Note: For the sake of brevity in the Demo, travel shortcuts were used to expedite our movement from area to area. Also, combat, lighting and SFX are still in a prototype stage and not fully implemented in this demonstration.
Note: For the sake of brevity in the Demo, travel shortcuts were used to expedite our movement from area to area. Also, combat, lighting and SFX are still in a prototype stage and not fully implemented in this demonstration.
Any chance you will be putting the fog back into undiscovered areas? Perhaps a tri-scale map for this? Scaling the overworld to be much larger allowing for long runs through desolate areas and avoiding that thempark feel with points of interested
cramped in small areas?
Looks awesome by the way !
There has been discussion about FoW, but it wasn’t up to the level of polish we were happy with for the Demo, so we left it out.
Great!!! I love the part about cutting down trees and sitting on the roof in chairs that I made for myself…
Will we also be able to “really” fly and swim like in WoW? I think that aspect of the game really enhances the overall game experience and makes the world seem much bigger…
Yay! 720p version. Thanks!
Dungeon from the vid resembles me that dungeon on Talking Island from old L2. Love the atmosphere. Korean bastards deleted it
The only thing this dungeon lacks is another players. Hope it will not be a solo instance in all game modes. Keep up good work!
Amazing what you’ve done in just 3 short months! I’m impressed, guys. Keep going! I’m saving for my Citizen level as fast as I can!
I like the ambient music in the 3d forestry area
awesome – thanks for sharing the demo. I am envious that it was shown at an expo, were there any goodies given out?
the conversation with the barkeep npc was fascinating – have other games had this type of open dialogue conversation interface? I only wonder how scripted it really is.
overall, I felt like the inventory bags resembled ultima online too much – which is a good and bad thing for me. I would like to see this game as a true successor to ultima. but dragging multiple lumber dowels seems a bit tedious to me.
has there been any discussion on whether pledgers get instant access to the beta? and is there currently a beta? or is it too early?
was curious whether a “virtue” type system would be able to make its way into the game? or is that somehow part of the ultima property?
and finally, I would love to see the gwani make an appearance. in some form or another. or fuzzies.
I agree about the inventory grabbing issue, was the only thing that was a little disappointing – how about using a Ctrl+click/drag to select all of the same type of item within a small radius. So control dragging one of the dowels would grab the other dowels that were within say a hand span of the one being targeted?
I like that idea. To build upon that I’d like to suggest while crafting, your cursor turns into a hand of some sort. A single left click on the mouse would enable the user to pick up one item. If the user clicks and holds, the hand receive a grab type animation and any items in a radius of x will be rounded up and then can be delivered to the desired spot as the user maneuvers the cursor to it’s destination.
Just give me a loot all button
Click and drag are gonna get real tedious real fast.
If they implemented it right, you could click (and hold to drag) and wiggle the mouse around the bag like a circle/spiral, or in a zig zag to swoop up everything. easier, more immerse, and more intuitive in my opinion then clicking on a little button.
Agreed. The Take All button made a huge difference btwn Fallout & Fallout 2
Excellent demomnstration. For me, the highlight is the the supurb new conversation system. I think it will provide a compelling, thought-provoking, interactive and stimulating experience. The minimal UI, bags etc look great. ‘Can’t wait to see more in the future.
This footage has done wonders for increasing the games awareness, seen articles popping up over the web about really good to see.
So happy with the direction this game is heading in, find myself checking for updates daily now. Love your work people.
Brilliant! Can’t wait for this come out!
With regards to the minimalist GUI – I notice that the mana and health bars are always visible – is this the final on this or will this change? I mean if you look at Skyrim those bars are only visible if you take damage or use mana. When your health is 100% it disappears – will this be implemented in SOTA? Also, when chopping trees or collecting other usables – how about the items just go straight into your inventory without the need to manually click and drag. A message on screen telling you what you just got would be enough.
Any chance you guys could put the prototype back up or at least in a thread because it would be wonderful to compare the 2
One suggestion. The point where you were chopping down the tree to get wood was odd. You get wood while chopping the tree but after you chop it down you can’t get any more wood (in spite of the huge log that you just chopped down.) It’s somewhat unrealistic (even for a high-fantasy RPG)
Instead, could you chop the tree down the first time, then gather wood off the felled log the next two times. Something like that would be less immersion breaking.
Great prototype, amazing that you all put it together in 90 days!
I really like this suggestion. I played UO for countless hours, no telling how many hundreds of thousands of trees I chopped. I definitely understand why the way the tree chopping is implemented the way it is in the demo but I definitely like the idea of getting the lumber after the tree has been felled.
I think it would be awesome to have grandmaster lumberjacks be able to chop down a tree in one hit and get the resources all at once and have journeyman lumberjacks take 10+ chops to take a tree down. It would definitely add to the realism.
I like this idea, and they could make that chopped tree go smaller the more you cut on the ground. Much more realistic and nice
Tho i think the problem will be if someone just goes to once cut all trees down to ground.. tho dont know how the engine will turn if that would be eny trouble or annoying
Simple and Brilliant.
This is something that definitely should happen.
Really awesome suggestion.
