08 Sept. 2008
zigzag - We'll be starting shortly, you're welcome to use #earthrise for chat in the meantime - and feel free to being sending questions to me by typing /msg zigzag and typing your question in the window that pops up.
zigzag - Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics House of Commons with Masthead Studios, makers of the anticipated title Earthrise. It's open topic today, so any of your questions are welcome.
zigzag - Please send your questions to me - to do so type /msg zigzag and type your question in the window that pops up. Please do not message the developers directly.
zigzag - Full logs of the chat will be up on
www.stratics.com and also
www.play-earthrise.com shortly after the chat.
zigzag - We'll start with a brief introduction from the developers, and now would be a good time to send me those questions!
[MS]Ostiak - hello, my name is Atanas Atanasov, CEO of Masthead Studios
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Hey everyone. My name is Apostol Apostolov (a.k.a. Rayner Ape), Lead Game Designer of Earthrise, the MMO that has you all gathered here today.
Moll - And everyone's favorite community manager Moll is here, of course.
zigzag - *Zorky|TG* how was the leipzig trip
[MS]Ostiak - we will cover the Leipzig trip in more detail in this month's newsletter, but to say it short - it was more for meeting some media and business partners. Every game show is fun to visit, and we can't wait to present the game to such shows next year.
zigzag - *Zorky|TG* when can we see some gameplay footage
[MS]Ostiak - We don't want to make you wait too much. I think we can do that by the end of this year.
zigzag - *Acidbaron* Regarding Mining facilities in Territory Warfare. First Question: How do the resources get transported, do you require to mine transport them manually with Mechs? Second question: Can others Run in a guild territory and be able to obtain the resources found there either by destruction of the mining facility or something else?
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Resources weight a lot. While a character may fill his inventory with some quantity of mined resources, personally transporting large quantities to a destination is simply not economically feasible. Players will have access to vehicles that have the ability to carry very large quantities of items that allow, among many uses, to transport resources in a fast and efficient manner.
[MS]RaynerTheApe - On the second part of the question, we have yet to determine what sort of spoils the victorious attackers earn in a siege. But we sure want to leave a chance for the conquerors to inherit some of the assets of the territory they lay their hands on.
zigzag - *amunds* Are there any plans on having an API for displaying game data on personal/guild-sites for example?
[MS]Ostiak - community tools are one of our priorities and we will be developing them for many different things, such as the one you ask about
zigzag - *TMT* what can you tell us about magic, psionic abilities? How do they work? Is there enough of them to specialize in psionics for example?
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Magic as we know it in the stock fantasy fare, does not exist in a sci-fi world such as Earthrise. The closest you get are the Cybermentalists, a group of people capable of controlling emotive interfaces that hook their brains emotion centres to devices of sheer destruction.
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Their abilities range from powerful direct attacks to elaborate control and counter-measures against the opponent offensive builds. Psionics are all about control and manipulation, their damaging abilities indirect and more dependable on the state of their opponent.
zigzag - *Acidbaron* I actually ment something else, Probably was too unclear. How do the resources go from the mining facility to for example the guild 'vault' in the control build, is it done automatically or is it done manually?
[MS]RaynerTheApe - We will provide alternative methods of transportation of your resources from your guild territory to your "vault", and you can expect some of them will be more expensive than others. As always, manually carrying the resources to the nearest city will always be the cheapest option as long as you are up for the associated risks.
zigzag - *Acidbaron* Also for the second question, I asked i wanted to know if it is possible to boycott or run in an enemy territory when -not seiging- and steal their resources, either from the mining facility(by destroying it for example) or from free mining 'nodes'. Sorry if i was not clear enough to first time around.
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Stealing resources outside of the siege time duration has the same severe problems as a 24/7 siege free-for-all - your guild members has to be always on and always alert for robbers, or your guild runs in a chance being robbed dry every single day. We want to avoid requiring such dedication from our players. So the answer is No.
zigzag - *Craized* What kind of healing abilities are you planning to include?
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Healing in Earthrise will be different from most MMO games, because your healers won't heal your character as much they will recharge the protective shield that has alone stands between you and your ultimate destruction on the battlefield.
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Healers will be able to directly recharge, channel their own energy to power your shields, or even link themselves to other characters and support them with their own resources, passively.
zigzag - *Samo* From a developer's point of view, what would you say makes this game unique in its very own way and yet still be fun to play without getting bored?
