All Posts by Jatar

Well, Teamspeak is a product name, and we are not including that company's product in our game.  We do have a built in player voice chat system

Also, there are other things to do while in the Reflected worlds other than Quests, Adventures and Crafting.  (And using the word 'Crafting' will no doubt bring up the wrong impression of what you are doing at that time.)  It's a big world, and there are many, many ways to play in Citadel of Sorcery.  Quests and Adventures are the primary game play elements, but that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of other choices.

As for gaining abilities, you don't go to the 'Tomes of knowledge'.  You go to your League office and get a quest to obtain a Tome of Knowledge.  It is then up to you to win the tome.  Once you own it you can study it and practice the Ability.  Both study and practice can advance your skill.

That's if for the moment, though I might weigh in again later :)

I'm glad Mike470 is enjoying himself collecting facts, but he does have a few facts that need adjustment.

There is NO release date at this time, none.

There is NO Beta date at this time, none.

Players are NOT limited to 30 abilities.

It's true that flying mounts are not currently in the game, but they are not ruled out completely either.

Other than than that, be aware that this is a very incomplete look at the game.  This is not Mike470's fault, he's collecting what he can, but much of the game is still kept secret and many of the facts he is collecting are incomplete (on purpose).  Still, most of  the list is accurate as far as it goes.

Weather is something we're still developing, so how it affects torches is yet to be decided.  However, we are considering (not promising) that heavy rain could put out a torch (but not a lantern) and wind could affect the flame.  We'll see.  We have many weather related effects under consideration, but at this time they are back burner to getting our primary technology and game play working together.

Mike, we do plan on having a light Ability, but it's a little different than you are thinking.  You can 'throw' light.  Example: there is a dark hallway ahead, you can send light down the hallway, lighting it briefly to see what is hiding in the shadows.  Or, send up a 'flare' into the night sky to light a battlefield.

The thing is, we don't want to eliminate the use of torches in the game.  Your character holds a torch, and the light is very realistic.  If you are attacked while holding a torch you will have to decide what to do.  Hit the monster with the torch?  Toss it to the ground so you can pull a weapon (which will cause the light of the torch to come from the ground, making for weird shadows and less light).  Anyway, yes to a Light Ability, but not to replace torches, they are too much fun.

Originally posted by HashBrick

I'm pretty pissed off Friction did not name the credit that gave him the damn info to begin with, but anyway.

This goes further then most of you know, I did some investigating on Aventurine which you can read here if you wish I'm not summing this up. Of coarse the thread is now locked since the mods love to glorify themselves in their power circles. http://mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/187818

Then else where he was going on about CoS, so I dug up information on the domains, plotted some maps and found the address linked to the company. Easily I may add, there was no doubt in my mind CoS was indeed developing something. http://mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/2114420#2114420

Anyway Friction now has a boner to go after every other game since his is more than likely never seeing the light of day.

Interesting, so the second link shows how Friction2u was willing to lie and do whatever it took to come 'troll' our game just to get back at 'mike', (Mike470?).  

Still, I was wrong to flare up about it.  The tone (not facts) of my response were out of line.  I apologize to the community.  It won't happen again.

That said, all I ask is that people ask us for information rather than make up things that just aren't true by wildly speculating.

Here are some facts to clear up the latest round of speculation:

1) Atlantis3D, Inc. is not making Citadel of Sorcery.  The connection is simply the licensing of an engine and two employees of A3D now work for MMO Magic, Inc.  One of these is Mr. DeRuyter, who runs a P.O. Box that he uses to get mail for both companies (since he works for both).

2) Mr. DeRuyter's brother works for A3D. 

3) MMO Magic, Inc.  is not a 'family' business of the DeRuyters.  Mr. DeRuyter is currently the Director of Level Design at MMO Magic, Inc.,   (Not that I have anything against a family business, we just aren't one).

Anything else you want to know?  Just ask.

 
<Mod edit>

Let's simply set the record straight.  We've made no real secrets of much of our development, so I'm not sure what the user Friction2U thinks he is uncovering.  Some people just have too much time and not enough to do I guess.

Let's start with Atlantis3D, Inc.  This is a small technology development company.  They began making a new 3D engine quite a few years ago.  During that process they turned out some nice screensavers as tests of the early engine.  A long time has past since then and now they have licensed their improved engine to several industries, including the game industry. 

