posted
My traditional monthly update, coming late this month because life stuff was keeping me from making good progress during June. I expect next month should be back to normal progress.
My motivation and inspiration are still high, so no worries about that.
Hopefully I'll be back in a few weeks to report things are moving again.
-------------------- World's End - Open World RPG Version: 1.42 worldsend.000webhostapp.com Posts: 1666 | From: Hồ Chí Minh / Sài Gòn | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
This past month was similar to that previous one. A bare trickle of progress. Rather than feel frustrated about it I just decided to see it as taking a break. I actually think about my WoS world all the time, either directly working on it or if I don't have much free time just review what I've done/need to do, make notes, etc.
It turned out to be such an overwhelming amount of work that getting away from it for a while doesn't really change anything.
I never realised it was going to be like this, which is why I would never have begun these monthly updates if I had known.
I feel if I stop posting these (at the moment, seemingly pointless) updates it might seem negative.
Truth is, I am hugely motivated and inspired to do this, it's just a huge undertaking.
The summer has been a bit of a write-off, there's lots still to do before any release but other than it taking a long time, everything else is positive.
PS. I'm looking for monster/actor skins for witches, crocodiles/alligators and wolves. If someone is reading this and knows of or can makes some, please let me know!
See ya next update!
Posts: 1666 | From: Hồ Chí Minh / Sài Gòn | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
This month I'd like to talk about old quests and what to expect.
While everything was place-holder in the beginning, quests always remained as place-holder ONLY because too much detail of the world building wasn't there yet to add proper lore/story.
Where many people who liked the world in the past often said they enjoyed the writing (particularly the humour) almost nobody ever said they enjoyed the writing in the quests.
It's no surprise: I added them to give players something to do and so it was all just cliches and token gestures.
Version 1.43 will end that and introduce proper content. I am only updating quests that occur in the areas I am overhauling for 1.43 (which is quite a lot).
If at least one quest stage/scene takes place in an area I am updating then that scene will get a treatment and any stages that occur elsewhere may be ignored (unless it affects gameplay).
- Rez Quest -
The best example of this is a quest that old regulars used to call the "Rez Quest" which was one of the better (of a bad lot) quests available.
It takes place in Easthaven, Smoke City (formerly The Big Smoke), City University, The Western Ranges (a mountain map) and The Hollows (dungeon area).
Half of those areas are receiving a major overhaul, the other half I cannot look at or I'll feel obliged to add more area overhauls to the version, which will set back its release even further.
Therefore, I am updating only parts of that quest. The Hollows is full of undead monsters. The undead have been slowly removed from most of the game because I intend to rework them. All of that needs to come later so in the upcoming 1.43 the so-called Rez Quest will only be partially updated.
- The Bully Quest -
This one is a short single scene quest in the university. Player saves a student from a bully.
For 1.43 this quest has had a complete rework of script and dialogue, however the actual detail of the action remains the same.
Much later, after v1.43 is released, I actually have big plans for this bully quest: in the mid to long term future that scene will become just one stage of a multiple part quest, introducing one of the factions plus some crucial characters for the main story, though that is something for well after v1.43 is released.
- How Many Lines In A Sonnet? -
Answer this question for a student and he will reward you with the password for an area called The Groves. Originally I used this quest to give the player something to travel for, a reason for them to see the wider world.
The password to The Groves will now become a password for entering the Old Castle. This should make more sense to a new player, with the reward being more appropriate.
The Groves area is going to be radically changed (v1.44 or v1.45) and it's better to reward a new player with something more immediate rather than sending them off to an area that isn't (currently) interesting.
In v1.43 I don't need to sell a large world, I need to sell a GOOD world that is well paced and has appropriate rewards for a newbie.
These are just some examples, there are many other changes to quests. I think this is enough to give an idea of how I am thinking at the moment.
I am sitting on content I could just release RIGHT NOW as work-in-progress.
I could release an "unversioned" version of v1.43
For clarity and to protect anyone's old characters I could create an alternative download to "WorldsEnd-WIP" - a renamed copy of literally the raw content in progress like some developers these days release a 'nightly build' that may be buggy or broken.
I know a few quests are broken as I write this but overall the world is perfectly playable for someone who is simply checking out new content on a secondary character.
Maybe I should have done this already. Why would doing this be a bad idea?
Just a thought.
For my actual next month's post I think I'm going to talk about lore.
---------[EDIT]----------
The more I think about this idea the more I can see reasons to do it, but I still can't think of any reason not to.
After a bit more consideration I realise there are a few things I would need to do first...
Area transition scenes must be functional and I think I will focus on seeing if I can get all the quests functional too.
I'm sitting on a lot of content I've been working on for the past year and a half. There's already quite a lot to see and do with regards to the environment and world-building (lore).
Most of what's going into 1.43 is already in place. A lot is finished, a great deal is nearly finished and mostly very functional, a fair bit is clearly unfinished or is obviously some kind of test scene during development.
I'm talking about a work-in-progress, unfinalised copy of the modern content thus far (v1.43). To see the content at all, the player would need to use a 'cheat' character because Well of Souls will consider it a modded world.
posted
This month my progress report is an exclusive excerpt from WEnotes.txt...
c i t Y u N I v E r S i T Y: SCENE 100 mUSic depT (Foyer) - DONE SCENE 101 mUSic depT (Studio) - DONE SCENE 102 mUSic depT (Pract Rm) - DONE SCENE 103 KiNG'S coLLege - DONE SCENE 104 LaBOrAtoRy - DONE SCENE 105 Tutor's Office - DONE SCENE 106 seAting - QUEST @password SCENE 107 fOUnTAiNs - UNUSED SCENE 108 pOnd - 1: It's hell down there at the bottom of the pond. SCENE 109 pHySics - @aboutChaosTheory SCENE 110 hAlLs oF RES (Foyer) - DONE SCENE 111 gAlLeRy (Entry) - DONE SCENE 112 gAlLeRy (Showroom) - actors? | new dialogue | bg? SCENE 113 LiBRAry - @alarm @jail | Add Hector's Bones quest SCENE 114 tHe 9 elementS - @Nomenclature @AdvancedAffiliationTheory @CircleOfLife @StoneCircles @OldMythology SCENE 115 LAke - fix choreography | IF T31-T32, @jeremar SCENE 116 tHeAtre (Entry) - DONE SCENE 117 tHeAtre (Stage) - DONE SCENE 118 geOgRaPHy sEmiNar - actors? | random dialogue | PLACES tutorial SCENE 119 hAlLs (Expensive) - DONE SCENE 120 hAlLs (Cheap) - DONE SCENE 121 ARt - DONE SCENE 122 sCiEnCe - DONE SCENE 123 cOMedy - QUEST: BULLY | finish @worry SCENE 124 poLiTic - DONE SCENE 125 LiBRAry (OLD) - UNUSED SCENE 126 mAtHemaTiCS - change to bg: Classroom-1.jpg? @enlightened checkers where? (Check also CITY UNI Removed.txt)
Smoke City is just shy of 70 SCENEs.
City University has a lot more content than it used to. It's an extremely important and complex area.
Former players might recall the usable HTML pop-up item called The Traveller's Guide. 'The Places to go' page, for example, is in the process of transforming from a wall of text into lectures in the Geography Seminar.
In v1.43 this is where a player can get detailed descriptions of areas they may be planning to explore.
The Traveller's Guide at one point was looking completely defunct, as the world begins to speak for itself. I'll use it for breaking the 4th wall, developer communicating directly with the player.
Now there's even a joke about it in the library, how it isn't what it used to be and has fewer pages. (That item is actually one of the final things to be updated before release.)
------------LORE---------------
'The Church of Saint Nobody' became '9 Elements'
The people there are known as Elementalists. I think I posted a modern script, earlier in the thread, of a basic 9 Elements scene, maybe the WIP one from Easthaven.
I'm really glad I chose to go with the elements I did at the beginning of development: Life, Death, Spirit, Nature, Fire, Water, Air, Earth..
I went with exactly the same ones that Dan did, not because I was copying but because those exact ones are definitely the ones I would have chosen anyway. I just saw them as fundamental in the right way.
What was definitely a (temporary for decades, ha!) influence from Evergreen were Dan's Well scene's with a kindly priest actor delivering a rez or something.
I used that idea as another location I could use to populate towns. The place of worship and graveyard links were two more locations for each town which really helped early on, when trying to sketch out a big world.
However, that was practical and temporary. Those 2 links didn't really provide anything important for World's End like they did Evergreen.
You could always get a rez elsewhere. Based on the priest actor skin, I ran with the Christian religious style for a while (decades!), set a scene background to suit the priest guy and then added a quest and some lore about the creation of the world using the elements I had chosen.
Rather than getting a rez there, I gave the players a quest to get the spell. That made it significant to the players, plus I added the getting 'Enlightened' requirement as well.
Although I was sure about the elements, I didn't have a key actor that I could look at and think: this guy represents the belief system. I thought I was looking for something like a cross between priests, mages and scientists. I had to go with the pseudo-religious creation lore for the sake of some content for the players until I knew exactly who these people are that help define a culture.
Years later I realised the solution was right under my nose: the actor can be a custom (non-Josh Townsfolk), generic old man actor I already used everywhere (plus his associates).
I have a plan to use a genuinely religious/spiritual culture later in the Gnarl Forest and/or possibly elsewhere. I'm not interested in social commentary, promoting or bashing religion.
I just like the idea of something different to the belief systems that I have set up in the new 2018-2019 content. So it may happen some time..
Meanwhile, what I have actually set up is a world view that is a mix of ideas all linking to the elements...
On a fundamental level the main view is like Ancient Greek elements, scientific like Air, Fire, Earth, Water. Rather than priests they are mages or scientists, however the spirit world is also a huge part of World's End lore and the Elementalists will perceive spirits in an almost scientific way, simply because it's a world where critters have natural magic powers and where ghosts are real. Nature, likewise, is just how they describe the difference in things.
Having established the 9 Elements belief system for most of the "urbans", the Rangers of Woodford have an opposing belief system based around the same fundamentals. They dislike the Elementalists doing scientific experiments, instead they believe all life should be in harmony with the element cycle and not try to mess with it.
So throughout the world, different peoples have different relations to the elements but usually fall into one of those two camps.
The Rangers of Woodford have an uneasy alliance with the urbans of Easthaven. They are sometimes associated with Witches. The Rangers and the Witches see other peoples as "urbans" and it doesn't matter if they are city folk or country folk - they're all "urbans" to the Rangers because they all chop down trees and change Nature. Meanwhile, the city folk and the country folk are a bit of a thing themselves too, but I digress.
In addition to the elements from Ancient Greece, there are other major forms of thinking and technology.
A scene in the city, called Blood Asylum, a seemingly evil place where a 'prisoner' is taken away for "a blood-letting" and there seems to be a villain who is a vampire. I didn't get to develop the place but really Von Bloodgore and his Blood Asylum is actually a hospital. Modern content (already written) makes it more clear, though not in the scene itself, by references in other places.
This hospital reflects medieval ideas about 'humours' when they believed a sick or crazy personality was because of the blood, so they might drain someone's blood hoping to fix them.
Science, tech, philosophy, they may seem medieval, Gothic, Victorian, or even like Nazis.
They also have computer tech equivalent to the early '80s, but they mostly use it for arcade games.
Once you put all these belief systems together you have an approximation of the kind of world these people are living in.
---
My focus recently is preparing the way for uploading some raw content by un-breaking things.
I do need to do a bit more with the quests, even if it is just raw content. So I've been busy. Not looking too bad now. Unlike ever before.
And that's what I want out there, if just one person sees it. 'Cos that's who I'm making it for.
posted
This month's post is all about the idea I have been talking about, that I shall henceforth refer to as a Preview Build...
The purpose is quite simple: to put something 'out there' - just something I feel the need to do.
It's not really about bug reports, as a player will see issues I more than likely already have in my To Do Notes. If anything, bug reports are at the moment only useful from the old areas I am not updating, where I may have removed something that is used elsewhere. Even then, I'm not too concerned with bugs at this stage.
Likewise, although feedback is always nice, I'm not really doing this for feedback. That must be pretty clear from this thread, right? Maybe once 1.43 gets closer or is released, then will be a good time for feedback when the player has a better idea of what's going on.
From the player's perspective, what's the point at this stage in checking out the preview?
I think it will be relevant for people into game development, world building, Well of Souls worlds, Well of Souls playing and especially anyone who previously liked World's End. If you'd love to see some new content for WoS, well here some is.. and it's a lot!
Now for a quick recap: I had the idea of uploading something "right now" since the version is taking so long..
I realised there is indeed one very good reason NOT to do it too soon... Easthaven.
It's the beginning area with tutorial scenes and lots of world building. Throughout (modern) development thus far I had been working backwards. Tutorial stuff is best left to the end so all the info matches up and different NPCs can deliver information to the player at the right pace in appropriate places.
I had decided I should also include a modern quest (more about that below) which eventually brought me to Easthaven and I realised the place was a complete mess: full of new material not yet connected properly. It would just leave a bad impression and what would a "preview" of a mess actually achieve?
Therefore, for the past month I have made a big push on getting Easthaven fixed up so the first things the player sees will all work and make sense. I now have a lot of it close to 'final' and I'm quite happy with the results.
Another thing I wanted to do before anything sees the light of day is have at least one good example of a modern, multi-stage quest written to give an idea of how the questing is going to be. I chose the Hector's Bones quest, that starts in The Foothills, meant for new high levels to pick up while exploring westwards to give them something to do when they return to the city. From there they will pass through 2 scenes in the city and at least 2 scenes in Easthaven (it's a 5 stage quest).
When I say I want a good example of a modern, multi-stage quest I'm not claiming the quest is anything special, just with regards to what it once was I think it's very much improved. Stages 1 and 2 are the same but improved, stage 3 changed a little bit, stage 4 a little bit and stage 5 has changed A LOT! It is meant to be a simple, dialogue-driven quest. In fact I removed some combat from the original (it was irrelevant to the quest, just the player disturbing some robbers, the code of which I can improve and apply more aptly elsewhere).
It was actually re-writing this quest that lead me to Easthaven and the realisation that the starter area needed attention also.
As I write this, all of the above is at about 85% complete, so I think I need 1 or 2 more months (depending on life schedule) to get it finished.
There are other quests already worked on that are smaller, for example the guy in the start area who says "I'm just an actor, got an umbrella?" and who then offers to team up with the player to bust a chest in the deserted Jones Farm. That quest has also been updated. Now it's more about finding out what's actually IN Jones Farm.
One final note about the modern World's End: it's highly musical.. Speaking as someone who often turns music off in games, I challenge the player to check out a few areas and then.. just try and switch the music off haha!
It just won't be the same! I hope you'll agree.
Also the music massively sets the mood and longer quests will have their own musical themes.
I think beyond version 1.43 you might need some tissues because I'm going to make you cry. Haha!
Anyway, something, at least, is getting very close to being 'out there' so I expect next month's post will be info about specifics.. how to install and which areas to look out for new content.
