KOTCL Dev Diaries - New Format. Continued.

Knock, knock, travelers!

The previous diary entry was a bit unusual (noticed?), and continuing it in a worthy way won’t be easy. But I’ll try. By the way, this is going to be something like a series, so I recommend checking out the previous entry if you haven’t read it yet. That said, my idea for changing the format is actually to keep it from settling down and becoming predictable. So it doesn't get stale, so to speak. That means there won’t be a consistent direction — and more importantly, there shouldn’t be one. We don’t take the easy path.

Feedback

Are you curious about Redboon’s new projects and future Knock universe updates? So am I. As you can see, we’re not going anywhere, but no final decision has been made about the new game yet. In other words, I don’t really know what it’s going to be either. A lot depends on the results of the final rebalance — because that rebalance is also a kind of search for the next game. Yeah, I’m mostly circling around the topic. Maybe Innrey will say more. By the way — where is he?

While We Wait for Innrey

While we’re waiting for Innrey, I suggest circling around the Divine Mite for a bit. You’re curious to know more about it, and I happened to get my hands on a secret report from the Brotherhood of Fire for just a moment — enough to make a copy:

“The object was found at the depth of 80 meters in one of the caves of the Northern Ridge (the exact coordinates are of higher secrecy and are specified in Appendix 4.14e). The doorway is cut right into the stone; the door is made of unknown material, which generally corresponds to the description from archives. The door is sealed. The number of seals is 16, which can indicate a level of danger that we haven’t encountered before.

All the seals are placed directly on the door, in special slots. In the side passages, which symmetrically radiate in different directions, 16 altars were found, each with an empty seal slot. That also corresponds to the description from archives and allows making definitive conclusions. Previous experiments have shown that upon taking the seals from the door, the being inside wakes up and displays astonishing mental power. However, after that the seals can be placed on the altars, and the awoken monster will not be able to leave its den, and its power will become limited. One can only guess as to who created such technologies and what their purpose is.

This is the fifth of the similar objects that were found by the Brotherhood at different ends of the world at various depths. Unknown monsters are slumbering underground. Their dens are sealed so they cannot come out. It’s better not to touch them, but all possible precautions ought to be taken. I hereby order that a monastery of the Brotherhood in the direct vicinity of the cave’s entrance be found. The monastery’s priority will be protection of the object. Senior Brother Quintus is tasked with the coordination of all the necessary works.”

Hope that didn’t make things too clear? This chthonic monstrosity should remain mysterious.

What’s next on the list? Shoots? Shoots.They won’t let me into Shoots if I spill too much, but yes — it’s an actual organization. They hunt for forbidden knowledge, grow their power, study cause-and-effect, and learn how to control the world. But most importantly, they want to know why the Supreme Gods created Midian. They need that knowledge in order to gain the ability to choose. To oppose the gods? Or to help them? To have a choice — you need to know the purpose. Does someone who can't see the consequences of his own deeds need free will?

Oh, hey Innrey.

About the New Project The new project will be announced very soon. I think the video diary will be ready by the end of the month, as long as nothing gets in the way.

When will there be a Kickstarter/Steam page for your new game? We’ll probably skip Kickstarter. Steam — much later, because we still haven’t decided in what format we’ll present the project first.

About New DLC The team is currently working on a new game mode. Whether it’ll be released as a DLC or a standalone game is still unclear. But once we have something to show for Knock on the Coffin Lid, we’ll definitely let you know 🙂

About Fan Modding “If you open the game for modding, people will make a ton of mods.” The game isn’t closed to modding. In fact, I think Knock was even added to a modding site — our players told us about it. Creating a full-fledged editor for Knock, though, unfortunately isn’t possible. The project is just too complex and tangled — any change creates a flood of bugs. The reason is the weak core architecture, which dates back five years. Fixing it now simply isn’t feasible. For the next project, we’ll definitely build it with modding support in mind from the start.

About Innrey Bring back Innrey’s closing words to the news format! I’m happy you still remember me :) That’s really nice ^.^ I’m incredibly deep into the new project right now. I literally don’t have even an hour to spare. Once we announce our next game, you’ll understand — we’ve accomplished a huge amount in just two months. I’ll definitely return with video diaries once the intense development phase is over.

About Bugs, Sadly When are you going to fix the bugs? Literally any moment now :) We had to do a lot to release on PS and Xbox, and we also added a bunch of final features — which could have broken things again. We didn’t want to fix bugs that might immediately reappear. Same reason as always — the weak base architecture of the game. Now that those last features are in place, we’ve thrown the full team at bug fixing. Very soon, I think, we’ll have cleaned them out of every corner ;)

Thank you all for staying with us after release! I truly want to keep bringing you new games and updates. I hope I’ll have a chance to share more details with you in the coming weeks! By the way, Knock on the coffin lid is discounted on all PS, Xbox and even the GOG shop until the 15th of July.