EverQuest Next

[CoolColJ 87]

Everquest Next is looking good, next gen MMO

I applied for Beta access

 

Everquest Next’s world is made of voxels and everything in it is destructible.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgPuEl5Nuk

 

But why is everyone going "cartoony" these days? Looks like a Walt Disney character art style!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh_0neHhR0k

 

Forget crafting, you can build now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVBAreJ6zuY

Edited August 2, 2013 by CoolColJ

[Ryanrocker 200]

Everquest Next is looking good, next gen MMO

I know they were at the QuakeCon panel today, but unfortunately I missed the presentation. Do you know what the business model is by any chance?

[CoolColJ 87]

 

Everquest Next is looking good, next gen MMO

I know they were at the QuakeCon panel today, but unfortunately I missed the presentation. Do you know what the business model is by any chance?

Free to play apparently!? Skyrim eat your heart out!

 

EverQuest Next is a Free to Play, next-generation sandbox MMO built on the ForgeLight Engine. There has never before been a game like this.

 

EverQuest Next Landmark is a Free to Play, next-generation online sandbox game. Build and explore a world unlike anything you've seen before

 

edit- it seems there are 2 different "products" here

 

EverQuest Next Landmark is a world where you can design and make anything you can imagine! Objects and buildings that players construct may be featured in EverQuest Next.

Edited August 2, 2013 by CoolColJ

[CoolColJ 87]

Whoa at this quote... Next gen MineCraft!

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/08/02/first-look-everquest-next/

 

Everquest Next’s world is made of voxels and everything in it is destructible.

 

Players still select a race and class to begin with, each having access to four abilities and a couple of weapon types, but they can learn the skills of the other classes as they progress, mixing and matching skills and equipment.

 

The lower layers of the world drawn on the thousands of years of Everquest lore, archaeological depths that can be explored and looted, or that can become tombs for the unprepared. Certain spells will allow characters to teleport beneath the surface but any hero can grab a pick and start digging. When everything from the largest structure to the ground itself is a massive collection of changeable voxels, exploration isn’t simply about walking from point to point, it’s about making new routes to previously impossible places.

That’s worth saying again: exploration isn’t simply about walking from point to point, it’s about making new routes to previously impossible places.

In an MMO.

 

Rather than relying on the functional blocks of Minecraft, Next is capable of breaking environments down at the smallest level, leaving jagged scars in the side of hills and allowing for earthquakes that can splinter entire regions, revealing the ancient things below. Some of those ancient things may wake up and emerge, creating new problems and new opportunities.

 

When a new entity arrives in the world, whether at the developer’s bidding or due to player interference, its behaviour is driven by a series of objectives, needs and desires. Whether an orc bandit or an enormous demon from the depths, a creature is not the product of a spawn point, mindlessly wandering until the proximity of a hero activates its basic functions. It’s an AI entity that functions as part of a world. At least that’s the claim.

 

A gang of orcs, for example, won’t simply appear at a specific point in the world, replenishing shortly after they have been eliminated. Instead, when they appear, they react to the changing world. They act as bandits, and their purpose is to steal and murder. Therefore, they’ll lurk near settlements, finding good positions to carry out roadside ambushes as goods and people travel from village to village.

If a group of players start to patrol that road, clashing with the orcs, the parameters change. The AI reinterprets the situation, checking if the threat level is too high and possibly deciding to move on, wandering until it discovers a new suitable location. Or perhaps not. It’s possible that a particular group of players won’t present a strong enough threat, in which case the orcs could become more confident, preparing an assault. Or maybe they have a leader who will call for reinforcements.

Finally emergent gameplay!

 

Having an entire world in which human players are competing with reactive AI provides dynamic objectives. If those orcs stray too close to a village, or kill too many merchants and travellers, an NPC may put a bounty on their heads. Alternately, the villagers may ask for better defences, which could lead players into patrol duty, or even gathering resources for teh construction of a palisade or stone walls. It may even be possible to side with the orcs, becoming a raider, and sodding off to the next horizon and leaving the situation to fester is always an option. NPCs remember players’ actions so the consequences of decisions will affect relations and future interactions.

