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Getting to know our Art Director

Hello Thierry, can you give us some information about yourself?

Hello there everyone. I am Thierry Dunter, the Art Director of Tactical Adventures. I’ve been with the studio since the very start, and have worked in quite a range of different games before that - such as XIII, RUSE, the Ghost Recon and Steel Division franchises. In my spare time I enjoy painting, cooking and I’m quite into airsoft!
 

RUSE and Steel Division? That’s thematically quite a far cry from Solasta, isn’t it?

It is! However, as an Art Director it is a challenge that is very interesting to tackle - I believe growth as an Art Director comes from exploring new horizons and challenging your existing views and techniques. The high fantasy world of Solasta as you currently know it took a lot of experimentation and researches - we’ve shared some early concept art in our Solasta Sourcebook, but there are many more sketches lost on hard drive or even my iPad (got to keep my hands busy during those train rides).
 

When Thierry doodles fanart while watching Netflix, the results are not quite exactly the same as when most of us do…

And what a world it turned out to be! If you don’t mind me asking, players have noted that while the environment ended up quite striking in Crown of the Magister, our character faces were fairly rudimentary. What happened there?

A hard hitting question, but one that resulted in our character models taking a big step up in quality with Solasta II! Let’s start from the beginning: You have to remember that our team started very small developing Solasta I. I’m talking no more than TWO people doing research on faces during pre-production - as you can imagine, that did not give us a lot of time to experiment.
 

Pre-production? Could you explain a little more for those who may not know this term?

Of course. Pre-production is the period during which we do research, experiment and establish pipelines. So for example here: How do we make a character face, from drawing it in 2D to having it available in-game. What are all the little steps, and how long do they take to create? This is an important step because it allows our Producer to estimate how much time it would take to make 20, 40, 100 different faces - and more importantly, if we have the time to make that many different faces during Production (which follow pre-production)! 
 

So if I understand correctly, you’re saying that we had to settle on a pipeline during pre-production?

Exactly. Once pre-production ends, we can’t go back and keep changing the pipeline - so we had to settle with what we had. As you saw in-game, the result was… not ideal. We had a very limited amount of polygons to play with due to how scenes were handled in Unity, and our limited budget and time meant we had to quickly move onwards to start production.
 

It is also important for artists to check in-game from time to time. Is that an old character model? Is the lighting off? Etc…

But that’s different with Solasta II, correct?

Absolutely, and there are many reasons for that! First is switching to Unreal Engine, which allowed us to basically multiply by 10 the number of polygons in our character faces. Second is our areas of focus - with Solasta II, making faces better was a goal from the start, so we started working on them earlier to make sure we’re satisfied with what we have before production
 

Would you say anything changed in our philosophy regarding character models?

Yes, in Solasta II as we’re able to add more details we want characters to be able to tell their story through their appearance. In a way, we’re keeping a realistic artstyle.. But also exaggerating a few traits a little more for visual storytelling. Something similar to characters you would describe on Tabletop - the Paladin stands tall and strong, their appearance noble and unblemished. The grizzled old veteran sports a cleanly shaven beard, a heavily scarred face eyeing you with a stern look.
 

We’re also leaning back into more classical medieval fantasy codes, with characters that are more visually appealing overall. You know, how characters in med-fan shows always have white teeth or look fairly fine after trekking in the woods for two weeks. That doesn’t mean everyone will look perfect, far from it - but that should reduce the amount of uncanny valley some Solasta I faces gave off.
 

Can you give us some juicy bits of info about the upcoming Character Creator?

Well we’re still very much working on it, but we do want to push customization a lot more than in Crown of the Magister. No promises, but we’re currently playing with sliders quite a bit and I’m sure you will be able to be much more creative this time when building up your party of adventurers!
 

Thank you Thierry! I’m very excited to see what happens next with the Character Models!

Thank you! Look forward to our Character Creator once it’s implemented!
 

Article by Tactical Myzzrym

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Show me that face!

Let’s be honest, one of the weaker parts of Solasta I was our character models, which were the first things people saw when they started playing. In fact, even in positive reviews some of you said that they were apprehensive about getting the game at first because of how the characters looked. 

Now, we explained quite a few times that we unfortunately couldn’t update them in Solasta I because of the entire pipeline already being built for that game. But you know what doing a whole new game in a different game engine allows us to do? That’s right, exactly that! Now, without further ado let me show you in-game screenshots showing currently implemented characters.

Playing around with face paint on our party's halfling.

Our dwarf in his trusty heavy armor.

Another cute lady halfling, this is the first NPC you'll be talking to in the demo!

