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[TwentyThree]

Hey guys.
I found a really cool game, and I thought you guys might want to see it. It's in development, but it is progressing well, and kickstarter will open up next month.
Its called Topia Online, and it features..
-Perma-death Full Loot
-Player run (including the monsters ;O)
-Fully sandbox world
-2-D, something im personally a fan of

It seems really cool, check it out!

[Kruniac]

You beat me to it. I've been meaning to post here about the game, but I keep getting lost in various Community Fort stories.

Anyway.
-----------------
We are developing an online HTML5 tile-based MMORPG called 'Topia Online'. It features many things that our company has always wished an online game would contain. Here is the feature list:

    A fully player-run world, where every creature is controlled by players.
    Permadeath ensures that each player takes responsibility for their actions.
    A powerful crafting system that allow players to create homes or dungeons.
    Dynamic procedurally generated sandbox world with no 'safe zones'.
    Every character is always 'logged in', resulting in a true persistent world.
    Play as any creature in the game, including wolves, vampires, or dragons.
    Built-in scripting system allows players to create artificial intelligence.
    Support for thousands of scripted characters on a single game server.
    Fully customizable game interface allows players to play the way they want.

It's also worth noting that this game is built in a game engine that is fully exposed to the players, allowing programmers to create custom content. The game/engine is built with jQuery, Knockout JS, HTML5, MongoDB, and ASP.NET MVC. It is likely that the game server will be converted to Node JS if enough funds are raised.

We are 2 months away from a beta test. We'll be launching at Kickstarter at the end of November. Please follow our dev blog, wiki, and forum for information about the game:

http://www.topiaonline.com
--------------------------

This is the canned version of our game. Feel free to sign up at our forums, and bring plenty of !!silk sock!!s. I'm Kruniac, Game Designer for Topia Online.

I've tried to use the perfectly normal and well-adjusted mental stability of a long time Dwarf Fortress fanatic in order to promote perfectly normal and well-adjusted game design concepts in Topia Online.

You know what that means. Anyway, come check us out.

[Alkhemia]

I'm going to watch this I'll see how it goes
you going to have a cash shop or will you need to spend money to play the game?

Also no dwarfs.....
so I guess I'll aim for the Naga and Dryad but the Slime sound like it will be great.

[Hugehead]

A fully player-run world, where every creature is controlled by players.
Every character is always 'logged in', resulting in a true persistent world.
Built-in scripting system allows players to create artificial intelligence.

So when you're not playing the AI you've scripted for your character takes over? If this is the case, will you have pre-created AIs so that the players who don't want to make their own will be able to play at some of the capacity people who make their own, very complex AIs?

[Kruniac]

A fully player-run world, where every creature is controlled by players.
Every character is always 'logged in', resulting in a true persistent world.
Built-in scripting system allows players to create artificial intelligence.

So when you're not playing the AI you've scripted for your character takes over? If this is the case, will you have pre-created AIs so that the players who don't want to make their own will be able to play at some of the capacity people who make their own, very complex AIs?

Players will be able to directly control their main character, or simply execute a script on him/her and watch the carnage.

To answer your question - yes. We will have basic scripts available to players. We're also going to implement a "marketplace" for script creators to share their creations. We're trying very hard to make the scripting aspect of the game extremely accessible for all players. Tutorials, examples, and an interface which allows for some very intuitive design process.

Executing scripts can be as simple as assigning a script to a hotkey, or dragging and dropping the script from a hotbar to an actor/entity.

Anyways. Yes. All players will have access to certain scripts. More advanced scripting will either be done by the player, or obtained from other players.

you going to have a cash shop or will you need to spend money to play the game?

The game will be able to be purchased for a one time fee. Also, we will offer micro-transactions for custom skins, etc. There will be no pay-to-win concepts or pay-to-get-lame-advantage items/perks.

Also no dwarfs.....
so I guess I'll aim for the Naga and Dryad but the Slime sound like it will be great.