Edited August 2, 2013 by CoolColJ

[Steerpike1 53]

But why is everyone going "cartoony" these days? Looks like a Walt Disney character art style!

Because it's going to be released on consoles, and that's what someone said console players like...

[CoolColJ 87]

It'll be a PC game first though

 

edit - planned for PC only at this point, but a PS4 version will no doubt be there later on

 

gifs

 

 

Edited August 2, 2013 by CoolColJ

[CoolColJ 87]

Presentation

You'll have to jump forward towards the end of part 1 to see the main meat - they show some of the races etc

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4nswWwgLEw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDq2a3zy_6M

Edited August 4, 2013 by CoolColJ

[wolfie2kX 528]

Hmph... Deep Silver and Keen Games could learn a few things about how things should be done from these guys...!

[podgie_bear 184]

Maybe a decent game but looks rubbish to me. The sort of thing my daughter used to watch on the disney chanel, cartoons for ickle kiddies. Did I miss an announcement somewhere that only young children play MMORPGs in future?

[CoolColJ 87]

There is a bit of "game play" at 39 min onwards in part 2

 

The facial Emote thing using a webcam is pretty awesome. Watch some vids of it in action with Everquest2, but it's much more refined here off course.

Edited August 4, 2013 by CoolColJ

[Ryanrocker 200]

Maybe a decent game but looks rubbish to me. The sort of thing my daughter used to watch on the disney chanel, cartoons for ickle kiddies. Did I miss an announcement somewhere that only young children play MMORPGs in future?

Heya podgie, I mentioned this in another topic but I don't think they are trying to gear MMOs for chiildren. It's just an artstyle that has becoming increasing popular due to lower resources and ease of creating something fictional instead of trying to mimic real life. Although PoE is not an MMO, they are STILL trying to hire artists who do "real-life human physics modeling" because there just aren't enough of them. I do have to agree that some games may be taking this cartoon look a bit too far recently (ie. Everquest), and that a balance with realism should exist somewhat

[podgie_bear 184]

 

Maybe a decent game but looks rubbish to me. The sort of thing my daughter used to watch on the disney chanel, cartoons for ickle kiddies. Did I miss an announcement somewhere that only young children play MMORPGs in future?

Heya podgie, I mentioned this in another topic but I don't think they are trying to gear MMOs for chiildren. It's just an artstyle that has becoming increasing popular due to lower resources and ease of creating something fictional instead of trying to mimic real life. Although PoE is not an MMO, they are STILL trying to hire artists who do "real-life human physics modeling" because there just aren't enough of them. I do have to agree that some games may be taking this cartoon look a bit too far recently (ie. Everquest), and that a balance with realism should exist somewhat

Everquest, Sacred Citadel, Borderlands, several new MMOs. It seems to be the thing at the moment, it looks like they are either unable or unwilling to make the games look half decent. Personally I want to immerse myself in the game, which is bloody difficult when it looks like I might run in to Bugs Bunny or Tom & Jerry around any corner!

[CoolColJ 87]

You get used to it, I did in Borderlands and then got "immersed", but not like Skyrim

think the trend started with TF2...

 

Although I can understand Everquest Next doing it, with the voxels

 

 

--

 

 

edit - I read that Everqest Next uses StoryBricks technology for the AI emotion/memory and emergent behaviour

 

What is Storybricks about now?

We believe that while graphics, gameplay and interface have evolved in gaming, Artificial Intelligence has lagged behind. Our goal is to bring changes to Artificial Intelligence in games as significant as 3D graphics were to game aesthetics.

We designed and built an emotional intelligence engine in order to breathe life into virtual characters. They have their own goals, moods, they interact among themselves and take decisions on their own. The story no longer revolves solely around scripted behavior: game worlds can now be rich and complex.

There was a failed kickstarter for Storybricks that had a playable demo where you could place you own npcs and tell them how to behave etc

 

Edited August 8, 2013 by CoolColJ

[lujate 534]

Looks like the quite the undertaking on the devs part.

[CoolColJ 87]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLs3Paz8MWA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNlsN00lpN4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md-zBt20Grg

[CoolColJ 87]

Just got beta access to Everquest Landmark