Hello Sarnautians,
“Allods Online” is a game that is constantly evolving. But there can be no development without adding a lot of new content that fills and spreads through the whole game world. That is why the Allods’ Team never ceases the creation process. And now, thanks to the Developer Diary, we are able to showcase how new content is imagined and created by this amazing team!
Let us present to you the latest entry of the Developer Diary: the Astral Allod creation!
In this article I’m going to tell you how I build Astral Islands. By the way, a brand new one is set to to appear in the game pretty soon.
It all starts with a concept
I always store a few ideas of how I think new islands should look. They come into my head in the course of my everyday life: on my way to work or during my vacations with friends. While reading a book or watching a movie, I collect my greatest impressions to incorporate them into my future creations. The tiniest things may inspire me, whether it be an interesting story or a bright visual image that sets an atmosphere.
For example, the concept for one of the islands was born by mixing up two images: a June city lost in the jungle and snowy mountains with a temple. And so the allod appeared: an ancient city in a frozen jungle.
During the pre-production stage I pick my favourite idea and start developing it. This produces the Reference: a very important component, a connection between allod elements and the real experience of a player. When in the game, players meet things they have come across before, and these allusions to something already known brings positive emotions, making them believe in whatever is on the screen.
The Reference helps bring a story from real life into our game world. Our Emerald Isle is a recognizable allusion to the Wizard of Oz, that is so familiar since childhood. The game gives a wonderfull opportunity to follow in Alla’s footsteps along the Yellow Brick Road and meet Tin Woodman, Scarecrow and Lion who turn into hostile and dangerous bosses under the influence of Mysterious Astral.
After the concept of the island is decided, I begin to work it through and expand on its background. This is a very creative process that is a lot of fun. I put down detailed chronicles of the events and describe the zones on the island.
This stage involves the Scriptwriter. We strive to make a deep and fascinating storyline. The story is important, for all the details such as mobs and bosses, scripted events and NPCs, will deeply support it. We decide what places players will visit on the island and what and who they are going to see there. This will help with the further design of the monsters, bosses and topology.
Look before you leap
When the storyline is finished, we can get down to the topology. I use a special Map Editor to make a rough draft of the island. Since I am going to make a city-like island, I have to lay the main road, a big temple, a couple of city squares and a huge portal at the end of the island – its landmark.
A landmark is a unique object that serves as a reference point and is often noted by the players. There is such a mark on every island, like the Mana Station in Zone 51.
Landmark: Huge June Portal
When the draft is ready, I focus my attention on the details: I place small and medium objects (trees and buildings). In case of the Icy Isle these were mountains and hills. But all this is still a draft! It still requires a little more work.
After my draft of the island has been accepted, the time comes to switch to designing Bosses and Mobs. Here the background of the island helps a lot, for the mob hierarchy was created at that stage. I want to give unique abilities to all the mobs and bosses to bring new challenges to the island. Now players will not resort to a “button mash” strategy and will have to invent some new tactics to fight these enemies.
I assign some unusual mechanics to one of the optional bosses, such as the Cayman on a beautiful Koch-Itzmahl Island.
On my island I created a golem who throws enormous fireballs, so players have to run about all the time to avoid them. If players manage to defeat the boss quickly, it gives them bonus damage and healing for easier exploration of the island.
I invent special abilities for mob packs to stimulate the players to think harder, plan more accurately and work as a team. There is usually one of the mobs that increases the others’ damage, controls or weakens the players or casts area of effect spells upon death. It isn’t always for the best, however. My experience shows that players may sometimes misunderstand the mechanics, so they should always be crystal clear to them!
Strike while the iron is hot
After the design is completed, a new stage of production begins. This is the time for all the ideas to come to life. When my design gets the green light, I start working on the detailing of the map and the mechanics implementation. I can assign special tasks to programmers in case I need any new game mechanics introduced (e.g. mechanics for The Poison Wing).
Pretty often, when standard mobs are not enough to fill the island, I ask designers to create some brand new ones. My favorite demands are often connected with the final epic boss, like the one in Zone 51. This time is not an exception! There will be a totally unique last boss and a unique place to fight him.
During the final stage I spend a lot of time with the artists. Together we adjust the lighting and choose colour shades. The artists produce concept art of the new objects, locations and creatures. Here is the concept for the Island’s final boss:
To develop mechanics I use special editors that help tune mobs and bosses just as I wish. I set their abilities and script their behavior that can be corrected during the numerous playtests to come. Another important thing is the visual appearance of monsters’ spells and abilities. That is how it all looks in the editor:
Finaly the island is ready for the Playtest. It means that all the work of the designers, artists and scriptwriters has ended. The island is filled with decorations, scripted scenes, monsters, NPCs and even some easter eggs!
I test the island personaly a few times. Then we gather a group of people who have worked on the island and play together. We mark all the good and bad things, think of suggestions on how to improve on the bad or alter the gameplay and mechanics. But the last word always belongs to the creator of the Island’s concept. When we finish, the island goes to QA Team for bug testing.