Keep in mind that we are still in pre-alpha, and these are all pre-made characters as we have yet to implement the Character Creator. Be assured that once we do, we’ll share it in an article to give you more information on the new visual customization options!

And if you’re wondering if they only look detailed during cutscene, here is a quick screenshot we nabbed in-game while playing. All we did was hide the UI, but no special developer camera or other treatment otherwise.

Part fighter, part cleric, full-time hero - experimenting with multiclassing.

You will soon be able to play around with this crew when the demo comes out. When? Eeeh, we’ll have to ask you to be a little more patient!

A Blast to the Past

Just for fun, for those who may not remember here is how our character models looked in Solasta I for comparison.

The number of "we have BG3 at home" memes that Solasta: Crown of the Magister churned out...

… Quite a glow up, wouldn’t you say?

Community Stream #03 Friday 10th

And with 2025 comes another Community Stream! As usual, I'll be here on Friday to answer even more of your questions about the game - and if we ever run out of them (doubtful but hey maybe after answering 2014 vs 2024 ruleset twenty times we'll get there), let's tackle D&D and the 5e ruleset in general. What are some of your favorite... and most hated moments of playing D&D?

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Before we start, don't forget to wishlist Solasta II on Steam - it helps us a ton!

Community Streams VODs

If you just want to catch up on the Community Stream VODs, here are the links below!

Community Stream #01 - December 13th 2024

Community Stream #02 - December 27th 2024

Community Streams #01 & #02 Recap

As not everyone can tune into the Community Streams (or want to, some people prefer reading and that’s all good) and since you were many to ask for a recap, we’re closing the year by answering your wishes! We know this won’t prevent people from coming to ask “2024 or 2014 ruleset?” for the eighteenth time in an hour in Twitch chat, but hopefully we can cut it down to a single digit number. Here are some of the most asked questions.

Remember, Solasta II is still very much under development, meaning anything we’re saying here may be subject to change in the future, just as our wording implies. 
 

Question: Is Solasta II still grid-based?
Yes, Solasta II is still grid-based during combat. This question was asked because some sharp-eyed viewer noticed one character ending their turn with 2 feet of movement in the trailer (instead of 5’ or 0’). This difference is due to how pathfinding works in Unreal Engine 5 - characters no longer have to go through the center of each tile they’re moving through (which made their movement look a little robotic in Solasta I), instead taking the shortest path to their destination. 

This means in the current implementation, you will often end with less than 5’ of movement after moving, as you still need to end your movement on a tile of the grid. You will also still be able to see which tiles are valid before moving just like in our previous game.
 

Question: Will you be using the 2014 or 2024 Ruleset?
Solasta I used the SRD 5.1 ruleset - for those who don’t know what that means, it’s basically the 2014 D&D 5th edition skeleton, allowing us to use most of the systems like races / classes / subclasses / backgrounds, but with more limited content. For instance, we could use the Champion subclass for the Fighter, but none of the other archetypes like Battle Master, or Arcane Archer. Similarly, some monsters and spells are off-limit, as is the Artificer class. 

The 2024 ruleset currently does not have a SRD yet, as the last of its 3 core rulebooks is not out yet (Monster Manual, scheduled for February 2025). WotC has already announced that a SRD 5.2 will be released within weeks of the Monster Manual coming out, however until then we can’t know for sure what changes will be included.

This means Solasta II is currently using the 2014 ruleset, but we’re not opposed to the idea of switching to the 2024 one once we know what it contains. Just keep in mind that implementing a new and different ruleset takes no small amount of work!

TL;DR: Currently 2014, we don’t know yet for 1.0 release! 
 

Question: Gamepad support at release?
Yes! One of the decisions we took early on for Solasta II was that both mouse & keyboard and gamepad would be supported from the get go. This should provide a much smoother and streamlined experience for gamepad users.

Notably, this means we’re adding a direct control mode where you can just move a single character using WASD or the joystick and have the other 3 characters follow you automatically… and the ability to lower more than in Solasta I, which is something quite a few of you wanted!

Note that top down indirect control is still possible for those who prefer clicking, that’s not going away.
 

Question: Multiplayer at release?
Hopefully yes! Solasta II is being created with Multiplayer Co-op in mind, contrary to Solasta I where it was a post-launch addition to what was planned to be a single player game (and which caused us quite a lot of headaches, as the game was not built for that initially). This should improve things quite a bit, such as 

 Note that when I say “at release”, I mean the 1.0 release. The Early Access version will likely not feature Multiplayer Co-op at launch as we want to focus on getting a playable, stable single-player version first - but we intend for Multiplayer to be added during an Early Access update!
 

