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July 24, 2008 QotW
kb056
Member CommonPosts: 423
in Fallen Earth
Lee Hammock writes:
As y’all have seen, we’ve been continuing our increased online presence, and these recent updates will be the norm for the future. We may not have a big update every week, but expect to see a lot more similar posts in the future. Also, some of the design staff are going to be more active answering questions on the forums. Canticle has already started posting and we’ll probably have a few more folks in the next few weeks.
As Canticle mentioned in one of his posts, we’re now at feature complete, so all the features that are going in the game for release are now in the game. There will almost certainly be further tweaking of systems, particularly in light of what we find during testing, and – worst-case scenario – we may have to re-tool something completely. But there won't be any totally new features added before we ship. This means you’ll be hearing the dreaded “Not for release,” phrase more often, since we have a pretty good idea of what we’re shipping with. (New systems and features will of course show up in future expansions.)
On a more positive side, we’ve had some interesting developments lately in what we’re calling “town events.” These are scripted events associated with a specific town that players can interact with, and which change as the storyline progresses. For example:
?Boneclaw has defenses you can build up to fight off a raider attack, and the town actually gets more fortified (structures appear) as you bring in construction materials for barriers, supplies, etc.
?In Clinton FARM there is a series if missions involving toxic waste in a mine system; these missions change the layout of some encounter areas, as well as what happens in the mine, based on where you are in the story and the efforts of other players.
?In Embry Crossroads you can do missions for the Bankers that cause some pretty impressive monsters to spawn in the town’s gladiator arena, and they’re monsters no one player will take down alone.
With the town events we’ve added a lot more interactivity and cooperation to Fallen Earth, particularly in the starter towns.
And on to the questions:
1. Did you guys ever figure out a way to let more than one person ride in a vehicle, or is that still a "not at release" thing?
It’s most likely going to be one of the first things the vehicle folks work on after release. It’s a functionality we really want to have.
2. Are there plans for "Server Events", ala the opening of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj in WoW?
Yes, we already are looking at planning a few of these.
The most basic server events planned are retaking towns. We have some towns we weren’t able to give appropriate love to during development, so instead of taking them out completely most of them are overrun by raiders, infected, etc. After launch, players will be able to go in and free these places in server events.
3. From a design philosophy viewpoint, does FE have one style of gameplay during leveling, and another at "endgame"? I think many people are frustrated how games change and have 2 dramatically different feels to them.
It’s designed to be one style of gameplay throughout.
4. Can you delve more into the parts that will make the world feel alive?
The town events help with that as the world reacts to the actions of the players. We’ve also got lots of color conversers and scenes going in the town so players can see the NPCs talk amongst themselves, go about their daily routines, etc.
5. Once at max level/AP attainment, what factors do you see driving players to continue on? Is it faction advancement, gear attainment, PVP?
Exploration, since players will only have seen a portion of the content, is a big factor. Crafting, faction advancement, and PvP are definitely other options. Also following up on storylines you missed is a big one, plus we’re scheduling regular content updates.
6. Are there any iconic creatures left in the game?
Lots and lots of them. Hermit crabs, infected, creepers, lizard-dogs, etc. The landshark was just too silly to remain.
As y’all have seen, we’ve been continuing our increased online presence, and these recent updates will be the norm for the future. We may not have a big update every week, but expect to see a lot more similar posts in the future. Also, some of the design staff are going to be more active answering questions on the forums. Canticle has already started posting and we’ll probably have a few more folks in the next few weeks.
As Canticle mentioned in one of his posts, we’re now at feature complete, so all the features that are going in the game for release are now in the game. There will almost certainly be further tweaking of systems, particularly in light of what we find during testing, and – worst-case scenario – we may have to re-tool something completely. But there won't be any totally new features added before we ship. This means you’ll be hearing the dreaded “Not for release,” phrase more often, since we have a pretty good idea of what we’re shipping with. (New systems and features will of course show up in future expansions.)
On a more positive side, we’ve had some interesting developments lately in what we’re calling “town events.” These are scripted events associated with a specific town that players can interact with, and which change as the storyline progresses. For example:
?Boneclaw has defenses you can build up to fight off a raider attack, and the town actually gets more fortified (structures appear) as you bring in construction materials for barriers, supplies, etc.
?In Clinton FARM there is a series if missions involving toxic waste in a mine system; these missions change the layout of some encounter areas, as well as what happens in the mine, based on where you are in the story and the efforts of other players.
?In Embry Crossroads you can do missions for the Bankers that cause some pretty impressive monsters to spawn in the town’s gladiator arena, and they’re monsters no one player will take down alone.
With the town events we’ve added a lot more interactivity and cooperation to Fallen Earth, particularly in the starter towns.
And on to the questions:
1. Did you guys ever figure out a way to let more than one person ride in a vehicle, or is that still a "not at release" thing?
It’s most likely going to be one of the first things the vehicle folks work on after release. It’s a functionality we really want to have.
2. Are there plans for "Server Events", ala the opening of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj in WoW?
Yes, we already are looking at planning a few of these.
The most basic server events planned are retaking towns. We have some towns we weren’t able to give appropriate love to during development, so instead of taking them out completely most of them are overrun by raiders, infected, etc. After launch, players will be able to go in and free these places in server events.
3. From a design philosophy viewpoint, does FE have one style of gameplay during leveling, and another at "endgame"? I think many people are frustrated how games change and have 2 dramatically different feels to them.
It’s designed to be one style of gameplay throughout.
4. Can you delve more into the parts that will make the world feel alive?
The town events help with that as the world reacts to the actions of the players. We’ve also got lots of color conversers and scenes going in the town so players can see the NPCs talk amongst themselves, go about their daily routines, etc.
5. Once at max level/AP attainment, what factors do you see driving players to continue on? Is it faction advancement, gear attainment, PVP?
Exploration, since players will only have seen a portion of the content, is a big factor. Crafting, faction advancement, and PvP are definitely other options. Also following up on storylines you missed is a big one, plus we’re scheduling regular content updates.
6. Are there any iconic creatures left in the game?
Lots and lots of them. Hermit crabs, infected, creepers, lizard-dogs, etc. The landshark was just too silly to remain.
Comments
well there goes my landshark mount
Sounds as beta is comming closer now. Or have it begun??
it wouldn't surprize me if a few were already in.
Sure. Every day we are getting one day closer to beta...