We were recently invited for a tour of Ndoors Interactive's upcoming Free-to-Play item-mall supported 2D side-scrolling MMORPG, WonderKing. In WonderKing the world of Windus is being subjugated by an extremely evil group of people known as the Sinistry of Devils, and the Windus' only hope is for the hero prophesized by the prophet Jexius to appear. That hero would be the "Holy King," otherwise known as the WonderKing.
Players in the game are essentially all potential WonderKings (all with their own special role in the fate of Windus) and will choose from four basic class types: Mage, Swordsman, Thief, or Scout before embarking on their adventures to beat back the forces of darkness. Each of the four classes can branch again into one of four sub-classes. Each of these classes, as well as their sub-classes, focus on different basic statistics such as: strength, magic, or vitality, and players will receive five points every level with which to allocate to their chosen stats. For example, a Swordsman might focus on strength, while the Swordsman sub-class, the Knight, who is more of a tank, would focus on vitality for more health.
Skills are also available in the game, and players learn them through a skill tree. There is a basic skill tree as well as skill trees for your sub-classes. Anyone familiar with a World of Warcraft style talent tree should easily grasp this concept. For the purposes of our demo, we were provided with a level 30 (out of a current maximum of 150) Swordsman, and we made use of two Swordsman skills, the "Upper Flash" and "Flame Break" skills.
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One point that was emphasized is that WonderKing's skill system will focus heavily on making use of combos. What will truly separate poor players from mastered ones will be the proper management of skill delay and cooldowns between abilities.
As for the look and progression of the game, WonderKing makes use of a vibrant color palette and anime style. For example, no matter what your class you will play as a chibified, cute character. The game is very similar in look and style as Nexon's uber successful MapleStory.
Character controls are pretty simple and easy to use, though for someone who is used to using the WASD keys for movement, it certainly felt a bit alien making use of the arrow keys again. The arrow keys are used to move while the alt key is pressed to jump, or pressed twice in quick succession for a double jump. Players can also dash by double tapping the right or left arrow keys, and even air dash while jumping. The control key is used to attack and this can be done anywhere in the world, while the WASD keys are set up for your skill bar, and like your basic attack, skills can also be executed anywhere.
WonderKing also offers a number of non-combat activities, such as cooking, armor and weapon smithing, accessory crafting, and mining. With cooking, players can learn new recipes from an NPC in every town, and consume food to gain various buffs.
Armor and weapon smithing work similarly, though players can also proc rare and unique results while crafting, leading to much more potent items. Indeed, during our tour one of my peers crafted a rare Gladius. Weapons can also be enchanted with enchant stones, which when used will start a roulette, and depending on the results you can end up with multiple enchants per stone, though this is relatively rare.
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Mining allows players to gather ore for the use of crafting, or for quests, and in a bit of a twist, mining can also procure Wonderstones. Wonderstones allow players a chance to acquire cash shop items for free. Once a Wonderstone is activated the player is treated to slot machine-like interface called the Gambling Box. With the Gambling Box screen open the player is then required to hold down space to achieve the appropriate power level on the spin. Once the slots stop spinning, a random cash shop item (or in the case of our unfortunate host, nothing) is awarded to the player. On my spin, I received a Teleport Stone.
Speaking of teleporting, the folks at Ndoors Interactive really want to provide players with an easy means to get around, and so they have implemented a number of methods to that end. First, there is the NPC named Wapi, who will teleport you to various towns and areas if you meet the correct level requirement and have enough Zed (the game's currency). Players can also acquire Town Scrolls, which naturally, port them back to town. There is a also a third option, which would be the use of the Teleport Stone mentioned earlier. Teleport Stones are acquired solely through the cash shop and allow for players to use the World Map to teleport just about anywhere.
