Recap: Developer Chat 7/8/13 (DEMO & EDITOR – SCREENSHOTS)

Today's developer chat and demo presentation included Lord British, Starr Long, Geoff Mellon, Bill Kirkman, Chris Spears, Scott Jennings (Lum), Stephen Daniele, and Gina (FireLotus). Below is a brief recap of the hour. I encourage everyone to watch the video, not only because it was very visual, but because I may overlook or mishear something.

Screenshot gallery is available on my site! (too many to post here)

Video: Hangout of the Avatar - 7.8.13

Summary:

• Resource availability will vary depending on the environment, time of day, weather.
• Recipes for crafting are sharable in game/out of game. You do not need to "learn" how to make a chair within the game, but, for example, if you have the necessary skill and you read online that it takes 2 planks and 4 dowels, your character will be able to do it.
• LB reconfirms that there is no plan for a quest log or highlighted keywords. You can talk in full sentences. You will not see map highlights showing quest locations. Rather, the dialog hints will be enough to go by.
• You will be able to adjust the camera zoom and there will be first person view if you zoom in fully.
• Bags can hold normal objects, and there will be some paperdoll slots where you can hold any size object on your person, as long as it meets the weight restriction.
• There will be a chat log of recent conversation and you will be able to control the speed of chat.
• Target graphic detail compared to other games - a little below Skyrim, but more colorful and stylized.
• LB does not want to highlight hex boundaries - says it will be evident what type of hex it is (forest, swamp) but it is something they can easily provide if there is a need to.
• There will be various types of trees that have quality wood suitable for harvesting.
• You will be able to customize/lock UI on the screen.
• If you are in the same instance as another player and they harvest a resource, you can not - but they do not anticipate a resource shortage due to other players. Rare resources will be harder to find or well guarded.
• Design will determine if a resource is randomly scattered or appears at specific locations.
• They are hoping that characters will look good enough that old school character/player portraits when conversing are not necessary. They may zoom in during chat (unsure.)
• Tesla towers offer some protection to towns/cities from the dark forces (and this is why towns/cities will be closer to power sources than a village)
• Tracy Hickman's novel: planned to start releasing chapters within a few weeks.
• There are player "levels." It's an indication of how many skill points you've had to distribute. Character growth is linear (almost flat) - levels/points add diversity and growth in skill.
• They will soon release the dungeon asset kit to developer level and above.
• The concept art in the screenshot gallery shows some of Stephen's unique creations - creatures that serve as food for dragons, a monster hidden in the ground, a little 'landshark' creature (aww!) and a giant coral type of creature. Love that big guy! There is currently a higher res version of this in the Dev+ forum.

Click here for the screenshot gallery!

 

Thanks for the update. I once again missed the chat.

I am a bit disappointed to learn that recipes can be obtained off of the internet, uh I mean other players. Historically certain items had their recipes secret. Damascus steel for example.

 

It probably just cuts out unnecessary tedium. Either way, the internet will provide the recipe you can immediately use (if you have high enough skill) or it will have a step-by-step walkthrough on how to "learn" it in game. Very little in the way of secrets in games in this day Whether there are steps to do in game before you can use it, or its use is immediate, some players will just look it up and some players can avoid it and have the fun of experimenting. I personally like experimenting

I wouldn't be surprised if there are some craftables that have prerequisite quests before you can do 'em though.

 

Any methods that could be used to not make them obtainable from elsewhere would be about impossible. That said the only thing keeping you from not learning them on your own is your own willpower. If you do not want to learn them from elsewhere, don't go peeking

Im happy with the decision on this personally, for that reason. If trying to figure them out on your own is not something you want to do and is not fun to you, you can go searching for them. If you want to, just don't go looking. It gives both sorts of people the option for their personal play style and choice.

 

Personally I'm hoping some players will take it upon themselves to write these things down in books so they can be researched in-game rather than looked up online. It's a more immersive option.

 

I outlined such a system, which I am hoping to have ready for playtest in a couple of months. It is not impossible. Perhaps
undesirable for some. I'm curious to see how it works in a game.

 

The only thing I was really disappointed of was to see, that we have a levelsystem. One of the most important hopes for SotA was NO stupid useless levelsystem. It's just there to FORCE people to play. I had much hope here and now, if ask myself "why did i pledge at all?" I think I have to sell my account. *walking away sadly*

 

But I think that this level system is not like the traditional WOW-style level system. Maybe seems more like a orientation? Anyway I think that they will read our critics about this.

 

Yes from what I understood from the chat was level is more of a representation of accumulated skills.
You can go anywhere and try anything from day 1 level 0 (if you want to call it that).
So if you want to try out the hardest dungeon in the land you can it isn't tied to level like Wow instances etc.

 

What part of the comment from LB on leveling is disappointing? They've said a number of times that character growth (aka leveling) is linear, almost flat, not exponential growth as in WoW and other games, and as said above, there are no level walls preventing you from doing whatever you want to do. It's an indication of the number of skill points you've earned.

 

I am not sure about it yet. Maybe there will follow more details. I liked the skill and statbase of UO, BUT without skillscap. Btw. is balancing in PvP e.g. much easier and better if everyone can change from one day to an other what he wants to do. If you limit skills and stats a way you cant change what u are, that's difficult. You would never have discussions about that one special "build". One day I just take my bow and another day I pick my spellbook. If you keep statpoints low, you can blanace very well. If you have a manapool of a million, you simply can't do that. if your manapool is maxed to 100 or 125 and a strong spell costs e.g. 45 mana, you can only use it 2- max 3 times. So I hope they give a thought about balancing by statpoints. MUCH more efficent.

Dungeons should be defined by items or a long time you need to do them if you have no equip.

 

Thanks Dame Lori! your recap keeps SotA fans updated!
Until now I translated your recap to Japanese for Japanese fans but I began trying to make recap myself with my view point from this time hangout!
As Ultima and SotA fan I am glad to keep guys updated and excited for community conversation.
Thanks!