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Black Desert Online Schools the MMORPG Industry on How You do a Winter Event
Mikeha
Member EpicPosts: 9,196
One of the most obvious things developers do when it’s time for Christmas, is implementing falling snow. It looks fairly nice and puts you in the mood for some Holiday cheer, but there is a major deal breaker. It almost never really changes the world. Those cute snowflakes fall on the usual green, brown and grey land, and then just disappear.
Black Desert Online is different. The Korean developer Pearl Abyss embraced the purpose of making a technologically advanced MMORPG, and the game has a dynamic weather system with rain that accumulates on the ground forming realistic puddles, and surfaces that turn wet when they’re rained on. With this year’s winter event, they have gone a step further.
Snow has been added to the weather system, and when it happens, snow actually accumulates on the ground, grass, buildings and other surfaces, even on player characters and NPCs. When it stops snowing, it gradually melts, leaving wet surfaces and puddles of water, which then evaporate.
What’s really impressive about it, is that snow actually changes how the world looks, and it does so dynamically, giving everything a fresh appearance. It’s extremely pleasant to the eyes, and crowns the attempt of adding seasonal variety to the game (which got red leaves in the fall and cherry blossoms in the spring already).
It also looks fantastic, as you can see in the videos at the bottom of the post. The first is a timelapse showing how snow changes the world from when it begins to when it stops. The second is a nice ride around the snowy world (including some transitions), to show you how it looks in different locations.
It almost feels like a pity that the system is going to go away when the winter event ends, and it’s certainly interesting to see so much work go into something that players will enjoy only for a few weeks.
Of course, there is also the possibility that the system might be used in the upcoming elven land of Kamasilve, which will expand the game’s world further next year. The neighboring land of Drigan also seems to be quite snowy.
Personally, I’d love to see the system becoming a permanent feature in the game, at least in areas in which it’s appropriate.
One thing is for sure. Pearl Abyss has been schooling the stagnant (at least technology-wise) MMORPG industry on how you can create a MMORPG that doesn’t look like games released five years ago, and on the fact that implementing new graphical tech won’t suddenly cause the servers to collapse upon themselves.
With the announced partnership with Silicon Studio that promises to advance the game’s visual tech even further, I’m certainly curious to see just how far Black Desert Online will go.
http://www.dualshockers.com/2016/12/17/black-desert-online-winter-event-holidays/
Comments
Everytime I see it I am amazed at how well done it is.
BDO graphic department deserves a huge Xmas bonus
lol ok
It reminds me back to the old days of UO when you got three tickets and had to find the player with matching numbers and you got some awesome items.
Now if they could improve PVE this game could be my home for years.
I just want to point out to the devs that the new PvP area, Valencia, is empty.....they should focus in implementing dungeons for next expansion.
And definitely they are not giving away anything game breaking.
I got a couple of nice rings from the boxes and sold them out because I have way better.
I also got a Costume that expires in a week, everything else is XP potions and a few Enhancing stones.
Nothing really game breaking, but it's nice to have freebies.
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Getting a first piece is not really hard and can usually be purchased from the auction house for reasonable amounts. It's getting it up to the top enchantment level that's hard.
So them giving you a piece is really no big deal other than being nice.
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They really did do a good job with the snow. It doesn't seem like it would be a huge stretch to go to seasonal changes too. Obviously they have some skilled people there. Ryzom pulled it off years ago.
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They just choose to reserve them to match the RL seasons.
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Not to mention the game is enhancement based. If they hand you millions of silver, it's basically handing you gear.
Freebies are nice but this is ridiculous. It minimizes actual effort put into the game. Same with afk fishing, which is just a ploy to keep you logged in, again in hopes you make a shop purchase.
The problem I have with this is the entire game is built to push you into the shop instead of built to be fun. People are logging in to get the free stuff or staying logged in to afk fish instead of just wanting to log in because the game is so much fun. I'd much rather the game actually be fun and not some endless shop-nudging grind.
Talonsin was saying this is awesome cause other games don't give you as much stuff for logging in. I'm suggesting he's not seeing the bigger picture and I don't think other MMOs should emulate this.
When you don't want the truth, you will make up your own truth.
DAoC had falling snow, footsteps in it, and the snow was "growing" when it fell on the ground (eg first little snow, then abit more, and in the end it was fully snowcovered).
i am not too impressed that someone finally managed it to do the same 12 years later. rather shocked why no one else did it so far....
maybe some of you will finally understand what made DAoC better than the rest out there *G*
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