World Size

abuelos84 · Nov 5, 2012

Hi there, south-south-south-american pledger here.
I must admit that the video you posted on KS reallly blew my mind, I was instantly hooked, and although the current exchange rate makes the high-tier pledges well.. pretty high, I'm happy to have invested at least what I could, rarely are ambitious claims backed by actual footage in KS projects...

But enough introduction, I'm really curious about what world-size are you planning to implement.
Being and open world RPG, I'm thinking it'll have to be quite extensive, as the genre stimulates exploration as one of the key gameplay fetures.

What are your musings on this?
Thanks

Madoc · Nov 6, 2012

Hi, our idea is to keep the surface world relatively small but densely packed with interesting things. It will certainly not be so large to feature changes in climate and such though we do hope to include a few different styles for the environment such as marshes, wastes, seaside etc. We would also like to introduce seasons with various impacts on the appearance of the world. The game will feature an extensive underworld that we can build on indefinitely and can be explored non linearly, this will feature different themes.

How much content we can actually feature will depend on many factors, as we've already expressed we would like to continue adding to the game even after it's release.

Barn the Bear · Nov 6, 2012

I definitely support the idea. I'd rather have a smaller world with a lot of detail put into it than a large, sparse world with hardly anything (I'm looking at you, post-Morrowind Bethesda).

abuelos84 · Nov 6, 2012

Oh, ok. It's good to know.
I can't wait to see what you guys are working on..

hredthel · Nov 10, 2012

[quote="The game will feature an extensive underworld that we can build on indefinitely and can be explored non linearly, this will feature different themes.[/quote]

Does you intend to steer away from "cookie-cutter" dungeons? Much like using the same set of static architecture in every tomb, and similarly every cave or prison or castle interior.

1n5aN1aC · Nov 17, 2012

As long as you guys create the world with a ridiculous attention to fine, seemingly-unimportant details, such as Morrowind did, this project will be more epic than I had thought possible.

Agnes · Nov 18, 2012

Hey Hredthel, sorry for the late reply.
Well, I don't like repetitions and seeing the same building over and over again either.
We want every location to be unique and have it's own story. Obviously the style of the world has to be consistent so you will see buildings or little houses built in a very similar style in the same area, some small houses or shacks will repeat now and then, but nothing significant will be reused.
Again for the underworld, every part of it has its own history and a story to tell so we won't use the same exact structure again. We have a cool dungeon editor to design dungeons very quickly, what would be the point if we only make 3 dungeons and we just repeat them...

hredthel · Nov 18, 2012

Thank you very much for the reply, Agnes. I'm betting that most of us on the forums right now are dungeon crawlers and explorers of some type, and I for one am super stoked that you intend on concentrating that experience!

Derangle · Nov 21, 2012

I love the idea of small world high detail, but I think the world should be 'deep' I mean that it should have an indepth underground system?!

hredthel · Nov 21, 2012

They've already explained that not only will the underground be immense, but not limited by any means other than their own discretion. I am also hoping to see oodles of dungeons and caves.

Wakko · Nov 30, 2012

"not be so large" kinda worries me a little, being one who likes to adventure into the unknown and so forth. Sure the world shouldnt be big just to be big, without any detail. But I hope its not going to be too small either

Psychomorph · Nov 30, 2012

Wakko said:
"not be so large" kinda worries me a little, being one who likes to adventure into the unknown and so forth. Sure the world shouldnt be big just to be big, without any detail. But I hope its not going to be too small either

I kind of think that it will be larger than you think, only not as large as they'd like it (like super large), because you got to stop somewhere.

Cooper Holt · Jan 17, 2013

Agnes said:
Hey Hredthel, sorry for the late reply.
Well, I don't like repetitions and seeing the same building over and over again either.
We want every location to be unique and have it's own story. Obviously the style of the world has to be consistent so you will see buildings or little houses built in a very similar style in the same area, some small houses or shacks will repeat now and then, but nothing significant will be reused.
Again for the underworld, every part of it has its own history and a story to tell so we won't use the same exact structure again. We have a cool dungeon editor to design dungeons very quickly, what would be the point if we only make 3 dungeons and we just repeat them...

All the Developers keep talking about the the editing tools, and watching them in use, or even hearing about them, makes butterflies in my stomach. I really, really want to use the world editor.
Will we be able to use the world editor at any point in time?

Omenov · Feb 24, 2014

abuelos84 said:
Hi there, south-south-south-american pledger here.
I must admit that the video you posted on KS reallly blew my mind, I was instantly hooked, and although the current exchange rate makes the high-tier pledges well.. pretty high, I'm happy to have invested at least what I could, rarely are ambitious claims backed by actual footage in KS projects...

But enough introduction, I'm really curious about what world-size are you planning to implement.
Being and open world RPG, I'm thinking it'll have to be quite extensive, as the genre stimulates exploration as one of the key gameplay fetures.

What are your musings on this?
Thanks

Didn't see if this was posted here yet but here's a bit from the general discussion area.
↑
The "world" is going to be relatively small in scale but we'll try to make it as varied as possible as long as it doesn't compromise realism.
↑

When we say relatively small we mean relatively. The word "world" seems quite deceptive in this context, we're definitely not making a planet with continents. Probably it will end up being similar in scale to the recent Elder Scrolls games. The tricky thing is that we likely want to add a fair amount of content after release and we definitely don't want any invisible barriers, just natural ones.

So what I read is as large as "recent elder scrolls games" and that is awesome if you ask me!!! Even just morrowind or oblivian would be fine

Marc · Feb 27, 2014

So what I read is as large as "recent elder scrolls games" and that is awesome if you ask me!!! Even just morrowind or oblivian would be fine

True, i would be completely satisfied if it were around morrowind's vvardenfell's size. It was significantly smaller than oblivion and skyrim but that didnt stop it from being way more immersive and interesting to me. It's all about the quality being greater than the quantity.

The Man Who Was RIGHT · Feb 28, 2014

Marc said:
True, i would be completely satisfied if it were around morrowind's vvardenfell's size. It was significantly smaller than oblivion and skyrim but that didnt stop it from being way more immersive and interesting to me. It's all about the quality being greater than the quantity.

I spent countless hours in Morrowind and never once explored the top third of the map - there was just that much to keep me busy. I'd say the game struck a nice balance between "realistic locations" and "theme park".

Marc · Feb 28, 2014

The Man Who Was RIGHT said:
I spent countless hours in Morrowind and never once explored the top third of the map - there was just that much to keep me busy. I'd say the game struck a nice balance between "realistic locations" and "theme park".

I agree! i barely explored the televanni locations in the north. I didnt even finish the main quest line

better get back to that some day haha.

Fawz · Feb 28, 2014

Marc said:
I agree! i barely explored the televanni locations in the north. I didnt even finish the main quest line better get back to that some day haha.

If you decide to do another playthrough of Morrowind maybe by then the Skywind mod will have come out

Marc · Feb 28, 2014

Fawz said:
If you decide to do another playthrough of Morrowind maybe by then the Skywind mod will have come out

Yeah that's pretty much whats kept me from getting back into the game the passed few years, been waiting for that overhaul for a while but i think its still some time away from release. Morrowind made me flunk math so bad when it first came out

Avramovic · May 2, 2014

Ahh, Vvardenfell... I miss you so.