March 31st, 2020
Q: What’s the difference from Chivalry I shield mechanic and Chivalry 2 ones?
A: In Chivalry 2 you can hold up a shield for the duration of your stamina. If you run out of stamina, you will be disarmed. If your shield tanks too many hits, it will eventually break and be destroyed.
Q: Will there be an option to disable blood and gore?
A: There will be indeed! No more shielding your kids’ (or grandparents’) eyes as you slice through the masses
Q: Will you add any jokingly ridiculous weapons such as a stick or a kitchen knife?
A: A great benefit of treating the battlefield like a sandbox is more opportunity to do this kind of thing. One of my most memorable lives was kicking ass with a pitchfork, but the poker is my[Moonmoon] favourite
Q: How many players are you looking to have the servers max at?
A: 64-players!
Q: For Alpha testing, do the testers who provide feedback receive a response from the devs? Say, in the interest of clarity on the feedback or just for constructive discussion when it comes to working out kinks etc?
A: If we feel there needs to be clarification we may respond. Feedback that gets passed to us goes through multiple layers of people, so we can’t really give a definite answer of “yes we’ll do that” right away if we want to make a change according to the feedback. There is constructive discussion that happens depending on the feedback as well.
Q: Is Chiv 2 gonna have new classes other than the 4 you can choose between rn and if so which?
A: We are expanding on this more vertically than laterally. What I mean by that is the introduction of subclasses that can affect your playstyle or allow you to find a niche you enjoy playing within those 4 classes. We wont’ rule out the possibility of more in the future but there are currently none planned.
There are also moments where you may play as people Other than the classes.
Q: What game modes can we expect? Would you consider something like CTF castle wars akin to Castle Wars in Runescape?
A: We have not yet communicated about game modes other than Team Objective and Team Death Match, but be sure that we have lots of ideas that we want to roll out, so anything can happen. We just need the time!
Q: What has the team learned from the alpha? Are there any glaring changes you guys are considering?
A: When we showcased the game for the first time at PAX it was a very eye-opening experience for us to see people who had varying levels of knowledge of Chivalry play in real-time. It exposed us to what players pick up easily and what things need to be more clear. We feel very confident in what we have to offer but are certainly open to tweaking things to make for the best playing experience possible.
Q: How are weapon restrictions going to work for the different classes? From the pax vids I saw on youtube there were MAAs with halberd, vanguards with gmaces etc
A: Spawning with certain weapons is restricted to which class and subclass you choose, although you’ll notice any weapon(or non-weapon) can be picked up off the battlefield by anyone.
Q: Will you guys be supporting the competitive part of your community, if yes in what ways would you plan to do so?
A: Yes, supporting the competitive community is something that we plan to do. We plan to support both the casual and comp scenes as best we can. While we cannot specifically tailor the experience only towards the comp scene, there will likely be ways we can improve the experience for everyone as the game grows and evolves with your input.
Q: hi, will i be able to preorder the game soon ?
A: We haven’t opened pre-orders up yet, though pre-orders will be possible as we move closer to launch and should come with some perks.
Q: Are the animations final or just alpha state?
A: The animations are still in Alpha state, definitely not close to final yet. Our animation team is focused on polish for the rest of development. Our goal for Alpha state was to get gameplay representative in terms of combat mechanics, but not put time into making character animations look great until everything’s ready to be locked down - and then the quality level cranked up to a 1.0-ready state after proper testing.
Q: are there any plans for the SDK - i imagine it wont be at release ofc but is there any rough estimate on when it might start getting worked on ?
A: Mod support is something that we have in our pipeline, as we know how valuable it was to the Chivalry 1 community. However at this time I’m not able to speak on where it fits within our release roadmap, as our core focus will be on the release of the game.
Q: Will the version we played at PAX be the same as the one when launched or will you add more new things?
