cRPG

Melee: Battlegrounds => General => Topic started by: chadz on November 22, 2015, 10:18:54 pm

Title: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: chadz on November 22, 2015, 10:18:54 pm
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Last week we've shown you a little video of our new studio in Belfast, but not much new in terms of Gameplay.

This time, I want to introduce you to the concept of our game. Because it may be a lot different than what you anticipate. We've been thinking about this new concept, and fleshing it out, over and over again. Naturally, in a team of our size, there are many different opinions to be taken into account, some based on objective criticism, and some backed by subjective preference, both equally valid.

So, without further ado, let's get started on:
What is Melee?

Melee is what we call a "persistent medieval war" game. The core of the game is conflict, war, ownership, and battles. Each round will be a couple of months long.
Family
In this time, you build up your family, a group of individuals with different skillsets. Each family will support around 5 individual family members. The idea here is to remove the tedious but necessary tasks from your direct control and instead let you focus on more engaging content. While you are out exploring the world, your family members will be stocking up on lumber, producing ore or crafting all of those iron fittings that you really need.
Roles
Now let me make a separation right here - Melee will not be a survival game. While you do have the ability to craft weapons, and live a hermit life, this is not what this game is about. Instead, Melee will be a complex social game about conflicts and decision, and it will make heavy use of one mechanic to make sure that the gameplay is very different from a survival game: Symbiosis
Symbiosis in Melee
So, reading up to here, have you been thinking: "Ok, so me and my guys, we'll find a good place where to build our castle, and then we're just sitting there, grinding skills and equipment until we can fight"? Because that's not how it will work, not fully at least. One of the most important things in medieval times was manpower. And for that you will have to open your gates, and let people live in your city. People you don't know. People you might not even trust. Instead of having an outpost full of streamlined loyal and trustworthy companions, you have a more or less strictly run city, which you are sharing with the world. Whatever you do, you will be in competition with other cities, that also want to attract new players.

How will you run your city? What will you do if, for example, some citizen of your city gets robbed or killed outside your gates? Do you not care? Are you giving your citizens the impression of not being able to defend them, risking losing them for another city? Because they are giving you taxes and resources, so you better make sure that they feel welcome here. How far would you go to make players feel at home?

Do you give them a place to build their own home? Will you have separate city areas for slums and more "appreciated" citizens, or is this important blacksmith that just came into your town forced to be living next to the low-life peasants?

What happens if you have two players in your city, both trying to build up a specific industry, and rivaling each other? What if one decides to sabotage the other, will you sort it out, expel one of them, or just watch what will happen, eventually turning your city into an area without rules and laws, encouraging a survival of the fittest?

You will need those citizens if you want to wage large wars, and the citizens need you to protect them and provide them a fair and save environment to thrive... Or another good reason to stay with you and not your rivals.
Combat
As the name "Melee" suggest, every combat encounter will feel intense, personal, and challenging. No matter your level, at the end of the day it's still a question of your personal skill who will be triumphant in a combat situation.

Our game is about conflicts, combat, and wars. Therefore, we want to make sure that, whenever you feel like it, you can join a battle, and every battle will have some influence on the large world.

The most simple way is to fight what we call the "instant battles", which are similar to how you played battles in cRPG - you have different servers with different gamemodes and maps, and you are put on one side. Those battles have no political implications, you can play with or against your friends, they are there to improve your skills, and also to earn a bit of money. Said money is coming from Faction taxes, moving the wealth from the Top to the Bottom, and making sure that inflation is never screwing you over.
Wars
This is the other side of the coin. These battles are initiated by faction leaders, with obvious huge political implications. You can conquer other towns, or raid them, or burn them down. Those battles are waged in whatever environment the players built, and now it's time to see if the castle design you figured out is up to the task of withstanding an attack. By drafting an army, you will take the characters living in your city and turn them into soldiers. While the individual characters are not in danger per se, it will make a difference if you have a city made out of lumberjacks and tradesman, or hardened soldiers and fighters. Those armies will move slowly across the world, and once they have reached their destination, it's time to let the tacticians of your team shine. You will have access to many different siege weapons to take control of the Battlegrounds, and those Battles will demand everything from both your soldiers and your leaders, because small mistakes on either side can change the face of the political map, and the power balance between factions.
Vision
This is the goal we are having for this game. It is ambitious and experimental - as far as we are aware, nothing like this exists so far. This is not a game for everyone, but it is something we want to see happen.

I personally can't wait to see all the small nuances we planned out to come together into one big game, and put the social aspect of multiplayer games into focus, because for me, that is the most interesting part about multiplayer games.

-chadz
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: chadz on November 22, 2015, 10:19:58 pm
All questions encouraged, as we will either answer them here, or reply to them more detailed in one of the upcoming devblogs.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: WarLord on November 22, 2015, 10:37:10 pm
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Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Moncho on November 22, 2015, 10:40:39 pm
What is this? Another devblog? Who are you and what have you done with The lazy Supreme Overlord?
persistent*, hoard*
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Son Of Odin on November 22, 2015, 10:44:11 pm
Will there be horse poop? (For authenticity)

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Hirlok on November 22, 2015, 10:48:09 pm

Will there be horse poop? (For authenticity)

And because I want to do this to my slain enemies

that is food for Hirlok the horse-hating hermit... errr... well... figuratively I mean...
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Gravoth_iii on November 22, 2015, 10:48:24 pm
Well, that is something.. Enthusiastic at the very least. Somehow sounds like it'll become more of an mmo, i can appreciate that.

Any chance of an early playable Instant action only game, basically so we can ditch crpg for a while? The other parts of the game sounds like they will take a lot of time and depth to create, while the battles themselves might not be as far away.. Would be good for early balancing advice from the community etc, allthough we always come with crappy suggestions (atleast you'll know to do the opposite of what people want)
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: pogosan on November 22, 2015, 11:04:27 pm
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Macropus on November 22, 2015, 11:17:23 pm
Awesome.
Can you tell us a bit about how permadeath will be handled?
For example, would assassinating a faction leader have a serious impact on the faction itself, or will he be able to just switch the character and continue ruling?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Thryn on November 22, 2015, 11:19:11 pm
alright so how is everyone else going to defeat the crpg players during the night when all of us no lives are raiding their shit
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Spartacus on November 22, 2015, 11:25:55 pm
Will I be able to effectively run a faction without any constant base like castle/city or game will force me to build/conquest one?
This! And another question:
Can a big faction just roll over smaller factions ruiningtheir fun?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: BlackxBird on November 22, 2015, 11:45:00 pm
This sounds like my rl will be dead for two or three years atleast...  :cry:

I want to fucking play already  :!:
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Golem on November 22, 2015, 11:57:44 pm
alright so how is everyone else going to defeat the crpg players during the night when all of us no lives are raiding their shit
^ yeah, this.
How will the game handle whole AFK castles? Will the servers not be region based so you can have NA players watching guard, while EU players are asleep?  :lol:
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on November 23, 2015, 12:09:40 am
Sounds very interesting.

