Dark Days Are Coming - New Funcom Project

[Ookii]

Do all the factions get swords or just the Dragon? Methinks the kiddies will all want to be Dragon if they have all the katanas.

[Megrim]

Implementing a Templar faction without longswords would be remarkably stupid.

[Kageru]

The interview said that race and weapon are personal choices and not faction specific.

[Famine]

The screens are evocative, in a very good way. They definitely look to me like AoC, but in a much more interesting world.

The no levels line seems bogus. You pursue social "ranking" in your faction, which unlocks access to better equipment, which is no doubt key to your becoming more effective and receiving and being able to take on tougher missions. By any other name.

The hollow earth PvP is sounding to me like Aion's Abyss, with three player factions duking it out instead of two + NPC. I'd like to know what a cell is, that's not inspiring. In fact the hollow earth has none of the appeal that those screens create - without a context it just sounds like make-work PvP. Like the AoC minigames.

It's still going to be a game about killing stuff and levelling, oh well. Great screens, though, the lore may be a lot of fun.

It's hard to really get away from that for the simple fact there is progression (where should I progress?). You also in respect need to have some type of mechanic to measure my power versus target power. There are always unique ways to do that and I think the different approaches are the good factor here.

[UnSub]

I agree that it is very hard to get away from that, but WAR did the 'we aren't going to have levels - here are ranks and reknown ranks instead' switch. The social ranking measure is just a way to gate content - which I understand the necessity of doing so - but it is a form of levelling. Especially since you just tied it into 'player power'. It also depends on how you can increase it - I'm guessing PvP action and PvE missions will help.

It's not a bad obfuscation, but I'll wait to see the full mechanic to judge it. I mean, you could potentially have social ranking with all of the different societies, meaning your character would have different abilities to interact with each, but the way it is described makes it sound more limited - you'd only have one rank for the society you are with.

[tmp]

The hollow earth PvP is sounding to me like Aion's Abyss, with three player factions duking it out instead of two + NPC. I'd like to know what a cell is, that's not inspiring. In fact the hollow earth has none of the appeal that those screens create - without a context it just sounds like make-work PvP. Like the AoC minigames.

From this bit:

There's going to be a persistent and on-going battle underground that players can jump into anytime. Cells are captured and defended on the cabal level so while it's not necessary to belong to a cabal, you cannot expect to be able to harvest anima if you don't. Cabals can build turrets to help defend their cells. There will be other benefits to capturing cells, in the form of buffs affecting the whole secret society, so what's happening underground has a consequence on the PvE play aboveground.

... it sounds to me like reskinned Notum Wars from Anarchy Online rather than Aion, actually. "cell" would be then just a hotspot which can be controlled by a guild cabal.

[tmp]

Interview with Ragnar at Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Some details on factions and the PvP.

[Severian]

... it sounds to me like reskinned Notum Wars from Anarchy Online rather than Aion, actually. "cell" would be then just a hotspot which can be controlled by a guild cabal.

I'm sure you're right, I'm not familiar with Notum Wars.

I guess what I was driving at is that the hollow earth side of the game sounds almost completely abstracted from the rest of the very appealing setting, more so than Aion, actually. Three sides endlessly fight for territory in a purpose-constructed setting (not in the modern day streets like the rest of the game) to gain and hold resources which generally help their one-third of the server population, and which directly help the PvP guilds doing the fighting. I understand why it's designed like that: sequestered off, three permanent sides, it's a design going back to DAoC, it just seems bolted-on and yawn.

Unless the PvP itself is well-designed, and I suppose there's potential with the classless system and leveling supposedly leading to breadth of combat skills as opposed to raw power. But we've heard that before, it's all in the implementation, especially if the same system is used used for PvE progression. Upgrading weapons through the PvP resource "anima" - the main point of the battles for cells - does sound strictly linear.

[Kageru]

Open warfare in the hidden places and politics and subterfuge in the surface world sounds good to me. If you had 100 mages lobbing fireballs around the city it's not really much of a secret anymore. This approach lets them keep both elements in balance. Though if the game revolves primarily around PvP I'm less interested.

[Skullface]

I agree that it is very hard to get away from that, but WAR did the 'we aren't going to have levels - here are ranks and reknown ranks instead' switch. The social ranking measure is just a way to gate content - which I understand the necessity of doing so - but it is a form of levelling. 

IIRC, WAR didn't have any levels besides RR, correct? The whole idea being that RR was simply a way of telling someone's age/prowess and was dumped in the EA "MAKE IT LIKE WOW" debacle?

Or was that crazy early beta and/or I'm imagining stuff? 

[Ard]

Or was that crazy early beta and/or I'm imagining stuff? 

[Skullface]

Or was that crazy early beta and/or I'm imagining stuff? 

Appreciate the clarification.

[gryeyes]

I guess what I was driving at is that the hollow earth side of the game sounds almost completely abstracted from the rest of the very appealing setting, more so than Aion, actually. Three sides endlessly fight for territory in a purpose-constructed setting (not in the modern day streets like the rest of the game) to gain and hold resources which generally help their one-third of the server population, and which directly help the PvP guilds doing the fighting. I understand why it's designed like that: sequestered off, three permanent sides, it's a design going back to DAoC, it just seems bolted-on and yawn.

