Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?

[Jaren]

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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

• Combat - set your character up with the equipment and skills you need to win confrontations. This can be on the battlefield, in “illegal” robberies or simply defending yourself.
• Exploration - There are things to be found in the world, old forgotten techniques or misplaced technologies. They may allow you and your team to craft newer and better items which none of your fellow players are able to create. Explore the world, share, sell or hoard these precious finds.
• Industry - while the core game is about war, the reason for the war is the industry, and everything produced in the industry will, sooner or later, be consumed in war. Different locations give you different natural resources in different qualities, so you will have to trade with other players, or on a larger scale, other cities, to get what you need.
• Economy. Everything in our world is created by players, it's hauled by players, used, sold, traded and bartered. No items will exist that is not made by players. It is player run, and fueled not by hoarding more things, but to conquer your opponents.
• Leadership - a big part of the game will be about taking command. We'll allow players to create their own mechanics in which to govern with, be it in city management or commanding battles. We like putting players in charge. It's your world, it's your story, we are simply providing you with the tools to enable that and enjoy the ensuing drama. And drama there will be.

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

- chadz News

hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggghhh
I'm SO FUCKIN READY

[Xesta]

"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.

[Jona]

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. 

[Jaren]

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. 

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.

[BlackxBird]

"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 

[Dupre]

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.

[Uther Pendragon]

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

[Thryn]

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

[Macropus]

Will we get to tame horses? 

[The_Bloody_Nine]

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?

[CrazyCracka420]

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.   

[MeevarTheMighty]

On the other hand, are there really people in the world who don't like Age of Empires?

(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?

[MacX85]

On the other hand, are there really people in the world who don't like Age of Empires?

Sure

[Mancom37]

Any gunpowder weaponry(handgonnes)/basic artillery (bombards mostly) are going to go in the game?

[Byrdi]

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