Two questions:

1. You mentioned one "round" will last for several months... Why have rounds at all? Can't you make it a persistent world map in which empires can form and stay for years?
2. So, there are two instances where you can fight: wars and instanced round-based battles. So, am I not supposed to encounter enemies when riding through the lands and have some small but interesting skirmishes with them?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: BlackxBird on November 23, 2015, 12:23:24 am
to ur first question:
1. You mentioned one "round" will last for several months... Why have rounds at all? Can't you make it a persistent world map in which empires can form and stay for years?
The reason why they are doing that is that earlier or less earlier there will be someone winning it (or more like a big alliance winning it). Or atleast someone making it impossible to play for all the little factions and all the other tryharders. Those people will be ruling the map then and will make it impossible to play for everyone else, cuz simply: They got the biggest balls now and they are unbeatable.

To give them the chance to win, but not the chance to kill the game by makeing it impossible to play for all the others -> they will reset it, so everyone will have a chance to do his shit

atleast that's what I expect what the reason for it would be, sry if im wrong
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Macropus on November 23, 2015, 12:38:50 am
This! And another question:
Can a big faction just roll over smaller factions ruiningtheir fun?
I like how it's handled in bubble game, where you play a bubble that can eat smaller bubbles but has to avoid bigger ones. They implemented a mechanic which added a risk to hunting anyone, so big bubbles don't hunt small ones as it's just not worth the risk, and small bubbles can drift near big ones with decent safety.

In Melee, the way I see it, it could be made so that big factions would not want to roll over the small ones, because they would lose more resourses on waging the war than they would get by conquering them, therefore making said big factions more vulnerable to their competitors of similar size.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: [ptx] on November 23, 2015, 01:15:30 am
With each player having a family of 5 working, don't players become jack-of-all-trades? How do they specialize? F.ex. the blacksmith, do you have one of your family members being that, whilst others have to work in support of that? Also, how does one even become a low-life peasant?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MeevarTheMighty on November 23, 2015, 03:54:12 am
Will everyone be on one big map or will regional servers be isolated?

Will there be an in-game map and if so, what will be visible on it?

Can I attack an enemy town without sending an army, just by walking there?

Can armies attack things other than towns?

Will fortification take significant effort or will any city easily be able to build towering walls around every outlying farm?

Will quality vary within a resource deposit?

How easy will it be to determine the quality of a resource?

Will players try to run hundreds of afk farming families at once, or will they require too much management to be useful?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on November 23, 2015, 08:27:23 am
to ur first question: The reason why they are doing that is that earlier or less earlier there will be someone winning it (or more like a big alliance winning it).

So, if it just means that the round is over once one faction has "won" the map (i.e. taken all of the map and ressources) I can live with that. I guess then there wouldn't be anything to do for other factions anyway. But when there's 2 to 3 big factions who hold themselves at balance I don't see any reasons to reset everything.

I hope your character progression is independent and won't be reset as well.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Golem on November 23, 2015, 08:39:41 am
You say there will not be an item in the game, that is not made by a player. Does that mean that at the start everyone will be running around naked?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Sandersson Jankins on November 23, 2015, 09:00:31 am
Does that mean that at the start everyone will be running around naked?

I refuse to buy the game if there are not anatomically correct (or MORE than correct...knawmean?) uncensored visible genitalia on day 1.

Male genitalia, anyway. Don't really care if you make a cooter model.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Vibe on November 23, 2015, 09:06:08 am
How will death be handled outside a War? Is permadeath still in?
How will death be handled inside a War? Will a faction go to a War with lives/tickets like in strategus? If so, how do you acquire them?
What do you mean by 'those armies will move slowly across the world', will behind an open world be a strategus-like map where you send your army to attack? Is the War in an instanced zone / separate server?
Will world outside the war be open, as in one map?
Will there be combat and crafting skills and how will leveling these be done?
How complex will industry/crafting be, how many 'steps' from natural resource to end product?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Vovka on November 23, 2015, 09:30:21 am
Any dates for new milestones?
Any dates for new milestones?
Any dates for new milestones?
Any dates for new milestones?
Any dates for new milestones?

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Gnjus on November 23, 2015, 12:25:49 pm
Family
In this time, you build up your family

So.....Abay simulator it is. I knew it.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: chadz on November 23, 2015, 01:08:32 pm
I will try and answer those questions that kind of "expand" the main text - the other ones we will talk about in the next devblog. So yes, random, really.

How will the game handle whole AFK castles? Will the servers not be region based so you can have NA players watching guard, while EU players are asleep?  :lol:
alright so how is everyone else going to defeat the crpg players during the night when all of us no lives are raiding their shit

One of our core ideas is "what you have when you go to sleep, you have when you wake up". While you might be able to be a small nuisance during the night, you cannot raid a city unannounced. The big deciding battles over "claims" happen with armies that you send. I never liked the idea of getting screwed over while sleeping, we want you to have a normal reallife. So, your claim is safe during the night, as long as you check approaching armies during the day.



So, there are two instances where you can fight: wars and instanced round-based battles. So, am I not supposed to encounter enemies when riding through the lands and have some small but interesting skirmishes with them?
There will also be fights during the day, mostly robberies and similar. We want to have gamedesign that highly encourages those encounters to be non-lethal, but you never know when you come across a jerk.


With each player having a family of 5 working, don't players become jack-of-all-trades? How do they specialize? F.ex. the blacksmith, do you have one of your family members being that, whilst others have to work in support of that?
That's really up to you. You start with one guy, and getting up to 5 will take time and effort. It would both make sense to have an entire family run blacksmith, with different specialisation, or to spread it. My assumption will be that, the larger the faction, the more specialised the families in it.

You say there will not be an item in the game, that is not made by a player. Does that mean that at the start everyone will be running around naked?
Was an exaggeration, you start with basic tools with bad quality. And basic clothes.

How will death be handled outside a War? Is permadeath still in?
How will death be handled inside a War? Will a faction go to a War with lives/tickets like in strategus? If so, how do you acquire them?
What do you mean by 'those armies will move slowly across the world', will behind an open world be a strategus-like map where you send your army to attack? Is the War in an instanced zone / separate server?
Will world outside the war be open, as in one map?
- There is permadeath, although highly discouraged.
- Yes, the armies are tickets. The tickets are characters from your city (possibly with a multiplicator, depends on gameplay tests). Which means drafting an army blocks individual characters of everyone in the city, hurting your economy. There is still some discussion going on about the details of this, but it's about the symbiosis again.
- Strategic map: yes, armies move in a different "layer", but it's still based on the open-world one.
- When a war happens, it's locked off from the main world. Considering that war is a main gameplay part, it is most important for us to have a lag-free experience.
- It is one open map, but split on multiple servers. So there will be small loading times when moving from one area to the other, but we'll try and keep that experience as smooth as possible. It will be possible to stand on a mountain and spot castles in the far distance built by other players


Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Hellsing on November 23, 2015, 01:32:12 pm
- It is one open map, but split on multiple servers. So there will be small loading times when moving from one area to the other, but we'll try and keep that experience as smooth as possible. It will be possible to stand on a mountain and spot castles in the far distance built by other players
Well when it's separated on different servers, I'm not able to see the players next to the border of another server I guess, so players will vanish running in the next server?
Also how do those servers handle different player locations (reallife locations), will I get on an EU, or german or chineese server? How does the system know which players get mixed together in one area?
Also can't I meet players from different continents anymore? / will they get seperated from the world into our local areas (like strategus na and eu (duo to timezones and ping))?

edit:
Also I might be able to spot a castle but am I able to spot the people as well? So if I'm standing on an watchtower, am I able to see players miles and miles away from the distance to warn my friends for incoming hords of bandits?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Golem on November 23, 2015, 01:38:17 pm
How will you finance that many servers? Will there be micro transactions?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: BlackxBird on November 23, 2015, 01:42:57 pm
We will have to buy the game wont we? So I guess they will have money for some time..
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on November 23, 2015, 01:43:20 pm
- Yes, the armies are tickets. The tickets are characters from your city (possibly with a multiplicator, depends on gameplay tests). Which means drafting an army blocks individual characters of everyone in the city, hurting your economy. There is still some discussion going on about the details of this, but it's about the symbiosis again.

Those characters are NPCs (as in the before mentioned family alts), right?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Hellsing on November 23, 2015, 01:43:41 pm
Or is there some integrated browser-feature that allows you to monitor your holdings/prepare a defence remotely?
Sweet Handy App 1week after release for $9999999 as DLC to remote your family and villages (if u own several) would be fantastic, also being able to manage ur armies dat way.. your boss wouldn't even notice :lol:
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Moncho on November 23, 2015, 01:48:01 pm
About the spotting, will there be espionage to know details about the army? (using some citizen's family member specialised for the task for example)
Will there be a notification about "an army x strong is heading your way"?
And what about raids or other minor conflicts to destroy infrastructure or hurt economy without taking control of the castle/town?
And will armies move on the map and be susceptible for example to harrassment while they move and require outriders to keep safe and stuff? Will they devour the countryside at their pass and disband if unfed? (especially if you run out of supplies for them)
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: BlackxBird on November 23, 2015, 01:51:48 pm
Will there be Kesh?

Isnt discount kesh enough?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Son Of Odin on November 23, 2015, 02:02:04 pm
Maybe it's Kesh's turn to be discount kesh.

All I know is that from what I understand, on day 1 of release the name 'Kesh' is going to suddenly available on a first-come first-served basis... There better not be some bullshit early-access/beta/thing going on that allows the cRPG players who get in there to reserve every name they want before release. What's the betting that 1 cRPG player will grab all the best names first.

I thought early backers get to choose one name? Or was it a part of the kickstart campaign and thus now invalid? I don't remember anymore.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Mr_Oujamaflip on November 23, 2015, 02:12:08 pm
Will you need to physically log in to the game and physically 'see' these approaching armies? (basically, are we fucked if we're at work?)

Or is there some integrated browser-feature that allows you to monitor your holdings/prepare a defence remotely?

Or a phone app!

I'm a little concerned. I'm not too worried about the settlement building, army raising and economics but is there still a place for someone who just wants to turn up and fight some guys for an hour then disappear?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: chadz on November 23, 2015, 02:22:28 pm
...but is there still a place for someone who just wants to turn up and fight some guys for an hour then disappear?

Yes, we actually talked about this a lot. You can basically do that and not concern yourself with anything in the world - or nearly nothing, you will still have to use it to buy equipment in the world, but apart from that, go ahead.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Son Of Odin on November 23, 2015, 02:38:01 pm
Yes, we actually talked about this a lot. You can basically do that and not concern yourself with anything in the world - or nearly nothing, you will still have to use it to buy equipment in the world, but apart from that, go ahead.

They stole it from us. Sneaky little casualses. Filthy casualses
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Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: BlackxBird on November 23, 2015, 02:39:36 pm
So Im not quite sure if I understood it.

U will be one person who has a family, with up to 5 members including urself. So, will this family be only for the economy thing or will u have to play with them too?

Will u extremely change the lvl thing or will str/agi and things like ps stay?

Will the basics of the  loompoint system stay? Or will there even be any loompoints?

When u produce something with ur blacksmith member, will it be like u can use those things on the public servers? And will u produce them only for u or for all those people who fight in ur battles?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Hobb on November 23, 2015, 03:55:47 pm
From an economy perspective, How will ranged classes be balanced in terms of small scale persistent gameplay vs large scale war? Assuming Melee's mechanics are even remotely similar to Crpg, heavy concentrations of archers often hinder the gameplay in strategus battles. Yet, realistically in both game and i'd assume historically, the archer class is "cheap." Arrows and bows cost less compared to melee weapons while the class itself doesn't require armor, and since archers fight in the back, bows are easily reused. Furthermore, low skill players can contribute more as archers firing into crowds, than any other class, which if nothing else is an indirect nerf to the concept of the individual, highly skilled "mercenary."

From a clan leader/commonder's view, it's a tradeoff between efficiency and fun. The commander, who is trying to win a war is going to choose efficiency everytime.

Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Molly on November 23, 2015, 04:11:48 pm
Yes, we actually talked about this a lot. You can basically do that and not concern yourself with anything in the world - or nearly nothing, you will still have to use it to buy equipment in the world, but apart from that, go ahead.
Will the income of fighting instant battles be high enough to allow the higher tier gear or are "casuals" limited to peasantry cuz the income isn't high enough w/o involvement in the persistent world?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: matt2507 on November 23, 2015, 04:13:34 pm
- It is one open map, but split on multiple servers. So there will be small loading times when moving from one area to the other, but we'll try and keep that experience as smooth as possible. It will be possible to stand on a mountain and spot castles in the far distance built by other players

When you say "multiple servers", those servers are only officials servers or they are also the community servers ?
Do I have the possibility to create my own server and to set it up as a part of the official map ?

Also, there is any plan about capturing / ransom someone (player or family member) ?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Ninja_Khorin on November 23, 2015, 04:17:29 pm
Will the income of fighting instant battles be high enough to allow the higher tier gear or are "casuals" limited to peasantry cuz the income isn't high enough w/o involvement in the persistent world?
More importantly for me, does gear matter in Melee?

In crpg, I find that you can make do with practically any gear as long as you adapt to it. Mind is the armor 'n all that. :)

The strength of M&B combat system is that blocking negates all damage and that more expensive gear comes with downsides like slower speed making ninjas and other peasant types as viable as the heavier sorts.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Casimir on November 23, 2015, 04:21:50 pm
You mentioned the fact that all goods in the game will be player created, but considering you also said you don't want this to be a survival games how will you deal with agricultural goods (such as food, beer and wine) which made up some much of the medieval economy and how will the players get access to the raw materials needed to start agriculture (seeds for planting / animals for breeding)? 

Will there be an advantage/disadvantage to eating/drinking , how will supplies of food/drink affect war (either individual characters or giving bonuses for good supplies of food / drink)?

