Book of Travels News

You probably know by now that Book of Travels isn’t a game that fits neatly into any kind of genre, well the same can be said of the writing in the game. Together, the different modes of ingame text comprise the contours of the story world: the backstory, NPC dialogue, item descriptions and UI text all play their part in bringing Braided Shore to life. Of course we can say this about all game worlds, but Book of Travels is a bit different: it’s a non-linear, exploratory, immersive experience where questing isn’t centre stage. So in this case, the main role of text isn't to drive forward stories or point players through the next beat of an epic plot. This means we can have a bit more fun and allow it to enhance the experience in different ways.



[h2]NPCs as story book characters[/h2]

One of the major differences between Book of Travels and conventional RPGs is that you won’t be able to converse with the NPCs you meet. In Braided Shore NPCs speak repeatable, poetic lines - they'll still do all the conventional work of lore seeding and world building but since they don’t simulate conversation the NPCs work more like two dimensional story characters than limited chatbots. We hope that by creating them this way players will have a less wall-breaking and more immersive experience, and with its pop-up book aesthetic and 2D feel Book of Travels feels like exactly the right place to invite the player to encounter text in this bookish way. For me, the more poetic lines echo the painted, two dimensional ‘scenery’ of Braided Shore - they add atmospheric detail and depth to the world as you navigate through it. Here a merchant and musician speak some character 'poems'.





[h2]Getting the tone right[/h2]

Writing dialogue for NPCs is an obvious opportunity to enrich the fairytale picture book aesthetic of the game world, and the style and tone that we hope to have achieved is a mixture of folk wisdom, upbeat chit chat and lore-based whimsy. Each class of character has a range of ‘lines’ that are each designed to reveal a little about their role in the world along with a tint of personal attitude. We’ve crafted them to be a little bit poetic - some use rhyme, others use phonic or rhythmic patterns. The intention is to create a style that enhances the feeling of being in a picture book world at the same time as withstanding a fair degree of repetition. Players will also encounter dialogue that imparts something less ordinary, little parts of story or information. We wanted these to stand out a little bit and be less two dimensional so they are written in a tone that is more personal and direct - these are the aspects which signal happenings beyond the ‘scenery’ and rhythms of everyday life. Stories, if you like!

[h2]Seeding lore[/h2]

As with all RPGs, the text is a worldbuilding, ambient component of the game world and being so, must seed notions of the past history and current issues affecting its inhabitants. When I write dialogue I try to write it as though through the eyes of someone living its lore and history, so that fragments of these are revealed naturally when characters ‘speak’. This is one of the major ways that players will discover things about the magic, infrastructure and social practices of Braided Shore. There are a lot of unique and complex aspects to life there and they all matter to its inhabitants - we hope that over the course of your time there you’ll be able to learn from them and to piece together its unique culture. When I’m writing text I have all this in mind - the challenge is to seed little bits of lore without being overly explicit or compromising the integrity of character voice, it’s a balance I think I’ll always be in the process of perfecting!





[h2] Glimmers of story[/h2]

While there’s no overarching questline in Book of Travels, there are intrigues to explore - eventually players will start to see signs of a region-wide drama, but mostly they are event chains with narratives that have the small-magic feel of folklore. Both will be seeded throughout the dialogue, so look out for hints or between-the-lines implications.





Finding the balance between subtle, naturalistic exposition and something more clearly revealing isn’t easy, so we expect to be working hard at that balance and we’ll be listening to your feedback to do so. Thanks for reading, I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments below!

Helen x

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1152340/Book_of_Travels/

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[h2]Hello![/h2]

We proudly present part three of Ask the Devs - this time Rasmus and Alex answer community questions about animating Book of Travels. (Get ready for some dancing...)

We'll be taking a break from video production over the summer, but we'll be back in August to let you know who will be next in the hot seat. If you have a particular area of game development you'd like us to feature, let us know in the comments and we'll hunt down a team member!

Thank you so much for all your attentions – we hope you're well and staying safe and connected.


Best Wishes from Helen and the team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1152340/Book_of_Travels/

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[h3]Hello![/h3]

After some delay, we're pleased to show you part two of Ask the Devs in which Sofia and Jens answer your questions about programming Book of Travels. We managed to sneak this interview in before the beta launch, from now on you'll see a lot less of them as they are fixing bugs bugs bugs. But we'll ask you for questions for our next interviewees (and reveal who they will be) on Discord in the next few days, so hop in and join us there if you haven't already! Please let us know your thoughts or about any processes you'd like to hear about in the next video in the comments below!

That's all for now - we hope you are all well and staying safe and connected.

Best Wishes from Helen and the team

xxx

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1152340/Book_of_Travels/

[h3]Dear Travellers,[/h3]

One of the most crucial parts of any RPG is the interface: your inventory, your character screen, your skill book. Today we want to share the progress that's been made and invite you to look, judge and comment on this omnipresent factor: the UI!

The interface is probably one of the more difficult parts to develop in any game, mainly because it comes with so many expectations. Its core purpose is functionality, but it’s also a vital visual component - one that appears on your screen almost the entire time you are playing.

Our idea is to make a somewhat classical interface that leans on many conventional solutions found in other games. But we also want to do it our way, adding flavors from the game’s ethos. One example is that we're using a lot of icons and symbols instead of text - not everywhere, and not only, but often. Together with inspiration from classical pen and paper roleplay, the style makes for an interesting mix of traditional and new. To get around the annoying inconvenience that symbols can entail, one can always press the question mark to read about a particular UI-screen or use mouse over to write out the name of symbols.