;------------------------------------------------------------ ; hAyCart fARm SCENE 564 Abandoned_Sharecroppers_House-Watson_Brown MUSIC "grieg-peer-gynt-suite-no1-morning-mood.mid" THEME 8 WAIT 2 IF ALIVE, @alive @dead END @alive BKGND Gocsej_village_house_backyard_2 ACTOR 1, "Jethro", actors4, 0, -8, 98 POSE 0, 1 ACTOR 2, "Abe", Farmer~2, 4, -45, -49 POSE 4, 3, 1 ACTOR 3, "Zeb", Farmer~2, 4, -82, -78 POSE 4, 3, 1 WAIT 2 MOVE 1, 8, 98 WAIT 2 1: Hay! 1: Zeb.. come out from behind the tree! WAIT 2 MOVE 3, 83, 78, 1 3: Yes, Paw. 1: Where's ya brother? WAIT 2 MOVE 3, 81, 82 3: He's 'round 'ere somewhere, Paw. WAIT 2 MOVE 2, 45, 49, 1 WAIT 2 2: Here I am, Paw! 1: Right.. 1: Let's get started, shall we? 2: Paw.. 2: Zeb din't milk the pigs. 1: What? 3: Shaddup, Abe. 1: Zeb.. 1: Did ya milk the pigs? 3: Abe don't want yer to know... 3: He borro'd ya gun, Paw! 2: No, I din't. 3: Yeah, ya did. 1: What ya bin doin' wi' my gun, Abe? 2: I din't bin doin' nuffin', Paw. 3: Shot ya boy chicken, Paw. 1: Eh? 2: Din't shoot nuffin, Paw. 2: Gun shot off by acciden'.. 2: Dunno where ya boy chicken went, Paw. 1: Abe, check it din't go in the shed. 2: Alright, Paw. 1: Zeb... 3: Yes, Paw? MOVE 2, -45, -49, 1 1: Milk the pigs! 3: Doin' it now, Paw.. MOVE 3, 95, 120 WAIT 2 MOVE 3, 100, 120, 3 WAIT 2 1: Who're you? 1: No work today! 1: Come back next month... 1: ..or year, or something. WAIT 2 MOVE 1, -20, 98 WAIT 10 MOVE 2, 45, 49, 1 WAIT 2 2: Ain't no boy chicken in the shed, Paw! 2: Oh. 2: Scalextric! WAIT 2 SOUND "petPlay.wav" MOVE 2, -45, -49, 1 END ;----------------------------------------------
posted
1: Hi, I'm Bez, he's Wiffer. 2: Yeah, I'm Wiffer. 1: You may have heard of us already.. 1: We were big names in the playground, once. 2: Yeah. Really big names!
I said I expected this month's post would be info about specifics.. how to install and which areas to look out for new content.
I think "how to install" and important technical details should be posted with the download. I'll probably make a dedicated page for it, then I can add a simple link to the first post of this thread as well.
As to "which areas to look out for new content", that would be different general information, and about different stages of development or just explaining about some key scenes.. ..but then I began to feel it would be TMI (definitely too much info) and better for me to just get on with the content first.
I also said I wanted to get the start town tidied up and have at least one multi-stage/location quest included in the Preview Build.
I said it should take about 1 or 2 months (based on free time) and I'm on track with that.
Now I shall make a tiny announcement. Coming back in 2018 to fix it up and through 2019, clearly I am producing content now for the 2020s. Therefore, as always The Right Thing To Do tells me it should not see the light of any day in 2019. As such I hereby hope (haha!) to upload something for early to mid (at the latest) January, I always did like the crack of dawn on a new year for some kind of release (even if this one isn't quite official yet). A new decade no less.
There shall be little fanfare, of course. I might type an exclamation mark instead of a full stop, that might be quite exciting.
1: You came to the right people! 1: Ain't that true, Wiff? 2: Yeah, it's true.. 2: We're the right people.
-------------------- World's End - Open World RPG Version: 1.42 worldsend.000webhostapp.com Posts: 1666 | From: Hồ Chí Minh / Sài Gòn | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
Hey @Fred, I just want you to know that you made me SO happy for continuing the development of one of my fav RPGs of my childhood! I´m really looking forward for the release of the next major update (even though I just found that World's End).
I don't know if it's a solo project or something like that but, if you need something from a fellow fronend developer, you can ask me, I would LOVE to help!
New member right? Did you know this forum is set up so posts older than 100 days are not displayed unless the user changes the setting? So basically, there has been quite a few people around, posting threads and replies, but they drop out of sight after 3 months.
Point is, I'm definitely not the only one back and working on modern content. There's new Mix server software available and in development. There's a Discord for WoS fans that's the most active place for WoS, but you might have to dig around the forum to find it.
There are other WoS worlds in development too, but that is more a case than ever before of.. if they see the light of day, because it can be a lot of work.
-
As to World's End, it's very open to contributions, if they fit the world and save me time, then they have a high chance of dropping straight in, is the bottom line, I guess.
But
Once people have seen the new content I think they will have a much better idea of what to contribute.
I plan to make a dedicated page about ways to contribute, anything from scripts to skins, in the Traveller's Guide for Version 1.43 (though the Traveller's Guide won't be finished in the Preview Build).
Posts: 1666 | From: Hồ Chí Minh / Sài Gòn | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
This post is a WIP about things to expect for the future, beyond any developmental 'Preview Build' and eventual official version 1.43...
* What to expect with regards to the future for classes.
* What the plan is for game balance and difficulty.
* With regards to areas/maps, world size and layout.
For anyone who is interested, it may be worth revisiting this post after you've seen the Preview Build.
---CLASSES---
MUSICIAN
I think this is a good class. Their hand/weapon class, so-called Sonic Force, is already implemented into v1.43/Preview as part of Elemental Theory at the City University, setting this class up to fit into the lore. Their focus will indeed be the Uni, and maybe a few other locations.
I think it is going to always remain a Starter Class (offered at the beginning of the game), possibly always beginning in Easthaven.
I prefer Musician rather than Troubadour or the like because the word gets to the point in a way that fits any setting (especially when World's End is mixing a few!)
MAGE
This class may be linked to other classes, moving forwards. I need to keep it vague for now. It will probably be used as a Starter Class beginning in Easthaven.
In the files for v1.42 (2005) there is a CONJURER class listed but not implemented. It's possible a class like that will morph/specialise/job choose from whatever the Starter Mage archetype is.
I believe there is already a WoS world called Summoner, and that the class name may be used in other WoS worlds, so CONJURER seems a good starting point for World's End.
I doubt then, that Mages will get many new summon spells, if anything, those will be nerfed. I also doubt Mages will shed too many tears about that, once they hear about game balance changes meant to make magic stronger and yet more rare...
DRUID
If there will possibly be another form of magic user that summons it would need to be differentiated from the Druid. This is a magic using summoning class with a focus on nature.
In v1.43/Preview, it can be noted a kind of blurring of the lines in the lore when it comes to "druid", "pagan", "witch" and "ranger" (ranger is not the same in WE as other mythologies) so the Druid class, whose hand/Weapon class is Pagan, will fit somewhere in there.
I don't think they'll start out in Woodford, though, too obvious and too close to Easthaven. Also problematic for the lore.
I think this class might be a Starter Class, but it's also going to be an Alternative Start Class, in terms of location and quite possibly difficulty (in whatever way). A good candidate for beginning in the Gnarl Forest, maybe.
OUTCAST
Needs a name tweak but is otherwise pretty strong, moving forwards. I always knew the idea, theme, characterisation of this class. Their hand/weapon class is Street, literally being a class (of anything from rogue to general street scum) that uses whatever might be at hand that could hurt someone. I think maybe even in v1.42 (2005) most other classes can use these weapons too, but are limited to about level 7.
In the past I just wasn't sure of the name. I was never 100% about Outcast and now I am certain it's unnecessarily ugly and negative implying some kind of rejection that is just a pointless limitation.
It's not totally decided yet, but one of the earliest changes to the classes (after v1.43) will be Outcast being renamed Streetfighter. I think that makes far better sense. What it says on the tin, basically. There are - as I write this - so many references to other games and wider culture in the game now that if it evokes an old video game that might only make it fit into the world even more.
Furthermore, in the world of v1.43/Preview, not only is "street-fighting" against the law, as specified at Easthaven Town Hall, but also the buying and selling of items not for intended purpose but for use as Street weapons is also against the law. What that means, dear Outcast, is that your chosen weapon class is officially illegal in the main towns and cities! In v1.43/Preview the player is told that is just "blather, for now.."
This will be a Starter Class, at first in Easthaven, though I quite like the idea of giving them a choice where to begin, like Cityport, Easthaven or Smoke City. Not sure on the practicality of that yet, though.
GUNSLINGER
This is almost certainly going to be a Starter Class, but possibly an Alternative Start Class beginning in Sunnyville in the Eastern Isles. As such, they will be the only/one of the only classes not to be a mainlander. The implications of that won't mean anything until after Sunnyville gets updated (The Eastern Isles are not being touched in v1.43). At the very least, I already know if they begin in Sunnyville they won't have to pay the upcoming tourist tax. Ha! Spoiler!
There is one little issue with starting them in SV and that is many players might want to start out with that class as a first character and I am expecting that Sunnyville will be way better experienced as part of the normal pacing of the game, ie. begin in Easthaven.
Definitely a Starter Class, but whether they are good for beginners or should have an alternative start will not be at all sure until after the new-look Sunnyville has been written.
ARCHER
I like the Archer in WE and in WoS generally, I think it works well with the engine. The WE version isn't developed very far and I think that's probably the way it should be...
Not every class should be intricately linked into the lore or have everything explained. This gives the player more options for their own idea of who or what their Archer is.
There is a more modern theme with title or equipment names often being in a modern style ('recurve bow', etc.) Bow users are very common in medieval and fantasy RPGs so this is one point at which WE should split off, though not a lot, and not too explicitly.
It makes for a great Starter Class for Easthaven, being a favourite for many new players, which could then go on to become a ninja or something else or just stay as an Archer.
I don't want them associated with the bow-using Rangers of Woodford because that's a limitation on both the player and the game world. There are other classes that will work better in those kinds of ways.
DROW
Unfortunately it may be bad news for this class.
Goblins, Orcs and Dwarves have all felt too Tolkienesque/D&D/generic fantasy for WE and were phased out over time, since being introduced early on.
The only reason there was still an Elf-like race in the Groves, deep in the Gnarl Forest, is because I wasn't sure who exactly lived there until I found a strong enough idea, or the right actor/monster skins one day revealed themselves.
During modern development of v1.43 many things just seemed to start falling into place, all these years later.. I now know exactly who will be in the Groves and it's not Elves.
That - in my view - leaves the Drow, a Dark Elf-type, with no other connection to the world, without literally accommodating the class with lore (OK fine, doing it with others..), their own civilisation, settlement, probable start area, etc. All that work just to fit in "Drow" which I don't mean to disrespect, but maybe this class could be better linked into the world-building by being something that keeps the darkness as well as the bow and crossbow (unlike Archer), possibly a class morph/job change from Archer.
All that is to give an idea why I'm afraid the Drow class may have to be redesigned, and I realise that affects the player so better announce that early and maybe even make a change to a new name a.s.a.p. - even if it's "Dark Crossbow User" [that's too mundane, even for you. -ed] that may be better than misleading the player for the next 2 or 3 versions thinking Dark Elves still have a place in World's End. Maybe they still do, another good reason to hold off from messing with the classes until players have a better idea of the direction of the world themselves and can start giving feedback on these issues.
HIPPY
Don't like the name/theme. I think some kind of healer, medic, cleric type might be better. I like the idea of there being two similar classes, both based around life/healing, but one is a magic user and the other is an item user.
I think these ideas will be more clear and better developed after the game balance updates kick in.
CRIMINAL
In the files for v1.42 (2005) but not implemented. Will be implemented as something completely different, or possibly be linked to Street.
LUNATIC
In the files for v1.42 (2005) but not implemented. Will probably be implemented as something else along the same lines. I've had plans for a Clown/Jester for a long time. I was surprised it's not in the files already. I was thinking they could start out in Shiverton, way out in the cold, far north-west. The reason I see a fit there is because eventually Shiverton is going to become characterised as a weird, maybe unhinged place.
SAMURAI and NINJA
Very firm plans for the Ninja but some question around the Samurai.
Both are themed based on Japanese historic culture from items to titles and famous people, however this is in my mind cosmetic, so there will never be any more real world culture from Japan to further that theme. As I mentioned above, that Rangers in World's End are World's End Rangers - the name of a particular people in this particular world - so those real world historic references end there. Likewise, for example, ogres in World's End are not Tolkien ogres.
More about Ninja:
There's a pretty strong vision for the Ninja, moving forwards, but it's actually better to think of the Ninja in World's End like a mix between the Blades and the Morag Tong in Morrowind...
Their main weapon shop in the city was called - up to now - Ninjutsu, after their weapon class name. In v1.43/Preview they are a faction called Ninjutsu Clan. I purposely left it with not much going on for now.
Eventually the Ninjutsu Clan will probably appear TWICE in quests/story for non-ninja classes. Once as a side quest and also as part of a wider story. The Ninja class will not only buy their weapons here, they will get their own quests here as well as see a different side of those two other quests/story appearances of the Clan.
They are not evil killers, but this is a world where their contract work is often spying and espionage and they are secretive and sometimes people disappear. Nobody really knows what they have to do with The Establishment or Men In Grey Suits. The Ninja fits in quite strongly. Even basic tutorial NPC Master Wilbur will (after v1.43) turn out to be an undercover recruiter for the Ninjutsu Clan.
This means a number of things...
The Ninja will - one way or another, grrr! - not be a Starter Class in the mid to long term future.
Master Wilbur at Haven Hall will be offering certain Start Classes (only) the opportunity to become one later once they've proved themselves. Those classes will be non-magic, physical melee or ranged attack Start Classes including gunslinger. Wilbur does not seem like a bad guy, which complicates the Ninjutsu Clan.
More about Samurai:
Samurai I think now needs to be different to Ninja by not being like all that.. This means it's possible if the cosmetically Japanese historically themed class is to stay more or less as it is then it might work best moving forwards as a possible stage towards becoming a Ninja.
Not to be disrespectful to the class or player, of course in that situation we can just choose to stay as that class. Then they might be rather more like Rōnin (浪人, "drifter" or "wanderer"). I just think doing the same as Ninja and trying to make Samurai a faction or develop them much further in World's End might not be the right thing to do.
So World's End Rangers and Ogres and this world's own version of the Samurai, more Ronin in style maybe, that for whatever reason decided to keep to the blade and go their own way, rather than utilise the rest of the Ninja's varied arsenal of weapons by committing to the Ninjutsu Clan and getting that further training (if the class morph/job change happens).
---GAMEPLAY/BALANCE---
v1.43 will feature some minor miscellaneous changes to some items, nothing worth mentioning here now.
I had hoped to include what I shall call Phase 1 in v1.43 but it will probably have to wait until v1.44. Consumables should really be a part of v1.43's job to establish the people and places. Unfortunately, not so much the things.. everything else was just too much to do and time keeps on slippin' slippin' into the future...
Phase 1
This will introduce a formal system for basic consumable items.
Phase 2
Equipment ATK/DEF stats will probably be nerfed.
Phase 3
Some character class stats and abilities will probably be nerfed.
-
Tomato or potato?
It's common for RPGs to have a lot of junk, but I want even the junk to be meaningful in WE.
H: Useless Loot Trash Department, please. 1: Yes, #<g.sir>! 1: City Mall has it all!
