Good news...
I just checked out the poll at GA.RPG , and Dungeon Siege has moved into a very respectable 4th place spot. Make sure to vote if you haven't already done so. Let's get it to #1.
Over at GPG , Chris Taylor is overseeing the creation of the huge RPG world that we will know as Dungeon Siege. As a former best selling RTS creator, what challenges face him now that he has moved to an RPG? Here's his answer:
What is the biggest change in game development philosophy when making a real time strategy game like Total Annihilation in comparison to an RPG hybrid like Dungeon Siege? Which is the more difficult of the two to make, and have you regretted not making another pure RTS game over Dungeon Siege?
CT - The biggest change comes from the huge continuous nature of the RPG world rather than the somewhat enclosed nature of the RTS map. I would say an RPG is more difficult. I have not regretted this decision, although I do believe you need to be crazy to do it, lucky for me I am.
So, being crazy is a plus in the game industry? There's hope for me yet.
Thanks (I hope) in part to our votes, Dungeon Siege is moving up in the poll for predicting Best RPG at E3. If you haven't voted yet, visit GA.RPG's page and show your support.
By far, one of the most original and useful members of our Dungeon Siege party will be the Pack Mule. Raid a dungeon, get all the booty and go all the way back to town to re-supply? Not any more as Chris Taylor, head of GPG explains, the pack mule will do all of the running for us. True, the mule and it's human counterpart won't necessarily have an easy trip to town, but they will free up the rest of the party for more important things. Like getting more treasure. Here's what Mr. Taylor had to say:
The use of mule characters within your party in Dungeon Siege that go to town selling treasure sounds interesting. Exactly how does this work? Does the character running back to town risk being attacked, and all the treasure stolen? Can you assign other party members to accompany the mule for protection? Once the mule character reaches town, do you have the option of switching to this character and shopping? If your main party is attacked while you are selling / buying will you get any warning?
CT - Yes, the character risks being attacked, although not much because the player should have eliminated all the threats on that path to town. And yes, the treasure could be stolen if monsters that steal treasure are encountered. Yes, party members can be assigned to accompany the mule, in fact, the mule requires an escort. Yes, you can switch to the party of characters that reaches town and then do some buying and selling. And yes, any character that comes under attack off-screen will alert the player that this is happening.
I don't know about you, but I love the idea of not having to go from dungeon to town and then back to the dungeon every time I need something or have too much to carry.
RPG Planet has posted their first look
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10:24 PM
CT
So while my friend Stormbringer has been hoarding all the questions Gino got answered, I've been off in limbo with nothing to do!! ;)
But lo!! and behold!! while I was surfing tonight, I checked out RPG Planet, and there they have posted their first look. Nothing new but still a pleasant read. So, if you've got the craving to read another preview, have at it!!
Posted By: mb10
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1 Response to this post
Vote for Dungeon Siege
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04:20 PM
CT
Head on over to GA.RPG , our host and take a look at the left of the window. They have a poll for predicting the winner of best RPG at E3. We need to get the numbers up for Dungeon Siege which currently has about 3% of the votes.
I would also like to thank them for including us in their news section.
The results of our last poll suprised me. I expected to see multiplayer run away with it but that wasn't so.
First: A Little Bit of Everything
92 votes (34.98%) Second: Single Player
87 votes (33.08%) Third: Multiplayer
70 votes (26.62%) Fourth: User Designed Mods
14 votes (5.32%)
Regular visitors will recognise the name riderz12 from our forums. He has posted a nice write up of Dungeon Siege at TAWorld.net . Go on over and take a look.
Weather effects in games are an often overlooked part of everyday life. Wind, rain, snow, all change the way that people and objects behave outside. Chris Taylor, founder of GPG explains how Dungeon Siege will be different than most of the games that we have seen so far:
You mention on the official website for Dungeon Siege that there will be weather effects implemented in the game including rain, snow, and wind. Are these features just eye candy, or do they have an impact on the player?
CT - The wind has the largest impact as it affects the projectile weapons. I wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of the project we find a way to bring the snow and rain into the gameplay experience more.
Now, before you use a ranged weapon, you'll have to take into account not only path and speed of your target, but weather too. Sounds like more of a challenge than point and shoot, and a much more realistic world too.
Just don't slip over that icy cliff while you are trying to figure it out.
We've all forgotten to save our game and paid dearly for it when our character is killed. You know the routine. Start all over, see the same creatures, open the same doors, hopefully remembering to save before we die to avoid doing it again.
Chris Taylor addresses dying in Dungeon Siege:
How is death handled in Dungeon Siege for both the player and members of his party? Will it be simple to resurrect a dead NPC party member? The subject of dying goes hand and hand with saving games as well. Can you save your game at any moment in Dungeon Siege, and will the game have an auto save feature? Can you comment it a bit about both the single player and multiplayer gaming differences in either save games or character death if any?
CT - Death is handled a little differently than in most games. Death is not the first thing that happens to your character when they suffer from too much damage. First they fall to the ground unconscious. They might have been killed if the blow was too big, but in most cases they effectively fall to the ground and cannot continue to fight. This alleviated the save/load problem most of the time, because in a typical battle with multiple characters, as long as one survives the battle and emerges victorious, the others can simply be healed and not the lengthy resurrection process that has much costlier implications. As far as load/save goes, the player will be able to load and save anytime, without restriction, but we have really worked the design to keep the load/save cycle away from the gameplay experience so that it is only used when someone is finished playing and not as a mechanism to achieve victory (of course players can still do that, but we are hoping they won’t need to). This works the same for multi-player except that the game’s host controls the game world whereas the players control the save state of their individual character.
Deep canyons and towering mountains are now possible with the Siege Engine. You can expect plenty of dizzying displays of pixel pushing in Dungeon Siege. One smack from that big stone hand and our Hero will be falling.. For a very, very, long time.
