Game Design: Kismet’s Fall
Hey there folks!
Here at UDX interactive, we always like revisiting and honoring all our progress from the beginning of Wheel of Fate’s development to where we are now with our recently released Leo 1.3.0 update.
This game design highlight, we’ll be spotlighting the avatar’s base of operations, Kismet’s Fall! Seeing as how some of the biggest changes from our Leo 1.3.0 update happened to the buildings and gameplay surrounding the town.
Here’s a Q&A breakdown of the planning and designing involved in the development of the town where Wheel of Fate takes place!
What was the inspiration for Kismet’s Fall?
Our inspiration was based on games that centered around a singular location as a hub such as Diablo. The lore surrounding Kismet’s Fall represents a gold rush mentality. A town founded by rebels that is now attracting people from all over. A small town down on its luck that you’re the mayor of, in which a mystical dungeon just so happens to pop up beside. We knew that we wanted to have a contained space for the AI to change since having more area leads to increased difficulty in game development.
In addition, we wanted to have a story that comes to life within that singular location with NPCs having their own lives. The player should be able to experience the life of the game despite not actively working on a quest. Having NPCs follow a set of routine also plays into our AI game design element. By creating a recognizable pattern in the town that the player can recognize, it becomes much more evident when a change is made by the AI.
Which building is your favourite?
With the old buildings, my favourite one was the Tavern with the Keg design. I really like the idea of a location where adventurers stop in and share stories together.
In regards to the new buildings, it’s hard for me to decide since I personally think they all look amazing in this latest update.
What difficulties did you face while designing Kismet’s Fall?
During the design process, one major issue was that the initial design of the town was too big and needed to be scaled down. Also, it was difficult to design a town that looked bad but then improved through the town building upgrade system. Lastly, converting the town concept from our initial 2D design concept to what it is today.
On another note, not necessarily a major issue but it did make us have to think about things a bit. The lore and AI system had to be incorporated into the design of the town. Does this building make sense based on the town lore? How do we make the AI learn about the town? We need to make the town interesting but it still has to flow logically.
What’s one thing you would change about Kismet’s Fall?
One thing I wish I could change or more so improve on is the number of things that get changed by the elements of the AI. For example, specific events occurring based on choices made or new things happening when you pop into the game like a caravan entering town with special items. This would be great to add more surprises for the players but unfortunately these things take time and we need to start with a base game first. Adding these events and other improvements would be dependent on the next set of chapters to the Wheel of Fate story.
How did you decide what type of buildings to add to the town?
Basically, our team sat down and brainstormed what’s in most RPG games. Shops that support battle and specific character classes. A general store for ‘general’, all or miscellaneous things. For the town defense gameplay, we knew we needed a guard house. With any adventure game, a town tavern just seems like a given especially for a town down on their luck. In addition, we also wanted to give the player’s a choice for the buildings in the town that they’re the mayor of. For instance, Kismet’s Fall was a non-believing town which is why the player, now the avatar of fate must decide if they will build the Church of Fate.
What technologies were used in designing Kismet’s Fall? Such as design, modeling and integration.
To begin the design process, it of course started with paper and pencils since at this point our ideas are all really rough and it makes it a lot easier to discard ideas that we’re not too attached to. Then, we move onto a quick layout. White boxing the design elements of the setting. After that, we start grey boxing which is creating the gray models and figuring out placing. Now that we have the placement and overall layout agreed upon then, we move onto pencil drawings of all the buildings and work on turning them into models.
Unfortunately, the first models we have done too quickly so they were low quality which is why we changed to the new models in our latest build.
There were issues we found with certain models such as the display system for weapons and the pathing for the original floating magic store. In summary, the process is essentially planning, designing, modeling, and then the usual game dev routine for integration and improvements.
What were some other variations of Kismet’s Fall that were thought up? Why did you choose to let those ideas go?
We essentially had two different variations, a humongous city scape version and flat 2D town version. The huge city scape model was not used since it didn’t fit the lore of a ‘small town founded by lone travelers’ and it could not be filled up. While the flat 2D town concept was from our initial game design phase and would have all buildings in a row similar to a panoramic menu. After running a feedback session with players, it was revealed that they liked the 3D concept better so we started designing that instead.
Why are some buildings not designed to be entered into?
The buildings that were designed to be entered into are story buildings in which game scenes take place in them.
Initially, we had planned for a 1st person perspective in which the player can pan through items with our earlier 2D town concept. Transitioning from a first person perspective of shop items, which initially worked for a 2D concept, to a 3D concept led to both time and system constraints. Resulting in our design decisions to limiting some buildings to only their storefront and building model.
What are some plans for the future of Kismet’s Fall?
In the future, we hope to possibly plan more events, expand the area and implement trades in the town. By more events, I refer to special game occasions such as a merchant arriving in town with a cartel of goods or special NPCs visiting town. The possibilities are really endless on how Kismet’s Fall can evolve.
That concludes our Q&A surrounding the game design of Kismet’s Fall. Got any more questions for us about the town? Feel free to leave them in the comments section and we’ll be sure to get back to you!
Cheers!
UDX Team