Obsidian's "Pillars of Eternity"

[Tebonas]

It really depends on how much of the feedback you take to heart. Heavily involved forum warriors tend to be wannabe hardasses and cry for making a game harder to show off how good they are at that particular game or genre.

[Sophismata]

You don't KNOW if it's a good idea either, going by that logic. I believe it is, in fact, a bad mechanic to have in a game; Nox was just a single example.

I find durability mechanics to be a pain and a drain, with no positive benefit on a singleplayer game. And now is the time to think about making these changes - not after development resources have been spent, or after the game is released. It's much cheaper to do it now, so as not to waste those precious KS bucks.

I never said it was a good idea, I said it shouldn't be discarded based on feedback from people who haven't played the game (let alone used the system). Game design is iterative, and while you can pencil things out the best way to see how they work is to play with them.

In some games durability has a purpose and meaningfully contributes to gameplay - Diablo 1 and Dead Rising spring to mind. In others it does not - Diablo 2 and Nox are good examples. No real way to know how it slots in to PE without playing the game. And its not the presence or absence of a durability mechanic itself that's the problem; it's the process of soliciting advice from forumites that will cause issues. Doing that before people have even played the game is worrying. It's really hard to make good design calls without any context for those calls.

[KallDrexx]

Eh, not sure why you are championing this point so much.  Yes, most forum dwellers are mouthbreathing idiots, but they are:
1) Your customers
2) Once and a while they do provide interesting feedback.

#2 is what they should be going for, because they can then take the reasons that the constructive people say about why they hate or like durability loss and apply it to their goals and their game.  It's not like they are 100% saying "what the community says we will do" they are saying "let's take the community feedback into consideration with the game we are aiming to build and go from there".

Everything is about moderation.

[Ingmar]

I find durability mechanics to be a pain and a drain, with no positive benefit on a singleplayer game.

Do you also wish you had unlimited ammunition in survival horror games? I think there's a space for games with durability mechanics that can work just fine. We don't really know if this is one of them yet - it very well may have been awful in this game - but I think the point that knee-jerking against it isn't useful is a good one.

[Merusk]

How about, "Durability in an RPG where you're finding phat lewtz is dumb."

If you're getting 'common' magic items hand-over-fist and they're all based around charges, ok.  If you're finding that one-of-a-kind named "Item of legend" like old-school CRPGs then it's pants-on-head.   "Here's the Master Sword, Link.  Careful you don't use it too much and it breaks!"

There's a really big reason Rust Monsters didn't appear in gold box games. It's not fun to suddenly be naked and the uncaring Computer DM can't give you a break to go find things to reequip with.

[Ingmar]

Items needing repair as a pacing/economy mechanism and flat out destroying items completely are kind of different conversations, though.

[Sophismata]

Also, in that particular scenario durability can be used to highlight legendary items by having those items be mechanically indestructible. The system is not without its place in the world.

[Kageru]

To be a useful mechanic it either needs to be fun, and item wear virtually never is, or mandated by the design. Full loot PvP, craft-centric, survival games can have item degradation as an important mechanic. High-fantasy RPGs it adds very little.

Which is why in most of them item degradation only exists as a death penalty.

[Ard]

Also, in that particular scenario durability can be used to highlight legendary items by having those items be mechanically indestructible. The system is not without its place in the world.

I actually just played a game that did that, and all it did was mean you never repaired gear ever.  The system was more or less pointlessly tacked on.  The game in question however was pretty terrible in other regards, so this wasn't really surprising.

[Strazos]

Do you also wish you had unlimited ammunition in survival horror games? I think there's a space for games with durability mechanics that can work just fine. We don't really know if this is one of them yet - it very well may have been awful in this game - but I think the point that knee-jerking against it isn't useful is a good one.

Different genres, different issues, IMHO. I feel it makes sense in those sorts of games (even though I do not generally play them myself) - the scarcity makes sense, and it forces and rewards certain kinds of actions which enhance the game. Do you blow your ammo on wild shots against zombies, or take carefully aimed shots while the zombies close in on you (creating tension and suspense, kind of the point of the genre?), or do you develop ways to avoid combat?

For me, it would be silly in PE, a game most of us have already played (BG1/2, IWD1/2) - Oh yeah, got my sweet +5 Carsomyr...but I can't use it, because the RNG might bone me and I will probably need it later in the dungeon, so I need to drag along an extra sword or two. Oh, and there might be different kinds of mobs too (undead, etc, which need different damage types), so I need backups for all of my alternate weapons as well. Where's my Dungeon Siege donkey to act as my weapons locker?

