Yeah, AoC was instanced because it was terribly coded.
Also somewhere (I don't remember where) the MO people had said they would have instances.
Probably dungeons and stuff so you can focus on the monsters and traps without having to worry about some guy hiding down there waiting for someone to come by so he can gank them.
I'm sure they'll have instances, but the devs at least said that the areas of the world seamlessly flow into eachother. So no magical portals between lands like in AoC or WAR. I'm sure dungeons and such are fully instanced though
[€dit] Oh and someone apparently wrote a preview of the game at the latest Game developers convention;
The more I learn about Mortal Online the more excited I get about this game. It seems like someone read my mind about how to create a MMORPG then went and made Mortal Online. For those of you who are not familiar with this game let me fill you in. It’s a first person fantasy MMORPG with an open player-controlled world being developed by Swedish video game company Star Vault. Mortal Online promises a true sandbox experience.
Character Class - MO borrows many features from the Elder Scroll series, most notably the class system. When you create your character you’re not selecting any specific class. As you play through the game you can join a guild such as Thief Guild, Black-Smith Guild or Mage Guild then learn skills based off that guild. You can at any time quit the guild and switch to another class type, however you will lose any bonuses that guild provided you.
Leveling/Skills - There are no levels in MO. However there are skill levels of sort, again similar to Elder Scrolls. There are two types, Action Skills and Learned Skills. Action skills increase the more you use them, while Learned skills will increase passively over time.
There is a third type called Deva Skills, which is a skill that links all your created players. For instance, if you learned “Poison Making” and made this your Deva skill, any future characters you create will automatically have this skill so you don’t need to retrain them. It does not mean they will have it from the start, however once you meet the prerequisites, it will become available at what ever level you trained it to.
Combat - Combat will be real-time, no click and watch fighting here. You can swing or aim your weapon where ever you want and that’s where it’ll go.
Legendary Monsters/Quests -There are bosses and quests that do NOT repeat once completed or killed. These are supposed to be historical battles that will change the game. The items or rewards that are won from these are also unique and will not be repeated. I absolutely love this idea.
Looting - Full looting! The fact there are going to be 100% unique items, this makes looting even more fun. Imagine killing a player that had an ultra rare item from a Legendary quest or monster. Very cool indeed. However looting will tag you as a criminal temporarily, so you’ll have to be careful.
Free World - The game will have a minimum amount of rules which really gives the players control of what happens. You can become a fighter, explorer, crafter and have that become your main gameplay element. A cool thing about exploring is that when you discover a new area you get to name it. Can we say hello to “Bunghole Cave”?
Graphics - The graphics also look amazing and they should as it runs on the Unreal 3 engine with Grome, Speedtree.
Honestly everything about this game sounds awesome. I just signed up to the Mortal Online Beta, which hopefully I’ll get in to. The game is slated to be released in the summer of 2009 which is just around the corner.
Seamless just means you stream content as you move, it doesn't much have to do with how servers distribute load. You could run across the continent in WoW and a crash on one end didn't bring the whole continent down.
I'm just saying, the developers who created Age of Conan said they chose to instance the shit out of their gameworld because of the intense graphics, and how everything would fall apart with too many players in one area and so on.
Now Starvault, a smaller and less experienced company, comes out and say they can make it work, somehow. It sounds strange
That's because they are using Unreal3, which as part of it's feature list is streaming worlds or levels. So it's not really Starvault making it work but Epic (in a way).
This blurb from the unreal tech site is I think what they are going to use:
It's funny how turbine could do a non-instanced world in 1999 but Funcom and Mythic had to chop their worlds in to tiny chunks. I remember how many complaints there was from AoC beta testers that the world felt so fragmented and unbelievable because of the corridor-like areas and instance portals up the ass. Complaints which everybody ignored and kept circlejerking on their messiah game. And then WAR comes along with slightly bigger corridor areas. Shit, even WoW felt more free and open even though the areas were lined by mountains and had only 2-3 exits each.
Hope MO captures that good old 'holy shit this place is huuuuge, I can go where the fuck I want' feeling. And doesn't suck.
It's funny how turbine could do a non-instanced world in 1999 but Funcom and Mythic had to chop their worlds in to tiny chunks. I remember how many complaints there was from AoC beta testers that the world felt so fragmented and unbelievable because of the corridor-like areas and instance portals up the ass. Complaints which everybody ignored and kept circlejerking on their messiah game. And then WAR comes along with slightly bigger corridor areas. Shit, even WoW felt more free and open even though the areas were lined by mountains and had only 2-3 exits each.