In v1.42 (2005) there are many gem stones, like Medium Diamond or jewelry with no ATK/DEF stats like Bone Ring. Obviously this is LOOT gained from adventures for the purpose of selling.
Pushing on with that for world-building there's also a department with the jewelry for sale at City Mall in v1.43/Preview and a rather undeveloped location in the main city that shall be a gem shop. There's no real reason to buy gems or jewelry from these places, of course, but they have purpose in the world-building and as loot.
Hopefully everything should fit, so it's all items in the game, including those fun ones that also just become trash, much of the time. Wouldn't it be cool to have lollipops.. coffee.. beer.. X, Y and/or Z in the game? We could give them to our friends!
*Gives lollipop* Alright, you're just a newbie and I shouldn't be giving you this but.. *Gives beer*
Hours later these items are barely ever used and just add to the list of trash. Whether it's a lollipop, coffee or beer it should also be useful to someone somewhere sometime like food and drink stuffs actually are. Back To The Future, then..
-
Phase 1
This will introduce a formal system for consumable items whereby every 'normal' food and drink recharges both HP and MP to some degree.
It will probably be insignificant to the actual game at first because (1) players don't use consumables much (they're trash), and (2) simply adjusting consumable item stats (HP, MP) will change very little (they're trash).
But they will start to have meaning and a system that makes some kind of sense until Phase 3 (when they finally cease to be trash).
* If it is high protein, fat, carb, stodgy or filling it will replenish more HP. * If it gives a sweet buzz, a health buzz or both it will deliver higher MP. So meat and bread give more HP but less MP than fruit and ice cream. A banana will give more HP and less MP than a tomato.
About coffee and alcohol
I am not sure about WoS engine functionality with regards to buff/debuff effects from using items, rather than spells. The settings are there in WoS engine for buff/debuff features but I haven't confirmed it actually works as it should (not all WoS features actually function, particularly guild and PvP related features).
If buff/debuff effects work off using items then caffeine and alcohol could be distinct from other consumables in that way. I realise there are those who will think promoting or glorifying alcohol (or whatever) is bad and those who think complaining about having alcohol in RPGs is like complaining about guns, violence or anything else and where do we draw a line? There are some darker themes in this game world so age 12+ might be where it's officially heading.
If the functionality just isn't there, these kinds of item can be treated like other food/drink stuff consumables. However, if those settings can be made to work then different stats can be buffed/debuffed by different kinds of drinks, like beer, spirits, wine, vodka, etc. Or different brands of tea and coffee... All of this, plus the wider HP/MP consumables system should help players express themselves and/or RP their character better after Phase 3.
About Witches Brew
This item was always meaningful and it shall become more so but it will become a different kind of consumable.
In the past it was the one item in the game that actually gave a reasonable recharge of both HP and MP (550). It didn't completely fill both but it usually filled the smaller one and it also had it's uses in an emergency during combat. Most other consumables gave varying amounts of one and maybe an insignificant amount of the other (mostly to keep Witches Brew special).
After Phase 1 all the other consumables will be doing this job for both HP and MP so Witches Brew - whilst remaining as a consumable - shall get a new significant quality.
Witches Brew is going to become a consumable that enables the player to access a scene from anywhere. This scene will be the witches doing their thing somewhere in Westwych. I quite like the idea of the Witches Brew also actually taking HP and MP (maybe -1000 of each), so it's poisonous and can kill low to mid level characters.
It's possible it will get a new ID number in the game and the original item will become a normal foodstuff.
-
The exact changes that follow are likely to make the combat balance go in the opposite direction and become too difficult, so these plans are a rough guide.
Phase 2
System for equipment, ie. weapons and armour
WoS has a top limit I think of 255 ATK/DEF on equip items. I originally set an informal limit for World's End at 225, leaving some wiggle-room for more special stuff to come. Then I added a few 'more special stuffs' for a few classes, like equips that give up to 230/235 to ATK/DEF.
Keeping that thinking, but dropping that number to 100 as a set limit, and maybe other numbers to represent lesser/greater ability in some way, should reduce monster levels the player can deal with comfortably.
World's End gives the player a choice of Ring or Amulet equips to boost ATK or DEF. Let's say the player chooses ATK on their Ring and DEF on their Amulet, the average level 100 without 'specials' might look like this:
With less than half of their original ATK/DEF, players on physical attack based classes will find they're not so powerful and monsters hurt a lot more.
Monster levels will need to be adjusted during the changes, though not initially. Monsters will be dealt with where necessary or over time, most likely after Phase 2 and during and after Phase 3. By then some player feedback can help in decision making.
-
Phase 3
System for Class stats and abilities
Even in v1.42 (2005) classes were a little limited with weapon (hand) classes and magic. That will be developed further and physical melee and ranged classes will probably lose their ability to use healing spells and (hopefully) buff/debuff spells, pretty much losing all their magic abilities as far as possible and needing to rely on items.
This is the point at which player stats get a system like the equipment, possibly other changes like greater or lesser ability to use a weapon class or whatever.
This is probably going to be a second big spike in difficulty but it's exact nature will be more clear once the dust settles after the equipment nerf in Phase 2. Player feedback by then possibly, too.
This phase may come over 2 versions. At first, Phase 3 might not change the individual classes apart from each other more than they already are, only cut the maximum STR, WIS, STA, AGI, and DEX stats of all by more than half.
Then perhaps, once players have got used to the changes another version can then tweak those max stats for the individual classes to diversify how they all play and feel.
Although this is about game-play, a perfectly balanced experience for every class isn't going to be the point.
----------------------------------------
---WORLD SIZE, SHAPE, AREAS---
* Distance maps
When originally released in 2001 for a year or two the world was or became one of the biggest, if not the very biggest, on the WoS engine. By the following generation (RoT, et al.) into more recent years that may not be the case for v1.42 (2005) but it must still be one of the bigger ones even today.
An attempt at an open world where the player can find out what's over (or under) the next hill, and yet the main settlements were too close together because I had to impose a restriction on adding new areas for many versions.
Now, finally, I can add what I think of as "distance maps" to push places further apart and give the player more sense of place, immersion and of embarking on a journey, adding to the themes and overall pacing of the game.
* Shorelines
I always wanted to be able to literally walk from one side to another across the mainland. Like with distance maps, it helps create the continent in the mind of the player. It's not about simulating a 3D shoreline all around the landmass, just a handful of areas where you can reach the coast and get a sense of location, destination or boundary in a vague and symbolic way.
* Miscellaneous caves, tunnels, grottos, etc.
Most subterranean areas in v1.42 (2005) except Weeper's Cavern and The Crag were located according to very early layouts of the 'over-world' so what you get in v1.42 (2005) for cave systems is as much of a mess as Easthaven, TBS and Cityport all being really close together.
It was indeed begun as a literal subterranean system so you could travel the world underground but like most things, ended up not being updated, always due to other priorities. It was never meant to be extensive, I think that would be over-kill and it's not necessary, but the basic idea I am still on board with, at least with regards to linking a few areas or providing a secret way into the city, which is just re-implementing what was once a feature of the game anyway.
The most important thing, though, is that the main over-land area maps make sense. Some subterranean areas have been recycled for the modern iteration but some, like The Pit and The Grotto, have remained as part of (or under) the new-look landscape.
---THE EASTERN ISLES---
The only remaining areas I've mostly not begun to update yet in modern times, though thankfully they should be easier to update than the mainland.
* Sunnyville
Will have a make-over..
* Valley & Desert
Will get the same treatment as everywhere else, ie. new content but also new areas, though it's not yet clear if for the same island or an additional one.
* Crocodile Island
When World's End was first released I began with a main map image like any other early WoS world, then as more material got added it was discarded.
There was an idea of bringing back that map as a small island for a 'Classic start' where newbies are incarnated over a well in the middle of a pool of crocodiles with a nearby link to run to. That's where help is available but it caused so much rage-quitting back in the day. People didn't expect creatures to be arranged in a naturalised way rather than arranged just for a player to bash on. Anyway, that's still a plan to bring back.
----------------------------------------
Version 2
[UNDER CONSTRUCTION]
This section will have information added about my ultimate end-goal: to declare a Version 2.0
----------------------------------------
[This post may be updated occasionally as development continues.]
-
Arlo: It's comin'... Amos: Don't let it! Arlo: But I feel it comin', Amos.
posted
Preview Build January 2020 (a.k.a. PB1 - Settlements)
This post is updated from time to time. (Last update: February 2021)
Purpose
Background information on the content developed from 2018 to 2020 and released as a work-in-progress (WIP) raw build.
Main settlements, early gameplay & world-building
[Modular development, that is, specific things that may be well-developed or completed; but also may be very broken or clearly unfinished]
* Backbone of the game * Places most new players will often see * Newbie and training areas * Previews fixed perspectives, particularly actors obscured by hot-keys displaying in scenes; also generally better scene background art that is appropriate and accommodates the actors/players * Previews improved scene interaction and animation * Previews new lore, tightens existing lore
---
2018 development vs 2019 development -A brief history
2018
G A R G A n g O L d e n r e a l M g O l D e N P A L a c e
I was working backwards for at least the first year, on filling out the Golden Palace, adding a new quest, 'The Dove and the Golden Palace', and updating the Golden Realm and Mount Gargan.
c i t y p 0 r t thE PlAcE (Cityport sub-area)
This was next because I found some nice rainy neon urban scenes that I felt were the perfect fit for Cityport. I removed the entertainment/nightclub area from the main city and added a completely new one (but same idea and same map ID) to Cityport. If I were to fix up Cityport I needed this place to not have a jarring effect on the player by being the same old, rather empty nightclub/entertainment zone it was before, so The Place was the next area (temp name in PB, for v1.43 may become something like 'The Purple Phase') and it was the intention to ensure this entertainment zone has content worthy of Cityport's dark and windy streets and alleyways, ie. there's actually stuff going on in there.
It was a time-sink but it set the tone for interactivity and conversational delivery of dialogue/quests and animated scenes with random passers by and conversations, plus a lot more music. During this period I also worked on Old Castle and Coral Caves.
o L d c A s t L e (Smoke City sub-area)
I began updating Old Castle in Smoke City for the same reason as the entertainments sub-area in Cityport, so it isn't jarringly old, dead or broken when the player arrives there from an updated main area. Most of it is v1.43 ready, though some old lore remains until one or two quests there get fixed up.
Coral Caves
I'd also made some changes in The Coral Caves to introduce a better version of a minor faction and added some fishy monsters (I'm 50% done with/happy with). It's not fixed up for the Preview Build, and with particular regards to an old quest in this area to get Breath Boots. Later v1.43 will restore functionality. And later than that the Coral Caves area will finally find a true home, probably on a future coastline map.
In game (Preview, Jan 2020), see:
The Golden Palace The Golden Realm Mount Gargan Cityport The Place/Purple Phase (Cityport sub-area) Old Castle (Smoke City sub-area) Coral Caves (partial updates, maybe broken)
If I knew then what I know now I probably never would have done more than half of those. Despite the time, the benefit is even in PB there's a lot that's new to see well beyond the early game.
So far I was concentrating on one area at a time. Just the GR/GP/MG areas could have made a separate "version" in the past and then CP/Place and then WF/TJ. By the end of that early development period (Spring-Winter 2018) I considered Golden Palace, Golden Realm, Gargan and The Place all 100% for v1.43, with Cityport at around 90-95% done, just needing some final additions with lore that should probably be written after I've seen how the rest of things are going to look.
Working backwards was also good so all the tutorial/information/lore connects properly in the opposite direction for the player going forwards from the beginning of the game.
---
2019
During the second year there were 2 major shifts in development.
* Smoke City It demanded so much work (and a number of problems) so the first big change was I began working on multiple areas at once, now including Easthaven, Old Castle and Arena. The world was absolutely in pieces at this point. Smoke City and City University are very complex areas. As such both are clearly unfinished but a lot of key scenes are already greatly developed and close to finished.
* Contextual splash scenes The second change was I began introducing as standard what I think of as a context shot, a splash screen / flashed scene of a previous location or exterior. This is not coded (fully or at all) into those area overhauls from 2018 (Golden Realm, Cityport, etc). It will be eventually. See them in action mostly in Easthaven, City Uni, (places around the city not so much yet) and any relevant scenes moving forwards.
-
e A s T h a V e N
More than touched up Easthaven which was completely broken, now it's looking almost finished over all, even if a few more scenes still need work before 1.43 goes properly live.
As well as Easthaven, to cover the early game it was necessary to tidy up surrounding areas for the PB too, including Traveller's Junction, Grandchester Meadows (formerly Training Grounds) and Woodford. This is what I was busy with for the past few months, in addition to Hector's Bones and Easthaven...
Areas surrounding Easthaven:
* g R a n d c H e s t e R m E a D o w s * t R a v e l l e r ' s j U n c t i o N * THe tRaveller's ReSt They should be very functional, only Honest John's basic 'what's in the N, S, E and West?' options are clearly missing (for reasons not worth me rambling about now). The hourly day/night change-over in Traveller's Junction uses two separate maps. At night there is different music and monsters. I added some appropriate undead to the area to reflect the in-game lore but the actual difficulty may not match up to that lore until changes in game-play balance are phased in (see the section 'About confusing references...') Finally, because this is work-in-progress, you will notice the D of "tRaveller's jUnctioN D" refers temporarily to the daytime map for testing, and you might also notice others, like "NW gNarL" (but v1.43 almost completely ignores Gnarl Forest).
** Note on Weeper's Cavern [Info added soon]
W o o D F o R D
Should be far more deeply explored than previously, but it's mostly artwork, world-building through dialogue and atmospheric music. More interactive and dialogue-driven scripting and animation can be added later for this area (for 1.43 proper), though it will always be quieter than other settlements. There are clearly some unfinished scenes or camp backgrounds in Woodford.
-
s M o k e c i t Y (Intro)
Unlike nearly everything else,(modern) development of this area wasn't easy and a lot of time was spent trying out different ideas which is maybe a story for another day. Eventually I found what I was looking for and began reorganising. Around that time my focus was also on developing key scenes. Then, because I finally had an idea of how Smoke City would be I shifted my attention to City University due to its complexity. I spent some months mostly on that until I had the "Why not release something raw right now" brain-fart that will become the PB 4 months later. So what you see of the city is a state from nearly a year ago.
That's why the Smoke City area is less developed than Easthaven in the PB. Some links, even important ones, are not 100% in their final form/position, but I have spent some time recently tidying everything up so at least it makes sense again.
Not all links are present. Some links, eg. 'Houses SE' or 'Another Place' etc. have been, until now, used as spare links for testing, holding, dumping, noting literally anything - name, contents, location - that was likely to end up as something else entirely. Most of this should be cleared out of the game and they will just be a 'nothing location' until another release. Some links, like 'Nowhere In Particular' are purposeful, and even 'You are here' is intentional (it's a SCENE 1 and will probably always remain so).
Over all, rather than the city being broken, fragmented, unfinished and messy it is going to appear - albeit unfinished in places - rather functional and tidy. The city should now match up to the rest of the areas I have updated.
s M o k e c i t Y (Key locations/scenes) Are generally in advanced stages of development (85-95%).
Vested Interests
Only Finance & Investments floor at Vested Interests needs much more work (mostly dialogue/actor related), the other scenes (foyer, elevator, manager's office) are more or less v1.43 ready.
