Darkfall VIP Access Interview with Ten Ton Hammer

[likwidtek]

http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61490

Posted January 15th, 2009 by Ralsu
Darkfall Gives Players a Sandbox with Few Rules

Darkfall is a fantasy-based MMOG being developed by Aventurine S.A., a development group based out of Greece. Rather than a run-of-the-mill, been there and done that carbon copy of most other games, Aventurine seeks to give the gaming world a sandbox in which they can play out their fantasies. Darkfall uses a skill system to measure character progress instead of levels, and the game promises to let players have direct impact on the development of the world in some ways.

In the third installment of Ten Ton Hammer's VIP Access series, Premium Members had the chance to get their Darkfall questions answered by the folks at Aventurine. Fielding questions were Claus Grovdal, Lead Designer and Tasos Flambouras, Associate Producer. Trond Evanger, one of the Darkfall designers provided additional feedback.

subgenius5150: Could you go more in-depth for us about the ways that your skill-based character advancement system works? Is it pure skill-based where you can learn every skill you want over your career in the game (like EVE), or is it a limited skill based system where you have a set number of points (like [Ulitma Online])? Is it a training queue like EVE, or is it "the more you use it the more you learn it" like [Ultima]?

It makes sense to be concerned about the appeal of the graphics of a game in development so long, but Darkfall looks good in the gallery.

Aventurine: You can theoretically learn 95% of the skills in the game. A few are race specific spells, meaning that they can be learned only by certain races. Some of the skills have prerequisites, like Greater Magic, which requires at least 50 skill points of Lesser Magic before you can get into it.

Skills improve through usage. The same goes for spells. So if you’re casting fireballs a lot, your fireball will improve and start doing more damage. Same if you’re using a certain type of sword, you improve at its use.  

We have a soft cap to the skill point total. If you pass this soft cap your skill progression is slower. There’s no hard cap where you can’t get new skills. Skills and spells are weighted and only the ‘important’ ones could toward the soft cap.  A mundane skill like fishing hardly makes any impact at all.

megaflux: I would like to know if the game will be visually dated by spending so much time in development (weren't we using [DirectX 8] when it was first being made?) or if you have managed to keep everything up to snuff so we can look forward to a FULLY [DirectX 10]-supported game.

Aventurine: The engine has been updated continuously throughout the development and we’re very happy not only with its current performance but also with its potential for future updates.

Monis: Will players towns require vast amounts of resources and money so that only the most wealthy and organized guilds will have cites? Or could a small group of people build a small settlement on their own?

Aventurine: It does take considerable resources for the largest cities to be built. That said, there are cities of all sizes to be built from racial capital size to tiny hamlets. Even small clans can take, hold and develop their own cities.

centrik: Why have there been little to no in-game presentations if the game is so close to release?

Aventurine: We’ve released several in-game and gameplay videos, the latest being 17 minutes long showing off many different aspects of gameplay and unique features. These videos are in-game and have not been scripted or modified in any way. We recently presented the game live to a large audience at an event for around 30 minutes.  This was recorded by members of the audience and uploaded to several sites.  Our screenshots are gameplay screenshots and since the beginning we have been honest with everything we’ve shown. You can see Darkfall’s development progress this way, rather than concepts, doctored shots, rendered scenes.  Overall I believe we’ve shown a lot of the game and of the game progress as well.
Even now during beta, we’ve allowed one of our testers to talk about the game and make an unsupervised presentation about it without any direction from us. This is published online at thenoobcomic.com.

Kralle: Since there isn't much time left to release date, will the distribution be mainly digital download? Can you tell us something about your overall release strategy?

Aventurine: We will start with a digital download first and we’ll include a physical distribution, and client localization will follow. Our publisher came into the game fairly late and there hasn’t been much time to cooperate and organize this properly, so we’re moving forward with what can be handled right. Furthermore we’re seeing a lot of interest in the game and staging our release may be necessary, meaning we couldn’t handle a very large number of players right away, should this become an issue.

Our first release is the European release. The North American release will follow as soon as possible but not until a few months later. We’re allowing players from N. America to participate in the European release due to this fact. Of course we’ll make some allowances for these players if they would like to move to the US server when it launches.

"It's only a flesh wound!"

Kralle: Some people don't like forced grouping or having to join a guild. From your experience through beta so far, is the "lone wolf" a valid play style in Darkfall? Can people survive and flourish without the backing of a clan or other support structures?

Aventurine: Yes they can and they won’t be forced to join clans. They can group up with like-minded players to complete objectives where a group is needed; they could become affiliated to a clan, selling their services in exchange for protection, money, resources etc. and therefore have the clan experience without needing to commit.

As mentioned in a question above, a small clan made up of a few players can have a small town. A small group of lone-wolves can band together for this purpose and build a town out of the way. One solitary player can also have a base of operations out of the chaos stones, some of which have minor support infrastructures.

Finally, Darkfall makes it easier for a lone player to survive. The lack of radar, the lack of bright colored name-tags, the vastness of the world which is even bigger if you take into account that every single square inch of it is accessible, the fact that a player in Darkfall is never helpless even when starting out, the fact that the skill system allows for a jack-of all trades character, the fact that every item in the game can be crafted by the players, all this makes a solo player very viable in Darkfall. The game gives you the tools to survive – even so, playing solo is a challenge – which is also part of the attraction to this particular play-style.

