Pantheon Rise of the Fallen, and Saga of Lucima are considered niche, catering to a minority group of social players. I TOTALLY DISAGREE WITH THIS STATEMENT. This is something that you people made up. All seem to run with it.
Both may fail because of poor development or lack of funding, but they will prove that community based games are what is needed.
Who do you mean by "...you people..." when you're saying it's made up. The fucking Executive Producer of SoL said, "We also aren't worried about getting AAA sub numbers. We have a target goal that is quite small, and we are under no illusions about trying to hit AAA subs or even compare ourselves to them; we are niche ,and we know it.". Silly shit.
So if by "you people" you mean every single person except you, then that's fine. You can live in your own world where these games aren't niche titles. In that reality, though, I guess they are liked by 100% of the people living in it (you and you alone).
In fact, SoL makes absolutely zero claims to be a mass-market MMORPG. They say, specifically, that they're doing things the way they want and they don't care who objects about it. They aren't building it for them, they're building it for their community. They've said that they are developing the game to be operational with 10K subs, not AAA numbers.
"We have a target goal that is quite small, and we are under no illusions about trying to hit AAA subs or even compare ourselves to them; we are niche ,and we know it."
So how exactly is this self-described/anointed niche game going to "change everything" as per the thread discussion? It won't. It is just a blip on a few gamers radar. Pantheon has a chance but I am still not prepared to have the future of the genre dictated by its outcome. It's a beginning. Let's see how it pans out.
I believe both games will fail. Not because of the type of game, but because of the skill levels and resources of the development teams.
I mean, you seriously are pushing a game that has admittedly 100 players and a dev team that has ZERO, yes ZERO game development experience? We all know Brad's history (good and bad) so no need to go there but at least that one has a CHANCE.
People need to stop reading "visions that are only on paper" and declaring those games as the savior of anything. They will be lucky to reach launch (See Pathfinder Online)
Winner.
And "tin foil hat" man can stuff it: the devs for Pantheon have already said, multiple times, that if they don't get an investor, the game is toast. For a "company" that has never released anything. That does not garner much optimism.
As for the other one, the chances are even worse.
"Visions" and feature lists are not worth anything, without a lot of money and programming resources backing them up.
Pantheon did get an angel investor though. They didnt mention how much but they did secure enough to put everyone on the payroll
Unless things have changed, and if they had, I am sure it would have been announced, the financing they have received still only covers the creation of a "tech demo" and not a full game itself.
That they are paying people something is nice for them, I suppose, but it does not change the fact that this so-called game is not funded to release, or anything close to it.
So still: no investor, no game, which is what they have been saying all along.
Apparently SoL has a very dedicated user base already which is pretty cool considering the niche game they're making. Pantheon, I'm less sure about. Is it a good game or is it that people are in love with Brad McQuaid? Time will tell, I think it'll do well out of the gates, but it depends on how good it is, really.
We're extremely happy with where we are at in the state of our development, and our community is what keeps new people coming into the fold every day. The streams and screens from last Saturday's alpha test were extremely rewarding to everyone on the team.
EVERYONE started at the bottom somewhere. We've seen a few folks laugh at our "only 100 players", but we're personally satisfied with that number, given where we are in the state of our development and timeline (not even two years in yet, no combat to-date, just pre-alpha tests, and our first alpha test last Saturday; October's build adds a boatload of features and the first of our combat abilities).
It gives us exactly the amount of people we need and want to be testing the early alpha stages of the game, and they're a great group of folks who have been out there championing our game and sharing it with their friends and family. Grassroots style.
We've got two years ahead of us still; we're not worried about hitting the numbers we want to hit.
Pantheon is making a lot of good progress; the team they have are working hard, day in and day out, and I think people will be pleasantly surprised when they start seeing the new updates coming forth. Don't judge them by the name/reputation of Brad; those guys work hard every day and are good at what they do. Let the upcoming work speak for itself.
Will we "change everything"? Not a chance. It would take a miracle for us to get more than 5k-10k subs that we're shooting for. We're a very tiny niche. But we personally don't need to hit AAA numbers to be happy and, more importantly, profitable enough to keep moving forward. We have small goals, and that's all we're focused on. If we do more than that, we'll expand accordingly, but we aren't planning for it. Groovy that some folks think so, but it's not our goal.
P.S. when you don't need salaries or an office space and keep your overhead low, the costs to develop an MMORPG are next to nothing. We just reached 10k USD in spendatures this past week, and that's our TOTAL out of pocket expenses since we started 18 months ago. We'll have a few thousand more in expenses for the rest of the year, but most of those from this year are one-time expenses related to the lawyer; next year, our only costs are servers, a few monthly subs for software and licensing, and convention attendance.
Things will cost considerably more when we move into live maintenance of the game and not just development, but that's still two years ahead of us, and we've got a lot of growth to do between now and there to cover the costs
Meanwhile, we're vetting team member 18 right now, and moving onwards and upwards. Everyone on board is doing this for the passion, not for the money. Any paychecks we'll take will likely happen once we launch in December of 2017, and see how well our game does then.
Until that point, any speculations from outside parties not on our team are just that: speculations
We keep showing up, day in and day out, building our game. Those who are involved like what we're doing so far, and they're the only ones we care about, so we keep plugging along.
And the last game that was going to change everything was EQN. Seriously guys, these games gotta cross the finish line before they change anything. Let's just wait and see what is actually delivered and when.
I started with UO worked my way out to SWG EVE and darkfall(OG) I played a few other titles like vanguard secret world fallen earth ToR and I have never been happy. Those 1st few games were the only time I had fun in an MMO setting. It has been soo long now I simply dont play MMOs.
I want to... but..
There hasnt been a decent game published since 2008. Not even one......
That said, for the 1st time in almost TEN YEARS I am reading about games that -might- be good. Might foster community might have some plausible reason to watch other players and interact with them.
IDK but I have been disappointed soo many times I came up with a theory.
It is not the games that fail. It is the at no point have I felt like a noob. At no point have I had to spend more then 6 minutes determining what I will need to accomplish from start to end game.
That doesnt mean there is no challenge. Sure there is a challenge. It is just that I have become so adept at beating that challenge it is just.. boring...
All this means games need to innovate the noobiness. I need to feel like I am missing information and continue to be missing information concurrently for months at a time. Most data needs to be hidden and it needs to change the basic play enough that I will need to -rethink- my strategy.
Apparently SoL has a very dedicated user base already which is pretty cool considering the niche game they're making. Pantheon, I'm less sure about. Is it a good game or is it that people are in love with Brad McQuaid? Time will tell, I think it'll do well out of the gates, but it depends on how good it is, really.
