1,400 ways to skin a cat

So, Release 7....You know creating an indy game with the scope and vision of Shroud of the Avatar and pleasing all your fans is akin to trying to catch a custard pie, flung by an insane baboon whilst riding on the back of a camel in the middle of a sandstorm...if you catch bits of it and none of it gets into your underpants you're probably quite pleased.

That having been said....WOW! No I really mean it, I'm not just being a hopeless fan boy...well maybe just a little, but Release 7 really has hit the mark for me. It took me a while to get the development strategy, I can be a bit slow sometimes...I'd been struggling to understand why so much time and effort had been spent on the towns and there was very little actual content...Oh I got that the team at Portalarium had been concentrating on core game systems but even so...why all the focus on housing, I mean it's cool, but it's just buildings right? Then around Saturday Afternoon I had a bit of an epiphany...you know...road to Damascus stuff but without the bright light from heaven and all the stumbling around blindly gig...IT'S ALL ABOUT COMMUNITY.

Now I know that a bunch of you are probably slapping your foreheads and saying "Well DUH" but hear me out! I know that I gave the dev team a hard time earlier on in R7 about the overland map being straight from Beelzebub's nether regions (much like celery and politicians) but I finally get that actually it almost doesn't matter...People will play this game for the sole purpose of living in their communities with their friends in a world that they identify with in some way. The housing isn't critical to SoTA...it *IS* Shroud of the Avatar. The game is all about building legends but legends can come from something as simple as that evening in Sir Aelfric the Unhinged's boat talking about pixies.




Darius in front of his shiny House Boat complete with beach accouterments

The genius of SoTA is the ability to create believable communities that we all want to live in. Look at the pledges! I'm having to hide what I've spent on my pledge from Mrs Darius so she doesn't realise that the reason we're feeding the children bread and cheese is so that I can have a shiny new house in the middle of Port Mirriam! Part of the reason we're all willing to spend so much is because we believe in this vision Richard Gariott and the team have created of a shared Sand Box world where there is a sense of permanency and belonging.

I worked for a gaming company for a while and although the proprietor had all the social grace of a crocodile with halitosis and really bad case of hemorrhoids , he did use to say one thing useful (actually, probably the only useful thing) which was "Building games is hard". There really are 1,400 ways to skin a cat (sorry Karrolanth...I sort of did this on purpose for comedic effect ), yet here in SoTA we have a company that is managing to skin this cat in a very convincing way despite inviting everyone in to watch!

So what did I like:

- Secure trade - One of those systems that just needs to work and this seems to although I couldn't figure out how to securely trade cash.

- Animals - Seem to move more convincingly and I'm sure I caught them actually reacting to each other. Oh and please leave the sheep in Owlshead alone...it's not big and it's not clever.

- The new islands - wow...I've spent hours running around these drooling in a way that was disturbing enough for Mrs. Darius to threaten to call the Doctor...I think she thought I was suffering from palsy at one point.

- New character creation options - this is definitely moving in the right direction but still needs *alot* of work but the facial hair doesn't look quite as "glued on" as it used to.

- Parties - great party in Lady Fire Lotuses tavern! Whoever was throwing around the fireballs though owes me a new set of eyebrows....you know who you are!

- Housing - generally very good but there are still areas in some houses where the textures look squiffy and the secret room in the knights marshal house needs to go somewhere and not just be a glorified broom cupboard.

- 3D Overland Map - I'm not going to pass comment here as I have done in another thread and Chris might hurt me.

- NPC Interactions - so much better here. The outlining, the name changing, the text...this all makes for a much sharper NPC interaction system that I actually found myself liking...Also liked the way things were written in the journal but some sort of index system will be needed eventually as no one is going to have to want to trawl through thirty of forty pages of notes to find the right one.

- Scene Names - I liked these..as Mrs Darius will attest to; I can get lost in the bathroom so this really helps. Eventually I'm hoping for a mini-map so I don't need to spend hours searching because I've lost my house.

- Avatar Mail - OK, ok, I know this doesn't exist yet but I'd like a postal service...it would be neat if this could be tied in with the game some way...post delivery contracts or the like.

- Banking - great but I'd like to be able to view what I have in the bank. Physical bank buildings with NPCs would be nice too.

- Combat - Not really a feature of R7 but this still seems to be going OK...I'm intrigued to see what happens with the card combat system. I love the fact that I can kite effectively...please don't take this away!!

- Crafting - Really enjoyed this aspect of the game. Gathering components occasionally seemed a little hit and miss with some resources not wanting to be gathered when you tapped on them...but other than that...a success. I do hope however that we're not going to have to craft hundreds of pointless items to "level" or anything dull like that...although I take my hat off to the genius responsible for the bookshelf maze!

