MyWorld Interview I feature - MyWorld: Cerria

Before this starts, let me just let everybody know this; I'll be posting weekly "Features" where I answer questions that people have sent in to me, so that I can answer any questions you peoples have, out there.

You can send your questions to myworld@hotmail.co.uk.
You can stay anonymous if you like, otherwise put your name and country.
Feel free to send as many questions as you like, although it'd be easier if you just stockpiled them in a text file so you can accumulate them as you think them up, then copy paste it all into one email near the end of the week (which is when the article will be posted, every friday, so that it will be up by Sunday (Hopefully)).

Example:

Dear Azkanan,
Could you give us an more in-depth explanation into how combat will work? Thanks.
Azkanan (Or if you want to be anonymous, change this to anonymous)
England (Or if you want to be anonymous, change this to anonymous)

Enjoy the Article - thanks go to Redster and Chris.

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Redster: What is MyWorld? That's a basic opening question, Do it.

Azkanan: Right... Uh...

Azkanan: MyWorld is basically a 3D MMORPG set in the fantasy realm, but not in the fantasy realm. No overused stereotypical elements will be found. Elves and Dwarves, Goblins and Orcs - gone. MyWorld is a world that has been completely redeveloped from the ground up, planetary development, creature evolution; all that comes to the creation of a very individual and detailed world. The gameplay consists from being anything you could want to be. A trader, a farmer. An explorer, and ship-captain. Beast tamer, Assassin. Sorcerer - Necromancer. I want MyWorld to open up an entire can of worms that says "Get Immersed."

Chris: Already read that, but sure.

Redster: Copy pasted?

Azkanan: No, written by hand.

Redster: Shuddup, it's my duty as interviewer to be edge. Whatever that means.

Chris: When are we supposed to do this interview thing?

Azkanan: Now. I'm recording it.

Redster: What are some of the core gameplay elements? Is it going to be focused on RPG elements or more immersed into some sort of Simcity game?

Azkanan: Well, I want to get a lot of jazz going on. As I said, I want players to be immersed. If they want to go fishing, they can. If they want to go and practice their skills on grinding creatures they can... just try not to get killed or depopulate the area. If they want to set up a village, they can. Or, buy a ship, or build one, and take it to the seas - they can!

Chris: If you kill too many monsters, how will it effect the rest of the players?

Azkanan: I'd like to get a sort of variable system in that keeps track of monster population, if that isn't too much strain on the servers. The effects of this is to avoid "hunting grounds" so to speak, where in a lot of MMORPGs, players congregate at certain places for the best drops, loot and xp.

Azkanan: Godamn Internet. Next Question? =D

Redster: And you said this game was an MMO? So say a player sets up a village...does it all interconnect seamlessly? Is there some kind of world economy? If I set up a village in a resourceful area, can other player offer him and his ship to sail up and about between villages to trade? Will that affect world prizes?

Azkanan: let's try and split that into single questions... This game is a MMO, yes. If a player sets up a village, I want him to be able to choose a spot, grab some timber, and build a few houses on the spot. Obviously it'd take a good few days, if not weeks (In-game time) to build, but nethertheless, travellers could hap' across his settlement.

Azkanan: World Economy. What is made, stays in rotation till destroyed, lost, or made so ruined nobody wants it. Everything is circulated. If you make something, you could sell it, and find it a few years later in a dark hole or sold to somebody.

Azkanan: If you set your village on a coast, you'd probably have to build a pier for somebody to dock. But, as for trade, that goes for caravans and wandering traders, too. If you set up by a mine full of gold, for example, you're likely to attract many miners... I think this happened with the town of "Deadwood" in America, back in the late 1800s. Question Answered?

Redster: Yep.

Redster: And what about nations? Can you also create your own or is there a fixed set of nations like factions?

Azkanan: At the moment, I'm sticking to my guns on the fact that people can't "create" nations. If they could, the entire place would be in a complete mess, with a half-hundred newbies starting up their own "kingdoms" and proclaiming it best. Neighbourhood veteran comes along with two thousand strong army and takes over... it would be pandemonium.

Chris: New question, then. I'm interested in the population variables you talked about. If the monsters get too scarce, will players have to wait for them to repopulate? What if a race goes extinct? Are monsters tameable? Could you raise them in captivity so that the population could be released in the wild later on?