We're extremely happy with where we are at in the state of our development, and our community is what keeps new people coming into the fold every day. The streams and screens from last Saturday's alpha test were extremely rewarding to everyone on the team.
EVERYONE started at the bottom somewhere. We've seen a few folks laugh at our "only 100 players", but we're personally satisfied with that number, given where we are in the state of our development and timeline (not even two years in yet, no combat to-date, just pre-alpha tests, and our first alpha test last Saturday; October's build adds a boatload of features and the first of our combat abilities).
It gives us exactly the amount of people we need and want to be testing the early alpha stages of the game, and they're a great group of folks who have been out there championing our game and sharing it with their friends and family. Grassroots style.
We've got two years ahead of us still; we're not worried about hitting the numbers we want to hit.
Pantheon is making a lot of good progress; the team they have are working hard, day in and day out, and I think people will be pleasantly surprised when they start seeing the new updates coming forth. Don't judge them by the name/reputation of Brad; those guys work hard every day and are good at what they do. Let the upcoming work speak for itself.
Will we "change everything"? Not a chance. It would take a miracle for us to get more than 5k-10k subs that we're shooting for. We're a very tiny niche. But we personally don't need to hit AAA numbers to be happy and, more importantly, profitable enough to keep moving forward. We have small goals, and that's all we're focused on. If we do more than that, we'll expand accordingly, but we aren't planning for it. Groovy that some folks think so, but it's not our goal.
P.S. when you don't need salaries or an office space and keep your overhead low, the costs to develop an MMORPG are next to nothing. We just reached 10k USD in spendatures this past week, and that's our TOTAL out of pocket expenses since we started 18 months ago. We'll have a few thousand more in expenses for the rest of the year, but most of those from this year are one-time expenses related to the lawyer; next year, our only costs are servers, a few monthly subs for software and licensing, and convention attendance.
Things will cost considerably more when we move into live maintenance of the game and not just development, but that's still two years ahead of us, and we've got a lot of growth to do between now and there to cover the costs
Meanwhile, we're vetting team member 18 right now, and moving onwards and upwards. Everyone on board is doing this for the passion, not for the money. Any paychecks we'll take will likely happen once we launch in December of 2017, and see how well our game does then.
Until that point, any speculations from outside parties not on our team are just that: speculations
We keep showing up, day in and day out, building our game. Those who are involved like what we're doing so far, and they're the only ones we care about, so we keep plugging along.
Will we "change everything"? Not a chance. It would take a miracle for us to get more than 5k-10k subs that we're shooting for. We're a very tiny niche.
If Saga of Lucima delivers a full size, slow leveling, not ridiculously easy, community based mmo, I'm convinced the game will attract EXTREAMILY LARGE NUMBERS. Same with Pantheon.
I understand I'm making bold statements that would turn many viewers off to my credibility. I'm actually like a mercenary acting independently for a cause. My goal is " NOT " to pick two games and try to bend viewers will to my own liking.............I'm simply stating that it's been a long time since we had an mmo !!
For at least five years were given something else other than mmos. I'll not argue the definition of what an mmo is. That's just not happening ! I know what an mmo is already.
Facts on what an mmo is :
- A large world, by far better if seamless.
- Harder content that's best done with the help of others but not always required.
- Slower leveling where you can make friends and play with others for weeks and months.
- Community that counts. Trade, Auctions, Guilds, Friends, Quest together, Dungeons together, chat about deep content of a rich mmo.
- Absolutely no Cash Shop !
- No cross server anything !
- Being careful with Auto tools like group finders and group dynamic events. There ok if they don't take away from community.
My definition may sound cocky, close minded, and selfish, well I'm sorry !......I'm actually not, I'm looking out for others .......WE NEED AN MMO !.......And despite very close to everyone's feelings right now, the larger of the population will welcome a true mmo.
Apparently SoL has a very dedicated user base already which is pretty cool considering the niche game they're making. Pantheon, I'm less sure about. Is it a good game or is it that people are in love with Brad McQuaid? Time will tell, I think it'll do well out of the gates, but it depends on how good it is, really.
We're extremely happy with where we are at in the state of our development, and our community is what keeps new people coming into the fold every day. The streams and screens from last Saturday's alpha test were extremely rewarding to everyone on the team.
EVERYONE started at the bottom somewhere. We've seen a few folks laugh at our "only 100 players", but we're personally satisfied with that number, given where we are in the state of our development and timeline (not even two years in yet, no combat to-date, just pre-alpha tests, and our first alpha test last Saturday; October's build adds a boatload of features and the first of our combat abilities).
It gives us exactly the amount of people we need and want to be testing the early alpha stages of the game, and they're a great group of folks who have been out there championing our game and sharing it with their friends and family. Grassroots style.
We've got two years ahead of us still; we're not worried about hitting the numbers we want to hit.
Pantheon is making a lot of good progress; the team they have are working hard, day in and day out, and I think people will be pleasantly surprised when they start seeing the new updates coming forth. Don't judge them by the name/reputation of Brad; those guys work hard every day and are good at what they do. Let the upcoming work speak for itself.
Will we "change everything"? Not a chance. It would take a miracle for us to get more than 5k-10k subs that we're shooting for. We're a very tiny niche. But we personally don't need to hit AAA numbers to be happy and, more importantly, profitable enough to keep moving forward. We have small goals, and that's all we're focused on. If we do more than that, we'll expand accordingly, but we aren't planning for it. Groovy that some folks think so, but it's not our goal.
P.S. when you don't need salaries or an office space and keep your overhead low, the costs to develop an MMORPG are next to nothing. We just reached 10k USD in spendatures this past week, and that's our TOTAL out of pocket expenses since we started 18 months ago. We'll have a few thousand more in expenses for the rest of the year, but most of those from this year are one-time expenses related to the lawyer; next year, our only costs are servers, a few monthly subs for software and licensing, and convention attendance.
Things will cost considerably more when we move into live maintenance of the game and not just development, but that's still two years ahead of us, and we've got a lot of growth to do between now and there to cover the costs
Meanwhile, we're vetting team member 18 right now, and moving onwards and upwards. Everyone on board is doing this for the passion, not for the money. Any paychecks we'll take will likely happen once we launch in December of 2017, and see how well our game does then.
Until that point, any speculations from outside parties not on our team are just that: speculations
We keep showing up, day in and day out, building our game. Those who are involved like what we're doing so far, and they're the only ones we care about, so we keep plugging along.
Will we "change everything"? Not a chance. It would take a miracle for us to get more than 5k-10k subs that we're shooting for. We're a very tiny niche.
