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[KingDinosaurGames]

So is all interaction basically done at POIs, and movement between POIs is abstracted? I was just thinking about your "Haven" as a model for Rivendale, and while Sauron's minions couldn't enter, they'd lurk constantly just on its boarders waiting for the Fellowship to leave so they could gank them. Can you interact with heroes via Agents while between POIs, or cast spells at them? Because they'd be most vulnerable to ambush when they're between cities, where there's no one to report back what happened to them....

Absolutely all interaction occurs at the POI level - but the scale allows for exactly what you're describing.  Some areas are densely populated with towns, villages, and cities so at best you'll be able to lure someone out to a village - but the more remote areas have plenty of vacant POIs consisting of hills, rough crossings, forests, and ruins where you can unleash your powers with little fear of discovery.  This element of map construction is part of the reason I love hand-crafted maps over dynamic. 

I'll upload the Backer videos to Youtube and pass the link over. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ6I_foR1WE&feature=youtu.be)

You can edit Hero portraits via the editor if you'd like, but I currently don't have an option to set them mid-game.  I'll put it on the list for the Beta testers to consider, it wouldn't be difficult to add.  Your Power (the Orbs) recharges slowly over time, but certain actions (such as sacrifices) will fill them up significantly faster.

In the most recent video the prophet overthrew the mason guild and had an option to make himself the new leader. If he had done that and then proceeded to spend all his time in a faraway land excavating a ruin (with no contact with guildmembers), would his influence and power over that guild slowly decay? I mean, any leader who just ups and disappears can't expect to show up years later and have everyone instantly obeying him like nothing had happened.

Some kind of influence decay mechanic would give players an interesting dilemma whenever they have the chance to have an agent take on a title or position; is taking this position worth having my agent being partly tied down to this area or is it better to keep my agent free to be sent to where he is most needed?

Or maybe there can be a usurper mechanic where your agent's influence does not change but if your agent has been out of contact with his cabal/guild/position for too long then a lower ranking member will attempt to take his position and influence in one go. The amount of time you could be away safely could depend on your agent's leadership stat (with higher leadership allowing you to remain away for a longer time).

Our ORIGINAL major design was using "corruption" as a currency for everything, and it decayed over time to represent exactly what you were saying.  Many of the options you had to make were either a "burst" of corruption vs "corruption over time" - but we found that global corruption decay created a mechanic where you put an agent somewhere and NEVER moved him.  We wanted to emphasize strategic response to actions around the map, so we altered corruption to be static influence, and other permanent effects will simply create quests to defeat themselves when you use them.

Thematically you can consider it that the Agent isn't simply taking control, he is putting in place the mechanisms for domination over the guild - fear or wealth used to secure his reign over the Guild.  However, if you do leave for a long time it is much more likely that a Hero will come along and restore the guild to its proper place (or destroy it) - which is the much more compelling threat we replaced influence decay with.   (I see in your last sentence you proposed a similar solution, this is what our testing determined to be the most interesting and strategic solution)

I think Donations picked up for two reasons - we got Staff Picked which is apparently a big deal for a kickstarter and we also cross-promoted with Star Traders 2, which we felt comfortable endorsing because their other games are pretty great.

[nenjin]

Thanks for the video repost.

[KingDinosaurGames]

Thanks for the video repost.

Your welcome, based on some feedback I'm going to append an intro to our next Dev Video showing how to actually make your own Event.  While I'm digging around, let me know if there's any particular aspect of Events or Politics you guys want to see in action.

[Jalak]

Personally, I'd like to see what happens when half a nation figures out why their leader is acting strangely and how you, the player, should react to having a puppet like this found out.

[thepodger]

Is there any way to jump in on the early access KS tiers without going through KS?  I want to pledge, but I refuse to use Amazon checkout because Amazon is the most sinister and evil of the megalithic dystopian nightmare corps.

[ventuswings]

All is good, hath the King PayPal tribute on his domain!

Some questions, around when do you expect copy of the game to become available for the beta testers? Will the demo be available to select few, and what restrictions do you expect it to have? I expect there is some kind of non-disclosure agreement before the product reaches satisfactory state - if so, will permission for LP given around Early Access or so?

I must say I am very impressed with your marketing so far.

[RebelZhouYuWu]

Not sure if people enjoy hearing me talk on the Dev Logs or they'd rather get more teaser type videos.  Here I know you guys like the information, but in general the Dev Logs see very little viewership.

I tend to like the Dev Logs over the teaser videos like the one you just released.

[nenjin]

Ditto for me too.

[KingDinosaurGames]

I'm setting Beta Tester expectations to two months after the close of KS, though I would anticipate actual access coming sooner.  We won't be doing NDA's or signed builds or anything, if someone wants to stream it at that point we are absolutely fine with that.  Mod access should come shortly after that, since it's in the same build but we're going to disable it at first so we can focus on gameplay feedback and testing first.