The creation of an Astral Island is a fascinating and exciting process. It requires a great deal of inspiration and imagination because this all is in the hands of one person. This is such a good opportunity to create an adventure of your own and share it with other players. I enjoy reading the Allods Online forums; particularly threads where the players discuss Astral islands, including mine. The comments are a very valuable resource for our team. They help make Allods Online better and more enjoyable. Travel through the Astral and share your impressions, discuss your ideas and thoughts as all of them can find their future in the Astral!
Have Fun!
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Ahoy Astral Captains! Today we start a journey into the new content coming soon with the next update Allods Online: Lords of Destiny! Welcome to the first preview of many more previews to come leading up to the exciting update! We would like to first introduce a new Sarnautian race, the Tequanis. It is now time to set sail towards their lands and to discover more about this ancient and mysterious people! Your faction leader will send you there on a secret mission, but beware! Astral demons are always lurking in the darkness, waiting for ships to attack! You will be far away from home in the unknown Astral, but don’t worry, it doesn’t happen so often to leave a demon behind and to find a tropical paradise at the end of a wormhole! Deep in the Astral, a forgotten archipelago awaits to be explored. Its name, Pearl Ring, has been lost for centuries and the way to reach it as just been retrieved. It is part of a bigger allod called Irdrih, which is as wide as Holy Land, Eljune and Coba Plateau put together.
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Each of the Twelve Martyrs are great in their own way as they fill their chosen ones with blessings to help them on their journeys through Sarnaut. We use their protective abilities, they help us regenerate after a long, hard battle and they offer guidance to those who seek it. So let’s celebrate them individually! Each Patron should have their own designated holiday in which their worshipers can benefit of their blessing and offer up even more prayer to the great Martyrs! From the Saturday, February 9th until Saturday, March 9th, all those born under the sign of Plam will celebrate their patron and receive their blessings for 20 days! For those of you asleep during history classes in Nezebgrad and Novograd, here’s a brief overview of the Great Martyrs: Men and women on these allods are never alone. They are protected by the blessing of a mysterious set of powers, called the Great Martyrs. Shortly after the Great Cataclysm, the Magi began to notice strange events of the original magic. Although their appearance seemed to coincide with the Astral invasion, their precise nature remained a mystery for many years. While the Astral was known to have a magical influence on Allods and all their inhabitants, 12 special magical auras were discovered, each with unique properties and characteristics. Over the centuries, experiments were conducted on these forces. It was discovered that each inhabitant of Allods could perform a ritual to seek protection from one of these magical auras, but for a long time the nature and origin remain shrouded in mystery.
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Greeting Citizens of Sarnaut! We are honored to share some exciting news from MMOSite. Throughout December many MMOs were nominated for different categories, and it was up to players to vote for their MMO of choice as part of the MMOSite Reader’s Choice Awards. In the end, we are thrilled to announce that Allods Online achieved 3rd Place for Best F2P MMO! This is a testament to your continuous support and we thank everyone who voted for Allods Online! To show our appreciation, we are rewarding you with 3 days of Lucky Moments! From Friday, January 18th throughout Sunday, January 20th, enjoy double experience and double gold! Thanks again for everything and keep being awesome!
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Last week we called for your support with reaching 90,000 Likes on the Allods Facebook Fan Page, and you answered! With your continuous support, we reached our goal! As promised, we have revealed new concept art which can be viewed on our Allods Facebook Fan Page. The images have just been posted so check them out! If you have not joined the Allods Facebook Fan Page yet, now is the time!
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The Holiday Council and Holiday Committee of the League and Empire are coming back soon (this Monday!) to provide decorations and holiday gifts for the adventurers of Sarnaut! The Snow Maidens will gladly accept the Special Coins you’ve been saving and exchange them for Holiday Gifts!
They can be found in Imperial Square for Empire and in the Trade District for the League.
Near the Snow Maiden you can find Father Winter who will give you some festive items to help decorate the city.
There are many exciting new vanity items and mount patterns added this year, so be sure to check out the forums for more details on the additions to this year’s Winter Event.
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Last week we enjoyed having bonus Lucky Moments and we are bringing them back this week! Bonus Lucky Moment Dates and Times: • Tuesday, December 11th at 5 PM – 12 Midnight PST • Thursday, December 13th at 5 PM – 12 Midnight PST Here is a link to the server clock so you don’t forget to miss out! – http://allods.gpotato.com/
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The infamous Allods Caption Contest is back and this time you’ll plug into Google+ to post those creative captions! Every day until Friday, November 30th we’ll post an image on Google+ and we want you to reply to the image with a caption! We’ll choose our 5 favorite captions for each image every day, and those players will win 400 Premium Crystals! All winners will have the Premium Crystals added to your character’s account, so be sure to post your character’s name and server when you post your entry. Remember, you can only participate in this event if you are joined our Allods circle on Google+. If you have not followed us on Google+ yet, now is the time!
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