Question: Will flight be handled similarly than in Solasta I? 
This question is a little more difficult to answer. As a reminder, Solasta I was a little like Minecraft (oversimplification, but you get the idea) - the world was made of 5’ cubes, making it fairly simple to select where you wanted to go, even in the air. You could select the vertical layer by scrolling up and down, then once on that plane move to the desired X & Y coordinates as if on the ground. 

Solasta II is no longer simulated using cubes, and we’re also implementing direct movement for better gamepad control, which increases the complexity - however, that doesn’t mean we’re giving up! Our Programming Team is very much on the job to make it work.

So, TL;DR? It won’t be the exact same, but we’re working to have something a little similar that would allow you to move around and stay in the air. 
 

Question: How many classes will Solasta II have?
Ideally we want to have all 12 classes available at 1.0 - however as we’re a small team of 35 we don’t know yet if we’ll be able to squeeze all of that content in… but that’s our goal for now, 12 classes each with 2 subclasses for a total of 24 archetypes when 1.0 hits the store. 

At the start of Early Access we’re probably looking at 6 classes, with more coming with each update. 
 

Question: Are we going to see some subclasses from the previous game?
Possibly, yes! Our current plan is for each class to have 1 original subclass from Solasta I, and 1 new subclass linked to the new continent of Neokos where Solasta II takes place. 
 

Question: Multiclassing?
Ayup! That’s something we’re currently implementing. Should be available from the start of Early Access, but as always no promises.
 

Question: Will there be more Community Votes / Design Contests for Solasta II?
That’s the plan! If you want to be involved, make sure you follow us during Early Access because we have tons of ideas involving your participation. 
 

Question: What’s the max level cap going to be?
Our current plan is level 4 for the start of Early Access, and level 10 for 1.0 release - with a potentially higher cap post-launch. With all 12 classes in mind for 1.0, each additional level is a large amount of work considering the number of new spells and class and subclass features involved. 
 

Question: When and where does Solasta II take place?
Some 70 years after the events of the first game, in a faraway continent called Neokos! There will be callbacks to the first game, and the setting is still Solasta - but it will follow a different and new story. 

Sorry for those who wanted to save a certain someone from the ending of Palace of Ice…
 

Question: Can we be evil in Solasta II?
Solasta II will feature choices and multiple endings, however it’s still a heroic journey at heart. While you won’t have to roleplay as Lawful Good Paladins as you fight for your own reasons, you likely won’t be able to be irredeemably evil either. 
 

Question: Is the Party size still going to be 4?
Correct, in Solasta the experience is tailored for you to play a party of 4 adventurers - in particular the dialogue system where all party members participate. Increasing that number adds complexity.

However, we’ve also heard that some players would like to control larger parties during combat, so we’re planning to implement additional companions that could accompany and level up with you. 
 

Question: Will there be a Dungeon Maker like in Solasta I?
This is something we very much want to have, but can’t give any guarantee as of yet. Due to us moving to Unreal Engine 5, we ourselves are not sure at the moment what can or can’t be done on that end. The current plan is to make sure our base game is good and solid, and once we’re confident in that, start chipping away at the Dungeon Maker.

Keep in mind that we know full well how important the Dungeon Maker is for many of you, and be assured that it’s very important for us too. We just don’t want to make any promises since we haven’t explored that area yet.
 

Question: Will there be modding in Solasta II?
That is something that depends on modders! Unreal Engine 5 is less easy to mod than Unity, but it’s not impossible. We have nothing against modding, but we’ll likely be too busy to work on an official modding kit at launch - but we do plan to help where we can.

Huge salute to Zappastuff by the way, long time veteran and creator of the Unfinished Business mod on Solasta I, which adds Multiclassing, Level 20 cap, unofficial localization and a plethora of additional content including new subclasses and stronger tools for the Dungeon Maker!
 

Question: Will you keep the same Crafting system in Solasta II?
No, there will be crafting but the system itself will be revamped. Solasta I crafting system was done a little rapidly towards the end of development, which in turn showed quite a few issues that we attempted to fix with post-launch patches. We want to avoid the same pitfalls this time around! 
 

Question: Underwater exploration / combat?
Adding Underwater exploration & combat would require us to not only program many additional and new interactions, but also nearly double the amount of animations, sound effects and visual effects if we wanted to do it properly. This would be a tremendous amount of work, and considering we’re only 35 in the studio…

So no, no Underwater exploration or combat planned for now! 
 

Question: Can I pre-order the game?
No, the game will be available once Early Access starts. If you give us money, you get something to play! 
 

Question: Pineapple on Pizza?
Hell no.
 

