Printable View
Hi there Seedlings! As mentioned in one of our last updates, we've had Gary hard at work on putting together new character art for Kynseed. Not long ago, he sent in some early drafts of character aging and we're pretty darn pleased with the results. We're keen to see what you think and would love to get your thoughts.
This is awesome, I’m getting really psyched for its release.
:awesome:
It would be fantastic to see our character age ��
Wonderful art, I really dig the looks.
Nice artist you got there!
looking good. I am looking forward to seeing more art.
It looks awesome! It brings up a few questions that I had in my head for a while. How many generations are planned to be playable? Will the town develop over the years? (wooden cabins into stone buildings or something like that) Can NPCs marry each other or are just new kids popping out of nowhere every few years?
You can play for centuries, although we are not going to talk at all about events or any potential 'end-game'.
It may grow slightly...there are some blank spaces for new buildings, but not for you personally to develop on.
Yes they can and they will have their own kids.
If an NPC can't have kids, or dies with no heirs, then 'long-lost' family members will populate their house.
Yeah, Gary's been absolutely great. Not to over-hype (he says cautiously), but Gary sent in some new character art on Friday that has probably gotten me more excited about the game than any assets I'd seen thus far. ^^ Something we'll be sharing in the near future I'm sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by God
Will there be anything in place where you can trace a families lineage? Maybe even small blurbs about what they did or what type of person they were? The "long-lost" family member had me thinking about the possibility.
You will be able to look at family memorials listing who died, how and when....plus your own family tree roots are viewable under your own Kynseed tree (not literally...presentation-wise).
Would it be possible there could be statues of your ancestors in the city if you complete special challenging (optional) quests with them?
That is exactly what I was hoping for! I'm almost a little worried I'll be able to look back through and be sad about the townsfolk I've lost in the game. HahaQuote:
Originally Posted by Charlie
That's the point. We want you to remember them and their little quirks and stories....watch them grow old and pass.
What you're saying is you want to make us cry :PQuote:
Originally Posted by Charlie
Utterly weeping.
Well, this sounds good. LET'S GET ATTACHED and feel the despair when your favorite NPC dies! :PQuote:
Originally Posted by Charlie
Or maybe you will fondly remember them?
Or go "Wow, I'm glad that guy's dead. He was kind of a jerk."
I hope it's all of those things. I tend to give npcs backstories in my mind when I play rpgs as is.
They look amazing! I'm getting so excited about this I could pop!
Wait til you see the newer Vale villagers art...
:yes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie
I really like that the sprites get a little smaller when they hit 'old age.' It adds a nice touch.
Do we know how long a year in game is? Like, 20 hours and you grow into a teenager and so on and so forth?
Haha, yes!Quote:
Originally Posted by LozzLogan
Yes, true. If it is an NPC I liked anyway!Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie
Currently a day is set at 8 minutes.
There are currently 14 days in a season (2 weeks of 7 days)...so that's 112 minutes per season / 448 per year.
This makes a year over 7 hours, which is too long.
Now, there is no need to rush through the game and there will be ways to move it forwards, but we will need to carefully balance it a bit later and look at how to make sure you are not spending 7 hours getting to the year end.
We could reduce a day to 6 minutes, but also maybe have 2 weeks of 5 days per season.
This would bring it to an hour per season; 4 for the year.
It would be good to know all your thoughts?
Do you want time passing quickly? Do you want to chill and not worry about time passing?
Let us know!
Mmmmh yammi, pixel!
Well, the in game time really depands on how you are going to "fill" it, I think. The game is supposed to last several generations, right? A hundred years maybe?
So with 4 hours a year this would make 400 hours at all. Even with just 300 hours, what challenging non-repeated tasks would we have to do over that time? :)
I really love Stardew Valley, but after a couple of hours I was just bored of doing the same things again and again. Just my oppinion.
I actually like the longer option to be honest.
It gives me time explore the land and do my own stuff, but also enough time to meet people and form attachments (either positive or negative.)
Though I wouldn't object to a slightly shorter week with longer days. (Somehow in my head, ten min days feels nice?)
