Originally published at: Subverse EA Dev Diary 16 - Community FOW
Hi folks,
Here is our latest update with a Q&A format featuring some of your most popular questions. Hopefully it will be an interesting read!
A message for our Chinese community:
大家好，我的小可爱们!
我想谈谈对众人为中文翻译的担忧。
我们正在拼命工作着把游戏完成。您们永远在我们的心中。
我们游戏工作室里的人都很感谢您们这一段时间的耐心，我们还希望能给您们最好玩的游戏经验。
我们的中国关注者对我们非常重要，而且我们很感谢您们在这发展时期继续支持着我们。
尽管如此，我们因不跟我们最大的粉丝群之一沟通而表示道歉，我们希望您们能原谅我们。
此时此刻，我们在寻找一个自愿汉英的翻译者帮我们发布公告之类的贴子。我们更情愿一个会说英语的中国人。
若觉得您认为您能协助我们，请给 [email protected] 发个电子邮件。
有客户服务工作经验者尤佳考虑。
Thank you
谢谢您们的主意，
此致敬礼
Q. How do you come up with the names of the characters?
A. These were decided very early on, even before the script as you know it had been conceived. It’s a combination of personal experiences, mixing and matching famous names/characters or simply just finding a cool name and putting a bit of a twist on it! A lot of what inspires us or amuses us personally, goes into Subverse’s thick plot load, and the names are no exception.
Q. Who’s the next waifu?
A. No spoilers just yet, but to be fair there’s not many candidates left to choose from!
Q. Are there any planned orgy scenes with the waifus?
A. In order to have the realtime scenes run smoothly, we have to adhere to some technical limitations of the engine. Through research, we’ve found that keeping the scenes to 3-4 waifus maximum is the most optimal course of action.
Q. Do you plan on adding a wider array of environments for the pandora scenes?
A. It’s low on our list of priorities at the moment as we are working hard on making sure the story and the existing scenes look as good as possible. Once we have delivered the main course, we can always go back and look at whether or not this is possible.
Q. What is the process of creating a manticore? What inspires designs? Does one person finalize designs, or is it a group effort?
A. We are inspired by interesting concept arts of creatures, that’s usually the starting point. After that, the modellers talk with the director and they try to come up with a 3D sculpt. The cocks for the mantics were very much a group effort, since we had to go through a lot of concepts and put it to a vote. The female members of the devteam were especially vocal during these challenging deliberations! We hope to share more about this very unique process in a future showcase!
Q. Will our boy Dallick get any ass at somepoint?
A. Poor Dallick, the best he can hope for is someone to sit on his face. His best days are behind him and he can’t really compete with the Captain
Q. Can Taron purr?!
A. Pet her gently and find out!
Q. Do we get to see Demi’s nipples?
A. For the low low price of 4,999,999 spacebux you too can purchase the nipple addon for your commbott! Call now!
Q. Is mantic evolution still going to happen?
A. It’s low on the priority list right now
Q. Will we ever be able to replay missions?
A. As discussed in a previous dev diary it takes an insane amount of effort to make every story mission replayable. Right now our focus is on finishing the main story and this would divert resources away from that.
Q. Are you planning on expanding the breadth of tactics in Grid Combat and if so, how?
A. The answer is a resounding “yes” and there are a few ways with which we are attempting to do so. First and foremost, you must understand that we are not seeking to create a hardcore grid combat system, but rather something more simple to pick up and learn. As such, we are prototyping the following ideas;
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Slightly elevating the complexity of the grid space within each fight, for instance introducing destructible AoE hazards, or a pseudo cover mechanic.
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Adding equippable and consumable items to our Waifus in the hopes of increasing the options within the playstyle space.
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Especially for the last four (4) Waifus, the designs have been thought out with utmost care to ensure that their kits bring unique flavors to Grid Combat playstyles.
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The same goes for the latest Mantics.
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If we have time at the end of 1.0 we would like to go back and give the older waifu kits a spit and polish as well.
Q. Will you implement any designs that increase replayability in Space Combat?
A. We are aware of the repetition space combat brings to the overarching experience. However, the progression system is not in place yet so it is magnifying the problems of repetition. Once the progression system is live we are actually thinking of a big addition that you will most definitely enjoy. Thank you for your patience!
Q. What is the design philosophy behind the Devotion Quests?
A. Above all, each Devotion Quest must be emotionally impactful, as story-wise the Devotion Quest is the final chapter of a Waifu’s story, the climactic arc of her personal journey. Due to this, we want each boss you’ll encounter during these special missions to be truly different and memorable. Each quest is tailored specifically for the waifu so a tremendous amount of work is going into them.