This is a great place to implement realism – I suspect it’s something you’d do over and over again in the game, so the relative value of making it realistic versus other things is high.
It would be REALLY slick to be able to vote on suggestions like this. It would help you guys separate the gems from the noise!
And it might even be something you can reward – i.e. rewarding good suggestions by implementing them + giving some sort of treat to the suggestor.
I really like the idea of a weekly/monthly feature poll. Any comment on the possibility of this FireLotus/team?
Very intriguing!
A nice Demo. Looks fairly good so far.
Maybe it is just me but the only thing that I really don’t get is the overworld map. What is it actually for? Only to travel faster? Or is it a technical thing to not have a whole open world? I am really afraid that the world will be just a bunch of small patches badly bound together to fake a big world at the end. I hope this overworld map won’t interfere with the great feeling that people had travelling from Trinsic to Vesper or Minoc to Skara Brae.
Will our version have the email alerts, too?
Spectacular! Great progress on the game.
I have a request that will save my hands, that hurt way too much from all the computer games I’ve played over the past 35 years.
Could you design a way to collect everything and place it in the chest/bag without dragging and dropping each individual piece? It is very click and pressure intensive, and my carpal tunnel will flair up horribly if I do that all day long.
I liked it, nice start
So happy to see this. Very excited to play it! I agree with what Ant and Lord Brutish said about resource gathering.
Very pleased of the demo. Any lingering doubts of game’s quality have finally been banished. Glad to have backed this.
First, very nice for three month work. I like the inventory-system… like Ultima 8. I suggest some improvements .. press spacebar and you loot all und close all bags. so you could sort it later. (same with the workbench). or like Ant says is a nice way
If you are really good you could optionally include an automatic sorting function for people who don’t like spending too much time in their bags.
Love it! Especially the dialog and lack of quest log. I’m really looking forward to playing the game now
Hopefully you’ll find some time to improve the visuals a bit until the game is released.
I like a lot of what’s in the demo.
I have two comments that I hope the devs won’t take negatively, I just want to add some constructive input.
First, I noticed that the dungeon has a few random-seeming puzzles. One is the torch puzzle, which seems to be based on magic, since I don’t know how otherwise torches would turn from orange flames to blue ones; and one is the spike traps.
When I played AD&D, one thing that I learned to do as a DM was to not put anything in a dungeon without an explanation of how it got there and how it would continue to operate. You couldn’t have a magically locked door without an explanation of how it was locked that way, or a puzzle without an explanation of who set it up. Also, you needed an explanation of how mechanical traps, if they existed, were able to function. “Magic!” was also never a good explanation, it was a cop-out — and bad story-telling — unless you could give an account of how the magic was being supported. In this case, you’re talking about spikes that are continuously going up and down, and that would require some consistent energy source or operating mechanic.
I hope the devs put some consideration into this perspective. Its something that a lot of game designers don’t seem to think about. Skyrim has plenty of blade traps where the blades swing when you pull on a chain, and don’t stop swinging until you pull it again. What keeps the blades running? Why are they there? No explanation. I wish games would try to provide explanations for everything, because it really does improve the story-telling.
In this example, at the very least, if the explanation really is just “magic!”, a solution could be in saying that the magic is a result of the liche, and is dispelled with his destruction. When you kill him, all the puzzles and traps would cease to function. But I think having explanations where puzzles exist will only make the game better.
The second thing is, I’m wondering why the wood gathering process is done so that you get logs from a standing tree, and then when the tree is exhausted to the point that it can’t produce logs, it falls down. Why not add a single extra step to make it a bit more realistic? The first step is you would just ax the tree down. The second step would be cutting the fallen tree into logs. As you cut more from it, the trunk would gradually become smaller until the fallen tree disappears. The reason I’m suggesting this is because the devs are going to great lengths to make the game feel real, and when you run into something like this it reminds you that you’re in a game. Personally, I don’t think the one extra step would annoy players.
Thanks, though, and keep up the good work.
Kal Ort Por – I must get away from all these horrid MMOs with crappy support services (FTP is no excuse), save us Lord British! Also, I miss my runebook collection like crazy. Can’t wait!
Looks really nice so far, considering the limited amount of work spent on it.
I especially like the general game design approach. Having to chat with the locals to get information sounds great and I really like the abstinence of quest markers and journal, enabling me to experience the game on my own, to live my own story.
If there would be question marks everybody would just run the up, having the same list of quests like everybody else. Boring.
Even without quest markers, if a NPC directly gives you the quest when talking to him, you would need a massive world with tons of sidequests and alternate storylines to give the players an individual game-experience. Which works well in Skyrim, but of course is respectively expensive.
It is highly unlikely that every player will ask every NPC the same questions, so each has its own conception of the world and the story.
Of course if you talked to a lot of people some kind of reminder is needed, I don’t want to start making notes in RL again. Being able to do notes in the game would be great, best bundled with the crafting arts – so I would be able to craft a notebook and then make my notes in it. If this is too tedious for most players some kind of automated diary would be ok, too, where all of your conversations were listed. So you would still have to get your ‘quests’ out of the conversations you had.
