Arcanoria - a SMORPG project
by Arcanor · 04/24/2007 (6:54 am) · 5 comments
I've been working on producing an online game called Arcanoria since January 2007, originally using Ogre3D as the basis, but since mid-April we've switched to TGE in hopes of "shortcutting" the game engine development process and bringing something to market sooner.
We've created a website to explain more about what's going on, which you can find at:
www.arcanoria.com
For the time impaired (aren't we all!), here's a quick synopsis taken from the website:
We've created a website to explain more about what's going on, which you can find at:
www.arcanoria.com
For the time impaired (aren't we all!), here's a quick synopsis taken from the website:
Quote:
Arcanoria is a fantasy-based SMORPG* where solo players or groups can go on quests, solve intriguing puzzles, learn to craft their own custom items (clothing, weapons, etc.), offer paid services (escort duty, item identification, merchant shop, etc.), and face deadly challenges using their expertise with sword, bow, magic, or stealth. Arcanoria's game system is made to suit many different play styles. Each character can be a hybrid of many different abilities. The more you focus your actions on certain types of skills the better those skills become - at the expense of unrelated skills.
The world itself is very large, but only a portion of it has yet been discovered. Future game updates will reveal new areas of the map for players to explore. From cities to castles to murky caves to wind-swept mountaintops to tropical islands to barren deserts, to lush forests... Arcanoria has it all, just waiting for you to discover!
The game is not finished being built yet, but our first limited public release is scheduled for Summer/Fall 2007! If you'd like to participate as an early tester, please contact us at web-inquiry@arcanoria.com.
*SMORPG - Small Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game - similar to a MMORPG, but smaller in scope. While MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) are intended for thousands of players to interact, a SMORPG does the same types of things, but for only a few hundred players at a time. Much like old text-based MUDs, the focus is on providing innovative and interesting gameplay and an engaging social experience, rather than worrying about multiple redundant servers and other such expensive and time consuming infrastructure. We figure if things get to the point where server capacity becomes a problem, we're doing something right!
About the author
www.arcanoria.com
#2
Something I am hoping will become a market. Uh the $5 to $10 a month (can be more if they want
unlimited time). Kicks them off after a couple hours to control operational costs.
It does sound like a good plan.
04/24/2007 (9:13 am)
Micro MMO model. Sounds like your SMORPG concept...Something I am hoping will become a market. Uh the $5 to $10 a month (can be more if they want
unlimited time). Kicks them off after a couple hours to control operational costs.
It does sound like a good plan.
#3
04/24/2007 (10:28 am)
Does sound interesting, I'm curious to one thing are you going to set each server to allow a max of say 300-400 people and then if like 200 are on at a time say it's full? Or is it going to be lots of people having accounts on one server and trying to be the first to get on if not try server 2, 3 etc. Or are you planning on each time they get on to assigning them to a random instance of the world when that one is full another instance pops up for more people to join?
#4
@Matt Huston: I've been kicking that idea around a bit (quests that really change the world) and I'm still not convinced that it can be done "right". There are a lot of ways to implement such a world strategy, so I've not given up hope yet, but some of the things I've come up with so far are falling short. One idea is to have Good and Evil quests, creating sort of a tug-o-war between the two player factions. Then as the state of the world becomes more and more, let's say, Good, the rewards for the Good quests get lower and lower, and the rewards for the Evil quests get higher and higher, thus creating some sort of equilibrium. There has to be a balance somehow. However, I fear that this sort of approach would promote players doing whatever's most expedient at the moment, be it helping the damsel in distress (Good) or stealing from the local merchant (Evil). This would minimize the RP aspects of the game, which is something I'm reluctant to do.
@Vashner: I hope you're (we're) right about it being a good plan!
@J Sears: To be honest I've not thought that part of it out very well yet. So far, I'm planning on keeping everyone on the same virtual "world", but in multiple zones, each managed by a separate TGE instance (i.e. a zone server), and potentially running each zone on separate physical servers once that's needed. If we start seeing competition for bandwidth and server CPU/database resources we'll have to set limits and entry queues up (yuck!), but we should be able to handle more than 300-400 at a time safely as long as we distribute the game content across multiple zones (we're using the MMOKIT, which provides this). Note that this has not been tested yet, and we're still a while off from doing so.
More to come!
04/25/2007 (3:38 pm)
Thanks for your comments folks. Some specific replies:@Matt Huston: I've been kicking that idea around a bit (quests that really change the world) and I'm still not convinced that it can be done "right". There are a lot of ways to implement such a world strategy, so I've not given up hope yet, but some of the things I've come up with so far are falling short. One idea is to have Good and Evil quests, creating sort of a tug-o-war between the two player factions. Then as the state of the world becomes more and more, let's say, Good, the rewards for the Good quests get lower and lower, and the rewards for the Evil quests get higher and higher, thus creating some sort of equilibrium. There has to be a balance somehow. However, I fear that this sort of approach would promote players doing whatever's most expedient at the moment, be it helping the damsel in distress (Good) or stealing from the local merchant (Evil). This would minimize the RP aspects of the game, which is something I'm reluctant to do.
@Vashner: I hope you're (we're) right about it being a good plan!
@J Sears: To be honest I've not thought that part of it out very well yet. So far, I'm planning on keeping everyone on the same virtual "world", but in multiple zones, each managed by a separate TGE instance (i.e. a zone server), and potentially running each zone on separate physical servers once that's needed. If we start seeing competition for bandwidth and server CPU/database resources we'll have to set limits and entry queues up (yuck!), but we should be able to handle more than 300-400 at a time safely as long as we distribute the game content across multiple zones (we're using the MMOKIT, which provides this). Note that this has not been tested yet, and we're still a while off from doing so.
More to come!
#5
Quick update:
We have now successfully migrated our testing to our new internet-based dedicated server, and our testers can now interactively chat, move around, shoot at, and kill each other. We're pretty pleased about this!
Work continues on important game development items including:
- backstory
- review and testing of (many!) newly purchased models and music from Arteria Gaming
- skill and spell system
- religious and trade-based "guilds"
More updates as they happen. Thanks for reading!
05/11/2007 (2:49 pm)
We're constantly blogging to our main game project website at www.arcanoria.com/history.php (if anyone wants to see more details).Quick update:
We have now successfully migrated our testing to our new internet-based dedicated server, and our testers can now interactively chat, move around, shoot at, and kill each other. We're pretty pleased about this!
Work continues on important game development items including:
- backstory
- review and testing of (many!) newly purchased models and music from Arteria Gaming
- skill and spell system
- religious and trade-based "guilds"
More updates as they happen. Thanks for reading!
Torque 3D Owner Matt Huston
Atomic Banzai Games