Azkanan: Again, let's split this Question up. First off, if they get too scarce, you'll rarely see them. A few handfuls will eventually remain and repopulate. As much as I'd love to see the mass effect (lol?) of extinction in an ecosystem from overhunting, I think I'd hate it, as would others, if they saw their favourite creature dissapear for the rest of the game.

Azkanan: Monsters are tameable if you catch them whilst young, or easily-led and docile creatures may be tameable as they are. Raise them then release them? I don't see why not - it could be a hand to a repopulation effort. In fact, rather than extinction, perhaps they should face a "down-time" of repopulation that takes several months, in real time, rather than gone forever.

Azkanan: I think that answers those questions..

Redster: Okay...

Azkanan: Don't get me wrong; plays can create bustling cities, in theory. I merely meant that players can't go "Oh, I call this village the capital of LaLa Land, and I am the king". Or, something along those lines with some system commands that lead to a variable input of an extra nation in the world.

Chris: If it's player made laws, it hinges on other people cooperating with them, aye?

Azkanan: Well, yeah. If a player sets up a village, he can set the laws and the law enforcement officers.

Redster: But say I create 5 or so cities, not too far from each other. There's no game mechanic to sort of combine that into nation? It's already part of one of the existing nations?

Azkanan: I'd like to keep it so that players can only set up one village and build within a radius of that location to avoid mass spamming and finding abandoned huts every hundred yards.

Redster: I see, I see.

Azkanan: ...Are you wearing glasses, just to get in character, perchance?

Chris: Heh, Ghost Towns.

Redster: No way to gradually increase said building radius?

Azkanan: @Chris, exactly. Expect to see a bunch of these around when players leave the game and their villages. @Redster, building buildings increases the range, I should think.

Azkanan: So, uh. Chris, you said you wanted to learn more about magic, right? Or, do you guys want to keep to the current topics at-hand?

Chris: In a bit. I assume abandoned huts could be cannibalised for wood and other resources?

Redster: Sorry, Facebook is distracting.

Azkanan: Well, if you mean to scavenge, I doubt you could "scavenge" the wood from buildings. Most of it would likely be tightly knotted down and filled with nails and jazz already. It'd be easier, overall, to cut down a tree and turn it into timber... Speaking of which, I'm hoping to get a sort of perma-death system for trees that have been cut down, then an off-spring and growth system - would lead to some awesome deforestation scenes. Not sure if it'd be too much on the system though. As for "other resources", I suppose it would work as if you were stealing from a non-abandoned village.

Azkanan: (Yawn Emoticon) 2:05am, I guess I chose a bad time for an interview, huh.

Chris: Anyway.

Redster: So abandoned villages stay the way they are?

Azkanan: I don't see why not, maybe over time they crumple and decay...

Chris: Could you destroy abandoned houses to get timber from it?

Azkanan: If you hammer a loghouse till it collapses, how much usable wood do you think you can get from it?

Chris: It depends on how well it was built!

Redster: Hahahahah

Chris: Ok, moving on, then. Magic. I'm reading on the wiki about these... Well, you talk about all these complex movements to perform different techniques. Wind blasts. Rubbing magic together. Is this actually how you use magic, or are there just spells you learn?

Azkanan: First, I need to define magic for you. Magic isn't some mojo that you "cast". It isn't focussed by magic words or fancy sticks that you swing around - so there really aren't any spells, by that definition. What there is, is the ability to manipulate magic. Magic is like oxygen, all around you, except you can focus and manipulate it using your mind - something like The Force in Star Wars, I guess.

Chris: So I've read. If it IS how you use it, how do you manipulate this force with the user interface?

Azkanan: As for how to use it, perhaps the interface would be more based on "memory actions" rather than buttons and spell names.

Chris: What key do I press to focus magic into an air bubble and fire it with explosive force?

Azkanan: Well, seeing as there's no traditional "targetting" system in MyWorld, like how World of Warcraft does, and let's you bashspam the F-keys... It's likely to be like in Oblivion, where you select your "spell" and attack with it. The "spell" is actually a movement, focus and the appropriate actions taken to manipulate magic into doing the desired effect. So you aim, enact the magical ability, and hope it hits.

Redster: When's the game expected to enter beta? And how will people get access to this beta?

Azkanan: I'd like to see the game available as Beta in 2011/2012, but it depends on how smoothly and to-plan development actually goes. I'm hoping to spend this year doing models and programming, whilst next year mapping, routing NPCs, conversation creation, quest making and so forth. But, it's hard to promise a release date when you've never made a game of this proportion before.