If Saga of Lucima delivers a full size, slow leveling, not ridiculously easy, community based mmo, I'm convinced the game will attract EXTREAMILY LARGE NUMBERS. Same with Pantheon.
I understand I'm making bold statements that would turn many viewers off to my credibility. I'm actually like a mercenary acting independently for a cause. My goal is " NOT " to pick two games and try to bend viewers will to my own liking.............I'm simply stating that it's been a long time since we had an mmo !!
For at least five years were given something else other than mmos. I'll not argue the definition of what an mmo is. That's just not happening ! I know what an mmo is already.
Facts on what an mmo is :
- A large world, by far better if seamless.
- Harder content that's best done with the help of others but not always required.
- Slower leveling where you can make friends and play with others for weeks and months.
- Community that counts. Trade, Auctions, Guilds, Friends, Quest together, Dungeons together, chat about deep content of a rich mmo.
- Absolutely no Cash Shop !
- No cross server anything !
- Being careful with Auto tools like group finders and group dynamic events. There ok if they don't take away from community.
My definition may sound cocky, close minded, and selfish, well I'm sorry !......I'm actually not, I'm looking out for others .......WE NEED AN MMO !.......And despite very close to everyone's feelings right now, the larger of the population will welcome a true mmo.
While it would be great to have a new MMORPG to play, we still have some out there, you just aren't playing them for one reason or another.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Apparently SoL has a very dedicated user base already which is pretty cool considering the niche game they're making. Pantheon, I'm less sure about. Is it a good game or is it that people are in love with Brad McQuaid? Time will tell, I think it'll do well out of the gates, but it depends on how good it is, really.
We're extremely happy with where we are at in the state of our development, and our community is what keeps new people coming into the fold every day. The streams and screens from last Saturday's alpha test were extremely rewarding to everyone on the team.
EVERYONE started at the bottom somewhere. We've seen a few folks laugh at our "only 100 players", but we're personally satisfied with that number, given where we are in the state of our development and timeline (not even two years in yet, no combat to-date, just pre-alpha tests, and our first alpha test last Saturday; October's build adds a boatload of features and the first of our combat abilities).
It gives us exactly the amount of people we need and want to be testing the early alpha stages of the game, and they're a great group of folks who have been out there championing our game and sharing it with their friends and family. Grassroots style.
We've got two years ahead of us still; we're not worried about hitting the numbers we want to hit.
Pantheon is making a lot of good progress; the team they have are working hard, day in and day out, and I think people will be pleasantly surprised when they start seeing the new updates coming forth. Don't judge them by the name/reputation of Brad; those guys work hard every day and are good at what they do. Let the upcoming work speak for itself.
Will we "change everything"? Not a chance. It would take a miracle for us to get more than 5k-10k subs that we're shooting for. We're a very tiny niche. But we personally don't need to hit AAA numbers to be happy and, more importantly, profitable enough to keep moving forward. We have small goals, and that's all we're focused on. If we do more than that, we'll expand accordingly, but we aren't planning for it. Groovy that some folks think so, but it's not our goal.
P.S. when you don't need salaries or an office space and keep your overhead low, the costs to develop an MMORPG are next to nothing. We just reached 10k USD in spendatures this past week, and that's our TOTAL out of pocket expenses since we started 18 months ago. We'll have a few thousand more in expenses for the rest of the year, but most of those from this year are one-time expenses related to the lawyer; next year, our only costs are servers, a few monthly subs for software and licensing, and convention attendance.
Things will cost considerably more when we move into live maintenance of the game and not just development, but that's still two years ahead of us, and we've got a lot of growth to do between now and there to cover the costs
Meanwhile, we're vetting team member 18 right now, and moving onwards and upwards. Everyone on board is doing this for the passion, not for the money. Any paychecks we'll take will likely happen once we launch in December of 2017, and see how well our game does then.
Until that point, any speculations from outside parties not on our team are just that: speculations
We keep showing up, day in and day out, building our game. Those who are involved like what we're doing so far, and they're the only ones we care about, so we keep plugging along.
Will we "change everything"? Not a chance. It would take a miracle for us to get more than 5k-10k subs that we're shooting for. We're a very tiny niche.
If Saga of Lucima delivers a full size, slow leveling, not ridiculously easy, community based mmo, I'm convinced the game will attract EXTREAMILY LARGE NUMBERS. Same with Pantheon.
I understand I'm making bold statements that would turn many viewers off to my credibility. I'm actually like a mercenary acting independently for a cause. My goal is " NOT " to pick two games and try to bend viewers will to my own liking.............I'm simply stating that it's been a long time since we had an mmo !!
For at least five years were given something else other than mmos. I'll not argue the definition of what an mmo is. That's just not happening ! I know what an mmo is already.
Facts on what an mmo is :
- A large world, by far better if seamless.
- Harder content that's best done with the help of others but not always required.
- Slower leveling where you can make friends and play with others for weeks and months.
- Community that counts. Trade, Auctions, Guilds, Friends, Quest together, Dungeons together, chat about deep content of a rich mmo.
- Absolutely no Cash Shop !
- No cross server anything !
- Being careful with Auto tools like group finders and group dynamic events. There ok if they don't take away from community.
My definition may sound cocky, close minded, and selfish, well I'm sorry !......I'm actually not, I'm looking out for others .......WE NEED AN MMO !.......And despite very close to everyone's feelings right now, the larger of the population will welcome a true mmo.
While it would be great to have a new MMORPG to play, we still have some out there, you just aren't playing them for one reason or another.
They sold us out with cash shops, easy play and there JUST TO DARN OLD !
I understand your playing EVE, and to my knowledge they are standing true to being an mmo, it's just not my cup of tea.
They will change some things but not in the way you appear to think. CU, Crowfall, Pantheon, Lucimia are niche games (no, it's not something we made up, the developers said it), and if they succeed the market for "designer" niche-tailored MMO's will explode. 10-15 man studios will be churning out MMOs like butter (especially if third-party tools improve by then, which I suspect they will). Players would be able to bankroll whatever MMO fetish they can think of. Raid-only MMOs (no leveling, no pvp), vampire-themed MMOs, "Civilization" MMOs, VR only MMOs, etc etc (my imagination is too thin).
That's what I am looking for in 3 to 5 years. And it might well happen If - IF - the current crop of designed MMOs succeeds. Games like WoW will still dominate the market as McDonald's does the fast food industry, but there will now be an array of small more expensive niche joints that tailor to specific tastes (and I say more expensive because Kickstarting is a whole lot more expensive per player once you account for all the risk, than just paying Blizzard $15).