Mourning Star
The bar scene here is possibly the most complex scene in the game, with a lot to see and do already (by my standards), but it's actually still waiting for more dialogue options from Jake The Nose. This is also related to why Honest John's descriptions are not yet in the PB of what generally lies in different directions (N, S, E and W). These kinds of thing will be resolved along with the main city and university (particularly Geography Dept.) In the Preview Build actors may enter the scene asking for directions (eg. to VIP Fashion or Blood Asylum) and get given inaccurate directions. This is because some of the links are not yet 100% in the locations they will be later (though many probably are).
Trackyard
Being the only key location/scene(s) in all of the areas being updated that hasn't been brought up to much level of development yet (like 5% done compared with generally about 90%). It's meant to be a gathering place for low life scum, dodgy sales persons and street fighters. Somewhere for buying and selling illegal items and a meeting place for those on the wrong side of the law. As such, it often gets raided by cops.
In the PB it has the right scene background and a few actors standing around. Al Killya and Ann Stuffya are just there temporarily and will eventually go to a different scene. The dialogue between the NPCs/actors Marma Layde and Toast about security at the bank and Vested Interests I consider to be a fragment. These can be misleading to a player so I removed some for the PB, however I want to leave this one in. Those actor skins and their dialogue were for me to see at least one example of actors speaking who might set the tone for the place. Once I saw those people saying those things I'd seen enough and went off to (at the time) higher priorities.
The player should know that the bank (G.R.E.E.D. Inc.) has some question over it's form or existence moving forwards. That dialogue fragment is staying in because no matter what happens with the bank I think a good natural development of that conversation might be a seed of an idea about them deciding to rob the gem shop instead.
s M o k e c i t Y (Notable mentions)
G.R.E.E.D. Inc. (the bank)
H: What does G.R.E.E.D. Inc. stand for? 2: Gaining Riches Encouraging Excessive Decadence 1: .. Incorporated. 2: Invest your cash here. 2: There are no limits!
Most of its services have been moved to Vested Interests. I'm in two minds about it's future. That's why Vested Interests foyer scene, otherwise v1.43 ready, lacks the by now standard splash scene during entry, because if the bank goes by full release of 1.43 then I will simply use it's entrance (guards) scene for Vested.
About 24/7
It's like 7-11 or K-Mart. Every one will be exactly the same. I sketched out a few products that will always be the same. In v1.43 there will be about 4 of them in Smoke City and at least 2 in Cityport. Sunnyville won't have any because it's going in a different direction, though a single one will probably appear in the far north-west of Shiverton. As already mentioned by someone in a bar in Easthaven, there will never be a 24/7 there.
About Vacancies
This is similar to 24/7 in that it's a recurring scene, with 2-4 in Smoke City and maybe a couple in Cityport (nowhere else - they're a city thing). It's just meant to add a bit of colour to the cities, and will feature largely unimportant random events. In PB it's unfinished and does nothing, the actors just stand there and may talk. However, one random event will be the dialogue about the two thieves, that will possibly lead to a repeatable mini-quest for level 100s. That won't be implemented until after v1.43 but I'm setting it up for now as a simple event.
Dogpiss Alley
A broken fragment of the old Hector's Ghost quest script can be seen here. In v1.43 it will probably be made functional only. After 1.43 it will be used as an event or quest. Also, notice the similarity with the two goons at Vacancies: it doesn't mean the two scenes/events will be copies or even turn out exactly like they are now.
o L d c A s t L e (Smoke City sub-area)
(See 2018 development history, above)
-
a R E N A (Smoke City sub-area)
H: Could you tell me about the Arena? 1: Nope.
This should also be a key area but it won't be considered as such until after v1.43. Originally the Arena was placed in Easthaven for a few different reasons that are no longer relevant. Therefore it has been moved to Smoke City in PB and brought into line with other modern scene backgrounds. It has been made perfectly functional according to functionality available in the past but nothing much new has been added. This is because the area deserves special attention: just like the Cityport entertainments sub-area, or just like City University, it requires some work and complexity because I want it to be a place with lots to see and do. For more info, see the December 2019 Future post.
c i t Y u N I v E r S i T Y (Smoke City sub-area)
Medium sized area with a number of links to buildings or park/garden features. Lots of multi-scene locations, very busy with random character and dialogue and lots of world-building, typically mixing game-play with interaction, quest and tutorial. Where you go after Easthaven and return to throughout the game for quests, information, entertainment or buying certain items.
In PB some scenes are finished, others are nearly finished, maybe a couple not developed much and a couple needing a fair bit more work. Even so, this rather mixed bag should all still hang together.
------------------ Miscellaneous info
There will be references to things that might not fully work, connect, or exist in the game yet, notably Enlightenment, the Proficiency Test, mixed messages about Uni requirements.
-
About being dead If you see NPCs talking to you when you're dead, this is old script in areas I'm not updating for 1.43, or if it's in PB updated areas then it will eventually be gone. According to the lore established in the PB only witches can usually see (and react to) you when you're dead. After v1.43 there will be at least one more faction that can see you when you're dead as well.
-
Monster groups may have seen changes of varying kinds but not yet proper attention. Around Easthaven mobs should be about right, in the city they will be urban style but are highly subject to later changes.
-
Map images in PB Jan 2020 are more or less the same as in World's End v1.42 (2005) because the focus of the preview, as far as areas are concerned, are the ones players would see often or spend most time in, and as a coincidence Smoke City and places around Easthaven have some map images I am not changing.
[A following PB is going to highlight new wilderness map images and a new-look wider world, but that PB isn't slated until later in 2020.]
-
Link images: there are a small handful of new ones but it's not a focus of PB Jan 2020.
-
Traveller's Guide is not updated for PB Jan 2020. It's the sort of thing that comes towards the later stages of development.
-
Music, turn it on!
--------------------
Quests
Some are developed, some broken, some old. Below are a few notable mentions beginning with a spoiler-free description of the completely new one..
* The Dove & The Golden Palace (3 of 3) Brand new content, a simple 3 stage dialogue/choices-driven quest that takes you from Mount Gargan to the Golden Realm to the Golden Palace and eventually opens more access and some services there. Possibly all in a release-able state. Dependent on the character completing Hector's Bones (5 of 5) quest in order to access Day and Night Sky maps to reach the Golden Realm. Eventually (way beyond 1.43) another 3 parter will enable access to the rest of the area and its services, and that second 3 parter will be a requirement to forward a strand of main quest/story. The "rest of the area and it's services" doesn't mean you are missing out on much until then, it's more about convenience but that's spoiler territory for now.
* Hector's Bones (5 of 5) v1.43 ready. Quest that gives terrain boots equip item for traversing sky maps. 60% of the plot is based on the old quest with some stages re-worked and/or relocated. All of the script has been rewritten. One NPC and an action sequence have been removed because they were pointless for this quest (see Dogpiss Alley). Changed the name from Hector's Ghost to Hector's Bones. Starts with the usual silly options but the tone gets darker and more sombre. Dialogue should be more conversational with crude player choice and only putting words into the player's mouth where convenient for me and/or the player, ie. for the sake of a natural progression of dialogue. Very satisfying to tighten up old lore! I never liked a reference to an army of undead coming out of the north. It was potentially to be linked to the Hollows where the 'rez quest' action happened. Now the reference is simply to 'dark and shadowy figures' which I think works much better moving forwards. The undead army coming from the north I felt was another overly Tolkienesque element that temporarily (!) sufficed to give players something until.. around now, and not a decade too soon thanks to Game of Thrones! Final stage is a bit cheesy, but hopefully in a good way, that works with the WoS engine (like Dan's decision to include built in MIDI music rather than pointless real audio support. See Music section).
* Delivery Work (1 of 1) Repeatable from Easthaven Town Hall. Should work.
* Pest Control (1 of 1) Repeatable from Easthaven Town Hall. Should work but needs properly testing.
* From Enlightenment to Resurrection (5 of 5) BROKEN. Inaccessible for new characters to gain Rez spell in PB without cheat command. Backed-up modded chars of old cherished lvl 100s who did the old quest and got the spell already will be unaffected.
* The Traveller's Rest (1 of 1) Should be v1.43 ready. Scripts/dialogue all updated. Renames Well Ticket to Lodestone.
* Jones Farm (1 of 1) Hopefully an improvement on the original idea while keeping and developing the tone. Should be v1.43 ready. Although technically only one token (Quest Diary entry) to track once you got the chest open, there are actually multiple stages to this, including a trip to Weeper's Cavern (but that is a mostly old scripts/art sub-area).
* The Bully (1 of 1) BROKEN. Was halfway through this City Uni quest when diverted by PB. Scene contains fragments of new script, plus more script is written but commented out for testing. Will be finished for v1.43 and later re-invented as stage 2 of 4 (a seed of stage 1 can be seen passing through the south-west gate leaving Grandchester Meadows).
* The Castle Gate (2 of 2) Starts in City Uni. Should be v1.43 ready. The old quest where telling a student how many lines in a sonnet gets you the password for the Groves area, deep in the Gnarl Forest. In the past it gave players something to do far away, now it needs to be appropriate for newbie chars. It's now a quality of life style of reward, whereby the PC no longer has to rely on the RNG of the ridiculous menu options offed at the Old Castle entrance. Being World's End, the easier way to get in is just as ridiculous.
* The Crown of Destiny / Bone Ring? (2 of 2) Maybe functional, maybe not. Starts in the Deadlands and takes you to Old Castle. Will be more properly developed during Brackmire - Deadlands - Wilders updates.
* The Body Snatchers (7 of 7) BROKEN. One or two stages of this quest taking place in Cityport have been updated and should be v1.43 ready, however, quest stages in Smoke City or at City University will be broken, either fragmented or missing entirely (which actually means I commented the quest parts out so I could fix up a location, etc.) The quest is resolved in 5 stages, then 2 extra stages were tacked on, then immediately left as a cliff-hanger. I will probably use the ideas separately and this will become a 5 parter.
* The Vault Key (4 of 4) Maybe functional, maybe not. Is this the one where the King's Fool is still old script? Don't care for PB Jan 20.
* The Coral Caves (2 of 2) BROKEN. Will be reworked.
* A Soggy Parchment (1 of 1) Maybe functional, maybe not. It's down in the Coral Caves where I don't care to look!
** A number of other quests around the world are being completely ignored in PB and for v1.43 if I can get away with it.
---------------
Post-production / File-size for PB + 1.43
15 years later we don't have dial-up modem / dawn-of-cable tech issues to deal with and file sizes can be bigger. Even so, I'm still placing, for example, an approximate limit of +\- 50kb for each scene background in the game. Since 2018 I kept this habit up but actor/monster skins are a different matter. For aproper version I'll need to check all the folders for rogue scene backgrounds or skins or midi or .wav files. Most backgrounds are already done but there are some skins that still need checking and a few problem skins that need resolving.
There are other jobs involved too, but the point is the file size of the work-in-progress, raw content that is this Preview Build is larger than an official version would be.
------------------------------
Some final notes
* After this, there will never need to be a long wait again.
- I can literally release a PB over-night on a daily basis, though once PB Jan 2020 is live I will go back under a stone for a while and bring City Uni and Smoke City up to scratch (a level like EH in PB). Then I can up another PB, eg. PB July 2020 (or whenever) and around that time I'll ask for bug reports. - I think 2020 development will signal another change in approach: see Woodford.. I can throw in new material (scene backgrounds, actors, dialogue, music and lore) without bothering to add much interactivity, animation or random timed events. It was necessary in PB of Jan 2020 to establish these improved gameplay elements, however I can greatly save time and keep the whole world functioning by layering the development, except for key scenes that will always remain a priority to develop as fully as possible at every step of the way. - The work I did until now was very interconnected, establishing lore and tutorial across important areas that are arguably the backbone of the game. Later, even with Sunnyville, for example, which will be another complex settlement, development won't have to depend on any number of other locations also being fleshed out. In other words, a Preview Build or official version will be more modular and much smaller. - It needed to be just me and my free time with a massive workload until a more clear or solid vision was established. - I now know what I'm doing and have established my own ways of doing it, whereby everything is just easier, so when you add the previous points into the mix updates of any kind can be more regular.
* Why spend time on this Jan '20 PB Intro post and the Dec '19 Future post around crunch time?
- Because any one individual player who checks PB could have numerous questions, just like in the past, so these posts can maybe go a long way towards answering most of them. As the world develops and matures it might become more complex with new questions. Hopefully those will be questions good for hanging in the air though, that actually enhance the world-building, rather than be questions that are unnecessarily about things that shouldn't have questions in the first place, that should be intuitive, self-evident or 'in the game already'. - Last, but it turns out absolutely not least, because it's greatly helped me focus on preparing a first proper upload that I have learned from experience is just like a real life first impression. Thanks to organising all the issues in a clear way I didn't just develop Easthaven and Hector's Bones quest, I also spent time tidying up Traveller's Junction, Grandchester Meadows, Woodford and Arena. Old Castle already had enough development to not be untidy, with only some quest/lore that is broken in PB (see Quests). Then, I realised how easily I could even do a tidy-up on Smoke City.. Voila! I would no longer describe any general part of PB as "a mess" and almost everything should make some sense, even if not everything is quite finished yet.
[ 02-21-2021, 07:10 AM: Message edited by: Fred Spade ]
-------------------- World's End - Open World RPG Version: 1.42 worldsend.000webhostapp.com Posts: 1666 | From: Hồ Chí Minh / Sài Gòn | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
After I released the Preview Build my plan was to maybe take a little break from WoS but the following day I couldn't get into anything. I just wanted to look over the really high priority stuff I'd been working on when I had the idea to release raw material. So, I looked over City University at the important scenes there but something strange happened...
I couldn't stop wondering what one of my new map images would look like in game, so I added a new map for Brackmire. It looked amazing and really transformed the look of the world.
The first place the player will see if they decide to head north out of Traveller's Junction into the wilderness (which is really what my world is all about). It's like the starter town being the first impression of the game.. Brackmire might be the player's first impression of the open world, and now I am so happy that hopefully the impression should be a good one.
That's why I didn't update the Jan 2020 PB Post because if I could put it out there.. then I can also draw a line under it - no matter how important the priorities - and as long as nothing changes the info will remain current.
It's also related to the Dec 2019 Future Post, particularly the section on shape of the world with regards to new map images and areas. So that's why I didn't update that post either. So basically I've ceased all work on v1.43 and am now working on v1.44!
Sounds crazy but let me clarify:
The PB taught me new approaches to developing, modular and layered (maybe I can explain these another time), that can help me develop a large sized world much more quickly than in the past.
Where I live and work has been greatly affected by the corona virus and all the schools have been closed since early January. While it's killing me financially, it means I have a lot of extra time...
My original plan since I came back in 2018 was to make a 1.43 that covers all the areas that players visit regularly and key elements like new levels of animation and interactivity, covering important tutorial and lore.
Then a following 1.44 would address places further out, wilderness, dungeons, etc.
The PB, and then seeing that new Brackmire map completely changed the way I think. I realised this would result in a lob-sided v1.43 with half of it being OK and the other half not.
Putting all this together, I've been real busy and making super fast progress on a number of areas that are not included in PB Jan 2020..
gNarL sWAMP f O O t H i l L s b r A c K m i R e c O r A l C a y cENtRaL gNarL gNarL gRovE weEper'S cAvern d E d L a n D S cOBALT CAVern pAth of FLame gNarL rivER s O U t h d O W n s w E s t E R n R a n G e s m O u n T A i n r O A D gREen hiLLS tHe HoLLOWS gNarL cAvE thE piT g R o T t o W E s t w y c h THe cRAg G A R G A n the mAW
These areas are all looking good to great, it's very exciting to see, hear and feel the new atmospheres they create.