The Demo will be a global release, still strategizing with my partner on what exactly should be included given how behind schedule on it we are (Kickstarter really does end your development).  We absolutely do not want the Demo to impede on Beta testers getting access so we will act accordingly.

Yep, Paypal is now available on our home page - all purchases there will be added to stretch tiers.  http://www.kingdinosaurgames.com

I ALSO prefer Dev Logs and figure people would, but they get so few hits I figured no one really cared.

We are running a "thanks everyone" contest on our reddit page (http://www.reddit.com/r/thatwhichsleeps/), feel free to go post a proposed event and vote on the one you like the best.   I'm going to make a video of me adding it to the game through the mod tools, and then hopefully finding it in a playthrough.   If you don't use reddit because you hate it (which is a common enough opinion) you can post it here with "POST FOR ME" at the top and I'll go post it on your behalf. 

[Jalak]

I would like to cast my vote for the "Masters of Magic" event described in the competition.

[Majestic7]

POST FOR ME since I like keeping my accounts separate. The actual event suggestion:

A Hero Shall Be Born

Your agent has stumbled upon a local prophecy speaking of the coming of a great hero. According to the legend, he will be born in a rural village when old evil awakens, underneath a red star and a burning tree. While spending time in a local village, the agent one night sees an old oak catch flame from a torch. The fire makes the stars seem red. From a hut nearby come the cries of a woman giving birth....

Options:
1) Great hero you say? They forgot to specify hero for whom. The kid will make a great new agent for me! (A high chance that the agent nabs the kid. Some time later you get a further event on how to educate him/her. Long time later you get an exceptional agent. Added alternative outcome - the woman gave birth to twins. The agent got the first kid, but the second, born a minute later, becomes the hero of legend and the nemesis of his/her evil twin. This same alternative applies to the other options below including kidnapping.)

2) I hate heroes and prophecies! Kill them! KILL THEM ALL! (A high chance of creating infamy and interest etc, the agent kills everyone in the village and leaves. A high chance that a hero comes to investigate the ruins and find a child miraculously alive in the ruins. He then trains this child to become a great hero...)

3) Mmm, I know just the people in need of a great hero... (A high chance that the agent nabs the kid, then takes him to faction X of your choosing. A long time later that faction then gets a great new hero.)

4) This is one of those self-fulfilling prophecies, isn't it? Where I destroy the village and the kid vows vengeage? Just leave them be. (Nothing happens. A low chance that a long time later a great new hero arises.)

5) A hero-to-be sounds like an excellent ritual sacrifice. (A high chance that the agent nabs the kid and he is sacrificed in an Evil Ritual for the purpose of Y. Don't know enough about the magic to give a direct suggestion.)

[Jalak]

I'd imagine an event like that would only really work with the endless simulation stretch goal, since the actual timeline of the game you play in seems to only be a few years long at best. It would be pretty neat to have those sort of "long-term" events pop-up every now and then to simulate who your future agents and heroes would be if you fail the first time.
Would such a thing be planned if this stretch goal be achieved.

[Vgray]

Actually, I think the exact word King used was "decades".

[Jalak]

Huh, in that case the event seems more feasible, but still looks longer then it should be.
A way to make the consequences more immediate would be that the agent, by chance, sees a young peasant go through some seemingly random events that coincide perfectly with some prophesy, and you have the option to immediately kidnap said peasant (or manipulate them into going with the agent, either way).
If you manage to bring agent with peasant (represented by a newly generated hero) in tow to the great seal, you corrupt them and get another agent, with the resistance to this being the rescue-quest created when you capture someone normally. Ignoring the "prophesy" entirely could either have nothing happen or the hero spawn anyway, but maybe not as "committed" to stopping evil then he/she would have been if kidnapped and then rescued.

By the way, do the agents you gain have goals and ambitions of their own that give them bonuses if they are completed? Not game-changing powers or things that threaten the agent into trying to leave your service (one way or the other), but smaller things that are a nice boost if you exert a bit of pressure in the right places?
For example: the Guildmaster gains a small bonus to infiltrate and command (or whatever those two stats are called) if you have at least twenty gold in your resource pools.

Also, how much information are we given on how to recruit more agents? While I imagine those four initial agents you mentioned for recruitment would be made obvious from the start, how much information would we have in gaining the more complex agents later?

[ventuswings]

Hmm, I want to know more about resource flow before planning the event. For example, how does cities respond under the threat of starvation? Can Gold or some other favour be traded with their trading partners for raw resources (food) via event or is it for security only? Will the despotic ruler willing to conscript resources so that outlying villages starve instead of the capital?