(NOTE: These devlogs usually lag behind our official updates. The latest up-to-date information about the game can be found on our team's Patreon page!)

Hey everyone, and welcome to another devlog! :)

Our previous posts were focused on design, so this time we'll talk about a few of the specific in-game mechanics in ToLLA...

While dialogue, looting, and combat will make up a good chunk of the content in each area of the game, there are also numerous special events scattered about as well. These unique events, when triggered by the Player, bring up a storybook UI with accompanying graphics and text specific to that event!

The picture in the post's header is stitched from the individual images present in 4 such events. From left to right, they are: Recollections, Encounters, Oddities, and Disputes. There are more than 4 types of events, and we'll talk about others in future posts, but for the purposes of brevity we'll only cover those 4 today...

All these events are represented by stylized, sepia-colored interaction icons:

Recollections are represented by a large snowglobe.

Encounters are represented by an exclamation mark.

Oddities are represented by a twisted music box.

Disputes are represented by shouting mouths.

Unlike various triggers the Player can trip while exploring, these interaction icons are static, and await manual activation. We considered making them time-sensitive, but after some tests realized it simply isn't fun playing under pressure, and have since switched them to await the Player's input. You'll be able to trigger them as simply as walking up to them and clicking on their icons!

Keep in mind that they all fall under optional content, and will not be necessary to progress the main story. However, an enterprising Captain would be wise to poke around at least a little bit, because there's hidden gold, loot, information, and stat gains to be had off the beaten path!

So with all that out of the way, what the heck do these events actually do?

= R E C O L L E C T I O N S =

Despite us, as the developers, wanting to give you as much freedom in how you role-play Captain Hale, he does come with a certain amount of backstory. As an elite soldier and seasoned veteran of countless battles, he's fought over the length and breadth of the continent, having taken part in multiple military campaigns and countless solo adventures... 

He's crossed blades with humans, monsters, elementals, spellcasters, enemy champions, infernal demons, rogue automata, the undead, and has lived to tell the tale, having always come out on top! But these experiences have left deep and lasting impressions on him... impressions which surface from time to time, causing him to brood on his past in the form of morose recollections...

Every now and then you'll come upon something that'll trigger one of these memories -- a meadow that reminds him of a battlefield; a ceremonial sword like the one belonging to a fallen comrade; a corpse whose face twists like the visage of an enemy champion he slew in mortal combat; etc. -- and you'll be treated to a written scene as Hale's memories take him back to that pivotal moment, making him relive experiences from years ago.

You'll be able to read about his exploits in far-off lands and during bloody wars as he remembers such events. These sequences will, for the most part, be linear, with a bit of choice in the end in how you resolve the scene. Their purpose is to offer a window into Hale's past, as well as giving us the opportunity to do a bit of world-building without resorting to infodumps.

Also, depending on how you end the memory, Hale will recall a tiny bit of his long-forgotten skill, and will get a permanent bonus to one of his derived stats... things like +1% to Crit Chance, +5 to Health, +2 Mental Resistance, etc. This may not sound like much, but all of these bonuses are cumulative, and will add up over time to give the Captain significant combat advantages, making him probably the most powerful and capable individual unit in your party!

= E N C O U N T E R S =

Your travels in the game will take you through many lands and locations as you race to save the country from the brink of annihilation... Along these travels you'll inevitably run into the less savory members of society, and be forced to deal with them as they try to use the recent invasion to turn a quick profit, usually at the expense of the innocent.

You'll also be confronted with non-humans and/or monsters taking advantage of the chaos to prey on humanity.  Or you might just run into a mercenary company trying to pry open a sealed temple and loot its interior, despite the impassioned protest of the local monk.

Will you uphold your oaths of duty and help the oppressed, or discard your vows and pad your own pockets with the wealth of the unfortunate? All these encounters fall under a special type of event which has one group of characters harassing or attacking another, and will end in combat if you attempt to intervene!

To keep things balanced, don't expect your enemies to be pushovers - when facing elite units (like seasoned mercenaries), you'll fight on fair footing, but when tackling low-tier enemies like brigands, expect them to bring friends!

Also, you might be tempted to help a traveling merchant fend off a group of local thugs, but doing so will mean paying extra for black market deals in the next town! Then again, saving the merchant means you get to access his wares, in addition to looting the thugs' cold, lifeless bodies!

Decisions, decisions...

= O D D I T I E S =

Strange and unsettling geometries; pieces of art, masonry, and landscape that twist and writhe with unnatural energy; dark and foreboding wails coming from nowhere and everywhere at once; ominous carvings and rune-studded pillars full of warnings...

All these belong to inspectable oddities you'll be able to find and examine... Doing so will show you the oddity's genesis, and offer portents, warnings, or messages, as befits each individual oddity... Examining them awards large amounts of +XP, but can either increase or decrease your party's Morale, depending on the oddity's type!

For example, finding a bleeding mass of bovine carcasses stacked within a pentagramic circle will deeply unsettle your soldiers, whereas relaxing within a druidic grove full of healing magic would boost their disposition!

Oddities are another way for us to immerse you in the area you're exploring, while at the same time offering tidbits of game lore through writing that comes in small, bite-sized chunks. They'll also serve to offer cryptic hints about events to come in the future, as the entire country buckles under the strain of war...

Though some of them might be completely alien, and even odder than the rest!

To give you an example, one of the wilderness areas has a meteor crater from an impact hundreds of years ago... At the center is a house-sized lump of celestial rock which vibrates with strange frequencies, wailing and roaring in inhuman tones, driving anyone who comes close completely mad... If you manage to survive its mental assault, you'll be rewarded with a scene showing you where the meteor came from, and what hides within its core...

Every oddity is special in its own way, and each of them will reward you with unique information, as well as +XP and +/- Morale.

= D I S P U T E S =

Captain Hale is not only a person of authority due to his military rank, but also a minor local celebrity and war hero. Being the de facto leader of an entire company of hardened warriors who patrol the monster-infested tundra tends to make people stop and listen... and obey!

As such, the common folk look up to the Captain, and will petition him to solve many of their disputes. These disagreements appear in the form of verbal spats between diverse groups of NPCs, usually at odds with each other for whatever reason. You can expect to run into soldiers from different squads brawling with each other, prostitutes fighting over turf (or against their pimps), merchants haggling and undercutting, drunken mobs attacking non-human scapegoats, etc.

Activating a dispute will draw you into the situation, with each side attempting to get you to rule on their behalf! You'll not be forced to do anything, because you're both judge and jury in these situations, but you will be tempted with various rewards from those who can afford to grease your palms with wealth and favors.

Each such event will feature a unique situation and problem for you to solve, most of them being moral dilemmas you'll have to arbitrate (if you so choose). How you handle them will impact everything from rewards to your reputation and companions' (dis)approval... and might win you powerful friends... or disturbingly persistent enemies.

An avaricious Captain might make monetary and material gains in the short run, but an abstemious one will find rewards of a different kind further down the road on his adventure...

Aaaaand that brings us to the end of this lengthy devlog! :D

As always, we hope you had fun reading, and that you'll join us next time as well for some more sneak peeks! 'Till then, have a good one and enjoy the weekend...

~ Crimson Delight Games