I personally think they made the right decision in this instance.

[Merusk]

Also, in that particular scenario durability can be used to highlight legendary items by having those items be mechanically indestructible. The system is not without its place in the world.

I actually just played a game that did that, and all it did was mean you never repaired gear ever.  The system was more or less pointlessly tacked on.  The game in question however was pretty terrible in other regards, so this wasn't really surprising.

This was going to be my reply about how such a system would play out.  Items not subject to durability loss get equipped over even superior ones that do until "NECESSARY" which varies from player to player so much that the system is pointless.   

The best example of this sort of thing to me is consumables in RPGs. I always have a billion by the end of a game, because "Oh I can't use that now what if I need it later. I'll just reload and try again."  Skyrim potions?  Yeah, I had over a thousand across all the types because I'd pick them up and not put them down.  Same was true in BG and same was true in every other RPG I've ever played.  Why waste a potion when I can reload or rest to recover HP, or cast spells and then rest to regain them. 

Some things that work in live RPGs don't in CRPGs.  People game the code and there's nothing to tweak it.

[Ingmar]

You not using consumables is not a problem with the game system.

[Tebonas]

Maybe, but its common enough. Personally I turn into a hoarder with consumables, just for when I will really need them, with the effect that I'm drowning in consumables when the game ends. Because thats better than running against a wall because you can't defeat an encounter because of a missing consumable.

[Sophismata]

A lot of modern games shove consumables down your throat in an attempt to smooth the difficulty curve. Even in older games, I found consumables to be most useful when you are jumping up the curve. For example, obtaining the Ring of Gaxx right after leaving Irenicus's dungeon. Or playing with a 3 member party.

[Tebonas]

Its been a long time, but the Ring of Gaxx was Activations/Day, not an Item with charges, no?

Consumables are "Use it x times and its gone".

One of the old Gold Box games (could be Curse of the Azure Bonds) had a Dust of Disappearance and a fight against a cabal of beholders and Dark Elf Clerics you could only win if you use that Dust (it prevented the Beholders from targetting you with their eyestalks). If you used that Dust another time, you were in a world of pain in that (completely optional) fight.

Such experiences leave scars.  

[Sophismata]

Its been a long time, but the Ring of Gaxx was Activations/Day, not an Item with charges, no?

The fight to obtain the Ring of Gaxx is against a demilich. In order to win that at level 10 and with one decent piece of equipment, consumables were the order of the day. But that's my general approach to RPG's, since they are rarely challenging unless you fight up the curve.

[Zetor]

I agree that it's a common min-maxer cRPG habit to leave consumables unused, and just rely on the almighty save/reload button instead. Of course in BG2 it didn't help that a lot of the consumables were really situational and extremely useful for a small subset of encounters (e.g. icedust and fire protection potions against firkraag, prot-undead / magic scrolls vs liches, etc) while being kind of a hassle otherwise, especially with only 1-2 actually usable (not reserved for healing potions) quickslots per character. I did end up using wands liberally, though they got kind of useless by midgame... and then really powerful again in TOB with all the spellstrike wands and resurrection rods floating about.

Wizardry 8 is the cRPG that handled consumables best in my experience -- but then again, that game pretty much did everything right, so there's that.

[Lucas]

An informative update about Companions in PE, written by Chris Avellone:

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64172-update-60-camaraderie/



Snippet:

Really quick, I want to clarify what I meant about “challenge mechanics.” That doesn’t always mean combat – it’s whatever the primary challenge in the game is. If we were doing a Thief-style RPG, then stealth and avoiding detection becomes the primary challenge mechanic, not combat. Depending on the RPG and its range of challenges, a character can still be fairly weak in combat, but if that’s the case, we try to think of how they’re helpful with regards to the game’s other challenges (giving an edge in dialogue, healing, fast travel).
 
For all the characters I’ve seen or designed for games that don’t cater to at least one of the game’s primary challenge mechanics, those guys are often unpopular or unused because they’re not helping out with the systematic gameplay, regardless of how cool they might seem. And the more actively these characters can participate in the mechanics (vs. passive), the stronger their appeal.
 