I am working towards another Preview Build (some months away) because it was a great way to have focus, impose a deadline and prioritise functionality over novelty, which greatly speeds things up! I don't need to spend massive amounts of time (for me, anyway) scripting menu options or random events and the wilderness has far fewer scenes anyway.
It means when v1.43 finally arrives it will be quite well-rounded in terms of the new stuff, and there will be something to see no matter where the player goes or what they do.
After some more progress I will know which parts of the Dec '19 Future and Jan '20 Preview Build posts need changing.
I'm going to leave it at that, for now, so I can get back to it.
posted
Well with what's going on in the world right now it's the perfect time for a world developer like me to get stuff done, and it seems the case judging by the discord. For me though, here in Viet Nam, our schools were already closed 2 months ago right after nearly a month's holiday, so I've had time on my hands for nearly 3 months and counting. So as I write this I'm actually taking a little break from developing World's End, just for a little while. Anyone who has been following this thread will know that doesn't reflect on my motivation levels at all and I'll be back to it very soon.
In the meantime I need to shift my career from classroom to online teaching which is a completely different animal so that's one reason to take a break, plus developing is normality to me so I feel like catching up on just playing other games and films/TV shows.
I thought of posting some screenshots like I'd done last year but I actually feel like I should keep my images under wraps for now. When the next Preview Build comes it will be all about a new look for the world and that's very exciting.
Until next month, stay safe out there!
Posts: 1666 | From: Hồ Chí Minh / Sài Gòn | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
Posting very late in the month but the truth is I didn't take much of a break from developing World's End. I set up some online teaching but there weren't many students as the whole world locked down and went online to find work. For me though, it was just temporary and I knew I'd be back in a classroom eventually, and since Viet Nam took a hard line on the virus from the beginning we only had 268 cases and zero deaths in the whole country! Things are opening up again and I have been chipping away at the world and making progress...
-
Over the past couple of months I have been working on wilderness areas as previously described.
I can now report that the following areas are all in an advanced state of development, pretty much functional to at least 70% complete (some more, some less).
b r A c K m i R e d E d L a n D S tHe HoLLOWS
w E s t E R n R a n G e s the mAW
pAth of FLame THe cRAg
W E s t w y c h
cENtRaL gNarL gNarL sWAMP gNarL rivER gNarL gRovE cOBALT CAVern
I'm not going to talk in any detail about the content, suffice to say there are many things included that I am excited for players to see, but for now I want to press on.
posted
A World's End Story - Heaven Blade, is written and ready to ship. Volume I-V, ready for Smoke City's University library, is also on the role playing forums. It narrates the story of a young samurai who lost her sensei early during her training, and has to continue on the road alone, trying to make sense of what she's being taught in a big, messy world.
In the beginning, I envisioned the thing as chronicles of a world-travelling samurai. Something that was purely short roleplay stories to share. The more and more I wrote, I found myself much more with a story about how the world she lives in, and places like Smoke City, doesn't make sense to her, and how her vision can live in such places. I tried to keep them as short as possible without cutting out essential stuff. I don't try to narrate what's to be found in the world, but more like the perspective or an individual in it. Maybe reflect how they're not all making sense of it all of a sudden because they're samurais, mages, druids, and so on. They still have their doubts and stay true to their philosophy the best way they can.
I know samurais are to be replaced (''evolve''?) by ronins. Since I began the story as a samurai, I ended it like that, especially because I don't know how the change will happen. However, there's never been references to servitude or lord, master anywhere. The closest thing to that is the character's sensei. It's almost already depicted as a ronin.
STORY CONTENT HERE, GO READ IT FIRST IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED. It ends on a cliff-hanger, but if we keep the idea that there's a lost volume somewhere, then it is perfect like that. It ''is'' complete in a way, if we imagine that the first volumes narrates how she ventured out of Easthaven on her own, and confronted her point of view to those existing in Smoke City. Her need to have someone-something to rely on dies in the process, and she learns to draw strength on her own ideals. Volume VI, later on, could be the several short tales about her travels, how she turned out. I also noticed I totally forgot about her broken katana from which he took her nickname. Initially I wanted to have it repaired at the samurai place in Smoke City. Whatever happens, the sixth book AND the sword could be found together, lost somewhere in the wilderness. No body, no blood, just a book and a sword and if people already read the story at the University, they'll say ''Oh snap, it's the last book and that woman's katana. Is she dead???'' It's all mysterious and fits the atmosphere. NO SPOILERS FROM NOW ON, YOU'RE OKAY.
Anyway, this concludes ''this part''. So you can put something complete in your world and see how it fits. Maybe I'd like to write something about the druids...I'll wander a bit around the maps and see if something inspires me on the road.
EDIT : The world preview is no longer available for download. I'm asking late, I'm sorry, could someone host it back somewhere? Well, somewhere safe, I'll be a minimum specific. Thank you!
posted
It sounds like you think samurai class is changing and/or being replaced, it's not I don't think. It's more or less going to stay as it is for a while.
Writing about druids...
The rangers of Woodford would fit the bill there, and there is already some characterisation of them as a faction but it's not fully complete in PB Jan 2020 and it will be for v.143
I wouldn't advise trying to write about them before that, or at the very least keep it vague.
What probably isn't clear (and I want it to be in a proper version release) is the rangers of Woodford (who are druid types) are actually not a ranger class, but an ethnicity or something like it: it's about folk who were born on the banks on the Silt. This info would be included in 1.43 and isn't available in PB Jan 20 so you could never know. Point is, careful what you write about, focus more on the character and months and months from now... you can add new details based on further material.
Also, adding your volume 1 to the library was pretty easy. I can add your other volumes too. Maybe in the same way you could just write up loads of books about.. just different things as more books for the library and around the game world.
Whatever you do.. don't wait for me to implement a quest or any other idea any time soon...
(You don't wanna see my To Do list!)
At the moment I am working toward releasing another Preview Build with a focus on a whole new look for the wilderness of the mainland.
I plan to talk about the next PB very soon in a monthly update post.
Below is a new temp zippyfile of Preview Build Jan 2020.. You can use a copy of a backed-up char but better to try making any new character. Either way, you will need to de-select 'Avoid modified quest files'
I get your point. I'll stick to short random stories. Which is pretty much what I had in mind. But it'll be more like legends, tales, travel diaries, etc. Sometimes about Heaven Blade, sometimes not. More about creating little tidbits of liveliness in background, here and there.
Except if you have another idea, I guess I'll make a World's End stories topic in the role playing section of the forum, and write a little post here whenever something's ready.
-------------------- Old-timer. Used to play Dusty on World's End, nearly two decades ago. Posts: 12 | Registered: May 2020
| IP: Logged
Random books by different authors about different things would help the library that Preview Jan 20 introduced as having more books than anywhere else. It would give you lots of freedom and plenty to be getting on with while I'm out in the swamps or deep in some cavern stitching it all back together again.
So, despite you always having the library as an option to write for.. there is actually something a bit more immediately useful...
I will post very soon more info about another Preview Build covering wilderness areas.
There's a fair bit of wilderness out there and I have points of interest to fill (or not) until the game world doesn't feel more empty than seems natural and fitting.
A diary or final note found by the PC on some bones in a random cave. Maybe an explorer got poisoned and crawled in there to die.. Or a lover ran away..
Maybe the more normal, rather than epic, would have the best over all effect for something like that. Plus avoiding specific details about certain things makes it easier to fit into the world:
"Whatever that thing was, its poison is spreading and I may not be able to finish this, I just know I'm going to die in this place and these will be my final words. Etc."
I could add that to a cave or an old shack, next to a cold campfire in the woods or behind a waterfall.. The library, on the other hand, has lots of potential but it's not deeply lacking anything.
The next Preview has a focus on updating the wilderness. Notes and diaries would be very useful for throughout the world, even houses in cities, but something I can use in caves and camps, shacks and out of the way places would be most helpful to development as it is going on right now.
-------------------- World's End - Open World RPG Version: 1.42 worldsend.000webhostapp.com Posts: 1666 | From: Hồ Chí Minh / Sài Gòn | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
This will be my monthly progress for May 2020, plus I want to bring a few threads together to begin presenting what will become the Next Preview Build.
This past few weeks I have been sorting the finer details of locations in various areas of the Gnarl Forest, particularly the central and the swamp. I also established that the Grotto (dark, flooded underground area) will connect the north (Brackmire/Dedlands) with the north-east (Gnarl Swamp). That opens the door to other things moving forwards. It's all good and it's all go!
-
So let's talk about the next Preview Build. It's focus will be on completely different things to Preview Build Jan 2020...
All the progress made in PB Jan 20 was the most crucial parts of the game, maybe first impressions, beginner, tutorial, lore, scene animation and interaction, etc. in most of the places most seen by most of the players.
However..
No matter how important that stuff is, if it stays completely frozen for a while in development, that means less updating, re-writing current info. All the changes laid out in PB Jan 20 post and made to the game still stand, actually saving a lot of time and energy in order to get where we need to be going faster.
I think where we're going at this point is a place I never could have faced if I had known back in 2018, haha! That's because I think the actual release of version 1.43 is going to update pretty much everything related to the environment, not just in key areas but.. um.. sumfing like maybe.. all. Everywhere the player goes, the place and what's in it will have been refurbished.
It's funny and ironic that such a huge step that was PB Jan 20 coincidentally didn't actually show off the true heart and soul of exploring an open world, that the places being updated coincidentally happened to be a handful that were probably keeping their map/area images moving forwards. Looking back from my work thus far on the next preview, PB Jan 20 still very much looks like v1.42 (2005). I think the new nightclub/entertainment complex in Cityport is the only map image that's different. The next build will look radically different introducing a lot of new map/area images.
I now have a way of developing I think of as 'layered' - this means adding the same, simple things across the board to make progress on a lot of areas at once while keeping it "not broken" all the way. Whereas PB Jan 20 was complex and carried a disclaimer about lots of bugs or broken and confusing things, the next PB will be highly functional in the most fundamental things, the sound themes, maybe music, the transitions, the FX, related mobs and actors. It should all not be broken. Some quests that could not be functional in the previous PB are now able to be fixed up.
Over all, going in any direction on the mainland will take you to something new to see. NO PLACE-HOLDERS.
Because it's wilderness there is far less need for scenes full of scripts and I can cover more ground literally. I am not adding terrains or limitations on access. In the next PB the player can go anywhere and see anything.
What's in the scenes, interesting or mundane, important or insignificant, etc. will be limited in function compared to the previous PB. The focus is not on scripts or complex functionality, the purpose is to introduce new-look environments and ensure everything in them mostly connects and makes sense and that everything works on simple levels, even the musical themes that play as you explore.
It also introduces new species and notably some factions in the forest and mountain/lava areas are updated or make their first appearances.
Key scenes will be made more functional by full release of v1.43 but in the next PB they should be set in place and no bugs, glitches, missing backgrounds. Places allow you to enter completely and show you more or less what is there but many (not all) will not allow you to actually progress them until full release of v1.43.
There's still plenty to see and do, for example, the quest that gets the fast terrain boots item in Brackmire will be fully functional for the new Preview Build. It's been rebooted so the characters and action are now different but the token and reward are the same.
The next Preview Build is more like a HD remake of the wilderness, or the wilderness enhanced..
..or better wilderness
or something.
Heh, and still no screenshots
[ 05-18-2020, 06:41 PM: Message edited by: Fred Spade ]
-------------------- World's End - Open World RPG Version: 1.42 worldsend.000webhostapp.com Posts: 1666 | From: Hồ Chí Minh / Sài Gòn | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
This post is updated from time to time. (Last update: January 2021)
Preview Build January 2020 - Towns & The Early Game
[Modular development, that is, specific things that may be well-developed or completed; but also may be very broken or clearly unfinished]
* Backbone of the game * Places most new players will often see * Newbie and training areas * Previews fixed perspectives, particularly actors obscured by hot-keys displaying in scenes; also generally better scene background art that is appropriate and accommodates the actors/players * Previews improved scene interaction and animation * Previews new lore, tightens existing lore
--------------------------------
Preview Build February 2021 - Wilderness Edition
[Layered development, that is, fundamental changes are made across many areas at the same time; focus is no longer on depth of scene (eg. showing off interactivity), instead the intention is to cover a lot of ground that is all perfectly functional, as-is]
* With regards to the above, this PB begins a new phase in development whereby raw files will be uploaded to update the latest Wilderness Edition build.
* Upgrades the look of the wider mainland wilderness. Sets splash/transition scripts (they are everywhere!), backgrounds, sound and visual FX, weather, etc. Plus appropriate monster groups and defines many points of interest.
Including the following areas:
gNarL sWAMP b r A c K m i r e tRaveller's jUnctioN (night time) tRaveller's jUnctioN (day time) m i r R o R L A k e c O r A l C a y gNarL pAtH gNarL gRovE weEper'S cAvern d E d L a n D S cOBALT CAVe pAth of FLame gNarL rivER s O U t h d O W n s w E s t E R n R a n G e s m O u n T A i n r O A D gREen hiLLS tHe HoLLOWS gNarL cAvE thE piT g R o T t o W E s t w y c h ARachnE's LAiR [Not 100% sure] THe cRAg THe suMP the mAW Rocky Heights [Working title]
--------------------------------
Preview Build 3 - Hot & Cold
* Will bring the Eastern Isles in line with the mainland
* Possibly also Shiverton and the Icy Waste will be updated around this time
---------------------
Preview Build 4 - Pre-Release Preview?
* Fixing up outstanding issues in key areas covered by PB Jan 20. This would be a lot of broken or unfinished stuff that is important but was placed on ice after PB Jan 20.
* Finishing numerous miscellaneous jobs, eg.
- Monster lists and monster group tweaks. Much has already been done as I've been going along. Both with regards to changing what's there in some way or adding new mobs or groups. Around this time the game environment will be ready for tweaking the urban (humanoid/settlement) mobs. Also sprinkling in some further additions. This will also enhance the pool of actors (and factions) and enable future development of story and lore.
- Pets Update, that was slated for v1.43 since my 2005 to-do notes, that was one of the very first things I began updating. With about 70-80% of the work done on that I needed to see more of the monster lists develop so I put it on hold. At this point would be a good time to finish up the pets.
- The Traveller's Guide should probably be updated by this point, with a new arrangement of information: no more 'Places to go' info because world area info will no longer be presented as a wall of text, rather it will be delivered to the player through interactive gameplay systems, like conversation menu options that the player can control and digest as they so wish. Instead, the guide will feature in-game, updated info based on the Dec 2019 Future Post in this thread. Stuff like that.
* Noting and fixing all bugs and making sure it's feeling tight and stable. By this point I would greatly welcome bug reports.
posted
Last month I just posted the roadmap, maybe a bit of a damp squib of a post to anyone who had been hoping to see this project achieve a proper release sooner. Not much info, just an overview that appears to show a proper version is still very far from ready...
