Shards Online

[Satellitemind]

Pre Alpha 3 has launched. Hope to see some of you on the Shards forums in the future

[Ozzy.nl]

Well I have been looking at some of the game play video's.
I was expecting a bit more from it all but overall it looks nice.

If we could get a server up there in the way of Arelith with the high RP value we have and a D&D ruleset of 3 or 3.5 that would be awesome, and from what I read here, it is possible.

So I guess if Arelith on NWN finally has a drop in the community so badly that you will feel lonely then I'd consider it.

[Dr_Hazard89]

Can the style/theme of the game be altered too? Looks far too cartoony for D&D.

[Dalenger]

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.

+1
I've wasted too much money on early access to games that had great potential, but never made it off the ground. Shards looks great, but I won't seriously consider buying it until its closer to being released.

[RedGiant]

I'm here to play drop in D&D with RP.

If I wanted to player other systems....well I would be doing that already.

My two cents.

[Lorkas]

One main draw of Shards seems to be that you can implement any system you want in it, RedGiant. Thus, you likely will be able to play D&D in it as soon as someone implements it.

[RedGiant]

Implementing all appropriate models, weapons, spells, classes etc? I suppose if I wanted to do all that I could write my own game for similar effort. Oooor, I could play Arelith, right now.

Going in game.

[Lorkas]

The point is that other people are gonna be putting in that effort and then you will be able to play later, but yea, it's not ready yet.

[Nathan Brack]

No one says you need to do it redgiant, but arelith's survival in the long run will require some evolution. If I have the time and there's enough interest, I might put in a few (hundred) hours into porting 3.5e dnd into the system. It doesn't look like it would be horrendously difficult, but it looks time consuming.

[yellowcateyes]

I'm here to play drop in D&D with RP.

If I wanted to player other systems....well I would be doing that already.

My two cents.

If I could roleplay D&D on a private server not plagued by horrible 90s polygons, an interface straight out of UO, and the optimization issues of an old compaq, I would in a heartbeat. Also, I'd love to ditch 3.0, which isn't the greatest of D&D editions by far.

But I'm in no hurry to rush into an Alpha-stage game without any established private servers or customized content.

There are alternatives out there, like Neverwinter Online. But any roleplayer can attest to the difference between the MMO experience and the private roleplay server experience. NWN1 has survived this long due to PWs. Any modern game that can offer the same thing will find a ready niche.

[Nathan Brack]

I'm quite partial to 5th edition, personally, but it just doesn't have the content of 3rd at this point

[Durvayas]

I'm here to play drop in D&D with RP.

If I wanted to player other systems....well I would be doing that already.

My two cents.

If I could roleplay D&D on a private server not plagued by horrible 90s polygons, an interface straight out of UO, and the optimization issues of an old compaq, I would in a heartbeat. Also, I'd love to ditch 3.0, which isn't the greatest of D&D editions by far.

But I'm in no hurry to rush into an Alpha-stage game without any established private servers or customized content.

There are alternatives out there, like Neverwinter Online. But any roleplayer can attest to the difference between the MMO experience and the private roleplay server experience. NWN1 has survived this long due to PWs. Any modern game that can offer the same thing will find a ready niche.

Neverwinter online is booty for RP.

[Maladus]

If Arelith ever decides to migrate over to Shards, I would volunteer my time to do some world building. That would be a fun side project that I could put on my portfolio!

[Hour]

To be perfectly fair? I've never disliked NwN's combat or outdated interface, I might just be a doofus squinting through rose tinted glasses of nostalgia but the only thing that peeves me is the rubberbanding in some combat situations. Though I don't know if you could replicate the feel of NwN, I wouldn't exactly try-- maybe I'm just a sucker, but I've always preferred the game rather heavy handily telling me that damage is calculated in 'dice'.

I dunno, my two cents, I really think Arelith is fine the way it is, barring it needing some new blood, which I think if more Forgotten Realms aficionados knew about it, they'd hop right aboard.