Also at the same time, I try to be careful that the companion's skill set doesn’t overlap with the challenge roles of the other characters. We try to indicate in the companion briefs how each companion's challenge role is intended – one thing I learned as a pen-and-paper Gamemaster is you want to be careful about two players sharing the same role (Tank, Mage, Priest, etc.) – if one is clearly stronger than another, then the second one needs something else to make them stand out and be “special” in the party and fulfill an equally cool role in the party dynamic, otherwise one ends up getting upstaged by the other. And feelings get hurt. Which isn’t something you want in a game designed to entertain.

[rk47]

MCA's season 2 of the painful adventures in Tarant continues.
This time... he died in the Temple to a bunch of rats. 
I just can't bear it.
Why does he suck so much.

[lamaros]

Anyone going to declare where they think this will fall on the huge success/massive failure scale?

Seems to me that they are trying to do too much out of the gate, which makes me feel like that haven't learn their lessons. I'd love to be optimistic, but even if they only make half a decent game maybe they will be able to follow up with s decent one second time around?

[rk47]

Anyone going to declare where they think this will fall on the huge success/massive failure scale?

Seems to me that they are trying to do too much out of the gate, which makes me feel like that haven't learn their lessons. I'd love to be optimistic, but even if they only make half a decent game maybe they will be able to follow up with s decent one second time around?

South Park RPG will save them 
They're fucked. But I'm too cynical against Obsidian. Aside from New Vegas and KOTOR 2(yeah it's still shit in the end) most of their games are flawed or in Dungeon Siege III case, too darn boring.

[Ingmar]

I'm optimistic on this one, in large part because they're not reinventing the wheel, they're more or less building something they know how to do already. It's going to live/die on whether the world and story elements are any good rather than over a systems issue, and I think that's a good place for Obsidian to be in.

[Lucas]

Tim Cain details the Stronghold system:

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64350-update-63-stronghold/

Hello! I have spent much of my time for the last few weeks devoted to making the game’s stronghold system, which was one of our Kickstarter project’s biggest stretch goals, into one of the best systems in the game. Josh has created an amazing and detailed stronghold design, with lots of upgrades and activities and random events that really make owning a stronghold fun and exciting. I want to spend this update explaining what we have made in the game, but first, let’s talk about the stronghold itself.
 
First, a caveat: I am going to describe the stronghold as it is currently designed. This design is mostly programmed already too, but as with all development, it might change as we finish the art and audio, fix any bugs, and tune the game play. So please view this as a snapshot of the stronghold development as it exists today.
 
You will be offered the stronghold early in the game, before you finish Act 1. But the stronghold itself is old and dilapidated, and you will want to upgrade it as soon as you can. These upgrades will, in turn, open up new activities and events that can happen, which will make the stronghold a dynamic and fun place to own.
 
So let’s go through the many reasons why you will want to have a stronghold.
 
Bonuses
There are five bonuses you will receive for getting and upgrading your stronghold.
 
- Resting bonuses. Some of the upgrades to your stronghold will grant temporary bonuses to your attributes or non-combat skills when you rest there. As examples, you can build Training Grounds to improve your Strength or a Library to improve your Lore skill. Some of these upgrades are expensive, but you’re worth it.

- Adventures for idle companions. You will eventually have more companions than will fit in your party, so you will have leave some of them behind. While they are idling away at the stronghold, they can take part in their own adventures, earning additional experience for themselves and extra money, items and reputation bonuses for you!

- Ingredients. Many of the stronghold upgrades will generate ingredients used by non-combat skills. For example, Botanical Gardens create Survival ingredients over time, and a Curio Shop produces ingredients for use by both Lore and Mechanics.

- Special offers. Sometimes visitors to your stronghold will have rare items for sale, or perhaps they will offer you items in return for something else. Pay attention to these visitors. Some of these items may be nearly impossible to find any other way!

- Wealth. Don’t forget that by owning a stronghold, you also own all of the surrounding lands and impose a tax on all of the inhabitants. It will feel nice for a change to have someone recognize your high standing and give you the money that you so richly deserve.
 
These bonuses all sound great, right? Well, they are great, but they are just the passive benefits from owning and upgrading a stronghold. There are a lot of activities you can do too, once you take possession of your stronghold.
 
Activities
First and foremost, when you get your stronghold, you are going to want to upgrade it. Upgrades are improvements to various parts of the castle, usually to add to the security or prestige of the place. Security affects how much taxes you collect as well as helps reduce the number of “bad” random events, while prestige increases the number of “good” random events as well as increasing tax collections, too. Upgrades can also serve as prerequisites for other upgrades. For example, you cannot build your Training Grounds (and get your Strength bonus after resting at the stronghold) until you have repaired the inner bailey of the stronghold.
 
