14. WORLD

What will the atmosphere of the game feel like?

I envision a very realistic looking world with dashes of high fantasy thrown in. Because architects can specialize in various building designs, many towns will probably be a mish-mash of various architecture. I imagine the world the players make as being, for the most part, chaotic.

Is the world a seamless world or are there "zones"?

Naturally, I'd rather have the 'seamless' world. But, if it comes down to a choice between a huge boring everything looks alike and I can't figure out how to load textures then get rid of them from your memory cause I employ incompetent programmers, then I would gladly stick you with loading times for zones. I think the most important part of landscape in general is that there should be lots of interesting terrain. Traveling over the same 'rolling hills' or 'forest' crap is downright boring. I'd want to be able to take someone well traveled, drop him into the world and within one minute have him know where he was.

Will it be everyone on one server or multiple servers?

One big server. The trick is to have the world not only large but ever growing.

Are there "bottlenecks" in the terrain where it is impassable and forces you into canyons or valleys to get from area to area?

Not unless players make them. There is no such thing, for example, as an impassible mountain range. No invisible walls will prevent you from going over the mountains. Now, your movement speed may be reduced, you may take damage from falling, you may be unable to continue up the mountain when your character starts failing climbing checks but if your character is a 'sherpa' they can eventually get across. If a lake is too wide, swimmers may run out of energy and drown, etc. It would be impractical to move any kind of massing of troops through these obstacles (and forget siege equipment). Some types of terrain (tall grasses, bushes, brambles) slow down movement. In some games, (DAOC) they attempt to have terrain be meaningful by having lame 'invisible walls' to prevent someone from going over a mountain or above a certain altitude. In EQ's Luclin expansion, I noticed some of the hills were 'slippery' (real pain in the rear as you have to stand in one spot to cast a spell). I was thinking that instead of invisible walls, one could make the mountains 'slippery' - the higher you go, the more 'slip factor' you have. That would allow a nifty skill like 'climbing' to exist - it would negate slip factor. Having a maxed out (or massively high) climbing would all but negate the slip factor of even the tallest mountains.

I like to discover things, mysteries and secrets. I mean, things that make me think a bit and that can surprise me. Will I find this?

I'd like to have some things that pure adventures can find and be the only one to find them. I don't care if it is a bunch of cash on a stump that doesn't respawn but sticks around till it is picked up or a cool looking gargoyle mouthed cave that they can go tell their buddies about and go to later - I want cool stuff. I think the trick is to have a lot of reusable things as well as consequences for the actions. With the tree stump above - it will still be there when the money is taken out. Other players may find an 'empty tree stump' and decide that is a good place to hide their valuables, etc. A repercussion for initially taking the money from the tree stump would be (for example) an angry bandit gang showing up demanding to know where the money went. Rather than the very lame 'pop in around the tree stump when the money is touched' they would pop in when no characters were around and go to towns/settlements closest to the tree stump demanding their money back. The amount of money they think that they've lost may grow - it's human nature. But now you've got a triggered NPC event on a delayed trigger.

I'm really interested in an MMORPG that doesn't play in a fantasy world, but in a Science-Fiction or apocalyptic scenario.

Super. All of this stuff would work in any setting.

Well how am I gonna keep track of all different cities laws?

I'd recommend writing them down. If the characters can figure out how to make paper or parchment, you would be able to have your character write them down. If not, I'd recommend investing in a $1 notebook.

What camera view?

First person POV ONLY. In PvP, third person is exploitable. If first person makes you ill (motion sickness), we have a 'nobob' box that can be checked. If your character sits or runs, the camera will not move. If this still makes you ill, take the game back to the store you got it from as Evil Enterprises does not handle any returns. Ever.

Will there be an overhead view of the map of the region?

Yes, but the only parts of it that show up are parts your character has been in. If the character has cartography skill (or tries it with no skill), makes a reference of his map and scribes it on to paper (drawing skill) then he will have a sellable map. The player can then look at the map and add notes and changes. The more cartography skill is failed the more inaccurate the map is. We advise drawing neat dragons and stuff in all of the areas that didn't copy over (try drawing manually on the map) to cover up those imperfections. Please note that Evil Enterprises takes NO responsibility for anyone buying a map off of an unwashed flies buzzing around him person who came out of the wilderness. You'll just have to find a professional. I'd also like to have it so that maps (as well as books, etc) can be exported to .bmp files just like screenshots.

What is meant by a dynamic world?

