Hey folks! Welcome back to another edition of the Landmark column, slightly delayed due to some birthday shenanigans on my part as I’m now 31! Not exactly elven or dwarven aged… but probably closer to smelly cheese-aged by my reckoning.
Today’s Landmark column delves primarily into two big things related to future development for Landmark that should also have repercussions for Everquest Next some day in the far-flung future. Aside from cave formations, we’ll be discussing a poll they put up to see what race should next get a head start in being developed.
Craving Caves
As previously mentioned, caves are a big part of what they’ll be introducing in the future to Landmark, and these caves will most likely play a part in how Everquest Next will be generated, technology wise.
The most recent Landmark livestream teased the development of the caves with three new screenshots, with the one below being the best one out of them all.
According to the stream, caves will have their own biome – the general environment type and look for a cave. Depending on where you are in the world, the caves will have their own biomes, and will look and feel different, having their own curves, drops, twists and turns.
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The Dwarven Simulator!
The next Round Table Poll is also set for a limited time to determine which race is going to get developed before the other. There are only two choices for this one, and they’re between Dark Elves and Dwarves.
Personally, I would go for Dark Elves because they have such deliciously evil awesome lorewise, but this week’s special guest is Linda “Brasse” Carlson, the “resident dwarven overlord.”
Calling Landmark a “Dwarven Simulator,” she called the vote stupid, and got most of the rest of the team to vote for Dwarves (despite the obvious Dark Elf love). The poll will end Tuesday, and the winning vote gets developed first.
To this I say… please vote Dark Elves! As of this writing, it’s currently 52% to 48% in favor of dark elves! Woohoo!
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The Workshop
The poll leads to a collaborative endeavor that will impact Everquest Next as well. Called a Workshop, players can take a style guide for the architecture of the races and then build stuff based on the style guide.
The workshop will allow people to not only showcase their talent, but will also allow their input and their creations to become part of the design document that will dictate how dwarven or dark elven cities will look like.
To top this off, a segment on Landmark Live will feature player builds in the future. According to the stream, the team will review the builds, and then note how those builds will be implemented into the style guides.
Anyway, that’s all we have for this week’s Landmark column. Next week, I hope to hear victory for the Dark Elves!
Victor Barreiro Jr. / Victor Barreiro Jr. maintains the Everquest Next/Landmark column (and formerly the Devil’s Advocate column) for MMORPG.com. He also writes for news website Rappler as a technology reporter. You can find more of his writings on Games and Geekery and on Twitter at @vbarreirojr.
Last week’s column: Water and Steam
New Props and a Teleport Feature
New Video Shines Light on Player Creativity
