Unknown Content

score

I heard someone comment recently on the advertisement for DnL on the mmorpg.com main page. It states something along the lines about how the world is so vast that the creators don't even know what's in it.

This person said that that statement changed their whole view on the game because he thinks that they are lying.

First of all, why would they lie?

There are many reasons why they say this.

The NPCs go off and do things on their own. In a response to the comment on the ad, someone stated that the devs went back to some valley and found a town that the npcs built by themselves. The devs had no idea it existed. I have no links to backup this finding, though.

If the above finding is true, I assume that npcs are also smart enough to stash their own treasure in different places in the world.

Also, due to the weather, the creators will never precisely known an area's current state.

For a game as huge as DnL, you can't expect the devs to go over every square inch. Even the terrain was taken from satelite pictures and converted to a 3D landscape.

punkrock

i think there telling the truth.

Wotann

---

Originally posted by punkrock
i think there telling the truth.

---

They are - The game engine they're using is quite powerful. The devs create and place major cities (there will be 213 major cities if I remember correctly), but the engine places villages and mana fountains and those things. And with a playable area of 40.000 square kilometers there is no way the devs can know where everything is.

Nemo sine vitio est

Karuji

Is this a globe or a plane. If the world doesn't circle around then lands could be continually added so that nobody can ever reach the end of the map.

score

I don't believe that the world is spherical. So yes, they could very well add more land on.

That brings up a question. What defines the boundaries to the world? I don't ever recall seeing that anywhere.

Wotann

I recall reading that there will be natural boundaries between kingdoms, i.e mountains or seas. And it's correct that the world can be expanded with new content. I recall reading about an exansion being planned for 'under sea management' - It probably means that there will be sunken cities to explore when it is released. Player made buildings are also rumored to come with an expansion. - The devs can't implemet everything they want to and make the set release in April/May.

I guess we'll have to wait and see just what makes release and what will be added later.

Nemo sine vitio est

score

I can understand natural boundaries coming into play, but from the way this game looks like it is going to work, there will always be a way to get around them, so I don't think they will be using those as barriers for the end of the world.

As seen in the latest video, where the guy flies up really high on a dragon and jumps, what is to stop him from flying over a mountain? Or climbing over it?

That is, unless the mountain goes straight up for miles, but that would look rediculous from a distance =P

I'm really curious to what they are using and what they will use. They obviously have to be using something to confine the beta testing area.

Oakstead

---

Originally posted by score

I heard someone comment recently on the advertisement for DnL on the mmorpg.com main page. It states something along the lines about how the world is so vast that the creators don't even know what's in it.
This person said that that statement changed their whole view on the game because he thinks that they are lying.
First of all, why would they lie?
There are many reasons why they say this.
The NPCs go off and do things on their own. In a response to the comment on the ad, someone stated that the devs went back to some valley and found a town that the npcs built by themselves. The devs had no idea it existed. I have no links to backup this finding, though.
If the above finding is true, I assume that npcs are also smart enough to stash their own treasure in different places in the world.
Also, due to the weather, the creators will never precisely known an area's current state.

For a game as huge as DnL, you can't expect the devs to go over every square inch. Even the terrain was taken from satelite pictures and converted to a 3D landscape.

---

I would also add that the world of Dark and Light is built proceedurally. Instead of some designer explicitly laying out the land and putting things in it they have a program that does that. All the designers do is vary some parameters. The satellite pictures would be used just to give the general topography of the land. So treasures, MOBs, NPC towns, land type, resources, etc would all be semi-randomly defined without any human knowing about them.

Of couse on top of this proceedurally defined world the devs put in theor own explicitly designed things.

While this game does have races of intelligent NPC's I don't know if they will make their own towns or use the proceedurally generated ones.

Finduilas

It's stuff like this that excites me about the new mmorpgs. I play a ranger (or nearest class) and like to head out into the wild and explore. It would be great to just keep going, further and further from civilisation, and maybe see stuff first, and relate it back to my guild. Sooner or later, unless restricted, as in EQ, you see everything there is to see in a game world.

There is a component to WISH, in which mobs randomly spawn in a certain location, until they are ALL killed off, then they get wise and move on, so you cannot camp the area for days grinding out exp. You have to contstantly explore, and I like this too.

Karuji

Well maybe the mountains don't go on upward forever but if they go high enough to have ice on top that means you will probably die of either extremely cold temperatures or lack of air since it does thin the higher up you go. And why wouldn't you want people to be able to get into the other kingdom? That would just mean you would need to beef up defenses on the front lines

Xzaro

There are no boundaries.

Karuji

Well that sorta sounds like the Mexico/USA border. I guess anyone that gets to close to the border will be KOS