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[jO]

I always knew Darwin would be a shotgun kind of dude. Take that, you biologically unsound bastards!

[jO]

Update!

• Improved graphics of fields and added more variations per field. Still no transitions between field types
• Added more Grasslands biome variations
• Improved perlin generation of all Grassland biome variations

Screenshots of the generated Grasslands biome:

Grasslands basic
Grasslands mountains
Grasslands lakes
Grasslands swamps
Grasslands dry
Grasslands volcano

Some generations of all Grasslands biome variations combined:

[Konidias]

I think some pretty, graphical font using text blitting would suit this game well. I feel like the text being used really doesn't work with the rest of the game graphics.

Are there plans on changing the text or are you leaving it as is?

[jO]

I think some pretty, graphical font using text blitting would suit this game well. I feel like the text being used really doesn't work with the rest of the game graphics.

Are there plans on changing the text or are you leaving it as is?

Fonts, as well as almost everything HUD related is still completely WIP. We've just talked the other day about finally settling on a proper font, but so far I have not found anything that works for us - probably I'll have to do one myself.

[meek]

There's a good chance those are just placeholders, Konidias. Similar shots have been posted previously in the thread where a lot of the aliased font was just a placeholder.

Edit: beat me to it there, jO.

[♒ben]

I think some pretty, graphical font using text blitting would suit this game well. I feel like the text being used really doesn't work with the rest of the game graphics.

Are there plans on changing the text or are you leaving it as is?

Fonts, as well as almost everything HUD related is still completely WIP. We've just talked the other day about finally settling on a proper font, but so far I have not found anything that works for us - probably I'll have to do one myself.

I think it would definitely be worth rolling your own font

[Franklin's Ghost]

I always knew Darwin would be a shotgun kind of dude. Take that, you biologically unsound bastards!

This looks great

Will you be able to also recruit and get specialists from within the natives you meet?

[GrinningPickle]

Continually enthralling. I say that whilst swirling brandy by a roaring fire.

[jO]

Will you be able to also recruit and get specialists from within the natives you meet?

Yes, you will be able to pick up Specialists during an Expedition. Those Specialists can be of native origin, such as a shaman or a leader of a tribe, or they can be non-native like a missionary or a stranded explorer (Sir Livingstone, I presume?).
However, this is a rather rare thing to happen and it will not be easy to convince them to join your trek, especially native Specialists.

[Konidias]

I think some pretty, graphical font using text blitting would suit this game well. I feel like the text being used really doesn't work with the rest of the game graphics.

Are there plans on changing the text or are you leaving it as is?

Fonts, as well as almost everything HUD related is still completely WIP. We've just talked the other day about finally settling on a proper font, but so far I have not found anything that works for us - probably I'll have to do one myself.

Aha, well I am curious for this expedition. I'll be watching for updates!

[Ivan]

A little concerned about the colonialist undertones in this. But I suppose if you made racism cute enough...

[jO]

A little concerned about the colonialist undertones in this. But I suppose if you made racism cute enough...

While the game is certainly not about colonialism, it is set in those times, so the topic is unavoidable. You are an explorer on an expedition, you move across the land to steal find treasure and gain fame by discovering things like river springs, waterfalls or other important landmarks. You will not colonize the land.

However, what is also unavoidable when making a game with this theme, even though it has strong fantasy elements, is the racism. In fact, we wan't to make it an perceivable element of our gameplay.
While we are realistic, and know that our means our limited, we want to portrait some of the horrible acts that were committed by many of those early explorers that, knowingly or unknowingly, left deep scars in the cultural memory of the indigenous people they were confronted with on their expeditions.
This is part of the "trail of chaos" element of the game. As the player explores and interacts with the world, his actions will cause the region to gradually go out of balance. This is true both for the environment, as well as for the native people that are living there.
You can very well explore the lands and reach your goals in harmony with the native tribes (there are examples of famous explorers that did exactly this and even used their expeditions to fight slavery whenever they were confronted with it). However, this is hard, and even if you mean to do only good, it will be very easy to accidentally cause things to go out of control and cause effects that you didn't foresee.

So no, we certainly do not want to make the racism "cute enough", this would be horrible and the exact opposite of what we want to achieve. We want to have it in the game and we want to let it happen if the player behaves in certain ways. We want the player to see the costs and consequences of his actions and maybe show that, even though you think you are not racist, you may end up doing racist things because they are not so obvious in the first place.