They will change some things but not in the way you appear to think. CU, Crowfall, Pantheon, Lucimia are niche games (no, it's not something we made up, the developers said it), and if they succeed the market for "designer" niche-tailored MMO's will explode. 10-15 man studios will be churning out MMOs like butter (especially if third-party tools improve by then, which I suspect they will). Players would be able to bankroll whatever MMO fetish they can think of. Raid-only MMOs (no leveling, no pvp), vampire-themed MMOs, "Civilization" MMOs, VR only MMOs, etc etc (my imagination is too thin).
That's what I am looking for in 3 to 5 years. And it might well happen If - IF - the current crop of designed MMOs succeeds. Games like WoW will still dominate the market as McDonald's does the fast food industry, but there will now be an array of small more expensive niche joints that tailor to specific tastes (and I say more expensive because Kickstarting is a whole lot more expensive per player once you account for all the risk, than just paying Blizzard $15).
WoW, I really like this, it gives some hope, thanks
https://www.revivalgame.com/philosophy/mission_statement Revival is the rebirth of the player-driven, sandbox, fantasy role-playing world. Player agency, world
persistence, and absolutely zero compromises are the cornerstones of
our quest for a living, persistent, dark fantasy role-playing world.
What Revival is
Contrary to appearances, Revival is not a typical MMORPG (ala WoW
or Everquest.) It is instead more accurate to describe Revival as an
interactive persistent experience. What we are creating in Revival is
much more than a game. It is, in fact, more like an ongoing drama where
each and every player has an opportunity to enjoy a starring role.
Revival is our effort to revive the promise of the virtual world, and
bring back a truly open-world sandbox role-playing experience.
Revival’s content is unprecedented in the field of online gaming.
Much like other Massively Multiplayer Online games, Revival will
facilitate the simultaneous interaction of thousands of players as they
explore a wonderous fantasy world, rife with adventure. Unlike these
others, however, the player’s course through the lands of Revival is not
preordained, and the adventures they will experience are unpredictable
and unique. The hands of the gods move on the surface of Theleston, and
players may choose to be their tool, or their foil. Be warned though,
those that choose to meddle in the affairs of gods may find themselves
pawns in a greater game.
Our team of live GM’s ensures that every adventure occurs
in-the-moment and every event is primarily player-focused. Player
investment in the world is recognized and rewarded with real effects.
From economic pressure to outright war, Theleston is a dynamic world of
player interactions. The fates of all, from the price of apples to the
rise and fall of the cities of the world are in the hands of the
players.
The role that a player will take on in the world that we have
created is not one akin to the forward in a game of hockey, or the
quarterback on a football team, but is instead one of dramatis personae.
In Revival, you are not simply a collection of stats and tropes, a
cookie-cutter fighter or mage. Instead you play the part of a unique
individual with the capability to help shape the rise or fall of
empires.
Gone are the days of poring over walkthrough websites featuring a
lengthy description of the process that you will then undertake to
defeat the Dreadlord Ignominious Thrax, just like everyone else at your
level, only to leave him alive for the next group in line. Finally
behind us are endless runs through the same content, only to get a
chance at receiving a purple bit of gear that all of the others of your
class on the server already have. Items in Revival are as individual as
the players, and building your personal kit is a reflection of your
individual play-style, not the rote completion of a template.
While other games have gone to great lengths to sharply define
each class and role, constraining them to very specific game actions and
playstyles, at Illfonic, we find this notion of player class as role to
be needlessly limiting.
Why must all magic users be frail? Can a swordsman never learn the
arcane arts? Why must each type of player be labeled and limited by an
arbitrary set of roles, like ‘Tank,’ ‘Healer,’ or ‘DPS’? In the world of
Revival, your character is an expression of your play style and your
preferences. Make no mistake, no single character will be able to master
all-disciplines, meaningful choices must be made and each will have
character-defining consequences. Thus, each character will be unique,
defined by the scope of their adventures, and known by their deeds.
Silhouette recognition be damned. There is more to a character
than their “build” - and more to role-playing than racing up a ladder of
statistics. With Revival, we intend to put the focus on the world and
the actions of the players within it, not on peak DPS or maximizing
chance of crit.
The Powers Are Watching
In the world of Revival, our live development team is always
watching. Every deed is seen and recorded. Illfonic is developing a
comprehensive metrics system that allows our live team to monitor and
record everything that happens in the world of Theleston. More
importantly, it allows us to react. At Illfonic we want to encourage
player investment and participation in the world.
The more that a player interacts with the world, the greater the
record of their deeds. Our live team of GM’s will monitor the world and
react in real time. Player organizations and their actions will be
recognized and supported, or thwarted, by the powers of Theleston. Will
your guild support the Great Old Ones that came to our world from the
stars? Or will you pursue the elemental powers of the Elder Gods? The
choices made by the players will steer the course of the world of
Theleston.
Any mmo worth its salt should be like a good prostitute when it comes to its game world- One hell of a faker, and a damn good shaker!
In the world of Role Playing, nothing compares to a live Game
Master’s ability to react quickly to player activity, or to steer the
events of the world onto a path that the players most want to
experience. Furthermore, there has not yet been an NPC AI yet that can
react to player exploitation, nor a patterned boss that can’t be
predicted.
Sure, many MMOs have had live representatives on their servers,
watching, helping out newbs, and banning bad guys, once in a while they
may even be handing out unique items, or twigging players onto “special”
quest lines, but never are they actually playing along as would a live
Game Master. Rarely does a living Storyteller call players to action, or
lead a march against a castle. But we’re changing that.
In Revival, our live agents will mingle with the server
population, taking the part of villains, heroes, monsters, even the
gods. Storytellers are not mere custodians of a lifeless mechanical
world, rather they are the architects of fantasy. More than the ‘man
behind the curtain’ -- our Storytellers walk amongst the players, on the
streets of our cities and in the depths of Theleston’s wilderness. They
are behind the tradesmen, the bandits, even the beasts of the world In
short, our Live Storytelling team allows Revival to offer unprecedented
Content direction in the online multiplayer role-playing sphere.
Hands on, all the time
But we won’t just be directing. Storytellers do more than simply
kick-off content packages and peruse game metrics. Our tools allow us to
reach into the world and act as directly as any player. From the
lowliest wandering beast, to the greatest monster of the deep, and
everywhere in-between.
Far more than a simple cadre of guides, Storytellers can take
possession of any creature in the world. They may deliver prophecy,
raise armies, or guide adventurers to new lands. They may appear as man
or beast, beggar or god. The Storytellers are hands-on content creators
that can (and will) interact with the playerbase at any time, creating
dynamic stories and opening the door to endless possibility.
