Dustgrave: A Sandbox RPG News

We are happy to announce that we will release a demo of Dustgrave next week!

Many of the features we described in the last weeks will be fully implemented. You will be able to work for factions and settlements, commit various felonies, improve your standings with some people while becoming a major enemy for others!

https://youtu.be/iHpjTBAihKg

While we still have a long road ahead before Dustgrave reaches the level of depth and quality we intend to achieve, the world’s reactivity to player’s choices is already showing its future potential, and we are eager to know what you think about it.

One of our most important goals is to create a strong relationship with the community so that we can have an open discussion about what features, choices, and narrative outcomes the players want. The system we created to support Dustgrave’s dynamic narrative is now extremely flexible, and we want to give everyone of you the chance of living a memorable story based on the path you decide to take.
Now, a list of Dustgrave’s unique features that will be available to try in the demo:

• The complex system of Records and Relationships is fully working, with NPCs remembering what you did to them and dialogues reflecting that.
  
• It will be possible to work for Settlements and Major Factions, developing good relationships and even helping a faction conquer an enemy settlement.
  
• The stealth system can be used to steal valuables or better position before a fight, or maybe even take advantage of the NPCs routines to isolate enemies.
  
• Characters can be created and geared up to destroy enemies in combat, so that you’ll be able to try Dustgrave’s unique take on Skills and Items.
  

In today’s Dev Diary we will share some details on how the world changes in Dustgrave, depending on both the player’s actions and the objectives of the many competing factions.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The biggest advantage of having a sandbox structure is not having a fixed plot that shapes the world around the player. Player’s can enjoy Dustgrave’s world at their own pace and choosing their own path. We don’t need immortal characters or forced choices to keep the narrative intact, because the systems we developed will always be able to generate quests, choices, and storylines for the player. Provided at least a dozen people are still alive in the world!

The more we worked on Dustgrave, the more ideas we got to expand the potential of dynamic narrative. We wanted to turn classic fantasy narrative tropes fantasy into dynamic systems, allowing players to enjoy certain experiences without constraints (like conquering a fortress or liberating a village full of undead).



At first, we focused on simple systems, like changing the wealth of a character after the player stole valuables from them. Depending on the severity of the theft, the poor character may only need to sell some of their possessions to feed their family, or even lose their home and become forced to live in a tent.

After a while, we started designing more advanced systems, capable of dealing with world-changing events. What if entire settlements get destroyed by raiding bandits or undead creatures? What if factions with political power can engage in a war and conquer settlements belonging to their enemies? We wanted players to experience dramatic events and play a key role in their development.



That’s why, in Dustgrave, settlements and locations are dynamic entities. They can be conquered by a different faction, see their population decimated, get destroyed and rebuilt, acquire new citizens, or host travellers sleeping in the local inn or camping in the vicinity.

The ruined settlement you will find travelling around the world map won’t just provide you with a challenging fight and some loot, but someday you may protect some settlers trying to rebuild it. Or perhaps you will come back again after some months and find people living in it. And they may have a job for you.

In a similar fashion, if you’ll want to climb the ranks of a political faction, you will eventually be involved in some good old-fashioned war of conquest. After all, there is an ongoing civil war! Instead of dealing with bandits and heretics, you focus on sabotage and espionage. And if you are tired of doing simple quests or minor errands, you will also be able to directly enter a settlement and decimate all soldiers. Or get beaten to death for trying.



As can be seen in the images and videos in this Dev Diary, the same settlement can either be flourishing and contributing to the region’s economy (well, they are chopping trees so it’s probably a minor contribution) or be in ruins and full of Infested walking around. Having dynamic settlements is a powerful tool to make the world alive and interesting, and works well with other existing mechanics.
And yes, we named Dustgrave’s zombies “Infested” in a desperate attempt of being original.


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2393370/Dustgrave_A_Sandbox_RPG/

Today we will cover how the stealth system works in Dustgrave and why we devoted so much time to it. In a game where all NPCs remember what you did to them, it’s fundamental to have the possibility of acting from the shadows to avoid negative consequences.