Metal: Regarding the crafting system, how customizable are items? Are we able to change the shape of a sword, say making it serrated or something similar?

Aventurine: You won’t be able to customize crafted items to that degree, but you still get the ultimate customization which is tagging your name to your crafted item. Remember that the players can make any item in the game.  There is a lot of customization and discovery in our enchantment system however. Since there’s discovery involved, please allow us to not elaborate further. .

waku: My question would be on PvE content and PvE raids. I find lopping a fellow player's head off to be wickedly fun, but I also enjoy grouping with some like-minded gamers to take down challenging PvE content. Could you discuss these PvE elements a bit more? What would be the reward for such epic raids...if loot is not that much of an issue in Darkfall? Perhaps keep the storyline moving along? Riches?

Aventurine: There are no instances or traditional “raid” content like you have in other MMOs. We try to steer clear of anything limiting the multiplayer experience. That said, we have epic monsters like dragons and demons which require large numbers to defeat and include epic loot.

The PvE in Darkfall is challenging and fun on day one. The Darkfall monsters operate like player bots and are quite sophisticated. PvE hones player skills for PvP; it provides a medium for player skills to advance, monster loot, and needed ingredients for crafting. Finally you’ll face PvE inside Darkfall’s dungeons which are both fun and can be very profitable.

Metal: We know there are a number of magic schools in Darkfall. Could you give us a brief overview of these schools, including any strengths or weaknesses each of them has?

A convoy or a battle party?

Aventurine: I’m going to oversimplify this because the number of spells under each school are pretty diverse and the balance between the schools is too complex to go into much detail. The current magic schools in Darkfall are the following:

Lesser and Greater: these have to do with the level of magic performed; they include spells used in all kinds of situations. Lesser magic is the beginning school and is mainly a utility school with weak but useful and diverse spells.

Air Magic, Earth Magic, Fire Magic, Water Magic, which have to do with the elements to be used in various appropriate situations.  Fire Magic for example has to do with destruction and damage and includes several strong area of effect spells.

Arcane Magic and Necromancy where holy and unholy types of spells can be found.

Spellchanting and Witchcraft where buffs and debuffs are included.

berecsl: Have you decided on having universal banks or not?

Aventurine: Yes we have universal banks but they will be limited and their locations can be destroyed except for those in NPC cities like the racial capitals.

berecsl: About melee fighting: will there be directional swings, or are they just random?

Aventurine: Swings are currently random but blocking/parrying is not. We also have directional damage so you want to avoid being hit in the back.

Directional swinging is a feature we’ve done a lot of testing on and we’ve found that it’s tricky to get right and make fair due to internet latency. We are continuously evaluating this though and have come up with a way to implement an overhead directional swing in time for the launch of the game.

Kralle: Related to the openness of the game: Are there any tools or mechanisms in the game that support player driven content (from a bounty on the head of someone you don't like to such things as nameable items you can use in your own story lines)? Stuff that lets players create their own "quests" and supports their own lore?

Aventurine: We do have a lot of freedom that allows quests of this type and we’re sure we’ll see a lot of these happening informally. There are no systems in place currently however to set up a formal player quest system like you describe here. Darkfall of course is entirely player driven. Players build towns and cities, declare alliances and wars, they drive the economy;  they drive the lore forward, and  they change the political landscape of the game.

[Phienyx]

Interesting info.  Thanx.

[likwidtek]

This is awesome:

Our first release is the European release. The North American release will follow as soon as possible but not until a few months later. We’re allowing players from N. America to participate in the European release due to this fact. Of course we’ll make some allowances for these players if they would like to move to the US server when it launches.

Does FA plan on moving to US server when it launches?

[Adad]

Yes we do.

[Lits]

I'm glad to hear there's a dwnload. I was beginnning to become suspicious when the stores around my area had no advertisements for the release date(s).

Thanks for posting this

[NoCry]

i dont think a decision has been taken as to whether movement to US server has been taken yet adad;)

I expect it but remain convinced that you will all love the community so much that we will not move! I of course will go wherever you lot go but would prefer that it not be a fait accompli.

[Anonymous]

This is one of the issues that really concern me.  I think the North America crowd is going to make up a majority of subscribers to the game.  So when the US servers go live, the community that will have been built for months on the EU servers will get split by some considerable percentage.  And empty servers make very poor PvP environments.

Compound the problem that, obviously, they couldn't then merge the populations (ala Age of Conan right now) to address any ghost-town issues.

It'll be interesting to see how they handle it...

[likwidtek]

There seems to be a ton of interest with no advertisement and hype alone.  ASSUMING they have a good launch..  which is going to be tough, word of mouth could spread fast.

This is tricky right now.  I hope they release preorder numbers so we can gauge what the population is going to be at launch.

Who all is going to preorder?  Collectors edition if available?

[Phienyx]

I'm going to pre-order.

Have they mentioned a Collector's Edition?

[likwidtek]

No but I'm sure they will have something like that.  Hopefully preorders get a special perk.