And now, let us see the questions and answers:
?There are 8 different races, which is good but represent a lot of different content to build, that individual players won?t directly enjoy unless they reroll 7 times ? that?s worth taking into account when you?ll be allocating resources, it might be worth having just 4 races with double content for each?
I understand your concern here. We just wanted to give more diversity to the character creation. Beside that, we think, it may be boring, if everybody looks the same at the starting area in the beginning. People love different races and a mixed population in their area. Additionally, the 8 races do not mean 8 different types of content, as they are paired, and two races start in the same area. Talents and appearance is the main difference between them, and the discoverable history is dependant on the continent/area, not on the number of races. This basically means that new races mostly mean only new models.
We always kept in eye that the player doesn't have to start a new character to try out other content like in other games (i.e. WoW). The characters can forget skills, so if the player is bored of being a paladin, he can just start learning magic, and forget his other skills, which system worked nicely in SWG. Also, if someone is bored or doesn't like his continent (which is not likely, as all types of environments [desert, forest, mountains, etc.] can be found on any continent) is still free to leave it and settle down on another one. Basically, if the player has chosen a race which looks sympathetic to him, he does not have to change it by any means, because there is no content, which is unreachable by any race.
? A lot of very open aspects in the game are very fresh but seem difficult to balance :
o Choosing talents/disadvantages : probably very difficult to balance disadvantages
? Missing limbs, hunchbacks, limps etc : could bring a lot of extra work on models, armours, animations?.?
Talents and disadvantages are just little modifiers, which affect the numbers of starting values. So if you choose to have a missing leg, you may choose more intelligence for example. You won?t be able to run too fast, but you can cast more spells. These disadvantages can be compensated through other things. A missing leg by riding a horse; or a hunchback -preventing you to wear armour - can be compensated by additional magical shields etc.
As you can see, it is nothing more, just to handle the common mechanics ? known in other games too - in another way. We don?t like slide bars for allocating attribute points, so we want to do it in a roleplaying manner.
In any other games the player allocates points on a sheet and if he thinks, he doesn?t need too much speed, but he wants to spend his points rather into intellect, then he pushes some +/-buttons. In Renaissance he gets the feeling, why he can?t run as fast as the others.
Also we want to keep the look of Renaissance realistic dark. We think that people don?t like the fact, that in every game there are just shiny beautiful people. In Renaissance the player MAY play an ugly man if he wants, but it is not a ?must?. Disadvantages are just optional things, which can help the player to create his character more individual. It has also not always to be a missing leg or a hunchback. Lesser speed may come from an invisible disease, like rheumatism too. It is up to the player, if he chooses the one or the other (if he wants to choose one at all).
Balancing:
First of all, we think, that to balance a game 100% is impossible. You as a professional must know, that in every MMORPG there are always people, who cry for nerf and there are always things, which seem to be unbalanced and if you try to balance them, another one gets too strong or too weak.
We also think that too much balance in a game leads to boredom. If everything is balanced to the same level, should it not be enough to have one race and one class? I often watched PvP fights, which lasted for hours, because everything was so balanced, that no opponent could get an advantage on the other. Believe me, that was boring as hell. In today?s games there will be always certain races or classes, which are the alpha classes in the game, because after the actual ?balance? they became overpowered.
In our open system we can just play with variables and the player has to find the mix of these variables, which apply for him the best. Every skill and every advantage/disadvantage has an opposite part. A fireball skill is useless against a water shield and vice versa. We think, that this is the right way to balance a game, not to make predesigned classes and skills, which are all the same just with another special effect.
Another thing is that in a real roleplaying game, there is no need for balanced combat. A thief should not be an even opponent for a paladin in 1v1 fight, if the thief is spotted, he better flees. Balancing should not appear in combat skill nerfs, what should be balanced is gameplay, that everyone has the same level of fun.
The player should experiment and learn to play. We think, they are intelligent enough to find out, what is good against what and how to play a game. If there are more options to handle something, there is more diversity in gameplay and experience.
If you give them predefined skill-sets or classes, they are constricted into rules, which they can?t change and so they can?t find a better way to defend themselves. In a level based game a lower character will always be weaker as the other, because his level and his predefined skills don?t allow him to be more powerful. That is, what we try to change. We want to give the players skills and abilities, which they can choose freely and if an opponent comes with a fireball there are tens of possibilities to neutralize or weaken this fireball, but the player has to find out, how to do that. If he has a water shield to neutralize the fireball and it is still not powerful enough, than he has to practice it more or he has to find another way to get to his goal.
