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Medieval Sandbox MMO from independent team
Bercilak
Albion OnlineMember Posts: 108
Hello everyone,
a few weeks ago I asked for some feedback regarding our main theme in our independent sandbox MMO Albion Online in this thread (http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/375734) but today I wanted to take the opportunity to share some more information about our plans and share some screenshots with you.
In addition we also launched our website: http://www.albiononline.com
And we are also available on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/albiononline
Key features: http://albiononline.com/the-game/
We would be very happy to get some general feedback about our plans.
Short sidenote: The game will be a TRUE cross plattform game, meaning that you can play on your iOS device with your friend who plays from his Linux PC. This however also puts us to some graphical limitations. Although we think we found a very clear and still "performance friendly" graphic style. Especially the GPU even of an iPad4 is pretty weak.
If you like our project we would be happy if you support us with a like on Facebook or follow us on Twitter (@albiononline). In addition we also try to be quite transparent and share as many details about the production process as possible. If you have any concrete questions about it feel free to ask.
Kind regards,
Bercilak
Here some Screenshots:
A medieval sandbox MMO
http://www.facebook.com/albiononline/
Comments
Looks decent, i wanna know how it plays though. ^.^
By "looks decent" i mean the UI seems to be unobtrusive and the graphics looks pretty neat for a crossplatform game. Might put you on my watch list.
EDIT: Clarify, what do you mean by "sandbox" ?
Why always have to have full loot FFA PvP?
when will a sandbox developer do something original with the PvP for once.
Anyway, its a interesting concept. I will check it out.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Full loot adds so much to a game imo.
I know a lot of people cant look past it, and envision a world where high level players are ganking them non stop for their loot.
Its sad really, considering full loot does wonders for a games economy and makes crafting vital.
In the end, full loot games always make gear very easy to obtain and stockpile. Trade off for potentially losing stuff is pvp that has risk, which is good...pve that has some excitement...crafting made a key component of the game rather than a side dish.
People need to get over the fear of losing pixles. Your never losing that putple raid set that took 3 months to get....and only those who refuse to adapt get griefed. It does take some getting use to...learning when to bank, learning to perhaps scout an area first, learning to stay by freindlies or clan member, and learning to accept loss of improve.
Its exactly this crowd of people who begs for something different yet refuses to play games that dont follow the same old trend. Its different and risk is involved...which imo, give the game a layer of depth that no themepark can match.
Game looks good btw.
Game looks really good, but I'm past the age of loot PvP. Shadowbane and other games gave me more than enough of this.
Looks great though, well polished.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
Would really like to see the "GET MORE GOLD " button hidden, because thats ridiculous to have on your screen 24/7.
Good point, we will add an option in the settings menue to turn it of. Added to our gamedesign document. Should be easy to be implemented.
A medieval sandbox MMO
http://www.facebook.com/albiononline/
I know what you mean. However we added a lot of game design elements to prevent "Zerging" or "griefing of lower tier players". It will not be profitable for a high tier player to gank noobs. Ofc some may still do it though but not as much as in EVE for instance.
Also Albion Online is far away from being like Shadowbane. The territories you claim are quite large and are a safe zone where you can not be attacked by others (if you dont want to)
A medieval sandbox MMO
http://www.facebook.com/albiononline/
Full loot means gankers win. People keep saying 't adds so much'. What does it add - people getting pissed off because they lost all the itmes they worked hard to get? People getting vindictive? Explain.
That's never stopped the griefers, and never will. Their reward is the satisfaction of spoiling someone else's game.
Most Players: "I don't have fun that way."
You: "You need to change the way you have fun, buddy!"
Your expectations are realistic!
Progression is a key fun factor to RPGs. Deleting player progression tends not to be popular.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
There's no single rule as to whether a game can still be fun if you lose progression... no two games are the same. Certainly you wouldn't wanna tack that kinda thing on to most existing games with their heavy focuses on progression and item acquisition... it would just be a drag. If this game isn't super item-centric then it could work.
Very interesting, I'll keep an eye on that
Will it be released/beta tested for all OS' at once? I'm especially interested in the Android version.
I have no problem with niche games existing (especially if nobody is asking for their niche game to be produced with a non-niche budget! For example: any niche MMORPG idea.)
I'm only pointing out how silly it is to ask people to change how they have fun. If someone doesn't have fun throwing their progression time away, that's not going to change. The only way it could change is if the game itself is different (like how I disliked Adventure games for decades until the Walking Dead game, or how someone might hate permadeath games til they realized short-session permadeath like nethack or FTL or geometry wars 2 is acceptable.) But that's not a case of people "getting over it", but rather the game being different to adapt to their interests.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
I commend you for creating a game out of pure passion and not just to earn a buck because lets face it. If money was your concern, then FFA Full loot PvP wouldn't be a system you would consider.