A: The feel will be the same but there may be adjustments to fine tune. Improving the flow of the catapults section for example, fixing bugs, and increasing to 64 players of course! (not to mention the pax version was only 2 out of 5 total stages of a much larger map)
Q: Did the COVID-19 situation affect development?
A: We are all working from home! That means that we are more productive because we don’t have to run in fear every time we see Steve walking around with a wooden sword and a smirk.
A: Working remotely has certainly been a difficult challenge we’ve had to adapt to. Keeping up our high levels of internal communication has had to move to regular video calls, and we’ve had to develop some internal protocols to make sure everyone stays in the loop. Overall I think we’re managing very well. We know we are lucky that all of us can manage our jobs from home during this difficult time.
Q: Will there be gloriously inadequate Man At Arms insults again?
A: You’re damn right there will be!
Q: […] I hope Chiv2 archers are actually balanced so that they cannot get 1 shot kills from across the map from locations where they cannot be killed. […]
A: We are taking the power of archers very seriously. This goes from damage tuning on the game design side, to preventing archers to find spots where they can’t be reached in level design. We have other solutions too, like placing ammo crates in spots that force archers to expose themselves or move around for example. I will not list everything here, it would be too long. So far I think we did a good job, but we will keep doing tuning and refining until it is as close to perfection as possible while keeping archer gameplay fun.
Q: Will you ever consider adding a Battle Royale mode after release? I think with these maps and this epic combat it would be a hit among the playerbase. I can say I’d certainly enjoy it
A: As soon as we figure out how to include a plane in a medieval setting we maybe will consider thinking about it.
Q: Will there be any more weapon focused attacks similar to the q staff drop kick?
A: Yes, weapons will have unique attacks in this fashion - there is a lot more to be seen on this front in the future.
Q: will there be more hidden cows?
A: Maybe. Maybe there will be more than just cows. Maybe not. You will have to see for yourself
Q: do the members who have developed the game have a plan to talk about their professions, the tools and knowledge used to develop the game via interviews? We don’t know much about the studio and the people who work in it.
A: We do have plans for developer blogs going forward, specifically pertaining to members of the team and also about development as a whole. Stay tuned!
[Editor: If you’re interested, check out this playlist for their “Dev Diary” series that they made for Mirage.]
Q: Can we reload xbow while moving?
A: Like in real life, no, you cannot.
Q: what went behind the decision of holding block ? isnt a reaction parry/block more skill based
A: More details coming on this later as it is part of the new combat system flow and doesn’t make sense to just think of it as Chiv1 + held block, but a good way to think of our approach to it is that held block uses stamina as a very temporary way to absorb a shot or two before coming back with your own across a variety of skill levels. You will still need to time blocks with “perfect parries” to be stamina efficient and effective at higher levels of play. However we are making sure that if you stay on top of someone turtling you still quickly overwhelm them. Anything predictable can be punished.
Q: How come the lore trailer is pure filthy Agathian propaganda?
A: We wanted the lore trailer to represent some attachable themes that can be related to at first glance; the Masons as the black-wearing scary guys, Agatha as the gallant knights in shining armor. We all know it’s a lot more complicated than good vs bad though; consider the lore trailer as a fun and flashy re-introduction to the lore that establishes the timeline and basic setting, that will be far more fleshed out in both the game and other forms.
Q: Is combat balancing being done with a more casual playerbase in mind or is there some intention for a competitive playerbase?
A: Our goal is to land somewhere in the middle. We do not want to alienate new players to the genre by overcomplicating it, and we don’t want veterans to feel like the combat has been made too simple. Our focus is to give the players a toolset that they feel they can use to adequately defend themselves and learn the mechanics, while also allowing for the opportunity to dive deep into the combat system to really see what it’s capable of.
Q: As far as customization goes will there be team based customization?
A:Yes! there will be loads of stuff for each class on each team. Its important for players to be able to distinguish classes of other players but we still want to give people the freedom to change how they look.
Q: Will each map feature it’s own music?
