AVWW #9 Preview: Characters, Monsters, and Weather (Video Coming Later)

[x4000]

Yep, I'm with you on that, too.  My biggest gripe with Borderlands was that it seemed like there were under ten real kinds of monsters that weren't bosses that you'd fight, and then maybe double that in terms of variants.  From what I saw.  Fallout 3 was more varied, but even that kind of bugged me a bit in how few things there were.  I really like the amount of variety in a game like Zelda (any of the ones since Link to the Past, really).

At any rate, my goal is to have all of the monsters level up, of course, but also to have a ton of different kinds of monsters.  And, as with ships in AI War, that's something we'll be adding over time post-1.0, too, I'm sure.  Free DLC and paid expansions, there.

[zoutzakje]

awesome to hear that ^^ I didn't think of the fact that you guys will also make dlc and expansions for AVWW in the future to add more stuff. That's even better.
May I ask if you are planning to put creatures of the ancient greek mythology (I think it was greek) in the game (hydra, medusa, cerberus, etc)? I'm always into that kind of things. Or doesn't that belong into AVWW?

[x4000]

Cool stuff.  In terms of specific monsters and enemies, mostly I'm not able to concretely confirm anything that isn't done yet simply because it depends on what turns out to be possible with the art and animation in a reasonable fashion.  Ancient Greece isn't currently a theme in this game, but Ancient Rome is one of about ten identified time periods that we'll likely be pulling from for 1.0 (some future fictional).

So I won't say no, but I will say I'm not sure yet.

[zoutzakje]

well, I'll eventually see for myself when I get the game ^^
perhaps it could be an idea for a future expansion or something

[x4000]

Yup, even if we don't have in [insert time period / culture / theme] at 1.0, we're definitely planning on expanding the list of those through expansions, etc.

[snrub_guy]

If you have time periods/cultures/themes, how will they be integrated? Will there be sort of regions in the world that have a roman theme? Or will world level have an effect on the era you are in? Or are they just all going to be everywhere?

[x4000]

If you have time periods/cultures/themes, how will they be integrated? Will there be sort of regions in the world that have a roman theme? Or will world level have an effect on the era you are in? Or are they just all going to be everywhere?

To some extent that's getting into spoiler territory relating to the story (which you can read the latest version of on the AVWW page).  But, I can say this without being to spoiler-y:

The world is divided up into regions (each tile on the overworld map), which are further categorized into super-regions.  So you have a bunch of ice age regions all clumped together, for instance.  Each one of those super-regions is a discrete chunk from a particular time period and culture/location. 

How they are arranged on the world map is really randomized, though I will say that the region level will have to be a certain amount before you see certain types of superregions.  So you don't have to level up the civilization level to find one of these other cultures, but you do have to travel a certain distance away from 0,0 at the least.

[snrub_guy]

Ah good, I'd hoped it might be something along the lines of super-regions. All mixed together would have been quite jarring.

If I hit spoiler territory please feel free to tell me to be on my merry way, but do you think there will be a logical progression between these super regions?

As in, might it be impossible to have an ice region right next to a FLAMING HELL region? Basically, gradients on the overworld map, or just black and white jumps to a random theme?

[x4000]

Cool stuff. It would be spoiler-y to say WHY, but there are no sensible gradients between super-regions. Flaming hell next to ice age is quite possible and even likely. Each region itself makes some form of internal sense, but even they are ravaged by chasms and earthquake-type damage and ingresses of evil-looking plants, etc. So there's sort of a fractal-like fracturing to many aspects of the world, and the world map is the broadest example of that.

The things I've told you are things that you'd notice in he first hour of play, and which the character would visibly wonder about as well, just in case the player isn't really watching closely or thinking that these (and other) things are odd. There is some surrealism here, and obviously magic exists, but otherwise in most ways the characters find the same things to be odd that the player will.

Finding all the various clues and figuring out exactly what happened to the world is one of several plotlines that you can pursue or ignore. It's possible to play the game and never figure out that mystery; and certainly I intend not to ever spell it all out. The general shape of that mystery is the same for every world someone creates, but the... I'll say proximal cause... is something that will vary from world to world.

[snrub_guy]

That's very interesting. Every new time you answer- which still blows me away that a developer does this- I find another thing that I hadn't thought of. Now you talk of the character visually wondering about stuff, and overarching "plotlines". For some reason I've been seeing this as purely sandbox, and not considering narrative or backstory at all. I guess with all the excitement around the randomness and freedom, I assumed there wouldn't be much of that at all. Thanks again for the replies. Fascinating stuff.

[zoutzakje]

That's very interesting. Every new time you answer- which still blows me away that a developer does this- I find another thing that I hadn't thought of. Now you talk of the character visually wondering about stuff, and overarching "plotlines". For some reason I've been seeing this as purely sandbox, and not considering narrative or backstory at all. I guess with all the excitement around the randomness and freedom, I assumed there wouldn't be much of that at all. Thanks again for the replies. Fascinating stuff.

yeah I always wonder where Chris even finds the time to write so many and such big stories
working on AVWW, making sure AI war and Tidalis run smooth, and whatever else he does on a day
I've never seen any game developer who cares about the community this much. Even if your games would suck, I'd still be an arcen games fan because of this. And fortunately, your games are great I can see myself still playing AI war in 5 years from now.

[x4000]

I meant to say: thanks for the support, guys!