Hope MO captures that good old 'holy shit this place is huuuuge, I can go where the fuck I want' feeling. And doesn't suck.
Please don't suck.
1) In 1999 the type of content in MMOs was extremely simple, even for back then. The kind of graphical quality people expect from games now is extremely hard to do over areas the size of what AC had.
2) Wide open expanses are a bit overrated. A lot of that space is filled with boring, generic, forgettable and often never (or barely) used space. Which is a waste of resources.
The MMO market isn't what it was when AC was at its peak. I doubt you'll ever see a MMO game world that big again unless some amazing tech comes along that reduces the amount of investment in resources it would take to create and run an area that size.
LittleBoots on
Tofu wrote: Here be Littleboots, destroyer of threads and master of drunkposting.
Yeah, I personally prefer "smaller" (honestly, you find the zones in WAR small? Even with a horse I find them a pain to traverse sometimes) areas with actual thought put into every little bit, as opposed to endless planes of barrenness.
I like a lot of "barren" ground, IE scenic landscapes. It makes the world feel a bit more open and natural.
If they make areas smaller, and fill each spot with a mobspawn/event/random stuff, it wont feel right. I think WAR felt too much like a themepark like that. You couldn't take ten steps without running into a mob, PQ, camp or an NPC.
It was "on rails" throughout the entire game and it completely ruined any sort of "living world" feeling, instead replacing it with the notion that it was just a large "map" filled with scattered playgrounds for the players to do very specific things with.
1) In 1999 the type of content in MMOs was extremely simple, even for back then. The kind of graphical quality people expect from games now is extremely hard to do over areas the size of what AC had.
2) Wide open expanses are a bit overrated. A lot of that space is filled with boring, generic, forgettable and often never (or barely) used space. Which is a waste of resources.
The MMO market isn't what it was when AC was at its peak. I doubt you'll ever see a MMO game world that big again unless some amazing tech comes along that reduces the amount of investment in resources it would take to create and run an area that size.
Now that Vanguard has be very much "fixed", I can say that big open expansese can be filled with amazing scenery and awsome graphics. Hell I thought the same thing when vanguard was in beta, it just ran like shit. Now it runs really well, without losing any of the awe factor with the size and landscape.
I did like the bit with the bolt thrower at the end. Programming that stuff can be such a chore :P. I wonder if the opening bit that had the fucked up vision is what it looks like when you stealth. Fuck if i know.
It seems my patience for waiting on Darkfall is coming in handy waiting for Mortal. Then again, I'm still holding on for UO2.
Forget all MMOs. Forget your traditional point of view. Forget all your safeties. This is new, fresh and violent. This is Mortal Online. So our temerarious Nolvadex sits down with Mats Persson, creative director, and Henrik Nystrom, CEO of Star Vault, to undestand the meaning of your next MMO life.
GS: What are the most original features in MO that could persuade to play the game instead of another one?
It’s simply fundamentally different from most modern MMO’s, meaning some will love it and others will hate it: No levels. No classes. Full loot. A persistent world. Mounted combat. First-person-based gameplay, with focus on player skill as opposed to character skill.
GS: We saw wonderful screenshots with stunning graphic. We'll need a monster PC to play MO? DX 10 will be implemented?
Unreal Engine 3 is very scalable so Mortal Online should be playable on an average computer, although we really recommend a high end computer to enjoy if fully. We still need to do a lot more testing before we specify any detailed requirements for Mortal Online. We support DX10 but it is not required to play at the moment, and we haven’t implemented any DX10-specific features yet.
GS: What kind of endgame will have MO?
Endgame is hard to answer in Mortal Online. For instance we don’t have the typical endgame like “raids†you do over and over again, neither do we have a “lvl 1-20 noob island†where you have to grind before you can play with your friends. It doesn’t take a very long time to master your primary skills, you can participate and be useful in for instance guild wars or boss encounters very early on (stuff that is mostly regarded as “endgameâ€). To really master the game system, find the right skill-setup for your play style, and learn all the secondary skills will take a lot longer though. But I believe endgame for some would be to build and hold a village, fight in guild wars, look for epic quests or finding ancient creatures to slay or protect from other players.