MMO Magic, Inc., as stated in numerous places that Friction2U could have read if he even bothered, is a small team of game industry professionals.  We've made no secret of this, anywhere.  I think <Mod edit>

As for the connection between A3D and MMO Magic, Inc., two employees of A3D were involved in the team that started MMO Magic, Inc.  They brokered the deal for the engine and then moved over to MMO Magic, Inc. since they were really from the game industry originally.  For the past 2 plus years the engine has been further developed and improved by MMO Magic’s programmers for use in Citadel of Sorcery, which has specific needs in an engine not included in the basic package created by A3D.

The 'nefarious' location that Friction2U supposedly uncovered is a P.O. Box we use to keep meddlesome people like Friction2U from coming and bothering us while we work on Citadel of Sorcery.  The P.O. Box is located near Mr. DeRuyter's house so that it is easy for him to check the box regularly.  There, big mystery uncovered!  And yes, Mr. DeRuyter has some personal family web sites, and this matters… how?

If Friction2U had bothered to do even BASIC research he would have found that Mr. DeRuyter has worked at other game companies, in various positions, including Producer on a shipped title.  Most of the people involved in the MMO Magic team have credits on many shipped games in the industry. 

We choose NOT to seek a publisher at this point in development so that the game could be made to our original design.  As previously publicly stated, we will seek a publisher when we feel the game is far enough along to prove the game design by allowing a publisher to experience the game, not read about the design.  We are far along toward this goal, but not there yet.   Art is only being taken so far, we only need it good enough to prove game play.   Not that we think much of Friction2U’s opinion anyway on even our prototype.

We have made little secret of the size of our team, or what we are doing.  If he had bothered to read he would have also found that we stated that the game is far in technology and design, but barely started in art.   Rather than make groundless and childish accusations about things of which he has no knowledge, why didn’t Friction2U just ask or bother to read?   No, he is just wasting your time and ours.

Well, this is the last response we will be posting to that user.  We will, however, be glad to answer anyone else’s questions about the project on any area in which we are allowed to give out information.  Some information  about the game is of course, kept secret, and some information about who is working on the game is also kept secret <Mod edit>
 
 
 

Originally posted by TdogSkal 

I know that.

My question isn't "What's outside of the Reflected Worlds"  but What can you do outside of the Reflected Worlds?"

Do you see my point?

Yes I understand your point now and I CANNOT answer that question, that is a question only Jatar can answer.
 

I'd have to type about twenty pages to answer that, and go into many areas that we don't want to release yet. 

There are MANY things to do outside the reflected worlds.  There are things like: mini-games,  tournaments, story elements, social events,  guild related, quest related, information and research,  character or guild maintenance, shopping, tours and tutorials,  meetings with the high and mighty,  diversions, performance and entertainment, many, many things to do under most of these areas.  Too many to talk about, and details that I'm not yet allowed to go into, but LOTS to do for players.

Back on topic though...

Would I play this game?

Well, it seems odd for one of the members of the team to post a reply to this thread, but... YES!

The thing is, Citadel of Sorcery is being designed so that no one can post walk throughs on the net.  Or a different way of putting it, even if I wrote a quest I could still play it and have fun, and be surprised by what came next.  Sure, I might know the flavor of the quest (if I wrote it) but I would still not know all the details of what was happening until it happened.

Of course, I'm not writing all the quests (who could?) So it is likely that there will be MANY quests I can play just like everyone else.  And I can tell you, I AM looking forward to getting on a quest with some friends and seeing where it takes me. 

I was reading the design on one just the other day... you see, there was this egg.... well, not a real egg, it was egg shaped, man made, valuable... I think, mysterious, yes, everyone wanted the damn thing... hell, the Tyvens were going ape $#|+ over the thing (you know Tyvens, they have a thing for eggs).  There was this master thief, and this NASTY grim spirit...  

Anyway... it sounded exciting, and well, amusing all at the same time.  Can't wait to play that one and see what happens in the end.

I think you guys will find that you will get the majority of your Abilities from one or two Leagues, and then perhaps kind of 'minor' in another one or two, and likely get some Abilities from all leagues. 

What will really set you apart from other players will not be the Leagues in which you get Abilities, so much as which Abilities you choose and perhaps even more importantly, which ones you advance.  As you progress Abilities you will reach Echelons, getting new 'features' for that Ability.  Additionally, there is another 'goal' in grouping Abilities.  More on that later... 

Originally posted by mike470

I understood and agreed with the under post, I just wanted to point this out.

When I spoke about content, I made the assumption that quests continue to stay my level.  But, what I do not understand, is how side skills will be leveled.   Things like, for example, herblore, tracking, etc.  You see, I do not know much of the ability system, I do not know if it attributes to your overall level or is just a side skill.