Our Storytellers will have their hands on the reins of warlords
and kings, dark gods and cults, but even the simplest mob may be driven
by a Storyteller if the mood strikes, or if it serves the storyline. We
may even drop in just to mix things up. Anything that can be imagined is
in the realm of possibility, and that is the true power of Live
Storytellers.
A world with a past, present, and future
Another thing that our most well-known large scale online games do
not do well is player history. Day by day the same characters make the
same speeches, and the same foes stalk well-worn pathways into the
landscape. Players may pack up and raze the server of enemy mobs, but
they’ll just repopulate and life goes on unchanged.
However, content for Revival is being created under a
fundamentally different paradigm than that of the typical MMO. This
change in process and ideal allows our Live team to dynamically alter
populations, choreograph world events, and directly alter the content of
the world, on the fly to create real results in response to player
actions.
No longer will players queue up to fight the same enemy time and
again. When a leader of Theleston falls, they truly fall, and our
Storytellers will discern the future of their armies and their holdings.
The actions of players drive our Storytelling Team, and our
Storytellers work amongst the playerbase to develop the many stories
that define the histories of our world.
Every day will bring new developments to the world of Theleston,
and players will not want to miss even a day of the action. Simply put,
while a player is not online, they’re not there when it all happens, and
with our constantly evolving storylines, they might just miss
something!
Fulfilling the promise (What’s the point?)
In the current Online Role-playing market, there is precious
little role-play, and players invest primarily in statistic builds and
loot galleries rather than in the events of their virtual world. A
typical play-session equates to running the ‘best line’ through the
level and logging out levelled up. They log-out assured that when they
return, everything will be just as they left it. This is antithetical to
the idea of a virtual world. When you close the door to Theleston, it
will keep living without you, we will make sure of that.
Also common in traditional MMOs are content tracks that either
produce too little reward for players in the form of coin, XP, or loot,
and are thus skipped in the players’ mad dash to the next
level-segregated zone. Between our unique content management strategies,
and our live storytelling team, this need never happen again. Playing
in our world will be unpredictable and exciting, with new adventures
every single day.
Summary
In the world of Online Role Playing, there is little that yet
compares to the directed experience offered by a living storyteller in a
changeable world. Revival has imagined a new experience in role-play
that takes the very best elements of directed play with the freedom and
immersion of a sandbox world. Our live team curates the content of the
world as well as directly driving the actions of forces great and small
to guarantee a new and exciting experience each and every time a player
logs in.
Content reacts directly to player actions
The powers of the Theleston are driven by real people
Evolving Game World with new enemies rising where old foes have fallen
No ‘best-line’ exists, the world is always changing
Players and Storytellers collaborate to create history
Any mmo worth its salt should be like a good prostitute when it comes to its game world- One hell of a faker, and a damn good shaker!
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
Phrases like a “vibrant living world” and “visceral feel” get
thrown around a lot in games. It’s clear we want our game worlds to be,
if not real, then at least tangible in a way that allows us to treat
them as real. We want more than a simple background behind our
characters as we hack and slash our way to victory. In short, we want
our worlds to feel like worlds. Revival’s world of Theleston is built
around this desire.
Living things grow and change
When we talk about things being living in the games industry, we
usually mean “dynamic” -- we mean that things need to change, so that
what you saw one day isn’t necessarily what you will see the next. For
us, that’s a pretty good start, but it’s only the first requirement on a
longer list.
It’s not enough for a world to simply change. To truly live, a
world needs to grow: that change has to be guided and directed. That
world also needs to respond to the things done upon it, to essentially
play with the players that tread its surface.
Theleston is such a world; whether Theleston thrives or dies
depends not on the roll of the dice, but rather on the impact of its
denizens and powers. This will have the effect of creating a play space
where new events can dynamically appear across the world, but they won’t
be simply chosen from a list or picked by capricious random numbers.
The world won’t simply change, it will grow or wither in response to
events, as well.
How do events unfold in the world, then?
Some might wonder how a living world works, if it’s not simply
randomly selected content. Picture in your mind, a watch. On its face,
it has two, maybe three, little arms that move across a circle with a
few numbers on it and nothing more. It seems to be a very simple device,
but when you turn the watch over and look at the inside, you see a
complicated set of gears and springs. In other words, complex machines
are sometimes necessary to create the simple, elegant motions we
ourselves normally see. In a way, Revival’s world of Theleston is the
same.
Our agenda-based storytelling technology has been developed to
choose world events intelligently, and in accordance to the storylines
lain out by our Storytelling team. This conductor technology keeps the
world alive with new happenings for players to respond to. In addition
to that, we have built an extensive framework that enables our content
team to easily respond to player choices and activities by steering the
world’s content in particular ways.
Finally, articulate needs-based NPC AI makes our population look intelligent and alive.
As players begin their lives in our world, they start to have an
effect - be it something as simple as picking all the flowers near a
particular town or something complicated and grand like slaying a god.
Those effects influence what content is available in the world and where
particular items, arcane secrets, words of power, legendary characters
or powerful beings are at any given point and what their motives might
be. This is accomplished in part with our karma system.
How does karma make the world live?
While our karma system can quickly and easily help a player
determine if someone is evil or not, it too is like a clockwork: beneath
the surface of that simple assessment is a record of deeds and the
judgement of the gods and powers of the world associated with it.
Something as simple as where you’ve been in the world can alter some
element of your karma. In this way, everything you do plays its part not
only in how you develop, but in how the world responds to you.
The world, in turn, works the same way. Areas keep their own
karmic relationship with the powers of the world and the flow of destiny
and this relationship works with the karmic balances of the players in
the area to help determine what happens here. Sometimes, this can be
simple things such as a town expanding its farmable fields as players
wipe out the dangerous predators in the area, but it can also lead to
momentous things such as the rise and fall of cults and great powers.
But what about the minute details? The Day to day?
Of course, karma alone doesn’t drive the day to day motivations of
the players or the world’s NPCs. Players have whims and desires and so
do the NPCs of the world. These desires drive the NPCs in their day to
day work and help to define their habits and their moment by moment
decisions.
Whether a guard decides to be diligent in his duties or to slack
on the job and instead spend his time chatting up his friends depends on
how that guard is feeling that day and his general disposition. This
sort of desire driven AI is applied to all of the denizens of Theleston,
from simple animals up to the powerful spawn of the great old ones or
the outer gods.
Any mmo worth its salt should be like a good prostitute when it comes to its game world- One hell of a faker, and a damn good shaker!
When I see threads like this I normally stay away from those type games. In the end they fail and a lot of money goes down the drain. I will wait and watch how these two come out but am betting I never and a lot of others never touch the games.