With regards to war is raiding/pillaging/sieging an enemy to starve them of basic commodities a viable strategy or will it come down to the fortunes of battle and will there be seasonal change which makes campaigning at different times significant and long wars costly for both sides?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Soulreaver on November 23, 2015, 05:02:38 pm
This is not a game for everyone
why?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Mr_Oujamaflip on November 23, 2015, 05:15:10 pm
Yes, we actually talked about this a lot. You can basically do that and not concern yourself with anything in the world - or nearly nothing, you will still have to use it to buy equipment in the world, but apart from that, go ahead.

Good! Since I'm definitely going to be trying out the fighting system I don't know how the rest will sit with me, was never a fan of strat but it's good that there's still things to do. Just need to make sure there's an incentive to look at the "epic" side of the game as much as the "battlegrounds" of the game without it being too negative on the "battlegrounders". Do you actually have names for the different modes yet?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: pogosan on November 23, 2015, 05:18:59 pm
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Jaren on November 23, 2015, 05:19:51 pm
(click to show/hide)
- chadz News

hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggghhh
I'm SO FUCKIN READY
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Xesta on November 23, 2015, 05:22:34 pm
"No matter your level, at the end of the day it's still a question of your personal skill who will be triumphant in a combat situation."


So does that mean we get a similiar lvl system as in c-rpg? Never read something about the lvl-system in detail, sorry if it was mentioned before somewhere else, but yeah wanted to know more about that in detail.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Jona on November 23, 2015, 05:40:45 pm
If you can only be attacked during the day so you can't get robbed in the night, what will determine the exact hours of "daytime?" Would it strictly be timezone-related and have all battles occur during primetime (roughly 6-10, maybe)? Or is it literally any point in the day, so morning, afternoon, and early evening, allowing no-lifers to ruin anyone who has a 9-5 job?


hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggghhh
I'm SO FUCKIN READY

Don't get your panties in a bunch just yet, they've yet to officially announce catapults.  :wink:
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Jaren on November 23, 2015, 06:17:23 pm
If you can only be attacked during the day so you can't get robbed in the night, what will determine the exact hours of "daytime?" Would it strictly be timezone-related and have all battles occur during primetime (roughly 6-10, maybe)? Or is it literally any point in the day, so morning, afternoon, and early evening, allowing no-lifers to ruin anyone who has a 9-5 job?


Don't get your panties in a bunch just yet, they've yet to officially announce catapults.  :wink:

Don't you lie to me Jona! I'm pretty sure I saw at least one in one of the development videos!

That or I've been smoking far too much buttrock.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: BlackxBird on November 23, 2015, 06:33:08 pm
"No matter your level, at the end of the day it's still a question of your personal skill who will be triumphant in a combat situation."


So does that mean we get a similiar lvl system as in c-rpg? Never read something about the lvl-system in detail, sorry if it was mentioned before somewhere else, but yeah wanted to know more about that in detail.

I guess I read/watched everything they made 2 or 3 times and havent read about improving weapons and lvl system so far... Fucking curious  :shock:
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Dupre on November 23, 2015, 07:02:46 pm
Will you need to physically log in to the game and physically 'see' these approaching armies? (basically, are we fucked if we're at work?)

Or is there some integrated browser-feature that allows you to monitor your holdings/prepare a defence remotely?

Companion mobile app would be a very nice feature for this ^. Fallout 4 has a pretty sweet one out now.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Uther Pendragon on November 23, 2015, 07:13:52 pm
Having a game only run on player-created/looted/found goods could work, it worked out VERY nicely in EVE online (i fkin lovd it) but I guess it'll be different here. Still, looking forward for more info and eventually seeing it in practice :D
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Thryn on November 23, 2015, 07:27:24 pm
I refuse to buy the game if there are not anatomically correct (or MORE than correct...knawmean?) uncensored visible genitalia on day 1.

Male genitalia, anyway. Don't really care if you make a cooter model.

there also needs to be some stallion schlong for daruvian when (and if) he goes around horse ramming people
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Macropus on November 23, 2015, 07:52:14 pm
Will we get to tame horses?  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on November 23, 2015, 09:47:10 pm
Forgive me the crpg-narrowed viewpoint, but will the instant battles include different game modes or goals, with and without respawning? And more specific, will we have flags or similar in a normal Battle? The background is of course my memories of the bittersweet heroes-age in crpg. Would be great if you could invent some mechanic to get rid of the delayer problem without losing so much of the fun like currently in crpg with the flags. :)
Also have you already worked out how exactly you will earn gold or xp or what incentives there are to win the round? Probably all these questions have not such high priority right now...

As for the main game I take it we will have some kind of isometric or top down world map where you can move around or give orders to move not unlike warband or Strategus? Also I can't quite imagine how this 'familiy'- thing will actually be, like gameplay-wise. Do we have some menus where you can choose tasks for the members or will it be first person for each character or both?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: CrazyCracka420 on November 24, 2015, 06:02:16 pm
Quote from: chadz
This is not a game for everyone

why?

The best games don't try to appeal to everyone.  You try to appeal to "everyone" (or as many people as possible) and you end up with a watered down game, that caters to the lowest common denominators.  Better to focus on the type of game you want to make, and make it as top notch as possible for that niche.   
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MeevarTheMighty on November 25, 2015, 12:02:05 am
On the other hand, are there really people in the world who don't like Age of Empires? :shock:

(which brings me to another question)

Is there still going to be a "stronghold" mode, or is the team going more for a single integrated experience?

(and here's one more for good luck)

If there's going to be some complicated server system, will it be simple and inexpensive enough for half-witted players to host mods with similar scope to the main game or are the mods we see likely to be more like M&B multi mods?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on November 25, 2015, 12:04:22 am
On the other hand, are there really people in the world who don't like Age of Empires? :shock:

Sure
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Mancom37 on November 25, 2015, 12:34:05 am
Any gunpowder weaponry(handgonnes)/basic artillery (bombards mostly) are going to go in the game?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Byrdi on November 25, 2015, 12:47:17 am
You can conquer other towns, or raid them, or burn them down. Those battles are waged in whatever environment the players built, and now it's time to see if the castle design you figured out is up to the task of withstanding an attack.

First question(s): Have you thought about in which way you want to skew the offense-defense balance?
Will the battle generally be in the favour of the defender (as it were in most of the medieval times)? Or will you also have leaps and changes in technology influencing the balance between offensive and defensive power for a short time (e.g. the invention of gun powder that rendered medieval castles useless).

The offense-defense balance can have a huge implication on what kind of setup of factions you get (e.g. large steamrolling or small defensive factions) and thereby in the end what kind of game experience players will have.

I don't know if what I am asking makes sense. There is a whole sub-field of International Relations Theory that is dedicated to the study of the offense-defense balance and countless of historical accounts of how the offense-defense balance played a part in shaping Europe, so it is rather difficult to sum up.

