Interviews answers are in!

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Interviews answers are in!

Postby Webbstre » Wed Jun 24, 2009 2:16 am

We have the answers back for our 10 interview questions with Runic! A big thanks to Wonder for helping to set this all up, to Marsh Lefler for answering all but one question, and Matt Uelmen for answering the question about his music!


Is there going to be any way to pass items between chars in the single player game. e.g. shared stash (Titan quest) or some form of in-game mail/transfer.
(Jaknet)

As for the single player game you will be able to retire and the current plan is to pass along a single item to your heir. That however hasn't been hammered out just yet and could change as we get closer to ship. In the MMO, you will be able to mail items like in Mythos.


Do you have any plans to make things unlockable, either by beating the game or some other method? For example, could a person mod Torchlight to unlock a Ninja, Samurai, or Paladin class once you beat the game with a Destroyer?
(Altered version of hadati's question)

Unlocking classes is probably not going to happen for the single player. However unlocking items/new dungeons is possible. User's should be able to open up new dungeons given a quest line. Meaning once the main quest is done you can then have another quest occur in other dungeons. Those dungeons can become active only when that quest is excepted or the main quest line is accomplished.


How exactly are the triggers in the editor like? What can we do with the Triggers? For Example can we make the NPC/PC move(a cutscene).
(Omnifas)

Triggers in the editor function in a multitude of fashions. For example we have levers which if the player pulls can then trigger something to happen. We have player sphere's which are triggers - which when a player enters or exits can trigger something to happen.

A common trigger we have is called a "Unit Trigger". This is basically a unit that you can place in the world. We currently have a small puzzle involving three different levers( "Unit Triggers" ) that have to be pulled in the correct order to open a secret door.

As for the cut scenes. A camera control( with spline ) probably won't be put in. However the ability for the camera to change targets ( say look at a boss ) will probably be implemented in some fashion ( probably this week as a matter of fact ).

As for NPC's moving - we would like to do that. However it's kind of towards the bottom of the list of things to do right now.


Will TorchLight have a debug/cheat window ?
(jamesl)

Yes( shift + ~ )! You can even type Help in it and it gives you all the commands. When we release we probably make player enable it via the settings file though.


What are your plans for including ways to reset skill points or stat points? (aka respec)
(Altered version of Marshel's question)

You could always just cheat. ;) To be honest for the single player game we really aren't to worried about it. MMO side I'm sure we'll have something.


If you plan to finish the single player game this fall, what is your planned schedule so far for when the MMO will see alpha and/or beta phases? (aka do you plan a long development period before public testing?)
(Heavily altered version of jamesl's question)

I personally would like to have an open alpha like we did for Mythos - longggg. The sooner we get people playing and finding bugs/telling us what they hate/or love the better the game will be. Internally we haven't really discussed this much other then as soon as we feel like the game is showable and playable we should do it.


What are your plans for versions of Torchlight for Mac or linux systems?
(Altered version of Akerholt's question)

I would love to do a version for both. Ogre - our graphic's engine supports both systems. If we did do that though the editor wouldn't be compatible unless you are using a windows emulator. For those interested the Editor is built in C# - which is a Windows thing only.


Will you have a collector's edition available with Matt Uelmen's soundtrack?
(Sp3tsnaz)

From Matt Uelmen: I honestly have no idea at this point. The odds are
that the SP game won't have much more than 40 minutes of music, while the
MMO will likely have much, much more, possibly meaning that a CE soundtrack is more likely with the MMO. I do hope to do a promotional release of at least a couple of game tracks for the SP, though that has not been finalized in any way yet.


Can we save the game whenever and wherever we please? For example, when we reload a game, will we start at our last saved location or will we restart back in town?
(Tiptoe)

Yes you can save whenever and where ever you please and you won't start in town.


What kind of in-game item customization will Torchlight have? For example, crafting, socketting, "cube-style" combinations, etc.
(Webbstre)

Torchlight won't have a "crafting" system but we would like to get a "cube-style" system in place. Socketting is in the game already. We are throwing around the idea of a mini-game with the gems too - we'll see how that turns out.


Is there anything cool or interesting that no one has asked about/you guys haven't had the chance to talk about yet?
(Webbstre)

**Can we talk about other mini-games here?**

How about active skills versus found spells or even weapon skills! So we now have a skill tree, spells you can equip and weapon skills. There will hopefully be other mini-games - unlocking special chests, splitting gems and possibly more.


Thanks again to everyone for answering our questions, and to everyone who submitted questions for the interview! We would love to send them all in, but then the devs would never have time to finish the game! ^_^; All of the unasked questions will be considered when we have future opportunities for interviews.
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby Puffles » Wed Jun 24, 2009 3:39 am

So we now have a skill tree, spells you can equip and weapon skills.


I hope this doesn't make things too complex and convoluted. We'll see.

Awesome interview, by the way! I think that minigames would really fit with a casual game like this. Can't wait to try 'em out!
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby Webbstre » Wed Jun 24, 2009 3:41 am

Yay, I have time to post my own comments/thoughts now!