[MS]Ostiak - first of all the almost unlimited possibilities to customize your character, not just his visual appearance, but also his template, all abilities and weapons
[MS]Ostiak - the sandbox element of gameplay, giving total freedom to the players
[MS]Ostiak - the conquest of territories, which will be part of the seamless world, not just some instance
[MS]Ostiak - the lack of instance as a whole, the Earthrise world is one and all players are in the same territory
[MS]Ostiak - the player-run economy and the possibility to craft and customize every item in the game
[MS]RaynerTheApe - What keeps players from being bored is a constant, flexible challenge that is defined ot by a single game paradigm, but also by the player's action within a sandbox environment. Our game is unique in the way it motivates players to challenge each other, to complete and strive and fight over everything - from a piece of ore to control over island's market or item monopoly. We will give you that!
zigzag - *Throwback* Zorky already asked for gaming footage, so I'll tackle the other elephant in the room: any date for the beta yet?
[MS]Ostiak - We will not be announcing a date until we are confident that the game is ready to be tested by people outside our team. The initial beta stages will be very important for the next steps of Earthrise's development and we want to be ready to gather as much data as possible
zigzag - *Ted* Will there be water related things to do in this game such as quests, naval warfare, islands to explore, sea monsters, cities, etc?..
[MS]Ostiak - The island of Enterra is an... hm island, so there will definetly be water in the game, but we don't plan to add naval warfare. There are however small islands around Enterra, which can be eplored, there will be some marine animals and some beach areas, but not cities floating on the water or underwater, there is enough land for the time being, waiting to be explored and conquered
zigzag - *Zorky|TG* (will there be objectives that small gangs can effectively accomplish, and will there be something in place to make "more is better" not necessarily always the best plan) and about any potential contracting system (will there be an official system/game mechanic in place for the contracting of services, as well as just items, such as private bounty placement, mercenary contracts, or long term supply contracts) question from Tyrus D
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Players and groups of players will be able to take on generated missions, offered by all the smaller organizations on Enterra. That will be the main road to gaining their trust and reputation, and a way to gain favors such as organization monopolized designs for production of powerful items.
zigzag - *TMT* If not gameplay video, can we get gameplay screenshots(with UI and all) :P? Also can you toogle from 1st to 3rd person view freely? If so, doesn't that mean that most players will go 3rd person just to be competitive(see behind their back)?
[MS]Ostiak - we keep sending exclusive screenshots to our media partners, the last ones, just a week ago after Leipzig. More screenshots will be coming after Austin GDC. The more we approach beta and release, the more screenshots you will be seeing. The interface question - well, we just approved the final version of the UI design today, but we don't plan to post UI screenshots for the time being, a lot of things need to be done before that, such as the
[MS]Ostiak - about the 1st person/3rd person, players can zoom in and out the camera, and it is up to them to decide how to play the game
zigzag - *Ghost_Writer* Is it going to be a Level based system or a Skill based system? i.e. Do we only get to level up our skills as our charecter level increases or are skill levels independant of character level?
[MS]Ostiak - Earthrise will have skill based system. There are no levels in the game. Players don't need to raise in levels in order to raise their skills, because there are no levels.
zigzag - *Throwback* Do you envision any critical Worst-case-scenarios resulting from the open gameplay where as a developer you'd feel the need to intervene for balancing reasons? (guild monopolies for instance, or out-of-control inflation, or a server full of lone snipers who just won't let their alts build anything)?
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Some extreme scenarios such as guild monopolies, overwhelming guild alliances and such are already being considered and measures are implemented from the get go to deal with them. Still, to some extend such scenarios are expected and will be allowed.
[MS]RaynerTheApe - We want our players to enter a living, breathing and highly competitive economy with its double-edged sword tactics, rather than a walled garden that takes care for every player's needs. We will intervene, but try to do so as rarely as possible.
[MS]RaynerTheApe - As for imbalanced weaponry, we will make sure that no weapon is so powerful that only their wielders will rule on the server. The item design system will allow for players to create inventive and powerful weapon builds, yet the same rules will give you chance to finetune your armor to counter them.
zigzag - *TMT* Since this isn't a fantasy game, will my sword will be secondary weapon or will I be able to survive without firing a bullet?
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Let me say it this way: the only thing that will survive unless you fire a bullet at least once in your life, are the bullets themselves.
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Still, there will be many close combat skills that will allow melee characters to earn their victory solely with close combat weaponry.
zigzag - *TMT* So how the weather is in Bulgaria and how it will be in Earthrise? Screenshots look very sunny.. Can we expect rain or clouds in some parts of island?
