Game design

In order for sandbox mechanics to mean something, there must be curated content to accompany the player’s choices. Which means, as the developers, we must create that Themebox style content but for every possible path the community may take. – Steven Sharif

Ashes of Creation is a PvX game built on the foundational principle of risk versus reward. The developers may seek feedback and make changes to portions of the game, but the core design pillars of the game will never be changed.

We will refine systems, we will iterate on systems, but we will never change the core identity of the intent and philosophical approach to what Ashes of Creation as an MMO brings to the MMO genre space... What we want to do is express that Ashes of Creation is endeavoring to build a risk-versus-reward centric PvX style game. And that intent and purpose will be delivered upon, and it will not change. – Steven Sharif

• Ashes of Creation is referred to by the developers as a "themebox" or "sandpark" game as they aim to create a reactive player-driven world accompanied by curated content.

When it comes to how MMO’s have been traditionally designed, most gamers are familiar with two distinct types of gameplay loops: the “theme park”, and the “sandbox”. The vast majority of MMO’s we’ve all seen come and go in the gaming industry have been of the theme park variety – these games put the player onto a specific path, guiding them along, with plenty of pretty sights in between the same old quest hubs, very little in divergent paths, virtually no freedom in player progression. Recently the MMO genre has seen some games of the sandbox nature come onto the scene, but despite the ultimate freedom the sandbox affords players, many are left wanting more, as there is by definition no pre built world content, no human touch, just the vastness of the “sand” for lack of a better term. Thus many MMO players often find themselves caught between the repetitive rock of the theme park or the vast dead spaces of the sandbox’s hard place. This chasm between the state of MMO gameplay loops is where we intend to inject Ashes of Creation’s Node system.

Q: How do you go about designing some of the more old school systems such as XP debt, minimal fast travel, and open world raiding that have really gone away for the most part in modern MMOs?

A: When looking at the reasoning behind why some of those old systems existed, a lot of it was centralized around the idea of risk versus reward. I mean, let's take a look at the three that you name, XP debt, minimal fast travel, and open world raiding. Experience debt is a cost of failure. Experience debt is the bite of not achieving success. If I die to a monster because my strategy was bad, because my performance was bad, because my planning was bad: all of that means that debt is the cost I pay for the bad choice... Minimal fast travel: My location matters; and the time it travels there is the cost I pay. Open world raiding: I'm not the only person interested in completing this objective. I have competition. That competition represents pressure. That pressure represents a desire to succeed and perform. All of those are touch points on player emotional connectivity. There is a reason why I want to succeed: Part of that reason can be incentivization through reward; part of that reason can be distance; it can be incentivization through failure. So that I think are one of the core fundamental philosophies as to how you design some of the more old-school systems. – Steven Sharif

Az Ashes of Creation kivitelezése öt fő dizájn pillért követ.

1. A magával ragadó történet
2. Reagáló világ
3. Játékosi beavatkozás
4. Játékosi befolyás
5. Kockázat jutalom ellenében

In designing Ashes of Creation, we adhere every detail to five main pillars: Engaging and Immersive Story, a Reactive World, Player Interaction, Player Agency, and Risk vs Reward. Even in the environment, everything you as the player do will tie into these pillars, while everything your guild does, everything your server does will ultimately keep the world fresh, ever-changing, and most importantly... exciting.

Inspiration from other titles

Lehet, hogy ez a fordítás elavult

Az Ashes of Creation több különböző MMORPG-ből merít inspirációt.

• Eve Online-ból a regionális gazdaság és a kockázat jutalom ellenében elmélet ami a szállításban jelenik meg.
• ArcheAge-ből az épület rendszer, szállítás és tengeri csaták.
• Lineage II-ből a kockázat jutalom ellenében, vár ostromok, megjelölés, nyílt terű PvP és a céh fejlődés.
• Star Wars Galaxies-ből a barkácsolás rendszer.

Sok rendszer a Lineage 2-ből egy olyan elméleten alapul, ami ma már nem gyakori az MMORPG-kben: kockázat jutalom ellenében. Az elgondolás, miszerint minél többet kockáztatsz annál nagyobb jutalmat érdemelsz alapjaiban eltér a "mindenki győztes, mindenki kap részvételi díjat, nesze, gratulálok hogy játszol a játékkal"-féle rendszertől, ami unalmas. Nem ad semmi olyat amitől valaki törekedne hogy elérjen valamit, és megérezze a súlyát annak ha valamit elveszít. Az ilyenek miatt játszanak szívesen az emberek, és ezek hiánya miatt olyan rövid-életűek az újabb játékok, mert mindegyik a WOW-al versenyzik. Nem muszáj a WOW-al versenyezni. Nem muszáj WOW leváltónak lenni. Lehet helyette valami olyanra fókuszálni ami játék dizájn-filozófiai szempontból más; és szerintem ez az amit sok kiadó nem akar manapság megkockáztatni. – Steven Sharif

Azzal kapcsolatosan hogy ezelőtt milyen volt, próbáljuk kideríteni hogy ki mit csinált a legjobban, és ebből inspirációt meríteni: előre léptetni a műfajt; megújítani amit kell, és a dolgokat a 21.-ik századba emelni. – Jeffrey Bard

PvP background

While Ashes of Creation took inspiration from Lineage II (and other games) it has also addressed several flaws in the implementation of those games. The approach of the flagging system in Ashes of Creation is to further disincentivize griefing while still allowing the system to keep risk relevant in the open-world setting.

