. An example of this would be the crucibles that hold the molten metal of the Iron Caster.

Upgraded Well placed on swamp area.

Furthermore, we've developed several custom tools that allow us to create keyframe animations for each individual object. This involves generating a bone object at the necessary location. Bones can be envisioned as actual skeletal structures. By manipulating the rotation and translation of these objects at any given point in time, we craft smooth animations for the various components of the building.

In-engine screenshot of the Iron Caster Building, showing the single Bone components and interface.

Brick Factory Animation.

By individually treating subcomponents within the building, highly complex workflows can be coordinated and depicted as animations. For instance, the complete animation of the Iron Caster spans nearly 60 seconds. However, we typically aim to keep each animation within a range of 15-30 seconds.

Iron Caster Animation.

Fluff Paths

"Fluff paths" is our system's term for a path that is detached from the actual navmesh. This allows settlers, who typically follow their established routes, to spontaneously wander into building areas and trigger scripted animations. An example of this would be the fishing hut. A settler walks from their house to the fishing hut, where, in a scripted animation, they take a fishing rod, walk to the front of the pier, and then cast their line. This is observable in the example below, where the orange area depicts the collision or “border” of the fishery and the small blue dots are visual pointers of the coordinates to the right. Each point represents a checkpoint of the path and a possible Animation that is played there.

In-engine screenshot of the Fishery, showing the available Fluff Paths.

The Fluff Path system is also used to specify where builders should stand to support the construction of a building with animations. Within Unity, we can precisely designate individual points or, in our case, "anchors," where a path ends and the construction animation can be played.

Another outstanding feature of our custom solution is the ability to directly link the number of possible Fluff paths and animations to the number of settlers working in a specific building. For instance, if the Iron Caster can accommodate up to 10 settlers working simultaneously, we can create 10 different animation presets. When a settler enters the building, they randomly select one of these presets. This approach allows us to showcase complex workflows while ensuring that settlers never get stuck in each other.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2144640/Endzone_2/

As Discord is our main platform for feedback and discussion within the community, we highly recommend joining us and sharing your feedback there.

Mar 15, 2024

Developer Blog Post - Building Animations & Fluff Paths

Endzone 2 - Gentlymad | Kizzle

What makes a game feel alive?

Building Animations

Upgraded Well placed on swamp area.

In-engine screenshot of the Iron Caster Building, showing the single Bone components and interface.

Brick Factory Animation.

Iron Caster Animation.

Fluff Paths

In-engine screenshot of the Fishery, showing the available Fluff Paths.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2144640/Endzone_2/

As Discord is our main platform for feedback and discussion within the community, we highly recommend joining us and sharing your feedback there.

Mar 15, 2024

Death of a Wish - Patch v1.0.5

Death of a Wish - melessthanthree

Hello all!

This is Colin again, and I want to thank you all for the great launch week we've been having so far! It's been so rewarding seeing all your reviews and playthroughs, and I hope you all continue to enjoy Death of a Wish!

Just a reminder, if you've been playing and enjoying Death of a Wish, don't forget to leave a review! It'll help with our visibility so more potential fans can find and enjoy the game, which will help our community grow. It only takes a minute but makes a big impact!

With that out of the way, here's some update notes for the just-launched patch v1.0.5:

Features

The Screenshake option has been slightly reworked to better address concerns some players expressed about disorientation/motion sickness. Additionally, a new intensity level has been added called "Reduced", so the options are now (from greatest to lowest intensity) On > Reduced > Low > Off. If you are someone who was concerned with the intensity of camera movement in this game, let me know if this helps!
The game now has its own mouse cursor! This was actually supposed to be in the launch version of the game, but there was an error with the image file. If you prefer or have gotten used to just having the default mouse cursor when playing with keyboard + mouse, leave a comment and I'll take it into consideration.

Balances

Reworked Sol's Hold Action's damage stat scaling. This rework should make it more viable to use in melee-focused builds, which better fits its design intention.
Slightly reworked the S-rank thresholds for a few early-game enemies.

Fixes

Fixed a softlock in the underground Subway area that would trigger when fighting a specific encounter in New Game+.
Fixed a bug caused by skipping a cutscene in Track 4 that opened the door to the Track's dungeon area. Skipping that cutscene should now still open the door as intended without having to leave and re-enter the room.
Fixed a bug that made the Scorned Virtue look like it was increasing your stats instead of decreasing them as intended. This was only a visual bug, but the stats in the Level Up screen should now match Chris's intended stats when Scorned is equipped.
Fixed a softlock that occurred at the end of Track 4/start of Track 5 if you started the game with an old demo save file (pre-February 2024 Next Fest demo version). If your save file is affected, you might see an item in your inventory that you don't remember picking up. When you get to the point where you are supposed to pick up that item, the scene where Chris picks it up will automatically play, and your inventory will be unaffected.
[Track 2 Boss Spoilers] Asking for help from Naomi during the Crusade Engine Uriel fight no longer locks you in to summoning her for every subsequent attempt.
[Track 4 Minor Spoilers] Rewinding during the timed combat sequence now resets the countdown timer to whatever time it was at the start of the current combat round.
[Track 5+ Sidequest Spoilers] Fixed a bug that prevented the final merchant cutscene from playing in New Game+ if you fulfilled his sidequest conditions on a previous new game cycle. If you run into this, you still need to talk to the merchant before the scene will trigger, but as long as you have his final item in your inventory, the scene will play as expected when you walk away from him.
[Track 5+ Sidequest Spoilers] Fixed a softlock that would trigger when attempting to save Will from the Neo-Sanctum knights after previously failing the fight.

That's all for now! On behalf of the entire Death of a Wish team, thank you for all of your support, and we hope you continue to enjoy Death of a Wish!
- Colin