In Dustgrave, you will always have the option of activating a stealth mode to move around without getting noticed by the various NPCs. Depending on a character’s skills and equipment, they may be stealthy enough to infiltrate buildings, steal precious items, and even recover secret information.

NPCs have two different ways of perceiving the player:

• They have a cone of view, with a size varying depending on the character’s attributes. If a hidden character steps into the cone, they only have a few moments to get away before they get caught.
  
• They can hear sounds, meaning that trying to open the chest right behind them may attract their attention.
  

Did you manage to get through the security and steal some valuables? Good for you! But now it would be better to run away and lie low for a while, because NPCs will soon notice that something is missing and will most definitely try to find who stole their stuff. NPCs won’t only react to crimes-in-progress, but also notice that you emptied their shelves or picked a few locks. After they find evidence of a crime, they will alert the guard and start searching for the culprit.

After a few hours, things will go back to normal and NPCs won’t blame you, unless every single time you visit a village, stuff goes missing. But be wary, because a few items are easy to recognize, and selling some goods back to their previous owner will get you in trouble.



The Stealth system will also work during fights. It will be possible to ambush enemies to start the combat with the upper hand, but it will also be possible to silently take down isolated enemies and avoid them alerting their friends. Killing an entire camp of bandits without triggering an alarm won’t be easy, but will reward the player with the gift of anonymity: no one saw anything, therefore no record will be added and relations with the bandits won’t worsen.



https://store.steampowered.com/app/2393370/Dustgrave_A_Sandbox_RPG/

Combat is a very important part of RPGs; we’re designing Dustgrave’s combat system to be satisfyingly deep and challenging, giving you lots of tactical options to engage your enemies. Let's explore the foundation of Dustgrave's combat system in today's Dev Diary.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We focused on three key objectives:

• Give unique value to all equipment pieces, instead of only increasing numbers;
  
• Allow players to experiment with different combos and reward out-of-the-box thinking;
  
• Create a deep system capable of supporting long playthroughs.
  

To achieve that, we created 7 different Action Templates accessed by equipping different weapons, armors, or other items. Each turn you’ve got 2 Action Points; some of the following actions take just 1 AP, while the most powerful ones takes 2, taking your whole turn to complete them.



Fast Attacks and Strong Attacks are given by weapons, and they represent the most basic action of most RPGs: using a weapon to attack an enemy. Fast Attacks only cost a single Action Point, allowing a character to move before or after using them. Strong Attacks have more powerful effects but require two Action Points to be used.

Quick Spells and Empowered Spells follow the same logic, providing two different ways of using magic in combat.

Dashes are used to move across the battlefield. Some allow characters to avoid opportunity attacks, others let slow characters move and strike a target with a single AP.

Armors and Shields give access to different Guards. They are defensive Actions used to protect a character from incoming attacks, or to provide specific buffs.

Shouts are linked to a character’s Personality Attribute and scale with its value. They are useful for boosting allies’ morale, but several Skills can transform them into offensive Actions.


This is a classic longsword, providing two attack Actions.



Those two Attacks have their unique stats, influencing how many enemies they can target, how much they can penetrate armor, and how deadly they are.
In Dustgrave, you will be able to use those Actions as they are, but our unique twist is that you will also be able to combine the Skills you unlocked with them! This is how a Skill can interact with the sword’s Fast Attack.



The resulting Action deals more damage and better penetrates armors, but will be less precise, meaning it will be easier to miss and harder to land a critical hit.



Repelling Strike adds the Status Effect Push to the attack, allowing the character to move opponents and possibly allowing allies to land Opportunity Attacks on them.

Skills change or override certain values, so choosing the right equipment for every character is fundamental. Acquiring new items will open new possibilities and unlock new and potentially deadly combos.

The same concept applies to all other Action Templates. In this case, we have a Skill from the Occult Magic tree, which applies to all Shouts.
While the standard Shout applies to allies and bolsters their morale, the modified Action affects enemies and applies a powerful debuff to their offensive capabilities.



This unique concept will let players experiment with the wide variety of items included in the game. Actions hitting multiple targets are ideal for applying Status effects, while precise attacks can be used to easily trigger Critical Hits.

