Darkfall Developer Journal #14: Progress Report

The bi-weekly Darkfall developer journal series moves to a new day as we continue with our coverage of this game. Associate Producer Tasos Flambouras will continue his updates every other week in this space, but from here on out, it will be on Friday.

In this issue, he gives us a general development update.

Since the last journal we've been hard at work on testing the latest version and patching it as needed. Overall it's very stable and there are no big problems to speak of. Time permitting I'll try to describe some of the gameplay to you in the next update. To this effect I'll be taking notes for the next week.

Testing is a grinding process as we've said many times before. A bunch of little things are getting fixed soon after they're reported. Some of the corrections aren't necessarily bugs but involve gameplay improvements. NPC vendor names for example have been changed to better reflect their role, spawn and quest locations have been adjusted to be more convenient for the players. Quest texts are being rewritten. Playing the game as the players will, without using enhanced characters has allowed us to experience a different perspective and to make a lot of changes to improve the starting player's experience. A couple of examples of this is that we're reworking how to introduce new players to the game in a more interesting way, we've implemented a brief invulnerability at character respawn for some seconds or until aggression, and for a few seconds after the character has been revived on the battlefield.

Content is being added and this is job number one at the moment. We continue adding effects and replacing the placeholders we've had in their spot. Some final animations are being worked on as far as the particle effects go. Player character animations are being optimized, and the player characters have gotten new sets of faces. Water has been improved again, and edge of water effects have been added.

Clan city structures are still being worked on. These are racially unique so there are six sets to work on. The landscapes around the clan city and clan village building locations are getting additional design for balance, fairness and in order to make them more exciting for the players. I'm not sure if we've talked about clan villages before. They are villages close to resources, or with a strategic position, which can be owned by the clans and operate like mini clan cities.

There are a few AI issues having to do with the AI configuration which are being fixed. Some animation blending bugs have been fixed. Animation blending as in the character jumping for example involves three different animations.

We're continuing to make tools lessening the need for human interaction with the data which leads to less inconsistencies and more speed for the developers. We're making more worldbuilder tools to automate production, and server monitoring tools for statistical analysis of the data.

We're doing some work on the player action feedback display which is an intricate system that gives the player the information he needs after every action.

While all this is taking place we're also looking into the mathematical balance of things from a design perspective. So you made a very complex world, it's not magic that keeps it together, it's the math. This has to do with the order of things, their function in the game, the way everything interacts with everything else. This is a very complex game with real-time strategy, role playing, and action elements all coming together and there are infinite things to consider. Just adding one of the hundreds of different types of weapons we have in the game, you need to consider and balance its' many attributes and how those are going to work together, how it can be crafted, where it can be crafted, like which ingredients are appropriate for its attributes, where it's going to be available, which vendors will sell it and for how much, who can use it, which monsters drop it, and which ones can use it, enchantment issues, etc. Balancing the game as much as possible before we let external testers in is one of our main concerns. We want to change as little as possible where it comes to balance after people have gotten used to things.

On the topic of external testing, we're thinking on how to make the closed beta selection as fair as possible. We're also looking at putting the beta registration application out. There's nothing to announce yet on the beta front other that we're hard at work in that direction.

I've asked for this journal to be moved back to Fridays but I'm not sure if it's feasible for Warcry. I'll try to do that Q&A I mentioned as well sometime soon.

Thanks for reading.

Permalink

There's nothing to announce yet on the beta front other that we're hard at work in that direction.

Translation: No beta this year.

Translation: We're working hard and haven't gotten a break with the publishers.

Don't put words in people's mouths unless you can confirm or deny.

A good update from Tasos, gives as much insight as the previous journal did. We'll be getting more and more in a bit, good to see they're looking at the game from a new-players eyes. This is very much needed as I get the sense a lot of devs don't give a crap how a new player might see DF. These guys definitely seem to be going the extra mile for the player-base, which is something I see lacking in a lot of games today.

Decent state of the game update, nice to be informed. One thing noticeably different than previously: We're making more worldbuilder tools to automate production... Sounds like the hand built world just got automated for time's sake.

