Another month gone by, and more work being done on Return, with some really good news to share!
But the first news: I am happy to announce that Jolyn “Nytefall” Kitzer has rejoined Team Return as Lead 2D Artist. Nytefall was one of Ultima V: Lazarus’ main artist, crafting many of its character portraits as well as the beautiful stills used for the introduction and endgame sequence. To say that we are happy to have her back onboard is an understatement!
I shall stress however that this does not mean we are not looking for artist anymore, although potential new 2D artist will have to work to fit their style within specific parameter set by Nytefall.
In addition, Disordah aka Danny, a new writer/designer has joined our team as well, and a couple of potential other people might join us as well, so this was a good month for recruitment!
But of course more work has been done on gameplay systems!
For starter we have released the injury system we mentioned last month and it can be found at the NWN2 Vault, there.
Jaakko has also released an updated version of our new Resting system (available there) with a new GUI and settings of comfortability which allows to set how much HP your party can regain upon resting depending on how dangerous the area is. In addition multiple random encounter settings are available allowing to decide how likely an encounter is possible during sleeping.
Last but not least, Dan has crafted a pretty wonderful Guards and Prison system available there . This allows NPCs to react if you take an item not belonging to you and calling the guards, which you can follow to Jail, bribe or fight. Once in Jail you can then try to escape in multiple ways and also need to get your stuff back from a predefined chest where it has been put. Basically a very Ultima-ish system with some neat new features!
On the whole there are little gameplay elements left to implement, and while they shall all require a lot of balancing and enhancement over the month, we’re getting closer and closer to being “feature complete”!
The overland area for that special project aspect we mentioned last month as also progressed very well and we are still focused very much on that. But more on this later…
But of course, we can’t conclude this update without the usual reminder:
WE NEED YOU!
We still need many more motivated team members, and we are notably sorely lacking in 3D Artists – so if you feel you are up to the task, do not hesitate to contact us! This project will not be finished without you!
See you all again next month!