What's the story?

[toray]

I've read the backstory... it's a nice setup for a fantasy world.

But once in the game, I would prefer to see more than just an environment for me to improve my stats and brag about how powerful I am. I want strong opposing civilizations / organizations to work against. I don't want to go out, kill things, improve my stats, sell my loot, and repeat ad nauseum. I want to defeat a threat of some sort... or at least to work against a threat. The threat must be relatively clearly defined...

If much of the conflict in the game is going to be player vs player, then the need for a massive GM controlled opposing force is reduced, as we can see very dynamic changes in the game world based on how we do as a group against other groups of players.

But if this isn't the case, we do need a raison d'etre, or the game will become a competition for bragging rights, and that gets stale for me.

Could one of the devs please post about what the in-game interaction will be like?

Thanks in advance.

[Rolfe]

Sorry about the delayed responses lately, we're really having trouble keeping up. We've all been working upwards of 70 hours a week and ... well you get the idea.

To the point, we're trying to create a lot of reasons to play besides just playing to level. We're trying to make the game fun on several levels. We don't want the only fun in Arcanity to be getting your next set of spells.

The questing will be very dynamic and will even be controlled largely by Campaign Managers (GM's in Arcanity for those who missed that thread) making them even more dynamic. So quests won't be like running to the bard down the street and giving him mail. There will be small "chores" like that to do too. But we're boasting real quests whereby players group and plan out their route of approach and stock up on their supplies somewhat.

Opposing forces will also play a fair part in the game. We will generally be discouraging random murdering, but if things get too stale, one of the ideas we have written down here is to start a war between two cities or even two entire races. The leaders (kings or Chieftains or whatever) of each race could offer a HIGH reward for bagging the head of a PC of the opposing race. The war could last for a few days or even a couple of weeks until we're able to package up and implement the next big adventure to spruce things up.

I don't know if everyone has read everything in the game section or not, and to tell you the truth, I can't even recall how much detail we went into on this, but in Arcanity, higher level players will be able to become a deity. When you kill a deity, you aquire his powers until someone kills you. You literally become that deity and you will have the power to fight against several others of your level all at once. You even get to live on your own plane of existence with your own personal guards. There's a lot of detail on this that I just don't have the patience or time to go into just now. I will point out that when you become that deity, statues in churches, temples, and town squares of that deity will take on your likeness.

We're doing all kinds of stuff to try and create a living world as opposed to just a babysitter/spawn machine.

[Edited by Rolfe on 09-27-2000 at 10:29 PM]

[Wrentia]

I can't wait to see statues of myself all over the place...:) These are the kinds of things that MMORPG's are missing. Now I have one buring question. What happens to a PC deity that is killed by another PC? Do they just become another regular PC again or is something else in the works? Like a period of servitude to the new Deity? Or a lengthy stay in the new deity's torture chamber?

-Wrentia

PS. You've just made everyone salivate some more....we want info! :)

[Rolfe]

he he, no, nothing crazy like that in the works. What if you just logged off during your period of servitude? I suppose the length of time could be in game hours or game days instead of real days. But the deity you defeat just goes back to the earthen plane with all their equipment in tact. Truly, they lose nothing. Losing their powers is more than enough let down I think. No point in confiscating all of their equipment too.

[toray]

It sounds good.. will you have enough CM's to keep all the groups of players occupied? Given the lawsuits at AOL and UO, I don't think you'll be able to rely on volunteer CMs

What if I don't want to be a god? I just want to be the greatest mortal warrior in the game :) Can I kick godling tail and decline the responsibility?

Looks like Camelot's gone to closed Beta as of next Monday. Shadowbane's in beta, Anarchy Online's almost there. Horizons looks like vaporware, as much as I wish it didn't. And Arcanity's gotta be closing in on Alpha... do you feel the large number of games arriving at about the same time will cut into your number of gamers? A lot of the other games have some pretty hefty fan sites (vault network, crossroads gaming network) giving them some muscle... I'd hate to see a quality game lose out because of a crowded marketplace, just because it's a relatively small team...

(ok, so I've wandered off-topic already - I created the thread, so I'm allowed).