Extra work:
Sure, it is a bit more work to create a model with and without a leg, but it can be done and we think, that with a little effort we can get a huge plus out of the game in immersion and fun. We think, that today it is not enough to get attention by having the best graphics. Sure, it is good for the first look, because people don?t like ugly looking games, but nowadays all AAA titles have very nice graphics. If you can?t afford something else, which makes your game special, you won?t keep your subscribers just because of the graphics. So we think, the extra work is absolutely worth it.
A missing leg doesn?t mean that the model has no leg at all. It may be just a wooden piano-leg, like a pirate in old movies etc. so the character does not need an extraordinary different animation.
About armours etc.:
Armours shouldn?t be whole pieces, but smaller parts on the body. So if you have no arm, you just can?t put on bracers, but you can still wear a chest plate. Common clothes can be visualised by normal textures, which shouldn?t be too hard to be edited for a hunchback.
Another thing is, that probably no fighter will choose a hunchback or a missing arm for his character. Missing limbs have been already realized in Star Wars Galaxies, so it is possible.
Renaissance
Show Game Details
- Developer: 3D Magic
- Genre: Fantasy
- Status: Development (est. release N/A)
- Platforms:
- Website: http://renaissance-mmorpg.com
- Retail Price: n/a
- Monthly Fee: n/a
-
Renaissance RSS Feed
Renaissance » General Discussion » New Videos and Information
| Thread (4 posts) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
mike470 2/18/08 12:14:04 AM
|
||||
Guide
Joined: 2/11/08
Currently on vacation---be back in a week..I know you will all miss me ;) |
http://www.renaissance-mmorpg.com/english/ They came out with a couple new videos, which is a good sign to show that the game is progressing. All you have to do is click on that link, then media, ahen on videos and your there. Came across this on the forums about houses, some good info :) New exclusive artwork- http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/28545
Houses/Guilds- Guild = Predetermined NPC group by "profession". For example there is the Crafter Guild, where people go to learn and exercise crafting. Every crafter belongs to the crafter guild automatically. Or mage's guild, assassin's guild etc. The guild's positions can be filled by players with time. ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Interview (translated by Google)
Q: The game world Chronia was in a gigantic war destroyed and is now under construction. If we know about these Old World experience in the game, because she was obviously in its technical and advanced magic arts? Has to be careful because if you unlearn a skill, he can all the other skills that he has learned after, even lose!
Q: To the craft system is still a big mystery. In addition to the standard craft occupations such as arms makers, Armorer, tailors and carpenters compounded unusual handicrafts like cartographer and animal trainer. Are there has information on how the player a craft can run and it will take more than a monotonous button press? Redirect where it is needed. This technology has the advantage that with increasing number of players to create a new world, but only new hardware in the existing mount. As an architecture, for example. Big World. ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Interview in Hungarian- http://www.mmorpg-planet.de/index.php?page=1953401b01c107a86c9bef6b8de07df146f39d6c037cb&sub=1 ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Interview with mmosite.com
Renaissance is set in a dark medieval fantasy world, where tens of thousands of players can play together, on one single server. The story relies on the players¡¯ actions, which will also affect the environment dramatically. Epic quests and events, involving huge amounts of players - combatants and non combatants alike - are common and determine the way, how the story goes on. The players join in a living medieval world, called Chronia, which was devastated during a tremendous war, and the newly arrived people, who are the descendants of the ancient races, have to discover the history, rebuild the world and create a new order. Now, we have Attila Beke, the core member of 3D Magic, he comes to tell us more about Renaissance. Attila Beke: My Name is Attila Beke and I joined the team about a year ago. I have no professional background in the gaming industry, but I manage a few fansites and communities in the Hungarian part of the World Wide Web, so I was happy to take the tasks of the community relations at 3D Magic. The hard core of the team consists of 5 people but there are a few others, who are working on the title if extra work is needed. All together team is about 10 people working on Renaissance. They are all long time professionals, who have 10-15 years of experience in the gaming industry. Their previous works reach from Hitman to Warhammer Mark of Chaos, but some of the graphic artists were also working on the special effects to different movies, like Termintaor 3. Our motivation is simple: We are hardcore P&P and MMORPG players and the actual (and upcoming) games on the market do not satisfy our needs. We think, that today¡¯s games are cookie cutter