GS: A lots of MMORPGs fail to attract subscribers cause the lack of "social aspect" at high level. There will be a social life in MO as in Ultima Online?
Yes, we are very inspired by Ultima Online, I personally played it from beta. We really try to emphasize and encourage the social aspects of the game, for instance by actually “forcing†people to communicate. We have chosen not to have any auto-auction-houses, auto-party-joining, auto-whatever. This may sound strange and old, but if you think about it - if we were to include “the usual†auction-house interface, we would also remove the meaning for players to arrange auctions manually, like you do in real life. If we included an automated search for other player parties, there would be no need for taverns. And so on. And at those places there’s always a lot of social interaction going on. Theft, fighting, arguments, friendship etc.
I guess this will indeed scare some players off as it’s pretty hardcore compared to many other games, but for those who stay, we hope that this kind of social interaction will become as natural as wielding your sword.
GS: Can you explain what is DEVA and how it works?
We don’t want any single player to be able to have all skills at the same time. This would make the game more character-skill oriented and grind-based than player-skill oriented, and it would reduce the need for communication and cooperation among players. At the same time, we don’t want you to be stuck with just a piece of the game - we want you to be able to train different races and character builds on your account. This is where the Deva skills come into play: The Deva is essentially your account and your characters “shared soulâ€. Some of the skills in the game are Deva-skills, meaning they are shared between your different characters. This means that instead of having to grind through the same tasks you have already done with your other character over and over again, some skills (mostly those of learning-skill type) will be shared between your characters. An example of this would be, if one of your characters learns about an area a name or similar your other character also knows about it. As it’s the same player behind the characters it would be silly to let them redo all these things again with a new character.
GS: Sandbox often means "a game for hardcore players". Casual ones will be able to play as well? Do you think that sandbox will be the future of mmorpgs (Darkfall, Earthrise, etc)?
As we have no level- or regular class-systems to balance we leave a lot more room to player skills. In most MMO’s you know that your level 50 character/item will defeat any other level 40 character/item. This will never be the case in Mortal Online. We want you as a player to use your own skills and knowledge in the game to be successful. Another example is that you don’t loot a corpse by double-clicking on it, you will have to be quick and pick stuff up manually, and we most definitely won’t show you any fancy lottery-table when your party kills a big creature. Instead your group may end up in a fight for the loot, agreements may be betrayed, or who knows, maybe another party ambushes you while you recover from the fight. Scenarios like this, together with the emphasis on player skill and player-to-player interaction may very well be regarded as too hardcore for many MMO gamers as some are very used to automatic and “safe†systems.But I also believe that this will interest more players in the long run. It is really a point behind having you do all this manual “workâ€, as you will know that it’s actually you that are getting better at the game, not your virtual character.Regarding the future of MMO’s, I guess there will always be a majority of casual players that are satisfied with point-and-click themepark games: you start the game, do your quests, earn your levels and collect your rewards, then shut it off. Over and over again. It’s highly addictive as it doesn’t require that much of you while at the same time it’s giving you a feeling of progress. However, I think we will see more and more players looking for a new experience with more challenge, excitement and personal involvement in the years to come, and I think that new sandbox games with persistence will emerge to fill that need.
GS: What do you think about f2p system with micro-transaction insteed of classic p2p?
I think an f2p system with micro payment could work very well in a game designed for that system, although with Mortal Online we have chosen the pay to play model. We want every player to have the same chance and abilities as any other players that have bought the game. We also don’t want any strange “artificial†restrictions in form of buying access/items in the world of Mortal Online. Also, because the maintenance behind a game like Mortal Online there is no chance we can run Mortal Online without a monthly fee.
GS: What's the state of the game right now?
We are in beta testing/development at the moment, but we have no release date yet. Our goal from the beginning has been to release only the fundamental core of the game to begin with, to make sure there’s an interest in it. Although we have all features and the layout of the world planned, this strategy is obviously the safest bet for an independent company like Star Vault. It also makes it possible to include feedback from the community on a much wider scale. As things look now though, with the interest in the game and our rapid progress in development, we find ourselves wanting to add more and more of the things we have planned and discussed on our forums before releasing the game. We’ll see.
GS: First person view in mmorpgs is unusual. Why this choice?