I would still prefer promotional material (i.e., long video) to really showcase DFO gameplay and mechanics.

Some questions that I would like the devs to answer:

-Is stealth in the game? How will it work? Will elements of the environment be a factor (light levels, surrounding structures, color of armor)?

-How will archery work? Similar to Morrowind? Is friendly fire a factor?

-Can you climb walls?

-Can you pick locks, and break into the buildings of a clan city?

-Will there be a deterrent to constant bunnyhopping, like an endurance bar?

A 5 minute video showing these things in action would give thousands of fans some reassurance, and would no doubt attract some new people. The previous videos have been nice, but pretty limited in the type of gameplay shown. Mass melee can be fun but it's not everyone's favorite type of play. Please show some of the variety this game will offer.

Thanks

Nice to read. A QA would really be nice to see in the near future.

Lothos:
Some questions that I would like answered:

-Is stealth in the game? How will it work? Will elements of the environment be a factor (light levels, surrounding structures, color of armor)?

-How will archery work? Similar to Morrowind? Is friendly fire a factor?

-Can you climb walls?

-Can you pick locks, and break into the buildings of a clan city?

-Will there be a deterrent to constant bunnyhopping, like an endurance bar?

A 5 minute video showing these things in action would give thousands of fans some reassurance, and would no doubt attract some new people. The previous videos have been nice, but pretty limited in the type of gameplay shown. Mass melee can be fun but it's not everyone's favorite type of play. Please show some of the variety this game will offer.

Thanks

You cant do any of that stuff.. because the game doesnt exist and will never exist.

One guy posts a few paragraphs once a week, about vague MMO features. And then we discuss them on forums. Thats why we call it ForumFall.

This game has been pre-external beta for almost 8 years. Maybe in 8 years itll be released? Nah.

"This project is a joke. Now they're blaming hackers for not having a beta? yaaaaaaa ok. Only a mindless fool would believe this. Wake up.

Dark and Light v2.0 is coming."

Timberwolves wrote that 5 MONTHS ago when the Warcry Developer Journal #6 was posted.

Thought that would help put things into perspective for new people coming here.

LOL at the HATERS have fun getting into beta guys you do relizes there a smaller team than blizzard and darkfall is 3 times that of WoW easy so yea stfu pretty amazing that darkfall forums have nonpayed mods Y would they stay if the game was fake? most the vids show the game is real there just not showing everything but y do they have to ? they dont cause they know when its goes beta you all will be there no matter if they show you or not so HA stop posting the same shit its vaperware it fake crap on every dev log if you dont think the game is coming out then stfu and dont post nothing

any flames against me will be ignored so dont waste your breath /brains on it if you have any to waste

ps dark and light had a crap combat system thats y it failed

Lothos:
Some questions that I would like answered:

-Is stealth in the game? How will it work? Will elements of the environment be a factor (light levels, surrounding structures, color of armor)?

-How will archery work? Similar to Morrowind? Is friendly fire a factor?

-Can you climb walls?

-Can you pick locks, and break into the buildings of a clan city?

-Will there be a deterrent to constant bunnyhopping, like an endurance bar?

A 5 minute video showing these things in action would give thousands of fans some reassurance, and would no doubt attract some new people. The previous videos have been nice, but pretty limited in the type of gameplay shown. Mass melee can be fun but it's not everyone's favorite type of play. Please show some of the variety this game will offer.

Thanks

Stealth is in game, and it functions somewhat similarly to stealth in games like Morrowind and Oblivion. You sneak around by moving quietly, sticking to low-light areas, keeping your weapon sheathed, and using colors that blend into the environment.

Archery is largely unknown. We do know that projectiles arc with gravity, so a shot from high ground travels farther than low ground, and that wind affects projectiles, so side-ways wind will blow your arrow off course. Archers, like all characters, are subject to friendly fire rules, meaning you can't crank arrows off into a mad scrum without some casualties to your side. We also know it's FPS based, and that's pretty much it.

Climbing: You can climb most things, walls and tree's are unconfirmed. You can climb cliffs and mountains though. Anywhere you see in Darkfall, you can reach, or so it goes. The devs have avoided invisible walls in Darkfall, so if you're creative, you should be able to get there.

