Bahumat
FH is my second home
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2004
- Messages
- 16,788
The following is a transcript of a dev chat for the exceedingly popular
game system "Real Life", held by RLVault. This is just a transcript, I'm
only sharing it with the WoW community as an example of the alternatives
you all have to WoW!
==================================================
RLV: Hi, and welcome to this Dev Chat. I'm here with God, the lead
designer, programmer, and executive producer of "Real Life". Pleasure to
have you here, God.
God: Pleasure to be here.
RLV: Ok, we asked players to send in their top questions for this webchat,
and invariably, the top question is, "Why did you decide to go with
permadeath?" Most of our readers seem disappointed that they invest so much
time into their characters, only to get PKed, or lag out at the wrong time,
or accidentally delete themselves.
God: Well, it was a very serious design choice. But in the end, I felt that
while unpopular to the players in the short-term, the long term design
benefits gained by going with a "hardcore" style was better for the overall
game experience.
RLV: Ok, this question is from "scorpboy166", he asks, "When is RealLife
going into beta? And will my beta character be kept in retail?"
God: Um, actually, the beta was finished quite awhile ago. And no, beta
characters did not carry over, except in one special case. We held a beta
contest right before the wipe, and the winners got to keep their characters
in the final release. Noah and the rest of <Clan ARK> won the beta contest,
and we did this big RP event, it was a lot of fun.
RLV: From many sources: "Why was the level cap iniated in beta?"
God: Well, early on, we thought that natural attrition would keep the world
population from growing too unweildy, but in the beta we had characters
hitting exceedingly high levels. One clan leader named Methuselah was
actually able to hit 969 before the beta wipe. After that, we added in code
that would put diminishing returns on levelling, making it exceedingly hard
to get past 100, though recently, players have found new ways of pushing
that even further.
RLV: "Why was the magic system removed?"
God: Originally, we had planned on putting in a rich and detailed magic
system in, but we found that it was obtuse, unwieldy, and players abused it
far too much. As time went on, we realized that instead of trying to fix
the old system, we just ripped it out and put in a new "Science and
Technology" system. The S&T system is, I think, a resounding success, but
because of the underlying code, mutually incompatible with the old magic
system. Occassionally, players claim to have hacked into the old magic
system, but usually they are just role-playing using the new S&T setup.
However, since we removed magic post-release, a lot of in-game and
player-made Lore items still refer to the magic system. I felt it was
better to keep those references in, if only for historical and nostalgic
reference.
RLV: "Why is PKing, stealing, scamming, etc all still allowed in the game?"
God: In Real Life, I prefer the players to enforce anti-PKing in-game, as
opposed to some arbitrary Deux Ex Machina.
RLV: Hahahah, nice pun!
God: Thank you. But we feel that the permadeath nature of the game,
combined with the Soulmark system, reasonably contains anti-social behavior
within acceptable limits.
RLV: Ok, that leads into our next question (well, it wasn't the next one,
but since you brought it up): The morality, or 'Soulmark' system. Exactly
how does that work?
God: Well, anti-social behavior will impart various 'soulmarks' upon the
character. When that character dies, his Soulmark will have serious
consequences in the sequel.
RLV: Sequel? Oh, you mean the highly anticipated "Afterworld"?
God: Correct. But it's not "Real Life 2", it's a sequel in the sense that
it follows Real Life, but it's a completely different product. I'm quite
proud of it.
RLV: Can you tell us more?
God: Sure. When your character in Real Life dies, they are then transfered
to Afterworld, with all the skills and knowledge intact. Their Soulmarks
are then catalogued, and they enter Afterworld.
RLV: We've heard all sorts of rumors about Afterworld. Some say it's a kind
of 'improved' Real Life, others say there's no Afterworld at all, it's just
vaporware designed to keep the players in Real Life happy.
God: Well, there's a lot of in-game lore about Afterworld, and not all of
it is accurate. Some of it is deliberately misleading in fact. *grin*
RLV: Can you tell us more about Afterworld?