Anyway since you are making a "complex social game about conflicts and decision" I would really recommend you to look up some of the social science literature on the subject.
I would recommend Norbert Elias' "Civilizing Process vol. II" (Über den Prozeß der Zivilisation) if you haven't read it already. This book seems to perfectly describe many of the aspects that the game is about in what I would call a historically "accurate" and game design ready way. Also the  some of "historical essays of Otto von Hintze" are quite relevant to some of the game mechanics you described.

I know and completely agree with your philosophy that "gameplay > realism" but in this case I think that real world accounts of how real people reacted to medieval culture, institutions, technology and such can prepare you for how contemporary computer gamers will react in the same situations.

Second question:
What role will marriage play in the game?

Sorry for being such a complete pretentious nerd though... but I can't help myself :D
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Vovka on November 25, 2015, 12:49:37 am
Second question: [/b]What role will marriage play in the game?
Sorry for being such a complete pretentious nerd though... but I can't help myself :D
also is a gay marriage allowed?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Algarn on November 25, 2015, 12:56:38 am
The questions I have are still the same : is the fighting going to be axed on realism like on games such as Insurgency for example, where a single bullet can be lethal, or are you going to keep, as Byrdi said, a gameplay>realism aspect ?

How characters will be handled ? Will we have serfs and peasants knowing how to fight with polearms for example ? By this, I'm asking if the character will specialize in combat AND some other things, like hunting or any kind of craftmanship; or will have to choose between combat and economic specialization.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Ikarus on November 25, 2015, 01:04:38 am
will there be a duel server or places similar to them? like, people can watch or join, but not disturb fights?

this whole thing is going to be bigger than I´ve imagined  :shock:

but good thinking by resetting the "strategus"-mode from time to time
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Son Of Odin on November 25, 2015, 01:50:14 am
What about Oculus Rift/VR headsets and things like Virtuix Omni? Is it still something you would be interested in implementing to the game in the future?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Hirlok on November 25, 2015, 01:59:09 am
also, I would like to see the integration of the SensiStink, virtual olfactory simulator, so I can make proper use of my Hermit stench in battle and bed...
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Schoi on November 25, 2015, 02:12:56 am
What is Melee?

Melee is the use of non - ranged weapons.
Yet the game still features ranged weapons.

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Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: cmp on November 25, 2015, 04:00:03 am
Melee is the use of non - ranged weapons.

Is it?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Thryn on November 25, 2015, 04:17:06 am

Is it?

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Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on November 25, 2015, 06:54:22 am
In tournaments it was... I thought the title is supposed to reflect the atmosphere of close-ranged battles in medieval times which is fine, I think.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Xant on November 25, 2015, 07:16:57 am
The best games don't try to appeal to everyone.  You try to appeal to "everyone" (or as many people as possible) and you end up with a watered down game, that caters to the lowest common denominators.  Better to focus on the type of game you want to make, and make it as top notch as possible for that niche.   
It obviously wasn't "why don't you make a game for everyone", it was "what makes this a game that isn't for everyone?"
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: POOPHAMMER on November 25, 2015, 08:44:34 am
Will I be able to make a viable rock thrower in Melee?

Will I be able to upgrade my rocks in Melee?

Will I be able to use ladders in Melee?

Will I be able to make an unbreakable shield hoplite in Melee?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on November 25, 2015, 09:52:35 am
Will I be able to make a viable rock thrower in Melee?
...
Will I be able to use ladders in Melee?

Both a working catapult and ladders where in the kickstarter trailer.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Golem on November 25, 2015, 12:31:43 pm
Both a working catapult and ladders where in the kickstarter trailer.
So witty.  :lol:
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on November 25, 2015, 01:10:42 pm
[H] Incoming viable rock thrower
Defend the [l]edders!
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on November 25, 2015, 01:21:22 pm
So witty.  :lol:

What? It was just a straight answer.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Beauchamp on November 25, 2015, 04:48:27 pm
family members are NPCs? my brother is lets say an NPC miner so i set him to work in one cave and dig ore for me? he will be there in real time? digging in the day, sleeping in the night in my house?

the best game i've ever played was ultima online on a small rp shard with unique rules and you could "buy npc people" to do stuff for you (at that time only to sell in a shop). But I can imagine they could do many more things (sell, mine, do blacksmithing, alchemy, collect plants, beg, steal, farm, breed horses...) It would be cool and feel alive, those all npcs would be "real" people, they'd belong to somebody and would be making things that are making sense.

and rich people could have more npc, while stupid fighters/soldiers would be alone and horseless.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Vovka on November 25, 2015, 05:26:38 pm
family members are NPCs? my brother is lets say an NPC miner so i set him to work in one cave and dig ore for me? he will be there in real time? digging in the day, sleeping in the night in my house?

the best game i've ever played was ultima online on a small rp shard with unique rules and you could "buy npc people" to do stuff for you (at that time only to sell in a shop). But I can imagine they could do many more things (sell, mine, do blacksmithing, alchemy, collect plants, beg, steal, farm, breed horses...) It would be cool and feel alive, those all npcs would be "real" people, they'd belong to somebody and would be making things that are making sense.

and rich people could have more npc, while stupid fighters/soldiers would be alone and horseless.
it was also possible buy npc guards
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Spartacus on November 25, 2015, 05:41:17 pm
Is there a schedule for releasing Dev Blogs?
And if yes: How does it look like?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: chadz on November 25, 2015, 05:47:41 pm
kind of like this:

"chadz, sunday tomorrow, devblog?"
"depends on how hungover I am"
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Spartacus on November 25, 2015, 10:07:06 pm
That sounds fair :D
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Eskil on November 26, 2015, 12:12:14 pm
It looks great !!! I look forward to the game!
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: karasu on November 26, 2015, 08:06:53 pm
kind of like this:

"chadz, sunday tomorrow, devblog?"
"depends on how hungover I am"


Depends on how well they're handling this new development technique.

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Son Of Odin on November 26, 2015, 09:28:13 pm

Depends on how well they're handling this new development technique.

(click to show/hide)

chadz got funding for developing alcoholism?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Kalam on November 27, 2015, 04:46:20 pm
Who's the artist behind the concept art in the first post?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Pestdoktor on November 27, 2015, 04:49:49 pm
Who's the artist behind the concept art in the first post?

http://wraithdt.deviantart.com/ (http://wraithdt.deviantart.com/)
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on November 27, 2015, 08:52:09 pm
another question:
is the idea of two distinct kingdoms still a thing? Or will every kind of player groups be created by players only?

also:
since NPCs will play a vital role in wars, is there a way to tell human enemies from NPCs? I guess most people would like to know if the one whose ass they're about to kick is a human being or not.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Byrdi on November 28, 2015, 12:39:48 am
since NPCs will play a vital role in wars, is there a way to tell human enemies from NPCs? I guess most people would like to know if the one whose ass they're about to kick is a human being or not.

What makes you think that AI will be on the battlefield? From what I understood the NPCs/soldier tickets are probably supposed to be controlled by players just as it is in Strategus.

Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on November 28, 2015, 09:13:06 am
What makes you think that AI will be on the battlefield? From what I understood the NPCs/soldier tickets are probably supposed to be controlled by players just as it is in Strategus.

Well, then I would need clarification on that part. The way I understood it was that your alts/family members are the inhabitants of a city which the lord of the city can control however he likes.

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Richyy on November 28, 2015, 12:20:44 pm
I dont know if someone already asked it, but, If you die, what happan afterwards?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Salvius on November 28, 2015, 01:52:10 pm
Well, then I would need clarification on that part. The way I understood it was that your alts/family members are the inhabitants of a city which the lord of the city can control however he likes.

I doubt that NPCs will be a part of the battles fought. As I understood it, they (might) wander around the city in times of peace to simulate the local population, comparable to the way they did in Warband singleplayer.
They also give an impression of the amount of troops a local lord could potentially field in a war as they are then converted into respawn tickets that can be used by anyone who wants to participate in the battle.
If this is correct, there might however be a problem with huge battles not actually being huge despite enough NPC-tickets being available due to not enough real players participating...
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on November 28, 2015, 01:59:54 pm
Well, they spent quite some work on developing a good combat AI already.

I guess I'm okay with it either way. I just want to know for sure if the guy I'm killing was a mindless bot or a human player.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Golem on November 28, 2015, 04:31:53 pm
I dont know if someone already asked it, but, If you die, what happan afterwards?
I'm perfectly sure that I shall go to heaven and enjoy everlasting bliss, but I fancy you don't discuss such a grim topic here.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Soulreaver on November 28, 2015, 04:41:01 pm
will the taverns, personal apartments, personal weapons or "krems things" be implemented in the game? or are they no longer included?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Spartacus on November 28, 2015, 07:33:51 pm
"chadz, sunday tomorrow, devblog?" :D
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: chadz on November 28, 2015, 07:59:11 pm
we're about to go out. we'll see.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Son Of Odin on November 28, 2015, 08:20:50 pm
we're about to go out. we'll see.

Tomorrow:
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Moncho on November 28, 2015, 08:27:57 pm
Tonight at the club:
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Son Of Odin on November 28, 2015, 08:37:19 pm
Luckily Madventures found the hangover cure from our neighboring country (has eng sub):


(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Asheram on November 29, 2015, 01:43:05 am
I'm perfectly sure that I shall go to heaven and enjoy everlasting bliss, but I fancy you don't discuss such a grim topic here.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Camaris on November 29, 2015, 11:11:28 am
I personally like the model of star citizen. Releasing modules etc.
Do you plan to bring content step by step?
Perhaps first some duel-maps, after that deathmatch etc. before you release the full game?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Ninja_Khorin on November 30, 2015, 11:35:02 pm
I personally like the model of star citizen. Releasing modules etc.
Do you plan to bring content step by step?
Perhaps first some duel-maps, after that deathmatch etc. before you release the full game?
In a smaller game that risks the game dying before it releases the interest parts.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Son Of Odin on December 02, 2015, 01:42:51 pm
Dev Blog is going to be delayed:

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Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Eskil on December 02, 2015, 06:42:33 pm
Dev Blog is going to be delayed:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Lol
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Hecur on December 03, 2015, 10:56:29 pm
Why not?
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Guray on December 04, 2015, 02:54:57 am
Perhaps it is a bit too early to start making blogs?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Grytviken on December 07, 2015, 07:42:18 pm
How will you run your city? What will you do if, for example, some citizen of your city gets robbed or killed outside your gates? Do you not care? Are you giving your citizens the impression of not being able to defend them, risking losing them for another city? Because they are giving you taxes and resources, so you better make sure that they feel welcome here. How far would you go to make players feel at home?

Do you give them a place to build their own home? Will you have separate city areas for slums and more "appreciated" citizens, or is this important blacksmith that just came into your town forced to be living next to the low-life peasants?

What happens if you have two players in your city, both trying to build up a specific industry, and rivaling each other? What if one decides to sabotage the other, will you sort it out, expel one of them, or just watch what will happen, eventually turning your city into an area without rules and laws, encouraging a survival of the fittest?

You will need those citizens if you want to wage large wars, and the citizens need you to protect them and provide them a fair and save environment to thrive... Or another good reason to stay with you and not your rivals.


I'm trying to imagine what Krems town would look like, maybe alot of siege tower traffic jams and peasants spamming voice commands and  throwing stuff at each other  :P
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Grumbs on December 07, 2015, 08:11:14 pm
Sounds pretty good. Just make sure there is a big list of stuff for people to do in the world thats not grind based. Put some control points that give extra resources for the team that holds them, and put some on a countdown that become capturable once a day at prime time. Try to make sure its not all about big clans vs big clans. Make it hard to maintain a big alliance please (no idea how, but there should be good reasons to back stab each other or keep groups generally hostile towards each other). If its all about big alliances the map will stagnate

Also there need to be character based long term goals. Kinda hard to do it without grind but people need a selfish reason to keep playing
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Prox on December 08, 2015, 05:27:37 am
Do you have any technical knowledge of the engine and if it will be able to handle what you are trying to do? There are very few games that can handle hundreds of players on a server and still have high performance. Going with this open world concept means you must be confident to push your game above what warband and crpg could handle with 180 man servers. Adding city building on top of having a good fighting game has not seemed to work yet for anyone else.

Concepts are all fine and dandy but they mean nothing to me until I see them working properly.

For me personally, I just want CRPG 2 and then you guys can put as much time and effort into open world Strategus after.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Bronto on December 08, 2015, 11:48:47 am
For me personally, I just want CRPG 2 and then you guys can put as much time and effort into open world Strategus after.

Prox not hating on specifically, because I have no idea who you are, but this entire statement right here makes me want to throat punch someone so fucking hard. Self entitlement is a disgusting characteristic and is so prevelant in our society today. I fucking hate this type of sentiment, well what you're doing is good, but you should make it this way because I think so, and it's what I want. Go fuck yourself, ye?

For them, personally, they want to make the game the way they want to make the game because it's their fucking game.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Vovka on December 08, 2015, 01:01:03 pm
Any news? post at least  the new photos on which you drink beer !
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Golem on December 08, 2015, 01:02:13 pm
Do you have any technical knowledge of the engine and if it will be able to handle what you are trying to do?
They made it from scratch, iirc.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Spartacus on December 08, 2015, 03:38:55 pm
They made it from scratch, iirc.
Yep Cmp did some hard work for that
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: F i n on December 08, 2015, 04:02:26 pm
Yep Cmp did some hard work for that

*is doing.

:)

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: ecorcheur_brokar on December 08, 2015, 04:29:08 pm
Do you have any technical knowledge of the engine and if it will be able to handle what you are trying to do? There are very few games that can handle hundreds of players on a server and still have high performance. Going with this open world concept means you must be confident to push your game above what warband and crpg could handle with 180 man servers. Adding city building on top of having a good fighting game has not seemed to work yet for anyone else.