Lockpicking has been mentioned previously, and right now it's up in the air. It might be in as a way to open dungeon chests, clan keep doors, and other locked things, but if it does exist, players will have a small "unpickable" chest for secure storage, either in their house or at a bank. Right now, it's needing to be confirmed, and it would need to be balanced as well.

Bunnyhopping consumes Stamina in Darkfall, much like Oblivion and Morrowind. Stamina has an effect on your ability to fight, run, and other activities are reduced in effectiveness. The devs hate bunnyhopping, so they're going to take steps to actively stop it. As it stands, momentum from a jump will add damage, but at the expense of stamina. So it's a trade off. Having no stamina has been hinted at having a very detrimental influence on your performance.

As far as media, the gameplay video demonstrated a lot of features in a cursory examination. With the devs now playing the game and tweaking from a future players point of view, and with a Q&A session and game detail journal coming up in the near future, we might get some more movie footage. Though movies have more production associated with them due to NDA's, hopefully we'll get a couple more minutes showing off gameplay.

Draugh:
Translation: We're working hard and haven't gotten a break with the publishers.

.... And therefore... No beta this year.

Draugh:

Lothos:
Some questions that I would like answered:

-Is stealth in the game? How will it work? Will elements of the environment be a factor (light levels, surrounding structures, color of armor)?

-How will archery work? Similar to Morrowind? Is friendly fire a factor?

-Can you climb walls?

-Can you pick locks, and break into the buildings of a clan city?

-Will there be a deterrent to constant bunnyhopping, like an endurance bar?

A 5 minute video showing these things in action would give thousands of fans some reassurance, and would no doubt attract some new people. The previous videos have been nice, but pretty limited in the type of gameplay shown. Mass melee can be fun but it's not everyone's favorite type of play. Please show some of the variety this game will offer.

Thanks

Stealth is in game, and it functions somewhat similarly to stealth in games like Morrowind and Oblivion. You sneak around by moving quietly, sticking to low-light areas, keeping your weapon sheathed, and using colors that blend into the environment.

Archery is largely unknown. We do know that projectiles arc with gravity, so a shot from high ground travels farther than low ground, and that wind affects projectiles, so side-ways wind will blow your arrow off course. Archers, like all characters, are subject to friendly fire rules, meaning you can't crank arrows off into a mad scrum without some casualties to your side. We also know it's FPS based, and that's pretty much it.

Climbing: You can climb most things, walls and tree's are unconfirmed. You can climb cliffs and mountains though. Anywhere you see in Darkfall, you can reach, or so it goes. The devs have avoided invisible walls in Darkfall, so if you're creative, you should be able to get there.

Lockpicking has been mentioned previously, and right now it's up in the air. It might be in as a way to open dungeon chests, clan keep doors, and other locked things, but if it does exist, players will have a small "unpickable" chest for secure storage, either in their house or at a bank. Right now, it's needing to be confirmed, and it would need to be balanced as well.

Bunnyhopping consumes Stamina in Darkfall, much like Oblivion and Morrowind. Stamina has an effect on your ability to fight, run, and other activities are reduced in effectiveness. The devs hate bunnyhopping, so they're going to take steps to actively stop it. As it stands, momentum from a jump will add damage, but at the expense of stamina. So it's a trade off. Having no stamina has been hinted at having a very detrimental influence on your performance.

As far as media, the gameplay video demonstrated a lot of features in a cursory examination. With the devs now playing the game and tweaking from a future players point of view, and with a Q&A session and game detail journal coming up in the near future, we might get some more movie footage. Though movies have more production associated with them due to NDA's, hopefully we'll get a couple more minutes showing off gameplay.

Thanks for replying, but I really was directing the post at Tasos. Until the devs answer these things directly or better yet provide a video showing the features, I really have to doubt it.

I've been following this game since October 2002. I've read all the speculation on the forums, and all the "what we want to do is ..." conversations from the devs. I want proof or at least some assurance at this point in time from the devs themselves that this stuff is either in or out, and how it will work.