products without real soul and also if they are fun for a few weeks and months, after a while they can not support the players? needs. We think, that they are just solo games in cooperative modus. We also read many message boards about MMORPGs and we know, there are thousands of people, who think the same. There are always the same ideas and topics swirling around on the net and people are crying for a real MMORPG, just like we do. So we decided: If the mountain will not come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain. MMOsite.com: Attila Beke: Renaissance is a game for true and hardcore roleplayers. There are hardcore rules and no compromises; no nerf to make the whiners happy (constructive criticism is welcome though). In Renaissance you can really influence the world. The world will reveal itself by the actions of the community and true heroes will be always remembered in the world. You can write history in Chronia. There is no grind. Progress and character advancement is just the way, not the goal in Chronia. There is no end game and no level cap. We try to realize as many features, as possible, which are long time topics in every RPG board, like player made quests, a dynamic world, thievery, castle sieges, epic battles etc. MMOsite.com: How does the project progress? You mentioned that you make Renaissance in your spare time. Does it influence the progress of the game? Attila Beke: Unfortunately the project has slowed down in the last months. We are focusing our resources to switch from semi professional to professional state and the coding and modeling is not our first priority at the moment. We have meetings with possible investors and partners, we work on business plans, we are looking for an office and we do all the other things, which are needed to become a professional studio. Yes, it influences the progress and we are not happy about it, but we hope, that we can make the change in this year and we can continue the work in full time. MMOsite.com: Can you give us some details about the storyline behind the game? How will gamers influence the story? Attila Beke: The story takes place on a fictional planet called Chronia, which was completely destroyed in a huge world war between the ancient races. For a second chance the gods start to recreate the world and populate it with human beings and creatures. The new inhabitants (the player characters) are the new life forms of the souls, left behind after the war. These people have to try to build a new community and a new order, but the evil does not sleep either. It is a harsh world and the players¡¯ task is to ensure, that there will be no old mistakes made again. The players can influence the story in many ways, because there are many story lines. In the first chapter they have to explore and discover the world and reveal the history of Chronia, while they build communities, conquer the lands and seas. This will be their own story line. Who discovered what, who controls which route, which kingdom is allied with whom and who is their enemy etc. These things will be noted by the King and his decisions to govern the continent will be based on these actions. For example he may dishonor a clan and announce that everybody is free to hunt their members. A battle between two clans is not just a 2 hours fun for the participants, but it will be acknowledged by everybody and it may result in things, which can change the life of many other players. There will be smaller story lines with smaller quests, which may only change the world in a smaller area, but there will be epic story lines too, where the community has to choose by their actions, which directions they want to go. For example the player¡¯s actions determine, if he wants to be on the good side or rather on the evil side. The balance between good and evil will influence the life of all inhabitants and the following events. MMOsite.com: Attila Beke: Chronia is one seamless world with all kinds of areas. There are deserts, woods, rocky mountains, icy lands and everything you can see in other games too. Maybe there will be places, which you can not see in other games too¡ who knows¡ If we instance an area, it is just for a short time to beware the atmosphere or for technical reasons. The community in Renaissance will stay always together, because it is a community game, not a solo-group game. The boss mob has to be slain by the community and only once, also if the way to him is instanced.MMOsite.com: Attila Beke: First of all we do not like shards and we think, a real RPG can be played in only one world. "Tens of thousands of players can play together, on one single server", which is similar to EVE. What were your considerations to adopt such a mode? Attila Beke: Character customization is very important for us. You can create your character very unique. Beside the appearance you may choose your talents, but the first time in an MMORPG you may choose disadvantages too. For example, you may chose a missing leg, so you can not run fast, but in exchange you can choose one more talent, like better crafting abilities. Disadvantages are optional. We want to allow people to create ugly characters too, not just shiny beautiful people, but if they choose this more role playing way, we want to reward them. There will be no predefined classes