tasos-flambouras
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Darkfall working on better chat interface and AI upgrades
Darkfall is making the most of the hot summer months as the team is scrambling to finish up a few projects and keep tabs on the Asian version in testing. In a recent update letter, everyone's favorite snack chips-slash-developer Tasos Flambouras relays a list of what the team has been working on. Among the projects listed is a new chat interface, more functional clan vault logs, AI upgrades for mobs, a new Skirmisher school, and role balance. The patch to deliver some of these changes should be coming in the next month. "We're also supporting our Korean partner with the Korean and Japanese versions of Darkfall Unholy Wars," Flambouras writes. "We believe that the game has already benefited and will keep benefiting from this cooperation in the form of feedback we get, feature requests, optimizations, additional content as well as from the new perspective of a different market." [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
Darkfall plans summer content update, suffers DDOS attack [Updated]
Darkfall's long-awaited Unholy Wars makeover launched almost a month ago, and now Aventurine is turning its eyes toward the future of its PvP-focused fantasy sandbox. AV's Tasos Flambouras posted a schedule of planned content updates on the forums earlier this week that stretches all the way into July. Aside from the usual MMO bug fixes and tweaks, there are major additions like the Svartvann, Marthnyr, Hardruk, and Dulguna dungeons, new families of monsters, new ships, and sea fortresses. [Thanks Dengar!] [Update: Aventurine is reporting that its NA servers are suffering the effects of a DDoS attack. The official blog reads, "In regard to the ping issues on the NA server the past couple of days, this was due to a DDoS attack during NA prime time. We have taken measures in cooperation with our hosting providers to filter this attack, and we're monitoring the situation. We'll keep you updated and we apologize for any inconvenience."]
Darkfall Unholy Wars finally launches
The next iteration of Darkfall is underway! Aventurine today announced that Darkfalls Unholy Wars has finally released after several delays and a lengthy beta. The sandbox MMO is a complete revamp of the original Darkfall with several new features, and it requires the purchase of a client and a subscription fee to play. Aventurine General Manager Tasos Flambouras seems relieved to have reached this stage: "After five months of beta we are happy to launch Darkfall Unholy Wars. We are grateful to our playtesters for their contribution to the game and we're happy to have them with us as players today. Darkfall Unholy Wars is the best combat MMORPG experience and our pledge is that it will continue evolving and pushing the PvP envelope."
Darkfall adds salvaging, prowess point progression
Aventurine has broken a bit of its silence relating to the Darkfall Unholy Wars reboot. While the FFA PvP sandbox has been in beta for a while now, it's still not in open beta, and thus news of all the changes has been slow to reach fans who are watching from the sidelines. Fear not, though, because it's Tasos Flambouras to the rescue with a pair of forum posts detailing the new game's salvaging and prowess point character progression systems. Salvaging is basically the reverse of the crafting process, and players may salvage crafted equippable gear and broken items which drop from Agon's monsters. Prowess, on the other hand, is gained from all "meaningful interactions" with the game, which includes harvesting, crafting, PvE, and PvP. Skills and attributes are then raised via the prowess system. Aventurine notes that crafting skills are not raised via prowess. "Due to the effect crafting skills have on the economy we felt we should exclude them from the prowess-based system," Flambouras writes. "All crafting skills can be raised by creating items."
Darkfall delays beta due to loot-eating bug
When you've repeatedly delayed the launch of the new version of the game, what's there left to do? You know you shouldn't have asked that because now you made the Darkfall beta go back in hiding. It was just waiting for someone foolish enough to ask that question. While Darkfall Unholy Wars' beta was scheduled to begin today, Aventurine decided to hold back on starting it for the time being. What's the hold-up? According to Producer Tasos Flambouras, a nasty bug's floating around that can, well, have an adverse affect on gameplay: "To simply describe the bug in question: It's a persistence bug. Some players, sometimes, will lose all their stuff." The team is attempting to reproduce and eliminate the bug but said that it will go ahead with the beta after a "few hours" whether or not it's found.
