Questions about Alden Ridge

[cubanresourceful]

I've really interested in this game, so I've got a couple of questions since the alpha is right around the corner. I know the game will be based around levels, I am assuming, once you beat a level, you cannot go back to it correct?

My second question would be, how big are these levels?

Now, I don't really like comparing, but I am just trying to get a sense of the underlying theme of the game, if you will. Can this game be likened to The Legend of Zelda, except instead of an open world with "sub-worlds" (in this case, usually dungeons and stuff), this game will feature levels? Just wondering.

[Winter Born]

Based on this  it will be interesting to hear the answer to your questions.
Seems like no levels per se, but may be like the scripted story in the LotS expansion.


from  http://arcengames.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20Valley%20Without%20Wind
""
3. Alden Ridge Arcade is dead, and we're going to reinvent Alden Ridge itself from what it was going to be.  No more hand-crafted story or levels -- instead, we'll be going procedural, which is something that we're very good at from AI War.  We're also going to be releasing an public alpha of Alden Ridge in the first quarter of next year, which we're pretty sure the finances will let us do, and then if that takes off we'll build that game upwards from there.  If it really takes off, which we suspect it might (that's a seriously cool game, and a lot of people are waiting for it), then we'll probably develop it over a span of years, with lots of free updates as well as paid expansions, essentially like we've been doing for AI War.""

[cubanresourceful]

Based on this  it will be interesting to hear the answer to your questions.
Seems like no levels per se, but may be like the scripted story in the LotS expansion.


from  http://arcengames.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20Valley%20Without%20Wind
""
3. Alden Ridge Arcade is dead, and we're going to reinvent Alden Ridge itself from what it was going to be.  No more hand-crafted story or levels -- instead, we'll be going procedural, which is something that we're very good at from AI War.  We're also going to be releasing an public alpha of Alden Ridge in the first quarter of next year, which we're pretty sure the finances will let us do, and then if that takes off we'll build that game upwards from there.  If it really takes off, which we suspect it might (that's a seriously cool game, and a lot of people are waiting for it), then we'll probably develop it over a span of years, with lots of free updates as well as paid expansions, essentially like we've been doing for AI War.""

Yeah, I am familiar with said news post and that in combination with the game page sprung my questions. On the Arcen Games website it says the alpha will be out in Q1 of 2011 so naturally since the date is so close I am a bit curious. I could use an adventure game to fill the hole Zelda left.

[x4000]

Bear in mind that the game page is completely out of date and refers to the 2008 version of the game.  We'll be basically tossing out all the old code, art, music, and everything and starting from scratch.  We haven't actually even started working on the new version yet, that won't be until after LotS is done.  When I said alpha for Q1, I meant more like March, which is waaay off in Arcen terms.   A lot can change between now and then.

But the idea is that the structure of the world will be like... well, sort of open world.  Kind of like Minecraft, where you can go in any direction as far as you want and it keeps creating new terrain, etc.  But, we'll also have towns and dungeons and ruins of old industrial centers, etc, which get created as part of that process.  Who knows exactly what will be in place at the start of alpha, but my hope is to have forest, caves, plains, and office buildings in there at that stage at a minimum.

If I had to say what this game would be like... I guess I would say Zelda + Crystalis + Silent Hill + Minecraft + Lode Runner The Legend Returns + O'Reilly's Mine + A Bunch of New Stuff.  And minus a ton of stuff from those other games.  It won't be like Zelda in terms of having dungeons or the same style of scripted exploration.  It won't be like Silent hill in terms of the mature stuff that would make it over T rated at the very most.  It won't be like Minecraft in terms of not having any crafting, and having a completely different focus (exploration and adventurerather than creation).  It won't be like Lode Runner in terms of the levels being top-down, and there not actually being levels, and there being MUCH more interactivity and variety to the environment/enemies.

Lots of stuff still up in the air, but I'm quite excited about the project.

[cubanresourceful]

Bear in mind that the game page is completely out of date and refers to the 2008 version of the game.  We'll be basically tossing out all the old code, art, music, and everything and starting from scratch.  We haven't actually even started working on the new version yet, that won't be until after LotS is done.  When I said alpha for Q1, I meant more like March, which is waaay off in Arcen terms.   A lot can change between now and then.

But the idea is that the structure of the world will be like... well, sort of open world.  Kind of like Minecraft, where you can go in any direction as far as you want and it keeps creating new terrain, etc.  But, we'll also have towns and dungeons and ruins of old industrial centers, etc, which get created as part of that process.  Who knows exactly what will be in place at the start of alpha, but my hope is to have forest, caves, plains, and office buildings in there at that stage at a minimum.

If I had to say what this game would be like... I guess I would say Zelda + Crystalis + Silent Hill + Minecraft + Lode Runner The Legend Returns + O'Reilly's Mine + A Bunch of New Stuff.  And minus a ton of stuff from those other games.  It won't be like Zelda in terms of having dungeons or the same style of scripted exploration.  It won't be like Silent hill in terms of the mature stuff that would make it over T rated at the very most.  It won't be like Minecraft in terms of not having any crafting, and having a completely different focus (exploration and adventurerather than creation).  It won't be like Lode Runner in terms of the levels being top-down, and there not actually being levels, and there being MUCH more interactivity and variety to the environment/enemies.

Lots of stuff still up in the air, but I'm quite excited about the project.

Oh jeez you guys sure know what we want eheheheh. In my opinion, I know it's going to be great, seems like I will continue to own all of Arcen Game's games. You guys just come out with such quality I just cannot comprehend how? Ah, who cares lol. XD

I am definitely looking forward to this. Would we be able to prepurchase the game (when it is in alpha) for early adopters can help discover bugs (while having fun as well)? Or you are unable to comment on such at this moment?

I'm liking it so far, this post sounds better than what the actual website has listed! Is that why you removed 'Arcade' from the name, since there won't be levels per say, just a procedural generated open ended world? What excites me is the use of real world elements like rain, dust, storms, etc. You don't see that in games.

Will you guys put hurricanes and tornadoes, lightning strikes, etc.? Lol, just wondering.

Thanks again, you guys are great!

[Winter Born]

X4000
Thanks for taking the time to answer this. Ready to preorder

[x4000]

Yes, preorders will begin as soon as the public alpha starts.  Basically like Light of the Spire or any other of our titles, it will be the same model.  For Tidalis we waited all the way until beta, which I wasn't happy about how that worked out for various reasons.  My hope is that support for the game during alpha will be such that we can support the company on Alden Ridge sales while we spend a good long while building it out into this huge thing going through months of alpha, then beta, then finally release, then hopefully post-release AI-War-style stuff.

In other words, sort of the model that Minecraft is using, but not with any expectations of the sorts of insane profits they have.  As long as we can support ourselves while making it, I'll be happy.

The "Arcade" version of Alden Ridge was to be a small spinoff, that was something that was a short-lived concept.  The 2008 version was just Alden Ridge, same as the new version will be.

For things like weather conditions, etc -- those were indeed in the prior versions of the game, but I don't know if they'll make it into the new one.  If so, probably not for quite some time.  The way that the environment is to be structured might make them a bit more challenging to do.  Then again... having an entire office building crumble and throw you into air when a tornado hits it would be... beyond epic.  Okay, yeah, I'm totally going to have to do that.  Tornados were my biggest recurring nightmare as a kid, and the chance to realize that in a game is just too good to pass up.  They were terrifying nightmares as a kid, but at the same time exhilerating -- I sort of liked them, sort of feared them.  Heh.