Every upgrade costs money and takes time to build, but as long as you have the prerequisites completed, you can have as many upgrades building simultaneously as you can afford. And you don’t have to wait at the stronghold while they are built, either. You can continue adventuring, and you will be notified when they are built.
 
You can begin collecting taxes from your populace as soon as you gain the stronghold. The amount of taxes you collect increases with your prestige (because people know of you and like you), but the amount also increases with higher security, since some taxes are lost to banditry. You will want to keep both of those values high.
 
You can also employ hirelings to stay at your stronghold. These people will provide bonuses to your prestige and security, but they cost money to employ. Some will leave your castle if you stop paying them, but others will wait around to get paid again (but not provide any bonuses until they are).
 
If you have cleared the dungeon and built a prison under your stronghold, then when you are fighting some of the named NPC’s in the game, you will be given an option to take them prisoner instead of killing them. Prisoners are kept in a cell in your prison, where you can visit them and talk to them, and occasionally use them as leverage later in the game. But you will need to keep your security level high, or you might suffer from a prison break!
Finally, several upgrades will produce ingredients used by non-combat skills. This feature, along with upgrades that can improve your skills, makes your stronghold a great place to craft and store items. You can stop by your castle occasionally and make food, potions, scrolls, armors and weapons, and any that you don’t need immediately can be stored in chests and other containers in a variety of places around the stronghold. You know, in case of an emergency.
 
Which brings us to random stronghold events.
 
Random Events
As you play the game after getting the stronghold, whether or not you are physically there, you will be told if a random event happens at the stronghold. Sometimes, you will need to deal with the event immediately, but usually you are given some time to decide what to do.
 
The most common event at your stronghold is having a visitor arrive. There are all kinds of visitors, but they all share one thing. They can adjust your prestige and/or security just by being at your stronghold. Some visitors are wonderful and give good bonuses, and you will want them to stay as long as possible. Some of these visitors can even be employed as hirelings and will stay on as long as you pay them. Others are not so great, and you will want to offer them one of your companions to act as an escort to their next location, or perhaps simply pay them to leave. Some visitors will offer rare items for sale, and some might even offer a very rare item in exchange for one of the prisoners in your dungeon. As you can see, visitors require some decision making on your part.
 
As mentioned above, your idle companions can take part in adventures as those events arise. You will be informed of what adventures are available, how long they will last, and what the rewards will be (in general terms). If you send a companion on an adventure, he or she is unavailable until they complete it and return with the rewards. You can recall any companions early, but then they earn nothing. Why would you ever want to recall them then? Because your stronghold can get attacked!
 
Attacks are the most potentially dangerous of all stronghold events. Occasionally troublemakers (of various sorts) will decide to attack your castle. You will be warned ahead of time of any such attack, so you can return to the stronghold and take part in it directly, if you want. Otherwise, the attack is simulated and you are told the results. A well-defended stronghold can repel any but the most concerted attacks, but there is always a chance of damage which can destroy upgrades, kill hirelings, and cost money. The threat of attacks is the most important reason to keep your security level as high as you can afford.
 
I hope you have enjoyed this sneak peek into the world of Project Eternity and the role your stronghold will play in the game. No matter how you play the game, your stronghold is certain to provide many benefits and also be a lot fun too!

Yep, sounds "amazing" and "detailed" indeed :)

[trias_e]

Anyone going to declare where they think this will fall on the huge success/massive failure scale?

Seems to me that they are trying to do too much out of the gate, which makes me feel like that haven't learn their lessons. I'd love to be optimistic, but even if they only make half a decent game maybe they will be able to follow up with s decent one second time around?

South Park RPG will save them 
They're fucked. But I'm too cynical against Obsidian. Aside from New Vegas and KOTOR 2(yeah it's still shit in the end) most of their games are flawed or in Dungeon Siege III case, too darn boring.

Meh, their games are flawed, but they also are unique and usually very well written (well, ignore Dungeon Siege.  Everything Dungeon Siege is shit).

Alpha Protocol is one of the best fucking games ever, and New Vegas is fantastic as well.  I'll take games like these, flawed and interesting, over polished and predictable any day.  I've got faith in Obsidian to release something that is very cool, fun, well written, and buggy as shit. 

[lamaros]

I want this game to be great, but all I see with these updates is "we're trying to do too much!"

It either won't work, or will me nothing like advertised.

I hope I'm wrong.