[aberrantmind]

Colonial undertones are fine. Colonial revisionism is the worst, especially with a pseudo fantastic historical setting.

The most respectable way to deal with racism is to not cutesy it up or force feed moralities down the gamers collective throats either.

[shelly]

Colonial undertones are fine. Colonial revisionism is the worst, especially with a pseudo fantastic historical setting.

The most respectable way to deal with racism is to not cutesy it up or force feed moralities down the gamers collective throats either.

But I believe they don't intend to do it this way. If I understood jO right, racisim, but mostly the consequences of invading a different culture, will be a gameplay element which is to be considered and played with (it is in the game and you hae to deal with it). I don't believe they'll pop up a message every three seconds, like "racisim is bad, and you should feel bad" (although it would be funny - but not effective)

[Panurge]

It seems to me that some people are very eager to take offence wherever they think there is even a slim chance of it being offered.

Personally, I see no evidence here of any attempt at colonial revisionism (a fantastical setting pretty much guarantees the opposite since you're not tinkering with 'real' history) or forcing a moral agenda on players (jO has been at great pains to explain a system which promises complete freedom of choice with a far more complex dynamic than simple 'good' and 'bad').

Perhaps the tribes you encounter should be blue-skinned like in Avatar? Or perhaps games should steer completely away from setting anything in the 19th Century? To me, this would mean sidestepping and ignoring an important issue and I would think it a far more shameful alternative.

I don't think a game has to be explicitly about racism, or even very serious and worthy in tone, to be able to deal with themes of racism. That would be like saying 'You mustn't talk about this issue unless you have a doctorate in Postcolonial Studies from an accredited university', which is already how many people feel when it comes to discussing racism. The debate is stifled because people are cautious to engage with it, and this just perpetuates many of the attitudes which make racism a problem even in our supposedly enlightened civilisation.

I will of course take all this back if 'The Curious Expedition' proves to be jam-packed with racist caricatures and jokes. From what I've seen, however, I very much doubt that this will be the case. It seems to me to be a commendable and brave attempt to engage with the period and setting in a 'warts and all' fashion. I hope others will at least wait to see how the project develops before they judge it.

[aberrantmind]

I think readers did not read what I said well. I wasn't implying anything about CE, I've been following it close for awhile and can see well enough that it remains fairly neutral on racism which is good. I was responding to Ivan's concerns.

[jO]

@Panurge & @sclly

Thank you very much guys!
I'm speechless to see how supportive you are - we are very thankful for your faith in us. We know this is not going to be easy, but with people like you supporting us we know we can achieve our goals.

I think readers did not read what I said well. I wasn't implying anything about CE, I've been following it close for awhile and can see well enough that it remains fairly neutral on racism which is good. I was responding to Ivan's concerns.

Don't worry 
It's important to stay critical. Some of the topics we are touching with our game (especially racism) are very emotional and laden, and we know that this is not going to be the last time we will talk about it (and try to make our take on it very clear).
Actually I hope that we soon, instead of talking about it, just let anyone interested experience it directly by playing the Curious Expedition.

One thing I wanted to share in the light of this topic is an image that served as an inspiration to us for the racist / colonialism / exploitation topic from very early on when working on the game:

[shelly]

I think readers did not read what I said well. I wasn't implying anything about CE, I've been following it close for awhile and can see well enough that it remains fairly neutral on racism which is good. I was responding to Ivan's concerns.

Don't worry =)

[lordchibi]

The game is looking great, can't wait to get my hands on it!

Have you considered adding authors like Edgar Allan Poe or H. P. Lovecraft? They might be too frail to handle physical combat well, but I bet there would be some potential for awesome abilities.

[oyog]

Have you considered adding authors like Edgar Allan Poe or H. P. Lovecraft? They might be too frail to handle physical combat well, but I bet there would be some potential for awesome abilities.

I was imagining H.G. Wells or Edgar Rice Burrows having some fun Martian based abilities. Are there martians in this game? I'm still not sure authors make a whole lot of sense as explorers during the age of imperialism. I think that's why I was so hesitant to suggest Whilhelm Reich or Aldous Huxley. I'm not sure they really fit the theme.