Lothos:
A 5 minute video showing these things in action would give thousands of fans some reassurance, and would no doubt attract some new people.

I agree, but most of your questions have been answered by the devs previously.

I know I would get tired of repeating myself.

lothos has a point ok get a video and post it and it needs to include fighting, magic use, sneaking, archery, etc. and i would guarantee great amounts of ppl would stop arguing over these forums.

P.S. ign.com says darkfall comes out TBA 2007. Or is that wrong?

dno lol : ) we can all hope for a beta this year i sure if they get the publsihing sorted it will be beta time

Panchoe:

Lothos:
A 5 minute video showing these things in action would give thousands of fans some reassurance, and would no doubt attract some new people.

I agree, but most of your questions have been answered by the devs previously.

I know I would get tired of repeating myself.

No, they haven't.

There have been a few quotes from devs that vaguely describe how a couple of these features might be implemented, or what they would like to do, all from years ago. With the game supposedly almost ready for external testing, these features should be pretty much in and functional, right? I don't think i'm alone here when I ask them to show them or describe them.

The thing is, they already have a movie showing fighting, mounted combat, and ship combat, and yet people still claim vapor on every opportunity. Can't blame the devs for not pushing more media because every time they do, they get a sea of idiots saying how it "didn't show anything". How many games pre-beta have everything completely fleshed out for everyone to read at their leisure?

If you're waiting for Tasos to reply to those questions, you'll be waiting a long, long time. Better questions have been raised by better-known members of the community. We'll see what get's addressed in the Q&A, though I rather suspect it will make 0 difference.

Draugh:
The thing is, they already have a movie showing fighting, mounted combat, and ship combat, and yet people still claim vapor on every opportunity. Can't blame the devs for not pushing more media because every time they do, they get a sea of idiots saying how it "didn't show anything". How many games pre-beta have everything completely fleshed out for everyone to read at their leisure?

If you're waiting for Tasos to reply to those questions, you'll be waiting a long, long time. Better questions have been raised by better-known members of the community. We'll see what get's addressed in the Q&A, though I rather suspect it will make 0 difference.

So what does my post count need to be to become a special buddy?

thats true the 1 vid shows alot of the features working so wtf ?
this vid is all ing ame vid no pre beta game has showne very detail of the features ing ame or even all of them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LC0KrZO79g&mode=related&search= <-looks real to me

talon tortilleni:

P.S. ign.com says darkfall comes out TBA 2007. Or is that wrong?

That is wrong.
Should say "TBA 2008."

Why does everyone say GREAT UPDATE evwet week? For years now every single updates the same. Were fixing things, Were orking hard, we dont know about beta. blah blah blah. And yet everyone gets excited after everone. I dont think you people understand how far awa they are from beta and you can even tell if you read the journal carefully.

And Btw every video that I have ever seen on DF could be done by any newbi video creator. Dont even need a god computer to do that all you need is one program thats not even that expensive. Wheres the theatrical trailer? Every real game has 1. to Answer all the question about when beta is coming out is if it does come it wont be until about this time next year. There far 2 much work needed even said by tasos. In a journal not to long ago they said they wanted 500 skills and spell and they have about 200 of each. You know how long it will take to add 600 more skills and spells. Thats just 1 of man man many things they claim that needa be done if there is a game. Why dont we just find another company make our game...?

Toas: Since the last journal we've been hard at work on testing the latest version and patching it as needed. Overall it's very stable and there are no big problems to speak of.

Then why not start beta and fix the shit as it goes. Jus doesnt add up anything these guyz say, ever.

"Then why not start beta and fix the shit as it goes."

Because they have nothing after all these years thats presentable to the public..

Talk is cheap....

