Nose to the Grindstone

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II has a pretty sweet weapon honing system. End-to-end this one system is probably many times the work hours of CRUFT. Food for thought.

We're in the thick of it folks. Not much to update in the demo build. In fact, hopefully the demo build is not long for this world. It served its purpose. It got the core of the game out there to folks and got some good feedback. It also did stall development of the game as a whole, but in this case it was worth it. There are a bunch of tough calls you have to make whenever you have a special build in the pipeline. In the case of CRUFT, the demo build required I halt work on the metagame and game levels in the interest of getting enough stuff in the demo. It was a useful in practice and I'm glad I went that route... but we always want our calendar time back. We always second guess.

There is a danger in being quiet for too long. Still, I got stuff to do to get this game in shape to release. The work is, however, very unsexy. By and large, it is a refactor of the guts of CRUFT. The demo was fine with just a scene that would only ever care about one map, one set of items placed there at the start, and one open list of contacts for you to buy and sell with. Now, I might be making many maps, each with their own layouts and items as well as contacts to interact with. I need to add a reason to leave one yard and go to another. I'm also taking away much of what was in the tutorial level and spreading it out so that each level has a few focused things to do.

One of the most common criticisms I got with the demo was that there was so much stuff and very little direction. Well, that is because I dumped out all the lego pieces on the floor and just watched what you did with them. It was intentional. Now I'm going to take what I learned and put those pieces into boxes. You can still rip apart the Rivendell and Millennium Falcon lego sets and build a ($1250!!!) lifeline lego goat if you like. I'm hoping the same rings true with CRUFT.

Each level will have a custom layout of stuff in your yard when you show up. This will give a ton of differentiation from level to level. One map might have plenty of places to mine for metals if you unlock those spots. Another might have ample fishing, but no mining. Further, the things you can buy and sell will differ from map to map. Sera might not be an available contact way out in the boonies so you might be sourcing grown veg instead from Karen.

As you play through different maps, you get to earn some permanent bonuses. It might be really challenging to unlock all the mines on that first map on your first playthrough. Unlock some bonus starting deeds on that second map and it might make sense to go back to the first and be buried in metals. At least in theory this gives you some fun stuff to zip around to different maps and do a few different things each time. Going into Early Access, I'm pretty sure there will be four maps.

I've got some other ideas on paper but as I've found a million times, too much artifact creation is wasteful. Make enough of something to get actionable feedback and make confident decisions. I've thrown out more designs just by overdesigning than I can count. In truth, putting a lot on paper can be a good thing. It gets the mind thinking about what you want to do from different angles. Putting all those thoughts into any sort of production though... that is just chaos with unproven ideas.

I routinely make three of something when I'm just getting started. I said there will be four maps, but one of them is just an updated version of the tutorial with less in it. That's just an iteration. If going to multiple different levels is fun, it will prove out with three new unique maps. If it is REALLY FUN then I know I will be spending a lot of time making more maps. If is it just pretty cool, then I will make fewer maps that are intended to play longer and bump up things like a sandbox mode sooner. The point here is that I'm already thinking about what I will do based on the feedback I get. Three of something is often just enough things to get a concrete sense of the value of their differentiation. It can also tell you whether or not those things even can be different/interesting enough to warrant doing a lot of them. Sometimes you find that in the process of just making a few of something it is clear that a huge pile of them won't be fun. Sometimes three is exactly the right number and you just lean into those three things. Sometimes you find out that just one thing is the way to go. While it is a longshot, one mega-yard may be the way to go. Could happen. I hope it doesn't.

You're rambling. Are you in recovery from having a molar removed or something?

Yes, I am. I do have a point though.

I cannot afford to put my games on long production slides without being able to confidently critique the outcome. Going into Next Fest was an exercise in learning about the core of the game. I know some people really like it and think:

• "I got sucked into it for far longer than I expected"

• "I'm surprised because it isn't my kind of game" (me neither!)

• "The music is silly" (our first review and the one I'm most proud of)

• "So much CRUFT"

• "I have no idea what I'm supposed to do after I make a pizza" (but you wish you did I wager)

Going forward is about learning how much, and the form, of the content I need to create to make the game worth playing for a considerable and enjoyable time. I'm designing a bunch of achievements so that I can see if cross play between levels is fun. I'm only going to implement three of these to start though. I just had fun getting carried away and even if they do not do something in game they are still cool Steam achievements.

Cheevos, man. They are fun to write up and fun to throw away.

I can tell you with confidence...

If I had done this design work (and (gaaaahd forbid) implemented it) a few months ago it would look waaaaay different and all have had to get scrapped... and redone from the ground up. Now I'm pretty confident I'm not overstepping reality.

What you want to do is get to the point that you can put your nose to the grindstone without wasting time. If you fire up the grindstone before you have forged and tested anything you are really just sitting there empty handed and no sparks are gonna fly. You can test the heft, balance, and comfort of a blunt sword.

You forge something blunt, then you hone it.

Thanks for reading. Sorry about the typos. qq my jaw hurts and I'm tired of typing.