It means nothing usually. People who claim their worlds to be dynamic usually mean that they've found something new to nerf. Hence the world is changed. Our world should be as 'dynamic' as any found out there using their sorry definition. We also want players to be able to change the world. If they dig the ground up, it stays dug up till natural forces slowly fill it again (or there is a cave in). If enough PC's walk through a certain area, a path will form. Etc. I'd also like to have the ability for players to use chalk or spray paint (if modern) to put graffiti on the walls. I'd have it so that it just shows it is 'marked up' till you get close to it then worry about loading the textures to show words. I'd have the paint (and spray paint) be expensive and not last too long to discourage people from marking up a lot. I'd also have a skill for it (say, painting) that starts low (the cursor is bouncing all the heck around) and can be built up with use. People could then be paid to paint advertisements, etc on buildings. I'd also have whitewash be cheap (turns the wall white) so that merchants who get their building marked up can quickly, easily and cheaply unmark it. People who wrote swearwords (if we outlawed such) would be shipped off to the prison server (see below). There could be a small text file attached to each of the scribblings, able to be referenced by guides, etc so that we know who wants to join the prison population. Also, buildings can be destroyed - this may take heavy equipment (siege engines) as well as costing double what it took to put up the building in the first place. People who want to destroy a lot of buildings will need a good amount of coin and time to do it. Pulling a battering ram into a town and beating on a building will cause guards of that town to rush over and begin hacking at the battering ram. We recommend having a bunch of players with the battering ram to prevent the guards from 'killing it'. These are in addition to the players who would be (or the NPC's who would be) operating it.

What different types of environment will be found?

Any I can think of. In a fantasy game, I want some weird fantasy environments. I haven't seen a lot of really 'fantastic' ones. I want to see weird crystal gardens (maybe with an NPC 'crystal palace' on top), I want to have strange environments of shifting colors and weird blobs that may disorient the unwary, etc. In Clive Barker's game "Undying" they had a really nifty 'dreamscape' - I'd like to have some things like that.

I'd also like to see some environments that do an automatic DOT (damage over time) to players just for being in them. Special clothing and spells could remove some or all of this damage. That would make something like exploring in the frozen tundra a lot more hazardous. Imagine if that DOT was increased if you were in a storm? Good reason to seek shelter during the storm. Who knows what could be living there already? Stumbling across a frozen body of an adventurer in the arctic tundra would also be interesting.

What can you find in the cities?

Usually buildings and a lot of people are what define a 'city'. In most games, the only reason to go to a city is to drop off loot and buy food/water/bandages. In this game, you would want to be at a city to *make* stuff. Being that tailors must be in a tailor shop to ply their craft, you can go to a tailor shop and sell leather there or buy tailored goods.

At a full run, without sight seeing, how long would it take me to run across the world?

I'd like to see that take a few days. There will be portions of game area too large to reasonably consider crossing by foot. Although a huge world (ever increasing as well) is a lot of work for the programmers, it does solve a lot of problems caused by overcrowding.

I got stuck in a wall! What do I do?

We at Evil Enterprises have determined that programmers are human, hence make mistakes. To counter act this, we are working on a new gene splicing technique that will give us superhuman programmers. Unfortunately, the results are still some years off so we are making allowances for the human ones we have now. If you get stuck in something and cannot get out, you type /stuck . It is unwise to type /stuck unless you really need to. It takes five long minutes - you get a neat yellow bar you get to watch slowly go down. If you take any damage during this time, you must restart the counter. If you have a DOT on you, wait till it goes away then start the counter. After the counter finishes, your character dies, drops their wergild on the floor and goes back to their last bind spot and suffers through resurrection effects. This will save a lot of time from the GM's levering people out of walls while keeping it from being exploitable in PvP. I'd rather wait for the five minute yellow bar than a couple hours for some overworked guide to answer a petition, wouldn't you?

Will a character take any damage from high falls into water, or does the fact that the player lands in water negate damage from any height?

In real life, water helps your landing under a certain height. Above that height you take damage. Above that height, it is just like slamming into the ground. I will study this and find out what heights. Falling damage will be pretty realistic but offset by levitation spells or hover things.

Can rivers be crossed?

I've crossed LOTS of rivers in MMOLG's but have yet to be swept downstream by the current, dashed over rocks, die in a huge waterfall, etc. I'd like to see all of those elements in the game. Even something simple like current (you automatically go in the direction of the current) would be a step forward. I'd like to also see stamina lost cause the swimmer to go slower and slower. When all of the stamina was gone, they would sink (and die). If the player is not attempting forward movement in the water, they would automatically 'tread water'. This would still drain stamina but at a very slow rate.

Can canals be dug through the landscape?

Sure, knock yourself out. If we are really lucky, I'd like to have some city partially flooded (like Venice).

How will a ship's movement be controlled, will it rely on random factors such as wind or will it have a set speed?

I'd like to give it a set speed but with a boost for traveling in the right current (giving rise to 'sea lanes') as if you were on a road. I think it takes several people to successfully maneuver a ship around. I could see NPC's for a lot of that but they are less resilient than PC's. If enough of the NPC's got killed off, you'd be suck in the middle of the water.

How many kinds of ships will be available?

Whatever the PC's make. Shipwright skill has many branches.

Will piracy be do-able? (Ship to ship combat, boarding another ship and fighting on the deck).

I'd even want the PC's to be able to make 'jolly roger' flags, sport parrots, wooden legs, hooked hands and eyepatches. We take our pirat'in very seriously at Evil Enterprises.

Will fishing be possible?

Yes. I'd like to also see 'net fishing', fishing from ships, etc as well as bank fishing.