We are so eager to let you all play with Dustgrave and break the game in ways we didn’t even think possible. Stay tuned to learn more about the game!

Hello everyone (the five people reading this Dev. Diary)!

This first Dev. Diary will cover the most important feature in Dustgrave: the Relationship System.
Aren't you tired of NPCs forgetting what you did for them? Isn't it a bummer that you just saved an entire city and only got "+5 Relations" with the local noble?

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Well, we have a solution! Thanks to countless hours of mental gymnastics and coding, we developed a complex system of records that the game can use to keep track of everything happening in the world. In particular, everything you, the player, do.

Stealing an apple? Ending a bandit's life? Trespassing? Saving someone's family? Helping someone with a quest? The game will remember everything, just like your former toxic partner.

By recording every meaningful deed, we can calculate relationships between characters and factions at runtime instead of relying on a simple score that wouldn't reflect a constantly changing world.



[h3]How the system works[/h3]

Since no one cares about boring theory, let's start making examples.

Let's say you, the player, a brave yet sexy adventurer, are traveling around the world and meet a group of robbers. They chase you and demand all your valuables to be handed to them. "Sir, that sounds like a felony." is what you say. "Haven't you read the game description? This is a dangerous land. Anarchy reigns supreme."

A violent fight erupts.

Thanks to being an actual person and not a foolish AI, you beat them, leaving their lifeless bodies on the ground. Only one of them manages to run away.

In the meantime, many new Records have been created:

• A Killed record for each dead bandit;
  
• A Defeated record for the one that got out;
  
• Several Killed Faction Members records, directly related to the faction the bandits belonged to.
  

How do those records affect your relationships with the rest of the world?

Well, for starters, the people you just killed aren't going to like you. Yes, they are dead, but maybe there are ways to convey with them in a fantasy setting. Just saying.

All their relatives? They are going to hate you. You can be sure of that. That record alone may give you a staggering -100 Relationships with their closest relatives, and maybe a -35 if they were only distant cousins.

Their faction will not like it, but they have so many unimportant bandits in their rank (at least twelve, I'd say) that they will only care a little. We can numerically define "a little" as something like -2 for each of them. That alone won't make their faction outright hostile, but will make any future attempt to repair things a little trickier.

What about local authorities? Killing is considered by most people somewhat rude, but since you've been rude to their enemies, they will actually like you more for that!

[h3]Recording in-game events[/h3]

Every NPC in the game will interpret any meaningful record according to their existing relationships and ethical values.

• Killed an enemy of mine? I will like you more (+25).
  
• Killed my friend? Reverse Uno card, but the same number as above (-25).
  
• Killed my rival? I will like you a lot more (+50).
  
• Just saved my wife? Guess what? I hated her. You only get a little gratitude so that the rest of the village doesn't judge me (+10 and some fake gratitude).
  
• Did an important quest for my Settlement? I will directly inherit your relationships with all my factions, including my Settlement (+20 with my Settlement, and therefore +20 with me).
  
• Killed an enemy of mine, but I am a pacifist? I will not like it as much as other people, but an enemy is an enemy (+12.5 rounded to +12)
  
• Stole something from me? I won't like that. But since the devs made me a dishonest person too, I will react less harshly compared to other people (-20 becoming a -15)
  

Dustgrave's database has more than a hundred unique Records we can use. For each one of them, we can define the impact on relationships and how people with different moral values react to those records. So, not only will the world remember what you (and even other NPCs) did, but every single individual will respond uniquely.

That's not it. Those Records can also be used in events and dialogues. NPCs will directly refer to the things you did for them, and special events may trigger in reaction to your actions.
Did you steal a lot of valuables from a merchant? They may pay some bounty hunters and put them on your tracks.

Did you save someone's life in the past? Well, you can rub that on their face and tell them it's time to pay back the favor!

Did you forget the game unpaused and stared for hours at a guy working in the fields? I mean, there is no point in making a Record for that. We are not tracking that. But we could do that if we wanted! So don't stalk people, not even unintentionally!


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2393370/Dustgrave_A_Sandbox_RPG/