LOL at you 2 if oyu guys actully read some info you would now whso gotten tpo play it there has been demos of it 2 but they just didnt show the public So whatever you 2 can be forums bots 2 even tho you claim to be real people so shit so stfu reason i say this cause you say the thing over and over again like a broken record

also they want a more complete game for beta not a half assed 1 sorry teedle dee teedle dumb
youve been proven wrong XD again

Can anybody please answer my question or at least tell what he thinks about the following:
if DFO is gonna be a new word in MMO history with breakthrough gameplay and lots of new features, why it's still being developed by a SMALL company, and DELAYED over and over again? I mean it must have a huge fan base willing to pay REAL money to have the product. How come a good investor doesn't see this?
Ask yourselves: if I had another million dollars, would I lend it to Aventurine to have X millions back in the future? If the answer is "yes" then why the hell none of great publishers has answered the same?

eqlipt:
Can anybody please answer my question or at least tell what he thinks about the following:
if DFO is gonna be a new word in MMO history with breakthrough gameplay and lots of new features, why it's still being developed by a SMALL company, and DELAYED over and over again? I mean it must have a huge fan base willing to pay REAL money to have the product. How come a good investor doesn't see this?
Ask yourselves: if I had another million dollars, would I lend it to Aventurine to have X millions back in the future? If the answer is "yes" then why the hell none of great publishers has answered the same?

The people developing this game have tried to get publishers to buy this game, but no one wants to buy it.

They tried selling it to Red Bull - yes, the energy drink company. And the Red Bull people were so unimpressed with the game and the state it was in, they basically laughed in their faces.

If they cant sell it to a soft drink company, I doubt a real publisher would consider it.

shows what you guys know it happens to be most publishers are looking at WoW meh but what ever XD you guys go think what you want cause i know youll be there along with everyone else wanting into beta so /shrug

ALSO the reb bull thing was a lie there is nothing about that any where

yamisniper: I am not "thinking" anything, I'm just asking because I'm not familiar with all the stuff you guys tend to know about DF development. I got really interested in this game after I scanned their site and got a quick look through the forums and dev journals. And taking into account how cool it seems to be, I just don't understand why Aventurine doesn't expand it's devs team by attracting more funds. Please, rely only on facts, not your emotions or "how you feel about it" and tell me: if DF is a GREAT PRODUCT - why "no one wants to buy it"?

yea just 1 thingit might be that there not sure if ti well hold up in release form or not cause there looking at WoW success they think a sandbox game wont last even tho Uo was a sandbox i feel the game will come out with the features promised how godo it actully will be we all can hope it will rule but we wont know until we get into beta /release

the devs are prepared to self publish alot of new games have publshers already before they begin dev like TR and aoin is with ncsoft i hate to say this but TR combat is good but everything else is kinda worthless story line is good 2 it just doesnt have enough features to hold its own basiclly just wait it out and dont listen to brandoo or anyone make uip your own mine if you want to play it or not : ) if its good youll here about it if its not youll hear about that 2 i really hope its good its looks good it all depends really but the people trying to slander this game are just retards they cant slander the game unless there 100% proof it sucks or is vaporware or anything

SOE ruined the best mmorpg ever swg precu changed it into a f..cking wow clone hince y peopel wont take up sandboxes easyily anymore cause WoW clones is the ninch atm

absolut187:
There's nothing to announce yet on the beta front other that we're hard at work in that direction.

Answer: There's nothing to announce yet on the waiting front other that we're hard at work in 'not-to-be-mad-for-that-hole-shit-waiting' direction.

heres a question for draugh or yamiloser . since you guyz know everything and were dumb losers that are wrong cuz we say its not coming out then when is beta gunna be released?

you must have not read the new dev journal brandoo i feel sorry for you if you cant comprehend this year.
You can believe me if you want i dont care any more it will just make you look stupid in the end .(not saying you are) im just trying to save you an ass chewing later
If im wrong then im wrong i will go do something else then my life doesnt depend on this game.
why are you so negative about it anyways WHY does it matter to you if its released or not ?

Would you rather them take there time and get the features in and get it as smooth for beta as possible or rush it like vanguard did? answer me honestly
i understand you want this game to comeout but then why go around and say it never will and stuff i just dont understand that kinda thinking

just think outside the box for this one time

ps draugh lets try a diffrent approach with these guys

Draugh:
Translation: We're working hard and haven't gotten a break with the publishers.

Don't put words in people's mouths unless you can confirm or deny.

Confirmed yet Draugh?