Aventurine apologizes for Darkfall delay
Darkfall fans have good reason to be disgruntled at the news yesterday that Aventurine announced a major delay in the relaunch of the game. The studio has posted a brief explanation as to why the announcement cut it so close to the anticipated release date. "We want you to know that 55 people fought until the last minute to make that announcement unnecessary," Tasos Flambouras wrote. "This is not a matter of lack of respect towards the community; it's a matter of unfortunate timing." Flambouras apologized, saying that the delay allows his team "to do what's best for the game and for [its] players" and that Aventurine is not using Darkfall's transition onto Steam as an excuse.
Darkfall Unholy Wars launch pushed back to December 12
Fans who were counting down the days until Darkfall's rebirth as Unholy Wars will have to wait longer than expected. Instead of launching November 20th as planned, the reboot will debut on December 12th. Aventurine producer Tasos Flambouras posted the announcement this morning, citing a combination of external factors, last minute issues, and final testing feedback for the decision. Although the launch date is delayed, the development schedule is not; players will lose access to Darkfall on November 15th when the game goes offline as originally planned. Apologizing to fans for the inconvenience of the postponement, Flambouras committed to using the extra three weeks to improve the release version.%Gallery-139865%
Aventurine confirms character wipes for Darkfall reboot
Aventurine has finally answered a couple of long-standing questions regarding its Darkfall: Unholy Wars reboot. First off, yes there will be a character wipe and no, you won't be seeing your original Darkfall avatars in the new game. "These are different games and the DFUW character system is incompatible with the old characters. These are two completely different worlds, there is a different skill acquisition system, different skills, different stats, all the way down to the story-line; everything makes them incompatible," explains producer Tasos Flambouras. Interestingly, he mentions that the old characters will be preserved in some fashion, possibly for "Darkfall-related side-projects we are considering." Finally, the Unholy Wars client will be free of charge to everyone who has ever purchased the original game. Read more at the official Darkfall blog.
Darkfall Unholy Wars 'in the final stretch for launch' [Updated]
OK, Darkfall fans. Aventurine has made it officially official. Darkfall 2.0, formerly known as Darkfall 2010, is now known as Darkfall Unholy Wars. It's basically a brand-new game born of the dev team's frustrations with trying to update the original title and realize the full scope of their vision for a PvP-centric fantasy MMO. "We're in the final stretch for launch right now," says AV's Tasos Flambouras. "We're testing the game internally and it's in a very playable state." AV has released a new video interview detailing the new title. The clip runs for approximately six minutes and shows off behind-the-scenes footage as well as a few talking head interview snippets. There's also a glimpse of the new game's GUI, the original version of which was a long-standing thorn in the side of Darkfall fans since the first game's 2009 release. See for yourself after the cut. [Update]: A new AV blog post confirms the Unholy Wars launch date as November 20th.
Darkfall slices away at 'initial unforgiving experience' with 2.0
"In the current version of the game, we've had many occasions where the steep learning curve and initial unforgiving experience, unnecessarily kept people out of the game," Aventurine's Tasos Flambouras comments on the latest Darkfall 2.0 post. This week's post illuminates three major systems on which the team is working to make Agon a more approachable world. With Darkfall 2.0, new players will start out in a safe training zone that is designed to teach the fundamentals of the game without the risk of imminent ganking. Plus, the devs promise "a nice adventure with an epic ending" to boot. The other two systems are coming up with a way to protect mount theft and to encourage the player economy. Mounts in 2.0 will remember their owners for a time, and any thief will have to contend with being branded a criminal and coming under fire by guard NPCs. Finally, new markets will appear in all major cities and allow players to buy, sell, and place orders for others to fill. There is one catch to shopping, however: If you buy an item from another city's market, you have to either travel there personally to get it or pay a surcharge for delivery.
