Personal project updates

MaghakMaghak The heights of Stormcaller Crag
edited April 2014 in Aetolia Development
Hello again, everyone! It's been a little while since there was anything resembling a general update post, so I thought I would kick one off with a few teasers about some upcoming projects that I am working on! I'll also invite other Divine to post about their work too, if they should be so inclined!

Disclaimer: all of these projects are personal projects; there's just me working on them, so anything spoken about here and any potential scheduling is entirely dependent on whether or not I have time with my IRL commitments.

The Terminus

A few people from Spinesreach and the Ascendril may recall a few tense disturbances involving exoplanar jelly creatures called ctenophores, as well as their 'shepards', a group of strange telekinetic bipeds. If you're interested in the details of the tormented realm glimpsed through the rift over Spinesreach, worry not! A large team PvE instance is approaching completion which will pitch groups of players against waves of mindless enemies in the very bowels of the Terminus realm itself. 

The intent behind the Terminus is to provide a large-scale cooperative challenge suitable for players of a wide range of levels. Tactical thinking and clever use of limited resources will be critical to success, and completing the instance will offer both personal and city-wide rewards for the victors! There will also be a lot of juicy lore and secrets up for discovery, as the instance will take place outside of any currently known plane or realm.

The area is approaching room completion and only the fine details of the instance mechanics remain to be worked out after that, so - without making any promises - that shouldn't be too far away.

Stormcaller Crag

If you aren't familiar with the gas-choked ruins under Stormcaller Crag, they are a distinctly inhospitable set of Ankyrean chambers under the Troll village in the north. Prospectors can salvage in the wreckage for interesting historical artifacts and metal, then trade their goods for gold with the Trolls.

The ruins as they currently exist were never intended to be the end-all of the area, and served as something of a test of the prog mechanics involved. I will be working on a full-scale expansion of the lowest and oldest levels of the ruins, offering a solo PvE challenge to players that will demand your skills in locating traps, conserving your air filters, and avoiding fights you cannot afford to get bogged down in for long enough to make it to safety. It should be a unique and interesting area, and it will also present a difficult but not level-locked piece of content for players of all stripes to explore.

The timescale on this one is nowhere near predictable, and it will depend on when other projects are completed.

The Daughters

Spireans and those who spoke to Yorvhaset will recall the Dehkay Plateau, a large body of land far to the northeast of the continent. We're close to ready to release the first portion of this large landmass, which will involve a lot of new lore (and the reveal of old, old lore) for both the ancient, ash-cloaked Plateau and the mainland itself.

That's all I'm willing to report on for now, and I'm very excited to get all of it finished up and delivered to you guys on a silver plate. Please feel free to comment or ask questions here!
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Comments

  • IosyneIosyne the Lair
    Well, isn't this a fun little thread! As many of you know, I recently moved across the country to a new city for a new job, so my time for Aetolia has been tragically minimal for the last few weeks. I'm very excited to resume some projects that I am very passionate about when I return. Here's what I'm looking forward to getting back to work on:

    Academies

    Bloodloch is the last city to receive its Academy, which has been my project from start to finish. It has had the trickiest of implementations due to the special nature of the undead mechanics and vampire Houses (and a guild that is in the process of some major overhauls). Much of what we wanted to do with Houses involved the Alcazar/Dominion work being completed first, so it has taken an especially lengthy time to be implemented. I promise it will be worth the wait, given how important the vampire culture is to the city.

    Dominion / Alcazar

    The Alcazar, as well as most of the Dominion changes and upgrades, has been another major project of mine. One of the biggest focus areas Aetolia has for 2014 is to ramp up the significance of the Dominion, and we've been working very hard at making it everything players want it to be, and then some. I took the initiative in making the Alcazar a major political stronghold, with a lot of heavy progging work in an influence system of sorts to stir political conflict between the various Houses. Many of the new denizens you see within the Alcazar, as well as the rest of Bloodloch, have some sort of agenda and will give citizens ways to curry favor with the who's who of the Dominion. The influence system has already proven to be very telling, and will only continue to get more intricate and influential as time goes on. I am very excited about this particular blend of RP and mechanics!

    Bloodloch Revamp

    This is a mid to long-term project of mine, but one that has received a lot of good response to in the little that has been released thus far. With several cities in the game receiving major overhauls or tweaks, Bloodloch is also in the process of receiving a staggered release of mini-revamps, designed to reflect the evolution of the city. Its aim is to become a true empire of sorts, with some changes coming to the villages allied to Bloodloch and how their involvement works. The current Overlords are now designated Warlords of each village, and some stagecoaches have appeared to cart citizens around from city to village, and vice versa. This is just the start of the complex relationship between the city of Bloodloch and its sovereignty, and you can expect some very cool mechanics to come out of the villages for the citizens AND for those who are enemies of the state (Enorian, I'm looking at you).

    Also on the plate for the city of Bloodloch are some serious overhauls to the prison complex, asylum, and a few new additions that will come into development as a result of recycling a unicorns-load of unused rooms and redundant passageways within the city. Recently, the citizens have enjoyed the addition of the torture chambers and prison cells being revamped and made useful, with demonic gaolers (lesser Chaos lords) arriving to whip the prisoners into shape. Long-term efforts for the prison complex involve the creation of a slaughterhouse, a slums for storing 'food', and numerous delightful upgrades to the asylum. Those stagecoaches are not just for travel convenience, as you will soon learn!

    The Lair / Azdun 

    An ongoing plot with the mysteries of what lies beneath Azdun will be slated for later this year. The Lair, which has been primarily targeted by Iosyne as She digs out Her home, is home to some ancient mysteries surrounding the Indoron Empire. Recently, some agents of the Dark Empire have discreetly began some excavations in various places throughout Sapience. As our Faction system gets rolled out, player involvement - whether for or against - will drive the results of the Empire's goals.

    Fishing!?

    Last, but certainly not least, we are bringing a Fishing system to Aetolia, which has been a secret project of mine for some time now. We're not going to reveal a lot of details just yet, but I can assure you of its total awesomeness (being a Fisher in nearly every MMO or IRE game where it was available, myself). What you do need to know is that it will be a skill, it will involve strategy in terms of types of bait, rods, and location, and there will be over 100 different types of fish available to be caught on initial release, with many of them being difficult / rare catches. It will work aside a new Faction of Kelki fishermen in Mournhold, who will give additional quests and give out rewards for aspiring anglers. Whether you seek to relax oceanside and fish up a few shrimp, or go full throttle by seeking out legendary kraken and shark catches, it should be an entertaining hobby for many Aetolians.
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