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EverQuest II announces finalists in Dungeon Maker contest
EverQuest II's Dungeon Maker is a love-it-or-hate-it feature. Some love it for the story possibilities and the player-generated content; some hate it because of the number of 50 Tokens Solo Nao dungeons that infest the feature. In a move that promoted the former use of the feature, Sony Online Entertainment hosted a contest utilizing the Poet's Palace map with entries being judged on creativity, originality, and theme, meaning storytelling was just as important as design and action. The judges were so taken with the talent displayed in the 82 entries to the contest that they couldn't decide on just 10 finalists, so they chose a lucky 13 instead (although they will apparently be going without lunch now). The top finishers all received a set of heritage armor of their choice, the in-game title Dungeon Maker, and 2,000 Station Cash. Congratulations to all the winners! For a list of 10 of the winners (the top three will be announced next week) and where to find their dungeons, check out the official announcement. Then tell us what you think of the dungeons!
Massively Exclusive: Storybricks team talks art, animation, and non-combat design
Namaste Entertainment is working away on Storybricks, and the company has just released a new exclusive video dev diary featuring CEO Rodolfo Rosini, art manager Oliver Bermejo, and a glimpse of the game's art style and animations. Rosini talks at length about the inspiration behind the art; one of the chief influences is a book called The Illusion of Life by early Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. Rosini also name-checks Generation X geek icons like Dragon's Lair and The Secret of Nimh as well as more recent properties like the Fable series, and he says that the Storybricks team aims to convey emotion in a similar manner to these epics. "We want to capture some of the Disney magic without necessarily making a game for kids," Rosini explains. Rosini also talks a bit about the game design philosophy behind Storybricks. In current MMOs, he says, NPCs have two states: They either serve as quest dispensers or as targets. Namaste is aiming for a new type of gameplay that isn't built exclusively around combat. "Don't get me wrong -- murder works fairly well. There are 12 million murderers in World of Warcraft," Rosini says. "I've been one of them for many years, and I think it's a great game. But there has to be something different." Enjoy the full dev diary after the break.