We have noticed a lot of people are getting worried about MO being first person. Many take for granted that a MMO must be in third person view, and many have had bad experiences of the first person view in other MMO’s. First of all, you have to remember that most of the MMO’s today is third person view and they are built for third person view. As such, those few MMO’s wich actually let you to play in first person aren’t very good representatives. In those games it actually gets much harder to play in first person; you loose peripheral view, the game and its features are not being designed for first person, and all other players play in third-person giving them an advantage.Mortal Online is developed for first person view only, which means each and every feature must be made to work well in first-person. Everybody is “limited†to first person view, so no; you won’t be at a disadvantage in a PvP fight as it’s the same for all players. This also means we can’t give some players the advantage of having eyes in the back of their heads by allowing third-person view, or we would be back in the same trap. But most importantly, the whole combat in MO is built on first person movement and aiming, as you actually strike where you aim, and all effects and animations on your character (such as spell effects, sweat that gets in your eyes etc) is represented in first person. Now, making a third person view would actually mean we had to make two entirely different combat systems – and they would also be impossible to balance for PvP.But this still doesn’t answer the question why we chose first person from the beginning. The simple answer is that we want the game to be as immersive as possible. I know many people say first person is no more immersive than third person, but, well, we feel it is. To us, facing a giant creature in a game where you have to aim your blows and keep track of your position is a totally different experience than pointing and clicking on characters at a distance. We want you to feel you are the character, in direct control, not look at a character on your screen and “give commandsâ€. I guess you’ll just have to try it (and get used to it) to see why we’re so excited about the first person in MO. Hopefully it won’t scare away too many people, as this is something we’re not going to change, but at least regular FPS gamers now also get a good chance of trying out a MMORPG with a control they are very familiar with.
GS: How big will be the game's world? We'll be able to travel from a part of a map to another without "zoning" in a fluid mode?
The first continent the players will start on is about 64km2, although it’s pointless to compare this size to other games if you don’t know their speed and means of travel. On foot you can jog the 8kms across at perhaps 40 minutes, but there will be different mounts to use as well. There are 5 other documented continents of similar size that will be constructed and available to the players at a later time. There are also a lot of dungeons and underground areas that are not included in the numbers. Today the 64km2 continent is completely streamed and has no instances, something we really hope to be able to keep for release.
GS: Re-inventing "fantasy concept" is very difficult cause it's the most popular genre. What kind of "Fantasy" MO will present to his fans? There will be something new, if possible ?
I sincerely hope so. We want the world to be a “believable fantasy worldâ€, if not realistic, and this design philosophy flows through the whole concept; geography, ecology, sociology, architecture, art etc. A good starting point would be to read the available description for the playable races and look at their concept art – for instance we have playable half-orcs in MO, but they are based on real cultures mixed with their original real-life lore, i.e. jötnar/obri/ogres. We have gone back to their roots in various mythologies and given them new societies, meaning you definitely won’t see any green, mammoth-toothed orcs that have been copied over and over again and degenerated from the work of Tolkien.
Thanks to Starvault, Mats and Henrik for the interview.
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited April 2009
Okay I've only just now spotted this thread, and this looks like a brutal social experiment.
These guys sound alot like another small company that tried to be different but couldent make a fraction of their promises, no automated group/auction system? are you sure those taverns are going to be up and working properly? because if they dont you'll end up with a broken useless system ala darkfall. I do hope they can do it but they should honestly tone down these goddamn videos, everyone knows you'll never achieve those graphics and you just piss everyone off when they see these shitty graphics that look nothing like that. One thing darkfall did right was never stress the graphics, a seamless world means hundreds of players in a small area and you'd better fucking be prepared for it because that textured frond isent going to be noticed when everyones in a slide show.
Well, the major differences between Aventurine and Starvault is that
a) Aventurine took 8 years to develop Darkfall, hardly ever released info and had a super short beta. They also promised to set the world on fire and kick everyones ass, "hardcore style".
b) Starvault, though, has been developing exactly according to their schedule released before, and are already going into beta. They're constantly releasing new info and material for the potential customer base to view. They never proclaim any crazy shit either. They can delay their game for 5 years before they catch up with darkfalls insane production cycle.
c) Aventurine developed their own engine. Their own graphics. Took 8 years. Looks like shit.
b) Starvault licenses the Unreal engine (also used in lineage if I remember correctly, where you can have huge fights) so they don't have to build the engine from scratch and can instead focus on ...you know, features 'n stuff.
e) Aventurine never managed to even get a decent god damn website up.
f) Starvault did
While I think we shouldn't expect too much out of a small company, we do have other games before us where indie companies prevailed and created some amazing stuff. Like EVE, the best sandbox in MMO gaming.