[Nathan Brack]

i'm wondering how much trouble it would be to essentially turn the PHB into code... we have the advantage of the rules being very straightforward, most abilities very clear-cut in what they are and how they function.

spell would be annoying, but basic combat could be written up fairly easily, i would think.

we'd actually not have too tough of a time with the basic game, as we wouldn't have to worry about divvying up class features or balance, because it's already done (a small snicker to "balance" in 3.xE).

ideally, porting over as much of the UI as possible would be a good idea. arelith specific changes could be integrated into the game (no more pop-up dialogues in odd places. it could be handled with menus!). it's kind of an exciting idea, i think.

[Satellitemind]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X99PCKMF6oo#t=2137
Recent Q&A interview with the lead developer, lots of good stuff coming down the road. Custom Maps are scheduled for the summer so modders who want to do world building will have their chance than. It should be noted that Shards already has community servers up and running for those who pledged $200 as pre alpha admins. When Shards hits alpha the ability to host servers and mod them via scripting will become avaiabile to everyone. So it would be good for someone to start writing a D20 ruleset when alpha launch happens so that by the time world building becomes an option 50 percent of the work is already done. And a developer posted the script on how to make the game's combat system d20 based some time ago so for anyone who wants a head start here it is;


diceRoll = math.random(1,20)
if (diceRoll > toHitReq) then
doHit()
else
doMiss()
end


diceRoll = math.random(1,20) // Random number from 1- 20
if (diceRoll > toHitReq) then // comparison of result of random number to required amount ot hit. items in the ()'s evalutate to true or false
doHit() //execute actions on successful hit
else //actions to be taken when the if statement evaluates to false
doMiss() //execute actions taken for miss
end //marks the end of all actions pertaining to the if statement

If you know C or Java I am told LUA will be extremely easy to learn. I've talked with a developer about writing in a leveling system plus skills/feats and he said it would probably take 2-3 hours time. It would just be filling everything in. And to whoever develops a functioning d20 ruleset please share it with the greater shards community as a whole I imagine Arelith wont be the only one who wants a D&D experience.

[Trunx]

It honestly looks like it'd be a downgrade from NWN.

[Satellitemind]

In what sense? Shards offers far more customization than Neverwinter Nights ever did. You can literally re write every system in the game and make it your own. That was nowhere near close to what Nwn let you do. The devs have said they would even allow client side modding down the road something that even a neverwinter nights 3 would even consider. When it comes to what Shards potential its competitors can only offer the same not more.

[Satellitemind]

https://gfycat.com/WeightySelfassuredHydatidtapeworm
A legal leak of a rough pass of the cluster system.

[Satellitemind]

Found out someone from the pre alpha admin program is working on a D&D Ruleset for Shards, when the game goes to alpha release in which everyone has access to the modding tools so far hopefully more folks can help him out than.

[Dalenger]

Don't get me wrong, it's certainly on my radar.

But in a community which nearly tore itself apart over a dungeon timer, and drove away one of its best devs because he suggested adding an optional alternative to traditional leveling? Sorry, I (unfortunately) don't think Arelith would manage a switch in platforms.

[Mayonnaise]

This looks really interesting, Satellite! I'm keeping an eye on it too.

[Satellitemind]

http://us8.campaign-archive1.com/?u=e8c ... 87325cd0b4
Latest community newsletter; we are getting a randomly generated dungeon!

[Satellitemind]

http://www.twitch.tv/shardsonline/v/44617708
February Community Roundtable with a preview of the Catacombs Map that while not fully a randomly generated dungeon could become one with modding.

[Satellitemind]

Right now I am unsure how to approach the queue coding wise in the current combat setup. I don't even know if NWN queues up things specifically. I know a round is six seconds, and you attack a certain amount of times depending upon feats and stats in that particular round, and I don't think the two partie4s take turns so i think initiative isnt really used. Honestly I could use a better understanding of how NWN handles combat but not a lot of info.

For those of you who have a strong understanding of NWN mechanics can you write up a succinct summary of how NWN handles combat that I can PM to my friend? Thanks