Q. Will we see more of the Drinking Minigame introduced with Sova’s patch?
A. Yes, we are planning to have more of this in the future, with a few competitive tweaks as an extra bonus!
Q. Will there be any more minigames?
A. We’d really love to. We will need to complete the main story before we can give a definitive answer to that.
Q. Are you going to allow for in-depth scene interactivity in Pandora?
A. For everything we do we need to consider the manpower limitations and engine limitations that come with developing something of this scope. We put a lot of effort to into the Taron scene but based on the increasing scope and additional resources required we won’t be pursuing any advanced interactivity for now.
Q. Why the 5 Factions in Prodigium? Were these chosen specifically for a reason?
A. We wanted the factions you encounter to be both politically important to Prodigium, as well as integral parts of the story. The Dreadfleet are a common nuisance across the galaxy, and they tied in to Killi’s storyline. Plus space pirates are just awesome, so they had to be one. The Kloi terrify even the Imperium so we wanted to showcase their military for this reason. The Imperium had to be a faction as well since they are the “big bads” of the plot and it wouldn’t make sense to never fight them. The Requital are tied in with Blythe and also a major power player in Prodigium. And of course the Fuccbotts, who admittedly have not had their time to shine yet but soon will.
Q. Can you tell us anything about how the Requital plays in grid combat?
A: For the Requital, we approached it slightly differently, with them introducing a vast array of specializations to the playfield and working tactically, in unison, as a kill-team. Do not underestimate them! They might come in low numbers, but their combined abilities can decimate the field.
Q. What is the creative process behind your boss fights?
A. First and foremost, it is all about invoking a certain sense of emotion, such as claustrophobia or sheer fear. It is also a chance for us to show you the different locations within Prodigium and the dangers they are littered with. Creatively playing around with established mechanics and introducing small, newer ones is also something that motivates us. Honestly, our systems and mechanics library have been built in such a way that they can be mixed and matched with a rather beautiful potential. We look forward to maximizing the potential with each and every update. And of course we are also huge fans of pop culture themes, so if we are given the chance to do Fifth Element memes, we will!
Q. How does the team feel working in an explicit project such as Subverse? How’s the culture?
A. Culturally the core team responsible for animation and creative direction has been working together from StudioFow days. While we have added new personalities and talent to the team to allow us to deliver Subverse, we kept our healthy attitude for making sure we always deliver for the fans.
Explicit content means that we have to take a different approach to some business processes, like recruitment and marketing as conventional means and channels are frequently not open to engagement with an adult themed title. This means we rely heavily on the goodwill of the fanbase and the StudioFow fans who continue to support our creations. One example of the curious ways things can be dramatic, was our US trademark application which triggered a storm with US online commentator Tim Pool! Subverse is now trademarked in the US, our biggest market.
Q. Why revamp the progression system?
A. We feel that something more streamlined will not only birth a far more rewarding experience but also allow players to embrace their preferred playstyle (Waifu). Furthermore, it will also allow the team to work more efficiently on the progression system.
Q. Will the DEVA form offer more?
A. We are looking into expanding the powerplay playstyle the DEVA form offers, whilst remaining within scope, of course.
Q. What’s the vision regarding an in-game shop?
A. We do want to put it in, it’s just a question of when. The entire endeavour is not particularly challenging from a technical standpoint, but we need to make sure that the value to effect ratio is well thought out.
Q. Will Mary Celeste join the space fight?
A. We really want to, however, if this magnificent beast is to join the fray, it would require a lot of extra work! And right now we have to put all our manpower into improving the sex and finishing the main story.
Q. Will the game go on sale during Early Access?
A. We are looking into the possibility of a sale at some point before Early Access ends!
Q. There seems to be more reports of Game crashes, should players worry about this?
A. As the game is developed and more content is added we are making more time and investment to ensure a stable codebase and that our internal testing is thorough before new updates. There are some instances which could be the cause of crashes for players even if the published build is fully reliable.
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Players who have implemented mods on the game will potentially need to wait for their mod update from wherever they got it. Subverse is not officially supplying mods during early access.
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file saves or pirated file saves can equally cause crashes in the software.
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limitations of the players PC, which could be due to many different scenarios outside of the scope of the team.
What we are committed to is continually improve and maintain the codebase for Subverse so that it will be as reliable as possible through early access and to full release. We appreciate hearing details on bugs and issues which is certainly one of the benefits of Early Access players, which we are grateful for.
Bis bald,
Till Eulenspiegel