[Xilren's Twin]

I want this game to be great, but all I see with these updates is "we're trying to do too much!"
It either won't work, or will me nothing like advertised.
I hope I'm wrong.

The stronghold one specifically doesn't bother me - heck if NWN can pull off owning and upgrading a castle, no reason this game cant.  Honestly it sounds like a fairly minimal amount of work for the payoff because the bulk of it will be behind the scenes stuff (random events) while the player just mainly manages security, prestige, money, and upgrades via dialogue choices.  It's one of those items that makes sense for a game like they are making, but would be exponentially harder to pull off in any sort of MMORPG, or even a single player 3D game like Skyrim i.e. the player homes in skyrim were separate, upgradable interiors that could have some useful stuff but had no impact in the exterior world at all.   This seems mainly like gravy.

[Jeff Kelly]

I've had this uneasy feeling about some of the big kickstarter projects for quite a while now but couldn't put my finger on it exactly why. The recent events and news from a few big projects like Tim Schafer's and this one made it clear to me what it was. Lack of focus and "doing the features I always wanted to do but couldn't/wasn't allowed to" without any corrective element.

With Project Eternity (a moniker I sincerely hope doesn't become an actual albeit ironic description of how the project is managed - like DN forever) I always get updates about game systems, game mechanics, the campaign background and lore but very little updates about the actual game or gameplay. This is disconcerting because the entire kickstarter project was based on the pitch of "an old school RPG like Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale that big publishers daren't make anymore"

The more updates I read from them the more I get the feeling that what they're really doing is designing a pen and paper roleplaying campaign setting and ruleset on a PC and haven't really gotten to the game part yet.  I hope they don't run into a similar problem Schaefer did and spend all of their budget before they've finished the actual game part of the game. Yes the stronghold stuff does sound nice but shouldn't those people work on actual game stuff first? What happenes when they face a similar situation that Schaefer does? Will they then also release only half of the game and hope that sales are enough to justify making the other half?

You could easily integrate the Stronghold stuff or other features as DLC later but if you have to DLC half of your game because you ran out of money basically designing the "next D&D" your kickstarter backers might be a little miffed about it.

[Lucas]

I agree on the budget part (and its relationship with development time), but not really on the coherence of the whole picture ("the game"): they're  mirroring what they did with IWD and their other Black Isle's projects, but with a different ruleset (better or worse than D&D, we'll have to wait and see). Stronghold has already been attempted in BG2 (yeah, ok, the Bioware of old), and with the Keep in NW2 (by Obsdian).

In other words, yes, there is of course a risk of "feature creep", but if there is a single development team which should have a clear idea on how to do a game like this (design wise and its implementation, not talking about the inevitable bugs), it's Obsidian.

I mean, ok, it's not that linear, but doesn't game systems + mechanics + background lore = game ?

[Jeff Kelly]

I had a whole thing written about your question but my browser ate it.

In short I do not critisize them for designing a world and rules. It seems though that what they do is designing a ruleset and campaign setting for a pen and paper RPG when what they should do is design a ruleset and campaign setting for a computer RPG. A pen and paper RPG is designed to help the players and GM with what is basically an interactive storytelling experience where a lot of things are created and happen only in the imagination of the players. It's also designed to accomodate a whole lot of different stories and experiences with managable effort for the GM and since it's more akin to books than movies or games it has an entirely different set of constraints and assumptions than a computer game.

Games are more of a "show, don't tell" kind of medium and since the designers know the kind of story they want to create a lot of the effort put into a pen and paper RPG is simply unnecessary or might not be easily adaptable or usable in a CRPG context. There's a reason why most CRPGs only use a subset of the actual rules and background of a P&P rpg. It's also a matter of time and budget, since you have to program, design, animate and test every aspect of your game it simply makes no sense to invest time in a significant portion of content that you'll never use in your actual game. Unless you do interactive fiction (or text adventures) and can actually get away with just writing pages upon pages of text.

Basically I'd expect them to already know what kind of story they want to tell/what kind of gameplay they want to do and design a set of rules and a campaign background to suit that. I'd also expect them to actually focus on the game and what is necessary to finish the game first before putting too much time and effort into add on features, especially when time and budget are as limited as they are here or with any kickstarter project.

It seems to me that what they are doing instead is indulging in something they'd always wanted to do and that what they'd always wanted to do is not necessarily a computer game.

