This sprint, seven of our crew headed to EGX to showcase Sunless Skies! New and veteran fans alike stopped by to give the game a try and we were delighted to chat with everyone and hear their feedback. On Friday, Chris, Lottie and Adam headed to the EGX stage to chat with Eurogamer’s Johnny Chiodini, which you can watch on Eurogamer’s YouTube page.
ART With the Early Access launch finished, Paul has departed for a well-deserved holiday, so the art this sprint has primarily been done by Tobias. One of the things he’s been working on is another locomotive: the Altani-class outrider, an evasive locomotive from the Khanate.
Alongside the Altani, he also tackled some Discovery homesteads. There are currently five types of homesteads: eerie, friendly, recently abandoned, hostile and pro-trading.
CONTENT Content have been continuing their work on Albion and its ports. James and Olivia have been finishing up the writing for ports such as the Serene Mausoleum and Brabazon Workworld, which Caolain has been mechanically QA'ing afterwards. Chris created the art briefs for Discoveries and Spectacles, which aren't yet in-game. Discoveries are points of interest in the High Wilderness. A Discovery could be something simple, like a floating crate of munitions, or could be the (hopefully) empty wreck of a crashed locomotive. These Discoveries will provide resources and stories for bold explorers to find. Spectacles are awe-inspiring locations in the High Wilderness. Some will strike terror into the hearts of your crew, while others may bring them comfort. A wise skyfarer will learn routes that will keep their crew's dread at bay. GAMEPLAY AND DESIGN Before heading off to EGX, Barry worked on the Legacy system. This included selecting a Legacy and how new characters are created after a previous character dies. Under the Legacy system, captains may find they inherit a few bits from the expired captain, such as their ship and some donations from the old captain’s acquaintances. Liam has been tending to the UI work for Character Creation while Henry and Mac have continued the tech work involved in implementing this system. Mac has also been implementing Experience Gain within the game, so that players will receive the proper figures upon passing landmarks. He's also been working on the Banking Service, which is a feature that will allow players to store some of their items in New Winchester to save space in their locomotive's hold. Shipyards are also being implemented, which give players the ability to rename their locomotive. Prospects and bargains have also been started. Once these are implemented, players will be able to scope out potential deals for trading. BUGS AND FEEDBACK This sprint we’ve started focused feedback sessions on our game forums. The first Feedback Focus we’d like to dive into is Terror. You can find these threads here on our Steam forum or on the FBG forum. REMINDER: Any backers who have not received their game keys yet please email skies@failbettergames.com, as it appears that quite a few people’s keys got eaten by spam filters. Our next FBG Podcast will take place this Friday 29th September at 16:00 BST! Come with your content questions at the ready, as we’re hoping to have a writer join us this week.