Well, that's true but not so bad as it may first appear: development up to PB Jan '20 had taken 2 years of my free time but all of the following development will not take so long. Preview Build 2 which I am working on now, for instance, should take half as long. Therefore, it could be uploaded late this year, which means I could declare a January '21 build. If this is the case I will probably make it different and go for February 2021 for Preview Build 2 - Wilderness Edition, or whatever.
The Preview Build 3 that is slated to deal with Sunnyville/Eastern Isles and Shiverton/Icy Wastes will take much less time than either of the previous two previews.
The potentially slated final preview will also not take as long as the first two preview builds.
-
Last month I posted a bit of a nothing post because really that one is for me, to help me see the big picture and point the way towards the light at the end of a tunnel, that in August 2018 seemed like a distant star.
Also because I didn't want to talk, and there were two reasons for that.
Firstly, because this Preview Build 2 I am currently working on is very 'samey' with regards to what I am actually doing (adding new map and background images to the mainland wilderness along with all the fundamental settings that will hold it together). All I could really say most of the time is either "More of the same" or go into detail about things that just wastes time because I'd essentially just be writing everything twice (here and in the game world).
Secondly, last month I was at a crucial stage in the progress because I'd just decided on the map image for Weeper's Cavern, but I hadn't yet had the time to embellish it with detail, thus I was unable to really make a progress report like I can this month....
-
Last month I was working on subterranean areas, like caves, caverns, grottos, etc.
This past month my focus shifted to some crucial distance maps.
Weeper's Cavern is an important area because it's the first cave area the player sees, and for pacing reasons I need there to be interesting variations moving forwards so Weeper's needs to not over-do things right at the start. On the other hand, it's also not just a generic area because it also needs to be 'My First Dungeon'.
Development is layered, whereby I work on many similar things at the same time and develop them together, and a lot hinged on Weeper's. Initially I had another image in mind but I wasn't fully happy it covered what I want to express with the place and the image seemed to fit better elsewhere.
This is partly why last month's post was late but suddenly there it was, like how often is the case: the image I was looking for was right under my nose, among the art I had waiting around. Finally the map image fit what I wanted for the concept of Weeper's:
Cave system formed by water, partially flooded, green/blue or grey/brown in stages. Terrain will stop newbies from venturing forth unless they go out of their way to buy the equipment (boots) to access it. Some areas require water access and some even require climbing access so I can add subtle pacing to the experience.
I shall allow the player to enter the link and see part of the map and things to explore, but the entrance is flooded and they can't move further in. I am teasing the player and showing them without telling. They may decide to buy some water boots and come back. Then they get to explore further in until they reach another point and would need to equip climbing boots.
Terrain features are actually NOT a formal part of Preview Build 2 updates, but Weeper's will have them. Other maps have some, often none. I will probably come back to terrains-talk at a later date.
Anyway, by having the exact art laid out for Weeper's it meant all the other underground areas were able to burst forwards in development as I had a much better idea, for example, of which scene backgrounds might be used on which maps.
That led to development of The Sump, Grotto and The Pit. There are now about 5 or 6 different underground areas all in advanced stages of development.
-
The past 2 to 3 weeks I had a change of scene and moved to developing 2 key 'distance' maps. They are directly to the north and south of Smoke City, intended to add some sense of place and distance to travelling the world (when by foot).
Having said that, so-called distance maps is just a functional way to think about them, it doesn't mean they are otherwise unimportant or generic.
Green Hills goes south from Traveller's Junction towards Smoke City. A hilly, wooded area mostly used for logging and tree-farming. It's hopefully a little atmospheric (as is hopefully most of the world). There's something 'off' about the place. The people there refer to something but they don't seem to want to talk openly about it. There's something creepy under the surface in Green Hills. Spoiler: Once all the environmental elements are in place and I can develop it, Green Hills will turn out to have werewolf problems. I am taking the film American Werewolf In London as my inspiration for Green Hills.
The following example is the scene-setting in Preview Build 2 and probably v1.43, that will eventually be an area with its own lycanthropy themed quest-cycle...
;--------------------------------------- ; sAW mill SCENE 56 Spooky-old-log-cabin-in-the-forest WEATHER 0 FX 0 THEME 1 IF ALIVE, @alive @dead END @alive WAIT 1 SOUND "creakdoor2.wav" WAIT 1 MUSIC "bach-prelude-in-cm-piano.mid" WAIT 1 BKGND Korda_Studios_Medieval_backlot_253 ACTOR 1, "Billie", actors1, 18, 30, 55 POSE 18, 19 ACTOR 2, "Bernie", actors1, 3, 25, 70 ACTOR 3, "Bertie", actors1, 8, 45, 55 FACE 3, 0 ACTOR 4, "Barney", actors1, 5, 40, 70 FACE 4, 0 WAIT 2 @eventTimer1 IF R5, @dialogue1a IF R5, @dialogue2a IF R5, @dialogue3a IF R5, @dialogue4a IF R5, @dialogue1b IF R5, @dialogue2b IF R5, @dialogue3b IF R5, @dialogue4b GOTO @eventTimer1 END @dialogue1a 1: I ain't seen nothin'. 1: Don't listen to rumours. TIMER 1, 6 END @dialogue2a 2: I still say we'd be better off in the Gnarl Forest. 2: Good money in Woodford. TIMER 1, 6 END @dialogue3a 3: Best not to talk about it. 3: Too much fear and uncertainty. TIMER 1, 6 END @dialogue4a 4: Who knows what's real or not in this world? 4: You never can know. TIMER 1, 6 END @dialogue1b 1: Have to get on with things. 1: Can't stop living life. TIMER 1, 6 END @dialogue2b 2: They say it's worse than Traveller's Junction. 2: I never realised before I agreed. TIMER 1, 6 END @dialogue3b 3: Don't be in stupid places at stupid times. 3: No different to anywhere else. TIMER 1, 6 END @dialogue4b 4: Just have to be careful. 4: Need to keep an eye out. TIMER 1, 6 END ;---------------------------------------
For now it's just scene-setting, flavour...
-
The other distance map to the south of Smoke City is kind of generic hilly/woods/moorland on purpose, but with one very significant feature. This area has the working title Mirror Lake.
-
Over all, (with the possible exception of one or maybe two maps) the revamped areas and the new areas that will feature in Preview Build 2 are in place and functional. Some are in very advanced stages of development now.
Moving forwards I will be in the WoS editor less and on a test character in-game more as I work on the interiors. Even many interiors are already done, but there are still many that need attention.
** s O U t h d O W n s finally gains the perfect map image for the first time ever, meaning development of the southern mainland can easily move forwards in a future version. ** c i t y p 0 r t is now confirmed NOT to be open world (which has always been part of the plan). ** thE piT has it's new look, marking the final area that is 100% sure for Version 1.43 and the upcoming Preview Build 2. ** Rocky Heights is a working title for a map I plan to place in the west. I'm not sure if it should be in the Preview Build or not.
-
s O U t h d O W n s This is a grassland area south of the big city. One or two different map images were used over the years to represent it. It's supposed to be green, grassy hills rolling down as far as the southern coastline where Cityport is located. The map never featured the coastline itself because I wasn't happy with anything I could find or come up with. I was pretty sure this one needed to be the right aerial photo kind of map. Up to now the coastline only featured in the Cityport area itself. With the new South Downs image that can finally just be representing the Cityport seafront because the new South Downs image actually features coastline areas too. Not only that, but it naturally has the potential for other features that I'm taking advantage of that I feel might enhance it's character in the world beyond being just a green rectangle of grass with a city link on it. South Downs is now solidified as not only rolling hills but also the coastline, so it means another map (almost certainly mirRoR LAke) will now come between sOUth dOWns and sMoke citY. That also means the spine of the mainland is covered from the south coast all the way up to dEdLanDS in the far north (which will also eventually express the edge of the landmass). Finally, now I know what I'm working with in the far south, it can be expanded west to fOOtHilLs and eastwards, though that's beyond the scope of the Preview or Version 1.43.
c i t y p 0 r t In most of the early WoS worlds a player would walk across an area map and click links to enter sub-areas. On the WoS engine things are often symbolic, so the link image itself might be tiny compared to the area it opens up. As it goes, the new South Downs map image is almost exactly what I was looking for, just with extra bonuses, so Cityport being represented on this map as a regular link image is how I always wanted it. Links that access other areas and settlements will nearly always only represent the gate/entrance itself. I think overall with the maps as they are for PB2 it works as I wanted and I'm happy with it. I guess I'm just putting this out there in case anyone notices! Cityport isn't technically open world according to all the other areas but it's intentional.
thE piT This area shifted position in the past and it's been the most in flux during this development cycle. The reason is it's one of the few areas that can be placed anywhere. For PB2 it will be connected to gRoTto temporarily so I can keep my options wide open. I have some ideas but the priority is the shape of the over-land mainland. Other subterranean areas already have their locations defined. Even so, this area has been in the world since the very early days and I want to keep it in action and up to speed with all the other areas. It represents a dark cavern deep underground, one that is not flooded or submerged. The image has lots of character bringing it's own natural features that continue to provide the player with something new or different to see no matter where they go.
Rocky Heights This is an area pushing the mountains further west to expand the sense of journey/space. It is one of two new areas that create distance between tRaveller's jUnctioN and wEstERn RanGes. The idea is that players travelling west out of tRaveller's jUnctioN first come into a place called mOunTAin rOAD that cuts through rising rockier terrain and splits north to south. Going southwest from here connects to fOOtHilLs marking the southwest coast. Going northwest from mOunTAin rOAD heads into the mountains proper. As I write this I have connected mOunTAin rOAD directly to wEstERn RanGes and I may run with that temporarily. Eventually though, I have a plan to add this other area northwest out of mOunTAin rOAD with a working title of Rocky Heights. It is meant to signify a steep climb into much more barren rocky terrain and the beginnings of a new biome featuring different critters and new dangers and discoveries. Having established the basic look and added a few ideas for the place I've removed it from the game for now. Maybe it can make the Preview Build, I just don't know yet.
posted
It's a new school year and I've been really busy. That's obviously a good thing after losing so much earnings after 2 waves of covid. Luckily we seem to have it beaten again here so my life can maybe get back to normality.
I have 3 part time employers and work morning, afternoon or night shifts, once, twice or three times a day. That means I will have time for World's End again soon, but I also must sort out medical check and requirements, police check and requirements, work permit and then a nice fresh residency card. Plus I need to fix up the scooter, update the wardrobe, begin dental treatment, get my eyes done. That's not a full list. Playing catch-up since January, nearly nine months ago.
I expect another 2 weeks of running around before the dust begins to settle on, hopefully, a new normal.
Since I hadn't got much active development to talk about, I was going to post this month some background on the north-east and Gnarl Forest because that's where I'll be making my next pass when I get back to it. However, I got halfway through and realised it was getting pretty long-winded and a lot of it was what I try to avoid: writing about it here when I could spend that energy putting it into the game. Usually I choose more useful or efficient things to post about.
Therefore, I decided maybe it's better to do that other pass on the forest maps first and then see what's worth talking about here.
So the progress this month is important life stuff that will ensure the future is good for World's End (even if it takes a while).
posted
"Signs are written by experts for your benefit"
- A sign in the Gnarl Forest
In the past, up to and including Preview Build January 2020, the Gnarl Forest comprised 5 maps that were meant to represent sub-areas of a very large forest. 3 areas were simply called 'Gnarl Forest' to express that, with one called The Groves and most players usually entered it via it's southern edge, Woodford.
WooDFoRD - wilder on the north side
Further back in this thread I probably talked about how WooDFoRD is actually also meant to be part of the great Gnarl Forest, and as a settlement right next to Easthaven it marks the exact edge of the 'modern' forest and has something of a border town aspect to it (at least, once I'm done with WooDFoRD's scripts).
By release of a first modern version I will have added some background lore to local, appropriate places and also one of the departments at citY uNIvErSiTY whereby we can learn that the whole area is steeped in history.
Old lore references to 'The Ancients' are being kept and somewhat expanded. This period of history is meant to be mysterious and with only vague detail, rather like the Dwemer in the Elder Scrolls series, except the remains of that previous civilisation will look to the player like shards of what we know on Earth. Elder Scrolls vs Planet Of The Apes in that regard.
In Preview Build 2 you will be able to find a much-updated take on The Ancients in an under-sea area that in the past never saw much love, renamed cOrAl Cay. Later, more remnants of The Ancients will be found in the Eastern Isles.
At citY uNIvErSiTY will be a lecture on history that tells us there are 3 known periods:
The Time Of The Ancients The Old Times Modern Times
The history of civilisation on the mainland, mostly beginning with the establishment of eAsThaVeN took place in The Old Times.
Modern Times (when the player character arrives) goes back well beyond living memory, because for generations nothing has ever really changed.
So as the history lecture goes on we can learn that after The Time Of The Ancients, in The Old Times, explorers came out of the Eastern Isles, crossed the sea to what we now think of as the mainland (still un-named), up a river through a mighty forest.
These were people looking for a new land to build a life. We find out the river is the River Silt that runs through WooDFoRD and those early explorers split to the north and southwards. The ones that went north chose to adapt to the forest and the ones that went south chopped the trees beyond the south bank to become farmers in the place known as eAsThaVeN, and later as town or city-builders elsewhere.
I already talked about some eAsThaVeN/WooDFoRD related lore further back in the thread. The point is that WooDFoRD is also part of the Gnarl Forest. I should probably have an NPC saying how it's the gateway to the Gnarl Forest.
-
cENtRaL gNarL being the first Gnarl Forest map after Woodford in the past was a photographic image of undergrowth. The game world will continue to use photographic imagery as well as other art. As I write this I updated the 'undergrowth' image with a new satellite image. This means the map has taken a new direction. All the sub-areas of the Gnarl Forest fit together very well as I write this, but really I want to preserve the 'undergrowth' idea and re-introduce it later.
cENtRaL gNarL is maybe a working title for the concept of the 'undergrowth' map I want to have. It was the main hub. The player feels small, well below the canopy of the huge heart of the forest.
gNarL pAtH is more like a first step into the actual forest itself after Woodford. I pushed on with the image after I checked it, realised it wasn't the same but I liked the new concept. More importantly, it works better to have after Woodford, then once all the big priorities are out of the way and official versions are releaseable, I will reintroduce the undergrowthy central area. I have a good working set-up for the large forest now, adding more can wait.
-
gNarL sWAMP is the Gnarl Forest area most north-westerly. Preview Build 2 connects it to areas north of tRaveller's jUnctioN which should help define the shape of the land in the player's mind. It has a satellite image for the map art that casts the place as dense, dark jungle in rocky ravines. It is the home of many (minor) factions and (rare) species. It is rich in diverse life but inconvenient to traverse. This is where a rare pet hunter might find something to show off to friends and newbies back in the day [I mean, the idea of it]. There are multiple NPCs and quests intended for it. PB2 is laying out the ground-work: the quest may not be available but the right NPC is probably there. After PB2 but before release of a fully playable version key scenes will be more fleshed out or resolved.
-
gNarL rivER represents the area to the north-east that had a river through it. The image is now by an artist especially for (virtual or otherwise) tabletop gaming. It's pretty much the same idea as previously but much improved.
-
gNarL gRovE was originally called The Groves. I wanted some factions deep in the forest but I wasn't sure exactly who they should be. I went for token elf-types at first, with Josh Worts skins, later updated them to custom skins, but never developed the area much further. I was never happy with the elf archetype, along with orcs, goblins and dwarves. I felt World's End needed something different. Very early in modern development (around 2019) I realised who was in there... Changes to this area have affected some quests which shall be split and much improved.