When I see threads like this I normally stay away from those type games. In the end they fail and a lot of money goes down the drain.
I will wait and watch how these two come out but am betting I never and a lot of others never touch the games.
I will take that^ bet.
Then raise you. I not only bet you that you will try Pantheon, but also that you will most likely become addicted to it. Can you hold your head high, until 2018.
I not only maintain that you will be watching these two games more closely on the next 14 months. That you will become a fan of them. 6-months after Pantheon's release, even the most disgruntled of these naysayers will be handing over their money to Visionary Realms. Wanting to lay claim to this new Game World.
When I see threads like this I normally stay away from those type games. In the end they fail and a lot of money goes down the drain.
I will wait and watch how these two come out but am betting I never and a lot of others never touch the games.
I will take that^ bet.
Then raise you. I not only bet you that you will try Pantheon, but also that you will most likely become addicted to it. Can you hold your head high, until 2018.
I not only maintain that you will be watching these two games more closely on the next 14 months. That you will become a fan of them. 6-months after Pantheon's release, even the most disgruntled of these naysayers will be handing over their money to Visionary Realms. Wanting to lay claim to this new Game World.
The Baby Bells are coming.
We will see and I do hope you are right, we need better games that we can enjoy.
Comments
"We have a target goal that is quite small, and we are under no illusions about trying to hit AAA subs or even compare ourselves to them; we are niche ,and we know it."
So how exactly is this self-described/anointed niche game going to "change everything" as per the thread discussion? It won't. It is just a blip on a few gamers radar. Pantheon has a chance but I am still not prepared to have the future of the genre dictated by its outcome. It's a beginning. Let's see how it pans out.
That they are paying people something is nice for them, I suppose, but it does not change the fact that this so-called game is not funded to release, or anything close to it.
So still: no investor, no game, which is what they have been saying all along.
EVERYONE started at the bottom somewhere. We've seen a few folks laugh at our "only 100 players", but we're personally satisfied with that number, given where we are in the state of our development and timeline (not even two years in yet, no combat to-date, just pre-alpha tests, and our first alpha test last Saturday; October's build adds a boatload of features and the first of our combat abilities).
It gives us exactly the amount of people we need and want to be testing the early alpha stages of the game, and they're a great group of folks who have been out there championing our game and sharing it with their friends and family. Grassroots style.
We've got two years ahead of us still; we're not worried about hitting the numbers we want to hit.
Pantheon is making a lot of good progress; the team they have are working hard, day in and day out, and I think people will be pleasantly surprised when they start seeing the new updates coming forth. Don't judge them by the name/reputation of Brad; those guys work hard every day and are good at what they do. Let the upcoming work speak for itself.
Will we "change everything"? Not a chance. It would take a miracle for us to get more than 5k-10k subs that we're shooting for. We're a very tiny niche. But we personally don't need to hit AAA numbers to be happy and, more importantly, profitable enough to keep moving forward. We have small goals, and that's all we're focused on. If we do more than that, we'll expand accordingly, but we aren't planning for it. Groovy that some folks think so, but it's not our goal.
P.S. when you don't need salaries or an office space and keep your overhead low, the costs to develop an MMORPG are next to nothing. We just reached 10k USD in spendatures this past week, and that's our TOTAL out of pocket expenses since we started 18 months ago. We'll have a few thousand more in expenses for the rest of the year, but most of those from this year are one-time expenses related to the lawyer; next year, our only costs are servers, a few monthly subs for software and licensing, and convention attendance.
Things will cost considerably more when we move into live maintenance of the game and not just development, but that's still two years ahead of us, and we've got a lot of growth to do between now and there to cover the costs
Meanwhile, we're vetting team member 18 right now, and moving onwards and upwards. Everyone on board is doing this for the passion, not for the money. Any paychecks we'll take will likely happen once we launch in December of 2017, and see how well our game does then.
Until that point, any speculations from outside parties not on our team are just that: speculations
We keep showing up, day in and day out, building our game. Those who are involved like what we're doing so far, and they're the only ones we care about, so we keep plugging along.
Thanks for the mention @delete5230 ;
The only thing it better change is its release date of 2017.....lets gogogogogo!
....Being Banned from MMORPG's forums since 2010, for Trolling the Trolls!!!
I played a few other titles like vanguard secret world fallen earth ToR and I have never been happy. Those 1st few games were the only time I had fun in an MMO setting. It has been soo long now I simply dont play MMOs.
I want to... but..
There hasnt been a decent game published since 2008. Not even one......
That said, for the 1st time in almost TEN YEARS I am reading about games that -might- be good. Might foster community might have some plausible reason to watch other players and interact with them.
IDK but I have been disappointed soo many times I came up with a theory.
It is not the games that fail. It is the at no point have I felt like a noob. At no point have I had to spend more then 6 minutes determining what I will need to accomplish from start to end game.
That doesnt mean there is no challenge. Sure there is a challenge. It is just that I have become so adept at beating that challenge it is just.. boring...
All this means games need to innovate the noobiness. I need to feel like I am missing information and continue to be missing information concurrently for months at a time. Most data needs to be hidden and it needs to change the basic play enough that I will need to -rethink- my strategy.
Renfail,
With this statement I would have to disagree.
Will we "change everything"? Not a chance. It would take a miracle for us to get more than 5k-10k subs that we're shooting for. We're a very tiny niche.
If Saga of Lucima delivers a full size, slow leveling, not ridiculously easy, community based mmo, I'm convinced the game will attract EXTREAMILY LARGE NUMBERS. Same with Pantheon.
I understand I'm making bold statements that would turn many viewers off to my credibility. I'm actually like a mercenary acting independently for a cause. My goal is " NOT " to pick two games and try to bend viewers will to my own liking.............I'm simply stating that it's been a long time since we had an mmo !!
For at least five years were given something else other than mmos. I'll not argue the definition of what an mmo is. That's just not happening ! I know what an mmo is already.
Facts on what an mmo is :
- A large world, by far better if seamless.
- Harder content that's best done with the help of others but not always required.
- Slower leveling where you can make friends and play with others for weeks and months.
- Community that counts. Trade, Auctions, Guilds, Friends, Quest together, Dungeons together, chat about deep content of a rich mmo.
- Absolutely no Cash Shop !
- No cross server anything !
- Being careful with Auto tools like group finders and group dynamic events. There ok if they don't take away from community.
My definition may sound cocky, close minded, and selfish, well I'm sorry !......I'm actually not, I'm looking out for others
.......WE NEED AN MMO !.......And despite very close to everyone's feelings right now, the larger of the population will welcome a true mmo.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
They sold us out with cash shops, easy play and there JUST TO DARN OLD !