Example:  If I have 193 tracking, will that effect my overall level (like in Oblivion) or is it just a side skill that does not effect my level whatsoever (like in RuneScape).

The point of my post was that there has to be content for side skills as well.

We don't write content for Abilities.  Nor does Oblivioin or RuneScape's systems match ours in any similar way.  It's really very simple, you are on quests, you have Abilities, you use the ones that are useful during that quest.  There are no useless Abilities, nor any that are needed at all times.  We don't write quests for an Ability, we just have quests and you decide which ones to use. 

I think you guys are making this more complex than it needs to be.  Look, if I have a tracking Ability and there is a monster that I could track... then I can use that ability.  If I don't have tracking at that moment, I'll do something else.  Quests aren't linear, everyone with ANY set of Abilities can finish the quest.  You use what you have, and later, if you decide you might like to add another Ability you can go learn that whenever you wish.

I know this doesn't answer your questions about how our Ability system works, because we haven't released all the information on that yet.   But... we have explained that you can learn what you want.  So... if you learn to swim, then you can swim across the moat and go in that secret entrance... and if you don't know how to swim, then you'll nave to use a boat, or the draw bridge or launch yourself over the wall with a catapult   :)  The point is, use what Abilities you have, but we don't write content for Abilities, we just write quests and let you figure out how you want to tackle the hurdles.

Content isn't really an issue in our system since each quest is tailored to the players on the quest.  (you don't go on the exact same quests as anyone else, it's your story, we make it right for you).

As for 'god like' characters, that's not really feasible in our system of Ability advancement.  Sure, you can work toward perfection, we will allow you to constantly work further toward that goal, but you can never actually achieve perfection.  Such is true in life, and in CoS. 

Example: In real life It's easy to run a six minute mile, and not that hard to get to a five minute mile, but as you get faster and faster gains become smaller and smaller.  By the time you break the four minute mile shaving off another 1/10th of a second might take you months of hard work.  Then, could you shave off another tenth?  Sure you could, it's POSSIBLE, improbable, yes, but not impossible.  There is no limit to how fast you can run the mile, but each gain gets harder and harder, but technically, there is no 'cap'.  This is the system of Abilities in CoS, there IS no cap, but gains become harder and harder to achieve, but players, like people, need the chance that they could still get better.

Originally posted by bigups43

...Allowing players to build skills without end, is a bad idea. There has to be some skill or level cap for sure because - as stated - there WILL be uber godlike players and what not.

 

Perhaps, but putting a 'cap' on things is annoying as well.  Players want to keep improving their character.  We're considering a system of diminishing gains.  This means there is no reachable cap on improving an Ability, but the higher the player improves the Ability the less the gain at the next advancement.  Therefore they can keep improving an Ability, but getting it to reach 'God like' power is a nearly impossible achievement.

They would be better off getting new Abilities where the gains were greater for their hard earned 'study' tokens, but players are not precluded from advancing their current Abilities if that's their desire.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Originally posted by mike470

I'm right there with you Robert. 

I love the concept of CoS, and it's finally something different than the average game.  I look forward to doing interesting quests, which finally make me use my mind, where I CAN'T find the quests on some site on the internet.  I love great quests, and this is why I think I (and many other players) will enjoy CoS.

Oh, and I agree, I would love to see some videos and screenshots of the new art revamp once it is ready to be shown! But to speak the truth, in a game with all the features of CoS, graphics aren't even important compared to gameplay...Gameplay over graphics any day IMO.

Oh, and a quick question for Jatar:

Will this new site have official forums??

Just had to ask.

Maybe, but with official forums comes official work.  Forums take a lot of moderation or you end up with all kinds of spam and porn (or porn spam).  Not to mention users posting foul language, hate messages etc.

Our team is focused on creating the game and we don't want to spend assets on moderating forums.right now, which is why we don't have them yet.  Typically forums are put up by the publisher of the game, not the developer.

Yeah, some website grabbed a bunch of my answers from MMORPG and made them into some kind of pseudo interview. 

They could have just asked for a real interview with our lead designer.

To put a period on this, the news was posted. The main two areas of news were about the new animation pipeline and the Artificial Intelligence net.

Both are still not finished :(   However, they do have progress. 

Originally posted by mike470

Ahh yes, very true.  Graphics are the least important feature in any game, as long as the gameplay is good.  So many games put too much time into graphics, and not enough time in getting the actual gameplay correct.  It's nice to know you go for gameplay first.