Darkfall specializes magic schools, replaces death with limbo system
Aventurine continues its trek toward Darkfall's game revamp, aka Darkfall 2.0, and in a new producer letter, Tasos Flambouras drops a few interesting info nuggets to tide loyal players over until the job is done. He states that the team is retuning each of the game's eight schools of magic so that each one feels more unique and focused. For example, air magic will be specialized to do more damage in close quarters against fewer targets, while fire magic will excel at long-distance AoE attacks. The team also thinks it has figured out this pesky "death" problem by coming up with a more interesting limbo system. The way it works is that when players are taken down, they have a choice between either respawning back at a bind stone or waiting for a timer to count down to zero and initiate a respawn on the spot. If players opt to endure the limbo period, they can re-equip their characters from their bank boxes. Aventurine continues to hire on new team members for the project, including a designer who will facilitate communication between devs and the community.
Aventurine 'sprinting' toward Darkfall 2.0
As Darkfall "sprints" down the road toward its second incarnation, bloodthirsty PvPers are looking to Aventurine for more information about how their favorite game world is being remolded. Tasos Flambouras came forth today with word that not only is the project still powering forward, but the development team is growing as new hires are brought on to assist in the efforts. Flambouras uses the post as a progress report and To Do list all in one. Perhaps the most exciting teases that he mentions are new methods of progression in the game. "These are significant and exciting changes to the way the game is played because they add more purpose to player freedom," he writes. Currently the art team is adding and revamping many of the game's objects and animations, while the world builders are hammering away at Mahirim. As part of Darkfall 2.0, introductory dungeons will be integrated into the game to help newbies get a foothold in the cutthroat MMO. The team is also experimenting with "alternatives" to player respawn time after deaths, as well as a brand-new market system and improved trading experience.
Aventurine shows off Darkfall 2.0 visual test video
Well, it seems as if Darkfall hasn't fallen off the face of the earth even though Aventurine's game updates have been pretty sporadic of late. As of today there's a new video on the official site that gives us an early glimpse of Agon 2.0. It's worth mentioning that Aventurine has been slaving away on a completely retooled Darkfall client for months now, and even though today's clip clocks in at a relatively paltry 47 seconds, it's good to see some of the fruits of that labor. Hop past the cut for a look at new water effects, dynamic lighting, a human NPC city, and a new dungeon. Aventurine's Tasos Flambouras also notes that the team plans to issue a development update sometime next week.
Darkfall devblog addresses Darkfall 2.0 progress, lack of communication
Darkfall fans, rejoice! More news about Darkfall 2.0 is upon us. Tasos Flambouras stopped by the game's blog today to mention that the team does "notice the anxiety on the forums concerning development progress, timing of Darkfall's re-launch, speculation about a wipe between Darkfall and the re-launch, and our spotty communication as of late." He then set out to make amends for these transgressions by giving fans an update on Darkfall 2.0's development progress. Flambouras noted that "the remaining work is broken down... and supported with a clear timeframe... so at this point we know exactly when we're done with the development." More details on Darkfall 2.0 will be revealed in upcoming updates. But Darkfall 2.0 isn't the only thing on the Aventurine head-honcho's agenda. He also takes some time to talk about whether or not there will be a full wipe when 2.0 launches (the team hasn't decided yet), business deals (the studio is in "final stages of cooperation with several partners"), and the studio's lack of communication (the studio says it's sorry and promises to do better). For the full, unabridged dev blog update, just head on over to the game's official site.
New Darkfall blog post addresses reactivation weekend, upcoming patch
Last week, we reported that Darkfall would be hosting a reactivation weekend with increased skill-up rates and loot drops. Head-honcho Tasos Flambouras stopped by the official site today to announce that the festivities will be beginning on Friday, November 18th, and that they will last through the weekend until the 21st. He warns, however, that the team is also busy preparing a patch, which -- understandably -- takes priority over the reactivation weekend. As such, it's possible that the event will be postponed. The patch itself includes a number of bug fixes and other adjustments, "more specifically addressing emotes cutting off animations and sounds." The team is also working to combat some of the game's exploits such as using the trading system to bypass over-encumberance. For the full details, head on over to the Darkfall official site.
