Team Q&A Session: XX/08/2021 Transcript (Patreon)

Panel

• Sam (Samu-kun) - Founder
• Ben (Nemjen) - Community Manager

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This Q&A was not a live event and instead questions were submitted in advance and then answered after the cut off date.

Question by Elikuz

“In which order the routes in Sunrider Academy and Starnova were written? Like what girl's story were created first and what was the last one.”

Samu: If I'm remembering correctly, it went in this order. I think we had polls on the Patreon and the routes were created in the order of fan demand when possible. Otherwise, the routes were ordered in terms of what assets were required. (For example, we needed assets from the other routes for Sasami's route, so that was had to be last.)

Sunrider Academy

1. Sola

2. Chigara

3. Asaga

4. Ava

Starnova

1. Nemu

2. Mariya

3. Mika

4. Julie

5. Aki

6. Natsuki

7. Sasami

Nemjen: At least for the Starnova side of things as I wasn't involved with the development of Sunrider Academy, it was pretty loyal to the previously mentioned polls with two exceptions. Nemu (who we felt should be the first of the routes implemented) and Sasami (as her route relied on assets from the other routes).

Question by Παναγιώτης Λιάλιος

“Seeing as Liberation Day had many endings, some of which we lose important characters, how are you going to proceed with that? Will you treat one of Liberation Day endings as "canon ending" and continue story from there or you will have a system where story on Sunrider 4 progresses differently depending on how you finished on Liberation Day.

Samu: With the story, I could potentially spoil some parts of SR4, so I can't discuss what impact if any, the choices from prior games will have on the story. The only confirmation so far is that Cosette will be assumed to have either somehow survived Helion or Cera, since I'm sure basically everyone will want her around anyways. From a technical stand point though, so I'm sure you're aware, LD printed out a .txt file with some save data. Now, realistically, I'm sure most people who play SR4 will not have this file because it probably got lost over the years. So we won't make this file necessary to the game play experience. If we get the chance to implement this, something interesting might happen if you still have that file though. ;)

Nemjen: Something worth reaffirming purely from a narrative point, the endings of [RE]turn in how they played out weren’t canonical and the plotline of Sunrider 4 will continue from the main base game. The [RE]turn expansion while playing out within Liberation Day were their own standalone stories, its a bit like Sunrider Academy in that sense that while events didn't play out like this in the main timeline there are still details touched on that are relevant between the two.

Question by Παναγιώτης Λιάλιος

“Are you going to open preorders through steam in order to help better finance the project (Sunrider 4) on a bigger scope?””

Samu: We don't have any specific plans. Valve typically does not open pre-orders on indie titles and offers the early access route instead as the better option. However, there are no specific ideas either way on Steam Early Access.

Question by Taihou

“To Sam, my love for her won't be so easily pushed back. As her "Dad", will you let me marry Cosette?”

Samu: I'm afraid that's entirely up to her. She left my control at the age of six and she hasn't been responding to my messages ever since.

Nemjen: Shame on you for reminding him that he’s not had contact in all this time, you’ll never get his ultimate blessing now your question is associated with such a sad memory.

Question by Snickett

“With mainstream successes of games like Doki Doki Literature Club, do you believe that the Visual Novel style will expand more in western gaming culture?”

Samu: Well, you answered yourself. VNs are basically mainstream successes now and games like Phoenix Wright and Danganronpa are known by basically any anime gamer. It's definitely not something only enthusiasts know about. You'll probably continue to see plenty of main stream VNs being made by AAA Japanese developers since they've got major franchises up and running.

Nemjen: The main thing I found that was always been somewhat of a historical thorn for the visual novel genre in the West was availability, you’d have someone express interest in the genre but then when you’d want to make the suggestion of a heavy hitter to show the format at its best then you could find yourself in a position where your suggestion was difficult as it was complicated to organise, wasn’t properly available in the West or involved a leap of faith with a distributor they might not have been comfortable (or able) to use. Now what is increasingly the case is more of those titles are becoming easily available in the West through more mainstream methods along with new release options becoming a regular occurrence across a range of subject matters, this including those from the AAA Japanese developers and their own new releases who historically tended to focus only on their own home market. I still think visual novels and their style are going to remain a niche aspect of the gaming sphere ultimately, but that general awareness and appreciation is in a good spot at this moment in time with games like the aforementioned Doki Doki Literature Club creating easy access gateway and a buzz from people wanting similar experiences, this then equally leading to those curious experimenting with what else the format has to offer.

Question by Snickett

“Any other genres you'd love to make a game for?”

