#p1 techdemo

[rathologic]

pathologic_fest 10: abandoned world

Play the 2002 techdemo I implore you... we've got cooler maria and this sickly guy

[rathologic]

My Bachelor "Benedict" of Medicine went to PlagueCity and this is the only photo he sent me

[rathologic]

Do you know anything about a version where Block, Aglaya and Daniil are the three heroes/healers? I saw this in a comment somewhere but I might be misremembering things

Quickly becoming a frequently asked question! There's no such thing, but there are a lot of similar concepts floating around. I did a little more digging this time; the idea in my head was an early draft with 7 characters for some reason, but famously abhorrent person Dybowski said on the old IPL forums that A) the role-playing campaign that eventually became Pathologic had five player characters, but B) the idea of a "trio" of healers was one of the first clear concepts for the game.

Those healers never included Block or Aglaya, though. I don't want to say he was the earliest Healer invented, but we do know that a version of the Haruspex/Ripper named Kryuk ("Hook") existed as a Healer in early versions (as some of Burakh's files still have his name)... and the 2002 Techdemo is about a Bachelor named Benedict. I'm kiiiind of sure that the connection here is that Block and Aglaya were theorized as player characters for the Pathologic 2 Kickstarter's "A Small Prequel" stretch goal, which was never made.

What you're probably thinking of here is that Aglaya, Block and the Bachelor are the triad of "Emissaries" - strangers arriving from the Capital. This symbolic grouping is most relevant in the Changeling's route of p1, starting with Aglaya's arrival on Day 7 :-)

[rathologic]

i have a question about modding pathologic if you would be able to answer because i'm kind of a dummy. are character animations determined by a sort of script? would it be possible to give some npcs a different animation just by invoking their script or is it more complicated than that? not altering animations just making a different npc do the animation. for a fun example, like making andrei do the dance in the broken heart pub instead of the herb bride

With my condolences anon this is a challenging one. NPC animations are all (as far as we know) baked into their .mesh files, which are a custom-built file format. This is because each animation is dependent on the rigging of its specific model. If this works anything like it does in the 2002 p1 techdemo, if you managed to swap animations, the animation might not be able to find the correct "bones" on the new model... and because of this, it's unclear what control scripts have over animations if any, as some moving NPCs (like the dancing tragedian in the Cathedral) are unscripted.

For the Bound it gets more complex, since characters with a LifeStudio:HEAD talking head have different animation systems between their head and body. LSH lipsync animations are .mms files under the Geometries folder, while facial expressions are .mma. Plausibly these could be switched around (haven't tried yet)! It's not as grand a change as your idea, but let me know if that works at all.

[rathologic]

The rathologic theatre is pleased to unveil Fall 2023's streaming repertory (of course, this will be overridden if we get bachelor gameplay):

P1 Haruspicus route, with original translation: Saturdays 5pm EDT (subject to change). The run will use RoSoDude's Reputation, Survival and Disease Overhaul! This mod rebalances items and scripts to make late-game survival a real challenge, restoring mechanics that were underutilized or unimplemented in the original game. It's a huge stride in P1 modding that I'm super excited to try out :-)

Casual nights: Wednesdays 6pm EDT. Time for playing something that doesn't fit in the Saturday recurrent series. Might be Pathologic related (especially p2 and the alpha/techdemo versions), might be another game, tiny chance of modmaking.

Most importantly: I'm participating in Extra Life this year! On November 3-4, I'm streaming a 24-hour challenge run of the Bachelor's Route to raise funds for my local childrens' hospital while trying to earn the Bachelor 1,000,000 Money. See my participant page for the info and milestones! Donations (open until and through Game Day) are direct to SickKids, tax-deductible, and greatly appreciated. Mark your calendars 😄

[rathologic]

techdemo sweep

[rathologic]

think of him

[rathologic]

helloo rathologic how does it feel to always be so based.....i have an actual question: since there were originally meant to be 7 playable characters in p1, three of them being the ones we have and also the planned alexander block and aglaya, who do you think would be the other two characters? or just overall which characters do you think would be interesting to play as?

Benedict from the 2002 techdemo! since he did largely get developed into the person we now call the bachelor, it's hard to say how he fits into the original seven wrt: none of the healers really existing at this point. but an intriguing guy he "knows nothing about medicine" and is making it up as it goes which would be SO fun in a healer... if I had to guess any other "unique" npc from that demo it'd be kuron, who was at least relevant enough in the writers' heads that his name was reused as a mythological figure in p1

it's not a big chance at all but the techdemo including maria kaina makes me wonder if they'd conceived of letting us play as her-- with 7 playable characters incl. the emissaries you can't have em all be healers right? She's very different from the maria we have in the final game but in any case maria route would be fascinating :-)