Darkfall update talks camera, physics improvements
What's up in the lands of Agon recently? Quite a lot if the latest Darkfall dev update is any indication. The lengthy wall o' text touches on current development tasks including the possibility of an improved third-person camera, momentum mechanics, and ragdoll physics for the game's animations. Starter areas are also getting a makeover, and Aventurine producer Tasos Flambouras says that new and more powerful guard towers will deter newbie ganking without creating full-blown safe zones. Additionally, there's a bit more explanation regarding the ongoing siege and clan tweaks, and the devs continue to work on Darkfall's new armor specialization mechanics. Unfortunately there's still no word on either character wipes or a timeline for Darkfall 2.0's release, but there is quite a bit of other info available to peruse on the game's official site.
Darkfall update talks sieges, again
Darkfall's much-hyped new siege system may actually see the light of day next week according to the latest Aventurine dev blog. We say much-hyped here in terms of the number of times it's been mentioned in one of Darkfall's traditional Friday updates. Players and fans of the FFA PvP sandbox are no doubt more interested in when Darkfall 2.0 is coming out as well as who these mysterious partners are that producer Tasos Flambouras occasionally hints at in the weekly news blurbs. Alas, this week's announcement steers clear of reveals and instead offers a few more specifics on the new siege mechanics as well as a new concept art sketch of the revamped Khamset monster family. Finally, there's a short lore blurb to go along with a ton of unanswered questions.
Darkfall blog update teases new dungeon video
Another Darkfall update, another letdown in terms of a release window for Darkfall 2.0. Aventurine updated its blog over the weekend and acknowledged fan anticipation for the sweeping revamp, but remained coy on the timeframe. "We're in a better position to estimate but we haven't concluded our discussions with our partners yet," wrote producer Tasos Flambouras. If the new video that accompanies the blog update is any indication, we're a ways off from release since the clip is described as an "alpha version." What's in the video? It's basically a quick look at the new Niflheim dungeon, and there are a lot of yetis running around as well as a lot of bloodspray courtesy of the newly implemented splatter system. You can also see a few of the dynamic elements that make the dungeon more challenging than its old-world Darkfall predecessor, and there's even a paragraph related to the lore behind the lair. Check out the clip after the cut and head to the official Darkfall website for more.
Darkfall blog talks crafting update, forthcoming relaunch timeline
There may be a little light at the end of the Darkfall 2.0 tunnel if the latest Aventurine blog update is any indication. The entry bills itself as a crafting system update, but it spends the first paragraph or so giving fans an update on the revamped siege system (which is now scheduled to be done in about a week). After that, producer Tasos Flambouras says, "We'll go into more detail about more relaunch features and the production schedule." So anyway, crafting. In a nutshell, the new Darkfall tradeskilling system places greater importance on rare ore, unique item appearance, more customization options, and "more opportunities to excel as a crafter." The new system will offer mastery skills as well as a choice between six distinctive base designs for each weapon type. You can read all about it at the game's official website, linked below.
Aventurine reveals a few Darkfall 2.0 changes
Aventurine has updated the Darkfall Epic Blog again, and this time there's a good bit of info regarding the upcoming 2.0 reboot. Producer Tasos Flambouras reiterates that 2.0 is "a new game created on top of the current game rather [than] simply an expansion." He also states that the devs don't want to get too specific and give everything away just yet. That said, this week's entry does provide a very interesting list of changes "that are already implemented." First and foremost is the game's new skill set customization which is in turn tied to a new armor system. In a nutshell, your armor choice will affect your usable skills by rendering certain abilities ineffective and leading to highly specialized character roles (as opposed to the current game where every character can learn every skill, given enough grinding). Skill and attribute gains have also been tweaked, and players who focus on skilling up a single role will excel at it in short order through "casual play." The catch, though, is the inability to have more than one specialization active at a time. Crafting has also been overhauled, and the world map has been "completely changed." There's more big news where that came from too, including UI tweaks, alignment tweaks, incapacitation, dungeon and magic school redesigns, and new combat mechanics like momentum and crosshair wobble. Read all about it at the official Darkfall website.