in the game. You can freely choose your skillsets and based on the balance of your skills, you get titles, which indicate your "class". If you manly use fire magic skills, you get a title "Firemagician", if you mainly use protecting auras and sword skills, you get a "Paladin" title. MMOsite.com: Say something about the combat system in Renaissance. Attila Beke: A very difficult topic. We still did not decide how combat exactly works in Renaissance. It is for sure, that it will be a hybrid between action based combat and classical "hit-a-button-and-watch" combat. A magician will have to cast his spells actively and a bard will play his music almost in real time (but you do not need to sign up in the local music school to be able to play a bard. ) MMOsite.com: How does magic function in Renaissance? What types are there? How are spells acquired, and does casting them require mana, runes, reagents or anything similar? Attila Beke: Magic is based on "laws of nature" in Renaissance. It will require different types of mana, but mana is not omnipresent everywhere and in everyone. The question is not: "How long is your mana bar", but "How much and what kind of mana is in that actual area and how much knowledge do you own to use it". We call this type of mana "Environmental Mana". The flow of mana is influenced by other things too, so even if you are a great death magician, maybe you can not do anything in the moment, because you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe you need somebody with other abilities, who can help you being able to cast your spells. There are eight types of Magic: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Death, Divine, Arcane and Nature. As I said before, the magician must cast his spells actively. It is not just to hit the spell button and watch the animation. There will be spells, which can only be cast in the group and you will need some ingredients too. MMOsite.com: Is there much in the way of activities aside from fighting? Are there any non-combat skills or abilities? Attila Beke: Of course there are other activities. There will be plenty of crafting in the game, because we want a really 100% community driven economy in the world. There will be also thievery, building cities, trading, mining, exploring, minigames you can play in the hostelry and of course events, events and events again. MMOsite.com: Interaction is very important to MMORPGs, so how do you encourage teamwork, and on the other hand, how does the PK system work? Attila Beke: Teamwork will be encouraged by different rules within the community. In Renaissance nobody can survive alone. Sorry for all the solo players, but it is so. We want to be the first, who allow the players to do actions in group, which were strictly solo activities in other games. For example you can craft alone, but if you craft in a group (and I do not mean, that you are in a group but craft on your own!), you will get a better item and more reward. The simplest quest will also require teamwork and interaction with other players also if you do the quest alone. Maybe you do not need a group to solve the problem, but you need a player with different abilities to solve a part of the problem. PK is also a very important topic. In Renaissance PvP is almost everywhere, but there will be harsh rules for asocial characters. If you want to play an asocial character, you can do it, but if you choose this way, you have to count with consequences. If you kill innocent people, you will be hunted and you have to think twice about entering a city, because you may be caught and put in jail, or be punished in other ways. There are rules, which allow people to be evil and there are rules, which try to prevent people doing bad things. It is just your decision, which way you take, but always think about the consequences and do not cry if something bad happens to you. MMOsite.com: Anything else you want to share with our readers? Attila Beke: Please keep in mind, that we are at the very beginning of the development. What I said may find it is way into the final game, maybe not. We have to test and try things, before we can say: It is in. Nonetheless, if you like our ideas and want Renaissance to be a real game, please visit our homepage (http://3dmagicbox.com) and share your opinion and ideas on the forum. Many thanks to mmosite.com for introducing our game to their readers and many thanks to the people, who visit our sites and support our work!
Answers on Devlopment Which language are you programming in? |
|||
|
"Jealously leads to Anger, Anger leads to Hate, Hate leads to posting on mmorpg.com I blame WoW. " -SoulSurfer |
||||
|
Woopin 3/22/08 10:46:58 PM
|
||||
MMORPG.COM Staff
Joined: 3/14/07 |
Nice post made it a sticky |
|||
| ---------------- |
||||
|
mike470 3/23/08 10:31:42 AM
|
||||
|
Guide
Joined: 2/11/08
Currently on vacation---be back in a week..I know you will all miss me ;) |
Originally posted by Woopin
Edit- I added the state of development to the thread. |
|||
|
"Jealously leads to Anger, Anger leads to Hate, Hate leads to posting on mmorpg.com I blame WoW. " -SoulSurfer |
||||
|
mike470 5/10/08 11:09:39 PM
|
||||
|
Guide
Joined: 2/11/08
Currently on vacation---be back in a week..I know you will all miss me ;) |
More info!
o Repartition of attributes between classes: | |||