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Grusk Factory

June 29, 2022

Deep below the city of Grusk is large dungeon-like factory.

Many scenes in Mistrendur, the new region available with the Shroud of the Avatar's Episode 2 expansion, include a secondary area with tougher enemies, optional puzzles, wave battles, special rewards for those who make it all the way to the end, and fantastic environments not seen before in the game. Keith ensured that Grusk Factory would be made as one such area.

Entry Highlights

  • Scene creation (includes blockout, final worldbuilding, POI design, compass markers, ambient music, ambient FX, path grid implementation, storycraft, ambient lighting, interactable lighting, swimmable water, etc.)
  • Player spawning design (includes propping for spawn points and resurrection points)
  • Writing and narrative design (includes NPC keyword-and-response dialogue, NPC barks, readable book props, etc.)
  • Quest design (includes plotting, writing, markup-based scripting, NPCs, combat, puzzles, etc.)
  • NPC design (includes creation and placement of enemies, quest contacts, merchants, trainers, tutorial NPCs, and utility NPCs, as well as patrol paths, ambient emotes, and visual variations)
  • Combat design (includes triggered battles, wave battles, boss fights, and quest-related activities, and may include player abilities and NPC abilities)
  • Traps and hazards design (includes implementation of collapsing platforms, explosive objects, lava, poison gas, etc.)
  • Puzzle design (includes physical puzzles [e.g. move through a trapped corridor], mental puzzles [e.g. match 3 symbols], conversational puzzles [e.g. solve an NPC's riddle], Easter eggs, etc.)
  • Utilities design (includes creation and placement of scene exits, teleporters, doors, lights, crafting stations, elevators, etc.)
  • Propping (includes creation and placement of interactables, breakables, secret panels, readable books, player-placeable decorations, flora, rocks, etc.)
  • Rewards and collectables design (includes creation and placement of harvestable resource nodes, incidental gear and treasure, quest collectables, Easter eggs, etc.)
  • Art (includes creation of NPC visual variations and inventory icons)

Those who don't know about the factory shouldn't worry, because Keith added quests within the city of Grusk that point players to this dungeon-like underground factory. Players who enter will explore both horizontally and vertically, thanks to the elevators installed by the draconian kobolds that own and operate the factory. Many of the rooms and hallways are patrolled by kobold laborers, angry to find adventurers in their workplace and eager to kill them for trespassing. A few kobolds aren't so aggressive, however, and are able to support the quests mentioned above and add to the location's fiction.

Grusk Factory is divided into several sections. Each section has its own visual themes and enemy types, helping players maintain a sense of placement and progression within the dungeon. A few rooms are safer than others, giving players opportunities to catch their breath and plan their next moves, which are especially useful before some of the big battle encounters.

An early wave battle acts as a gateway, requiring players to defeat several waves of moderately challenging factory workers and their automatons. Later in the scene, players will find an unusual cylindrical platform that perpetually raises and lowers, and this "elevator" is the only way to access the next area. Both the wave battle and elevator platform act as hints and precursors for events near the end of the dungeon.

Eventually, players will find themselves moving through broken walls and exiting the factory proper, stumbling into a mysterious series of caverns that end with a chasm filled with several giant cylindrical elevator platforms. Players must jump from platform to platform if they want to reach the ancient ruins on the far side. Reaching the center of the ruins will trigger a finale wave battle, with morlock-like enemies that have connections to the game's ancient villains, the Obsidians. Once the finale battle is finished, several treasure chests are revealed with significant rewards, and quick-exit teleporters become available for players who are eager to bypass the jumping puzzle in order to leave.

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