This week is a seminal one for the Camelot Unchained team as they take to the airwaves to talk about the game that man are looking to as a return to old-school MMOs with definite new-school elements. Today in the second of our CU features, Mark Jacobs et al are ready to talk about the progression system. Check out our exclusive interview before heading to the Camelot Unchained Twitch.tv channel right about now to participate in a live stream event where even more will be revealed.
Introduction – Trouble in River City
- Leveling up in most modern MMORPGs has become too easy, lessening the players’ sense of accomplishment
- Typical theme-park style MMORPGs push players through their linear content too fast; players don’t have time to enjoy the world around them
- Some modern MMORPGs’ streamlining actually increases the “ grindy” feeling, due to constant progression feedback with little downtime
- Players are encouraged to rush their way through the game, leveling quickly to get to the “end game” or to “cap out” their characters
Our Solution – Part I
- As per the Kickstarter , we are designing our game so that players don’t reach the soft cap in a short period of time. Our slow but steady progression system uses individual stat and ability progression instead of generic EXP
- Our mantra is “Use it to improve it!” If a player wants to get stronger, he must do things that increase his strength. This system enhances immersion by tying the players’ actions directly to their character
- In Camelot Unchained, players gradually improve their performance by small amounts
- Character progression in specific areas allows players to unlock access to new skills and ability components
Our Solution – Part II
- Players receive their progression rewards based on a “Daily Report,” rather than instantaneously
- At the end of each “game day”, players are rewarded with improvements to their character’s stats, skills, and abilities
- Players even get bonus resources based on heroic achievements and defensive actions, such as guarding player caravans
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Character Progression Rewards
- Players improve a stat by performing actions that use that stat: Swinging a heavy sword increases your strength, allowing you to use heavier swords
- Players increase proficiency with ability components by using abilities that contain them: Using Fire Ball increases proficiency with the Fire and Ball components
- Players improve passive skills by using abilities that trigger their effects: A skill which reduces enemy fire resistance when a player deals fire damage becomes more effective through use of fire damage abilities
Progression Limits
- As per our Kickstarter campaign and updates, a small amount of vertical progression will reward players for using stats and skills
- • o hard limits! Stats, skills, and ability components have soft caps for progression, after which advancement slows considerably
- Even with unlimited advancement, vertical progression is carefully designed so new players will always be competitive with veteran players
Daily Report – Welcome to BSC!
- Each player gets an email (and/or in-game) report that shows what they accomplished during the last day’s play session. Everything that the player did is listed in the report: defending, killing, mining, building, crafting, destroying, and more!
- You see a list of rewards that you earned from the game (stat and skill gains, new unlocks, etc.) and from the king of your Realm (gold, medals, honors, etc.)
- The DR also shows the overall accomplishments of your Realm, its status (for example, the number of players that signed on), and other factors of the overall reward calculation
- The DR shows only the aggregate reward, not the rewards for individual actions Daily Report – BSC Benefits
- Because rewards are daily instead of immediate, exploit detection is easier, and we can punish destructive behavior such as “Keep Trading” between Realms
- Thus, rather than only caring about your own personal gains, you have an incentive to have fun, go where you want, and become a productive member of your Realm
- The actions of every player within a Realm count toward the rewards of Realm-mates. Helping out your Realm-mates and cooperating to achieve goals means better rewards for everyone!
Realm News
- A daily email with server-specific and Realm-specific news keeps players in touch with the world
- The Realm News will change every day, based on the Realm’s challenges and accomplishments
- Unlike the DR, this is focused on your Realm’s activities, and highlights some of the top players’ accomplishments during that cycle
- The game’s story is not written ahead of time in a series of quests like a themepark style game. Instead, the players are in control of their stories
- News headlines recognize important events and player achievements in a more meaningful way than simple leaderboards
Summary
- CSE’s experience point and progression systems are unique among MMORPGs and most, if not all, computer RPGs
- By tying players’ actions directly to their progression in stats, abilities, etc., we add fun and increase immersion
- The aggregation of data over 24 hours allows a very realistic snapshot of what occurred over that period, and advanced data mining brings scaling rewards based on that data
- The progression system rewards players for playing the game as it was intended (no cross-realm Keep T rading), and rewards based not only on individual actions but those of the Realm