I'm still hoping they make a way to transfer items other than heirlooms, or else that someone makes a Titan Quest Vault kind of program that manages it for you.

The Triggers sound cool.

I share Marsh's feelings on wanting a nice long alpha where we get to play asap :-P

The Mac and Linux thing is really interesting, and I never really thought about the editor being more of a problem than the game. It would kind of suck to have the game but not be able to make anything with it. I wonder how that will turn out.

The last question has me thinking the most:
How about active skills versus found spells or even weapon skills! So we now have a skill tree, spells you can equip and weapon skills. There will hopefully be other mini-games - unlocking special chests, splitting gems and possibly more.

Perhaps this is a hint that the "Shared Skill Tree" they have been talking about setting up will be Diablo 1 style, with the spells and attacks acquired via things you find? That is pretty cool, because it lets you make a character with skill trees and also have unique builds depending on what you find each time through. I can't wait to hear more!
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby jamesl » Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:27 am

Webbstre wrote:How exactly are the triggers in the editor like? What can we do with the Triggers? ...(Omnifas)
Triggers in the editor function in a multitude of fashions. For example we have levers which if the player pulls can then trigger something to happen. We have player sphere's which are triggers - which when a player enters or exits can trigger something to happen.

A common trigger we have is called a "Unit Trigger". This is basically a unit that you can place in the world. We currently have a small puzzle involving three different levers( "Unit Triggers" ) that have to be pulled in the correct order to open a secret door.
...
As for NPC's moving - we would like to do that. However it's kind of towards the bottom of the list of things to do right now.


I think this is the most interesting
if I understand "player spheres" correctly, we set a boundary around an item/area and when a player crosses that boundary we can make something happen: a trap is sprung; enemy monsters summoned; the exit close and secret doors open

that just sounds awesome

and the whole idea of unit triggers opens up some really interesting possibilities;
I wonder if you could have 3 treasure chests and depending on the order you open them the 3rd either drops a ton of gold or summons a nearly unbeatable monster ? HA !

or present the player with 2 doors, but opening one causes an explosion forever blocking the other door

I don't care about cut scenes though, never cared for them, I always just press escape and skip them

moving npc's ??
wonder what we could do with that ? We did have the "find farmer gussen and his daughters" in Mythos; maybe we could do something similar with moving npc's here
I guess it depends on what they mean by moving; famer guseen didn't really walk; he just appeared in different places, so that's moving, in a way; but if we had walking npc's then we could do escort quests;
but I think back in the mythos forums most of the devs said they didn't like escort quests

I like them, but only because I like leading them to the monster :)

when he talked about weapon skills, I just thought he meant mastery skills; you know, +1 to sword skill give you 5% increased chance to hit when you use a sword

its great though getting so much information

thnaks Marsh and Matt !
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby Omnifas » Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:46 am

What I meant by moving NPCs/PCs was moving them in terms of simple cutscenes, but you bring up a good point about moving NPCs. I guess I should have clarified that question better, but oh well :P, Marsh gave a good description on the editor tools.

What kind of in-game item customization will Torchlight have? For example, crafting, socketting, "cube-style" combinations, etc.
(Webbstre)
Torchlight won't have a "crafting" system but we would like to get a "cube-style" system in place. Socketting is in the game already. We are throwing around the idea of a mini-game with the gems too - we'll see how that turns out.


I kinda expected TL to have no crafting, but crafting in a SP game is pretty much redundant. Crafting is more of a in-game economy thing for online games. But we could pretty much make our own crafting system using triggers, quests, and other available editor tools.

Will TorchLight have a debug/cheat window ?
(jamesl)
Yes( shift + ~ )! You can even type Help in it and it gives you all the commands. When we release we probably make player enable it via the settings file though.


Good to hear the developer console is enableable, especially since we need to test if our mods work correctly by godmodeing our way through first for errors.
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby trappski » Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:56 am

Webbstre wrote:What are your plans for versions of Torchlight for Mac or linux systems?
(Altered version of Akerholt's question)

I would love to do a version for both. Ogre - our graphic's engine supports both systems. If we did do that though the editor wouldn't be compatible unless you are using a windows emulator. For those interested the Editor is built in C# - which is a Windows thing only.

C# Isn't a windows only thing...
There are tools to develop for other systems. Mono is multi-platform. And MonoDevelop an alternative IDE to visual studio is available for multiple plattforms.

