This is a follow up to the previous article I wrote for this website. If you have not read it yet, I think you should before you read this one (as this one will make more sense if you've read the original first… and, well, because I WANT YOU to read the original.)

Since my last writing, progress on Arx Fatalis has centered around tweaking the physics, optimizing the renderer, improving the player character's model and animations, tweaking the controls, streamlining the interface, and XP Compatibility.

There is now a quick character generate feature. The first time you click it, the game evenly disperses all of the player's stats. Since, when you are creating your character, you start with several dozen points you need to disperse through nine skills, it's nice to just be able to set them all to even automatically, and then tweak as you see fit. Of course, if you prefer the dice roll style, hitting the quick generate key again will randomize your stats.

Putting items in your inventory is faster now. Before you had to open your inventory display and drag the item from the game world into the display. Now you just shift-click (while in cursor mode) the item, and it zaps right in. Quick, simple, easy. It's so much better, in fact, that once they put it into the game, I never click-dragged an inventory item ever again.

The automap is now almost finished. The map is displayed on an open book, with a different display on each page. On the left is a zoomed out view of the entire map. Only where the player has visited is shown. As you walk through the dungeons, you have a mapping radius, which unveils the auto-map as you go; sort of like fog-of-war. On the right side is a much more zoomed in view of your immediate surroundings. You can even move while the map is open (though you cannot really see where you are going, nor can you turn) and the little red arrow moves.

Much of the clipping problems that occurred before during fighting while crouched (the player's arms often passed right through the legs) have been fixed. The walk while crouched animation was changed so that your knees no longer are within range of your arms. It's not as realistic, but it certainly looks better, and is much less distracting. All of the player's body movements have been tweaked and refined. (In case you forgot, you can see your own body while in 1st persons simply by looking down.)

Combat has been tweaked as well. The controls seem more forgiving, and generally easier to handle during a panic-filled combat situation. The animations have improved, so it looks better as well as feels better. I've noticed a good deal more blood now too. It's quite nice to take a swing at a bad-un and watch their blood splatter all over the floor, wall, and ceiling in a nice globular arc of particle effect goodness. The amount of blood you get depends on how long you load your attack. So, you see, there is a visual feedback to tell you how much damage you have done.

One thing is certain about the combat animations, and effects - it's very enthusiastic. When the player character swings, it looks like he's swinging HARD. When you let the attack load all the way, he shouts out loud or grunts when you swing. Each weapon type (dagger, sword, club) has its own set of attack animations. When the bag-guy gets hit, it looks like it HURTS. Sometimes when the bad-guy is killed, their weapon goes flying. When the player gets hit, the screen shakes, and we can hear his heart beating. Spooky.

Physics have been tweaked so that the player actually falls now, rather then floats. Oh, and the frame-rates have improved impressively due to optimization of the renderer.

More NPC animations are in the game, now. I watched a goblin as he scratched himself in various places. He scratched his armpit, sniffed his fingers, and then tasted. Then he picked his nose, and ate it too. He's a mouth breather, with his slack jaw hanging loose, raising and lowering as he takes breaths. As I sat and watched him for a minute or two, I kept seeing new, smooth, subtle little movements. Oh, and he picks his nose very frequently. All characters now move their mouths when they speak. None of it is lip synced (or maybe it is in the French version… hehe) but hey, neither is Anime, so why whine?

Oh, and they let you escape through the opening logos now. Whee! Sorry, Fishtank. Your logo is really cool, but I didn't want to watch it again, for the 45th time. :) Oh, but there's a catch. You have to let them play through at least once.

As many of you should know, Arx Fatalis is not allowed the same "when it's done" mentality of some more high profile games. Bug fixing goes on and on through the days and weeks; but there will come a time when Fishtank will say "we're shipping," and Arkane will have to present that ominous gold master disc, in whatever hopefully stable form it is in. When you are working with a limited budget and limited time constraints, there is only so much you can do. I think that what Arkane has managed to put together with the minimal resources they have had is astounding. Arx Fatalis will ship with bugs. Every game does. All people like me can do is try to break their game in as many interesting ways as possible - so you gamers cannot. The playable pre-release demo of Arx Fatalis is coming soon. When it comes, I encourage all of you to pitch in and do what you can to give Arkane Studios as much feedback as possible. If you break the game, don't whine and complain. Tell them how it happened. If you see something which could be better, don't mumble it to yourself. Speak up, share your ideas, and maybe it will make a difference. I know my ideas have.