Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen -- State of the Game update 02/20/2015
First, a quick note on Unity and the new version of the engine and how it will affect Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. The visual 'upgrade' you see from these shots and movie were all done within the constraints of Unity 4 -- John Diasparra and his team have pushed the limits of the engine pretty far here, and are also using a variety of other tools to help make these environments, mold them, texture them, before we even bring them into Unity to make a build. I think the 'upgrade' is fantastic myself, with big kudos to John and the team. One quick amazing tidbit: there's no measurable frame rate hit at all -- these zones are running just as fast as their predecessors, what you've seen in earlier screenshots and movies! And we're not done -- we'll continue to push and innovate, because creating a virtual world you can call home is what it's all about!
But we've also very recently begun working with Unity 5 release candidates thanks to our friends over at Unity (they took a look at the game during DICE and seemed really excited about a full AAA MMO being made with their engine and we've become fast friends). Well, here's the exciting news: not only is Unity 5 64 bit, which will help us big time when we're building zones, nav meshes, etc., but the engine comes with a serious upgrade in terms of lighting and shader technology. I know this is quite a tease, and you may not see any Unity 5 screenshots or movies for a month or two, but just bringing our scenes into the new engine, with very few tweaks on our part, has brought the visuals up even *another* notch! It's really quite amazing and our friends at Unity have worked on their technology such that very little extra effort on our part will be needed to move the project to this latest tech. In the old days, upgrading to a new version of a game or graphics engine was typically long and very painful. Lots of procedures and plug-ins and techniques would have to be re-done, and often it took a while, slowing down development in a frustrating way.
Not so with Unity 5! Like I said, very little effort on our side has resulted in some serious visual enhancements. Anyway, I just had to share that with you all. If you like where we're headed visually, you're really going to like Pantheon under Unity 5! And hopefully we'll be able to start showing some of that off in the next 1-2 months.
Additionally, all that I've been talking about, as exciting as it is, has been world building related. And at the same time John and his team have been doing amazing things, the rest of the team hasn't slowed a single bit! We have more concept art coming soon and will be highlighting two more playable races very soon. Lore continues in full force and I'm very happy with the way it's all taking form, coming together, and really shaping up.
And then there's the programming team. We've not stopped or slowed by any means! The world builders and game designers are getting upgraded tools, allowing them to populate zones much more efficiently and with much more control of who and what goes where. They're also able to quickly create boss mob encounters, linked encounters, and quests and quest tasks. One of the features we just got in is the ability to execute a Zone Event upon the completion of a quest. For example, let's say you turn in your quest to the original mob who gave it to you, only to find.... he's betrayed you! The quest is complete, but then the mob yells for reinforcements! Guards from different parts of the dungeon run in and surround you. They talk with each other, arguing what they should do with you and your party next! And what you say at that point could really matter -- say the right thing, and the mobs may simply escort you out of the area. Say the wrong thing and factions can change and suddenly you are KoS to the guards in that area and you're under attack! Needless to say, I'm really excited about Zone Events because just about anything can trigger them (hailing a mob, saying the wrong thing, attacking the wrong mob, or even turning it what you thought would be a profitable quest!). Essentially, something you the player does 'triggers' one of these events, after which one or more mobs will react in any number of ways, casting spells, using abilities, following you around, and, of course, attacking your party.
One of the next 'big' things we've begun working on are the actual classes. Class descriptions are being written up, and the coding team is taking these and begun implementation. Soon, in-game, you'll be able to create a character with a certain class, and all of the abilities, spells, prayers, attributes, etc. will be assigned to your character. Us proto-GMs will be able to enter /class Warrior or /class Ranger, and regardless of what class you were before, all of your skills and abilities will change accordingly. We will be able to dynamically set experience, skill points, level & tier, and class in-game, making it very easy to test and balance and tweak how the classes play out -- are they powerful enough? Do they get the right abilities and skills and the right level and tier?
One more thing and I’ll wrap this up. Ever since Vanguard, I’ve read posts and posts about how much people liked the class system. Even some of the more critical MMO players out there have had nothing but good things to say about the classes in that game, how they felt and played differently, that they didn’t feel cookie-cutter at all. Well, we are determined to have the classes in Pantheon feel that way as well, and are putting a lot of effort into making sure they don’t just feel traditional, but that they also include features and mechanics that really make playing one class over another a different experience. One way we are doing this with Pantheon is our plan to use a variety of different types of mana – mana will vary in color and will represent a theme or alignment. So let’s say you chose a cleric, and a cleric’s primary mana color is White. Prayers and abilities you’ll receive at your basic trainer will be healing related, as one would expect, and when you use these abilities, it will use up the White mana you’ve been accumulating. Your primary mana will then re-accumulate over time, especially if you are resting, or not in combat, or if another player casts an accelerate mana generation type spell. But what if you want to customize or focus your cleric? What if you don’t want a cookie-cutter healer? Just like rare items, you’ll need to explore the world of Terminus in search of rare spells and abilities. Maybe you want to be a cleric that is especially good at fighting the un-dead? Or perhaps you like the idea of a Battle Cleric and want to dish out some damage as well? These types of prayers, spells, and abilities will *not* be available at your local trainer. You’ll have to find them, perhaps from a wise old hermit in the depths of the dungeon. But then even after you have the ability, can you cast it? Perhaps it uses a different color of mana, a gold or a grey? You’ll then need to find a way to make your character accumulate mana other than White. Obviously, this doesn’t happen naturally. Perhaps you’ll need to change the god or celestial you follow? Perhaps you’ll need to find a rare orb, that when held, also allows you to accumulate Gold mana, allowing you then to cast that rare ability?
What does this all do? It allows you to customize and focus your class in an area that means something to you, that fits in better with your vision of what a cleric or any other class should be. It allows us to expand upon the basic, classic versions of classes that goes all the way back to D&D. It allows you, the player, to customize your character by choosing to focus on one or more of these specialties. Is it true multi-classing? No, we don’t feel in a grouping game that is based on how well you perform in a team/group and how well you play your role should have true multi-classing. Class interdependence must be maintained. But it *does* allow you to customize and specialize your class by going out into the world, engaging that environment or region, and find the rare items and abilities that allow your class to do things and perform feats the typical ‘cleric’ would have no way of accomplishing. It rewards you for exploration, and it creates an entirely new type of item or artifact that plays right into our vision for multi-colored mana. Play it safe? Heal away! Want to specialize? Get out there and learn how to accumulate rare mana types and find those exotic mana sources! Change your mind, or choose to focus now on being a Battle Cleric as opposed to the bane of all those undead? Go for it – there’s nothing stopping you from exploring the potential of your class to the extreme!
Anyway, that’s a pretty good summary of what we’re all working on, and because we’re so focused on Classes right now, it gave me a great opportunity to tease you a little bit and explain in more detail what we mean when we talk about a multi-colored mana system and how it relates to us having the freedom to not only make each class play and feel differently (ala VG), but also to allow you to customize your class within the confines still necessary to uphold class interdependence!
In summary, I’ve never been more excited about Pantheon than I am right now. Things are really coming together. The visuals are on their way up. The world is being built and zones are really taking on a character of their own. Classes are being designed and implemented with a flexibility and fun-factor not seen since VG. Zone Events and other ‘scripted’ encounters are in the works. And I just can’t say enough about this team – it is indeed an honor and privilege to work with a lean and mean team who works through the night and into the weekends, getting more done, more quickly, than I’ve ever experienced in my 20+ years of computer game development. And, lastly, that we can log in to our pre-alpha servers from anywhere and show off our progress is *most* gratifying!
Onward!
-Brad “Aradune Mithara” McQuaid
