In the recent Q&A for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, the team at Visionary Realms provided insights on various aspects of the game and its current state of development. Creative Director Chris Perkins, and Director of Communications Ben Dean, and Community Manager Jamie Henry discussed a broad range of topics from Art to Bindstones.
The lengthy Q&A lasted more than an hour, and can be found on the game’s official YouTube channel. However, the team has summarized the answers in a forum post. Visionary Realms pointed to several accomplishments such as the removal of legacy code to improve game performance and mechanics.
Bindstones were mentioned as a release feature, as there will be 2 to 3 in each zone and the death penalty system was highlighted as the team stated that experience loss due to death is still a work in progress. It was also stated that players will be able to drag corpses, but is currently not working. The Perception system, a significant element of the game, was discussed in terms of discovery, narrative, and progression, though its full implementation at launch remains uncertain.
The team also delved into the storytelling aspects of Pantheon, addressing questions about the game's lore, quests, and the content levels in Avendyr’s Pass. The development of capital cities and racial starting areas was a topic of interest, focusing on maintaining racial identity. Unfortunately, the team stated that capital cities may be too resource intensive to create prior to launch, and that they end up being underutilized. The team is still undecided if capital cities will be accessible by launch.
Artistic development was another key point, with discussions on the evolution of the game's art style, the impact of nighttime lighting, and performance improvements linked to new art assets. These changes are expected to enhance the overall visual experience and performance of the game, but the team stated directly that the art style ‘Isn’t there yet’ despite the team being happy with their decision to make the artistic shift.
The developers have stated they want to find a balance between artistic and realistic, but the most important factor, performance, is a major piece of the artistic puzzle that the new art style seems to solve. Specifically, the poly counts have been reduced which has accounted for less rendering load. This will aid in asset creation as well as in-game performance.
Looking forward, the team outlined their plans for engaging with the community. This includes more stream weeks, alpha pledge sessions, and strategies for better communication with the players. For a more detailed summary of the Q&A, please refer to the original post on the Pantheon forums here.