It's refreshing really. I hope your game finds the niche crowd you are aiming for with success
What sort of limitations are imposed on characters and accounts? ( how many skills/skill points per character and how many characters per account)
Also I truly hope that while you maintain non-consensual PVP with full loot you put in place systems that allow consequences to occur vs pathologic gankers (the toxic kind), ex: bounty hunting system where you lose not only your items but say spend some time in jail, bounty hunters would of course be other players who cannot kill non-bountied players on penalty of losing their status and becoming targets themselves, this way you could create a whole dynamic, smart cooperative gankers could band together and other players with bounty hunters along for the ride could band together to counter them.
Looks good!
I'm very interested. I love medieval mmorpgs
(\ /) ?
( . .)
c('')('')
It's ISO, or are the shots from same angle?
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
It has nothing to do with the fear of losing pixels for me. It's the fact that full loot pvp games tend to cater to the lowest common denominator. The act of not being able to leave a certain area because someone is camping the hell out of it, is frustrating at best, and bordering on harrassment at worst. I understand that the concept can be appealing, but full loot pvp only ensures that a game will only be niche.
PvE Sandbox games can exist, with systems to ensure that gear will need to be replaced, and have new and interesting concepts to ensure that the game is different than a themepark. However, no developer out there has really had the foresight and intelligence to attempt to create such a game. Some games have come close, like Asheron's Call, but they are still lacking many typical sandbox elements.
As it stands right now will take place for for iOS (ipad2+), Android Tablets, Windows 7, Mac OS.
We think Linux will work out as well but there are currently some problems with the Linux client so can't promise it. And we are not quite sure how we want to handle the testing for iOS yet since it is such a closed system.
Performance wise it runs also on the newer smartphones, but since the displays are too small we need to design complete new interface for smartphones which will take a while since we are a small team.
So Android don't worry will be available from the start BUT as you might now Android is not the same as Android since it runs on so many different systems and not everyone is the most current version. But it will for sure run on the most actual ones but we have not done too say what is the minimum android requirement.
Hope that answers your question.
Kind regards,
Bercilak
A medieval sandbox MMO
http://www.facebook.com/albiononline/
So in one post you've called me and several million others "the lowest common denominator" and insulted the developers of this game by saying they do not have "foresight or intelligence"... even Sheldon Cooper would be proud.
Regarding the full loot question, this is probably a matter of taste. If you don't like Full Loot I think overall our game is not the right thing for you, which is fine since we do not want to create a mass product.
However the reason why we decided to build in Fool Loot is very important. We recognised in the games industry a tendency that games only want to give "positive" feelings to the player. However this leads to the fact that these positive feelings have a very low value since there are no consequences for failing or doing someting wrong.
In other words:
If you build up a village with your friends and it can not be taken away from you by other players it has a lower emotional value for you, then if you defend it together with your friends against others.
OR
If dying has no consequences it changes player behavior in PVP zones dramatically.
In addition we are huge fans of UO and EVE and Heaven & Hearth and this is the game we want to build. Thesis: In WOW i can achieve everything if I just invest enough time and I am not completely stupid. In our game this is not the case. BUt as i said before it is probably not a question which is better or which not, but rather a question what you like and what you don't. In addition we are aware of the general downsides of such features and we believe that we have implemented enough mechanics that will reduce griefing and zerging to a minimum.
I also would like to add that it is very unlikely to happen that you by accident loose your stuff. So you are absolutely aware when you enter unsafe zones. A bit like DAOC or EVE.
Kind regards,
Bercilak
A medieval sandbox MMO
http://www.facebook.com/albiononline/
In theory that's awesome.
In practice, as proved time and time again, griefers and gankers will chase away your customers. Figure out a solution to that problem and you'll have something.
Best of luck, game looks interesting for sure.
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
There's a lot of entitled gamers on MMORPG.com who feels every game that comes out should be tailored to their tastes or be forever flamed and ridiculed.
They don't understand it so it shouldn't exist basically. Odd but that's MMORPG.com for you
Ok just add in katanas and leather armour with segmented steel strip augmentations (think a western version of samurai armour) and you guys got your first dedicated player ^^ (can't promise daily bouts of playing but I will squeeze your team's game in whenever my EVE self isn't bursting into flames or I am not knee deep in some dungeon in Neverwinter).