Following on from the July QA we posted, the Dev’s did what they said they would and continued the august Dev QA.
This month they picked 23 questions for the august Dev QA to answer which includes questions around Travel, Realm Cards, Items, Levelling, Mag, the Map & more!
“[Inflexion] Scarbs: Welcome @Server Seekers to our next round of completed answers from questions4devs
Thank you to everyone who submitted questions and/or upvoted the ones you were interested in. The answers have been a bit delayed as some of the team are out at gamescom.
But before we get august Dev QA started, here’s how this works:
– We picked 23 questions to answer which were a blend of highly starred and the ones we’re the most comfortable answering at the moment. – If your question isn’t answered here, don’t worry! You are more than welcome to re-submit in the next round! – Before the next round of Q&A, I will clear all the messages in questions4devs. @[Inflexion] Steph H will back up the questions and star amounts on an internal file, so they won’t be lost forever and we’ll reference them for potential future information beats. – Please note that the game is still in development, so some of these questions may not be answered in a way which you find satisfactory this month. For these questions, feel free to re-ask them in future rounds for potential updates. – As we go through development, future playtests and throughout the early access launch, some of these answers may change or be redundant. We’ll do our best to communicate changes as they happen. – I haven’t grouped them in categorized them this time. Sorry! We’re busy, busy, busy. But we’ll make sure to do it in the future.
Without further ado, here we gooooooooooooo 🔥”
Travel august Dev QA
Q: What kinds of items/gear will travel with our character when moving from one friend’s world to a different friend’s world?
A: Everything you have in your loadout and backpack can travel with you to your friend’s world.
Q: Will you be able to return to a realm like a home realm so you have a permanent place somewhere?
A: Yes. You’ll be able to establish a ‘Respite Realm’ which you can transport back to quickly.
Q: Will there be any randomized portal mechanics? For example, portals that won’t transfer certain types of matter… or portals that may cause an illness that needs to be treated or “heals” after a timed period (like 5 minutes of motion sickness, etc…).
A: No plan for portals themselves to have randomized attributes. The portals are gateways into the realms that are unlocked by combining Realm Cards. That mystery and surprise of what each realm has to offer should be enough to keep you on your toes!
Realm Cards august Dev QA
Q: How many Realm Cards do you expect to have in the game at Early Access launch?
A: We can’t put an exact number on it right now but we are aiming to have dozens available to craft and discover.
Q: What will the portal system be like?
A: To activate the portal you need Realm Cards. These can be crafted from resources found in the environment, as act like modifiers to the Realm you’ll travel to – affecting aspects of the world such as environment, weather, wildlife, enemies, etc.
We’ve put together all the information regarding Realm Cards here.
Items august Dev QA
Q: Will there be collectibles that you can display which are only found in certain realms?
A: There are many things to be discovered across the realms, but in terms of having “display case” type items, that’s not something we have in the game right now.
Q: Will there be a way to display or continue to upgrade items? It’d be nice to not have to just melt down items as you progress beyond them, because sometimes you want to hold onto items that developed some special significance to you.
A: Right now we have weapon and tool degredation, so it’s a case of crafting new versions each time they break, and likewise you’ll need to craft a new version when you upgrade.
august Dev QA
Q: Are you looking more at a general levelling system (Stamina. Strength, Health) or one that allows for specific skill building(Fishing, Mining, Specific Weapon Type, ect.)?
A: It’s more in-line with your general description there, with the items you craft and upgrade having an impact on your stamina, health, etc.
Q: Will there be character customization options? Are there different armors/clothing options that will be available?
A: Character customization is most definitely important to us. You’ll be able to select a character type from a range of options when you start the game, and then through playing you’ll be able to earn new recipes for armor and clothing that you’ll be able to craft and customize your appearance with. Obviously, there’s a lot of room for diversity here, so it’s an area that we expect to evolve and develop beyond Early Access launch.
Q: How will armor or protection work? Will it be like standard armor or more of an amulet or trinket that offers more magical protection ( as ive seen there is no direct use for magic but an ability to enchant this seems like a possible idea )?
A: Armor/protection is primarily driven through the crafting system. e.g. using hides from creatures with better resistance to X will provide your clothing with better resistance to X. There may also be some additional methods of bolstering your protection too but we haven’t locked all the details down yet.
Q: Will there be the usual clear-cut dichotomy of just male and female characters with clothing being specific to one of those two genders, or will we be able to dress as we wish and make our characters look how we wish without having some options locked to one gender or another?
A: We won’t have any clothing locked to body types. You’ll be able to dress your Realmwalker in whichever attire you desire!
Q: You’ve mentioned the “axepick” but what other gathering tools will there be? Fishing rod?
A: Right now we have the axepick, wood axe and hunting knife. That covers the fundamentals of gathering in the world, but that’s expanded with hunting weaponry such as the slingbow, rifle and more.
Q: In regards to inventory: will there be ways to increase “player inventory” whether it be craftable backpacks, or a pet you can utilize?
A: Yes. You will be able to progress/upgrade your backpack, as well as some more advanced features.
Q: What sort of factors will pull aggression of the monsters of the realm, such as attacking trees or rocks making creatures with affinities to those elements more hostile at a distance or increased spawn chances, or loud noises and lights providing increased aggression?
A: Some creatures in the realms are always hostile, while others can be “riled up” based on the actions of Realmwalkers. Be cautious! Stealth may be an option to avoid aggression as well.
Q: Enemy AI in survival games often falls short especially navigating geometry, how dangerous/capable would you deem Nightingales enemies?
A: This will be something that we will continue to refine during public testing but we’ve found our AI enemies to be behaving well from our testing so far. What we also want to do is provide a range of distinct behaviours for different enemy types, and that includes non-combat approaches to different creatures.
Magic august Dev QA
Q: You stated in the previous update that the player has no inate magical abilities. Will there be a way to gain such abilities or will magic be locked solely to items?
A: You’ll be able to gain magical abilities as you progress through the game. We haven’t shown a lot of this so far but you caught a glimpse in the last trailer with one of the Realmwalkers using a ‘Wisp’ to illuminate an object in the darkness.
Map august Dev QA
Q: I read that maps will only be 2x2km but is this the maximum size for maps or will there be far larger ones?
A: This is the standard map size. We don’t anticipate that changing before Early Access launch. We focused more on variety within the realms than different sizes.
Q: Will there be mostly water realms with underwater gameplay?
A: No specific water realm right now. But there’s plenty of lakes and rivers if you want to go for a swim!
Building august Dev QA
Q: Will the building system for Nightingale be a craft and hold in inventory like Ark or more of a lay out a blueprint system then add resources like The Forest/Grounded?
A: It’s similar to The Forest/Grounded. You place down blueprints for parts of the structure (i.e. a wall or a staircase) and then you complete the structure by filling the blueprint outline with the required resources.
Survival august Dev QA
Q: How far will the characters mimic real life EX: hunger, stamina. and will there be inertia in the movement that is noticeable
A: When it comes to the survival systems we have hunger, health and stamina. And yes, there will be movement inertia that has a natural feel to it.
Servers august Dev QA
Q: In regards to multiplayer, will I be able to play with friends from the word go or will I have to build up to a certain point before I can join them or vice-versa?
A: That is currently the case. However, as we start doing public playtesting of the onboarding experience it may make sense to have players solo until the reach a specific point.
Q: Will we be able to make realms “public” or will they only be locked behind player host invite?
A: This is on our radar but to be confirmed whether it will be available at the start of Early Access
Q: Will we have dedicated co-op, like ARK tribes, or more of a “I’m coming over to your game today” system like Genshin?
A: It’s structured more like the latter, so you’ll be able to invite friends into your gameworld and vice versa at any time, regardless of your respective progress.
Miscellaneous august Dev QA
Q: Will the game be SteamDeck compatible?
A: Nothing to confirm right now but it’s something that we will be looking into as we get closer to launch.
Part of the august Dev QA collection – Source: Official Nightingale Discord