-
Also two new areas are added for Preview Build 2:
cOBALT CAVern - links gNarL rivER and gNarL gRovE A watery cavern of glowy mushrooms links two forest maps, rather than them connecting directly. There's a couple of boss fights in there, but PB2 will only show them, it will not let you fight them.
gNarL cAvE - links cENtRaL gNarL/gNarL pAtH, gNarL rivER and gNarL sWAMP A map image I found unexpectedly and instantly liked. It really seems to fit the other maps helping everything to hang together in an organic way. Ironic that an old regular player once drew a map of his idea how the mainland looked, and he included a small mountain in the forest. Turns out that must have been a vision of the future!
-----------
I'm really busy in my life these days. Many foreigners went home for covid and got locked down. Vietnam did a great job controlling it and now I am in demand with more work than I could ever want. I did factor this in to my little road map I made for myself a few months back, so I should still be on target for putting out PB2 as Preview Build February 2021.
Let's just see how things go in an up and down crazy world. I think World's End is actually more sane.
SCENE 300 pEt SHoP - DONE | or white rabbit for sale in Shiverton instead of here? SCENE 301 R o C K S l i d e - DONE SCENE 302 cNtRL gNarL (S) > WooDFoRD - DONE SCENE 303 s H r i N E - DONE | QUEST: I101 Song Sheet + I102 Broken Flute, add new tokens? See Quests Removed.txt SCENE 304 stoneS - DONE SCENE 305 fLOWery GLade - DONE | rework/restore QUEST (T5+T6+I103) from SCENE 1027 fLower sHop SCENE 306 cNtRL gNarL (W) - gNarL cAvE - DONE? SCENE 307 cNtRL gNarL (E) - gNarL cAvE - DONE? SCENE 308 tiMber - DONE SCENE 309 LeAFy dOor - DONE SCENE 310 Log cHoppErS - DONE SCENE 311 oLD HUt - DONE SCENE 312 LoggEr cAbin - DONE SCENE 313 siGn - DONE SCENE 314 siGn - DONE SCENE 315 siGn - DONE SCENE 316 siGn - DONE SCENE 317 siGn - DONE SCENE 318 siGn - DONE SCENE 319 siGn - DONE SCENE 320 siGn - DONE SCENE 321 siGn - DONE
DONE is mostly with the regards to Preview Build 2.
-
Currently working on...
gNarL rivER
For PB2 (and most likely official build) it will correspond to the north-eastern Gnarl Forest area as I described last month. The map image was a close up, overhead shot of moss with a long depression that I used to signify a river. This new image designed primarily for tabletop gaming changes what was once a dense, dark, green place to more autumnal, the river now being a rocky, white-water rapidly flowing source of fish for hungry bear cubs or a drinking place for the odd family of wild boar. The river seems to be coming out of the Gnarl Swamp somewhere westwards, flowing east to the inevitable ocean. It will require water terrain boots to cross over the river itself but anyone can simply walk the long way around and take the bridge, being one of a handful of points of interest as well as some of the usual suspects of woodland critters and Gnarlfolk (mostly the critters).
-
PB2 will be uploaded in t-minus...
Tet Holiday (New Year here) is the 12th to 17th February and for a week or longer most places close down. It seems like the perfect opportunity to get stuff done according to that roadmap. Therefore, if I were to put out a Preview Build February 2021 a really good date to work towards might be 21/2/21. It's also occurred to me that I like PB March 21 as well, so at least I'll be OK if it runs over!
I think I'm still more or less on target.
[ 11-15-2020, 01:04 PM: Message edited by: Fred Spade ]
-------------------- World's End - Open World RPG Version: 1.42 worldsend.000webhostapp.com Posts: 1666 | From: Hồ Chí Minh / Sài Gòn | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
It's almost certainly going to be on time so Preview Build 2 will be February 2021.
This month I didn't get much World's End time but I did do another pass over Gnarl Swamp and Gnarl Cave, thereby bringing the (SIX) Gnarl Forest maps up to about 98%-99% ready. I just need to finalise a couple of scenes and add some simple stuff into a couple of places.
I realised now is a point at which I can change how I approach things again. There will be enough in Preview Build 2 to show off the new look and basic layout of the mainland. There's no reason now not to go back to the inspiration of the Preview Build concept, that is, a nightly/experimental/developmental build that I've seen developers using.
Remember, back in this thread after making the initial Preview Build January 2020 I said I could upload these raw builds with regularity. However, immediately after putting PB Jan 2020 out there I saw it was a mistake to continue my 2018 goals, roughly speaking that: * v1.43 would cover the important stuff, tutorials and commonly visited areas, I think previously described as the backbone of the game. * v1.44 would cover the wider world. * v1.45 would tie up any loose ends and introduce class/spell/gameplay changes or whatever.
Instead, I realised that proposed v1.43 would present players with most of their level-ups within the fresh material, then suddenly everything would downgrade into "old stuff" everywhere they went and with everything else they might do. I could see people starting a character or raising one up and quickly running into exactly why I came back to fix it up..! It would be very underwhelming in the 2020s.
I probably already explained it but that's a recap as to why I didn't then move towards regular uploads of raw builds.
-
Another thing is a 'distance map' I may have mentioned previously. I want 2 maps going westwards after Traveller's Junction before reaching the Western Ranges area. For PB2 I have added in Mountain Road immediately after TJ. Keep going west and the player should come to Rocky Heights (working title) but I decided to halt work on this second distance map so I could wait and see how long PB2 would take.
-
Since then I've been thinking in my own mind of this Preview Build February 2021 to have the subtitle: 'Wilderness Edition' just because it covers mainland areas away from the main places.
-
Putting all of the above together means, at least for a while, there will be more regular uploads of raw builds. These builds shall begin with Preview Build February 2021 - Wilderness Edition, and I will upload further progress occasionally (all iterations of 'Wilderness Edition') until I get where I need to be.
Then I will draw a line under it and shift to Preview Build 3 - Hot & Cold, covering the Eastern Isles and the far Western snowy areas.
It just means more file uploads, maybe every two or three months or even a week, but overall it is still following the roadmap I posted earlier.
posted
Everyone knows these days we call them immersive, open worlds. A large part of the game that I wanted to explore on the WoS engine with World's End is about that. Wandering off, far and away from the settlements, just the wind in your spritely hair as the sights and sounds go by.
Up to and during early W E development (2001-2005) I was immersing myself in:
Elite (1985) Hardwar (1998) Operation Flashpoint (2001) SEAL Team (1993) The Elder Scrolls II - Daggerfall (1996) The Elder Scrolls III - Morrowind (2002) Thief - The Dark Project (1998) Thief II - The Metal Age (2000)
As stated in the Roadmap post in this thread of June 2020, PB Feb 2021 upgrades the look of the wider mainland wilderness. Sets splash/transition scripts (they are everywhere!), backgrounds, sound and visual FX, weather, etc. Plus appropriate monster groups and defines many points of interest.
A lot of areas are being updated and a handful of new ones introduced.
Not made a decision yet about ARachnE's LAiR, the spider trap area in older versions up to 2005. I have other options for spidery shenanigans that I can add later.
Talking of which, with regards to spiders themselves, in PB2 they are becoming much more defined with Cobweb Crawlers, Venomous Spinners and their Venomous Hatchlings.
Even rabbits:
Jack Rabbit Rite Whabbit Whabbiticus Gargantuous
And just here and there, you can spot other fauna like Black-Cap Chickadees or maybe a Gooey Glob.
Fishy Fishie appear in great numbers in the ocean but seem to also swim up rivers in smaller numbers. Bears catch them in the Gnarl River. Wild Boar are often found not far from water. Everything should be roughly appropriate. Etc. Etc.
The aforementioned new distance map leading westwards, Rocky Heights, is unlikely to make the initial upload of 21/2/21 but will be added later.
Next month I aim to upload a build on 21/2/21. I may post before or after that date, as well, or not.
posted
This month's post-of-the-month is temporarily for anything I want to note and will be edited as the month progresses.
Preview Build 2 should come as a separate dedicated post (hopefully) on 21/2/21.
------------------------------------------
Updated and added content:
gNarL sWAMP b r A c K m i r e tRaveller's jUnctioN (night time) tRaveller's jUnctioN (day time) m i r R o R L A k e c O r A l C a y gNarL pAtH gNarL gRovE weEper'S cAvern d E d L a n D S cOBALT CAVe pAth of FLame gNarL rivER s O U t h d O W n s w E s t E R n R a n G e s m O u n T A i n r O A D gREen hiLLS tHe HoLLOWS gNarL cAvE thE piT g R o T t o W E s t w y c h THe cRAg THe suMP the mAW
-
Not 100% sure at time of last edit:
ARachnE's LAiR Rocky Heights
--------------------------------- t R a v e l l e r ' s j U n c t i o N ---------------------------------
This is the one area that is covered by both Preview Builds 1 and 2. In the first one, PB Jan 20, all the important, script-heavy updates were done, mostly centred around The Traveller's Rest and Honest John.
This time around it is connected properly to a new-look wider world, whereby no matter which direction the player chooses to go they will be encountering new content. The line between new content (2018-2021) and old (2001-2005) is now drawn way out to the north-westerly cold areas, or if you take a ship to The Eastern Isles (both slated for Preview Build 3). Incidentally, there were transition scenes leaving Traveller's Junction (originally to the north and west, iirc) where the player could have encounters, notably with robbers, maybe ever since the introduction of the map, very early on. Now these transition scenes are everywhere in post-2019 material (not '18). There are not many links that allow a player to pass directly through areas without going into some kind of transitionary splash scene that hopefully is a solid part of the world building and immersion.
A couple of notes about Traveller's Junction in Preview Build 2 - Feb 21 'Wilderness Edition':
* Honest John's scripts in Traveller's Rest are mostly complete and releasable except for an option for him to give the player some basic information about what's in each direction going north, south, east or west of Traveller's Junction. This dialogue will be added in later. He already has plenty of dialogue so I doubt it will seem like anything is missing.
* Traveller's Junction is being built up in the lore via NPCs (Honest John and numerous others) as a dangerous place after dark. PB2 - 'Wilderness' sets appropriate monster groups for the areas being added or updated, including Traveller's Junction. During the day the paths are not too dangerous, though going off the path may be. During the night everywhere is meant to be dangerous, however for PB2 the danger level may not match up to the hype.
posted
This month's post-of-the-month is temporarily for anything I want to note and will be edited as the month progresses.
This month we had a couple of weeks holiday where I could get stuff done before uploading. An old friend turned up who I haven't seen for years so that was a major real life distraction.
As such, there are some things I would like to have developed further at this point. A notable mention must go to the areas of Brackmire/Dedlands/The Hollows. These were the first areas I began work on and they feature some treasure scenes that are mostly functional. I did discover a minor glitch and at the time decided to push on because I didn't want this Preview Build to be bogged down by scripting.
I think it might be a good idea for me to upload this PB a bit like the last one, in that I will immediately move on to Preview Build 3. After giving it some thought I think this is the best way forwards because it would mean I am on top of the whole world and will have updated/covered all the content.
Then I can focus on whatever remains broken (a lot of stuff from PB1). Some things that are not finished, but not broken, could probably be released anyway because there's a lot of content already.
It seems this is the fastest way towards a proper release. Preview Build 3 - Hot & Cold would then be developed like PB2: most of the content will be immediately releasable and not broken. However, this would include Sunnyville, and I have big plans for that settlement, so for PB3 I will not include those plans, it will be basic settings and scripts to introduce new artwork and update old content. Once the whole world has been updated and nothing is broken I can release a properly playable version, and then I will go back to Sunnyville and implement those big plans (it's going to be very different from the other settlements).
[ 02-21-2021, 08:02 AM: Message edited by: Fred Spade ]
-------------------- World's End - Open World RPG Version: 1.42 worldsend.000webhostapp.com Posts: 1666 | From: Hồ Chí Minh / Sài Gòn | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
Preview Build February 2021 (a.k.a. Wilderness Edition)
This is the most recently developed content. Information about the main areas and starting out is covered in the PB1 post of January 2020 in this thread.
This post may be updated from time to time. (Last update: February 2021)
Purpose
Background information on the content developed from 2020 to 2021 and released as a work-in-progress (WIP) raw build.
Upgrading the world space
[Layered development, that is, fundamental changes are made across many areas at the same time; focus is not on scripts or gameplay (eg. there is minimal interactivity), instead the intention is to cover a lot of fundamentals that are mostly functional.]
* Upgrades the look of the wider mainland wilderness. Sets splash/transition scripts as standard, adds new backgrounds, sets sounds and visual FX, weather, etc. Provides appropriate monster groups and defines many points of interest.
No limitation, no reward!
Preview Build Feb '21 takes a different approach to the previous new content of PB Jan '20. There's not much depth to most of the scene scripts. Scenes will often be very simple. Particularly with certain points of interest like boss fights, treasure hauls, quest givers, etc. These things are mostly 'stubs' meant to not be breaking the game. Prior to a proper release I will revisit key scenes (for example, giants, gryphons, etc.) Quest fragments may be scattered around (eg. Agatha and Redd) but they shouldn't make the game broken. It may be just one stage of a quest with no tokens.
Since it previews the world space of the mainland wilderness, PB Feb '21 allows the player to go literally anywhere. Some areas should not be accessible until certain requirements are met, like quest tokens or terrain-crossing equipment, etc. During PB Feb '21 the player can enter these places, find a point of interest and often see more or less what is intended. The dragon might pop out, make a few threats but the fight doesn't come or there's no reward and it probably just endlessly repeats. These things will be filled in after the 'Hot & Cold' update (ie. Preview Build 3). Having said that, there is still plenty to see and there are many things that do function perfectly. These might be simple things like piles of old bones in a cave or a signpost on a pathway. There is a perfectly functional random event with fights and loot going north out of Traveller's Junction but this kind of thing is not fully implemented everywhere.
-
Including the following areas:
gNarL sWAMP b r A c K m i r e tRaveller's jUnctioN (night time) tRaveller's jUnctioN (day time) m i r R o R L A k e c O r A l C a y gNarL pAtH gNarL gRovE weEper'S cAvern d E d L a n D S cOBALT CAVe pAth of FLame gNarL rivER s O U t h d O W n s w E s t E R n R a n G e s m O u n T A i n r O A D gREen hiLLS tHe HoLLOWS gNarL cAvE thE piT g R o T t o W E s t w y c h ARachnE's LAiR [Not 100% sure] THe cRAg THe suMP the mAW Rocky Heights [Working title]
--------------------------------
Notes on some areas
ARachnE's LAiR (a spider trap area) is in the files but temporarily not in the game world.
An area called Rocky Heights was slated to be a part of this update but is temporarily not in the game world (though work was begun on it.)
--------------------------------- t R a v e l l e r ' s j U n c t i o N ---------------------------------
This is the one area that is covered by both Preview Builds 1 and 2. In the first one, PB Jan 20, all the important, script-heavy updates were done, mostly centred around The Traveller's Rest and Honest John.
