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Choose My Adventure: Neverending Neverwinter story
Of all the things this trip to Neverwinter has shown me, the ability to continue a character's story beyond the quest that Cryptic provides stands as the greatest thing I think any online game can give us. Although I don't believe that Neverwinter (or any other game, for that matter) gives me everything that I ever hoped for, the Foundry does allow those who enjoy dungeon mastering in the classic Dungeons and Dragons sense a chance to test out their skills at creating a story within a realistic development environment. Most writers would love to have a blank slate, a platform to do whatever they want to do, but realistically, that never happens. Every development environment contains its own limits and challenges content creators have to overcome. Sometimes the engine doesn't allow writers to do what they would like. Sometimes budgetary limits constrain the creative process. Sometimes writers forget that they are making a game and not a novel, so "fun" adds its own limits. As a writer and a gamer, I have been given a taste of what it takes to make an enjoyable quest for a gaming community.
The Repopulation's housing video offers decorating tips
Location. location, location. It applies to in-game real estate, too! The Repopulation has three locations players can enjoy housing: in NPC cities, player cities, and instanced. To give players an idea of what housing is about, Above and Beyond Technologies has released a video discussing housing options and touring the instanced housing. The nearly 10-minute tour showcases the housing interface, complete with new structure placement bar, and the actual decorating. Some highlights gleaned from the demonstration include the abilities to lock structures/items in place so they aren't accidentally moved, to scale placed items larger or smaller (as well as a reset button), to rotate items, and to raise and lower items. Get all your decorating tips in the video below. [Source: Above and Beyond Technologies press release]
Choose My Adventure: Neverwinter wonderland
When I think about what separates a good Neverwinter Foundry mission from a great Foundry mission, I have to say that it's the ambiance. Ambiance ranges from sounds to lighting to special effects. I could create the best mission ever, write the best story, but if I don't create the best ambiance for the quest, my design could fall flat. What are some of the best ways to create ambiance? Which ones should I put into this Choose My Adventure? In my limited time in the Neverwinter Foundry, I have barely been able to scratch the surface of everything that the design tool has to offer. Of course, decorations such as a dining table in a dining room add to the atmosphere of the setting, but so does the sun shining through the window or the NPCs clapping in the next room. Today, I need your assistance in choosing the different types of ambiance for different parts of our adventure.
Choose My Adventure: On such a Neverwinter's day
This past weekend, I believe I've worked out all the mechanics I will need to complete our Neverwinter Foundry quest. It contains a total of three boss fights. I don't want to give any spoilers at this point, but I'll say that one of them has a very cool mechanic that I made using the Foundry story tree. I admit that at first I saw only the limitations of the Foundry, but after diving in full-steam this weekend, I've realized that some of the tools are quite robust. One of my favorite tools is the dialogue tree. There are a few limitations on what dialogue can affect, but if you think outside the box as some creators have, you can actually make varying levels of difficulty for your dungeons or even allow players to bypass some content. Today's Choose My Adventure is a bit different from the norm. I've included the first half of my script for the quest after the break. There is no poll this time, but that doesn't mean that I don't want your input. After all, we are making this Neverwinter quest together. After you've read through the script, give your suggestions on possible changes in the comments -- I will certainly consider all of them. Enjoy!
Choose My Adventure: A Neverwinter storm is brewing
Making a Foundry mission is difficult, but not because Neverwinter makes it difficult -- not yet, anyway. The number of elements used in creating a good mission is bigger than I had initially thought. However, we will stumble through it, as I did this weekend. When I initially tried out the Neverwinter Foundry, there were many elements that were just clunky. I constantly had to switch from Foundry mode to 3-D-mode just to add objects, and I had to hope that they were placed correctly. With the recent changes, I can now pop into editor mode and place objects directly into the world, an amazing step forward. The tough part comes in creating the story and building the world in which the story takes place. Today, I'd like you to help me with a few of the elements I still need to round out my story.