[Lucas]

Consider that the style of CRPG they're making, while of course it's made through a visual and interactive medium like videogames, belongs to a period where you still "told" a lot together with showing it: for example, a couple weeks ago they posted a screenshot of the conversation screen (which is pretty much a placeholder when it comes to dialogue):


"Old" style, yeah :)

Yeah, focus on key features might wander, I agree: regarding P&P, yeah, they're all great fans of P&P games, and from the look of it, Josh Sawyer wants to adapt some of the 4th edition rules (D&D, of course) into the game, especially when it comes to the limited use of some abilities during combat.

Now, they made it clear that, yes, since the change of focus by the gaming industry when it comes to "cinematic" RPGs, they always wanted to return to something like Project Eternity. My opinion is that the people involved in this project have quite an understanding of the difference between P&P and CRPGs ad how to design a certain ruleset (more than Sawyer, think about what Tim Cain, with the help of other designers, did with Arcanum and Vampire:Bloodlines...Err, yeah, beside how bug-infested they were at release :P).

[Lucas]

Update #65: the Cipher class (with some nice tidbits of Lore) !

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64452-update-65-ciphers/

They sound pretty cool, with some interesting mechanics related to targeting.

[Lucas]

Some news:

Around Thanksgiving, at long last, the so called "backer's portal" will come online. We'll be able to change/upgrade our pledges, plus there should be more detailed info about the game in general, as per update #66, which also includes a first WIP glimpse at the Stronghold, in ruined and restored state:

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64555-update-66-double-whammy/
(Stronghold, big pic: http://media.obsidian.net/eternity/media/updates/0066/pe-stronghold-2444x1172.jpg)

Interview with Adam Brennecke, Lead Programmer and Executive Producer of PE:
http://www.incgamers.com/2013/11/project-eternity-qa-obsidians-adam-brennecke

IG: The outpouring of support‭ (‬and cash‭!) ‬for‭ ‬Eternity shows that people were crying out for a new,‭ ‬Infinity Engine-style RPG.‭ ‬What do you think those‭ ‬90s RPG titles had that more contemporary RPGs are no longer providing‭?

AB: I think there are a few differences for me that distinguish an IE game from a modern RPG.‭ ‬One is the party based tactical combat‭ ‬-‭ ‬you don’t see too many games with full party control with‭ ‬6‭ ‬party members‭ ‬today.‭ ‬Secondly,‭ ‬IE games left room for the player to contribute to the‭ ‬experience‭ ‬-‭ ‬some which‭ ‬was necessitated by‭ ‬technology,‭ ‬the rest aesthetically.‭ ‬As an example,‭ ‬from how quests work,‭ ‬to the amount of dialogue we have,‭ ‬to the lore and item descriptions‭ ‬there’s a lot of reading‭ ‬in Project Eternity.‭ ‬This has allowed us to both add more content and also allow players a level of active immersion sometimes lost with modern VO and animation,‭ ‬which often fills in the blanks for the players.‭ ‬I enjoy having to use my imagination.‭

‬Last,‭ ‬while we want to make the game fun for everyone,‭ ‬we aren’t going to treat the player like a‭ ‬baby,‭ ‬which for some reason has become the standard in recent years.‭ ‬Our quests require you to think,‭ ‬the‭ ‬combat will be challenging,‭ ‬the choices might be difficult,‭ ‬and you won’t be hammered over the head with‭ ‬quest markers.

----

The most recent update, #67, dwelves into how development proceed behind the scenes, and how the process of creating a single area (in this case, a small interior) works:
http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64611-update-67-whats-in-a-game/

Last but not least, some new "off-screen" pics from a recent presentation, that I originally spotted on neoGaf and RPGCodex:


Oh, and by the way, can't find the source right now, but Chris Avellone recently said that we can expect a gameplay video in about 3 weeks 


Disclaimer: I hereby declare that Obsidian hasn't provided me with financial support as a consequence of this post... :P

[Lucas]

New website (and new name, as you can see) is live:

http://eternity.obsidian.net/

KS backers can now register/upgrade their pledge, while newcomers can still pledge for $35.

Short gameplay teaser: still rough, but yeah, the nostalgia factor is there; hopefully, gameplay too :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKoDTzea79Y

A few new screenshots and pieces of concept art; at the end of the following news article, you can also read lots of new interviews (still have to do it myself).

https://eternity.obsidian.net/news/update-69-pillars-of-eternity

[Tannhauser]

Oh yeahhh, looking good.

[Lucas]

Nice (via RPGCodex.net):



Full size:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/gallery/10564.jpg
http://www.rpgcodex.net/gallery/10566.jpg