I have to say those days sound way short to me. But I love to bask in surroundings and see the small things. If I'm rushing to finish a day it'll feel too grindy.
Restrictions on falling asleep at 11 will be lifted after the Prologue, and you will have the rest of the world to explore....all of it.
The only gating will come from places that need a certain tool or item or seasonal blockages.
I personally want the player to feel a little rushed early on and then find ways to be more economical.
Then, when Mr Fairweather starts offering up items that can make tasks easier and allow travel shortcuts, then they will tempt the player to spend their life on them.
The game may potentially last generations, but that is not the point of the game. Creating your business empire, just exploring, nurturing, messing with the sandbox, unlocking all the skills, trading, combat and so on are the things you can do individually or all at once.
We just want a game where you can create your own fun and play how you like....not just open world, but open life.
I think 12 minute days would be better. I know it adds more (168/season-672/year- 12ish hr/year, but it gives us a little more leeway to make decisions and enjoy stuff.
Wait... how many natural years are we looking at in a character on average? I'm assuming some of our characters might have longer lives randomly and through good decisions or shorter lives randomly or from awesome/hilarious decisions.
Every character you play as dies aged 60 as part of the Kynseed contract, and you take over a child at 15.
If your kids are not of age, time is moved forward to 15 years old.
You can die in combat, but can be revived at the cost of 1 year. You will also have the option to be revived with any loot you gained from that combat zone, at a higher cost.
I'm a big fan of having longer days and making up for that by having shorter seasons (and/or maybe even reducing the maximum age to 50?). I think being rushed overall at the beginning and then accumulating ways to better manage your time is fine. However, I hate the specific sort of rushed feeling where I'm pressing harder and harder on the run/movement buttons because I'm trying to squeak something in under the deadline. Does that make sense? Like, I'm all for having to pick and choose what I can accomplish in a day/season/year but I don't want to feel like my whole in-game day will fall apart time-wise if I make a small unplanned detour on my way from A to B to pick up a plant.
You actually do not need to rush at all....there is no real penalty except maybe you might not be as rich or get as much stuff (which you can always get another time). There are those players though who want to max out their days and try do as much as possible :-)
Another thing we could do is make the days shorter during Prologue, then longer afterwards.
Additionally, some of the combat zones will freeze or slow time (and one even speeds it up!)
Could a game speed setting be implemented into the options menu? It sounds incredibly complicated to me but I know some sim games allow the player to change the speed of its day/night cycles in order to move through them at an excellerated pace.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie
Coming 100% from my personal point of view; I want to play the game so that it crosses several generations. I want to be able to experience at least a good size piece of everything in one play through.
As I've gotten older real life pulls me in every direction other than gaming. Most of my game time takes place weekends after my wife and kids have gone to bed.** I enjoy games that I can walk away feeling like I've accomplished a lot during my playtime. I think 4 hours a year would be the longest I would like a year to be. Even at that pace if you play 100 hours you've only crossed 25 years. If a character has to pass on at 60 years completng a life cycle would take 240 hours...
**Dad note- Its one of the reasons I enjoy the Switch. I can sneak in game time without taking over the living room and put it down at a moments notice if my kids need anything.
I think a 6 minute day is way too short. I think the current prototype day is too short. I'd rather have a 10-12 min day, and have fewer days of the week/season/year. Self-made calendar to suit. Personally, I have no life (or I work from home) and could play 12 hours a day...
Like it was mentioned, I would prefer the Option to change the speed of the game. Like in Sims, you can always switch between Short, normal, long and epic.
There may be Generations or times I Would like to rush through and others where I want to Play the longest I can. Giving the Player the freedom to choose the relative speed of the time they play would really be a enhancing Feature. So 2 People, one playing 3h a week, the other 30h could be equally far in the generations.
To be honest I personally do not want that. I would rather people play the same pace and get the same reward....the temptation to use time just to rush through would be too great.
Stardew doesn't have an accelerate time...nor does Fantasy Life, Ultima 7 and so on.
Yeah, when it comes to games with a 'fast forward' speed setting, I always tell myself that I'm gonna take my time and play the game at a reasonable pace. But then I get lazy and accidentally end up playing the entire game at the fastest speed. :P