Shards Online

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Satellitemind
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Shards Online

Post by Satellitemind » Thu Apr 09, 2015 9:17 am

We finally have a real shot at getting a spirtual sucessor to Neverwinter Nights! After its sucessful kickstarter last year (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14 ... your-rules) where it met its goal in about five days and than blazed through another five stretch goals before the KS ended. D&D fans will be happy to know that a D20 ruleset is possible via modding which brings me to my next point is that Shards will let you build original worlds and DM them through the form of Gods. The lack of hardcoding barriers devs have promised will make it even more modifiable than NWN 1 or 2 was. For folks who don't want to wait until release there are several levels of pledging from alpha to pre alpha admin which will get you started modding this Spring. Even better the game's format fits Arelith's style since it is supporting and encouraging linking of servers which can hold up to 64 players each and maintain the same ruleset. Also, being made by Ultima Online ex developers is a plus as well since I consider Arelith to be more cut from the Ultima Online cloth due to its effort to really create a world than traditonal D&D experience. Lets hope this becomes a success!

Website: http://shardsonline.com/forum/

Developmental Roadmap: http://shardsonline.com/development-roadmap/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPe6G3HUn5M
Shards Online: A chat with project lead Derek 'Supreem' Brinkmann

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLithI0Xr0A
Player Run Server Q&A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN82htrfGHQ
Modding 101 - Simple Custom Behaviors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTKj0NC_j8g
Modding 101 - Templates and World


Housing Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I13UYO4rS4Q


http://www.twitch.tv/shardsonline/c/6333342
Latest Community Roundtable

A couple interviews with the lead developer
http://www.redbull.com/us/en/games/stor ... -interview
http://www.worldsfactory.net/2014/12/11 ... -meets-nwn
Last edited by Satellitemind on Sat Apr 11, 2015 1:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

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The Man of the Moon
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Re: Shards Online

Post by The Man of the Moon » Fri Apr 10, 2015 8:16 am

Looks great!

EDIT: Looking more on that, really seems neat!... Waiting to see more on home (without net forbidden sites) as I am at work now.
Last edited by The Man of the Moon on Fri Apr 10, 2015 11:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
Disclaimer: All what I write are simple opinions of a player and always with honest intention to contribute constructively and from respect, but with a poor knowledge of English.

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Satellitemind
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Re: Shards Online

Post by Satellitemind » Fri Apr 10, 2015 11:06 am

Arelith's sister server Amia is already talking about transitioning over as well; hopefully someone on the Shards team will get a founders package

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Re: Shards Online

Post by Cihparg » Fri Apr 10, 2015 12:15 pm

Might be worth saying some of the links you provided don't actually work, which is likely to be coming from the fact that the main post is a copypaste.

Beep boop.


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Re: Shards Online

Post by Dalenger » Fri Apr 10, 2015 12:36 pm

Never heard of it... someone mind giving a little pro/con vs NWN, or just a general game analysis?
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Satellitemind
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Re: Shards Online

Post by Satellitemind » Sat Apr 11, 2015 1:27 am

Fixed the links thanks for pointing that out. Dalenger, think basically everything NWN offered except even more moddablity given that they are trying to hardcode very few things plus the ability to link worlds together under one ruleset.

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Re: Shards Online

Post by Marsi » Sat Apr 11, 2015 8:09 am

I'm cautiously optimistic, but I don't think it will, nor does it need to, replace NWN. It has a very different look and feel to it. I guess I've just never subscribed to the urgency of the "we gotta migrate" boat.

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Re: Shards Online

Post by Mithreas » Sat Apr 11, 2015 8:30 am

Well, migration is a heck of a lot of work. Even if someone builds an interpreter for NWN code to let us transition our 191,487 lines of custom code files across to the new system, migrating all the areas, creatures etc will be a massive task.
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Satellitemind
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Re: Shards Online

Post by Satellitemind » Sat Apr 11, 2015 8:40 am

Might be better to start anew; Lua is a lot more flexible than NWNscript and given the level of customizablity that is being offered it might be better to just do Arelith 2.0

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Re: Shards Online

Post by Mithreas » Sat Apr 11, 2015 8:52 am

I've done a little bit of Lua scripting at work.

However, as a rule of thumb, getting 100 lines of code to production quality (bug free etc) is around 6 hours' work.

So you're looking at something like 12,000 hours of work that has gone into the Arelith codebase.

I don't have a good feel for the area side. A quick check of the codebase tells me that we have 876 areas, of which probably 50 are system areas, DM areas and duplicates, on the main server alone (FL has another couple of hundred, plus shared ones). A skilled builder could build one of those areas in 6 hours or so to production quality (some less, some more) - but that's using the NWN toolset. In NWN2, the estimate would be a lot larger, and Shards will probably be more NWN2-like in terms of options and hence work. It could easily be 10 hours per area in the new tool - so another 9000 hours or so.

Add to that creatures and items. Here I have the most hope for automatic tools to convert one to the other. But if not, there's probably at least 1000 more hours of time to remake the 4000 creatures and items we have, and fix the mistakes made while doing so.

So, rebuilding Arelith from scratch in the new system is probably more than 20,000 hours of work. It's taken > 10 years to build it to its current state. If Arelith starts over in Shards, it won't be anything like the same for a very long time.
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Satellitemind
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Re: Shards Online

Post by Satellitemind » Sat Apr 11, 2015 9:06 am

What is Arelith's codebased written in? C?

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Re: Shards Online

Post by Lorkas » Sat Apr 11, 2015 9:32 am

NWN has its own scripting language but I think it's based on C.

