Project Uncanny Valley - A New Indie RPG

Couchpotato

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Doctor Psitronix a new member of the watch, but in his own words a long time lurker brings news of his own RPG product. It's called Project Uncanny Valley. I'll bring more news on the project once I get more information.

Hello Watch,

First a little about me.
I am a long time lurker for years. I have decided to join finally for two reasons.
1. The resent success of the Kickstarter projects, TTON and DD:OS come to mind. Has convinced e that the Decline in gaming is trending down,finally.
2. My involvement with the project I will describe below.

I have got to know a number of you by your posts over the years and I hope you approve with what I will write here. (DArtagnan shhhh;))

I am here to introduce on the Watch and the Codex(I'm there too) the following Indie Project.
Key Points:
  1. Graphical Mud-Like
  2. Simulation First, Game second
  3. No teh Epic Quest(*unless you make one or fall into one)
  4. Living World(What part of Simulation do you not get)
  5. C&C where even the gods may move in mysterious ways to thwart your royal ascension
  6. You wont know the difference between Npcs and Pcs unless you ask
  7. Insane amount of characterization(200 classes at last count)
  8. ROLE-PLAY vs ROLL-PLAY
  9. THIS IS EARLY ALPHA
  10. More to come
This project consists of me and my friend who is lead programer and who I will simply call Ken, he is a bit shy,but the proverbial eccentric genius. Seriously 180 IQ.
Below is a series of questions to help introduce this project,he is answering,his exact words, and I add some clarification if needed.

I am trying to gauge interest and I humbly ask for feedback.
More information.
 
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Mmmm, roll playing with some nice garlic butter... oh, I can smell it now! <drool>
 
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What on earth is a "graphical mud-like"?

MUD - multi user dungeon: Multiplayer Online RPGs before there were such things. Typically text based or with Ascii graphics.
I think calling it graphical MUD instead of of MORPG, shows an intent to avoid the typical trappings of what we associate with MMORPG today, and go back to the roots, so to speak.
 
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I played a couple of graphical muds and they are not really like mmorpgs since the amount of players were limited.
 
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well i like the simulation part since my own Beth game mods have been attempts to tweak NPC AI to that end. However, I do love me my dice rolls so I'm not sure what you mean by role play vs roll play since for me the roll play directly affects my role play.

How far along on this are you?
 
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GhanBuriGhan

- What kind of world / setting? Medival fantasy? Something else?

The world is the size of Jupiter. Roughly. It has a barren dead dry, and for the purposes of the game world, non-exsistent exterior surface. It is hollow and the interior has a small (about 1/2 the size of the earths moon) wight star at it's heart. The star provides all the light and heat for the world. The star has orbiting it black bands of unknown substance that shift and at times block the light of the star creating a Night/Day cycle,this also allows all the neat visual effects the engine can handle. there are also moons of roughly the same material that obit the star and produce effects on the inhabitants of the world like the moons of Kyrann.
On the inside of the the planet shell is a MASSIVE Ocean, dotted with islands, some very far apart.
These islands start at launch for the most part isolated and only grow aware of each other as the world evolves(there are of NPCs who know otherwise but a are very few and far in-between) The islands will start primitive with knowledge of other islands being unknown or forbidden to speak of, this includes knowledge of sailing and shipbuilding greater then coast-huggers.
Let me be very clear,THIS WORLD IS ALIVE AND EVOLVES!
But the current bias within the system is the strong push to evolve towards MAGIC and Medieval fantasy.
However Prehistoric,ancient,steam,modern, and futuristic settings and objects are supported AND present within the game system(they just wont be fully accessible till expansions) some islands will evolve in that direction and some artifacts from prior civilizations will be present at launch.
Each island is a laboratory.
Oh almost forgot the world is tapered on the ends some like an egg to allow polar regions,yes all terrain types and weather systems.

- What's the world scale you are shooting for?

Like I said almost the size of Jupiter, possibly 8400 islands generated(not including extra-planer and underwater locations)and each island is about 30 square miles in size average.But feels bigger due to virtual scaler terrain.

- Graphical MUD - what kind of graphics do you envison. Tilesets? 2D? 3D? Isometric/ First Person? What existing game is closest to what you want it to look like?

First off it is MUD-Like
THIS IS NOT A MUD!
That was a point of reference.
Secondly,
Anywhere from AAA+ to wire-frame. It depends on YOUR system. We can and will support 3D. All of this is based off of opensorce BLENDER3D and we have created specialized technologies to take advantage of that and render this project. I will get into that more later.
The perspective is by default 1st person I think but the camera can be adjusted.
I will get into the graphics more later.

- Player characters are NPC - does that mean they'll continue to roam the world and do their thing when I am not logged in? Do I even play the same character in different play sessions?

Yes,however you can set the behavior of the characters while you are away. This is a PERSISTENT world. Again yes you just take over him or her or it again.

As to showing off something.
ON IT.
Spoke to Ken this morning, we will see what we can do. Please understand neither of us are artists that is what we will look for funding for later. Please be patient.
 
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So you are making an MMO with 200 character classes, all balanced, of course. And with only only 2 devs (no artists?). I'm sure that Blizzard will be following progress very closely.
 
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However, I do love me my dice rolls so I'm not sure what you mean by role play vs roll play since for me the roll play directly affects my role play.

For the most part you don't see numbers. We can and will help you understand the game system. But we let the computer crunch the numbers. Frankly this system is so complex that you can't as a human keep track of it.
Why worry about what is going on under the hood if you dont see smoke or hear bangs while joyriding down the highway at 80/hr or faster if you have the privilege
of living in Germany.
 
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So you are making an MMO with 200 character classes, all balanced, of course. And with only only 2 devs (no artists?). I'm sure that Blizzard will be following progress very closely.

Balance! Balance!! We don't need no stinking Balance! :)

Yes 200 classes most are sub variants and many are related to races. Also hundreds of races.
Most "Monsters" are realy NPCs with races.
Ever wanted to engage in the fine art of Centaur Politics? Well now you can!(THAT IS JUST AN EXAMPLE)
Dont get me started on the number of feats and skills and such.

PLEASE understand the crunch is handled for you. This not a popamole game. But a world to go to and engage in, to ROLE-PLAY.
This is actully capable of simulating PNP in a PC.
I'll explain more soon enough.
 
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This is actully capable of simulating PNP in a PC.
I think I'm starting to understand the vision for this a bit more. Basically, you will have an AI game master combined with full world / society / NPC simulation, including sophisticated NPC AI to create the game world, which evolves once set in motion. Players can interact with this world and affect it through their actions and decisions. The ultimate RPG sandbox. Am I correct in this assumption?

If you pull this off it would be truly amazing. Incredibly ambitious - but I suppose Dwarf Fortress approaches that kind of scope too.

Well I'm certainly intrigued and look forward to seeing more about it.
 
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