The Official Arcanum artifact thread

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Dark Elf, Sep 19, 2012.

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Will you contribute towards a custom NPC or Artifact?

  1. Yes!

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  2. No!

    0 vote(s)
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  1. Jungle Japes

    Jungle Japes Well-Known Member

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    I don't think we should name-drop in the item description. Obviously there are too many people helping to make this happen to work all their names in. I think we should just supply an item name and basic description of what it is and what it does and leave the lore to the creative geniuses at Obsidian.
     
  2. DarkFool

    DarkFool Nemesis of the Ancients

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    I'm thinking more and more that we ought to retro-fit an item from Arcanum.

    If they do technology, I'd vote Schreck's Multi-barrel pistol.
     
  3. Jungle Japes

    Jungle Japes Well-Known Member

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    Something tells me there will already be easter eggs from their previous games.
     
  4. Dark Elf

    Dark Elf Administrator Staff Member

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    Apart from being the fashion accessory of choice for gentlemen, monocles serve a practical purpose by enhancing visual acuity. I decided to go for that angle with regards to our item's lore and its enchantments.

    Effects: Skill bonuses are pointless to discuss in detail at this point since we do not know what kind of skill system they are implementing. Therefore, we'll have to go with general ideas at this juncture.

    In keeping with T-A style though, I feel that the monocle should provide a boost to relevant conversational skills. If there are skills to persuade, intimidate, bluff and see through the lies and hidden agendas of others, this monocle should increase those.

    The rest depends on the nature of magic in the setting. Some settings are ridiculously high magic and routinely let you find in +29 Holy Warhammers of Fiery Decapitation in poor farmers'chests of drawers, others (admittedly a lot more rare) have you cheer in joy as you find a +2 longsword as endgame loot after an insanely difficult battle. There is one additional thing I would like to see though. In keeping with the nature of previous enchantments, it would seem right and fitting if the monocle provided a bonus to Mental magic (Charm, Hold Person, Hypnotise, Dominate Will etc). Anything more than that feels like overkill, but we'll have to wait and see until we know more.

    Lore: Japes is pretty much spot on with regards to the namedropping. They've stated outright that backers can create the lore of their items though, and again, we'll have to wait and see if it's a ”could” or a ”should”. They may want general guidelines of things we wish to see in the item description, in which case ”The House of Lords” should be mentioned, a history of wild debates and the ability of the monocle to discern the truth and sway minds a given.

    I would be quite satisfied with that.
     
  5. Jojobobo

    Jojobobo Well-Known Member

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    Are there any examples of a community putting an item into a game before this? Because if so that might help determine how appropriate a bit of name-dropping would be.
     
  6. Philes

    Philes Well-Known Member

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    As long as some hint of us here at TA gets into whatever the item eventually becomes I don't really care about the specifics. I leave it to you gentleman.
     
  7. DarkFool

    DarkFool Nemesis of the Ancients

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    What about a top hat? Also, can we raise another thousand or two and do a full suit?
     
  8. Dark Elf

    Dark Elf Administrator Staff Member

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    We could try. But top hat = they have to make a special sprite for it (which they could or could not be willing to do), whereas a monocle would in all likelihood be spriteless.
     
  9. werozzi

    werozzi Member

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    So, it's not going to be three-lame-dimensional?
    This game will be just GREAT!
     
  10. Dark Elf

    Dark Elf Administrator Staff Member

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    They're going for an Infinity-like engine. So, 2D environments and 3D sprites á la ToEE seems likely.
     
  11. werozzi

    werozzi Member

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    Correct my ignorance, but i think that sprites can only be 2d, 3d is made of models.
     
  12. TheDavisChanger

    TheDavisChanger Well-Known Member

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    Sprites can be generated from 3D models. The sprites themselves are always 2D.

    The use of 3D sprites versus 2D sprites was the source of a great deal of controvery at ProjectZomboid; that's the only reason my ignorance is slightly more informed than yours.
     
  13. werozzi

    werozzi Member

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    I fully agree, then i guess Dark Elf confused different terms; thus getting poor old Werozzi puzzled.
     
  14. Dark Elf

    Dark Elf Administrator Staff Member

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    I'm very sure you're right, I should have said "character models" instead of "sprites".
     
  15. DarkFool

    DarkFool Nemesis of the Ancients

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    It depends on what the definition of is, is.
     
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