I love this game

[Korpen]

I usually stay away from early access games with a few exceptions. This had some red flags since it got released almost a decade ago and still in early access. But I wanted to try it out, try something unique and man, this game is so good.

I can see the potential in future projects/patches. This game would be absolutely amazing (and it's great already, as I said, I love it!) with some additional stuff like random encounters, semi-open world (think Dark Souls) with quests, maybe some non-combat focused stuff like alchemy, blacksmithing and so on.

Would be great if the developer(s)/team could get some additional people working on it to speed the development up and pave way for their upcoming game.

[Jean Valjean]

Welcome brother ! How has been your experience so far ? Finished the campaign ? And arena ?
Many of the features you mentioned seem to be on the to-do list for their next game, an open-world rpg with alchemy (but no blacksmithing I think) and quests. It is not in production, but Exanima, while being its own game, is also a testing ground for these features. Alchemy has been mentioned by the lead dev at least once if my memory isn't too bad.

[Lurker]

Indeed jean, Alchemy was talked about before, when we get it our pipe collections should see some use as some ingredients can be used on their own, for their own purposes.
Like soap possibly being processed to extract glycerin, while also being usable to help clean gear completely, when the function is enabled.

Welcome Korpen, the developers also have an open Discord so you can talk with fellow Exanimates, ask questions, and all that.
https://discord.gg/drfNYwsA

[Korpen]

Jean:

No, no. I'm just at level 2.5! I started a new character yesterday without using the ally (he wasn't even in the same spot) and I rushed through everything and I'm now further than I was with my first character. Faced some skeletons just a few minutes ago, they're insane and actuallyt put up a challenge! Got injured twice, then I died. Then I finally got him! (Graveyard skeleton). I will probably play iron man in the future and I miss my magick that I have with my original chjracter (sorry, whisky drunk this entire playthrough has been onm whiskky xD)

Lurker. Thanks man! Nice, thanks for the heads up!

[Friends with Benedicts]

What you envisioned in your OP is what the devs claim they want to do. As you said, they take a long time developing, but the game is indeed amazing!

As for getting more people working on the team, Im a developer myself, 3d artist at first then I went fully into 3d animation and rigging.

Ive been working for the gaming industry for about 2 years now. Before I worked in 3d printing for around 5 years before joining game dev. Im graduated at a gaming design course before doing 3d printing work for a while.

To add new members on a already developing game is something that takes time and management to properly do. I know all of this is very obvious, but judging how Baremettle has done things for these 10 years Id guess they are better off doing what they've been doing if this was not enough to bankrupt them or anything. They probably know how to walk on this budget and their team or network of collaborators might have a good synergy going on. Id imagine a slow expansion at the end of Exanima to go into sui generis would be smart, and have a closed door development for 2 years before releasing Sui Generis into Early Access.

They would need a bit better commitment to schedule but I also believe in a huge potential for what they have developed. This is obviously just my personal take on what I believe would be the safest bet for them.

Personally I know many artist and coders do not enjoy staying a long time on the same project, hence the 4 years mark I said. I've worked on a couple of projects before, both as a freelancer and hired member of the team, and only now I believe I have arrived at a good studio that has a good grip on schedule, implementation, asset management, communication between teams and client etc... So it's something really really hard to achieve and the money flow is pretty intense due to projects taking years to release.

I hope I have make sense to try and convey a better sense on why they cant just pay more people and release Sui Generis faster or Exanima Expansions faster.

[Friends with Benedicts]

On another note: Have you even tried Arena mode? I honestly spent over 100 hours there. The only reason I dont come back is that there are so many great indie games to play, but I honestly feel a daily itch to play exanima.

[Jean Valjean]

Originally posted by Korpen:

Jean:

No, no. I'm just at level 2.5! I started a new character yesterday without using the ally (he wasn't even in the same spot) and I rushed through everything and I'm now further than I was with my first character. Faced some skeletons just a few minutes ago, they're insane and actuallyt put up a challenge! Got injured twice, then I died. Then I finally got him! (Graveyard skeleton). I will probably play iron man in the future and I miss my magick that I have with my original chjracter (sorry, whisky drunk this entire playthrough has been onm whiskky xD)

Lurker. Thanks man! Nice, thanks for the heads up!

You can only have an ally if you play as the Unknown character (for now at least). Yeah, the first time you encounter skeleteons can be quite brutal : they are fast, wear armour and take way less damage from slashing weapons like swords. And since swords (slashing weapons in general) have been the most effective type up until that point (since no one wears armour), the catacombs can quickly make short work of the unprepared player. The recent updates on magic really made some parts of the game easier, but it is perhaps the intent from the devs, to have overpowered magic that will counter-balance the difficulty of certain enemies.