- Graff Gem Mines and the Undead Lair - I loved both of these...really good fun but I want more traps and puzzles to work out...not to mention more PH47 L3WT and Damn that big undead gribbly is fun to solo!

There were one or two things I didn't like:

- Identical encounters - I really don't like how double clicking on many places on the Overland map brings up identical encounters. I don't know if Unity is capable of dynamic terrain but it's a bit of an immersion killer when two places that are supposed to be miles apart look identical.

- No General Chat Channel - it's hard to find out if your friends are on unless you already have them friended.

So all in all, I'm liking the look of your Cat Mr G. and team...keep it up and I may just upgrade my pledge...I might have to sell my youngest child first but then sacrifices must be made for great art!

DF.

 

Great Post and Thank you for the optimism! Its a great counter to all the nay-saying going on!

 

@prospereau.
Now I know that a bunch of you are probably slapping your foreheads and saying "Well DUH" but hear me out! I know that I gave the dev team a hard time earlier on in R7 about the overland map being straight from Beelzebub's nether regions (much like celery and politicians) but I finally get that actually it almost doesn't matter...People will play this game for the sole purpose of living in their communities with their friends in a world that they identify with in some way. The housing isn't critical to SoTA...it *IS* Shroud of the Avatar. The game is all about building legends but legends can come from something as simple as that evening in Sir Aelfric the Unhinged's boat talking about pixies.

If its all about housing then it really is just an elitist game for the few that can afford to pay lots of real money to snap up all the land deeds, and means the other 95% of players are wasting their time and money on this game as the housing is very limited.

 

@prospereau
Thanks for sharing!
I think R7 is a good step forward.
For me SotA is about a form of dream of an immersive vibrant persistent world, npc, player and storywise.
A world where I can do whatever I feel like (sort of) and roleplay an alternate life.
X

 

I don't think this is how it *can* work out. We may have rent free housing as backers but other housing will be available in game and I suspect will be purchasable for in game money. As backers we just get to be the veterans and pioneers of this world...not to mention the people who helped make this all possible...and that in itself is a privilege.

DF.

 

There definitely will be land and houses available for in-game cash, with no real world outlay required except of the time required to gather said funds. And although land will be limited, with player-owned towns popping up all over the place there are going to be alternatives as well. (You'll still need to buy a deed in-game, but won't have to worry quite so much about whether there's any land available a few months after launch. Especially if you make contact with a player-owner before launch so they might arrange to save a place.)

I think that the community is what will really make SotA special. It's not necessary to own a home in order to be part of a particular community, though... it might help, but with varying levels of permission for housing a PC could 'rent' a room from a friend, or just roleplay that they live in a tent in the nearby woods and are popping in to visit regularly! Whatever works for that player.

And yes, Darius, you knew I'd see your name attached to a post about cats and come and have a look, didn't you? Leave my poor kitties out of your insane ramblings, or it's the flying helmet and the wet celery for you m'lad!!

 

And Karrolanth, you hit it home, I too would like to see tents in the game.

Something comforting about the old tent and bedroll setup.

Would be cool to see a character bivouac for the night - it's so dark sometimes I wanted to stop and wait till morning anyway

 

prospereau


wagram Said;


@prospereau.
Now I know that a bunch of you are probably slapping your foreheads and saying "Well DUH" but hear me out! I know that I gave the dev team a hard time earlier on in R7 about the overland map being straight from Beelzebub's nether regions (much like celery and politicians) but I finally get that actually it almost doesn't matter...People will play this game for the sole purpose of living in their communities with their friends in a world that they identify with in some way. The housing isn't critical to SoTA...it *IS* Shroud of the Avatar. The game is all about building legends but legends can come from something as simple as that evening in Sir Aelfric the Unhinged's boat talking about pixies.

If its all about housing then it really is just an elitist game for the few that can afford to pay lots of real money to snap up all the land deeds, and means the other 95% of players are wasting their time and money on this game as the housing is very limited.

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Nice concert wagram , You're breaking my heart in finding out that money makes games
Maybe if I make it to Duke I can have my likeness outlive me with a custom Avatar head?
And prospereau, in rare form as usual indeed Sir!
~Time Lord~

 

Wag, I really don't think the Devs or ANY OF US want to make an elitist game. Quite the contrary. Instead, when the community is well established and the game is released... hopefully it will be anything but elitist. In my ideal world, the established players will welcome newbs and the less fortunate and HELP them! That's how we roll. Let's say you don't start with a house and a plot...well I suspect the friends you make in game and whomp Lich butt with will let you stay at their place and someday contribute to your housing fund. I would much rather have friends that I can trust living in my house than have an empty house!

The goblet is half full my friend. And the game that is afoot is developing nicely.

Brian

 

Is it wrong that I feel strangely aroused by that?

DF.