First and foremost, PvP in Ashes exists in both opt-in systems and events, as well as our open world flagging system. And while it is true that I enjoyed and took much inspiration from games like Lineage 2, we have innovated and adapted our approach to Ashes’ flagging system in order to further disincentivize griefing while still allowing the system to keep risk relevant in the open world setting. The overwhelming majority of player’s experiences with PvP in Ashes will be through consensual systems like caravans, sieges, wars, the open sea and other events. Players will make a choice to participate in those systems or not. And if they choose to participate there will be significant rewards for success. – Steven Sharif

• Pvp in Ashes of Creation exists in both opt-in systems and events as well as open-world PvP with a flagging (and corruption) system.

In the open world, when competing for the scarcity of resources, raids, dungeons and or hunting grounds, an important element of risk vs reward is introduced through our flagging system. Players must be aware of their surroundings and the reputation of other players who may be in proximity. The flagging system is intended to always provide an element of risk in all settings, but also architected to ensure that griefing and PK’ing is almost never worth it. The subtleties of this system are complex, which is of course why it will require considerable testing and feedback. – Steven Sharif

• Corruption gain takes into account level disparity between the attacker and the player that was killed. The greater the disparity the higher the corruption accrued. Corruption penalties occur as the corruption is gained.

These are all things that I've changed in the system that help to safeguard some of those loopholes. Now of course, as we said, we can't and we don't want to 100% remove the ability for that risk to be alive- for that risk to be realized. But what we do want to do is make sure that those occasions are few and infrequent, and are not the majority of a player experience, let's say in the open world; and we do so by incorporating all of those risks and costs into a decision to gain corruption and then PK another player in the open world. It's just not going to be done often and that is my expectation and opinion. It's also the goal of the system is that griefing is not a viable option or play style. And as a result of that desire for the system, we will fine tune it in such a way through testing that that outcome is achieved. And that is the intent and purpose of the design. – Steven Sharif

• Corruption score has a scaling impact on skill and stat dampening that will ultimately make them ineffective at PvP combat.

• Working corruption off through XP grinding takes significantly longer than Lineage II.

• There is also a bounty system that reveals corrupt player locations on the map.

• Abilities with CC effects do not apply to non-combatants. This prevents players from opening attacks that stun unflagged players.

• Players who heal, buff, or otherwise support corrupted players will flag as combatants.

• Non-combatants can attack corrupted players without flagging themselves as combatants.

• There is a 60 second timer to logout while corrupt. Force-disconnecting the client during the cooldown will leave the character in-game.

Művészi stílus

Lehet, hogy ez a fordítás elavult

Az Ashes of Creation jobb grafikai kinézettel fog rendelkezni mint a legtöbb nyugati játék. Nem lesz túl stilizált vagy "rajzfilmszerű".

• Az Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale teszt módban fellelhető minden grafikai elemet az Intrepid Studios készítette.

Egy kicsit feszegethetjük a határokat a grafikai kinézet terén, főleg mivel Unreal Engine 4-et használunk... A vágyam az volt hogy ne lássak nagyon rajzfilmszerű játékokat. Nem rajongok az erősen stilizált művészetért. – Steven Sharif

Lehet, hogy ez a fordítás elavult

• Az Aelan építészet a középkori francia építészetből merít.
• A Dünir a Skandináv kultúrából merít.
• Lehet, hogy ez a fordítás elavult

Az Empyreanokon érződik a Görög-római imperialista beütés.

• The Kaelar have a European influence.
• Lehet, hogy ez a fordítás elavult

A Niküán Polinéziai befolyás érezhető.

• A Py'Rai-on Navajo Amerikai őslakos befolyás észlelhető. A Py'Rai építészet erdei stílusból merít.
• A Pyrian építészet Görög-római építészetből merít.
• The Vaelune have a Middle Eastern influence.
• Lehet, hogy ez a fordítás elavult

A Veken fellelhető Mezoamerikai befolyás.

Meglátjátok majd a különböző rasszokat, amik a játékos szemszögéből elérhetőek, sok különböző befolyás látható különböző kultúrákból világszerte: Nem csak Európai, nem csak Afrikai, nem Mezoamerikai. Ezek a kultúrák jelen lesznek a rasszokban. – Steven Sharif

Az elképzelés az, hogy találjunk egy alap komponenst a való világból, és ebből kiindulva tápláljuk a képzelőerőnket. – Steven Sharif

Kulturális utalások

Lehet, hogy ez a fordítás elavult

Lesznek válós kultúrára való utalások, főként valós ünnepek és történelmi megemlékezések.

• Ezek nem rontják majd el a játék világában való elmerülést, visszafogott utalások lesznek.

There will be some real world references, particularly with regards to potentially real world holidays as well as some historical events or cultures. For example the PAX East ship that was named Eleanor that we released a cosmetic of, you know, being a reference to the Eleanor ship that the tea was thrown off of; or colonialesque look. – Steven Sharif

Nyilvános fejlesztés

Az Intrepid Studios nyílt (átlátszó) fejlesztési formát végez, óvatos megfontolással szerkesztett bejelentések helyett.

I don't answer to a board. I don't answer to a publisher. We answer to our players; and we try to be as transparent as possible with showing our progress; and showing it in a timely manner. – Steven Sharif

I think that we live in an age where it's easy to be transparent if you're not trying to hide something. The downside is if you're showing something that's not a completed or finished product, it is incumbent upon the viewer to understand that fact. – Steven Sharif

There are obviously going to be some aspects of the development that we will not reveal, like lore and some system mechanics in order not to spoil the game for release. – Steven Sharif

Továbbiak

• Dizájn pillérek
• Ashes of Creation