Week #013: Whether You Have Questions or Not, I Have Answers

Another week, and while I'm still not one hundred percent, it's improved enough that I can get back into a regular schedule. I thank everyone who left their best wishes, it's nice to see I've already touched people before the game has even been released!

With less than two weeks left in 2011, I can assure you we're hard at work in order to bring you the first build of HTD before the year ends. We may have had to cut a few corners, but we're still planning on bringing all of that content to the table just within the new year. Let 2012 be known as the Year of HTD!

Last week, in order to make up for the lack of a proper blog post, I invited everyone to let their questions fly, and as promised, I'll take the time to answer them now.

Question: What's with the enormous skull resting in the entrance way? What's the deal with this so-called Treasure Lord? Is Gon even close to being on to something?

Answer: We really don't want to reveal that much about the Treasure Lord and the supposed trophies adorning his lair until we feel that it's time to do so. I, for one, feel that experiencing these encounters for oneself could be much more incredible than simply reading about them. I wouldn't call Gon's theory accurate, but I do think it has potential for future plot lines if he isn't too protective of the idea...

Question: Inspiration, do you speak it?

Answer: I tend to get this question a lot, even from fellow artists that are having trouble finding their own. Unfortunately I haven't come up with a solid answer to it just yet. Inspiration can come in many forms - as I'm sure most artists will tell you - whether it's seeing a movie, listening to music, playing video games or, of course, money. None of these have ever proven to be reliably consistent for me. When it comes to HTD in particular, I've drawn a lot of influence from many Super Nintendo and Gameboy Advance games, most frequently (and perhaps most obviously) Chrono Trigger and Fire Emblem.

Question: New races? When? Where? How? You're not going to phone it in with space goats and werewolves, are you?

Answer: Just like the Treasure Lord, I feel like it's simply too soon to talk about the future of the HTD races. We haven't really seriously begun talking about what's next, although, there is a good chance of it being decided through a future Community Impact Poll. As for the candidates, I believe we have agreed that elves and orc are a definite must, but I'm very much against sticking to this fantasy trinity and calling it a day. Not only will the elves and orc likely be unlike any you've ever seen, but I'll be making it my goal to make sure that any additional races are really unique in order to continue setting HTD apart from other games.

I really want to thank everyone again for their support so far. It's pretty incredible to see such support before the game has even been released... I can't wait to see where we are in a month or two!