UPDATE: The Torchlight Frontiers site has been updated with a page devoted to the Railmaster:
Anthony, one of Echtra’s game designers, continued the work on the Railmaster skills and gameplay after Shawn and Tyler, Echtra’s Project Lead, built up the principle design. "It used to be just the first car; it didn’t look like a train," says Anthony. So he crudely attached more duplicate models of the train together and shared an image with the team.
It was one of those eureka moments, capturing the whole team’s imagination. We went from a single car/turret with some attachments to having a full series of platforms that could be customized, mixed and matched so they’d work together. Each car providing a different sort of utility, creating a host of build and skill idea options. It was an honest to goodness train, exactly what the class name called for!
When asked where he drew inspiration from when it came to theming and designing skills, Anthony mentions battle priests from the Warhammer universe. They’re badass fighters, heavily armored, that also have a strong spiritual and magic connection to draw on. The lore of the Railmaster includes this lineage of master and apprentice and Torchlight definitely has its share of ghosts, so there was an opportunity to be less grounded in reality for skills like Lantern Flash and Ghost Train. We still have more skills we’re working on too. It’s a really great element to mix in with the more straightforward (though equally as devastating) hammer attack skills.
The Torchlight Frontiers team has revealed a new class coming to the game, this time, the Railmaster aka "The Conductor of Pain". The Railmaster has a canine companion carries a number of packs about its person while the Railmaster himself is literally followed by a train!
"Build a Battle Train for damage or utility!" the video ballyhoos. "The Railmaster relies on a powerful train when exploring the Frontier, than and a really, really big hammer!"
The video shows off some wicked gameplay of the Railmaster in action with his two companions. Check it out and leave us your thoughts in the comments.
The Torchlight Frontiers team will be on hand during a live stream event tomorrow to talk more about the Railmaster.