God: No, sorry. One of the prime attractions of Afterworld is the surprise
factor, which is also why we segregated the player communities so
absolutely. While spoiler and info sites are welcome and encouraged in Real
Life, we feel that Afterworld is better with as little info as possible.
All I can say is, it blows Real Life away!
RLV: If it's so much better, why not just go attack a town guard and jump
in Afterworld?
God: Well, that's where the Soulmark system comes in. We felt strongly that
players should not bypass content like that and skip to the endgame,
therefore we coded in exceedingly harsh penalties into Afterworld if the
player was found to have gotten there by self-deletion. Obviously, this
rule is not hard and fast; we know that many times players accidentally
self-delete, but the logs can show the difference. Primarily it's designed
to prevent exactly the kind of abuse you describe. Also, while Afterworld
is IMHO a more developed product, that doesn't mean that you should miss
out on all that Real Life has to offer. The two games complement each
other, and the player who plays both to the fullest gets the best
experience.
RLV: You mentioned the logs. How detailed are they?
God: Exceedingly. Literally everything is logged, and can be reviewed
instantly.
RLV: So the system is logging this weblog?
God: Absolutely.
RLV: Funky! So, we have many questions regarding religions. What is your
stand on these?
God: Unfortunately, those are story-line and plot questions, which I can't
really go into right now, because they might influence the character's
standing in Afterworld.
God: I have time for one or two more questions.
RLV: Will they ever open any expansion worlds? The Speed of Light cap seems
specifically designed to prevent player expansion, and overcrowding is
becoming an issue.
God: We are currently looking into this; It is possible that in the future
we may patch the Science system to allow FTL travel. I can't promise
anything at this time however.
RLV: Ok, last question: When you want to unwind, which game do YOU play? Do
you play Real Life?
God: No, I don't play Real Life very much anymore. Currently, I am playing
in the WoW beta test. I have a lvl 60 paladin on the PVP server, and have
loads of fun ganking Horde punks with my righteous fury! *grins* Of course,
I'm sure those *******s at Blizzard will nerf me soon, but until then...
RLV: Ok, thank you God for answering these questions, and thank you all for
coming. This transcript will be posted within the hour at <link removed>.
game system "Real Life", held by RLVault. This is just a transcript, I'm
only sharing it with the WoW community as an example of the alternatives
you all have to WoW!
==================================================
RLV: Hi, and welcome to this Dev Chat. I'm here with God, the lead
designer, programmer, and executive producer of "Real Life". Pleasure to
have you here, God.
God: Pleasure to be here.
RLV: Ok, we asked players to send in their top questions for this webchat,
and invariably, the top question is, "Why did you decide to go with
permadeath?" Most of our readers seem disappointed that they invest so much
time into their characters, only to get PKed, or lag out at the wrong time,
or accidentally delete themselves.
God: Well, it was a very serious design choice. But in the end, I felt that
while unpopular to the players in the short-term, the long term design
benefits gained by going with a "hardcore" style was better for the overall
game experience.
RLV: Ok, this question is from "scorpboy166", he asks, "When is RealLife
going into beta? And will my beta character be kept in retail?"
God: Um, actually, the beta was finished quite awhile ago. And no, beta
characters did not carry over, except in one special case. We held a beta
contest right before the wipe, and the winners got to keep their characters
in the final release. Noah and the rest of <Clan ARK> won the beta contest,
and we did this big RP event, it was a lot of fun.
RLV: From many sources: "Why was the level cap iniated in beta?"
God: Well, early on, we thought that natural attrition would keep the world
population from growing too unweildy, but in the beta we had characters
hitting exceedingly high levels. One clan leader named Methuselah was
actually able to hit 969 before the beta wipe. After that, we added in code
that would put diminishing returns on levelling, making it exceedingly hard
to get past 100, though recently, players have found new ways of pushing
that even further.
RLV: "Why was the magic system removed?"
God: Originally, we had planned on putting in a rich and detailed magic
system in, but we found that it was obtuse, unwieldy, and players abused it
far too much. As time went on, we realized that instead of trying to fix
the old system, we just ripped it out and put in a new "Science and
Technology" system. The S&T system is, I think, a resounding success, but
because of the underlying code, mutually incompatible with the old magic
system. Occassionally, players claim to have hacked into the old magic
system, but usually they are just role-playing using the new S&T setup.
