The "Biggest, Baddest guy"

[Dejnov]

I know this might go against your natural tendencies, but please don't make the storyline "too smart" for its own good. Grim Dawn is your first major release, and while a lot of the hardcore fans want an engaging storyline, I'm hoping it's not too engaging. Please make sure that your product is somewhat marketable to a mainstream audience. Your first product needs to differentiate itself from the variety of competitors, but you don't want a complex morally ambiguous storyline reducing its impact as a mainstream product.

Part of the reason that fantasy games tend to stick with orcs, goblins, etc. as the enemies is because these types of antagonists have a storied tradition as evil bogeymen. Everyone instantly internalizes them as the 'bad guys' and most people have no issues with killing them. I'm hoping that your antagonists are inhuman enough that they won't be mistaken one bit as human and your game can enjoy decent mainstream appeal. While you can have humans as villains, make sure they are denoted as evil, possessed, etc. types and not just different factions (at least not in the original release). While history is replete with human on human violence, it is not a safe mainstream medium for a story. Especially an indie story. One bad review about how this game wants us to 'kill humans' can really hurt Crate's chances of success.

I know that the producers of TQIT wanted no human villians in the game which felt limiting to the developers, but that was a very sensible business decision. Grim Dawn is hoping to push that envelope, but you will be hurting the ability to generate sales if you push it too far. As mentioned earlier, make sure you have adequate descriptors emphasizing their evilness and villainy and don't try introducing an opposing morally ambiguous faction as an antagonist.


Dejnov.

[medierra]

Originally Posted by Dejnov

Part of the reason that fantasy games tend to stick with orcs, goblins, etc. as the enemies is because these types of antagonists have a storied tradition as evil bogeymen. Everyone instantly internalizes them as the 'bad guys' and most people have no issues with killing them. I'm hoping that your antagonists are inhuman enough that they won't be mistaken one bit as human and your game can enjoy decent mainstream appeal.

Not to fear, the Aetherials are basically wraiths, and the Chthonians are basically demons. Though we're trying to give them a little more backstory, they are still pretty recognizable "traditional evil bogeymen" and are distinctly not human.

Also - I'm closing this thread because I think it has gotten too far off-course, partially through my own fault, into matters too sensitive for a game forum.