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Crowns of Power alpha shots

by Peter Simard · 06/20/2006 (10:38 pm) · 8 comments

Woohoo! All the hard work is starting to pay off. We recently launched our first public testing of our upcoming MMORPG Crowns of Power. We received more than 2,000 beta applications within the first 24 hours of opening registrations. We selected 50 of those applicants and sent out the exe (weighing in at about 400mb).

Testing has been going for about a week now. The server only crashed once during the test (one too many, but better than I was expecting). Initial feedback was also positive. Most players had a good time adventuring through the first school, and getting up to level 13. One of the highlights was when the players activated a raid boss and successfully defeated him (with some nice loot as a reward).

The biggest issue seems to be the client stability. We received several reports of random crashing/freezing. Finding and fixing these issues will occupy a lot my development time... any suggestions on tracking these down would be appreciated.

Here is a current feature list in no particular order:
-The basic fighter tree with 5 ranks to advance through
-Individual spawn spots
-Spawn areas: You can define a list of mobs and they will spawn randomly positioned within the area
-Rare spawns:Rare monsters have a chance of spawning in different areas, if you kill one you get special loot
-Real-time combat system mixed with autoattack
-Multiple quest types: Collect items, kill mobs, escort NPC, etc
-Item interactions: Allows the use of interactive objects (doors, levers, mana nodes, etc)
-AI Pathing: 3 systems are used together to provide a robust pathing system. When a target is in sight it will go directly towards it. If something is blocking its LOS, its performs several ray casts to determine a path around the obstruction. If no route is find, it will use A* to navigate its way.
-Player & NPC pets
-Custom mounting system for equipment
-Dynamic player textures for armor/clothing
-Inventory done with backpacks
-Items are defined by a datablock to give base properties, and additional data can be added (enchants, buffs, etc)
-Reagents: Some abilities require consumable reagents to use
-Aggro system: Mobs use an aggro list to determine to more threat to it
-AI paths: Mob spawnpoints can be set to follow a path to allow "roamers"
-3D billboard text: Player names appear realistically over their head
-Inherited loot tables: Mobs can inherit loot tables from base mobs (e.g., BaseAnimal->BaseBear->Grizzly Bear)
-Grouping system: Players can form parties that will share loot/exp
-Chat system: Send messages to the zone, group, a player, or a say
-Emotes: Emotes such as /wave /cheer /bow /point, as well as custom ones from players
-Partial command recognition: This allows you to enter commands without fully typing them (e.g., /w instead of /wave)
-NPC interactions: Each NPC can be given a unique interaction dialog
-Arenas: PvP battlegrounds
-Mob spells: Mobs can be given spells and abilities (bears have a roar that stuns you)
-NPC merchants

Alpha testing shots:

Roamer jumps their group
www.crownsofpower.com/images/screenshot_009-00003.jpg
This rare scorpion proves to be more than he can handle
www.crownsofpower.com/images/screenshot_009-00005.jpg
Sigil being spawned (required 3 people to activate an orb at the same time)
www.crownsofpower.com/images/screenshot_014-00004.jpg
Sigil has been spawned
www.crownsofpower.com/images/screenshot_012-00010.jpg
Preparing to take down Sigil
www.crownsofpower.com/images/screenshot_014-00007.jpg
Taking on the Litch King
www.crownsofpower.com/images/screenshot_010-00004.jpg
This spiker isn't a match for these adventurers
www.crownsofpower.com/images/screenshot_012-00001.jpg
Fully geared up
www.crownsofpower.com/images/screenshot_018-00002.jpg
Hunting for tigers
www.crownsofpower.com/images/screenshot_008-00001.jpg
CG water effects
www.crownsofpower.com/images/screenshot_016-00001.jpg

#1
06/20/2006 (11:12 pm)
Nice progress, it must be very encouraging to see such a strong response to the call for testers.
#2
06/21/2006 (12:42 am)
Well done! Nice in-game shots!
#3
06/21/2006 (4:22 am)
Looks cool and sounds interesting but honestly I would be more interested if it was a single player RPG. The MMORPG market is incredibly saturated these days.
#4
06/21/2006 (6:52 am)
Peter,

I really like the name of your game. Crown of power is a cool title. Great shots man. I gotta make my boat model available so you can replace that one in the water! Anyway, keep it up, it's coming along well.
#5
06/21/2006 (6:56 am)
Im in one of thoes screen shots!!! P.S. the game is awsome and once its done ite gunna kick ass.
#6
06/21/2006 (8:38 am)
Awesome work!
#7
06/21/2006 (10:35 am)
Nice!
#8
01/16/2007 (5:03 pm)
Hey all, I am a beta tester and this game is a great game so far, Water effects look great and everything is overall good. There are still some minor bug issues in the beta testing area, but these are minor and they do not interfere with gameplay at all. Keep up the good work CoP staff!