Posted by Momus | 10 Comments

Friday Update: Damion Schubert Dev Blog On Maps

Less than 2 Fridays before Comic-con, and we’re treated to a fairly meaty update!

Principle Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert has penned an extensive Developer Blog talking all about the in-game map system that his team is responsible for:

Having good navigation is important for any game, but particularly so in any massively multiplayer game, where wanderlust is positively encouraged. For The Old Republic, we realized that we had some relatively unique problems early on.

He later reveals a very unique approach to in-game mapping in MMOs:

What we decided to do was to have a design process which generates maps based on the objects that exist inside of any zone in the game world.

The end result is that we have maps that can show astonishing details about the game world. Chairs, crates, statues – all manner of items show up on the map from a birds-eye view, giving the player a real sense of where they are in the world.

That maps in TOR are contextual, and the map you view is as much based on the quests you’re on as the area you are in, says a lot about the thought and design that went into it. There is even a system in place to denote quest objectives or turn-ins that are outside of the zone you’re in; it says a lot about what you will and won’t be expected to do.

To compensate for the great amount of buildings, which from this post would appear to mostly be explorable, and integrate that in with the map-quest-zone relationship, says a lot about the direction of the game and that TOR is attempting to rise above the drudgery associated with normal quests (such as seeking and identifying quest objectives in addition to the inherent exploration).

Also of note is the reveal of the party system of the mission map (in addition to, we assume, the quest log) – purple isn’t just for epics anymore! Just as important now is that players are told that their buddy has a quest they don’t, allowing them to hopefully catch up – and also revealing what is and is not in their quest log. It’s a nice way for group-oriented players to compare notes quickly and decide if someone needs to go pick up the quest, or allow friends to help people out by getting to their quest area independent of direction.

For the entire read, and it’s a good one, head on over to SWTOR.com and check it out!

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Posted by Cormeister | 9 Comments

Yellow Posts: Phat Lootz And Gear Scoring

As BioWare has stressed time and time again, story is the “secret sauce” that is going to make SW:TOR different from other MMOs. Their goal is to create a deep, engaging universe where every decision you make matters and the player’s story is one of the driving factors behind playing the game. However, this being an MMO, some people are (understandably) curious about the rewards they will receive as they progress through the story and their class quests.

SoulstitchMMO sought out an answer from the devs in his thread Epic Rewards for Finishing Class Quest? and boy did he get a response! Georg Zoeller, Principal Lead Combat Designer, and Damion Schubert, Lead Combat Designer both weighed in on the subject. SoulstitchMMO wanted to know if “finishing” your class quests (at level 50) would result in the acquisition of epic gear and if the rewards would be good enough to justify completion of your class story at max level, instead of, say, running Operations for better gear. Damion Schubert explained that while gear is one reward that you receive as you progress through the story, the real reward is the story itself :

There will be [loot rewards at the end of your class quest chain]. Not talking about specifics yet.

However, no reward is going to be as interesting as the reward of the conclusion of your story. This is kind of like asking “What’s the reward for watching Episode IV past the point where they escape the Death Star?” It’s the satisfaction of a good story, well told.

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Posted by Lethality | 0 Comments

Damion Schubert: Sweet Vindication

We’re big fans of Damion Schubert.

He is of course the Princple Lead Systems Designer on Star Wars: The Old Republic, and happens to have more than a decade of game design and development experience under his belt. Given all of that, he pens a great regular column in Game Developer Magazine entitled Design Of The Times that we like to cover, even though it’s not directly related to TOR.

In this issue, his column subject is “Sweet Vindication.” Damion talks about the various ways that designers can provide player engagement by awarding them little moments of vindication during the play experience:

Few moments in gaming are more powerful than that moment in which you completely own something that previously flummoxed you. Fortunately for us designers, there is a feeling that we can manipulate and inspire.

Schubert goes on to explain that these moments can happen naturally by development of player skill, or can be created through the awarding of gear or abilities, or even simply the pace of gameplay:

This feeling can be manufactured. Progression in action games like Dante’s Inferno or God Of War is more based on stats that skill, as the player’s capabilities are increased by the unlocking of more powerful oves and weapons that make them feel more godlike.

If you’re interested in taking a peek behind the curtain of the creation of video games, Game Developer Magazine is a good place to do it. You can subscribe or buy each monthly issue digitally here, or check your local newsstand or bookstore for a copy.

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Posted by Sentinel | 0 Comments

Friday Update: Introducing The Codex – Dev Blog By Damion Schubert

In another awesome developer blog in the scope of the user interface, Damion Schubert walks player through the in-game Codex, which is sure to please many fans:

Overall, the codex system has been successful at meeting our two design goals of providing more fictional context to the player, and providing an explorer mini-game with meaningful rewards.

He goes on to talk about rewards for exploration, and how the Datacrons feed into that:

While most codex entries can be obtained with the players stretching their legs (searching the whole map, killing obvious targets you don’t normally need to kill), finding datacrons typically requires a little extra exploration and a even little ingenuity. While some are hidden, many are in plain sight – the trick is often in figuring out how to get to that datacron that you see on a ledge off in the distance.

While these systems exist in other gaming genres, they take on a bit of a different tone in an MMO where it really helps to develop the believability of the persistent world we’re all playing in.

Hop on over to the official site for the full read on this most awesome topic!

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Posted by Lethality | 0 Comments

Yellow Posts: From The Wall of Crazy

Due to the sheer amount of developer interaction over the past week, this week’s Yellow Posts will be a consolidation of the more interesting and newsworthy…

While the topic of a release date is a touchy subject, thanks to a few posts from Stephen, we will “know” when the announcement is coming.

In terms of what I was trying to say, this pretty much sums it up. ^^

If I can have everyone reading this take away one thing, it’s this: when I use an example to explain something, that’s not a cryptic clue. Ever. Honestly, considering everything we say seems to get misintepreted, being cryptic about really important stuff just causes us problems.

My example was – you know that Christmas is coming. There are many signs to tell you so. So, just like Christmas, when we’re getting ready to announce the release date, there will be many signs to let you know. You won’t have to decipher clues, or look at tea-leaves, or consult a psychic – we’ll tell you. You don’t have to decipher anything to figure out Christmas is coming.

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