This weekend we took time to sit with the Chronicles of Elyria and go through some of their steps to break down development of the game. The team is moving forward and had a fantastic booth at the show. With any MMO in development, it is a process and Chronicles has been very transparent with their fans. Jeromy Walsh and Director of Production, Vye Alexander gave us a break down of where the game is moving and how quickly their team is expanding.
The first big point of news is that Chronicles has expanded their team to twenty one developers. This expansion has brought in loads of talent and allowed the team a much stronger approach to design. The game is building out their front and back end tech. With a solid team working together they have broken out their design objectives making it easier for development and giving fans something to look forward too.
The first step is a solid prologue model which will be a single player experience of the game. This gives Chronicles as foundation for character creation and adds a taste of what the game will be like at the early zones. Having the single player prologue is a picture of the MMO for both the devs and the fans. It will work in the visual style and game mechanics. Players will be able to get used to the game and be ready for the full open world MMO as it expands. We’re excited to hear about this step. After learning about the full scope from Vye, we wished other MMOs would do this. It gives a solid opening to the game in pre-alpha and will get fans ready for the full game.
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The next step is to break out the Kingdom Management systems. These will also be playable in a simplistic UI for fans. As you go through Elyria your family lineage plays a huge part, especially with a game your character can age out and a new heir is born. So, to really structure the kingdom system they’ll be producing a portion of the game which players can take part in and find out how the system works. Once in place, it will be combined with the rest of the game and maintain the history of the experience. This portion of the game will also be playable in early alpha bringing in the second piece of the puzzle.
The third aspect of pre-alpha is Elyria’s system to manage the laws and taxes through an online experience. Continuously working to get players involved in how the lineage system works this will help you manage the laws and taxes of the kingdoms. This part will be also be playable in pre-alpha. Vye explained that once all of these systems are in place it will be very easy to merge them together into the overall MMO. By that time players will have a good working knowledge gameplay, kingdom management, and story. They will have a lore base and know the lineage system to help other new players coming into the game.
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Jeromy was really excited for the family system and how players can help each other out in Elyria. With these three systems in pre-alpha it creates the perfect place for new players to find their path among the original backers on the project. It also helps the dev team validate the systems in place and work with fans on feedback.
Chronicles of Elyria is moving in the right direction. With a larger team in place and a pipeline for development which they are willing to share with fans. The game is ramping up nicely. We’ll continue to look at everything coming from them over the next few months as the pre-alpha mechanics go into the player’s hands. Chronicles is in place for a busy 2017 and they are bringing their audience with them for the ride.