I understand your playing EVE, and to my knowledge they are standing true to being an mmo, it's just not my cup of tea.
That's what I am looking for in 3 to 5 years. And it might well happen If - IF - the current crop of designed MMOs succeeds. Games like WoW will still dominate the market as McDonald's does the fast food industry, but there will now be an array of small more expensive niche joints that tailor to specific tastes (and I say more expensive because Kickstarting is a whole lot more expensive per player once you account for all the risk, than just paying Blizzard $15).
WoW, I really like this, it gives some hope, thanks
http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/432396/why-pfo-matters/p1
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Revival is the rebirth of the player-driven, sandbox, fantasy role-playing world. Player agency, world persistence, and absolutely zero compromises are the cornerstones of our quest for a living, persistent, dark fantasy role-playing world.
What Revival is
Contrary to appearances, Revival is not a typical MMORPG (ala WoW or Everquest.) It is instead more accurate to describe Revival as an interactive persistent experience. What we are creating in Revival is much more than a game. It is, in fact, more like an ongoing drama where each and every player has an opportunity to enjoy a starring role. Revival is our effort to revive the promise of the virtual world, and bring back a truly open-world sandbox role-playing experience.
Revival’s content is unprecedented in the field of online gaming. Much like other Massively Multiplayer Online games, Revival will facilitate the simultaneous interaction of thousands of players as they explore a wonderous fantasy world, rife with adventure. Unlike these others, however, the player’s course through the lands of Revival is not preordained, and the adventures they will experience are unpredictable and unique. The hands of the gods move on the surface of Theleston, and players may choose to be their tool, or their foil. Be warned though, those that choose to meddle in the affairs of gods may find themselves pawns in a greater game.
Our team of live GM’s ensures that every adventure occurs in-the-moment and every event is primarily player-focused. Player investment in the world is recognized and rewarded with real effects. From economic pressure to outright war, Theleston is a dynamic world of player interactions. The fates of all, from the price of apples to the rise and fall of the cities of the world are in the hands of the players.
The role that a player will take on in the world that we have created is not one akin to the forward in a game of hockey, or the quarterback on a football team, but is instead one of dramatis personae. In Revival, you are not simply a collection of stats and tropes, a cookie-cutter fighter or mage. Instead you play the part of a unique individual with the capability to help shape the rise or fall of empires.
Gone are the days of poring over walkthrough websites featuring a lengthy description of the process that you will then undertake to defeat the Dreadlord Ignominious Thrax, just like everyone else at your level, only to leave him alive for the next group in line. Finally behind us are endless runs through the same content, only to get a chance at receiving a purple bit of gear that all of the others of your class on the server already have. Items in Revival are as individual as the players, and building your personal kit is a reflection of your individual play-style, not the rote completion of a template.
“Explore, defeat powerful monsters, CREATE HISTORY”
What Revival is Not
While other games have gone to great lengths to sharply define each class and role, constraining them to very specific game actions and playstyles, at Illfonic, we find this notion of player class as role to be needlessly limiting.
Why must all magic users be frail? Can a swordsman never learn the arcane arts? Why must each type of player be labeled and limited by an arbitrary set of roles, like ‘Tank,’ ‘Healer,’ or ‘DPS’? In the world of Revival, your character is an expression of your play style and your preferences. Make no mistake, no single character will be able to master all-disciplines, meaningful choices must be made and each will have character-defining consequences. Thus, each character will be unique, defined by the scope of their adventures, and known by their deeds.
Silhouette recognition be damned. There is more to a character than their “build” - and more to role-playing than racing up a ladder of statistics. With Revival, we intend to put the focus on the world and the actions of the players within it, not on peak DPS or maximizing chance of crit.
The Powers Are Watching
In the world of Revival, our live development team is always watching. Every deed is seen and recorded. Illfonic is developing a comprehensive metrics system that allows our live team to monitor and record everything that happens in the world of Theleston. More importantly, it allows us to react. At Illfonic we want to encourage player investment and participation in the world.
The more that a player interacts with the world, the greater the record of their deeds. Our live team of GM’s will monitor the world and react in real time. Player organizations and their actions will be recognized and supported, or thwarted, by the powers of Theleston. Will your guild support the Great Old Ones that came to our world from the stars? Or will you pursue the elemental powers of the Elder Gods? The choices made by the players will steer the course of the world of Theleston.
Any mmo worth its salt should be like a good prostitute when it comes to its game world- One hell of a faker, and a damn good shaker!
https://www.revivalgame.com/features/live_storytelling
A mind behind the action
In the world of Role Playing, nothing compares to a live Game Master’s ability to react quickly to player activity, or to steer the events of the world onto a path that the players most want to experience. Furthermore, there has not yet been an NPC AI yet that can react to player exploitation, nor a patterned boss that can’t be predicted.
Sure, many MMOs have had live representatives on their servers, watching, helping out newbs, and banning bad guys, once in a while they may even be handing out unique items, or twigging players onto “special” quest lines, but never are they actually playing along as would a live Game Master. Rarely does a living Storyteller call players to action, or lead a march against a castle. But we’re changing that.
In Revival, our live agents will mingle with the server population, taking the part of villains, heroes, monsters, even the gods. Storytellers are not mere custodians of a lifeless mechanical world, rather they are the architects of fantasy. More than the ‘man behind the curtain’ -- our Storytellers walk amongst the players, on the streets of our cities and in the depths of Theleston’s wilderness. They are behind the tradesmen, the bandits, even the beasts of the world In short, our Live Storytelling team allows Revival to offer unprecedented Content direction in the online multiplayer role-playing sphere.
But we won’t just be directing. Storytellers do more than simply kick-off content packages and peruse game metrics. Our tools allow us to reach into the world and act as directly as any player. From the lowliest wandering beast, to the greatest monster of the deep, and everywhere in-between.
Far more than a simple cadre of guides, Storytellers can take possession of any creature in the world. They may deliver prophecy, raise armies, or guide adventurers to new lands. They may appear as man or beast, beggar or god. The Storytellers are hands-on content creators that can (and will) interact with the playerbase at any time, creating dynamic stories and opening the door to endless possibility.
Our Storytellers will have their hands on the reins of warlords and kings, dark gods and cults, but even the simplest mob may be driven by a Storyteller if the mood strikes, or if it serves the storyline. We may even drop in just to mix things up. Anything that can be imagined is in the realm of possibility, and that is the true power of Live Storytellers.
Another thing that our most well-known large scale online games do not do well is player history. Day by day the same characters make the same speeches, and the same foes stalk well-worn pathways into the landscape. Players may pack up and raze the server of enemy mobs, but they’ll just repopulate and life goes on unchanged.