Samu: Apart from VNs, turn based tactics RPGs, and management sims, I'm guessing? How about an RTS? More realistically, I think most of our fans would like an RPG. (As in a character-based RPG, as opposed to a turn based tactics game)

Nemjen: Its way out of our league but I’d love if one day we had the capacity and opportunities to dabble with VR experience types of releases, or to implement those sort of segments as unlockable bonus rewards of a certain scenario. Then again VR makes me motion sick so I likely wouldn’t be much use on such a project.

Anything below this space touches on Sunrider 4 content including Patreon posts, if you’re trying to avoid details of this nature don’t proceed any further.

Question by Serf

“In previous lore posts, it seems that Ongessite is a critical resource for the galactic economy, but can really only be found in one place in abundance, Ongess. This setup is similar to the Spice from the Dune franchise. If Ongessite is indeed so important, why was Ongess ceded as being part of the Neutral Rim as opposed to being either part of the Solar Alliance or the New Empire during the time of the Treaty of Vespa? It's strange to imagine a superpower intentionally ceding a galactically dominant resource intentionally. Could it be that while Ongessite is a crucial resource that provides a distinct advantage, there are alternative resources/methods that blunt Ongessite's galactic importance?”

Samu: The Treaty of Vespa was signed over one hundred years ago, when space battles were basically slugging matches between two rows of very large ships that fire lasers at each other, until one fleet realizes it has lost the tide of battle and retreats. Ryders were very primitive and their full potential was only starting to be recognized by the military leadership. Overall, ships could be much heavier and battles were slow paced, disciplined affairs, where captains were defined by their ability to stay in formation against enemy fire. This kind of battle was completely different to the Neutral Rim War, which was defined by ryders quickly swarming ships and ships needing to be light and maneuverable to quickly adapt to a rapidly morphing battlefield.

A hundred years ago, many statesmen were still aware of how important Ongessite will be in the future wars to be fought when they convened at Vespa to agree to peace terms. It was clear to the Solar Alliance that if they demanded that Ongess be given membership in the Solar Alliance, the New Empire will simply have boycotted the meeting all together. This would have been detrimental to the Solar Alliance, since while they had pushed the New Empire back, the New Empire was still nowhere near defeat. In fact, if the war continued on in the present day Neutral Rim, it would have been the Alliance which would have suffered, since they'd have to deal with an ever distant supply line. The total destruction of the New Empire was never seriously contemplated by anyone in the Solar Alliance - the point of coming to peace terms was to secure the Alliance's borders by claiming Far Port for themselves, and the territory beyond, to Cera, as the Neutral Rim, a buffer zone which neither party will occupy. This accomplished the Solar Alliance's primary goal of establishing its borders.

Over the decades, the New Empire still played substantial influence on Ongess, supplying the Ongess government with humanitarian aid (also known as funneling money to prop up Pro-Imperial dictatorships) and keeping a military garrison in orbit to "curb pirate activity." The Imperial presence on Ongess was so heavy and local government was so non-existent, that Ongess might as well have been an Imperial colony.

This didn't concern the Solar Alliance. The nationalization of corporations is constitutionally prohibited in the Solar Alliance, so it wasn't the Alliance which mined the Ongessite, it was private corporations. Many of these private corporations equipped the Solar Alliance, as well as countless other militaries with warships and ryders, or were sub-contracted by other corporations that did. The New Empire sold mining licenses to every acre of Ongess to highest bidding corporations with basically no regulations or restrictions, so both the New Empire and Solar Alliance were ensured a large supply of affordable Ongessite. With the New Empire's stagnant economy and the Solar Alliance's rising wealth, corporations within both entities were not going to let national hatreds stand in the way of a good business deal. The Solar Alliance didn't care whose flag was affixed to the Ongess Capital Building, so long as it was the flag of the free market. If the New Empire was going to volunteer to pay to police the lawless, failed world, then all the better for the Solar Alliance. So long as the galaxy's corporations pumped vast amounts of cheap Ongessite, the Solar Alliance was satisfied - a status quo which was upended with the birth of PACT and its nationalization of the Ongessite mining industry.

Question by Behemoth

“A question about affection system. Will players be able to maximize affection with each available girl or there will be situations when we have to make a choice? For example, on certain condition we can gain one affection point from Ava but loose one point from Icary.”

Samu: We're still working on the game, but as far as I know, I don't think there are any choices that will decrease the affection level. That might destabilize the game, since the affection points unlock new abilities and features which might be problemic to undo.

Nemjen: Reversible affection is also something that can end up quite divisive in general depending on the player, on one hand it adds weight to decisions but on another it may lock you out of features until a later playthrough or cause frustration depending on how the reversal took place especially if a player was aiming for high affection between multiple characters. I'd imagine we're heading towards an affection system where a certain number of levels are easily accessible with the later ones being limited and coming down to the player's orientation but as Sam has said, we're still working on the game. The whims of today may not be applicable tomorrow - I'd recommend keeping on the lookout for future reveals in terms of something more definitive.

