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Illusion of a Living World
SamuraiWindu
Member
This post is a sort of wish list inspired by some of the things Intrepid Studios has promised to include in Ashes of Creation.
• Intrepid Studios has already showcased static gatherable objects, such as plants and trees. It would be cool to see mobile gatherable objects, such as flying dandelion-like seeds, insects, birds, and other critters. Some of these mobile gatherable objects might serve as hazards when gathered, such as by imposing a status effect or damage over time.
• Many MMORPGs have creatures that do little more than stand around or pace back and forth. Some MMORPGs have creatures that follow a path. I have yet to see an MMORPG that has creatures that move and behave with purpose. It would be cool to see creatures doing things in and with the environment. Rabbits and chipmunks might crawl out of the ground, wander the vicinity of their spawn point occasionally consuming certain gatherable plants, and return to their spawn point to burrow back into the ground. Similarly, packs of wolves and solitary bears might crawl out of caves or crevices within caves (which are too small for players to fit into). The wolves might hunt large game animals while bears forage gatherable plants and scavenge what the wolves leave behind. Bandits might stalk the vicinity of common paths waiting to ambush passing caravans. Tribes of goblins might have more intricate behaviors similar to townsfolk.
• Different creatures should wander the environment according to the time of day. Rabbits, for example, are most active during twilight hours. Also, since we have been promised seasons, it would be appropriate to see different creatures and behaviors according to each season. Wolves, for example, might hunt during the day in winter, but only come out at night during other seasons.
• When any creature or gatherable resource is removed from the world by things other than players, they should quickly respawn to maintain the illusion of a stable ecosystem. A legitimate simulation of an ecosystem would likely fall apart as soon as the players start killing things and gathering resourced from the world.
• AI behaviors of creatures should also reflect the creatures’ nature, such as prey animals run away from threats (including players), and non-hostile predators watch players from afar. As such, these creatures would serve more like interactive scenery. Bigger threats may scare these ambient creatures away, creating a perimeter of foreboding silence around them.—Imagine you have just shot a deer and you and a few friends are tracking it through the wilderness to the tune of song birds and chirping critters with buzzards circling overhead. On your way to retrieve your kill, you spot a wolf eyeing you from a cliff. Along your path is a plant you can use, so you gather it. You also see butterflies fluttering nearby, but they are just out of reach, and you are more interested in your kill anyway. As you begin harvesting your deer, the ambient sounds go silent save for a light breeze rustling leaves, and the buzzards and wolf are gone. The sudden crash of trees in the distance breaks the silence as the pounding of hooves race toward your party. Moments like this occurring regularly would revolutionize the genre of MMORPG.
• Dungeons should also not only be occupied, but feel lived in as well.
• NPCs in settlements could also exhibit behaviors but many of those NPC behaviors should be predicated on player interaction, such as when a mayor begins construction on a building, builders might spawn from a nearby apartment, move to the construction site, and begin construction. If construction takes several days, builders might return home in the evening and resume work at dawn.
• I agree with the notion that PvP combat should be balanced, and I like the trinity system focusing on physical damage versus magical damage that Intrepid Studios has showcased. However, PvE combat need not be balanced around that system, or even balanced at all. Instead, PvE combat can utilize a more open-ended system of damage types and status effects. Skeletons might take extra damage from bludgeoning weapons, while zombies take extra damage from slashing weapons. Trolls might have high health regeneration which is suppressed for a time after taking fire damage. Some subterranean creatures might be immune to being blinded, while others become stunned if they are exposed to bright light. In this way, tactical choices trump statistical power. In order to maintain balanced PvP combat, it may be important to limit players’ acquisition of resistances to damage types. An additional layer on top of damage types could be to associate weapon material types with creature interactions. Adamantium weapons might deal extra damage against creatures made of earth, metal, or stone. Cold iron weapons might compel fey creatures to flee combat. Silvered weapons might deal extra damage to undead creatures, and also revert polymorphed creatures to their original form and suppress their ability to change form; spells that produce moonlight might have a similar effect on polymorphed creatures.
• Intrepid Studios has already showcased static gatherable objects, such as plants and trees. It would be cool to see mobile gatherable objects, such as flying dandelion-like seeds, insects, birds, and other critters. Some of these mobile gatherable objects might serve as hazards when gathered, such as by imposing a status effect or damage over time.
• Many MMORPGs have creatures that do little more than stand around or pace back and forth. Some MMORPGs have creatures that follow a path. I have yet to see an MMORPG that has creatures that move and behave with purpose. It would be cool to see creatures doing things in and with the environment. Rabbits and chipmunks might crawl out of the ground, wander the vicinity of their spawn point occasionally consuming certain gatherable plants, and return to their spawn point to burrow back into the ground. Similarly, packs of wolves and solitary bears might crawl out of caves or crevices within caves (which are too small for players to fit into). The wolves might hunt large game animals while bears forage gatherable plants and scavenge what the wolves leave behind. Bandits might stalk the vicinity of common paths waiting to ambush passing caravans. Tribes of goblins might have more intricate behaviors similar to townsfolk.
• Different creatures should wander the environment according to the time of day. Rabbits, for example, are most active during twilight hours. Also, since we have been promised seasons, it would be appropriate to see different creatures and behaviors according to each season. Wolves, for example, might hunt during the day in winter, but only come out at night during other seasons.