What I'm curious about is, now that Darkfall has been out for a week or so and it turns out Aventurine hasn't been making it up as it went along, what would Mortal Online have to do, or do differently, to draw away those already playing DF?
What I'm curious about is, now that Darkfall has been out for a week or so and it turns out Aventurine hasn't been making it up as it went along, what would Mortal Online have to do, or do differently, to draw away those already playing DF?
Mortal Online Beta phases
In the past weeks we have been busy testing our network solution and the hardware for our first Mortal Online server. We’ve been very concerned about this phase, but to our big surprise this has been a very smooth period with impressive results (knock on wood). Our next step is to invite our first wave of external testers that have signed up on our website. As you probably know by now we have decided to split the “Beta” into several phases, or chapters, to be able to test the features in each phase in a relatively controlled environment. We will do this in small steps, and we will start by choosing only a handful of applicants to be able to effectively focus on some particular features.
In our first test phase we are focusing on melee combat (coupled with fundamental ranged combat) and balancing of weapon stats, like weight/speed/range/damage. The testers will be brought to an artificial (and empty) test-island in Mortal Online with an arena. In the arena testers will have access to a crafter which will guide them through a crafting menu, which will allow them to craft a number of armours and weapons in different materials. Please see the next topic (Mortal Online PowerPoint) to find some more info regarding crafting. No resources or skills are needed for this part as the crafting process in itself is entirely artificial.
In the middle of the arena the testers will be able to try out weapons, shields, armours and ranged weapons. There will be neither mounted combat nor magic in this test phase, and skills and skill-gain will be disabled (everybody will count as having maxed out in all combat-related skills).
Before this, testers will also go through some of the stages in the character creation process. Here the testers will be able to choose a few variations of faces, hair, beard, tattoos and skin color, as well as manipulate different facial features. Cosmetics aside, the important part of this, stat-wise, will be to choose race, age, size and attributes – and those are all interconnected, i.e. both race, age and size will have an impact on the attributes.
This is also the première of our blood-mix system. Races in Mortal Online are not static, and all races within a species will be able to interbreed, giving you the option to choose your ancestry and heritage in detail. We will only focus on the human family in the first phase, with the option to blood-mix between them. Kallardian mother and Tindremic/Sidoian father? Orcish father and Khurite mother? Both visual appearance and attribute caps will be dependent on the mix.
One important thing we also are testing in this phase is the ping and playability quality from other countries such as US, Australia, Canada and countries from Europe on our EU server.
Don’t forget to still sign up for the beta if you haven’t done so yet, it’s not too late to be part in the different beta phases.
Mortal Online PowerPoint
Due to repeated questions, our not-very-updated site, and recurring interview topics regarding Mortal Online we have decided to share with you a Power Point with what we think are some of the most important and interesting features of Mortal Online. We believe that both new and old members will enjoy the slides consisting of both information and small video clips. Please download the presentation here. You don’t need any program to view the presentation (it’s included): all you need to do is read the readme file on how to start it.
Mortal Online Races
We are showing you a sneak peak of two playable races in Mortal Online.
Ending notes
That´s all we have to offer this time. Don’t forget to check the for upcoming releases and other fun stuff. We developers are active on the forums whenever possible, to read or answer your questions and comments.
I recommend checking out the powerpoint presentation they gave out. It contains a bunch of footage, so even if you're not interested in reading about features, it's worth it for the videos alone. What stood out to me was the combat with monsters. A player got picked up in the hand of a monster like he was a little child, and another got tossed around by a minotaur like a ragdoll.
If the combat is even remotely as fun as they are hinting of, I am sold.
I mean, EVE ('nother indie product) is fantastic, but it took them some time to get where they are today. They probably only survived because of their unique genre, too.
I hope MO can deliver but the pessimist in me says otherwise
Mortal Online Beta phases
The closed Combat Beta is going as planned, we’ve been inviting players from the community each week since beta started. If you haven’t got an invitation yet please be patient, so far we are doing this in a relatively small scale.