Other thoughts on this?
Really looking forward to playing this game. Big thanks to Richard and the team!
That sounds EXACTLY like a quest log.
Please no quest logs, please!!! Keep it how it is. If you have memory issue get a pen and paper.
No, I think you should at least be able to craft ink and paper and hand write your own notes, or also have a easy spell to learn that could record near by conversations. If you leave it on all the time and your bag fills with useless drivel and you run out of components, if an npc tells you something important you can cast your auto-transcribe spell, ask him ‘Could you repeat that? I’m a bit hard of hearing’ then uncast the spell when he finishes and slid the pages into your ‘things to do in the lands of x book’
Love the demo, love the interviews and articles about the game. Simply cannot wait for the release!
I loved the demo in general, but especially I loved the natural language interface to talk to NPC’s.
Games were doing that in the 80’s (e.g. Sierra’s adventures) but sadly that kind of interface was abandoned later in favour of dull clicking. Now that we have better natural language processing technology, it seems like a natural move to try it again.
For those of us that like to roleplay and get immersed into games, it’s way better that having a menu with preconstructed options that may not correspond at all to what we would say if we were in the PC’s skin.
Keep up the good work!
I loved the Sierra adventure games! Agree with Cyrion it would be nice to have a log or diary of salient conversations/quests. Older players with terrible memories, or long time gaps between playing, need reminders!
Love this, the UI reminds me of Ultima Online. The game look’s amazing!
I am extremely stoked about this game even more now. 3 months into a 18 month window, WOW! I AM 100% UPPING MY PLEDGE TO A HIGHER PACKAGE! I want a house with crafting tools ready to use. SWEETNESS!
Suggestion:
When in town or in NON COMBAT can we please have our character SHEATH their weapon. I hated how while talking to bar guy our character had his sword drawn. Seems rude/unrealistic and I would kick the guy out of my bar with his weapon drawn.
Also in the final game are we gonna be able to just run past enemies and get directly to bosses in dungeons like you did in demo? I hope not. Players should have to fight, battle and earn that BONE OF THRONES.
I noticed when in dungeons and in town it seemed the character moved at one speed sort of as jog. Will we be able to run faster or walk normally like in town?
When opening DOORS I saw the character just standing there while we click the door the a arrow icon (mouse) and the door opens. Anyway to give a player animation so character looks as if HE/SHE is opening the door them selves instead of it magically opening in front of them? Also while hovering mouse over the door can icon change from arrow to a hand? Same with any actions can we please have the actual character looking as if they are the ones doing the action?
Congratulations! It looks and feels great! I will add my voice to the comments of people pertaining the tree resource. Hack it first and then get logs from fallen trunk, and also anything to avoid having to move every resource to inventory individually would be appreciated.
Eagerly waiting to see whats up next!
3 Months! that’s impressive. The Demo Looks Awesome, reminds me of Ultima in HD, and that’s a good thing. I really enjoy all of the creative content leading up to the release of this, Dev Chats, Hangouts, and especially Pen of the Avatar.
There has been many times I’ve asked myself, “will anyone ever create a game as Great as Ultima Online” I think we have an answer after seeing this demo.
I am beyond excited to see the finished product. Lord British comes!
Wow. this makes me uber-excited. I love the lack of sparklies saying HERE’S A QUEST or HERE’S SOME USELESS VENDOR TRASH. it feels very nice knowing that if you found something, you found it and not had it shoved in your face.
The world map does feel cramped though. i hope it does get spread out a little more. And whats with the wolfs and such running around on the world map. do you run into them and get into a fight? i hope we find out soon
I love the drag/drop backpack (no slots) and just the general similarity to Ultima.
I am disappointed that it isn’t a continuous world . What’s with the weird “low mag” world map traveling? Why would this be better than a continuous world?
I apologize for my directness, but I need to say this.
Please don’t leave that kind of an inventory in. I can understand why people have fond memories of old Ultimas, but the inventory is not something that should survive the transfer to current games. If you make tiny items that can hide behind a stack of whatever you put on top of it… Oh, all my nightmares of trying to find items in Ultima 8 are coming back
Please, make a modern (more usable) implementation for the inventory. There are really good things worth bringing back in the Ultima-series, but the inventory is not one of them.
Looks great, but that house must have been built by Mike Brady. What happens if it rains, snows or just gets cold? The second floor is open to the sky 8′)
It’s nice to watch the demo.
How long til we can download it and putz around? And I agree with SirrahGreed. I want my rune book and recall spell!
I definitely like the NPC interaction by typing text. That feels much more immersive and interactive.
The dungeon was cool but I have to ask how the room with the throne of bone could be sealed off if the villagers saw it?
Awesome! Absolutely loved the conversation with the bar tender. Finally quest conversation might actually even become interesting to me!
music are pretty nice, game need more light i think, and combat need more speed + combo but it’s good start !
for nothing in world i wouldn’t try SOA
That’s it, I’ve seen enough. I’m upgrading to Developer RIGHT NOW!
Walkthrough looked great, very well done! I believe the game engine used is Unity, which has some pretty fantastic capabilities for a game like SotA.