Concepts are all fine and dandy but they mean nothing to me until I see them working properly.

For me personally, I just want CRPG 2 and then you guys can put as much time and effort into open world Strategus after.
PW works well (or alright) with an open world and city to manage, even if M&B wasn't made for this purpose.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Spartacus on December 08, 2015, 11:35:53 pm
*is doing.

:)


Of course he still does. Sorry :P
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Prox on December 09, 2015, 04:15:46 am
Prox not hating on specifically, because I have no idea who you are, but this entire statement right here makes me want to throat punch someone so fucking hard. Self entitlement is a disgusting characteristic and is so prevelant in our society today. I fucking hate this type of sentiment, well what you're doing is good, but you should make it this way because I think so, and it's what I want. Go fuck yourself, ye?

For them, personally, they want to make the game the way they want to make the game because it's their fucking game.

I can express my opinion however and whenever I want. Giving a business feedback on what a potential customer wants is not self entitlement. You seem like an angry young person, I highly doubt you tell people you talk to face to face to go fuck themselves. You should try to be constructive while this game is in development instead of being a whiner once it has been released.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Prox on December 09, 2015, 04:18:11 am
They made it from scratch, iirc.

That makes me happy, I have encountered far to many indie titles that have similar concepts but run into difficulties with older/existing engines. For example Life is Feudal.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Prox on December 09, 2015, 04:19:55 am
PW works well (or alright) with an open world and city to manage, even if M&B wasn't made for this purpose.

PW doesn't have construction/deconstruction, it is a static map. Not to mention a single warband map is not very big at all.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Golem on December 09, 2015, 10:29:05 am
That makes me happy, I have encountered far to many indie titles that have similar concepts but run into difficulties with older/existing engines. For example Life is Feudal.
Nah, mate. What they're try to do will succeed and it will be epic. ;-)
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on December 09, 2015, 11:45:13 am
Nah, mate. What they're try to do will succeed and it will be epic. ;-)

Well, LiF apparently didn't prioritize combat as much. The old MBG build from last year already was pretty fun to play, easily on par with Warband.
In the end it will be a question of distributing players all over the map so that there won't be 500+ player cluttering one server which will most certainly result in heavy lags. Instanced battles were mentioned so I guess this is a way to get around that problem.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Paul on December 09, 2015, 11:57:19 am
When I did the base building in Fallout 4 it at first looked like a stronghold mode ripoff or whatever it was called to me. chadz being ahead of his time again.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Spartacus on December 09, 2015, 05:41:10 pm
Why is Harald not in the last video?

And what is he doing now? (He was doing the web stuff iirc)
Do the players need to check the website to play or are we just able to play the game without doing something in the browser?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Soulreaver on December 10, 2015, 09:57:58 am
Why is Harald not in the last video?

And what is he doing now? (He was doing the web stuff iirc)
:cry: visitors can't see pics , please register or login
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Sultan Eren on December 28, 2015, 06:54:18 am
-There will be a persistent open-world map like PW mod where you can also kill people, build, craft, live. It is said that two tradesman in one city can kill the other so in this case is it perma-death?

-There will be a political map like Strategus. So just like Strategus battles, event-like battles will take place and it will change the political map, what will happen to the open-world then, what will happen DURING that "event" in open-world?

-There will be also servers to fight battles without having the fear of death? Don't you think there are too many "scenes" and can you give a clean explanation of what happens, in where?

Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Gaz.Spencer on December 28, 2015, 07:53:07 pm
A political map should only be for the purpose of planning for battles/strategy, but in my mind, there should just be one massive map. A way to sort of "quick travel" or let bots do it for you might be a good idea, but you should be able to physically explore/roam the entire map. Otherwise it will just feel like a multiplayer M&B campaign. Either way I'd still enjoy it, but I'd prefer it to be one big explorable map.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Golem on December 29, 2015, 11:14:14 am
A political map should only be for the purpose of planning for battles/strategy, but in my mind, there should just be one massive map. A way to sort of "quick travel" or let bots do it for you might be a good idea, but you should be able to physically explore/roam the entire map. Otherwise it will just feel like a multiplayer M&B campaign. Either way I'd still enjoy it, but I'd prefer it to be one big explorable map.
You should change the way You write shit down. I almost thought you were a retard. After further analysis I finally got it. Still looks weird on paper. Please read an english book of a story you like. It will help you with that kind of thing alot.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Golem on December 29, 2015, 12:42:39 pm
Douche,

His written English makes perfect sense, and it's written conversationally.

The only thing that makes zero sense is where you've chosen to highlight individual bits in different colours.
You're 100% right. I didn't realize the difference between a multiplayer map and a MB multiplayer campaign map, because I got so puzzled by the style of his writing. I only did, once I had written the post, but I decided to post it anyways. Just for flame.  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on December 29, 2015, 03:39:13 pm
A political map should only be for the purpose of planning for battles/strategy, but in my mind, there should just be one massive map. A way to sort of "quick travel" or let bots do it for you might be a good idea, but you should be able to physically explore/roam the entire map. Otherwise it will just feel like a multiplayer M&B campaign. Either way I'd still enjoy it, but I'd prefer it to be one big explorable map.

Yeah, I agree with everything except for "quick travel". You should have to go everywhere by yourself... this constant quick traveling is what made PlanetSide2 really lame for me. How am I supposed to experience the vastness of the map if I can go everywhere with just a couple of clicks?
I disabled quick travel in Skyrim for that very reason.


It may be a little hardcore and too much effort, but I kinda like the idea of there being no magic map on the UI, and all maps must be player-created. Hell, maybe even add an in-game map-making tool and the option to buy/sell maps from other players as merchants. It would add to the sense of a 'player-driven economy' that I believe the devs are aiming for.

I'm with you there. That's what I liked about Mortal Online. There is no ingame map so you have to remember the landscape which makes it far more immersive.
However, I think there could be an ingame map that just shows a plain map with no markers where you are or any settlements. Otherwise you'll have to open your browser on a second screen and google for a map.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Gaz.Spencer on December 29, 2015, 07:02:04 pm
Maybe not quick travel, but travel that's NPC run, for traveling long distances with an army, say. Cause remember, they don't want grind.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Sultan Eren on December 30, 2015, 01:47:37 am
-There will be a persistent open-world map like PW mod where you can also kill people, build, craft, live. It is said that two tradesman in one city can kill the other so in this case is it perma-death?

-There will be a political map like Strategus. So just like Strategus battles, event-like battles will take place and it will change the political map, what will happen to the open-world then, what will happen DURING that "event" in open-world?

-There will be also servers to fight battles without having the fear of death? Don't you think there are too many "scenes" and can you give a clean explanation of what happens, in where?

Still need replies to confusion.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Osakasa on December 30, 2015, 03:51:47 pm
Sorry, didn't find if someone already asked but will there be stamina in Alpha or later version? And if so, how it is implemented?