[CorellianKnight]

hi. im one of the programmers working on arcanity. i would like to state that arcanity will not be a static world with just a mere backstory. because the designers will essentially be dungeon masters controlling the world expect major and minor story arcs to develop. there will be an on going story that encompasses arcanity. Arcanity will have major storylines that will affect the world and essentially the inhabitants of Novus. if i have things my way (rolfe and fogerty are still my bosses so id have to get approval from them :)), as one of the future Campaign managers expect an event that would force the inhabitants of the known world of Novus (good and evil) to unit and fight a common threat. i dont want to give too much away but remember Arcanity is set on a future earth... the game world that you will inhabit only encompasses the "known" world. other continents may exist on the otherside of the world and other civilizations may exist. are they peaceful, warlike? are they more technologically advanced? Or have they mastered superior forms of magic? do they have a particular goal in the land of arcanity? are they searching for something in particular, or are they merely bent on world expansion? as an individual u could choose not to join the rest of the world in protecting your way of existance... but if the people of novus lose... u can expect some drastic changes in the world.

also... besides major story arcs, as campaign managers we will be able to create new side quests on the fly. we can add new secret item locations, change the npcs so that they give new hints/rumors about these things. before u know it everyone will be hearing the tale about a forgotten sword that lies deep within the dungeons of alostria and groups will be racing to find this lost artifact.

eventually Arcanity will have History. Because the world is dynamic and major and minor events will occur... the world will remember these events... history will be written... and the library books will be updated.

believe me u wont be merely leveling up and just waiting for items to respawn (well u cant since we wont have static spawn points).

lastly... about all the other mmorpgs coming out. i dont think we're really worried about those games cutting our number of players. many of those mmorpgs look like they will be great games and all of us at brickhouse are looking forward to playing them... but regardless... if we build it, and build it well, they will come. also... and its been mentioned before... we havent spent millions of dollars on development and marketing. we arent in debt and even if we just have a thousand players, brickhouse trading wont dissolve due to a lack of funds.

thanks
nathan

[Scrote]

Allow me to interject at this point, if I may. As far as other games eating into Arcanity's player base goes, I feel that's a moot point. The devs have mentioned that they're happy to have fewer players if it means they can stay true to what they have in mind here.

And you gotta remember, people like different things. For example, out of the games you listed I don't think I'll play any for a substantial length of time unless they truly surprise me. Camelot - I've heard the devs here express their respect for it but everything I've seen about it says to me that it's a poor EQ/M59 clone. People are fighting skeletons for chrissakes, and bandits. And the bandits don't even have names - "A Bandit Lieutenant"... wtf? That detracts so much from the "living breathing world" I think so many people are searching for.

Horizons? Well, I actually think it's far from vaporware. I've seen their financials and they're on pretty steady ground. But as far as me playing the game goes, I don't see that happening. Demons, angels... wtf? (again)

Shadowbane - hm, could be fun. SIEGE WEAPONS! But it's likely gonna be dominated by a handful of huge and already established guilds which'll mean that casual players will probably get the shaft.

Anarchy Online? Bleah. Well they might do a good job with it, but that whole sci-fi thing just doesn't do it for me.

I don't claim to speak for everyone, but surely there's a percentage of people who think alike and we'll be glad when we get a chance to check out Arcanity.

Unless we're playing Baldur's Gate 2 that is... doh!

I'm going to be a little less rude and keep to the point of the thread and comment on what Rolfe said about toying with the idea of having folks declare war on each other. I'm a firm believer that half of the known world should be constantly at war with the other half, and at the same time there should be a whoooole bunch of in-fighting going on. My ideal setting for an online RPG would be Hyboria - Conan's world. Wars rise and fall as empires and kingdoms do, and it's a huge and mysterious world. Most of the characters in it don't know squat about the rest of the world - they have more than enough to deal with where they are. And when they do travel it's a wonderous and exciting thing to venture into new lands. And the magic in the books (and movies, to an extent)... ooh baby, you can't ask for more badass magicians than the ones in Conan's world. Solitary individuals with hidden agendas, feared and respected wherever they are, with immense powers... but also great weaknesses. If Arcanity ends up even a little like the world Robert E Howard created I'll be a very content scrote.

S'right,
Scrote

EDIT: Uh, ... didn't see what CorellianKnight said before I posted, now I have even more confidence about Arcanity. Thanks again Devs.

[Edited by Scrote on 09-28-2000 at 06:22 PM]

[Cynycal]

ok let me get really powerful and i'll create a threat...