A: While upping the scale of the battles; we took a look at how music can compliment the gameplay to help accentuate the experience. We’re using it to highlight certain moments, to help players experience a sense of desperation or courage during the right moments. In other ways we’ve allowed the scale of the battle to fill out the stereo field, things will feel much bigger/more epic than before
Q: will you add a shovel as a weapon
A: We do have one. You won’t be able to Minecraft your way under the maps though.
Q: Can we expect the old cosmetic symbols from Chivalry 1 to come back? and will there be more?
A: We won’t be directly importing old Chivalry 1 cosmetic assets into Chivalry 2, but I think there is certainly a chance we can re-create fan favourites.
Q: Crypts return and hordetown? Or any other pve mode?
A: Those maps and/or PVE modes aren’t planned for launch nor currently in production. But we know how much fun those were in the first game, so don’t rule it out for the future.
Q: Will I be able to set my opponents on fire?
A: Oooh yeah! And in a few different ways too! Make the battlefield smell like pork!
Q: How big of a part of combat will the abilities be, and will we see any abilities that incentivize teamwork?
A: A few do incentivize teamwork but most are offensive. We had a group of footmen block off a chock point with planted spears in a recent playtest.
Q: will there be jump kicks?
A: there ARE jump kicks.
Q: Will the development team be working with content creators for events in the future when the game has been fully released?
A: Indeed! We’ll be looking to support content creators and their interest in Chivalry 2 as much as possible. And I’ll [Jen (the CM)] be the point of contact for that! I of course always look forward to interacting with all players, casual, competitive, content creators, whoever.
Q: Will there be another wave of testing or do we just have to wait for the full game?
A: Yes, multiple Alpha waves.
Q: Can we have multiple team deathmatch like in Deadliest warrior ?
A: Not planned for launch nor in production. But we love zany fun like this, you never know post-launch.
Q: Which version of ue4 are you using?
A: 4.22 + a lot of custom stuff made by our talented coders!
Q: Are the original Chivalry 1 voices going to be available for use?
A: Yes! You will have the choice to customize each class with their Chivalry 1 voice.
Q: I probably missed it, but, are hit trades going to be a thing in Chiv 2?
A: No hit trading in general in Chiv 2 in our design currently.
Q: How will healing be handled? If I walk, will that trigger healing? Are there medkits that can be tossed or bandages?
A: After some time has passed out of combat you will regenerate a certain amount of health. If you want to restore your health fully you will be able to use bandages found around the maps. Your teammates can also throw you some if they feel generous or if they have a favor to ask you. This is something we’re still currently iterating on to make sure this mechanic feels good in gameplay.
Q: Horse maps?
A: This is something that we have toyed with and would like to do, but it may not make it in for launch because of time constraints.
Q: Will Chivalry 2 release with a healthy amount of different maps/battlefields in order for the game not to get stale to quickly? […]
A: Our intention is to ship the game with enough maps that fatigue won’t happen. After that we have plans to roll out more maps on a semi-regular basis. We know that players can get bored easily and we are decided to not let that happen!
Q: what is an already announced feature that you are really excited to show to the playerbase? I’m personally super excited for the 64 player matches.
A: We have thousands of voicelines across many different actors; including your old fan favourites from Chiv 1. Personal [Jen] favourite is Squire Boy from our Chiv 2 lineup: The Mason Archer voice option!
Q: Will I be able to cleave through multiple enemies at once?
A: Yes, heavy attacks do this. [Editor’s note: All attacks can hit multiple enemies. Heavy attack swings continue even if they are blocked, although dealing no damage to the blocker.]
Q: Will 1 v X scenarios give benefit to timed parries or will turtling in held block be the meta when attacked by multiple enemies?
A: You cannot turtle up indefinitely. If you’re parrying multiple hits, especially heavy attacks, your stamina will drain very quickly, especially if you’re not landing any hits as the defensive player. Similar to Chiv, the game favors timed parries, target switching, counters, clever movement, footwork and other offensive play will get you the win.
