Gustus - a taste of Bearers #
Work was well underway on Exordia, the sky island that will be home to the introductory hours of the Bearers campaign, when we made the call to temporarily switch focus back to the PAX demo. There are a couple of primary reasons for this, the most immediate of which being the imminent Bearers showcase at the Season of the Dev Community Day.
In preparing for the event, we of course revisited the exhibition demo and discussed how it would be communicated to a new audience. It was decided to expand the demo and create a package that more accurately represents a fully realised core game loop, even on the smaller scale. The demo level, which has since been renamed Gustus, should communicate the purpose and feel of the game in a way that highlights what we see as the greatest strengths and differentiators of the underlying system. Gustus will be a taste of the full Bearers experience (and for any Latin enthusiasts, we own how on the nose that name is).
In terms of progress in the game proper (Exordia), the key elements and systems being implemented in Gustus are designed to be transferable and scalable. Much like the work that has previously gone into Bearers, with the background systems going into place, the project will continue to gain momentum and progress quickly from here. As of now, Bearers is approximately 75% feature complete from a gameplay systems perspective.
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The ‘snag’ #
While the PAX demo garnered a lot of positive feedback from testers, that feedback was largely regarding aspects that aren’t what we see as the differentiating factors for Bearers versus other titles in the same genres. The most common positive feedback regarded…
Dynamic movement - Aside from some small issues with rolling, the feel of the movement getting great feedback at such an early stage was a very pleasing sign, as this was part of what breaks Bearers away from the traditional build-crafting point and click RPG and what we hope brings it in-line with a contemporary audience while remaining true to its ability-driven core.
Visuals/Realistic 3D environment – Players spent a lot of time exploring the environment, many to the point that they fell off the side of the world. There was confidence in the look of the environment, but we still didn’t anticipate as much attention or questions regarding the environment and the lore/story that the crystalpunk-styled world hinted at.
These are very important pieces and ones that we hope have large overlap when thinking of the venn diagram of the vision of Bearers, but the focus had to shift to the most prominent circle by which the other circles have to converge - the build-crafting system.
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The ‘sizzle’ #
The original inspiration for development and the most significant distinguishing factor for Bearers is the ability system, and whilst a lot of the system infrastructure was in place, at PAX it wasn’t yet populated with enough abilities to showcase the scope of possibilities that it will allow the player. Putting in some work to complete the core game loop within the Gustus level is with the purpose of giving a greater example of how the full game experience will look and feel, whilst giving us the ability to communicate the vision of the game accurately and effectively.
To give a tl;dr rundown on the differences between the PAX demo and Gustus…
| PAX 2024 Demo | Gustus |
|---|---|
| 1 of 3 Professions | Create a character |
| 1 Weapon per Profession | Save/Load character |
| 2-4 Abilities per Profession | Choose 1 of 8 Professions (some professions more feature complete than others) |
| 1 optional AI companion | Shard currency |
| Campfire safe zones | Multiple Shrines for Ability purchase and respawn |
| Basic mobs | 5 Abilities per Profession (minimum) |
| 1 respawn point | Boss enemy |
| Vanquish boss reward | |
| Map progress saving | |
| UI flow |
These changes will allow the players to begin creating their play style, testing out different weapons, skills and overall builds - discovering synergies and experiencing the flexibility and possible scope of the system. The player agency, and encouragement to experiment with different builds for different situations, reinforced by the concept that ‘all roads lead to Rome Olympus’ - well maybe not all of them, but there are many ways to approach (and succeed in) each challenge using the Bearers system.
The full potential of the founding vision of the build-crafting system won’t quite be on display yet, but with these changes, it will give the players an authentic taste of the overall direction and feel of the game.
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