Hi Forgotten Ones,

Yesterday was a fantastic day, with a surge of more than $100K and 1500 new backers (welcome!). We were thrilled at the positive response to both the Bloom screenshot and our in-engine technology test with it. We’ve posted a 1080 HD version of the video for you to check out.

In yesterday’s update, we announced our remaining Stretch Goals, which return to Torment many of our original ideas that we had evaluated to be too ambitious for our resources. But now they are within reach. We have just two days left to see how far we can get! We’ll be issuing a Call to Arms later today. Let’s show the world that the RPG renaissance continues to thrive!

Chris Avellone joins Design Team!

Yesterday’s surge catapulted us past the $3.5M Stretch Goal early this morning. Chris Avellone, who was the lead designer for Planescape™: Torment (among many other credentials), is joining our design team!



Here is a brief word from Colin regarding achieving this Stretch Goal:



We also reached 10,000 Likes on Facebook and more than 63,000 backers, which brings us to the 8th Fathom of the Castoff’s Labyrinth. Next Fathom is at 66,000 backers. More Stretch Goals remain – next stop is the Hall of Lingering Reflections at $3.6M.



New Add-ons

We have some new add-ons for you to consider. Find out more about add-ons, and instructions on how to include them, at our tumblr site.

Alpha Systems Test Access – $10 (Requires Beta Test Access)

The Alpha Systems Test will be our first real test of our game systems and interface, and your first opportunity to give serious, hands-on feedback about the game. Because this is a test focused on system mechanics, Alpha may not be available for all platforms. (It will be available for Windows at least.) The Alpha Systems Test isn't expected to take place until sometime in 2014. Beta Test Access is a prerequisite to choosing this add-on. (So if your Tier includes Beta Test Access, you can add this for $10. Otherwise, combined Alpha Systems and Beta Test Access can be added on for $30.)

Digital Comic by Chris Avellone – $8 (Not available through any Tier)

Chris Avellone will write a digital comic (at least 12 pages) related to the Torment characters and story. It may even be about the companion he will be designing and writing. It will be released before the game ships. This digital comic is available only as an add-on.

Digital Comic Compilation – $14 (Not available through any Tier)

Includes all three digital comics (written by Chris Avellone, Pat Rothfuss, and Colin McComb & Adam Heine; the skilled artist or artist(s) who will draw the comics are still being considered). These comics will all relate to characters relevant to Torment: Tides of Numenera. Backers who choose this add-on will receive these prior to the game’s launch.

Sagus Cliffs

On Monday, you saw our first game screenshot, which was set in the Bloom. Today we have for you a second, which is set in Sagus Cliffs. Though we were very excited when the Bloom screenshot came together, we felt that it alone painted too narrow of a picture of what Torment would look like. We wanted show you (and to prove to ourselves) another environment to demonstrate some of the variation in architecture and color palettes that you’ll see in Torment. Here is our first attempt at a less organic location. (Higher resolution version available here.)



The city of Sagus Cliffs borders a large inland sea, winding its way down to the water through switchbacks and cutout caverns. The city is vast, both vertically and horizontally, exhibiting a wide variety of architectural styles as its layers were stacked upon each other across the ages. Some buildings are built out far over the water below, precariously holding through elaborate winches, pulleys, and wires. Some have no such support, practically hovering under their own power. But the old ways still hold – literally – sometimes clinging to the last scavenged beams on which they were originally erected, with bridges of coherent light helping to hold together the city’s economy. At the base of the cliff, the ocean crashes and swirls around the rubble of fallen houses, the city extending downward even here – with some structures diving beneath the waves.

Tony Evans Discusses Combat

In Tales of Torment: Episode 7, Tony talks a bit about our plans for combat. He describes some of our goals for the combat system through a couple examples, and explains our position on whether combat should be turn-based, real-time with pause, or a hybrid system.



Vision Document

We’ve posted the Torment: Tides of Numenera Vision Document for you to check out. If you’ve been following all of our updates and watching our Tales of Torment episodes, then most of its contents will be familiar to you already. This document describes our direction for Torment, the game you are trusting us to create and deliver to quality. We’ve also set up a Vision page on tumblr that includes much of the concept art and links to all of the videos – it’s an ideal link to send people for a summary of Torment.

Miscellaneous

A clarification from yesterday – the Numenera Torment Sourcebook is not available through any pledge tier – you can only get it as an add-on. However, while its add-on value is at a discount, the sourcebook will be part of the Numenera product line and is not exclusive to Torment backers.

See you again soon,

Kevin Saunders
Project Lead