However, content for Revival is being created under a fundamentally different paradigm than that of the typical MMO. This change in process and ideal allows our Live team to dynamically alter populations, choreograph world events, and directly alter the content of the world, on the fly to create real results in response to player actions.
No longer will players queue up to fight the same enemy time and again. When a leader of Theleston falls, they truly fall, and our Storytellers will discern the future of their armies and their holdings. The actions of players drive our Storytelling Team, and our Storytellers work amongst the playerbase to develop the many stories that define the histories of our world.
Every day will bring new developments to the world of Theleston, and players will not want to miss even a day of the action. Simply put, while a player is not online, they’re not there when it all happens, and with our constantly evolving storylines, they might just miss something!
In the current Online Role-playing market, there is precious little role-play, and players invest primarily in statistic builds and loot galleries rather than in the events of their virtual world. A typical play-session equates to running the ‘best line’ through the level and logging out levelled up. They log-out assured that when they return, everything will be just as they left it. This is antithetical to the idea of a virtual world. When you close the door to Theleston, it will keep living without you, we will make sure of that.
Also common in traditional MMOs are content tracks that either produce too little reward for players in the form of coin, XP, or loot, and are thus skipped in the players’ mad dash to the next level-segregated zone. Between our unique content management strategies, and our live storytelling team, this need never happen again. Playing in our world will be unpredictable and exciting, with new adventures every single day.
In the world of Online Role Playing, there is little that yet compares to the directed experience offered by a living storyteller in a changeable world. Revival has imagined a new experience in role-play that takes the very best elements of directed play with the freedom and immersion of a sandbox world. Our live team curates the content of the world as well as directly driving the actions of forces great and small to guarantee a new and exciting experience each and every time a player logs in.
Any mmo worth its salt should be like a good prostitute when it comes to its game world- One hell of a faker, and a damn good shaker!
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
#IStandWithVic
https://www.revivalgame.com/features/living_world
How do you make a world live?
Phrases like a “vibrant living world” and “visceral feel” get thrown around a lot in games. It’s clear we want our game worlds to be, if not real, then at least tangible in a way that allows us to treat them as real. We want more than a simple background behind our characters as we hack and slash our way to victory. In short, we want our worlds to feel like worlds. Revival’s world of Theleston is built around this desire.
Living things grow and change
When we talk about things being living in the games industry, we usually mean “dynamic” -- we mean that things need to change, so that what you saw one day isn’t necessarily what you will see the next. For us, that’s a pretty good start, but it’s only the first requirement on a longer list.
It’s not enough for a world to simply change. To truly live, a world needs to grow: that change has to be guided and directed. That world also needs to respond to the things done upon it, to essentially play with the players that tread its surface.
Theleston is such a world; whether Theleston thrives or dies depends not on the roll of the dice, but rather on the impact of its denizens and powers. This will have the effect of creating a play space where new events can dynamically appear across the world, but they won’t be simply chosen from a list or picked by capricious random numbers. The world won’t simply change, it will grow or wither in response to events, as well.
How do events unfold in the world, then?
Some might wonder how a living world works, if it’s not simply randomly selected content. Picture in your mind, a watch. On its face, it has two, maybe three, little arms that move across a circle with a few numbers on it and nothing more. It seems to be a very simple device, but when you turn the watch over and look at the inside, you see a complicated set of gears and springs. In other words, complex machines are sometimes necessary to create the simple, elegant motions we ourselves normally see. In a way, Revival’s world of Theleston is the same.
Our agenda-based storytelling technology has been developed to choose world events intelligently, and in accordance to the storylines lain out by our Storytelling team. This conductor technology keeps the world alive with new happenings for players to respond to. In addition to that, we have built an extensive framework that enables our content team to easily respond to player choices and activities by steering the world’s content in particular ways.
Finally, articulate needs-based NPC AI makes our population look intelligent and alive.
As players begin their lives in our world, they start to have an effect - be it something as simple as picking all the flowers near a particular town or something complicated and grand like slaying a god. Those effects influence what content is available in the world and where particular items, arcane secrets, words of power, legendary characters or powerful beings are at any given point and what their motives might be. This is accomplished in part with our karma system.
How does karma make the world live?
While our karma system can quickly and easily help a player determine if someone is evil or not, it too is like a clockwork: beneath the surface of that simple assessment is a record of deeds and the judgement of the gods and powers of the world associated with it. Something as simple as where you’ve been in the world can alter some element of your karma. In this way, everything you do plays its part not only in how you develop, but in how the world responds to you.
The world, in turn, works the same way. Areas keep their own karmic relationship with the powers of the world and the flow of destiny and this relationship works with the karmic balances of the players in the area to help determine what happens here. Sometimes, this can be simple things such as a town expanding its farmable fields as players wipe out the dangerous predators in the area, but it can also lead to momentous things such as the rise and fall of cults and great powers.
But what about the minute details? The Day to day?
Of course, karma alone doesn’t drive the day to day motivations of the players or the world’s NPCs. Players have whims and desires and so do the NPCs of the world. These desires drive the NPCs in their day to day work and help to define their habits and their moment by moment decisions.
Whether a guard decides to be diligent in his duties or to slack on the job and instead spend his time chatting up his friends depends on how that guard is feeling that day and his general disposition. This sort of desire driven AI is applied to all of the denizens of Theleston, from simple animals up to the powerful spawn of the great old ones or the outer gods.
Any mmo worth its salt should be like a good prostitute when it comes to its game world- One hell of a faker, and a damn good shaker!
Star Citizen – The Extinction Level Event
4/13/15 > ELE has been updated look for 16-04-13.
http://www.dereksmart.org/2016/04/star-citizen-the-ele/
Enjoy and know the truth always comes to light!
I will take that^ bet.
Then raise you. I not only bet you that you will try Pantheon, but also that you will most likely become addicted to it. Can you hold your head high, until 2018.
I not only maintain that you will be watching these two games more closely on the next 14 months. That you will become a fan of them. 6-months after Pantheon's release, even the most disgruntled of these naysayers will be handing over their money to Visionary Realms. Wanting to lay claim to this new Game World.
The Baby Bells are coming.
Star Citizen – The Extinction Level Event
4/13/15 > ELE has been updated look for 16-04-13.
http://www.dereksmart.org/2016/04/star-citizen-the-ele/
Enjoy and know the truth always comes to light!
Agreed. Vaporware is vaporware until the product is gold.
The end of 2017 and sometime in 2018 is too far in the future to start the hype train yet.
Vaporware is vaporware. If it goes gold, it wasnt vaporware.