A few questions if I may and excuse me if they have already been answered but...

1) Will there be romance options? (I HAVE to ask )

2) What type of graphics will it have?

3) Are you taking inspiration from Fallout and/or say Baldur's Gate (1 and 2), Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (1 and 2), Jade Empire or another source? (all VERY excellent wRPG's)

4) Will you be able to customize your character at all?

5) Will it have side quests and/or branching storylines?

Um, that's it for now, if I have more questions I'll ask if it's okay. XD

some of the replies involve going in details that will be revealed in later posts, so we'll remain vague on purpose

Also, why is Britain keeping her little brother down? No World War I to act as a team-building exercise? That one guy whose name I can't remember didn't carry that American flag through Britain to show that, whatever the governments felt, the people on the ground of both states liked each other? A poor understanding of export economics keeping both nations from becoming trading partners?

And, of course, the central question: will a party member be some sort of cowboy (or girl!) from the Great American Frontier, with a great big grudge against the British establishment? Intraparty conflict! Whooo!



...Hmm... maybe some sorta cyborg arm or something? Experimented on so they have a reason to hate the Shadowy Evil Conspiracy even more than the limeys? In that case, I hope it's a girl. To be uncomfortably frank, that's my robot fetish talking.

Eh, it's just my crazy ability to predict these things. I was almost a teenager before I found out other people couldn't do it too, and were always assuming I'd seen the film before and was spoiling it.



Having read your other comments in this thread:



Good to know things aren't TOO post-apocalyptic.



Shoot. It'll be a MALE American possible cow-cyborg. Aw, well. You can't win 'em all... Unless he's Lincoln!



...No, wait, wrong time period. Curses! No gay Lincoln sex for me...



Slavery? Crap. Aw, well, so long as it's a genuine evil and no one is trying to pull that lame "If the Confederates only won the War Between The States, they'd've gotten rid of slavery on their own! ...Eventually!" bit. As an actual American Southerner, that one pisses me right the flip off.



So... Well, so far we've got two Brits, one American who may or may not be a cyborg, a Chinaman that's actually a Chinawoman whom you really shouldn't kiss, and a red-head of feminine gender and ambiguous nationality. This reminds me of a Call of Cthulhu game I read about with the best idea for a character ever: Chang the Celestial, a mysterious fellow from the Orient with a dark secret: he is actually a Guatemalan librarian named Miguel, and simply too polite to correct the racist white people that surround him.



And, airships. Of course. Did the rest of the world get its hands on helium with America in a much weakened global position, or...?

...So Africa got hit the worst by the meteors? Daggome it, black people just can't catch a break in this setting! Between the slavery, the colonialism, the natural disasters...



Well, at least Imperial Japan won't happen. That's something. I mean, for all that their 1936 doesn't seem too hot, at least it's not invented facism yet... probably.

Hmmm... this leads to the obvious question. Did or did not Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Walt Disney, and the strings of terrible westerns from this time period go on to invent modern movie-going as we know it without an American West to film in and/or about?



Will this already-kinda-miserable world end up having to make due... without Disney OR Star Wars? Or even movies at all?

In real life, the US had a monopoly on helium production for much of the 20th century, and even now is still responsible for 75% of helium production in the world. Given that most of the US supply of helium is located in states that are apparently contested or controlled by Indians in the game, this makes for an interesting dynamic with potentially contested mines in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Access to those mines would become vitally important to global powers like the Brits and Russians, and also to the colonies as a means of improving their economic and military situations. I look forward to seeing FenCayne's answer to this one.

In real life, the US had a monopoly on helium production for much of the 20th century, and even now is still responsible for 75% of helium production in the world. Given that most of the US supply of helium is located in states that are apparently contested or controlled by Indians in the game, this makes for an interesting dynamic with potentially contested mines in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Access to those mines would become vitally important to global powers like the Brits and Russians, and also to the colonies as a means of improving their economic and military situations. I look forward to seeing FenCayne's answer to this one.

Well, the quick and easy answer is that helium isn't the only gas suitable for lighter than air vessels. Other gases that could do the job, apart from hydrogen, include methane, ammonia, and neon. Even water vapour. The real-life difficulties include industrial scale production and lift efficiency. I'm favouring cow-powered airships, myself.

Methane may be easily obtained from cows and pigs, but it's -extremely- flammable, just like hydrogen, and far less buoyant. Neon is just as stable as helium, but 50 times more expensive to produce and far less buoyant. Ammonia is also less buoyant, but it is cheap to produce. Unfortunately it's both toxic and corrosive. It's also mildly flammable, but nowhere near to the extent of methane and hydrogen. I suppose ammonia might be made to work for light ships if it was contained effectively, but accidents could still be deadly. Water vapor would be even better if the tech existed to make it work, but good luck preventing water vapor from condensing. Helium thus remains the best possible choice if you want to carry significant cargo without risking getting roasted. It doesn't burn and has no toxicity. Furthermore of all the possibilities, only hydrogen generates more lift.

I hope Fen remains focused on story and gameplay and leaves the detailed nitpicking for later fleshing out. Don't let 100% accuracy bog you down, first and foremost create something you're happy with yourself.



Words of caution out of the way, research can enhance a lot of the story and lead to unforeseen ideas and twists.

I hope Fen remains focused on story and gameplay and leaves the detailed nitpicking for later fleshing out. Don't let 100% accuracy bog you down, first and foremost create something you're happy with yourself.



Words of caution out of the way, research can enhance a lot of the story and lead to unforeseen ideas and twists.

You can be assured that since the game is entitled Roger Steel and the Human Element and not Roger Steel and the Great Helium Crisis of 1936, there won't be any scenes in which the state of the world's helium reserves are earnestly discussed by sundry characters. But you are right ... research can inspire writers with all sorts of interesting ideas. And also prevent them from doing timely Sneak Previews, dammit.