Shroud of the Avatar – Update of the Avatar #202
Greetings Fellow Avatars!
Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:
“The abandoned shells of buildings looked silently down on them from either side of the road.”
– From The Sword of Midras by Tracy Hickman & Richard Garriott
The Making of Midras Ruins
The Midras Ruins are one of the six ruined cities found in Novia that date back to the period in Novian history in which the Obsidian Order rose to power. (As described in the Sword of Midras prequel novel by Tracy Hickman and Richard Garriott). The exact history of some of these cities has been lost to time, but it is rumored that some of them may have been abandoned even before the rise of the Obsidians. Midras, in particular, is significant because it is the location of the Crypt of the Avatar. Note that all eight of the ruins are Open PVP zones.
Midras started as a clone of the Opalis Ruins but is getting completely rebuilt this release to have a unique layout and visuals. The devs are expressly focusing on being sure the map has interesting setups for PVP conflict, with plenty of space for hiding, escaping, ambushing, and skirmishing.
[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar]
Hey guys, SorcerousSteve here to give you an update on the Ruins of Midras coming this R36!
The Ruins of Midras are nestled in the peaks of Midmaer. I took a lot of inspiration from its reference in Blade of the Avatar along with adding my own take to the map.
Aesthetically I was inspired by the city of Osgiliath in the LOTR. Especially the idea of having ruins that had vertical space and were now only frames of what they had once been.
The ancient ruined skyline of Midras.
“They followed the road toward the center of Midras. The newer structures gave way to the more ancient ruins near the center of the city. They came to where the avenue ended in a circular plaza in the center of the town. Here it was evident by the carnage that the fighting had been the most intense. On the east side of the plaza, an enormous tree rose up out of the ground. It had once been a part of a small garden before the doors entering the ancient temple. ”
Chapter 2, Blade of the Avatar“The abandoned shells of buildings looked silently down on them from either side of the road. At their feet, shattered stone and splintered wood”
Chapter 2, Blade of the AvatarIn designing Midras, we made sure the ruins had plenty of PVP areas for fun dynamic gameplay.
Fight and lose your opponent through corners, alleys, dents, ditches, tumbled rocks, collapsed buildings, rock walls, and overgrown hedges!
“This tree and the trees from its seeds will be here long after the stones have been crushed into sand and the walls erased”.
Chapter 2, Blade of the AvatarEsteben Zaldivar
Level Designer
The Making of a Forest Town Siege Map
Periodically, NPC towns will come under siege by the Obsidian Cabalists. The timing, duration, and location of these sieges will be driven by Celestial Mechanics. When you attempt to enter a town under siege, you will first enter the Town Siege scene where the enemy has made camp outside the town and is fighting the town defenders. You can choose to join the battle and end the siege early or work your way around the perimeter, perhaps encountering only some scouting parties. The devs hope to have the first iteration of this feature and one map live in Release 37.
[A Dev+ Forum Posts by Chris “Sea Wolf” Wolf and Keith “Sannio” Quinn]
Hey folks, Sea-Wolf here with some screenshots for the new forest siege encounters!
The Entrance
The Blockade
The Battlefield
The Enemy Camp
The Forest
Chris Wolf
Level Designer* * * * *
Town Siege Comments by Keith “Sannio” Quinn
For those wondering about “Town Sieges,” they’re currently on the schedule for Release 37. How will they work? Well, here’s an overview:
Anyone approaching a town in the overworld that is under siege will see a temporary “siege weapon” object (e.g. a catapult) next to the town. If you try to enter that town, you’ll instead be sent to a “siege encounter” scene. (As with roving encounters, your fellow party members will see a special icon in the overworld that they can use to join you in that siege encounter scene.)
The siege encounter appears according to a schedule and won’t leave until the schedule says it should (for example, it shows up at dusk and won’t leave until dawn).
You’ll spawn into the siege encounter on its edge near an enemy camp. Nearby is a central battlefield, where waves of enemies and allies clash again and again while also being assaulted by periodic catapult attacks. On the opposite side of the map, is a squad of allies, pinned down by enemy forces as they defend the only exit.
There are two obvious paths: The long way around includes a handful of low-threat enemy patrols, while barreling through the enemy camp and frontline will be quicker but far more dangerous. There’s a third option: Your allies need your help destroying the three catapults that keep them pinned down. Destroying the catapults and their high-threat siege engineers will draw out the greatest threat, the siege commander. If you can take out the siege commander, enemy reinforcements will stop coming and the siege will end.
Some additional notes: The forest siege is only the first “siege biome.” More will come over time, with a variety of enemy types. Also, we would like the act of defeating the siege commander to immediately remove the siege from the overworld as well, but this is a future consideration and won’t be in the initial implementation.
Keith Quinn
Level Designer
R35 Postmortem Recap
While the devs did not have time to answer all the questions, Starr “Darkstarr” Long got on the forums afterwards and answered all the questions that were missed here.
Here’s the video for those who missed it:
