Wasteland 3 Update #25 - You Reap What You Sow
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The latest Fig update for inXile's Wasteland 3 shares a brief general progress report and then offers a quick, mostly text-based look at one of the game's areas, the Garden of the Gods. We get to read about the area's story setup and combat design, and then, as a bonus, we're treated to a general Wasteland 3 Q&A. And on top of that, there's also this bit of early in-engine footage:
A couple of snippets from the update:
Garden of the Gods first look
Ziets here with a little setup on the Garden of the Gods.
In the real world, the Garden of the Gods is a park in Colorado Springs, famous for its towering red rock formations.
In our post-apocalyptic version of Colorado, the Garden still exists, but now it’s the site of an eccentric science project. The aim of the project is to grow crops at the tops of the rock towers by collecting and focusing sunlight, since food production is a major challenge in frozen Colorado. (You can see the solar collectors and other devices in the image below.) Until recently, the experiment was going well.
Then, just before the start of the game, Colorado Springs was infiltrated by the Dorseys, one of the savage Plains gangs who’ve declared war on Colorado. The Dorseys hold a particular grudge against Colorado Springs and its leader, the Patriarch – their ancestors were one of the Hundred Families who founded and built the city.
The Dorseys follow a bastardized version of the local religion, believing that by destroying the last vestige of America, they can bring about the “Final Deluge” that will renew the world. During their attack on Colorado Springs, a group of Dorseys took hostages and are now holed up in the Garden of the Gods. It’ll be up to the Rangers to root them out, recover the hostages, and avoid crippling the city’s food supply in the crossfire.
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Q&A
Hi all, Paul here again for the rest of the update. Thanks to those of you who submitted questions and thanks to the team for taking the time to answer these!
Q: Could there be an update concerning the multiplayer portion? I'd just like to know how the homebase would be shared - companions, items? Are we playing separate squads that impact each other or two halves of a whole? If wanted, can I load up and walk through the whole game with my friend, or will there be times we can't be in the same location at once?
A: When playing multiplayer, your party is split between both players, with each player controlling a number of Rangers. The details may change as we continue to play and iterate, but right now, players can freely allocate party members between one another, with the only requirement being that each player must have a minimum of one player-created character in their party.
Q: What will the Rangers look and sound like in dialogue? Will I see my cool Rangers with their custom appearances close up, "Mass Effect" style? Will the Rangers be voice acted? If so, will the player have a number of voice packs to choose from, or will it be more like "You are Troy Baker, deal with it"? Can the player choose which Ranger is speaking? Can they change which Ranger is speaking mid-dialogue like in Wasteland 2? Or is there a permanent "spokesman"?
A: For regular conversations, you will see your party members from the normal top-down camera view. For cinematic conversations, we're still experimenting, but at this time we're not planning on voice-acting your player characters during conversations. Different party members will be able to speak during conversations, but we've streamlined the interface so that you don't need to pick a specific character - the game will pick the most appropriate character for each line if you meet the requirements. Of course, the companion NPCs who join your party will be able to interject during conversations as well, and they might sometimes surprise you with their insight.
Q: How will vehicle combat work?
A: You'll be able to use your vehicle to fire on enemies, as well as a mobile cover point you can place to maximize your tactical advantage. There's more to vehicles, of course, but we'll talk in more detail in a future update.
Q: I know it's early days yet as far as fleshing out characters go, but do you have any favorites or characters that really stand out?
A: Our characters are continuing to take shape. While we can't talk too much about many specific ones just yet, you can expect to see a commanding presence from Colorado's leader, The Patriarch, as well as a bunch of our various faction leaders and companions. The writing and design team have had a lot of fun trying to add all sorts of personality quirks and moments throughout the game.