I know it's more of a minor detail this. And i understand why they choose not to release stuff for multiple plattforms.
Just wanted to point this out.
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby jamesl » Wed Jun 24, 2009 5:19 am

I swear I just posted this, but I don't know where it went :)

Omnifas wrote:I kinda expected TL to have no crafting, but crafting in a SP game is pretty much redundant. Crafting is more of a in-game economy thing for online games. But we could pretty much make our own crafting system using triggers, quests, and other available editor tools.


my favorite thing in D2 was finding the eye, the brain and the heart and combining them to make the magic flail that could open Mephisto's dungeon

that's the kind of crafting I'd like to see in the SP version; dungeons and areas that are locked until you find the components and combine them to make the magic key

or the monster that is unbeatable until you find the magic spear that was broken into 3 pieces and scattered across the land, and then recombine the spear and gain godly power

that might be doable with triggers and quests and stuff; can't wait to see
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby prestige » Wed Jun 24, 2009 5:41 am

I'm also interested in the multiple sources for skills discussion. I wonder if found skills and item skills will be entirely different from class skills? If they are different, supplementary skills, then maybe we really will have a reason to fill up that 1-0 skill bar.
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby Arkam » Wed Jun 24, 2009 6:59 am

I usually dont use cheats, but [ shift + ~ ] is a really crap combination, italian keyboards dont have the ~ directly on keys, we have to use [ alt + 126 ], and i doubt that shift + alt + 126 will work :)
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby jamesl » Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:03 am

Arkam wrote:I usually dont use cheats, but [ shift + ~ ] is a really crap combination, italian keyboards dont have the ~ directly on keys, we have to use [ alt + 126 ], and i doubt that shift + alt + 126 will work :)


they'll have an alternative for international keyboards
they have the same cheat window with the same key code in FATE (which these guys worked on) and I know international players can also bring up the cheat window in it
I just don't remember what the international key combo is
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby ombra » Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:20 am

A very nice interview with really good questions, good work Webbstre. I don't know how many times i have read interviews with questions that were 1 Million times answered before... Good Job.
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby Webbstre » Wed Jun 24, 2009 8:03 am

jamesl wrote:
Arkam wrote:I usually dont use cheats, but [ shift + ~ ] is a really crap combination, italian keyboards dont have the ~ directly on keys, we have to use [ alt + 126 ], and i doubt that shift + alt + 126 will work :)


they'll have an alternative for international keyboards
they have the same cheat window with the same key code in FATE (which these guys worked on) and I know international players can also bring up the cheat window in it
I just don't remember what the international key combo is

Actually, I have that EXACT SAME PROBLEM (damned squiggly!) on my Japanese keyboard. They key above tab on mine is the button that switches what alphabet you type in, so I have to manually force my keyboard to think it is a US keyboard instead. It works to trick Fate but it won't work on ANY Bethesda games, which drives me nuts sometimes.

Runic Guys, please Please PLEASE make the cheat console changeable in the options somewhere!
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby GCoder » Wed Jun 24, 2009 10:14 am

Very nice interview, thanks Webbstre and everybody else who helped with the questions…

Can we save the game whenever and wherever we please? For example, when we reload a game, will we start at our last saved location or will we restart back in town?
(Tiptoe)

Yes you can save whenever and where ever you please and you won't start in town.


Hmm that probably means that when we load a game the mobs that we have killed don’t spawn again (unlike Diablo 2).
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby Haze » Wed Jun 24, 2009 10:38 am

Great interview. Thx everyone. ^^

I'm hoping someone will make a shared stash mod or something to transfer multiple items if nothing like it makes it in.
I'm not sure if this have been said but; Was the item to your heir going to be enhanced in some way or is it just being transfered?

+1 for long alpha, asap. :)

I'm hoping the answer to the save system meant we will reload on or last location, well in a reasonably close spot.

Agree with Webbstre on the "Shared skill tree" theory. Never played D1 but I've played games with a similar structure and I can't wait to hear more about it/see it, ...try it! ^^
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby Sp3tSnAz » Wed Jun 24, 2009 10:42 am

Aww at waiting till MMO for the soundtrack :p
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby Arkam » Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:49 am

Just please don do like Hellgate london had... stay in beta until you are happy with the game status AND the community too

I remember ppl begging to delay the release without success

If they had had released hellgate with the patch2.0 state, it whould have been an uber game
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby ombra » Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:59 am

Arkam wrote:If they had had released hellgate with the patch2.0 state, it whould have been an uber game


For me it was an uber game, but with some flaws! :-) I understand what you mean, i don't think it will happen again, but that can happen every time when you are dependant on other people paying your staff... ;-) Hope that they will sell enough SP versions of the game, then such a misfortune won't happen again...

I keep my finger's crossed for them! ;)
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby Arkam » Wed Jun 24, 2009 1:46 pm

I really had fun in hellgate, i was also a founder and i played it since server closing... too bad hellgate is nomore :)
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby jamesl » Wed Jun 24, 2009 1:59 pm

Haze wrote:I'm not sure if this have been said but; Was the item to your heir going to be enhanced in some way or is it just being transfered?


I know I've read somewhere that the item will be enhanced but they just haven't worked out the details yet

with FATE you could heirloom any item and it would get something like +25% to all attributes on the item each time it was heirloomed
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Re: Interviews answers are in!

Postby Jaknet » Wed Jun 24, 2009 2:23 pm

Cheers to everyone involved in setting this up and answering the questions. I'm stunned mine got included, shame it was a no (at the moment). Still I guess it will help encourage more people to play the MMO when it happens.

With the SP game being so modable I really hope someone come up with a way to move items between chars.
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