I'm tired of all this eye candy on the market..

 AS I always say:

Gameplay over graphics.

 

I agree with you!   However, I don't want to imply that we don't intend to make the game look awesome.  We do.  It's just a matter of order.  First we make sure the game play is the best we can possibly manage, and once that is in and tested, at that point we turn to the artwork and make the world more beautiful.

One thing you should know is that the engine behind Citadel of Sorcery is cutting edge.  This means that once we turn artists lose with our engine they have the technology to make a great looking world.  This rendering technology is already in place and ready to go.   But it would be premature to spend a lot of art time making assets before we nail down the game play. 

So, as I said, Game Play first... but we WILL get to the look of the world and make it as stunning as possible.  Personally, I like a great looking game... just not at the expense of bad game play.

Sorry, but you will be waiting some time before we release any in game footage.  You have to understand the nature of the world right now, it's built out of a lot of placeholder art (mixed with a few real pieces).  This makes for a patchwork look in the world right now.  Since people are SO visually oriented, and judge games too harshly (when they are looking at something this early in development) it is just much easier NOT to show something that isn't finished.

We've stated before, the technology and design are very far along, the art is not.  It is unlikely we will show much of the visual side of the game for some time.  There is an article on the game coming out in a major game magazine in the next few months with some additional screenshots, but even those were pried from our grasp under protest.  However, they were so interested in the game play that they talked us into it.  No, I'm not telling you what magazine yet, we'll release that when it comes out.

Until then, you'll have to be satisfied with all the information on the game design we have released, which we believe is far more than most game companies are willing to do this far out.  The thing is, we have so much MORE that we haven't told you.  It may  seem like we are revealing a lot of details, but more is actually held back for later :)

What we have released is our way of getting people excited about the game play BEFORE we get to the visuals.  Understandably, once excited you want to 'see' more.   That will happen, but you'll need to be patient.  We will continue to keep people informed as to our progress so that they understand what we are doing, and why visuals are not yet forthcoming.  Game play first.

Originally posted by TdogSkal

Originally posted by Jatar

The day night cycle in Citadel of Sorcery will be shorter than a normal day / night cycle on earth.  This is simply so that a player who can only play at a certain time each night (say after work) will not always find themselves at the same time of day or night when they log on to play.

However, there is no simple answer for how long that cycle is, since it changes with the seasons.  Remember, in Citadel of Sorcery, time moves on, seasons change, years go by.

As to your second question, time is consistent across all the Reflected Worlds.  Thus, when it is 6 pm, in the Citadel it is 6 pm everywhere.  One departure from reality (on earth) is that there are no time zones. 

The seasons change will that attack combat at all... Lets say its winter will that effect fire spells or water spells?
 

Will weather effect the flight of arrows or movement speed?

Lets say its raining will that effect how far you can see?

Just random questions on the weather/season system.

The weather system is still under development, so some answers will have to wait.  However, movement speed and vision will definitely be affected by some weather conditions and wind will affect the flight of arrows.   All three of these affects will change combat.  Whether there are other weather affects in combat is yet to be decided.

The simple answer to your question is that we haven't set the exact amount of alts allowed per account, but it will likely be between 5 and 10.

As to wanting to play more alts so you can experience different races, there are some interesting twists to the game and story that affect this.... but we aren't talking about that yet.

Just be advised that you can play alts if that's what you want to do. 

As for servers, Mike470 had it correct, but what he didn't state was that players can move servers anytime they want, quickly and simply.  I mean, if you think about it, if we are attempting to place you on a server with all your friends or guild members.  This is impossible to achieve with 100% accuracy.  What if most of your friends are on one server, and a few on another.  We would put you with the majority.  But what if you wanted to group up with those few on the other server?  In this case we put you on the wrong server.  You can then simply switch to the other sever in a few seconds and can now group up with those other friends.  (or, they could come to your sever, either way works).  Of course, there is more to this than this simple explanation, but you cam get the general idea from this example.

The day night cycle in Citadel of Sorcery will be shorter than a normal day / night cycle on earth.  This is simply so that a player who can only play at a certain time each night (say after work) will not always find themselves at the same time of day or night when they log on to play.

However, there is no simple answer for how long that cycle is, since it changes with the seasons.  Remember, in Citadel of Sorcery, time moves on, seasons change, years go by.

As to your second question, time is consistent across all the Reflected Worlds.  Thus, when it is 6 pm, in the Citadel it is 6 pm everywhere.  One departure from reality (on earth) is that there are no time zones.