Recently, Schisma Games staff held another QA session with players, during which more questions were raised about The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante as well as the development of the future title in the same universe. We have collected their answers in this article and want to share it with you!

The questions were answered by: Theodore — the studio's founder, Chip - Lead Game Designer, Igor - Technical Lead and Project Manager, and Lance — Art Director.

Players: In the first game, various consequences and the Brante family's status depended solely on the protagonist. For example, despite the fact that Stephan strives for the Nobility of the Sword, he himself does not raise the family's reputation. Will there be events in the new game where characters increase or decrease various parameters without the main character's active participation? Also, will there be events that happen when you max out your relationship with a particular character?
Chip: When stats are being altered, this may affect the options available in certain scenes or even launch additional events, taking freedom away from the player. With that said, I think there will be more of such moments in the new game, since it will include more characters and scenes able to influence various stats, and the significance of individual relationships as well as the consequences of the player's decisions will be even greater than before.

Igor: You also mentioned maxing out character relationships. When designing a game, achieving the maximum possible value of any parameter is not always the intended goal. Sometimes it is just an opportunity to save up a few extra points so that you can later spend them on whatever you really want. So, a kind of player empowerment.

Players: Will the universe be expanded, and, if so—how much? What time period are we talking about?
Theodore: Of course, the universe will be expanded. We will dive deep and uncover stories that have not been touched upon before. I may not go into specifics, but what we can say is that, in many ways, the new game will focus on the passage of time, showing how intertwined our past, present, and future really are. It is going to explore how willing (or not) we can be to accept our past, and how much that can deprive us of our future. We will delve into the past of the Arknian Empire, talk about the present, and peek into the future.

Players: Will there be an option to study the lore outside the game format?
Theodore: I have previously saved and collected all the information on the game's lore in my personal archive. Discrepancies would arise from time to time, and putting everything in order was often a difficult and time-consuming process, so I am grateful to everyone who worked to create independent wiki projects for our game.

Players: Will the second game be longer than the first?
Theodore: Internal test sessions currently take longer than we expected. The first playthrough will definitely take just as long if not more time to complete than in case of the first game.

Players: How much did Sir Brante influence your other games?
Theodore: Good question. The games you make always teach you something and help form a pattern—your ability to work on projects of a particular genre. Processes begin to be tailored to that specific genre and the type of titles you made in the past. Going beyond the familiar genre can be difficult and risky. At the same time, when we started making another game, it was clear that we had the ambition to take it a step forward—implement new concepts and not simply retread what had been done before. I hope we will be able to deliver a new experience and keep innovating in the future. Although certain outlines will still probably hint at what we have worked on in the past, we see a great future ahead, and that hopefully does not stop with our current project.

Igor: A certain amount of fatigue will always accumulate when you work on the same kind of project for a while. We will most likely take half a step to the right, then half a step to the left, exploring new styles and subgenres. That said, some of the emotional core will probably remain the same: if you will ever see, for example, a platformer made by us, know that it will likely come packed with a lot of suffering.

Players: What goal did you set for yourself: to make a separate game or to continue the story of Sir Brante?
Theodore: It is interesting to complement the previous game with another project. I feel like a lot remains untold in Sir Brante's story. We saw history unfold from the perspective of Brante and his immediate circle, but other perspectives obviously exist in this world too: there are more dimensions to it, more layers of society, and even more characters to explore. The two games will be independent of each other, but I am interested in making the overall narrative complete and hope we will make it happen.

Players: Will the topic of in-game theology see further development? Will the game world become deeper and more detailed so that players and future modders can continue to grow the universe?
Theodore: Yes, theology and the history of the relationship between mortals and the gods will play an important role in our new title, but structuring the project bible is a complex matter. If later the community wants to make or expand a wiki, we will help by providing materials. If you, however, want to put together a comprehensive in-game bible, then this will, unfortunately, be impossible. One cannot cover and describe all the mystical things that inhabit a world such as this.

Players: Theodore mentioned a great idea—to end the story with an aged Brante sitting in his garden. Is this in the plans? It would be a cool reference to the first game.
Theodore: We once wished to make the first game from the moment of birth until old age. Show Sir Brante's later years, where he, for example, takes care of his favorite flowers. But when it comes to game design, things get complicated: you need to figure out how to structure the gameplay and fill the story with a rich selection of choices and suffering. I hope that we can avoid spreading the narrative too thin, but stay focused and drive the point home, even though I still like this old age idea. Regarding Sir Brante's cameo, I think we will definitely include something like that, at least in the form of allusion to the first game's (and Brante’s life) events.

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