Hands-on with EQ Next Landmark: Building my castle of dreams
If they can build it, they will come. When presented with the opportunity to get my hands on EverQuest Next Landmark and build something for myself, I leaped at the chance. Who hasn't been sitting back, eagerly awaiting the moment he could dive into the wilds of Landmark and let his creativity run rampant? As one half of the Some Assembly Required team, I knew it would be no great sacrifice to try out this upcoming beacon of player-generated-content. And man, was it worth it! I met with EverQuest Franchise Director Dave Georgeson to talk shop and check out Landmark's tools in my own personal hands-on pre-alpha experience. Instead of just gazing longingly at a screen while watching a demonstration, I got to test drive all the various building tools as I obsessively constructed my own amethyst castle. The only real problem I ran into was that my time ended all too soon, and now I must wait until February for the alpha to play again. So is it better to have built and lost than never to have built at all? I may have to get back to you on that when -- and if -- my withdrawals subside. Until then, here's the scoop on my experience along with a new video and some juicy tidbits of new info straight from Georgeson himself.
Choose My Adventure: Tell me the story of Neverwinter
At your bidding, I took my first foray into the Neverwinter Foundry this weekend, and it wasn't too shabby. The Book of the Dead by Magic88255 captured the melodrama of a classic supernatural horror film and coupled it with a bit of game combat. But I think the most important thing that The Book of the Dead had to teach us was about triggers and transitions. When we eventually make our own Choose My Adventure Foundry quest, we will want to keep that sort of thing in mind. Although the overarching storyline is important, I think the little things are what differentiates good Foundry quests from the great ones. During my livestream on Sunday, I tackled another Foundry quest to get a feel for other possibilities. I completed the runner-up from last week, Valerie's Dream. Although the storytelling was a bit weaker in this quest, the character development was great. Both quests were fun, so examining the quest beyond just the fun-factor amazes me. I am actually astonished overall at the quality of quests being created in the Foundry. I hope I can live up to that when we create our own. Let's take a look at some of the elements that seem to make for a good Neverwinter Foundry quest.
Some Assembly Required: Mark Jacobs on Camelot Unchained's Kickstarter
Given all the MMO-hopefuls flocking to it, you'd think that Kickstarter is the only way to make a game these days. And in some ways, it is. Indie companies and niche games now have a real chance to see the light of day, whereas previously only the "sure sells" got financial backing. For developers like Mark Jacobs, who as City State Entertainment's CEO spearheads the development of upcoming sandbox Camelot Unchained, Kickstarter is a way to bypass those detached investors and appeal to the gamers themselves. As he told us, "Kickstarter is the perfect platform for an indie developer both to gauge interest in a concept and to receive either all or part of the funding necessary to make the game." Jacobs offered other musings and insights about the role of Kickstarter and updated us on the development of Camelot Unchained in our exclusive interview.
The Repopulation's second alpha trailer bares it all
Our hands-on experience from PAX Prime let you know that the graphics of The Repopulation were pretty great, but now you can see for yourself. Above and Beyond Technologies has released a second alpha gameplay trailer that shows everything except the kitchen sink! The video walks players through the natural environments of the dynamic world filled with detailed flora and fauna, with detours to show off player-built housing as well. But lest you think this sandbox is all serene, the second half blasts into combat footage. Get a glimpse of just about every available feature from character customization to resource harvesting to building to sieges in the trailer below. [Thanks to J.C. for the tip!]
Some Assembly Required: Is Black Desert the new ArcheAge?
I hate to admit it, but I'm getting over ArcheAge. This sucks because XLGAMES' fantasy sandpark is undoubtedly the most feature-rich MMO since Star Wars Galaxies. But Massively first covered ArcheAge in 2010. I first played it in 2011. And we're rapidly approaching 2014 with absolutely no sign of an English-language client on the horizon! Yeah, Trion famously signed on to distribute the game to western audiences last January, but since then we've heard a whole lot of nothing about how the translation is progressing. Hell, we don't even know if it is a translation as opposed to some ill-conceived "westernization" waste of time. And maybe the MMO gods will strike me down for jumping off the bandwagon. Maybe Trion will make me look a fool by announcing a beta date of some sort later this very afternoon. If so, that's OK because Black Desert is looking just as good, if not better.