Redster: I see, and the access to it? Will people have to sign up for it or will it magically appear at the doorsteps of a handful of random strangers?

Azkanan: Well, Beta will be open to the donators first; they get first priority, the ones whom have donated money via Paypal. Then the oldest members on the MyWorld Forums get earliest access. As for how to get the final product, you can either download it for free, or "buy" it and get it in a boxed version. The "buying" part is more like a big donation, and you are rewarded with the boxed version, as opposed to a download link.

Redster: Oohh, sounds nifty. Too bad I don't have Paypal.

Azkanan: Mommy's credit card? =D

Redster: Mommy's afraid of the internets.

Azkanan: Oh yeah, that explains why you never buy steam games.

Chris: I pay for his stuff sometimes. Once, actually.

Redster: I am still grateful for that, Merca.

Azkanan: Aye, I gave him a copy of... Hey! Offtopic?!

Redster: Offtopic? Not in the least ;D

Azkanan: Get back to work with the questions, you peoples.

Redster: You spoke about Myworld having it's own wind currents and ocean currents. How will those affect gameplay? Can we also expect weather patterns like rain and fog and the extreme hurricane?

Azkanan: Wind Flow and Ocean Currents were pretty much to handle which ways everything goes, such as rainclouds which effected how the creatures evolved. But, I think we can definitely expect basic weather such as Rain and Fog, and I have yet to read if Wind is applicable to the engine we are working with. It handles physics, so extreme winds and suck stuff up? Perhaps.

Redster: Fancy. What about crafting your own weapons and armor? Are there generic weapons such as the wooden sword then the bronze sword then iron etc. Or do you make your own designs?

Azkanan: I'm thinking that, seeing as i'm generating a whole new planet and languages, "steel, iron, copper, etc" words will be out the window. As for crafting, i'm not quite sure how in-depth we can get with microcrafting, but i'll be damned if I settle for "copper this" "copper that" of "this" quality - at least let them choose a different hilt!

Redster: Sweet! Chris, got any more questions? I'm kinda hogging now.

Chris: Just a moment...

Azkanan. Uh. Red.

Redster: Hrmrm... If I bat my eyelashes right now, could I get one of the early beta tests? ;D

Azkanan. No.

Redster: Not even if I bat them reaaalll hard?

Azkanan: Only if you make them bleed. You might be able to slip one out of my pocket whilst I roll on the floor laughing.

Chris: If a player makes a town, how are taxes collected? Is it automatic, or do they require hiring a tax collector?

Azkanan: I should think the player goes around himself on the tax-collection day he has set, or hire a tax collector, NPC or otherwise.

Redster: Oh, another thing. If for some reason most if not all players decide to go ''lolno'' and just not do what they're told. (like tax collecting, trading good) does the entire game collapse?

Azkanan: If players decide not to pay their landkeeper for the land they are on, they could be evicted or worse.

Redster: But a group of trolls could, even if theoretically, break the game?

Azkanan: How so?

Redster: What I mean is, a town for example is based on players co-operating and following the rules. If said players do not co-operate, the town could collapse.

Azkanan: If said villagers do not co-operate, they will be evicted/jailed, kicked out of town, and so forth. I don't see exactly how much an underpowered villager can do, other than murder the lord every time he enters his town. In which case, he can just hire some mercenaries to give a hand.

Redster: What I was going for was that if all players playing this game just...stopped dead in their tracks. Aside from people in power like mayors.

Chris: Why would they do that? Labour Strikes?

Azkanan: As in, if a hefty number of players stopped playing?

Redster: @Azkanan, More or less, yeah.

Chris: How would they afford food, or shelter? If they had no jobs?

Azkanan: When have you ever seen that happen, anywhere?

Redster: I'm speculating here!

Chris: The economy would have to adjust. Perhaps a stunted economy would mean nobody could get a hold of decent equipment? Monsters become more prevalent, people have to clump together?

Azkanan: If a 2/3rd portion of players stopped playing one day, I guess the game would die from lack of support. Or, moreso, the remaining players would find themselves sparse and between. Sort of like a Private Server of World of Warcraft, or something.

Redster: Well, I'm out of questions, I guess.

Azkanan: How about you, Chris?

Redster: Dear Lord, what is that guy doing?

Azkanan: It's 2.50am... It's late at night, and he is probably excited from all this talk of Myworld...

Redster: Fapping to mythical creatures? Sounds kinky.

Azkanan: LOL. I guess this is a close.