The test phases have been great for Mortal Online; we are getting a lot of good feedback on combat, movement, crafting, balancing, latency and stability. We are very happy with the stability of the server and the clients.
Even though our movement prediction system is not yet in place we have also got very good test results from US players on our EU server. We didn’t expect US players to actually be able to compete in our real time combat system, but they have shown it’s very possible, so far.
We’ve had some great testing sessions, and it’s been lots of fun for us to see what kind of crazy gears/weapons people come up with on the battleground. We’ve also had our a* kicked by some real skilful players. Here’s some screenshots from the beta.
Within the next few weeks we are going to switch to our release build, which is the next step in our testing phase. As this build contains the complete prediction system we will soon have some information about what kind of ping players will need to be able to compete at the same terms as the rest in our real time combat.
Don’t forget to still sign up for the beta if you haven’t done so yet, it’s not too late to be part in the different beta phases.
Mortal Online Release Plan – Shop Opening Soon
PRE-ORDERS AND BETA
For several weeks the Combat Beta has been up and running on our first server with very good results, and now we're excited to announce the release plan for Mortal Online. On June 29 we will open up our shop for pre-orders of the game, also giving you access to the Beta Phases.
Our goal from the very beginning has been to develop Mortal Online with a close and honest connection to the community on our forums. With the Combat Beta showing good and stable performance we have reached the point where we feel it’s time to take the community interaction to the next level. It’s important for us as an independent company to know how many of you are committed to buy and try out the game, and we also want your feedback during the next crucial steps in development. All 10.000 users pre-ordering the game in any of the formats available will be given free access to the Beta Phases until the official launch of the game.
Please note that the Beta Phases will run on a server in Europe only. It’s fully possible to access this server from all countries; however we can’t guarantee the speed and performance over long distances.
During the coming Beta Phases, users with a pre-order will be able to follow and participate in the further development of the core features for release. They include, but are not limited, to:
- The full Myrland continent
- At least 9 races, male and female
- Blood mix and character customization
- Main features of the skill system
- Full PvP, full loot
- Full melee and ranged combat
- Basic magic combat
- Mounts and mounted combat
- Basic GUI for the crafting system
- Resource gathering
- Basic Guild mechanics
- Basic player housing
- Basic NPC mobs and wildlife
- Hidden/secret features
We strongly feel that we want these features to have reached a “polished and proper” state before starting the monthly subscriptions, but as always when it comes to game development it’s hard to estimate how long this will actually take. That said we are aiming to reach this state (and start the monthly subscriptions) in Q4 2009, when all the core features above should be in place and thoroughly tested.
BETA QUEUE AND GAME VERSIONS
We have decided to make 10.000 copies of the game available on June 29. The Beta spots will be divided into blocks of 2.000. Every second week, starting July 6, we will accept a new block of 2.000 players into the Beta until we reach 10.000 accounts. This will be done on a first-come first-serve basis, meaning the earlier you book the earlier you’ll get in.
There will be three different versions of the game in the shop:
1. Digital Download Only
2. Boxed Version
3. Limited Edition (999 numbered copies)
All versions give you free access to the Beta phases. Access to digital download is not limited to the Digital Download Only version. More info about the different versions will be made available in the shop before it opens.
Mortal Online Races
We are showing you a sneak peak of a playable races in Mortal Online.
Ending notes
That´s all we have to offer this time. Don’t forget to check the for upcoming releases and other fun stuff. We developers are active on the forums whenever possible, to read or answer your questions and comments.
Posts
Probably dungeons and stuff so you can focus on the monsters and traps without having to worry about some guy hiding down there waiting for someone to come by so he can gank them.
[€dit] Oh and someone apparently wrote a preview of the game at the latest Game developers convention;
The legendary bosses thing sounds pretty fun
http://www.mmocrunch.com/2009/03/20/mortal-online-preview/
I'm waiting for the Goons to start exploring in straight lines.
'Head- Shaft - Harry balls.'
Rape train start - Steam and rape room - Coal and rape box - Dinner and Rape car - Economy Rape- Rape Caboose.
I never asked for this!
Safe at last - Sounds by the dumpster - Raped again
That video is very impressive but honestly darkfall has hurt me so i'm not believing a thing until they show me they can actually do it.
