Not A Blog Redux II

[travisbaldree]

Howdy again. It's time for this week's promised Not-A-Blog, so here we go!

Last week I talked at some length about what we're working on right now, what that actually means, and the process we go through to kick this out the door.

This week I want to talk a bit about some of the stuff that was accomplished over the week, because I know people want to hear it - but I also want to talk about scale, and I'm going to use Torchlight as a comparison. The numbers are pretty fun.

So, first things first - this week -

I spent most of my time working on Act 2 monsters (the second half of the Act). I polished 13 different monsters, and added 12 new skills for them. I set up or revised spawnclasses for 6 different regions. I worked on destructible elements for a sewer area. I made several particle systems to supplement these things. I fixed some multiplayer boss battle issues in a previous area's boss battle, and various other bugs as they arose. I partially completed polish on one boss battle. For Act 2, I have about 4-6 more monsters to finish polish on, 4 or 5 more regions to spawnclass, and 3 boss battles left to touch. I also have various champion packs left to add.

Similar things are happening throughout the company. Marsh is churning through Act 3. He worked on 4 sidequests, completed work on 5 monsters (2 of them champs), set up 7 new skills for those monsters, and added two new major special events. He also added proximity based health and mana steal effects and damage reductions, and completed several region spawnclasses. Polish continues on every front - it's very satisfying to see the march to completion.

So, I said I wanted to talk a little bit about scale. To satisfy my curiosity, I dug back through Torchlight 1's assets to get some statistics. We are often asked what the size difference between the two games is, and usually end up talking a bit about how the Act 1 content compares to Torchlight 1. I knew that Torchlight 2 was much bigger than Torchlight 1 - that's obvious - but I was still surprised at what I came away with. Here's a sample.

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Torchlight 1 has:

*7 Unique areas (not counting secret areas or Phase Beast areas, or random maps )
*52 Unique monster variants ( this does not count champion variants )
*47 total monster abilities ( this does not count boss abilities - this is for the rank and file )
*9 bosses/boss battles
*About 33 unique wardrobe sets
*About 230 unique weapon models
*About 60 unique player skills ( not counting spells )
*About 330 room layouts for assembling levels ( these are subrandomized as well )
*About 730 item affixes
*About 3080 items ( although this includes the goofy 'replicated' elite items that we used to stretch out the content - so a more accurate number is probably about 2000 )
*15 music tracks
*About 83 monster models ( not counting bosses or NPCs - there are more models than unique monsters because this includes player pets, summons, variants, and a few other odds and ends )
*1860 room pieces ( the raw props used to build levels )
*1612 animation files
*2778 texture files

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Torchlight 2 has:

*44 Unique areas (not counting secret areas or Phase Beast areas, or random maps )
*183 Unique monster variants ( this does not count champion variants, of which there are MANY more than Torchlight 1 )
*148 total monster abilities ( this does not count boss abilities or champion abilities - this is for the rank and file )
*27 bosses/boss battles
*About 85 unique wardrobe sets
*About 395 unique weapon models
*About 120 unique player skills ( not counting spells)
*About 1200 room layouts for assembling levels (these are subrandomized as well)
*About 1344 item affixes
*About 5773 items (no goofy item replication!)
*62 music tracks
*About 300 monster models - not counting bosses or NPCs (There are often visual variants to a single monster type, for spice, or champion variants)
*5665 room pieces (the raw props used to build levels)
*5329 animation files
*5444 texture files

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In terms of scale, Torchlight 2 is close to 4x the scale of Torchlight 1 as far as assets go, and probably close to that as far as playtime. Ideally, the multiplayer that everyone has asked for will further increase the longevity of the game (we certainly hope so!) These are all new assets as well ( some monsters and weapons return from Torchlight, but they have all been recreated, or in the case of some individual weapons and shields, updated and repainted )

At any rate, wow. That's a lot of stuff. It makes me tired just looking at it, seeing how far we've come - and makes the last push seem that much less daunting.
So, for anyone who has wanted some more-or-less hard numbers indicating the scale of the game, and what you can expect to get for your 20 bucks, hopefully this is interesting info.

Cheers!

Travis

[DarkTails]

I worked on destructible elements for a sewer area.

I'll giggle uncontrollably if you add 4 baby turtles crawling around in an area down there

[Zidders]

omg

"*62 music tracks"

x.x <3 <3 <3

[Glass]

spent most of my time working on Act 2 monsters (the second half of the Act). I polished 13 different monsters, and added 12 new skills for them. I set up or revised spawnclasses for 6 different regions. I worked on destructible elements for a sewer area.