Don't write dwarves off. We all want !!dwarves!! - it's just a matter of implementing them to do them justice.

Slimes are going to be one of the "Core" dungeon-type monsters. A very basic entity, capable of limited actions. However, I think it'll be a lot of fun to create a massive slime population. And you never know - if you happen to be the person with the highest slime population, there may be certain perks.

[goblolo]

Is it like a HnH?

[Neyvn]

Any Screenshots available at all???

[Kruniac]

Is it like a HnH?

Uh. Well, sort of. If you're talking about a sandbox type game, permadeath, etc. We're attracting HnH players, that's for sure.

Any Screenshots available at all???

We have some gameplay videos up at our site, as well as a basic combat example. You can expect a lot more videos as the community grows, and more features get added and polished.

[Zangi]

Will low tier races be made obsolete as soon as the upper tiers get unlocked?  In an Open PvP game... it looks like most players will have the incentive to move on to stronger characters for PvP survival/murder.
Ya know, for example, equal level Wolf versus equal level Dragon, both equal on all other possible counts.  Dragon always wins?

EDIT: Dragon specced to prevent fleeing versus Wolf specced to flee?

[Kruniac]

Will low tier races be made obsolete as soon as the upper tiers get unlocked?  In an Open PvP game... it looks like most players will have the incentive to move on to stronger characters for PvP survival/murder.
Ya know, for example, equal level Wolf versus equal level Dragon, both equal on all other possible counts.  Dragon always wins?

EDIT: Dragon specced to prevent fleeing versus Wolf specced to flee?

The reason we've decided to use this kind of system is to promote the idea of players providing a working ecosystem. For instance, having a wolf "character" isn't so much about winning the game, but rather... being a wolf. Every creature comes with it's own achievements and skills, and the playstyles are obviously very different.

Typically, a minotaur (assuming they have an axe or something) will be more powerful than (say) a wolf, but if the wolf utilizes the pack tactics we have planned, then they should be able to take down a more powerful creature.

The dragon question isn't a fair scenario, obviously. We plan on having the "end tier" creatures not only be powerful, but to be a game event in itself. For instance, when a player gains enough Monster Play Points (or whatever we call it) to unlock the Dragon, they'll probably get their own zone to play around in/spawn in. There will probably be some kind of global indicator that a dragon has been born, and it's generally going to be a huge deal.

We were just discussing the other day the "problem" of Tier based gameplay being solely about combat prowess. This isn't the case with Topia Online. Granted, a minotaur is powerful, but a goblin might have more utility in regards to crafting and population size. We don't really plan on having any creature that simply "kills", but rather we're trying to give a lot of thought to what creatures could actually do, and in addition to making each creature a part of the ecosystem, we're focused on making each creature unique.

To answer your question directly - (keeping in mind that we don't use "levels"), a wolf up against a dragon will probably be roasted, torn apart, or some other terrible thing. It's not a matter of levels, or strategy, but a matter of...
...
...

It's a freaking dragon biting a wolf.

[beorn080]

Slimes are going to be one of the "Core" dungeon-type monsters. A very basic entity, capable of limited actions. However, I think it'll be a lot of fun to create a massive slime population. And you never know - if you happen to be the person with the highest slime population, there may be certain perks.

Simple question. Will slimes and other monsters be able to stand on top of each other? If not, that should be the perk of the person with the most slimes. The ability to stack slimes and make a slime tsunami.

[Kruniac]

Slimes are going to be one of the "Core" dungeon-type monsters. A very basic entity, capable of limited actions. However, I think it'll be a lot of fun to create a massive slime population. And you never know - if you happen to be the person with the highest slime population, there may be certain perks.

Simple question. Will slimes and other monsters be able to stand on top of each other? If not, that should be the perk of the person with the most slimes. The ability to stack slimes and make a slime tsunami.

