Dev Blog #5: Social Sim Gameplay Overview
Hi everyone!
In this blog post, we will be going over the social gameplay of Laxidaze, which entails your home base, companions, Nanims, etc!
Home Base
Throughout Laxidaze, you will acquire several home bases across Cascadia. Each home base will serve as your central hub where you will accept Bounties, select your companions/Nanims, and choose your equipment, amongst other things. These home bases will range from small apartments to large ranches, some may even be mobile!
The player texting Yuki about an upcoming mission.
The player selecting their equipment for their mission.
The player browsing the mission board and accepting a Bounty.
The player sitting at their computer in their apartment, selecting their Hunter Team before a mission.
Social Gameplay: Dialogue System
In Laxidaze, there are multiple ways of interacting and speaking with the locals of Cascadia. The level of interaction that you have with each character will depend on the significance of each character.
For companions, you will have a wide range of interactions - from small, one line pieces of dialogue to fully voiced and animated conversations. Companions will speak and interact with each other on missions, comment on mission objectives, and even engage in ongoing conversations as a third party.
For general interactions with NPCs, you will typically have a conversation that will relate the NPC's mood and what they're thinking about, along with general Cascadia news and quest info.
Talking to the local Jan-droid.
Sometimes Companions will join in on conversations.
Companions
As you progress through Laxidaze, you will encounter NPCs that you can recruit to your organization. Each recruitable NPC will have a specific job, these jobs break down into two categories - Laborers and Hunters. Laborers will have a specific skill that you can utilize to improve your home base, ranging from farming improvements to upgrading your equipment. Hunters are certified within the Cascadian Hunter League and can join you on your missions as they provide some sort of valuable skill, whether it is combat or adventuring related.
Throughout Laxidaze, NPCs will each have a friendship link that you can level up. The main group of Companions will have their own quest line that you will need to progress to level up the friendship, while the secondary group of Companions will level up through various tasks/dialogue options that the player receives. As you level up your friendship link with your Companions, several changes will occur: you will gain the option to hangout with them, you will be able to romance them, and the Companion will unlock new abilities, passives, and equipment (this will result in visual changes as well).
Giving Yuki a gift and increasing her friendship link.
Hanging out with your friends at Hammocks City Diner.
Nanims
Regarding the Pokémon inspiration, Laxidaze will feature many monster taming mechanics like breeding, trading, battling, etc. Nanims in the game can be recruited to your party to help you in battle. Since these creatures are intelligent they can be a very useful ally in battle. Each Nanim is unique and has a set of abilities to aid you in battle.
Since Nanims will be recruitable Companions, they will also have friendship links that can be leveled up throughout the game. While all Nanims will benefit from increasing their friendship links, some will be able to evolve if their friendship link is high enough. Friendship links can be increased by using them in battle, interacting with them, and in some cases, through completing side quests. There is a lot more to say about Nanims in Laxidaze, expect more in our next blog!
Petting Kapoki!
You can pet Luna as well!
Fuegon is happy to see you!
Thank you for reading! Make sure to subscribe to our Newsletter for notifications on when we release our Dev Blogs. In our next blog, we'll be going over the monster taming elements of Laxidaze!
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Catch ya soon!