I always desired stamina in cRPG to prevent running (around a map) and makes teammates stick together more likely when ultimate hero solo playing style wouldn't work. Something like too much running would:
- WPF drops temporary by X value (80% stamina bar is left)
- PS drops temporary by X value (50% stamina bar is left)
- Ath, PS, WPF drops even more temporary while stamina bar is shrinking
- Eventually character will be completed exhausted (stamina bar 0%) -> PS1, WPF 1, and Ath1
- When character stays still and rest, all WPF, PS, Ath values will be restore to normal.

Just my idea how stamina could work in cRPG world. I hope you have better ideas and it will be implemented in M:BG, thanks!
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on December 30, 2015, 05:54:57 pm
And then it ends up like in Life is Feudal where everybody runs for 2 seconds and then hillariously stops because they're out of breath...
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Golem on December 30, 2015, 06:33:47 pm
Still need replies to confusion.
(OPEN WORLD/grassgrassgrass[CASTLE]grasslakegrass)
someone starts siege at CASTLE
(OPEN WORLD/grassgrassgrass[INSTANCED CASTLE SIEGE]grasslakegrass)
someone at lake decides to go to CASTLE
walks through some grass and finds out that it's been besieged
So he walks up to it and gets transferred to another scene, in this case INSTANCED CASTLE SIEGE

Meanwhile people at a different server hack each others heads off without the fear of permadeath.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Thomek on December 30, 2015, 06:55:06 pm
Just to clear up (again).

The instanced "non permadeath" mode, is going to be there so that IF you are tired of Epic, and just want to jump in and kill something, you can. Some players might be disinterested in Epic, have little time to spend, while others just want a break from it. Battle/Siege-like gamemodes are fundamentally different from Epic, in that they do scratch that quick adrenaline itch in a short time.

At the same time, it is another arena to meet and fight players that in Epic might be far away, or even on another server. Connecting the gamemodes together in a meaningful way, while at the same time keeping insta-battles lighter and less serious than Epic, will be a goal.

We are also planning to develop Battle/Siege gamemodes further to make it more interesting/better too! Playtesting will reveal what will float and what will sink. Expect experiments with priority players, movable spawns, custom-quality maps etc. It's a real challenge to create an idiot-proof, balanced and fun gamemode that creates varied battles.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Gaz.Spencer on January 01, 2016, 05:59:32 am
Will there be bleeding in Melee, because in real life if a sword makes a big hole in you, you tend to bleed. Maybe a bandage or something to stop bleeding? This isn't necessary for the game but it would certainly make it interesting. I'm sure people would disagree with me and that's fine, I do understand that keeping to the Warband formula is what most people want.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Gaz.Spencer on January 01, 2016, 06:23:44 am
You're 100% right. I didn't realize the difference between a multiplayer map and a MB multiplayer campaign map, because I got so puzzled by the style of his writing. I only did, once I had written the post, but I decided to post it anyways. Just for flame.  :rolleyes:

Sorry about my awkward style of writing, but to me it made sense. I'm only 14 tho so forgive me if I behave like a child or come up with childish ideas.  :D
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Hellsing on January 01, 2016, 02:16:57 pm
idiot-proof, fun gamemode
Hey, err not sure if I should mention it, just though about it, reading that you mentioned "casual" gamers.

Regarding to idiot-proof, will there be a tutorial we will get forced in?
Like for example you enter a siege server for the first time, will I get asked to firstly do an tutorial regarding siege gamemode?
Or will you print player hints into the screen when selected an tutorial checkbox kinda stuff on options?
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Thomek on January 01, 2016, 02:32:12 pm
If we make them tutorials are likely to be added very late in the process.. It's nice to have finished feature complete game mode before doing it, so it doesn't have to be made several times. Besides, a really good game should be self-explanatory! :)
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on January 01, 2016, 04:08:04 pm
Besides, a really good game should be self-explanatory! :)

So true (I am looking at you, Life is Feudal)
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Peasant_Woman on January 11, 2016, 03:00:07 am
As someone who started playing 'Life is Feudal' recently, please DO NOT have anything like a skill tree where you must learn an arbitrary skill before you can do the thing you want or need to.

For example; It is silly that I must raise the 'Farming' skill (by picking apples / cooking food at campfire), before I can learn 'Animal Lore' (to keep chickens / cows / horses), before I can even attempt to make leather armor, 'Leather Armor Proficiency' is required before I can learn 'Bow Mastery' (to use anything more advanced than a primitive sling) and there are other examples I wont bore you with.
It's boring. It's grindy. It's illogical.

Otherwise; I really enjoyed the video from offices in Belfast and reading this Dev Blog + replies. Exciting! :D
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Gaz.Spencer on January 17, 2016, 07:29:42 pm
I just noticed a countdown timer of some sort? Why is that there? Can anyone else see it?

Edit: I figured it out
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on January 17, 2016, 07:59:56 pm
yeah... I had a bit of hope that it was MBG related.

Nope...  :mad:
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Gaz.Spencer on January 17, 2016, 11:30:55 pm
Me too
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: matt2507 on January 17, 2016, 11:45:22 pm
yeah... I had a bit of hope that it was MBG related.

Nope...  :mad:

It is lol, but old.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: MacX85 on January 18, 2016, 12:04:01 am
It is lol, but old.

I meant that count down timer... that was about Strategus apparently
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: matt2507 on January 20, 2016, 10:40:53 am
I meant that count down timer... that was about Strategus apparently

It was for the first announcement of M:BG at the origin. It look like they have changed the link now.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Hellsing on January 20, 2016, 02:04:48 pm
Once there was the time they dissabled it when nothing was around anymore..
Also if u didn't noticed it's also in the online character menu of cRPG..

It was used for many purposes which always had something realy big to announce..
Or to troll on april's jokes..

Since they allready announced to create a new forum at some point I guess they don't care about the layout and use of this forum anymore anyway..
But I bet we'll see something like it in the new forum again, it was something like a test I guess..
It's like the automatic patch notes and stuff they made plenty of tools to get things done easily, and I bet they make much use of it in there actually selfmade game  :wink:
So just ignore those red numbers  :) and stay tuned visitors can't see pics , please register or login
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Jona on January 20, 2016, 03:34:47 pm
That's when they first used it. But they reused it the other day to show the countdown to new strat reset.

Useful feature for this website.

My favorite use for it:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Jona on January 20, 2016, 03:44:41 pm
Yeah we've practically been butt buddies ever since strat started... kinda getting a little too close for comfort now mang. Shoo!
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Gaz.Spencer on January 21, 2016, 09:34:31 pm
I've got a slight problem. I live in New Zealand, which doesn't fit in with USA Timezone or EU Timezone, so how am I gonna play. Everything good will happen while I'm sleeping, or before I get home at 4pm.
Title: Re: Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?
Post by: Gaz.Spencer on January 21, 2016, 09:35:50 pm
I've got a slight problem. I live in New Zealand, which doesn't fit in with USA Timezone or EU Timezone, so how am I gonna play. Everything good will happen while I'm sleeping, or before I get home at 4pm.

Edit: I fit in with China atleast  :D

Another edit: I clicked quote, sorry bout that