I won't promise slime tsunamis. I will say that we're looking into the possibility of multi-tiled creatures. So there might be a "king slime", which just engulfs an area. An interesting thing we're doing with slimes is to limit the amount of information a slime entity can be exposed to. So a slime wouldn't really be able to tell that a human is a human per se. Just that it's edible.

So imagine running you're hunting script (or whatever) on your slime population. You can't really tell them NOT to hunt something, so they sort of maraud around, attempting to consume anything that is "edible". And that's why people tend to kill them, what with all the consumption of flesh and so forth.

[Sonlirain]

Well since there is no leveling and a wolf will never match a dragon then i assume that a goblin with iron items that survived several battles will be just as strong as a goblin fresh out of the "spawner".
Assuming the latter happens to be part of a community that can easely create iron items and recieve a new sword and armor (or his old ones recovered by "guild" mates).

Or will tehre be a faux leveling system based on your archivements on previous characters?
For example if i slay a goblin with a wolf i get a perk called "Goblinbane Wolf" increasing my chancess in future fights with goblins.

And would that perk be permanently working empowering all of my future lupine characters or will it be selectable trait i can pick as i spawn?

[Slayerhero90]

Interesting.

[Kruniac]

Well since there is no leveling and a wolf will never match a dragon then i assume that a goblin with iron items that survived several battles will be just as strong as a goblin fresh out of the "spawner".
Assuming the latter happens to be part of a community that can easely create iron items and recieve a new sword and armor (or his old ones recovered by "guild" mates).

Or will tehre be a faux leveling system based on your archivements on previous characters?
For example if i slay a goblin with a wolf i get a perk called "Goblinbane Wolf" increasing my chancess in future fights with goblins.

And would that perk be permanently working empowering all of my future lupine characters or will it be selectable trait i can pick as i spawn?

Achievements are unlocked for that character only. If it dies, as this is a permadeath game, those achievements are gone. We will be implementing a sort of "Archetype" for some characters which adjusts the achievement grid. There will be certain ACCOUNT based achievements that do different things. For instance, if you get torn to pieces by shrieking wraiths, you might unlock the "Wraith" achievement, allowing you to play as a Wraith.

Achievements not only give abilities, but also stat gains. A goblin with iron weapons who has survived a few battles, maybe crafted something, explored some areas will probably have a few achievements on the grid unlocked. In which case this goblin would be more "powerful" than a goblin fresh out of the spawn.

Also keep in mind that the combat system we're developing will be more strategy and situation based than just a stat fest/hp grind. A character will have "Stances", and each "Stance" will be customized by the player, filling them with various maneuvers and abilities. When entering combat with another creature, your character will fight in accordance to his "Stance", firing off combat maneuvers, etc. So a weaker character stat-wise might very well defeat a "more powerful" character simply because they had the right "Stance" (again, a mix of custom maneuvers/abilities) for that situation.

Take an example - maybe I'm fighting someone slightly more powerful stat-wise or equipment-wise. Trying a brute force battle will probably leave me dismembered on the ground, and I'll be very sad. My enemy is wearing some heavy armor, has a shield, and a decent weapon of some kind. I happen to have a Stance set up that is focused on ground fighting and close quarters maneuvers.

Combat jumps off, and we rush together. He pokes and prods with his weapon, I'm jabbing and parrying with mine, things are more or less even. Then, somehow (maybe through a tackle), my enemy gets knocked down. As I have a Stance selected that takes advantage of this situation (with a slew of prone opponent maneuvers, or conditionals where I'm on the ground), my character dives on top of the guy.

We struggle on the ground, but it's mostly my character slamming a fist into the side of his head over and over, maybe stabbing wildly with a dagger. His combat Stance really wasn't designed to take care of business in this kind of a situation, and his armor is really holding him back. While he flops around like a fish, trying to defend himself, I stab him in the face/neck area until there isn't much left. I climb off, bruised but otherwise fine, and there's one less person in the world.


That's just a generalized example. We plan to go insane with combat (and especially death) animations, so it should be pretty entertaining to see these scenarios play out.