[MS]Ostiak - It was 37C or 99F today, getting hotter and hotter as beta approaches
[MS]Ostiak - About the screenshots - the weather in Earthrise will be dynamic with fog, rains day and night cycle
[MS]Ostiak - but there will be some areas in the game with constant ambience, but I don't want to spoil the surprises
zigzag - *DoktorViVi* How do all the sides relate to each other? We know it's Continoma vs. Noir, but how do Eastern Gardens, Red Dragon Family, Praetorians, and Erratics fit in? (Just grabbing all this from the Concept Art section.)
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Each of the smaller organizations will have enemies and allies among the complex political scene on the island. Each organization holds monopolies on certain technologies and closely guard it, and while many organizations will use the Continoma vs. Noir conflict as a good reason to step on each other's toes, greed and opportunism fuels the turmoil among them.
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Players will feel that complex system as they grow in reputation towards one organization - all opposing and even most neutral organization will see an enemy in them.
zigzag - *Throwback* Another typical roleplayer question. The cloning technology and monopoly is certainly one of the main elements of the background, and defines gameplay and power balance of Continoma and Noir alike. How does it affect the typical Enterra resident in detail? Are there storylines revolving around multiple clones of one and the same person, birth control, brain or clone hacking, clone death for criminals etc...?
[MS]RaynerTheApe - How would it feel to never fear death again? That is one of the first questions our writer's team asked themselves and the answers were not as one-sided as we first expected them. Immortality allows characters to be more opportunist and less afraid of their own demise, completely suicidal as long as they believe they will be reborn few minutes later.
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Yet, as Continoma showed it's citizens they they are willing to filter the cloning process and put on indefinite delay the enemies of the state, paranoia is abound and the conflict deepened.
zigzag - *Samo* Everyone who takes a look at Earthrise, including myself, thinks of tabula rasa. What is it that makes them different. And to be exact, what is it that makes Earthrise better?
[MS]Ostiak - I am not going to comment which elemnts will be better, it is up to everyone of you to decide that. I will say what are some of the differences
[MS]Ostiak - First and most important, Earthrise is a skill-based game
[MS]Ostiak - the crafting in Earthrise will play a very important role
[MS]Ostiak - the market system with the raw resources sold there will be a paradise for everyone who like the stock exhange or who wants to speculate with the price of goods
[MS]Ostiak - PvP will be free for all
[MS]Ostiak - there will be much more abilities with the possibility to customize them
[MS]RaynerTheApe - And most of all, PvP will offer a real challenge to players, with looting and deep integration in the player-run economics.
[MS]Ostiak - The world will be one, players will not need to move from map to map
zigzag - *Acidbaron* Will there perhaps at some point offer a PvP arena with a web based ranking system? Also a web related question will you make a map that shows what guild owns what territory (something similair but more detailed that can also be found on the anarchyonline site)
[MS]RaynerTheApe - The game will feature much more integral, persistent feel with a weight over players' actions.
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Web services are a new direction that MMO games are taking to make the player more connected to what's happening in their game and we will delve into it as soon as possible. It's still early to say what we have in store. As for maps, it's a great way for a guild to publicly show it's wide control over the land, and we are working hard on making as much options of bragging rights as possible.
zigzag - *Magunnus* Can you go into any details about tactics at this time?
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Tactics are enhancements that players place in their abilities to change the abilities' defining values or add additional effects, customizing them for specific style of play. You can have a skill to Sprint, but you can enhance the Sprinting speed, lower the cost in personal resources, make the player more dodgy and less likely to be hit in combat, or other effects.
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Many Tactics have disadvantages associated to them - higher cost, open for attack, harder to control, etc.
zigzag - *TMT* So, if I understand correctly, shields are what defines your character protection. Can we visually see them? Is it something like in "The Matrix" where neo stops bullets?
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Shields will be visible, but won't be visually intrusive, such as watching your characters locked in a shield all the time. You will see your shield protecting you from death when you are hit, for example. As for Neo's bullet l33t ski11z, unfortunately, our enterran adventurers are still unaware they live in a computer-simulated game environment.
zigzag - That will wrap it up for tonight! Thanks for coming! You can join #earthrise any time to chat more about the game.
zigzag - Thank you to our guests from Masthead Studios, and to you for being here! We'll see you next time!
[MS]Ostiak - thank you everyone for coming to the chat today and we'll see you next time
[MS]RaynerTheApe - Bye all and thanks for your questions!
Moll - Also if you'd like to share your thoughts, we have a forum thread already to go for post-chat discussion as well:
http://forums.play-earthrise.com/index.php?topic=1955.0
zigzag - Also, we'll be meeting with the Earthrise team at the Austin Game Dev Conference - so stay tuned as we'll have more to come!
07/09/2008, 10h59