However, since we removed magic post-release, a lot of in-game and
player-made Lore items still refer to the magic system. I felt it was
better to keep those references in, if only for historical and nostalgic
reference.
RLV: "Why is PKing, stealing, scamming, etc all still allowed in the game?"
God: In Real Life, I prefer the players to enforce anti-PKing in-game, as
opposed to some arbitrary Deux Ex Machina.
RLV: Hahahah, nice pun!
God: Thank you. But we feel that the permadeath nature of the game,
combined with the Soulmark system, reasonably contains anti-social behavior
within acceptable limits.
RLV: Ok, that leads into our next question (well, it wasn't the next one,
but since you brought it up): The morality, or 'Soulmark' system. Exactly
how does that work?
God: Well, anti-social behavior will impart various 'soulmarks' upon the
character. When that character dies, his Soulmark will have serious
consequences in the sequel.
RLV: Sequel? Oh, you mean the highly anticipated "Afterworld"?
God: Correct. But it's not "Real Life 2", it's a sequel in the sense that
it follows Real Life, but it's a completely different product. I'm quite
proud of it.
RLV: Can you tell us more?
God: Sure. When your character in Real Life dies, they are then transfered
to Afterworld, with all the skills and knowledge intact. Their Soulmarks
are then catalogued, and they enter Afterworld.
RLV: We've heard all sorts of rumors about Afterworld. Some say it's a kind
of 'improved' Real Life, others say there's no Afterworld at all, it's just
vaporware designed to keep the players in Real Life happy.
God: Well, there's a lot of in-game lore about Afterworld, and not all of
it is accurate. Some of it is deliberately misleading in fact. *grin*
RLV: Can you tell us more about Afterworld?
God: No, sorry. One of the prime attractions of Afterworld is the surprise
factor, which is also why we segregated the player communities so
absolutely. While spoiler and info sites are welcome and encouraged in Real
Life, we feel that Afterworld is better with as little info as possible.
All I can say is, it blows Real Life away!
RLV: If it's so much better, why not just go attack a town guard and jump
in Afterworld?
God: Well, that's where the Soulmark system comes in. We felt strongly that
players should not bypass content like that and skip to the endgame,
therefore we coded in exceedingly harsh penalties into Afterworld if the
player was found to have gotten there by self-deletion. Obviously, this
rule is not hard and fast; we know that many times players accidentally
self-delete, but the logs can show the difference. Primarily it's designed
to prevent exactly the kind of abuse you describe. Also, while Afterworld
is IMHO a more developed product, that doesn't mean that you should miss
out on all that Real Life has to offer. The two games complement each
other, and the player who plays both to the fullest gets the best
experience.
RLV: You mentioned the logs. How detailed are they?
God: Exceedingly. Literally everything is logged, and can be reviewed
instantly.
RLV: So the system is logging this weblog?
God: Absolutely.
RLV: Funky! So, we have many questions regarding religions. What is your
stand on these?
God: Unfortunately, those are story-line and plot questions, which I can't
really go into right now, because they might influence the character's
standing in Afterworld.
God: I have time for one or two more questions.
RLV: Will they ever open any expansion worlds? The Speed of Light cap seems
specifically designed to prevent player expansion, and overcrowding is
becoming an issue.
God: We are currently looking into this; It is possible that in the future
we may patch the Science system to allow FTL travel. I can't promise
anything at this time however.
RLV: Ok, last question: When you want to unwind, which game do YOU play? Do
you play Real Life?
God: No, I don't play Real Life very much anymore. Currently, I am playing
in the WoW beta test. I have a lvl 60 paladin on the PVP server, and have
loads of fun ganking Horde punks with my righteous fury! *grins* Of course,
I'm sure those *******s at Blizzard will nerf me soon, but until then...
RLV: Ok, thank you God for answering these questions, and thank you all for
coming. This transcript will be posted within the hour at <link removed>.