Some Assembly Required: A dev's-eye view of Dragon's Prophet's frontier system
For getting a better look at the big picture, there's nothing like witnessing a PvP battle from afar instead of being in the midst of it. And that's exactly what I got to do in a recent dev tour of a PvP event in Dragon's Prophet: Spectate. Thanks to the spiffy use of technology, I was able to zoom along through the air as the battles unfolded below and around me without my having to dodge killing blows from my enemies. On top of that, I got to hear Senior Producer Todd Carson and Associate Producer Rod Haza detail different aspects of this system that melds PvP and housing in Dragon's Prophet. Dubbed the Frontier System, this combination puts PvP on the housing islands of Auratia. However, the implementation is probably not quite what players envisioned when they first heard about it. Luckily, I got a pretty good look at how it all works from my invulnerable perch and can share that with you.
Chaos Theory: Exciting times in The Secret World
Do you feel it? That electric buzzing in the air of The Secret World (not to be confused with the sounds of buzzing heard by the bee-blessed)? I don't know about you, but I sure can. It's a very exciting time to be a fan of this Lovecraftian-horror-conspiracy-flavored game. Why, you ask? I am more than happy to share my reasons with you. It's exciting because things that had been slowly building up have kicked into higher gear and are gathering speed; long-anticipated things are just barely out of reach but will soon be within our grasp. We are also this close to getting Issue #8 with its scenarios, augment systems, and Venice. And there's a new issue cover with a name and date to prove it! We are also inching ever closer to getting -- for the very first time ever -- a whole new region in the game, replete with new missions, new nooks and crannies to explore, and new foes to face. Oh, and new lore! But that's not even all. We have a long-term event going on now as well as the return of a favorite very soon. So if you haven't been in The Secret World lately, now would surely be a good time to jump back in.
RuneScape 3 launches player-designed conclusion to epic quest series
RuneScape 3 is at the tail end of a long-running, episodic quest series and the conclusion is launching this week. Dubbed Birthright of the Dwarves, this grandmaster quest actually has many elements that were designed and voted on by the players themselves. Earlier this year, players participated in a competition to design two of the main NPCs as well as offered suggestions via the forums for other elements for the questline. The result: Birthright of the Dwarves will include both physical battles and mental challenges, and the fate of the Dwarven kingdom rests solely on the players. This questline is also available to all players through the game's new Bonds system that allows players to purchase membership with in-game gold. [Source: Jagex press release]
GTA Online riches available for cash
Players looking forward to Grand Theft Auto Online, available on October 1st, are probably already contemplating ways to get and spend their in-game funds for the myriad of customization goodies within the persistent world of Rockstar Game's GTA5's multiplayer mode. Well there's a new addition to the acquire list: microtransactions. Eurogamer.net shares a find that was first caught on Reddit, namely a publicly viewable XML file on the game's online store that shows in-game cash cards in denominations of $100K, $200K, $500K, and $1.5M $1.25M for purchase with real-life cash along with a description inviting players to solve their in-game money problems by buying these packs. The prices for these cash cards, however, are not stated. The same file shows items from the special and collector's editions, indicating that this exclusive content may also be made available to all for purchase later. [Thanks Potaco for the correction.]
Some Assembly Required Extra: The scoop on Albion Online
After a long drought in the industry, the tide of the sandbox gaming is finally coming in. This year can definitely be called the year of the sandbox. While not all of them are out yet, many more games promising those features we love are in development now than ever before. In fact, there are so many titles floating about now that it can be hard to keep them straight! One of the latest upcoming titles to be announced is the stylized, medieval sandbox Albion Online. With such offerings as territory control, housing, a player-driven economy, and full looting, this game certainly fits the sandbox bill. Heck, the development company is even named Sandbox Interactive! But what makes Albion Online stand out from the pack is that it will be a cross-platform experience; players will be accessing the game via both tablets and PCs. Of course, as promising as it may sound, just a terse feature list doesn't give players the kind of details we want. So to get the scoop, I had a chat with Sandbox Interactive CEO Stefan Wiezorek, who shared more information about the economy, housing,the skill system, PvP, and territory control.