Act 2 better not be a desert with a sewer area. Would seem all too familiar.

[travisbaldree]

Act 2 is a desert and has always been a desert.
Fear not, there's only one sewer area, it's small, and not a primary quest location.
I don't think it'll feel real familiar.

[gold163]

I worked on destructible elements for a sewer area.

I'll giggle uncontrollably if you add 4 baby turtles crawling around in an area down there

TEENAGE EMBER-INFUSED OUTLANDER TURTLES

[Glass]

Act 2 is a desert and has always been a desert.
Fear not, there's only one sewer area, it's small, and not a primary quest location.
I don't think it'll feel real familiar.

WHY!? No, seriously. Why is act 2 always a desert and why does that desert always have a sewer. Is this deliberate homage or is there something about the second part of games, deserts and sewers that just go together?

[dacckon]

Huzzah for 62 new music tracks!



I 'm a bit curious about the monsters you've brought back, have you brought back the ever feared dark zealots, blood disciples, and dragonkin ? Graverobbers, goblin archers, elementals? And of course the deadly Ember Mycon?

[travisbaldree]

Act 2 is a desert and has always been a desert.
Fear not, there's only one sewer area, it's small, and not a primary quest location.
I don't think it'll feel real familiar.

WHY!? No, seriously. Why is act 2 always a desert and why does that desert always have a sewer. Is this deliberate homage or is there something about the second part of games, deserts and sewers that just go together?

The real reason? Because it's a massive color change and allows for very, very different monster and weather types.
Going from grasslands to jungle or forest, or just about any other climate is green to green. We already do snow in early act 1, so that's out of the mix. So if you want a dramatic change in venue, well, desert is always a great bet. Contrast is hugely important to making it feel like a reward to reach a new area.

Nobody ever wants to start a game in a desert because it is too dry, and too uninviting as a stepping off point. And most outdoor areas tend to have green in them ( unless you're in autumn, and even THEN! ). So to get good contrast, you flip flop - green, brown, green.

*Shrug*

That's really the main reason.

[travisbaldree]

Huzzah for 62 new music tracks!



I 'm a bit curious about the monsters you've brought back, have you brought back the ever feared dark zealots, blood disciples, and dragonkin ? Graverobbers, goblin archers, elementals? And of course the deadly Ember Mycon?

Three of those return. But I ain't sayin' which ones.

[Omnifas]

Act 2 is a desert and has always been a desert.
Fear not, there's only one sewer area, it's small, and not a primary quest location.
I don't think it'll feel real familiar.

WHY!? No, seriously. Why is act 2 always a desert and why does that desert always have a sewer. Is this deliberate homage or is there something about the second part of games, deserts and sewers that just go together?

Homage to Super Mario Bros 2 and 3(World 2), great now I'm expecting a green tube somewhere on the map.

[Bibblesquash]

Huzzah for 62 new music tracks!



I 'm a bit curious about the monsters you've brought back, have you brought back the ever feared dark zealots, blood disciples, and dragonkin ? Graverobbers, goblin archers, elementals? And of course the deadly Ember Mycon?

Three of those return. But I ain't sayin' which ones.

Curiouser and curiouser...

[Acalanatha]

So... many... numbers...

In other news, thanks for this!

[Fhaarkas]

Dark Zealot AND Slasher? I'm already annoyed.

[VenerableSage]

Nobody ever wants to start a game in a desert because it is too dry, and too uninviting as a stepping off point. And most outdoor areas tend to have green in them ( unless you're in autumn, and even THEN! ). So to get good contrast, you flip flop - green, brown, green.

*Shrug*

That's really the main reason.

Confirmation of an autumn-themed area? (Please say yes. The atmosphere would be amazing. :])

[dacckon]

Let's see if I can try my luck one last time , any chance we'll see an armor set like this from TL1?

Spoiler: show

[unrealmack]

Absolutely amazing work, by real game developers, for real gamers.

Bravo!

[LeStryfe79]

MAGNIFICENT

[Roy]

The game seems to be grander in scale than I anticipated. I wish I could give ya'll at the office a pat on the shoulder for all the honest to good work.

I bet we'll see the release of Armed Heroes Online 2 a few months after Torchlight 2. No offence.

[Artsyfact]

Cheers for the update! With all this stuff, 20$ is a steal, really..
62 music tracks sounds supermassive..But but, how long is their total duration? Tracks in games/OSTs vary from tens of seconds to minutes..