I agree the "battleground" for pvp resources grind seems pretty divorced from how the setting was portrayed. The more I see and hear the "Asian target audience" (Cant seem to source that, but Im 95% certain it was said) statement starts to become a bit more worrying. It also seems pretty much firmly a high fantasy setting. While I thought it was going for more a occult hiding in the shadows type of deal.

[schild]

I agree that it is very hard to get away from that, but WAR did the 'we aren't going to have levels - here are ranks and reknown ranks instead' switch. The social ranking measure is just a way to gate content - which I understand the necessity of doing so - but it is a form of levelling. 

IIRC, WAR didn't have any levels besides RR, correct? The whole idea being that RR was simply a way of telling someone's age/prowess and was dumped in the EA "MAKE IT LIKE WOW" debacle?

Or was that crazy early beta and/or I'm imagining stuff? 

WAR had levels for everything.

Even its levels had levels.

[ashrik]

WAR had levels, called rank from 1 to 40 and honor ranks, called renown rank from 1 to 80. Their claim to not have levels (did they even make this claim? I don't remember hearing it) would have never been deeper than "our levels are called ranks".

But the idea of a skill-based advancement system isn't exactly new or unknown, or impossible to guess at. UO, EVE, Darkfall, that type of shit is pretty much the only thing they could be referring to, right? EVE has a faction system that rewards better gear too, doesn't it? But it doesn't have such a focus that it simply takes the place of leveling.

[Severian]

RPS: Can you just explain the classless progression idea?

Tørnquist: We wanted to make a game system that was at home in the modern world.
...it has some important basic ideas: players will have a sort of deck of cards which will say how their character is going to be. They will be able to shuffle that deck to change how they play as they go along, they're going to open up more options for that deck as they go along. It's much more dynamic than other such games, you won't get stuck as the tank or the healer, and you should be able to contribute to the process and to the party no matter who you are. Clothes aren't going to have stats – you can choose whether you want to wear sneakers and a T-shirt, or if you want full goth outfit, or a dress and high heels. All those things are possible, and they're not going to effect how your character plays.

...you can play for a reasonably limited amount of time and get skills that will allow you take part in the group, even if the area is quite dangerous, and the party quite experienced. They will be able to go more places than you, have more options at their disposal, and be able to do missions you can't, fight enemies you cannot fight, but you will still be able to play with them in a group and contribute without having played as much as they have.

As you explore you do missions, and open up characters. There are areas that are more dangerous than others, and there are progressions from one area to another into more difficult encounters. You can go to harder areas, but you will struggle unless you are with a tougher group of players. But most importantly there is a linear storyline for you to follow, the story that explains why you can do all this amazing stuff. Following the story takes you to new locations in a sort of "ideal sequence".

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/04/22/interview-t%C3%B8rnquist-on-the-secret-world/

[Falwell]

Funcom picks up the Enlighten middleware for use in TSW.

Quote from Ragnar

You know those new TSW screenshots? Outdated. Things are going to look a hell of a lot better with Enlighten. Trust me.

[UnSub]

I can see why TSW doesn't have any prospective release dates.

[Aez]

The official release date : when it's halfway done.

[jakonovski]

The official release date : when it's halfway done.

*sizzle*

[tmp]

Funcom picks up the Enlighten middleware for use in TSW.

Since the original article never bothers to explain it, Enlighten is a package for real time calculation of radiosity lighting. Supposedly CCP also picked this up a while ago for their 'walking in stations' expansion for Eve.

[Draegan]

I obviously have no idea how hard/easy it is to implement a system like that into an existing system.

[UnSub]

It's probably not hard, plus the third party group would be looking to help Funcom implement it, but it just takes time.

Also, it's going into AoC as well, so it looks like they are linking it to whatever engine (Dreamscape?) that Funcom uses.

[patience]

The official release date : when it's halfway done.

Just like the game their engine is named after. God I want to know how they are going to resolve that cliffhanger.

[TripleDES]

The official release date : when it's halfway done.

Just like the game their engine is named after. God I want to know how they are going to resolve that cliffhanger.

Going after what Tornquist said elsewhere, not before TSW and another unannounced project have been done. 

[UnSub]

According to some sharedholder documents I saw when looking for info on AoC player numbers, Funcom has two 'casual' MMOs planned before they made their next major product launch. I'm guessing that TSW isn't one of their casual MMOs.

They might have also changed these plans - I haven't read any recent filings by them to see.

[Falwell]

Yikes

[SnakeCharmer]

Odd, considering they just opened up an office in Montreal.  Unless they're using the cheaper labor in Montreal vs the more expensive labor in Norway.

[Severian]

Dark days have arrived.

[Cosmik]

Odd, considering they just opened up an office in Montreal.  Unless they're using the cheaper labor in Montreal vs the more expensive labor in Norway.

Exactly. From Gamesindustry.biz;

Funcom, which currently employs around 300 staff worldwide, is attempting to shift the bulk of its workforce to Canada to take advantage of a 37.5 per cent salary reimbursement from the state of Quebec, and with salaries generally lower there the company could stand to cut around half of its wage bill.

[NiX]

Go go Canada! Though I'd be sad if Quebec became the next big hub for game development, damn francophones.

[Surlyboi]

Please, the correct term is "Maplefrogs".

[NiX]

Maple would imply they're Canadian.

[Surlyboi]

Granted. They're upstate New Yorkers with bad accents.

[Brogarn]

Granted. They're upstate New Yorkers with bad accents.