The look itself is inspired by paper and cards. Items and Skills are presented as cards and when creating your character you get to choose between different background cards that tell the story of your character. Being able to bring life to your character through its personality is vital for us, and we have added in many options to write your own custom information besides the choices of traits, origin and other factors that you must choose.

[h3]HUD[/h3]
Skills and emotes are two major focal points of the ingame HUD and to always have access to these is very important. Their importance needs to balanced with the often large space of the screen they cover. So we've implemented functions that allow you to shrink, expand and hide individual parts of the interface - or hide it all together. Besides skills and expressions, energy and stamina status is visible in the top left corner, along with the “shortcut” buttons at the lower middle. Currently these include:

- Game view
- Character sheet, Stats, Custom info
- Inventory and equipment
- Skillbook and Reagents
- Map, Diary and notebook
- Take screenshot
- Menu/Settings



We hope you've enjoyed this first peek at the interface. As fans of the genre it would be amazing to hear your ideas and feedback regarding the UI. Together we can fine tune this part of the experience so that it fits the game that we are creating, and the people we are creating it for! As always, thank you for your time and commitment!

Jakob and the Book of Travels team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1152340/Book_of_Travels/

[h2]Hello Travellers![/h2]

We are thrilled to share another big piece of the puzzle that makes the core of our game design in Book of Travels - skills! This has been one of our focal points as of late and now we’re ready to offer a deep dive into their function in the game, shedding some light on what makes them special compared to other RPGs and how they look and behave.

Firstly it's important to keep in mind that we’re trying to build a roleplay experience that challenges many of the norms and structures that fans of the genre are taking for granted. It’s our hope that what you read here will shed light on our philosophy regarding skills and that you’ll be as excited about them as we are!



[h3]The four types of skills and the four winds[/h3]
In order to start explaining something as complex an RPG skill system, we need to begin with the foundation. There are four types of skills that your character can learn. Knots, Teas, Abilities and Passives. They each have different tones, uses and gameplay orientation. What all skills share is that they are not all tailored to boost your stats or give you obvious advantages. Many skills are just ways for you to express your character and to use for roleplaying purposes in social situations.

[h3]Knots[/h3]
The tying of knots is a magical practice in the game world and allows for a variety of wondrous effects and functions. The time it takes to tie a knot depends on its complexity, but after untying it, the effects of knotspells are often direct.

[h3]Teas[/h3]
If the knots are the “scrolls” then teas are the “magic potions” of our world. Deeply rooted in the culture of the world, the brewing of tea is a common practice both among ordinary folk and practising mystics. It requires preparation and patience but the results are often rewardingly strong and may last for long periods of time. The only limitation is that just one tea effect can be enjoyed at a time.

[h3]Abilities[/h3]
These are skills that don't work by magical principles. Hiding in bushes, fishing, tricks and perks will instead improve everything from social skills, world interactions to survival gameplay. Some can be used all the time, others require special conditions or even tools.

[h3]Passives[/h3]
Even if the term is common in RPGs we treat passive skills a bit differently in Book of Travels. Obviously they work on the principle of giving permanent bonuses to your character, but many of them can give you unusual and flat out weird bonuses if used correctly. Our idea is that players can use the other categories in conjunction with their passives to create tricky chains of bonuses. An example is drinking a tea that makes you unaffected by the elements, using a knot to call for rain clouds and then having a passive skill that gives you bonuses when standing in rain. With the amount of skills we are prepping, we are quite convinced that you can come up with some pretty awesome combos.







[h3]Winds[/h3]
Besides the four types of skills there are four winds. These are a big part of the world lore and are considered divine or magical. Each skill, regardless of type, has a wind connected to it. The four winds all have their own “personalities” and they represent differences between skills. Skills of the Southern Wind are orientated towards physicality, interactions and trade. Skills of the Western Wind are often focused towards creativity, illusions, and strong magics. Northern Wind skills are cerebral and orientated towards science, protection and group aiding spells. Skills of the Eastern Wind are naturalistic, spiritual and often include animal skills and survival tricks.

Each character has an affinity for one of the four winds, making skills of that wind easier to learn.

[h3]How to acquire skills[/h3]
Unlike many RPGs, your character won't learn skills per automation upon leveling up. Instead we have made gathering skills into something a bit more contextual and roleplay like (you are likely to learn the fishing skill from a fisherman, and a master at a tea house might teach you a magical tea blend). Of course there are numerous ways to acquire skills, such as learning them from NPCs, receiving them as rewards in events, trading for them, or finding them randomly in loot. A skill you write in your skill book must be activated or learned before it can be used. This is done by allocating points in the skills you want to use. Skills vary in how many points are required to learn them, and it’s up to you to balance your array of skills. Will you collect many cheaper, simpler skills, or a few more potent and rare?

[h3]Using skills[/h3]
Skills all have conditions on when and where they can be used. We are not very fond of “do whatever you like” type of RPGs and will prohibit players from assembling a fireplace on a wooden deck in a tea house. Besides the conditions of when and where, skills are used differently depending on type. Passives are always active. Abilities can be used freely without cost but work as cooldowns. Knots and teas both use the same fuel: reagents. These are things that you collect in the wind that you then use to craft knots and teas. A combination is often needed to complete a knot or a tea. “Dandelion” plus a “tuft of animal hair” to give one example. In our world the magical practises are somewhat alchemic and reagents are not always gathered from nature. Coagulated engine oil and driftwood dust are amongst the things you can expect to tie into your knots.

We hope you have enjoyed this summary of skills in the game. Please let us know your thoughts about them in the comments. As always we do actually read everything and will gladly use suggested skills in the future so feel free to brainstorm!

Much love from the team


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1152340/Book_of_Travels/