Question by Sean P.

“Do you plan to add new content to parts of the story (Sunrider 4) that have already been covered, such as the opening area of the game to flesh out the story and/or characters more, or is what we're seeing a rough representation of the final product?”

Samu: We're still working on all the parts of the game, so I can't say for sure. The Tydaria Exile chapter at the start seems more or less good enough so I'm leaving it alone for now, but who knows how development will proceed. I'd say right now, there are other areas of the game needing my attention first before I tinker around with the beginning part.

Nemjen: At least for where we are currently in development I personally think its best we get a base game and the framework finalised before taking a weather forecast on these types of refinements, else the development timeline may end up with regular stalling. When we get to this better position though there are certain aspects which I'd personally like to see in terms of additional content or revisions for what it is worth.

Question by Taihou

“We've seen the addition of "Warp Gates" to the story, such as the Ryuvia Canal. This explains a part of how "Warping" could work in the Sunriderverse (Fixed routes), but what about the warping we've seen so far? Can ships freely warp to any star they want? Are their warp drives limited by range? Is there any other form of limitation?”

Samu: Warping consumes fuel, so there are basically regions where warping is possible and regions where warping is not possible. This is because you need a resupply station when you warp out to refuel, or else you will be stranded. That means you can only warp as far as planets have been developed to support space travel. The fuel efficiency of warp drive varies considerably between ships, but as a general rule, warp lanes must be created by creating a network of refueling stations and separating them based on the range of the worst-performing warp drive on the market to support the lowest common denominator. While some ships may have far more fuel efficient warp drives, on a practical matter, they still mostly travel along warp lanes, since most governments and corporations are only going to create refueling stations where it is profitable to do so - basically, where 99% of the common denominator civilian ships travel.

The time duration of warp travel also depends considerably based on the performance of the warp drive, in several ways. First, there is the duration of the warp outside the ship - which can be different from the duration of the warp inside the ship. Most warp drives prioritize keeping time inside the ship identical to time outside the ship. However, it is common for many warp jumps to arrive behind schedule - due to random electronic glitches in the navigational computer and unexpected gravitational forces, the ship can come out of warp and realize it's arrived a few hours behind schedule - meaning that time de-sychronized and the trip was shorter for the crew than the people outside the ship. It is generally considered normal to arrive up to 5 minutes late for every hour in warp, so this is considered a routine occurrence - no different from a car trip taking longer than expected, except for the fact that the delay is not perceived by the travelers. (Note: It is mathematically impossible to arrive earlier than scheduled, only later.)

Military warp drives prioritize speed and range rather than countering time dilation, so it is possible for the crews of military ships to gun their warp drive and de-synch their clocks. This leads to the general sensation that travel via military ships is intensely fast, even though it actually is not. Some military crew report Time Dementia during and after a warp - a recognized illness in many armed forces, wherein the patient exhibits loss of balance, insomnia, depression, and anti-social behavior. Time Dementia is a serious condition with no cure, as it is entirely psychological in nature. For most routine operations, military ships function virtually identically to civilian ships, maintaining 1:1 time both outside and inside the ship and traveling along well supported warp lanes. However, military ships still are more than capable of warping further away from the warp lanes to explore less civilized worlds and to perform missions. In any matter, this does not mean that military ships can warp and magically appear at its destination, since time still flows at a constant rate outside the ship, regardless of how much time is spent inside the ship.

Question by Snickett

“Will Pokez be the only planned minigame? If so, will we be able to play it freely, or during certain parts of the game?”

Samu: We're still working on the game, but first we're going to have to get the core features up and running before we can handle any mini-games. The situation with any mini-games is completely fluid, since it's not something integral to the core experience, so a lot of changes can be made mid-production based on how progress is going. Until the core game play is put together, I don't know much about the mini-games myself, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Nemjen: Pokez is currently on the trajectory to be something available at certain points of the game but that this in itself will still be pretty freely, its essential like the side missions in this regard and something for the player either in the downtime or if they wish for a break from the main story progression. I'd also recommend keeping on the lookout for future reveals in terms of offering something more definitive around a more finalised implementation.

Question by Taihou

“I noticed Claude got a new voice actress, any of the old characters who are getting a similar change?”

Samu: Due to the availability of some voice talents, Ava and Sola also have new voice talents in both SR4 and the Sunrider DLC in Idol Empire.

Question by Snickett

“The previewed piano covers of songs from previous games sound great! Will additional songs be redone in the same way? News of a redone version of Boukyou would be incredible.”

Samu: Boukyou definitely sounds great. But as far as I know, Hi no Kageri and Hatsukoi are the two songs from Sunrider Academy which were remade. Boukyou might still make an appearance though. If you play close attention, you might notice another song from Sunrider Academy in the SR4 beta...