Some Assembly Required: Community dictates development path of Neo's Land
Sandbox aficionados, are you ready for another contender in the fight to be your next virtual world? Well, ready or not, here one comes! And now that the cat (or Kickstarter, as it were) is officially out of the bag, we can take stroll through this new development project and see just how things are shaping up. The name of this virtual playground-to-be? Neo's Land. With the number of crowdfund-hopefuls coming and going, you might be wondering what -- if anything -- distinguishes this game from all the others also vying for your attention and support. What exactly makes this project different and worth a look? It's not the various sandbox features like skills, an open world, and building homes; you can find those in other games that are out there or in the works. No, what sets Neo's Land apart is the different approach to development it is taking. Instead of building a game using the studio's ideal features, NeoJac Entertainment is quite literally soliciting the feature set directly from the players before implementing. In this case, Some Assembly Required also refers to the game itself! Can it be done -- can a game truly be built to honest-to-goodness player specs? During an exclusive interview with CEO and President Jacques Rossouw, I got to walk along the development path of Neo's Land and see what the game is about.
Aion's anniversary events include cakes, pirates, and an aethertech design contest
Remember when we teased a bit about the upcoming anniversary events in Aion? Well now we can share all the details! When the Alchemy Event wraps upon the 18th, the Daeva's Day Events will take over. These events feature the famous cake buffs as well as quests to obtain wings and challenges to earn golden feathers (to buy even more rewards!). There's even a hide-and-seek game: Mini cakes are hidden throughout Atreia for players to find. This event runs September 18th to October 2nd. But that's not all! GMs will host various mini-games and activities throughout the anniversary celebrations, rewarding players for participating. And on September 19th, players can celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day with various pirate-themed activities and gear that's exclusive to NA. And finally, NCsoft is holding another Leave your Legacy contest -- this time for Aethertechs. Interested participants need to submit their original Aethertech Key and Mecha design by September 25th, and the winning one will be released alongside the Aethertechs when 4.5 comes to NA. Full contest rules can be found on the official site. [Source: NCsoft press release]
EQ Next's third round table response focuses on Landmark tools
Each week, EverQuest Next devs throw out a new question for players to weigh in on through voting and forum discussion. Then after gathering all the comments, devs put out a video to respond to the conversation. This past week's question focused on the desired complexity of EverQuest Landmark's design tools. Lead Building and UI designer Jake Sones and Senior Brand Manager Omeed Dariani got behind the camera to respond to player feedback. In a nutshell, players like powerful tools, but want them to be user-friendly. Complexity will come in the form of unlocking more advanced tools as a user becomes more skilled in using current ones. You can catch all the details in the clip after the cut.
Some Assembly Required: Conflating story content and MMORPGs
A few weeks ago I poked fun at ArenaNet and its "living story" nonsense. As you might imagine, plenty of comments ensued, and I'd like to highlight one of them as a point of further discussion this week. Skoryy wrote (in part): "Since when did enjoying content, especially story content, actively require skill? Any literate person can read a book; why do I also need to know how to be a master crafter or master warrior or master whatever to get to enjoy the game's true content?" For further context, this was a response to the line of thinking that says successful games like baseball, chess, and RISK are not linear dev-driven content treadmills but rather a set of rules that result in endless permutations of player-generated content. When I first read the remark I was taken aback. I mean, really, my initial response to the "since when" bit was "since you decided to play an interactive video game instead of read a book!" And that's still true to a large extent. As I thought about the overall discussion, though, I sympathized with his perspective even though I think it's terrible that some MMO companies are hell-bent on conflating the definition of game with the definition of story.
Divergence: Online aims to Kickstart 'true player freedom' with a new sandbox
If the name Divergence: Online looks familiar, then the summer sun hasn't melted all your memories. Last February, the hard-core sandbox hopeful resurfaced with an IndieGoGo campaign to get started and create a working demo. Having met that goal, creator Ethan Casner is back with another crowdfunding campaign to spur development even farther. What does Divergence bring to the table? It claims "Maximum. Player. Freedom." with features like a skill-based system, a virtually limitless gaming word for exploration, and terrain that can be modified by either redistributing the ground itself or planting and harvesting resources. And if those features don't spell freedom for you, how about this one: Dancer, architect, tailor, and bio engineer are among the non-combat professions offered. The project is pretty close to its modest goal, but the end is swiftly approaching; those wanting to lend their support will need to do so before the campaign closes this weekend. Check out some pre-alpha footage of player-generated content in the video clip after the cut. [Thanks to Lewis for the tip!]