That's because they are using Unreal3, which as part of it's feature list is streaming worlds or levels. So it's not really Starvault making it work but Epic (in a way).
This blurb from the unreal tech site is I think what they are going to use:
http://www.unrealtechnology.com/features.php?ref=editor
"Load and edit huge environments composed of many seamlessly streaming sub-levels."
So I'm guessing the game world will just be made up of "sub-levels" (what ever those are).
Tofu wrote: Here be Littleboots, destroyer of threads and master of drunkposting.
Hope MO captures that good old 'holy shit this place is huuuuge, I can go where the fuck I want' feeling. And doesn't suck.
Please don't suck.
Well, you know.. Vanguard used UE2
But yeah, all the best to Starvault.
1) In 1999 the type of content in MMOs was extremely simple, even for back then. The kind of graphical quality people expect from games now is extremely hard to do over areas the size of what AC had.
2) Wide open expanses are a bit overrated. A lot of that space is filled with boring, generic, forgettable and often never (or barely) used space. Which is a waste of resources.
The MMO market isn't what it was when AC was at its peak. I doubt you'll ever see a MMO game world that big again unless some amazing tech comes along that reduces the amount of investment in resources it would take to create and run an area that size.
Tofu wrote: Here be Littleboots, destroyer of threads and master of drunkposting.
If they make areas smaller, and fill each spot with a mobspawn/event/random stuff, it wont feel right. I think WAR felt too much like a themepark like that. You couldn't take ten steps without running into a mob, PQ, camp or an NPC.
It was "on rails" throughout the entire game and it completely ruined any sort of "living world" feeling, instead replacing it with the notion that it was just a large "map" filled with scattered playgrounds for the players to do very specific things with.
Now that Vanguard has be very much "fixed", I can say that big open expansese can be filled with amazing scenery and awsome graphics. Hell I thought the same thing when vanguard was in beta, it just ran like shit. Now it runs really well, without losing any of the awe factor with the size and landscape.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Steam, PSN, XBL, Xfire and everything else JamesDM
I'm sure there will be a system in to keep profanity out, and maybe even moderation by some GM. We'll see
It seems my patience for waiting on Darkfall is coming in handy waiting for Mortal. Then again, I'm still holding on for UO2.
new interview;
a) Aventurine took 8 years to develop Darkfall, hardly ever released info and had a super short beta. They also promised to set the world on fire and kick everyones ass, "hardcore style".
b) Starvault, though, has been developing exactly according to their schedule released before, and are already going into beta. They're constantly releasing new info and material for the potential customer base to view. They never proclaim any crazy shit either. They can delay their game for 5 years before they catch up with darkfalls insane production cycle.
c) Aventurine developed their own engine. Their own graphics. Took 8 years. Looks like shit.
b) Starvault licenses the Unreal engine (also used in lineage if I remember correctly, where you can have huge fights) so they don't have to build the engine from scratch and can instead focus on ...you know, features 'n stuff.
e) Aventurine never managed to even get a decent god damn website up.
f) Starvault did
While I think we shouldn't expect too much out of a small company, we do have other games before us where indie companies prevailed and created some amazing stuff. Like EVE, the best sandbox in MMO gaming.
I am now thinking about monolith with MxO though, will this be an equally failing event?
it seemed like a half-assed cashgrab at best
much like the movie sequels themselves.
If they had not released it 6 months too early, maybe they would have had time to make it work, and you know, get rid of the bugs.
Actually allow people to buy it.
http://www.mortalonline.com/news/may-08-05-09
I recommend checking out the powerpoint presentation they gave out. It contains a bunch of footage, so even if you're not interested in reading about features, it's worth it for the videos alone. What stood out to me was the combat with monsters. A player got picked up in the hand of a monster like he was a little child, and another got tossed around by a minotaur like a ragdoll.
If the combat is even remotely as fun as they are hinting of, I am sold.
Finally I get to play "really hairy pale guys" as my race in an MMO
Yay!
I've always wanted to play an exotic sex slaver as well :winky:
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I don't know what to expect of an indie company.
I mean, EVE ('nother indie product) is fantastic, but it took them some time to get where they are today. They probably only survived because of their unique genre, too.
I hope MO can deliver but the pessimist in me says otherwise
Candy Is dandy, But liquor Is quicker
First, the screenshots:
second, the info:
enjoy