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Re: Shards Online

Post by Mithreas » Sat Apr 11, 2015 10:03 am

NWScript. Like simplified C - no memory management and lots of prebuilts.
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Satellitemind
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Re: Shards Online

Post by Satellitemind » Sat Apr 11, 2015 8:42 pm

http://www.twitch.tv/shardsonline/b/648726286 This month's community roundtable is up; in summary preview of more areas of their first official map, more GM client footage including the full 3D view, and AI & Modding stuff

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Re: Shards Online

Post by Cortex » Tue Apr 14, 2015 1:06 am

It looks too colorful and happy fantasy for my tastes, I prefer a darker settings.
:)

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Re: Shards Online

Post by Dalenger » Tue Apr 14, 2015 1:26 am

It it ain't broke, why fix it?

That is to ask, what significant benefit will switching arelith's base game bring to the community, as to offset the enormous amount of work and headache which will go into switching the server over?
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Re: Shards Online

Post by CragOrion » Wed Apr 15, 2015 12:42 am

I'm all for a core upgrade. I tell people all the time that there hasn't been a really good mmorpg that's really suited for RP like NWN was, so if something comes along that is? Then I definitely think it's worth giving a try. NWN is only going to get older. Fewer and fewer platforms are going to support it. If it wasn't for GOG, probably nobody would ever try it out anymore. As newer OS's are built, fewer old old games can be played on them, despite how good they may be. (you may or may not feel my pain with the original Xwing/Tie Fighter games, Xwing vs. Tie Fighter being a pale shadow in comparison)

The time is going to come when we have no choice but to move forward to a newer game, and if we're given a good platform to launch a shinier Arelith onto, it's worth giving it a go.

I think if it was done, it wouldn't have to have every single area in it that NWN has at the outset. If you give us a basic framework to start with, people would enjoy exploring the new environment while any devs worked to put the polish on the world. I know alot has gone into the current Arelith, but how much life does NWN really have left in it? I think for a long time, we've been fighting the inevitable for the sake of love for our playland, which is an awesome awesome playland, and thanks to some genius and ingenuitive(sp?) devs, NWN's life was extended drastically, but at some point, we will have to look to the future.

From everything I'm hearing, Shards could have a lot of promise.

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Re: Shards Online

Post by The Man of the Moon » Wed Apr 15, 2015 6:41 am

Plus: Not all the work here currently done may get lost, as you positively know what you wanted to do, and you will be bypassing the "Decition stage".

Also, this is not the same to recreate an area starting from a blank planification than "cloning" a current area, per say.

I am with CragOrion about NWN is a platform that some day may drop without support.

Ofc this doesn't means that must happen now, but as Shards seems good, a look and an exploration in that sense won't hurt.

I wish the current Arelith may continue as it is for at least another eleven years more.
But this may be the crisalid turning into a buterfly some day :D
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Re: Shards Online

Post by doublesix » Fri Apr 17, 2015 12:42 pm

Cortex wrote:It looks too colorful and happy fantasy for my tastes, I prefer a darker settings.
This, all the bright colors and bloom gives it a very cartoon-esque look (yes, it's toons anyway, but...) since it says it's quite customizable that could be fixed.

Because... I already have Torchlight II ;)

Not going to delve into what Mith already wrote, those numbers put together scare me.

Satellitemind
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Re: Shards Online

Post by Satellitemind » Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:15 am

http://shardsonline.com/wp-content/uplo ... veyard.jpg Here's a little something the devs released today which is significantly less bright or cartoonish as the stuff they have shown before showing off the graveyard in Celador. Additionally; one of the pre alpha admins has said they will be working on a ruleset based off the pathfinder 3.5 system and will happily share the code when the NDA is lifted :D

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Re: Shards Online

Post by Dalenger » Sat Apr 25, 2015 3:42 am

Looking again at the game and gameplay vids...

how do you all feel about the leveling system in shards? It leaves the strict class/level based system of D&D/NWN for a more liberal Elder Scrolls/Runescape approach wherein you simply improve individual skills. The later system definitely leads to more builds/RPs while at the same time leaving more room for powerbuilding. Opinions?
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Satellitemind
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Re: Shards Online

Post by Satellitemind » Sun Apr 26, 2015 1:21 am

Given the customization of Shards making a leveling system would probably be feasible. I like the skill based system better but most people will want the traditional d&d system I think.

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Re: Shards Online

Post by Dalenger » Fri Aug 14, 2015 8:31 pm

Dalenger wrote:I hate it when people necro threads.
Oh shit.

Well, now that the damage is done, I thought I might as well ask... any new news concerning the game? Release dates, is it played, are there arelith-like communities, etc?
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Satellitemind
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Re: Shards Online

Post by Satellitemind » Fri Dec 04, 2015 12:55 am

http://shardsonline.com/development-roadmap/
They've updated the roadmap since the game got delayed. Pre Alpha 3 is expected to release in about one week which is when everyone who has pledged $40 will be play. Alpha 1 is expected to hit sometime around March and than in the summer custom assets will happen which includes player created maps and whatnot.

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Re: Shards Online

Post by yellowcateyes » Fri Dec 04, 2015 1:12 am

I've been keeping an eye on Shards for a while. The potential customization of scripts, rulesets, maps, and graphics makes it rather appealing as a modern game that does what NWN1 and NWN2 PWs have offered all these years.

Not to mention, one can finally develop and edit the underlying mechanics from scratch rather than work with an outdated engine stuck with the worst impulses of 3rd Edition. I keep tabs on Arelith for the RP, the exploration, and the great work the dev team have done in making an absolutely huge and immersive server. The actual mechanics of playing NWN from class balance to dull PvP to an outdated interface? Bleh.

That said, I've taken a rather jaded view towards alpha and pre-release editions of games. I'll likely check it out when it's in a more finished state. Plus, it'll likely be even more time before an RP server emerges with the expansive content and depth that Arelith has, so I'm in no rush to try it.
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