• When any creature or gatherable resource is removed from the world by things other than players, they should quickly respawn to maintain the illusion of a stable ecosystem. A legitimate simulation of an ecosystem would likely fall apart as soon as the players start killing things and gathering resourced from the world.
• AI behaviors of creatures should also reflect the creatures’ nature, such as prey animals run away from threats (including players), and non-hostile predators watch players from afar. As such, these creatures would serve more like interactive scenery. Bigger threats may scare these ambient creatures away, creating a perimeter of foreboding silence around them.—Imagine you have just shot a deer and you and a few friends are tracking it through the wilderness to the tune of song birds and chirping critters with buzzards circling overhead. On your way to retrieve your kill, you spot a wolf eyeing you from a cliff. Along your path is a plant you can use, so you gather it. You also see butterflies fluttering nearby, but they are just out of reach, and you are more interested in your kill anyway. As you begin harvesting your deer, the ambient sounds go silent save for a light breeze rustling leaves, and the buzzards and wolf are gone. The sudden crash of trees in the distance breaks the silence as the pounding of hooves race toward your party. Moments like this occurring regularly would revolutionize the genre of MMORPG.
• Dungeons should also not only be occupied, but feel lived in as well.
• NPCs in settlements could also exhibit behaviors but many of those NPC behaviors should be predicated on player interaction, such as when a mayor begins construction on a building, builders might spawn from a nearby apartment, move to the construction site, and begin construction. If construction takes several days, builders might return home in the evening and resume work at dawn.
• I agree with the notion that PvP combat should be balanced, and I like the trinity system focusing on physical damage versus magical damage that Intrepid Studios has showcased. However, PvE combat need not be balanced around that system, or even balanced at all. Instead, PvE combat can utilize a more open-ended system of damage types and status effects. Skeletons might take extra damage from bludgeoning weapons, while zombies take extra damage from slashing weapons. Trolls might have high health regeneration which is suppressed for a time after taking fire damage. Some subterranean creatures might be immune to being blinded, while others become stunned if they are exposed to bright light. In this way, tactical choices trump statistical power. In order to maintain balanced PvP combat, it may be important to limit players’ acquisition of resistances to damage types. An additional layer on top of damage types could be to associate weapon material types with creature interactions. Adamantium weapons might deal extra damage against creatures made of earth, metal, or stone. Cold iron weapons might compel fey creatures to flee combat. Silvered weapons might deal extra damage to undead creatures, and also revert polymorphed creatures to their original form and suppress their ability to change form; spells that produce moonlight might have a similar effect on polymorphed creatures.
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• Different creatures should wander the environment according to the time of day. Rabbits, for example, are most active during twilight hours. Also, since we have been promised seasons, it would be appropriate to see different creatures and behaviors according to each season. Wolves, for example, might hunt during the day in winter, but only come out at night during other seasons.
• When any creature or gatherable resource is removed from the world by things other than players, they should quickly respawn to maintain the illusion of a stable ecosystem. A legitimate simulation of an ecosystem would likely fall apart as soon as the players start killing things and gathering resourced from the world.
• AI behaviors of creatures should also reflect the creatures’ nature, such as prey animals run away from threats (including players), and non-hostile predators watch players from afar. As such, these creatures would serve more like interactive scenery. Bigger threats may scare these ambient creatures away, creating a perimeter of foreboding silence around them.—Imagine you have just shot a deer and you and a few friends are tracking it through the wilderness to the tune of song birds and chirping critters with buzzards circling overhead. On your way to retrieve your kill, you spot a wolf eyeing you from a cliff. Along your path is a plant you can use, so you gather it. You also see butterflies fluttering nearby, but they are just out of reach, and you are more interested in your kill anyway. As you begin harvesting your deer, the ambient sounds go silent save for a light breeze rustling leaves, and the buzzards and wolf are gone. The sudden crash of trees in the distance breaks the silence as the pounding of hooves race toward your party. Moments like this occurring regularly would revolutionize the genre of MMORPG."
The closest game I ever found to be like this was an alpha version of Everquest Landmark right as the game was sold. The GMS asked us to test their new AI system. First time since playing old eq back before Luclin expansion that soloing mobs as a rogue was not going to be so easy. Normally just watch the the mob path and pick the safest place to solo it. Also most mobs if you run far enough from them they will leash. The Landmark AI went live. I went out and watched a wolf path or what I thought was pathing and figured this wouldn't be to hard to kill. I did have an easy time of killing the wolf till I went to rest up and realized that I was being stalked by another mob. I tried to out run him but I found out leashing had been changed. The second mob sent me on a fast corpse run. All of a sudden the game took on a new style of play and made me think about how to kill random pve mobs out in the middle of no where. The AI wasn't that aggressive but it did make you think and made you keep looking behind yourself to see if you were being hunted. Once Landmark was sold the AI seemed to get turned off. Was a fun time period. Now watching a mob path and follow a predictable route and leash seems a bit boring or not as challenging. Just my opinion.
I do agree would be nice to see things doing stuff they are supposed to do instead of just standing there....but I do realize its a lot to program and set up. But it would be so nice...even if they are doing nothing but circling have them go in a BIG circle were they vanish from the locale they started in. Especially the wondering city folk in cities.