This time around it is connected properly to a new-look wider world, whereby no matter which direction the player chooses to go they will be encountering new content. The line between new content (2018-2021) and old (2001-2005) is now drawn way out to the north-westerly cold areas, or if you take a ship to The Eastern Isles (both slated for Preview Build 3). Incidentally, there were transition scenes leaving Traveller's Junction (originally to the north and west, iirc) where the player could have encounters, notably with robbers, maybe ever since the introduction of the map, very early on. Now these transition scenes are everywhere in post-2019 material (not '18). There are not many links that allow a player to pass directly through areas without going into some kind of transitionary splash scene that hopefully is a solid part of the world building and immersion.
A couple of notes about Traveller's Junction in Preview Build 2 - Feb 21 'Wilderness Edition':
* Honest John's scripts in Traveller's Rest are mostly complete and releasable except for an option for him to give the player some basic information about what's in each direction going north, south, east or west of Traveller's Junction. This dialogue will be added in later. He already has plenty of dialogue so I doubt it will seem like anything is missing.
* Traveller's Junction is being built up in the lore via NPCs (Honest John and numerous others) as a dangerous place after dark. PB2 - 'Wilderness' sets appropriate monster groups for the areas being added or updated, including Traveller's Junction. During the day the paths are not too dangerous, though going off the path may be. During the night everywhere is meant to be dangerous, however for PB2 the danger level may not match up to the hype.
--------------------------------- gREen hiLLS ---------------------------------
New area going south out of Traveller's Junction. A minor settlement providing extra timber for Smoke City due to restrictions on Gnarl Forest timber trade. As usual, scripts are rather basic and minimal for now. There isn't supposed to be anything fancy there. Maybe a little moody and atmospheric. Seems like whoever's still living or working there is concerned about something.
References to Bad Moon Rising or The Slaughtered Lamb (tHE qUARtERed RAm) from the Film An American Werewolf In London point to an eventual werewolf quest here.
Scenes in this area may get further development after PB Feb '21 but it won't be much. Proper development of whatever quest clearly goes here will probably not happen until after official v1.43 is released.
---------------------------------------------- d E d L a n D S + tHe HoLLOWS ----------------------------------------------
These areas have been in the game since the beginning. Dedlands was originally the northern part of the world map until early versions converted everything to open world. After re-introducing it as its own area it never got any more love.
Meanwhile, The Hollows is a sub-area in Dedlands, meant to represent a complex of burial chambers. It was only accessible when the player nears the end of 'the rez quest' which was a 4 or 5 part quest cycle that gives the player the rez spell. Back in the day this was one of the better quests, since most quests were token gestures to give players something to do, hastily put together with no regard for quality. Because it was undead-heavy towards the end it became inextricably linked to undead mobs, so The Hollows, 'the rez quest', all undead monsters and monster groups could not be individually updated without updating everything else.
Although The Hollows will have a higher level of challenge and better rewards (once opened by a quest) the Dedlands area is also full of old tombs. These are lower key with lesser rewards, being something to find for newer characters just setting off to explore the world after gaining most of (probably all) their training levels.
Now is obviously the time to do all these things. I actually began work on Preview Build 2 with the areas Brackmire (leading to) Dedlands and The Hollows. Originally I went deeper with the scripting than PB2 generally goes. I had already started devising treasure scene scripts, fights and loot rewards before I discovered a minor glitch in my scripts and realised I needed to push on and cover a lot of areas without too much depth of scripting.
All this is to say that Dedlands and The Hollows are considered broken in PB2. Most areas may not be finished but they are fully functional and releaseable, however these 2 areas have some functioning scripts that go deeper than other areas, ie. you can actually fight a monster and get a reward, but I didn't fix the glitch yet (where it will sometimes allow you to repeat the scene when it should not do so).
Another example of things mostly functional but considered broken would be an altar scene where the player can place money on the altar, the scene will act like everything is working but the player will not receive a rare pet (I didn't add it into the game yet) and although the game observes you placed the money on the altar, the cash is not actually taken.
All of these issues will be resolved in another pass of development after Preview Build 3 when I go back over things like these to fix them for release.
--------------------------------
About DEATH and dying...
Couple of things here. In World's End there are stone circles with fairies that give you a rez. In the past there were one or two locations where they would be Death Fairies that take your HP/MP and kill you. I have removed them from the game now, replaced by Death itself.
Death is now an NPC/monster that covers this job. Death appears in some stone circles, but also other key places and sometimes randomly on maps (like Westwych). You cannot fight Death, you cannot beat Death. If you see Death appear you have a couple of moments to react (run like heck). It's not unfair but it will be consistent and hopefully make the Death NPC a bit special. Death as an element is a big part of the lore and it's possible I may develop the Death NPC further, however I expect it will always be impossible to beat Death.
Initially, stone circles containing fairies and Death are distinct but eventually I may merge them so Death may appear in any circle. That's not the case yet, though.
-
Meanwhile, about getting a rez.. There are stone circles or other means for a rez (witches, Rez Chamber) in many parts of the world. I don't want there to be a rez available on every map, instead part of the cost of dying is having to go find the nearest one, maybe by moving to the next map and in some areas maybe the nearest will be more than a single map away.
In PB Feb '21 it is possible that there are one or two places where there isn't a local option for a rez. This may be because I am still working out what's where. Eventually players could give me a heads-up if this is a problem but over all there should be a rez nearby somewhere.
Finally, a major cost of being dead is that you cannot access most functionality in scenes. Clicking on actors will not result in any menus. In many places you won't even be able to enter the interior, or if you can get in you will be completely ignored or literally nothing will happen. Passing through most standard area transition scenes in the wilderness should NOT be limited by death, because you need to go and find a rez. However, any random encounter scripts will not function as you just pass straight through.
Walking around the world dead is possible to see things but all you will really see is the environment, not anything going on in it, unless you are alive. You can never interact with anything if you are dead.
-
In World's End lore, witches can see dead people so they are a notable exception to the above. That's why you can interact with the witches in Easthaven whose purpose is to give you some background lore on various related issues, including why the player is able to rez in the first place. The witches in Easthaven, like most, will not specify they are witches, but you will probably know when you're talking to them. Westwych fills out more of the lore about witches. They tend to be good and likeable in some places but actually have some very dark secrets and in reality might be considered evil.
It's not meant to be a social commentary on real life witches, just like the cops are not meant to be a reflection of real life either. Cops are portrayed particularly badly in WE but that doesn't mean I think cops are all bad in real life - far from it. Same with witches.
Witches in World's End are their own thing, same as cops or even ogres.
End of tl;dr Babble Section -----------------------------------
Technical Information
* It is necessary to uncheck 'Avoid modified quest files' and your character will need to be a "modder" to incarnate into the world.
* It's all disposable. The whole PB and any characters made in it are purely for testing.
* Note on world name in WoS\Worlds: call it what you like, it doesn't matter. I called it WorldsEnd-WIP-Preview-Build-February-2021 but you can change it to WorldsEnd if you have an old backed-up level 100 character that you want to use.
posted
Just like before, I move straight on to the next build...
I will talk about Preview Build 3 in more detail next month. I have already begun renovating both Sunnyville and Shiverton.
At this point I feel like it's better to cover some other things.
I noticed a post about a WoS reunion. I did actually pop in, heard the dinging bells of a server list of people. I believe I may have seen Dan in there AFKing, along with a lot of other chars of people I may or may not know. I even incarnated for the strange thrill of being PK-able. I may have said something into the chat.. but left not long afterwards.
As it goes, that weekend I was in the process of going into a new job and I work 6 days a week including weekends (which are my money days). Unfortunately, even if I'd wanted to, I didn't have time to hang out.
Having said that, during 2018-2021 I have been developing strictly in solo mode and that was also necessary because of time constraints. I went on the Discord quite a bit this time last year but realised it was kind of the same thing! During the time 2001-2005 I spent a large amount of time developing in multiplayer mode while interacting with players. I hope it will be possible to do that again when I feel I have something worth releasing.
Once I'm at the point where I can 'tinker' and rarely need to be in and out of the editor I might actually be able to spend a bit of time 'play-developing' and give the world a bit more support or promotion.
Another thing is World's End should have been some kind of mixed up reflection of our real world, not our real world being a mixed up reflection of World's End.. In these times, good that my head's down and hopefully certain things will pass.
Anyway, I now have 2 solid employers that fit, if there are any more lock-downs I would still get some income. I do work 6 days a week but they're not all long days so the future looks bright for development of World's End.
-
One final thought for this month is about the nature of development moving forwards..
After Preview Build 3 (PB3) development will shift back to the highest priorities, most important things and other key content. It will be right across the board, because after PB3 all of the world space will have been under review/updated (covered). It marks a completely different stage and therefore I realise that Preview Builds 1, 2 and 3 could be seen as a distinct 'trilogy' of large overhauls that took a long time to get past.
Once I am done with PB3 it is likely I will be uploading files (of raw builds) on a far more regular basis. It will be a pass across the whole world space to fix or finish whatever it takes so I can hit that /version command.
Posts: 1666 | From: Hồ Chí Minh / Sài Gòn | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
Preview Build 3 will cover Sunnyville and the Eastern Isles, Shiverton and the Icy Waste, etc. plus day and night sky areas. That will complete a pass over the whole world space and mark the end of a long phase of development. It will possibly be the final raw build I call "Preview Build" before switching to a new phase I will probably talk more about when the time comes.
PB3 will share a couple of superficial similarities with PB1: * Unlike PB2 'Wilderness' and similar to PB1 it will feature a couple of major settlement areas. * Also similar to PB1 these settlement areas will not be having their 2005 area map images upgraded (because for now I am happy with the Shiverton map and I didn't find anything better for the Sunnyville map).
In all other more fundamental or specific ways PB3 will be more like PB2...
"Upgrading the world space
[Layered development, that is, fundamental changes are made across many areas at the same time; focus is not on scripts or gameplay (eg. there is minimal interactivity), instead the intention is to cover a lot of fundamentals that are mostly functional.]
* Upgrades the look of the wider mainland wilderness. Sets splash/transition scripts as standard, adds new backgrounds, sets sounds and visual FX, weather, etc. Provides appropriate monster groups and defines many points of interest."
Since this is at the moment generally 'updating what's already there' there is one major distinction between PB2 and PB3: with PB2 it was necessary to add (additional content) new areas to the mainland as "distance maps" because there was a need to push major settlements further apart in the world space.
I have big plans for Sunnyville and the Eastern Isles but I will be holding back on adding much new content there until what's already in the world space can be released properly.
Therefore Shiverton and Sunnyville as significant settlements shall in the short term be brought in line with everything else but not developed as much as the other settlements.
Eventually they will be more than "just another settlement, this time in X or Y biome" and instead have their own characters developed. Shiverton will eventually become not just a snowy place, but a rather dark snowy place, a bit creepy and surreal, home (starting town) for the long-mooted jester/clown class. Sunnyville will be a like a tourist trap where nearly everything you do will incur a tourist tax, unless of course you are a Gunslinger or Samurai, who shall both probably start out there. That mooted jester/clown class gets another incidental mention because although they would start out in the far, snowy west they will also have a 'class hub' in Sunnyville and so they would also be able to avoid the tourist tax. To save time in the short term these two settlements will not be fully developed in such ways.
Additionally, the wider Eastern Isles are pluralised for a reason and eventually more content will be added over there but not in the short term.
Work is well underway on Sunnyville and I know what most of the interiors and exteriors look like and a lot of the places to be found there. Like in PB2 some scenes are 'stubs' and meant to be a more significant location later on.
Just like PB1 (2 years) and PB2 (1 year) this PB3 is going to take some cooking. In this regard it is again more like PB2 than PB1.
One final aspect of PB1 (modular development of specific things) that may be in PB3 is a single quest that begins in Sunnyvile. It is a simple quest and I am considering to make sure there is at least one upgraded quest to find out there. Maybe more on that later.
Posts: 1666 | From: Hồ Chí Minh / Sài Gòn | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
* On 3 week hiatus * I know what Valley of the Ancients looks like * As the months go by...
I'm actually on a little break since the past couple of weeks and will be back to it after maybe another week. It's just a good thing to do sometimes.
In between times the focus shifted from Sunnyville to Valley of the Ancients, directly to the south. That means Sunnyville is ready for interior work, although I've started or even completed a number of scenes.
So now I am looking at what the Valley will be like. It's keeping it's original map image but all the backgrounds have been updated with nicer perspectives and the scripts will hopefully be an improvement. Again, interiors are not the priority at the time of writing this post.
We are at that point as with the two previous Preview Builds where I just need to crack on and so I am in no hurry to get into too much more detail for this month.
Over the next months as this final Preview Build develops I do want to give a bit more detail about the Eastern Isles and maybe also talk about some other things, like naming conventions.
;------------------------------------------------------ ; FRADLeY roW SCENE 151 places_bg_143_by_peace_of_art FX 0 WEATHER 0 THEME 4 IF ALIVE, @alive @dead END @alive WAIT 2 MUSIC "blues1.mid" SOUND "doorknock2.wav" WAIT 2 BKGND Rose_Terrace THEME 7 ACTOR 1, "Stan", actors4, 0, 7, 75 POSE 0, 1 ACTOR 2, "Eric", actors4, 1, 30, 38 POSE 0, 1 WAIT 2 1: A visitor. 2: Welcome. TIMER 1, 7 END @eventActorClick1 IF DEAD, @dead MENU "Hello..=@hello1", TIMER 1, 7 END @eventActorClick2 IF DEAD, @dead MENU "Hello..=@hello2", TIMER 1, 7 END @hello1 H: Hello.. 1: Hi there. TIMER 1, 7 END @hello2 H: Hello.. 2: Hello. How's it going? TIMER 1, 7 END @eventTimer1 IF R5, @dialogue1 IF R5, @dialogue2 IF R5, @dialogue3 IF R5, @dialogue4 IF R5, @dialogue5 IF R5, @dialogue6 GOTO @eventTimer1 END @dialogue1 1: I want to sit in the chair! 2: It's my turn. TIMER 1, 7 END @dialogue2 2: You sat in it last time.. 1: I couldn't enjoy it because you stood around complaining! TIMER 1, 7 END @dialogue3 1: Let me have a go! 2: I'm having a go. TIMER 1, 7 END @dialogue4 1: You're always on the chair! 2: Only since you were last on it. TIMER 1, 7 END @dialogue5 1: Your turn's finished! 2: No, it hasn't. TIMER 1, 7 END @dialogue6 2: I haven't been sitting on it for very long. 1: Yes, you have. TIMER 1, 7 END
Posts: 1666 | From: Hồ Chí Minh / Sài Gòn | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
Despite doing so well against the virus Vietnam's 4th wave has prevented me from working for nearly 2 months (schools are often closed long before a general lock-down).
It's been really difficult to recover each time, especially when they take all the usual holidays in between. I'm not critical of that, it just is what it is. I'm also not critical of the VN government who I think have done a great job.
Even so, I have been affected greatly and these are worrying times. It has resulted in a complete shut-down of my creativity. Even my fingers went soft from not playing the guitar.
I hope something works out soon but I cannot report any progress this month.
Posts: 1666 | From: Hồ Chí Minh / Sài Gòn | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
Aye I remember you now. I wait for the final release in eager anticipation.
-------------------- Innovation aimed at benefiting humanity is useless if it’s only accessible to a wealthy minority. Posts: 3499 | From: In the Cataclysm of the Paradox | Registered: Apr 2008
| IP: Logged
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
Thank you!![[Cool]](cool.gif)
