Frayed Knights - Meet Thrump
This is Thrump.

The name isn't actually short for anything. It's just his name. At least, the name he tells people. I personally think he's Conan's younger, better-looking brother. He doesn't say a whole lot. He's kinda the strong, silent type.

Thrump is sort of Arianna's counterpart (and opposite) for the rival group of adventurers active in the Ardin area, the Heroes of Bastionne. The ones who beat the Frayed Knights to the eyes in Pokmor Xang pilot, for those who have played it. At least on the surface, he seems to be the warrior stereotype that Arianna is constantly fighting against.

Thrump is a follower. Arianna is a leader.

Thrump is massive and musclebound. Arianna is ... not.

Thrump holds his tongue and his temper. Arianna's anger management issues are legendary.

Thrump is physically intimidating. Arianna makes up for volume what she lacks in presence.

Thrump is a respected up-and-comer in the adventurer community. Arianna still draws snickers from those who know of her first independent mercenary stint where she was hired to escort a manure cart... and failed.

Reconstructing Ardin

I'm still working on Ardin right now. The original version of Ardin from the pilot was more of a rough draft intended for future expansion. While the village itself isn't a hotbed of adventure and intrigue as the two other small towns in Frayed Knights, there are still a lot of things going on that weren't even hinted at in the pilot.

So I've been shuffling things around, adding / creating new buildings, like my half-finished three-story tudor-style house there in the screenshot. The village also needs a focal point, besides the river. And then there's the various people in the community, and on the outskirts, with rumors, quests, hints, shops, and stuff to do.

The idea is that Ardin is something of a boom-town. Adventurers have come here on rumors of excitement and treasure. And they bring money with them. The villagers - old and new - are cashing in. So they've got a brand new (and I should add, totally rockin') inn, and some other new construction going on (hmmm.... I should probably create one or two half-finished buildings under construction, shouldn't I?). Some of the long-term residents resent the sudden appearance of adventurers, but it's still new enough that many - particularly younger citizens - find it fresh and exciting.

As far as the shops (well, *a* shop right now) are concerned, they are kinda-sorta working, though I'm still dealing with some design issues. Like what happens to items after you sell them. But the new interface, like the rest of the inventory system, is drag-and-drop. As much effort as it took to get things functional (and prevent bugs, like items getting perma-stuck under your cursor), there's just not much sexy to talk about a merchant trade interface. I ended up going far more traditional than I thought I would, just for the sake of my own sanity.

Merchant snark is still 100% free, though.

Another issue with Ardin was the invisible walls from the pilot. Everybody - myself included - hates invisible walls. Even when I know there's absolutely nothing for me to see out there. So - if nothing else - I'm at least making the walls visible kinda visible. So long as there is some consistency in knowing that you can't go up or down steep cliffs (and I will need to mark said faces with a texture that makes it clear it's not passible) or across rivers or so forth, that should resolve most issues.

Beyond that, when you go far enough (or hit the right point on the road, or whatever), you get a quick-travel menu asking where you want to go. Any area you have either visited before or heard about (via a quest or whatever) is available on the menu for travel. This won't happen the first "day" (the timeframe seen in the pilot) - as you really only have two places to visit (if you are in the one, you will only travel to the other). But after that, things start opening up, and you shouldn't have to walk far before being able to travel quickly to anywhere else in the game.

And - hey - BONUS! This opens up chances for secret locations that have to be discovered via conversations, reading old texts, etc. I'm not sure I'll be able to exploit that capability very well with the limited time I have available, but that would make for easy expansion and downloadable content later, wouldn't it?

Edit: Thank you, Ian, for pointing out that the previous name was taken. I wanted a misspelled onomatopoeia that suggested a beefy warrior-type. :)

Labels: Frayed Knights

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