Article by Tactical Myzzrym

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Community Stream #02 Friday 27th

For those of you who are still around, join me for a cozy Community Stream on Friday 27th - where I will be sharing development anecdotes and answer more questions from viewers. Grab a cup of hot cocoa, wrap yourself in a blanket and let’s have a little chat!

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It was summer 2021...

Solasta: Crown of the Magister just launched in 1.0 on Steam with the free Sorcerer update in tow shortly after as promised during our Kickstarter. At that time, we were hard at work implementing the Barbarian and Druid classes for the Primal Calling DLC, meanwhile our level designers were already populating the dense jungles of Lost Valley. By the way, let me tell you that Druids were a real pain in the butt to implement with their Wild Shape. QA was finding new ways to break the game every day.

While the team was busy preparing the upcoming content, our leads were already starting to look ahead - what were we going to do next? Some of you may think that it was obviously going to be Solasta II, but did you know that we had several other ideas before that? 

We thought about trying out a shorter, much more narrative Solasta spin-off with a set team of heroes shortly after the Cataclysm. We explored the idea of a sci-fi roguelite tactical RPG inside an ever-shifting derelict spaceship. Such ideas were shared with the rest of the team for discussion, debate, disagreements. At its core, one burning question - do we believe in the project?

It has to be Solasta II

Working on DLCs to complete our vision of Solasta - such as aiming to release all twelve classes, developing an online co-op mode and giving the community a more complete Dungeon Maker tool - gave us time to decide on our next endeavor. And that time pretty much sealed the deal when we saw Solasta’s popularity get a massive boost with both the Lost Valley free online co-op update and its release on XBOX Series, on top of its longevity thanks to ever more quality custom campaigns created by talent and passionate community members. 

We had managed to release a successful game and gather a great community, and the more we thought about it the more we agreed that we wanted to grow upon the sturdy foundation of Solasta: Crown of the Magister. Through surveys and open communication with our players, we knew that switching to a new setting or a different genre would likely make it difficult to keep everyone happy.

Furthermore… We still wanted to do better with Solasta. While we are definitely proud of what we accomplished, the craftsmen we are kept on looking back thinking “couldn’t have we done this or that better”? And honestly? We can, and we will.

Enters Project Brimstone

At that time a lot of people in the industry were thinking about branching out from Unity, and so were we. Our engineers started making experiments on Unreal Engine 5, and soon we had a solid base. It was time to start anew, to build a better structure from the start - one that would solve many of the issues we had in our first game (that was built on layers upon layers of prototypes). We knew it was going to be painful, so we named the project Brimstone - a synonym for Sulfur… Soufre, in French. A word that’s very close to Souffrir, which means to suffer. So yea some people like to name their secret project after mythological figures, we named ours after a dad joke.

Players didn’t like the character faces? Let’s work on that. The animations were stiff? Let’s try to do something there. Gamepad control didn’t feel good? Yea, we’re on it too. We were going down our long list of grievances checking off what we could and couldn’t change - because although the team had grown in the last few years, we were still no more than thirty five people. And… we like it that way. It keeps internal communication fluid and everyone feels informed and involved in the project. We just need to choose our battles!

Give me a slice of that cake

Just like on Solasta: Crown of the… You know what, let’s call it Solasta I from now on. Just like on Solasta I, our first objective was to get a working prototype ready, using temporary assets that we lifted from our previous game, bits and pieces to make some features work… We soon had something that looked quite good for internal use!

Then came the vertical slice. For those who don’t know what that is, let’s oversimplify things a little for a moment and think of making a game as baking a layered cake. Normally, you’d prepare each layer separately and assemble everything at the end - but what if someone wanted to try it before it’s complete? If they only try the 1st layer, can they really imagine how the entire cake would taste?

That’s why we want to create a vertical slice of that cake. A much smaller piece requiring less ingredients - and in the case of a game, less time - to give people a taste of what the complete cake would be like. It also helps us find out if we have the ingredients in the right proportions. If the vertical slice tastes good, we can feel pretty confident about that cake! If it doesn’t, well it’s easier to rework it now than once we start baking the complete cake. 

Time for the grand reveal

Combat, exploration, dialogs, quests, inventory, items, loot… Now that our vertical slice was starting to look good and we were feeling confident about it, it was time to prepare the reveal. Because yes, creating that slice isn’t all we were up to - at the same time, we were writing the story and building the world on paper, which in turn became a trailer thanks to the work of our talented partners UNIT Image, Fire Without Smoke and Maxime Herve (not to mention a wild Amelia Tyler dropping by to voice our grand villain!). 

It was time. Time to show the world a glimpse of what we’ve been up to! 

And now that you’re here, are you up to stay with us some more to see where we’re heading next?

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